General Zarman wanted to briefly review the increased military budget, which was always the largest, and with more and more Nations becoming part of the Allied Forces, aircraft and weapons were two of Verron’s largest industries. Aid and support of undeveloped planets was another large part of the budget and it never ceased to amaze Paul that he could be pumping billions of dollars into Earth’s less inhabitable areas and still get complaints from everyone else who felt they weren’t getting their fair share of his money. He wasn’t ready to pull the plug just yet and he didn’t expect people to grovel in appreciation for what he had done, but the complaining was making the giving much harder. The meeting closed on a positive note, Gail Morton announced, “Unemployment numbers for Verron and her sister planets are .0015%, crime is down – on all planets there is still only .0002% crime rate, this included every crime, not just violent. The Verron Customs and Immigration Agency continues to screen-out 5% of the visitors for being motivated to harm Verron in some way. That number is up from 2% the year before.” She added a side note, saying, “By the way, those whiners from the meeting earlier are ignoring the real picture. In the U.S., France and Germany, where most of the complaining is coming from, unemployment is at a 20 year low, AIDS has been eradicated, deaths from cancer have been reduced by 2/3rds and crime and acts of terrorism have all but disappeared, as have a lot of organized crime and drugs. The problem is that these people want to live their life like they did before and had become so accustomed to the corruption in their countries they don’t know how to act when it stops.”
Paul was feeling better now and realized he had been a rude host to some of his allies who had gone to a lot of trouble to attend his Allied Nations Conference. He decided to head over to the Klelta Palace to find President Hensley and his staff to determine what they had planned for their future after eight years in the White House. Charles Hensley and Paul had become pretty good friends over the past several years and he was especially close to Michael and Marcus, since he and his family usually stayed with them when they visited Verron, or at least his children did. Bridgette and Gregory both spent a lot of time on Verron and even attended college at the Capital City University. The two learned skills they would have never learned on Earth and both were now employees of Verron or one of her businesses. Bridgette actually lived in the Verron Tower in Success and worked as part of the staff at the Medical Center, where every day hundreds were treated for a wide variety of illnesses and only charged whatever their insurance would pay and most often, free of charge. The waiting line was full of people who complained about the poor service that could be obtained nowhere else on Earth and had saved thousands, if not millions, of lives. Paul had even volunteered to place a regeneration unit in the St. Judes Children’s Hospital. The FDA stepped in and shot down the proposal, so kids who desired the cures offered by Verron had to come to that planet or Mississippi. If Paul released every bit of the medical technology available to him and introduced it to Earth, the entire medical community would collapse. On Verron, people still got injured and sick and babies were being born like crazy, but there was very little need for general surgeons, oncologists, orthopedic or neuro surgeons. Cancer and other fatal diseases were still diagnosed on Verron, but treatment was usually handled by an injection, blood transfusion or a stay in the regeneration chamber, and even that had been improved upon, often with results in minutes instead of days.
He found the President on the terrace overlooking the bay and the distant waterfall, having a conversation with former French President Francois Hollanda. Both turned to greet Paul with a warm smile of friendship. “So, what are two going to do with yourselves now that you’re out of work?” Paul asked, as he walked to greet them. Charles Hensley, replied, “I’m not gone yet, but I was thinking about moving in with you. I definitely want to get as far from Washington as I can get.” Paul laughed and asked, “Well, you and your families are always welcomed here, but we don’t allow any unemployment on Verron, do either of you actually have any job skills?” They were about to answer, when Paul continued, by saying, “And being a lawyer doesn’t count.” They both shrugged their shoulders with a sigh.” Paul then told them, “I don’t need politicians, but I may have a use for good diplomats to work with Princess Renee. If you’re serious about relocating here, we should be able to find something even for two men with no marketable job skills.” President Hollanda smiled and replied, “And to think, in the beginning you used to think of me as a smart-ass.”
President Hensley lowered is voice and changed his countenance to tell Paul, “The political situation is about to get really messy in the next election. The whiners have been especially verbal about emphasizing the racial attitude of Verron and how you have targeted, Blacks, Hispanic and Middle-Eastern people for annihilation. Some are even calling what you and your people are doing genocide. No one stops to see, that no one has been killed by your people that was not guilty of terrorism or criminal activities. I know it, you know it and all those guilty parties know it, but when friends and family members suddenly disappear with no explanation and the meth lab they were working in is destroyed, the grieving mother or other family members begin to cry foul. I guess having a son alive and well, but killing people with his drugs, is better than having them erased. I hate to say it, but you are not a popular man, and the other party is playing heavy on those who don’t like you and everything negative he can find, instead of emphasizing the good you have done for both the U.S. and the rest of the world. Don’t expect a warm reception in the White House if the Democratic front-runner gets elected, everything in Washington will change.”
