Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul landed the Dragon Wagon in the newly repaired hanger bay alongside several other Verron shuttles used by those working on the ship, what Paul saw completely left him speechless. Alongside each of the normal crew that maintained the hanger bay were two women in maintenance uniforms working with them. As he exited his ship he was greeted with, “Good morning King Verron. Is there anything we can help you with, sir?” He didn’t recognize the two women, but had seen the Marine they were training with on several occasions. He approached the three of them and asked, “What are you learning today from Corporal Young?” Choosing her words very carefully, a tall lady of maybe 35, probably one of the oldest from the breeding program, most were in their early teens and twenties, chose her words carefully as she answered, “We are being taught how to reload the missiles on the missile defense system, sir. Corporal Young and Technical Sergeant Moore have just got them working and are preparing to run a small firing test.” Paul looked up high above the door of the hanger to the missile emplacement and saw Sergeant Moore on the catwalk with two other women in maintenance uniforms. He waved at those on the high catwalk and turned to enter the ships corridors, saying, “I’m very proud of how well you have learned our language. Before long you will be flying this thing.” The two women with Corporal Young began to chatter away about what he had said and began asking him more about who King Verron was.

  Paul entered the main corridor and immediately smelled fantastic aromas coming from down the hall. He knew that there was a large dining hall that had been updated to meet human needs just around the corner. When he entered, he stood in awe at dozens of women in pastel dresses and colorful pants and blouses preparing and serving some of the best smelling, and not bad looking food, to the hungry Marines. Many were at the tables enjoying the food and the company of the soldiers. He stood silently and unnoticed for a while and realized that he had thousands of Marines in his military and probably 80% of them were unmarried. Single women were in short supply on Verron. These men and women were just acting like perfectly normal men and women all over the world. He knew that he had been wrong and that Zimuel had fortunately been right.

  He left the dining hall unnoticed. He really didn’t want to interfere with the courting of his Marines and those who looked to them as their conquering heroes. He smiled as he thought there would probably be a few weddings to perform before long. Zimuel greeted him just down the hall from the dining hall and escorted him to a classroom where hundreds of women were studying math and science being taught in English. Yadvega and Marianne had incorporated the learning technology used on Verron to accelerate the learning process and others were working with them to learn how to act properly and respond to others. The young women had absolutely no social skill or experience interacting with others; the Marine teams were being used to develop those skills. Teams were doing everything from cleaning, cooking, laundry and weapons storage and reloading, as well as learning to operate the normal things used in daily life, like com-units, televisions and computers and how to give change and understand pricing structures. Several of the brighter students were even being used to help teach those who were having a difficult time. Paul turned to Zimuel and smiled saying, “Well, Henry Higgins, your Ms. Dolittles are remarkable and I have once again found a rare occasion to say, I was wrong.” Zimuel had no idea what the first part of the statement meant, but completely understood the second half. Marianne Uschelbec heard the comment and began to sing, “The Rain in Spain fall mainly on the plain” from My Fair Lady. Zimuel looked at them both as if they were insane. Marianne laughed and told Zimuel, “It’s an Earth thing. It’ll mean more after you see the movie. I’ll find a copy for you. Then you’ll understand what Paul just said.”

  Unknown to Paul, the next day the movie My Fair Lady was shown to all the ladies onboard the ship. They began to call Zimuel, Henry or Professor Higgins, even Yadvega. It didn’t take long for the songs from the movie to catch on and soon the place was filled with some good and some very off-key singing of Wouldn’t it be Loverly, Get me to the Church and With a little bit o’ luck. Paul received a recording of the ladies singing from Zimuel and a message saying, “This is all your fault.” Paul responded by sending copies of Mary Poppins and Oklahoma to the ship for the ladies enjoyment and entertainment. He couldn’t wait to see the expression on Zimuel’s face when they started singing A Spoon Full of Sugar, Oh, What a Beautiful Morning or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Marianne sent a message by way of her husband Ken to King Verron, saying, “This is cruel and sadistic punishment. Keep up the good work. I heard Zimuel singing Oh What a Beautiful Morning; he actually has a pretty good voice.” Yadvega sent a message to Paul by way of Inga, saying, “Your idea of music therapy has drastically improved the ladies grasp of the English language. They have actually begun to dance and everywhere onboard the ship you now hear music of every possible style brought onboard by the Marines. You’re a genius; I can’t believe I never thought of it myself.” Inga knew Paul had intended the musicals as a joke, but played along with the spirit of the moment. She entered his office and told him, Ms. Yadvega has ordered 500 copies of the Sound of Music for her speech class. I need you to sign the requisition.” Paul laughed and had her send five instead. Even though they were requested by Yadvega, he knew the ladies would enjoy the movie. Inga left the office humming the tune to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. He thought, “I have created a dynasty of show-tunes, how will I ever live this down.”

