In a short while he found himself in front Bhlani’s door. Bhlani opened the door before he had a chance to knock. “This is a pleasant surprise.” He then noticed the helmets and jacket in Paul’s hands. “Are we going for a ride?” Paul handed him the jacket and helmet’s and answered, “We aren’t, but you can anytime you like.” He then handed Bhlani the key to the Bonneville. “I can think of no one who will get more pleasure out of the bike than you. Try not to terrorize the people in the park.” Bhlani seemed resistant to accepting the offer and Paul added, “There doesn’t appear to be any roads on Planet 1648, so it’s no use to me. Besides, I can afford any kind of motorcycle I want now, so when I get the chance I’ll get myself another one.” Bhlani gave Paul an unexpected hug and commented, “Thank You! We sure are going to miss you around here. Every day has been a challenge since you arrived, and you seem to keep life interesting. Make sure you stay on top your workouts. You’ve come a long way over the past year, but I believe there is still some untapped potential left. If I can get permission, I’ll try to come see you on 1648. For now the only ones with permission to go are Zimuel and Tlase. Zimuel, so he can continue your next phase of training, and Tlase to prepare the medical facilities and vaccines in preparation for 1648’s future residents. Make me proud.” With that he put on the snug fitting leather jacket and one of the helmets and began to walk toward the elevators with key in hand. Paul couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. He knew that he had left his mark behind on Xhondar; music, food and now motorcycles. Ever the salesman, he wondered if he could make arrangements with Triumph to add some motorcycles to his list of items he was now exporting from Earth to Xhondar. He shook his head as he turned to go back to his suite.
Before he reached the stairs at the end of the hall, he heard footsteps coming up in his direction. Soon two heads appeared around the corner to reveal Gljarne and Xhing Li climbing the stairs toward him. Xhing Li was carrying a long highly polished wooden case about four feet long under one arm. As they met Paul on the landing, Gljarne spoke, “We were just coming to see you. Have you got a minute?” Paul grinned and said, “I will always take time for my friends. All I have to do in the next two days is pack and say my goodbyes. So I’m at your call.” Xhing Li lifted the case in front of her and told Paul, “I have not had a student like you during my entire existence, and believe me, I’ve had a very long existence. Never in all those years of training students in the art of Jxansa Gha has anyone ever beaten me or my husband; you are the first and hopefully will be the last. (She actually smiled) Your unusual selection of your sword and dagger seemed to work perfectly for you. Gljarne and I had these made for you.” She opened the case to reveal a dagger and a sword exactly the size and shape of the ones he had chosen to train with, except these were the two most beautiful and perfectly crafted blades he had ever seen. They were not ceremonial or ornate in any way. He could tell they were built to be functional. Paul picked them up to feel the balance of each. “They are precisely the same weight and balance of the two you chose to train with, except these are made of Klelta steel and have a sharper than razor edge that will cut through just about anything, they will never go dull and the blade cannot break. There is a scabbard for each in the under panel of the case.” Paul was speechless, he had felt a pretty close bond with Gljarne but Xhing Li always seemed cold and distant, as if she resented Paul for giving her such a challenge. He shook both of their hands and thanked them for this incredible gift. Xhing Li of all people grabbed Paul and gave him a big hug. He was shocked. She then said, “The only person I have ever seen fight like you was my father, who taught me. I tried for centuries to best him but never could, even in his old age. You have a natural God given gift that I do not have. I resented that at first but realize now that you will need every advantage to face the things you will face in the future. I can think of no one that I would trust more to defend me. You have the heart of a fighter and not just the skills, and your ability is still developing. I’m proud to call you friend. I would never want you for an enemy.” With that the two of them said their goodbyes and told Paul that there was going to be a going away dinner in his honor the next night.
As they went back down the steps, Xhing Li said, “Come see me anytime you feel like a good workout, after sparring with you, Gljarne is no longer a challenge.” They both smiled and disappeared around the corner. Paul returned to his room and admired his cutlery set for some time, practicing moves he had been taught by Xhing Li. He couldn’t resist a small test as he took a heavy stainless steel butcher knife from the kitchen drawer and took a swing at its blade with his dagger. The butcher knife was effortlessly cut in half, the blade falling to the floor with a loud clank. Paul returned the knife handle back to the drawer and his gift back to the carrying case; he realized that this was indeed a very special gift.