Paul shook his head and said, “As screwed up as Russia and China are, at least you know where you stand with them from year to year. I hate to say it, but the very thing that makes America great is also the same thing that is ruining it. There will never be any unity in the United States as long as everyone is seeking after his own personal agenda and not seeking what’s best for the country.” Both men agreed. Then Paul had to ask, “I rarely follow the political scene, whose running?” Charles informed him, “Vice-President William Donolly has been selected as the Republican Presidential Nominee, if he gets elected, then very little will change. He wants stability in government and will only change the aids and staff closest to him, but little else will be disturbed. The man we are concerned about is the man that just got selected last week as the Democratic Presidential Nominee.”
The President’s Chief of Staff, Clarence Malone walked up about that time and shook his head saying, “Luka ‘The Bazooka’ O’Neal, now there’s a man even scarier than you King Verron.” Paul greeted the man who used to be his biggest enemy and was now a good friend, asking “How so?” Malone looked almost despondent, when he replied, “Luka is a household legend and known by almost everyone in America. His popularity and recognition gives him a tremendous advantage. Add to that the fact that he’s smart as hell and good looking, and you have real trouble. Luka was a young black kid from Pittsburgh, PA. He was the number one quarterback in high school and recruited to Penn State. There, he proceeded to break every college football record on the books while making straight “A’s” in Political Science and Pre-law. As number one draft choice to the NFL, he ended up as Quarterback for Philadelphia, where he once again smashed every record that had stood for years. That is where he also became a member of the Islamic faith. During the off season, he did the Hollywood thing and his movies were extremely popular. After his fourth year in the NFL and two Super Bowl Wins, Luka got hit broadside by a FedEx truck while driving his two small children to school. His daughter died, his son remains handicapped and Luka got his hip broken; no more NFL. He became even richer after the law suit was settled and decided to finish his law degree at Yale and enter politics. He smashed everyone he ever ran against and has been a very popular U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania for three terms now. He will probably win with a landslide and when he does, all hell will break loose in Washington. Everything my adm
inistration has done will be undone and the new breed that will take over Washington will not be Verron friendly. You’ll find him charming and pleasant to be around, but don’t trust a thing he says or promises.” Paul looked at the agreement on the other two men’s faces as Malone finished. All he could say was, “I’m so glad we don’t have to deal with that crap on Verron.” Paul told his friends goodbye and socialized with leaders from other visiting Allied planets. He was glad there was only one Earth.
He crossed the lobby to the two easiest people in the world to spot in a crowd, King Hon III and Elder Hesoid Kanatora. For the first time in his life, ten foot tall King Hon had to look up slightly to speak with someone. The Cyclops people spoke a very good dialect of Greek, picked-up from the days when they had been allowed to roam the Earth. King Hon was surprisingly good with languages and both were chatting away. When Paul arrived, Hesoid smiled and informed him, King Hon was just telling me about the 1000 Volvs who now live on Kletla. It is remarkable how different they behave with suitable neurological downloads.” Paul remembered what a mess he had on his hands when they discovered 1000 Volvs clones about to come out of the oven. They came out without any neurological stimulation, so what they became was totally dependent upon whose brain functions were downloaded into their two brains. It was decided to download half human and half Klelta brain functions. Since no humans wanted them anywhere near them and the Klelta were not in the least intimidated by their size and strength, it was agreed to form a colony of Volvs on Klelta. It has been over two years now and the big leather-skinned canines mingled with the Klelta and the Chinese population with absolutely so issues. They were intelligent, hardworking and surprisingly protective of those they considered friends. Hesoid had just been telling Hon about how the Volvs were foolish enough to attack his city in the mountains. After seeing dozens of their fellow Volvs torn in half like paper by the big one-eyed giants, they decided to focus on the humans on Darsai instead. Now there were 500 Cyclops commandoes dedicated to defending and protecting their smaller and weaker friends on Darsai. Hon invited Hesoid and his family to pay a visit to Klelta before heading back to Darsai. He pointed out that there was soon going to be a wedding for his son Prince Hon IV and would be honored to have the Elder Hesoid attend.
Paul then made a point of speaking to his smallest subjects, the Lyncardi and the leader of the Sand-People. He had never been so close to one of them before and found them interesting. Governor Eeekn was about 5 feet tall, and his skin and hair was a dead match for the sands of Molnar. He had pure blue eyes and double lidded eyelids with a retractable sand lens for seeing even in a sandstorm. He was capable of going weeks without water and his tiny little mouth was perfectly designed for eating the minute sand-fleas and other crawling insect that filled the desert. Looking like a cross between a human and a salamander, he was not an attractive fellow, but he probably felt the same way about Paul. It looked as if Eeekn and Chief Tu were becoming good friends; everybody was friends with the Lyncardi, well except for the Jhxunka. They hated everyone.