  It had been nearly 120 days since the discovery of the women onboard the Mother Ship. The Marines, scientists, technicians, educators and female students who called the big ship home had declared the ships name to be Restoration. Based on the fact that it was indeed being restored and upgraded, and the thousands of women living onboard had turned out to be a living testimony of the resilience of humans and what could be done when given a second chance at life, Paul thought the name should be officially painted on the ship. Who had a better right to name it than those who had spent their entire life onboard? Paul looked at his watch and realized he had to get to Capital City as quickly as possible. He didn’t usually make jumps in and out of the city, but decided since he only had five minutes to get there he better make an exception. Today was going to be a special day. For the first time in their lives the women aboard Restoration were going to walk on solid ground. None had ever been outside the confines of the ship for what was determined to be at least five generations. Closely escorted by their friends who had been nurturing them for several months, the ladies were going to land in Capital City’s square and go to the Market Place. King Verron’s daughter Renee called it shopping therapy and was there to greet the ladies for their first adventure away from the ship. Paul made his jump to Renee’s office instead of the city square and rushed out of the building to witness the exciting moment. He arrived just in time to see hundreds of faces that would be familiar to the women gathered around to welcome the arrivals just as the three large shuttles were about to land in the square. Renee and the Queen Mother were at the front of the welcoming committee. Paul decided to stand to the side and let this be their moment, not his.

  When the big rear doors opened to reveal the exciting new world to the thousands of women, there was virtually every kind of reaction imaginable. Some of the women began to cry, some jumped up and down on their first ever planet surface, there were hundreds who laughed hysterically, even more just stood and stared out at the first sky they had ever seen, filled with birds flying overhead and a gentle breeze blowing the leaves on the surrounding trees. It was a lot to take in and many of the women were on a sensory overload just looking at something besides gray floors and white walls or at planets and stars outside their windows. To prepare them for this day, Yadvega and Marianne had been allowing them to Verron watch from the ship and had provided movies and pictures of what to expect, but seeing it in real life was overwhelming for most of them. Slowly they began to exit the ships and spread out to greet those awaiting their arrival
. There had been thousands of volunteers over the past few months that had devoted their time to working with the women onboard Restoration. As soon as the faces of their friends were recognized, there became a comfort zone that made them feel safe to venture forward. Paul was glad he had stayed more or less in the shadows. There was way too much crying and hugging going on for him. He shook his head and realized he would never fully comprehend the difference between women and men.

  Divided up into small groups and led by Renee and Paul’s Mom, the women did exactly what God genetically designed them to do from the time of creation, go shopping. They hit the wide revolving doors of Market Place and descended on it like a swarm of Jhxunka. Paul was looking on in amusement when he realized that Michael Verron had come up alongside him. The first words out of his mouth were, “Well, there goes the National Debt. You do know that Grandma cleared the way for the ladies shopping to be on the house, your house.” Paul laughed and replied, “Well, there has to be some perk for her putting up with me and my brothers, not to mention you and yours.” Michael nodded and replied, “I was going to Angelo’s for lunch, but I don’t think I want to go near the mall today.” Paul looked around to see if anyone had noticed him, all eyes were on the excited mob of women headed for their first shopping trip. He said, “I’m craving a steak sandwich, sound good to you?” Michael nodded his yes; he was a man of few words. “Follow me” Paul told him as he made a gateway to Farmington and Abner’s on the Square. Michael looked around and smiled, saying, “I think we may be safe here.” Everyone in Abner’s at this time of day was male. The two of them discussed the possibility of housing the ladies in Mountain City as a transitional place to live before they began to scatter all over the planet. Nearly 100 of the girls were engaged to marry Marines and several were planning to marry some of the technicians and maintenance staff assigned to Restoration. Paul wasn’t so sure that all the women would want to move to Verron. Like the residents of Beriya-Haven, they may be more comfortable in the confines of their controlled environment aboard ship.

  Before long several of the farmers recognized King Verron and joined him and Michael for lunch. Abner’s was a sort of informal place to hold town meetings and Clark Kidd often held lunches there to discuss concerns or future plans with the farmers. Paul thought it was neat that the local farmers felt perfectly comfortable sitting down and sharing a steak sandwich and talking about how things were going on the farm and with their families. Before long there were a dozen men surrounding Paul wanting to hear about the battle that had been fought against the Volvs and how they could meet some of them ladies that had been onboard. Michael smiled as the two realized that there was a disproportionate ratio of males to females in the farming community as well as the military. Paul gave the men a knowing grin and replied, “I think it would be beneficial for the ladies to get a tour of the farming district as well as the city. I’ll make arrangements for a tour and maybe even some on-the-job training. Think you could get some volunteers to show them around?” Paul had never seen the poker-faced farmers so excited.