Paul decided to leave Xhondar I as he had arrived and wore his Wrangler Relaxed-Fit Jeans, a red Ole Miss long sleeve shirt made from thick cotton, his favorite Nike hiking boots and Ron Jon Surf Shop hat that he had worn for over 20 years. He definitely stood out from the crowd as he entered the room full of Elders. Several that he hardly knew gave him a curious or even a smug look, however, those who knew him well were proud to see that in spite of his year on Xhondar I he still maintained his individuality. As he began to converse with Elder Mahala he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of Bhlani entering the room wearing his leather motorcycle jacket with the oval shaped Triumph patch on the back. When he reached Paul and saw the denim jeans, he commented, “I have got to get me a pair of those trousers. This jacket just doesn’t look right with Xhondarian pants.” Paul made a mental note: music player, food, motorcycles and now, jeans. He couldn’t help but see the dollar signs as he shook his head. Saying, “Have you ever been to Earth?” Bhlani nodded his head. Paul pulled him aside and spoke softly, “Kelley’s Western Wear & Leather, it’s on Broadway, in Nashville, TN, about a block from the river. That’s where I got my jacket and belt; they will definitely have a wide variety of jeans, shirts and boots there.” Bhlani nodded his thanks and moved away to tell Dalhia about their future trip. Paul realized he had opened a can of worms. No one from Xhondar had been to Earth in centuries and now he was encouraging them to take shopping trips to buy western wear.
He could see Elder Yadvega approaching him and he greeted her with a smile. She began to converse with him in Russian, halfway through switched to German and finished her conversation in Mandarin. She smiled before she left him and said, “I haven’t had this much fun in years. Forty billion people on this planet and only one language. It can get really boring around here,” then added in perfect Farsi, “Good luck in your new adventure.” Paul answered with a perfect French accent, “The pleasure has been all mine. If you ever get bored, come see me on Planet 1648. I promise to make it interesting.”
As Paul approached the dining room his nose detected a very familiar aroma. When he looked he thought his eyes where deceiving him. There spread out on the table was Famous Dave’s BBQ. He even recognized the meal since he had bought it before for his family, The All American BBQ Feast. His stomach began to do flips and his mouth began to water; BBQ Ribs, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Pork and Beef; coleslaw, baked beans, corn-on-cobb; there was even a couple of jars of Famous Dave’s Spicy Pickle Chips. At the end of the table was a cooler filled with Cokes, Diet Cokes, Sprite and Dr. Pepper. Paul stood there staring in amazement and couldn’t believe that his eyes were getting watery. Mahala patted him on the back from behind and said, “An All-American meal for Xhondar’s favorite All-American boy. I had Tlase set it up. I hope this will be sufficient.” Paul turned and hugged a shocked Mahala. He didn’t do hugs, and grinned from ear to ear, saying, “You did this all for me?” Mahala nodded his yes then added, “It’s about time we Elders got to know you better. We shared our native foods with you on your arrival, how appropriate that we feast on your native food upon your departure.”
When dinner started, Paul, Zimuel and Tlase d
ug right in. The others approached the strange new food pretty much the way Paul had approached his first meal on Xhondar I. Their inhibition was short lived. Before long the table was almost a feeding frenzy as the Elders all wanted to sample some of everything on the table. Paul couldn’t help but smile and think, I wonder if Famous Dave’s would be interested in selling me a franchise for Xhondar. He shook his head and realized he had far more important things to think about than what he could do on Xhondar I. Beginning tomorrow he would have his very own planet to worry about. Xhondar was no longer his concern, Planet 1648 was.