It was late by the time Paul returned to the Mansion after doing his best PR work with his guests from across the Universe. He sat down in the kitchen and discovered one piece of the Babka remaining on the table. He grabbed a Diet Coke and sat down to enjoy his late night snack. Zimuel came strolling into the kitchen and looked at the treat and asked, “What’s that?” Paul slid it and the Diet Coke across the table to Zimuel and grabbed an apple from the cooler. He returned to a smiling Zimuel, who told him, “Tlase actually cooked tonight. She left desert on the terrace to cool since she had just taken it out of the oven. We went back an hour later to find Fe, Fi, Fo and Fooey curled up in the lounger and the cake reduced to crumbs. They probably thought we left it out for them. This is good, what is it?” Paul told him and then told him all about the conversation he had had with President Hensley and Chief of Staff Malone. The first words out of Zimuel’s mouth were a reflection of his almost 10,000 years of experience, “I hate politics. I’ll help you monitor the situation, we don’t want to lose ground on Earth; we’ve made a lot of progress. The last thing we need is for the U.S. to pull away from the Allied Nations.”
Paul knew that Hunter would soon be returning to his Terrorist Elimination Unit activities along with Chase, Daniel and Ibrihim. With the legal positioning about Bart and Katelyn, they decided to disband their organization. Neither needed the grief. Paul remembered the troll doll he once had sitting on his desk at work with an overly large screw through its belly. The caption on the base of the little statue said, “Work diligently and with integrity and you will get your just reward.” That is exactly what Bart and Katelyn had done and both had been screwed by the very people they had trusted and depended upon. He would let them surf and play a while to lick their wounds and find them a new task to accomplish. Even now, Katelyn was teaching Bart to fly a Speeder, a Fighter and a transport. He continued to ask, “Is this the same kind of ship you used to start World War III.” Paul smiled, as he had a premonition that there would soon be a war that would make her little incident seem like nothing. Besides, the Chinese were now negotiating with Renee about changing their human rights policies and limiting their aggression. In return, Renee was about to establish trade and diplomatic relations with China. For the most part, it was going to be China buying from Verron, who needed very little of what they had to offer. Renee smiled when she told her Dad, “Soon people will be buying products all over China that say, “Made in Verron.”
Chapter 28
This was going to be the biggest day in trucking history. Thousands were gathered in Success, Mississippi for the inaugural day of the first Peterbilt truck manufactured on Verron. Transportation Director Gerald Cox was proud of what would probably be one of his last official acts. Luka “the Bazooka” O’Neal was so far ahead in the polls that it appeared he was a shoe-in for the Presidency. The election was in two weeks, and Cox was anxious to get this finished before a new Director stopped the program simply because it wasn’t his idea. Director Cox had worked extensively with the trucking industry and the FAA to determine a very specific use for the new flying-trucks. Although nowhere near as flight capable as the trucks used on Verron and now marketed to four other planets, the new trucks could still reach altitudes of 25,000 feet and top speeds of 500 mph, both speed and altitude were monitored by computer controlled restrictors. Airlines were concerned about having ‘truck-drivers in the sky’, while law enforcement officials and state governments were concerned about excessive speeds on their highways and destruction of property while operating in the congested areas of city streets. It was finally agreed that the computer controls on the trucks would immediately reduce both speed and altitude when a truck approached a city beacon. Between cities, on the open road, the trucks were restricted to operation at a maximum of five thousand feet above the interstate highways, which they still had to follow. No one wanted a flying semi-truck and trailer taking a shortcut across the open range or their property. The trucks were governed to 500 mph. Even with the restrictions, a truck could make the trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Miami, Florida in less than 2 hours. There were also no load restrictions on the vehicles since the weight would never touch the pavement. Of course the greedy State Transportation departments were complaining about loss of revenue from them no longer paying road use taxes. It was finally settled to add a surcharge on the freight carried by the new trucks to be divided among the various states that they operated in. It was a per-mile rate instead of a per-pound rate; after-all, how could you weigh a load that was suspended by antigravity reactors. One of the selling points for the new trucks was the amount of congestion that would be totally relieved by having hundreds of thousands of semi-trucks off the road and cars no longer being restricted by their traffic slowing ways.
The first of 10 trucks rolled out of the Verron freight-gateway inside the secured warehouse and exited through the huge garage door. Then the tractor was attached to the trailer that was going to be m
anufactured in Nashville, Tennessee using Verron technology. While spectators looked on, hover pallets with gold bullion were moved from the warehouse to the trucks. When finished, the forty-foot long trailer would hold 180 pallets with 42 gold bars each; approximately 250,000 pounds of freight valued at $10 billion. The gold was going to travel from Success, Mississippi to the vault in Mr. Lawson’s bank in Manhattan. Paul decided that the knowledge that his transactions were backed by gold sitting in reserve would give comfort to worried businesses on Earth about doing business with a planet a few thousand light-years away. He intended to send a few more truck loads in the future; besides, he needed the room in his own vaults. The drivers were trained on Verron for now. Manuel Garcia was given the distinct honor of being the first driver to operate the new machine on Earth. After the hoopla of the ceremony was over and Renee spoke about how soon these same trucks would be allowed to carry freight across the oceans, the big truck headed out across Alabama’s Interstate 59. The route between Success and New York was a jumble of spectators along the sides of the Freeways, on the overpasses and atop buildings. None would have to wait very long to get a look, the 1100 mile trip would be completed in 3 hours. It would be faster, but there were a few cities in between.
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