  Paul and Michael had made the right decision, back at the mall 10,000 women and their escorts spread-out through the huge shopping center like ants at a picnic. They were treated like royalty by the clerks and staff in the hundreds of stores. They had been forewarned about the ladies arrival and who they were. It was obvious the women had never been exposed to such a wide variety of goods and services. The helpful employees patiently took the time to show them how certain clothes fit and carefully demonstrated make-up techniques and even how to operate a hair dryer and a wide variety of electronic equipment. Many of the women were confused by such variety, with hundreds of different colors and styles of shoes, clothing and food – none of them could completely comprehend all that was available to them and had a tendency to look for items like their friends were wearing or that were similar to the items furnished to them onboard ship. But the thing that literally terrified some of the girls and intrigued the rest was the wide variety of aliens, both shopping and working in the shops.

  It took a lot of coaxing by their escorts to get some of them to approach a sales clerk or a food counter with a Tecalna, a Chikondi or a multi-colored android and they would move to the opposite side of the mall when approached by a Klelta and it had to be explained to them that the little Lyncardi were not pets, but actual citizens of Verron. Groups of women were mesmerized watching them ice skate or play on the amusements inside the mall. Before long the friendly creatures were telling the women stories of how the eight Lyncardi had rescued them from the Volvs. They found such a tale hard to believe and although a bit of an exaggeration, but the people from Verron soon verified their story to be true. They reaped the benefits of being their saviors by receiving a wide variety of treats from the big candy store in the middle of the mall. It was difficult to fathom such little aliens inflicting harm on the gigantic Volvs. The animated Lyncardi playacted the scene for the captivated audience, complete with sounds and crashing to the mall floor when shot. People from on three levels overlooking the food court were spellbound by the show being put on by the little hams.

  Every restaurant in the mall was filled to capacity and even the ones surrounding the area were busier than normal. Between the constant flow of weekly tourists and the sudden appearance of the ladies from Restoration the city was packed. With each passing day there seemed to be an increase in tourism and with a gateway now open to Darsai, Grnardo, Tramlaw and Molnar the wide variety of the allied Nations was evident everywhere you turned. The men and women from Alpha Centauri and Tramlaw had become regulars at the shops and some had even found jobs on Verron. There were temporary embassies set up in the Capital Building for their allies until proper facilities could be built. Negotiations were still in the process of soon allowing the aliens to visit Earth. Having humans among aliens on Verron or even in their home Nations was going pretty smoothly. Everyone hoped that they would be as well received when they started showing up in New York City or Los Angeles. Paul planned to ease into the program with limited group tours to various cities under the safe watch of Verron Marines in civilian clothes. After the attempted kidnapping of the training team at the Cape, he had become paranoid about his friends roaming Earth unprotected. He hated to admit it, but people on Earth were much more violent than what the aliens living and visiting Verron was prepared to deal with.

  There was a group of 500 scheduled to visit Orlando, Florida for a six-day visit to Disney, Epcot, Universal Studios, MGM, Sea World and Wet n’ Wild. Renee would be accompanying them as a part of a tourism trade package being negotiated with the Florida resorts. The visit was being coordinated with the grand opening of the Verron exhibit at Epcot. Paul and Renee were giving full credit for that program to 99, Ilna, Cali, Camil and Hon IV, who would be doing the ribbon cutting before they returned to Verron, the training of the Space Shuttle crews had come to an end. There were now 400 scientists and researchers from a dozen different countries housed inside the new dome on Mars. The Shuttle was flying almost weekly to the facility as it continued to add housing and research buildings. Renee had already approached her father about building a tourist facility nearby for those who would like to visit Mars, complete with a daily shuttle service from Mississippi.

  The week after the initial visit to the surface of Verron, the majority of the ladies on Restoration were excited about their trip to Farmington. The locals had arranged to have a street festival to welcome the visitors, complete with country music, dancing and lots of food. Paul thought, “These people need no excuse to have a town celebration. With almost a half million people living in and around Farmington, each street festival grew larger and more exciting than the last. It was hard not to feel welcome when the shuttles landed and the excited citizens of Farmington lined-up to welcome the ladies from outer-space. It was hard to imagine a group of people who had been born and raised in outer space and never seen the surface of a planet. The ladies were more prepared for this visit than the
last and immediately became the center of attention for every suitor in town. By the time the day-long event came to a close and it was time for the women to depart, arrangements were being made for the men to either shuttle to Restoration to see the ladies or for them to return to Farmington to see the men. The trip to Capital City had been a girl’s day out with tons of shopping; this was more like a Sadie Hawkins Day event. The girls pretty much had their choice of thousands of eligible men looking for a wife. Paul dropped in towards the middle of the event and pairings were already taking place. In his heart he felt like Farmington and the much simpler life on the farms would be a better fit than some of his faster paced and industrial cities for the ladies of Restoration. He had been notified earlier in the day of six couples already planning to wed in the next few weeks. For a moment he wondered if any of them would like to marry a King then thought to himself “Only a total fool would marry someone like me. I drive myself crazy.” Then he thought about Eu Meh, deciding, “If someone like her knew I’m not ready for a relationship then I probably will never be ready.”