They could have taken a gateway to Planet 1648 but Paul had a few bags of his personal possessions he had accumulated during his year on Xhondar and Zimuel packed enough of his possessions to last for his estimated one year visit to the planet. Tlase literally had a truck load of medical supplies and lab equipment along with a typical woman’s overabundant wardrobe. As they waited at the spaceport staging area, Paul couldn’t help but be nervous about what lies ahead. He looked around at what had been his home for the past year and wondered if he would ever return. A familiar voice asked from behind, “Your baggage is onboard, are you ready to go?” Paul turned to see Dalhia standing next to one of the other pilots he had flown with a few times. “Dalhia, what are you doing here?” Paul blurted out. She replied, “I’m the only pilot on Xhondar I with a security clearance high enough to take you to Planet 1648, so who else would fly you? Mahala gave me permission to prepare Officer Izinsi for Planet 1648 flights. He feels there will be other needs in the future that will require flight between our two planets. Izinzi and I will be responsible for preparing future pilots to fly freighters and transports. I believe Mahala has big plans for Planet 1648’s future and yours. Let’s get going!”
Chapter 6
Planet 1648 –Year 987 / Earth -Year 2018
The 18,000,000 light-year trip seemed like a drive to the corner grocery store. Once they had exited the orbital pull of Xhondar I they accelerated to .60 L.S. and Dalhia opened the gateway. As they exited the gateway on the other side, the beauty of the Whirlpool Galaxy took Paul by complete surprise. The bright colors of red and maroons mixed with various shades of blues and the vibrant white from more stars than Paul had ever seen clustered together. Although he knew they were light-years away he felt as if he could reach out and touch them. This was truly a beautiful galaxy. Izinsi brought Paul’s attention a cluster to his right and said, “Black Hole; this place is full of them. That’s why we have to train pilots specifically for flight in this galaxy. It can be a very dangerous place to fly.” Then he looked ahead and saw Planet 1648. This close it looked huge. It had that same blue look of the Earth’s atmosphere and he could quickly see the immenseness of his new home. There were two large moons orbiting the planet. One moon gave off reddish, almost a kind of rust colored light; the other was almost completely black. They seemed to orbit on opposite sides of the planet from each other and the black moon appeared to be closer. Then he saw the planets second Sun. It looked like a giant orange ball in the distance. He then looked to the planets orbital Sun and realized that it was bigger and farther away than Earth’s Sun. Dalhia pointed out two objects in the distance and explained that they were the two planets orbiting between Planet 1648 and the Sun. Paul thought to himself, “Third rock from the Sun. Different rock, different Sun – same creator”
He got a lump in his throat as they got closer. It was hard to grasp the size of this thing. He was looking at an ocean that was at least twice the size of the Pacific Ocean. When he asked Dalhia about it, the ship computer responded with, “That body of water visible from this approach is 26,000 miles by approximately 19,000 miles. And has an average depth of 3000 feet.” Paul shook his head and asked, “Where exactly are we headed?” Dalhia looked at the navigational computer and answered, “The continent we are planning to land on is on the other side of the planet at this time; we will be there in about an hour.” Paul was still adjusting to the speeds traveled in his new world. The ships computer informed them, “The continent we are headed for is a land mass of approximately 51,000,000 square miles.” Paul was a bit of a geography buff when he was younger and couldn’t recall exact figures, but that seemed to be about the size of Asia, Europe and North America all added together. Whatever the figure, he knew it was really big. As they rounded the planet for the daylight side and drew closer to the outer atmosphere, Paul began to make out rivers, lakes and mountains and the vibrant greens of massive forests. He felt incredibly small as he observed his new world; HIS new world. He had the contract in his pocket that he had signed just after the dinner party the night before. It was a pretty simple two page contract. He had signed more paperwork to buy his pick-up truck than he had signed to receive a whole planet.
Dalhia took it at a very conservative speed and angle of descent as they entered the planet’s atmosphere. From his new vantage point of a couple hundred thousand feet he could really see details of what was below and at 100,000 feet he realized that they had just barely cleared the mountain range they had flown over. These things were really big. Paul recognized the direction he was going from the video that Computer had shown him. The ocean that he had seen in the distance grew closer as they continued their descent. Dalhia reached the ocean and continued to descend to an altitude that couldn’t have been more than a thousand feet above the water. She made a 180 degree turn and reduced her altitude even more as she headed back into what appeared to be a large bay. At the other end of the bay was a low mountain range along the edge of the water. Paul saw a waterfall that had to be a mile or more wide and at least a thousand feet high to his left. To his right, between the low mountains he could make out what was probably a river flowing into the bay. Then as he looked ahead of them again, he almost panicked. Dalhia was headed straight for the face of a mountain that appeared to be 5 or 6,000 feet tall. He could feel her slowing the ship only moments before he made out the hundreds of openings along the steep cliffs. He quickly realized that they were windows and there was a huge building on top of the mountains summit. Dalhia continued to slow and about 200 feet above the water line a large door began to open. She eased forward towards the door and even Dalhia was surprised at the size of the opening. It could easily swallow a Jumbo jet. Paul couldn’t make out much in the dim light as they entered the enormous hanger, and then he felt the ships landing skids touch the surface.
A few minute later the passenger door swooshed open and Paul was first down the stairs to his new home. Tlase was right behind him and in a strong voice said, “Computer, lights please” Almost instantly, row upon row of overhead lights began to come on. The hanger bay was gigantic. Paul had been an airfield operations specialist in the military when he was a teen and had seen hangers big enough to park B-52 Bombers and even C-5A’s. He could park 6 to 8 of either one in this hanger. It was completely empty except for one small transport and something that could possibly be a Destroyer. Paul had never seen anything like it. Tlase nodded toward the back of the hanger where the two craft were parked and said, “At least we won’t have to forage through the ship yard for transportation, but I have no idea what use we will have for an Illinasos Class IX Light Destroyer.” She looked at Paul and Dalhia and continued, “Illinasos was a genius but had a huge ego. Almost everything he invented he named for himself. That thing was his latest and greatest creation before he died of the virus. I’m not sure he even had a chance to fly it.”
Paul and Dalhia walked as fast as they could toward the back of the hanger. Izinsi looked at Tlase and Zimuel and laughed, “Well we may as well unload this stuff ourselves; we’ve lost those two for a while. They’re like kids with a new toy.” Zimuel looked across the hanger to a couple of maintenance and cargo droids and asked, “Computer do those droids still work?” In response he got the answer, “All equipment and machinery on this planet are completely operational, fully functional and properly maintained.” He smiled and replied, “Good, then have them come over here and unload our ship
.” To his surprise Computer answered him very matter of fact with, “Command of all systems on Planet 1648 are under the direct control of the new owner, Paul Verron. Until I receive a confirming retinal scan, thumb print and DNA sample from Paul Verron, I can authorize nothing more than opening the hanger door or turning on the lights.”
Zimuel looked at Tlase just as Izinsi commented, “Wow, he’s not just a Lt. Governor sent here to get this place started up again, he actually owns the place, the whole planet?” Computer added, “The entire planet and everything on it is the sole property of Paul Verron and only Paul Verron.” “OK, OK, I get the point,” said Tlase just as she looked up to see Paul and Dalhia returning from the Destroyer with Paul shaking his head, saying “It wouldn’t let us in. Darn thing has a mind of its own.” Tlase looked around and then ask, “Computer Mr. Verron is here. What does he need to do?” Computer replied, “On the wall behind you, beside the elevator is a control panel with a retinal scanner, finger print reader and a DNA testing device. You should know how to operate it, you were here when it was installed to screen out those unauthorized to enter Mountain City Dr. Tlase.” Tlase was a little surprised that the computer recognized her, as she escorted Paul to the control panel by the elevator. She explained, “During the virus outbreak the uncontaminated were housed in Mountain City. Illinasos Xhondar installed the control panel in order to restrict access by those who may be carrying the virus. Not only could the scanner identify the person trying to enter, it could also determine from the DNA sample if they were contaminated by the virus. Even people who normally lived in the mountain had to be rechecked every time they left the confines of his mountain fortress.”
Verron: Birth of a Nation: Book One (Verron Series 1) Page 12
