Jack watched as the soldiers fled from the shadow of his Enterprise. The forward
screen had an overlay marking out their positions as they ran. The material gathering
sucked up the damaged buildings, turning their clay bricks and glass panels into metal
sheets of armor, exotic glass windows, enhanced machinery, and interior comforts.
A red beam struck at the floating ship. He focused on the blaster as the ship hovered
over the shooter.
“Any damage, Enterprise?,” asked Jack.
“No,” said the machine. “Output is not harming our shields at all.”
“Maybe we should warn him to stop doing that,” said Jack.
Two more beams struck at the floating disk and wings. The wielders of magic
sustained their fire for a minute before giving up.
“I think I have had enough of that,” said Jack. “Enterprise, can you broadcast my
voice?”
“Microphone is open,” said the machine.
“I’m allowing you to run away,” said Jack. “Do that. The next one that opens fire on
my ship will be turned into giblets. After that, I will randomly fire on any force I see
and give your troops more causalities. This is the only warning I am going to give
you.”
One of the book men didn’t get the message. He fired on the Enterprise while the
crowd around him ran into the surrounding woods.
“I guess we have to back up our warning,” said Jack. “Mark target, fire phasers. I
don’t care if we hit him, or not. Just shoot at him until he starts running.”
Golden lines erupted from the phaser banks that formed a ring underneath the disk of
the Enterprise. The ship burned the ground, searing the man inside his protection. He
turned from the display of firepower and ran. The light followed him, cutting the
ground behind him as he ran.
“Can we punch through his shield if we have to?,” asked Jack.
“Unknown,” said the Enterprise. “Using low power to force him to run instead of
letting him use energy bolt against our shields. Will upgrade to torpedoes if I have to
do that.”
“Permission granted,” said Jack. “We want them to keep running. If they have some
kind of secret resource out here, they will run toward that. That will give us some idea
of whether or not they have a bigger gun.”
“Do you think they have something bigger than this?,” said Aviras. He looked around
the bridge.
“We didn’t know they had some kind of magic bankroll until they shot at Josie,” said
Jack. “They might have some kind of giant machine killing device to shoot at us, or
some kind of spell they think will kill us and let them take the Enterprise, or
whatever. If they do, we want to shoot them and disrupt any plan like that.”
“Will repel boarders,” said the Enterprise.
“Thank you,” said Jack. “Josie, then Elaine, then Aviras is the chain of command if
something happens to me. Understood?”
“Understood,” said the machine. “Designate Elaine?”
“Can we reach Hawk Ridge from here?,” asked Jack. “I will introduce you to Elaine.”
“Attempting call,” said the machine.
“Jack?,” said Elaine.
“Hey, honey,” said Jack. He smiled. “How’s it going?”
“The model says you are still in Shemmaria,” said Elaine.
“That’s true,” said Jack. “I built a bigger antenna so I could call home. Aviras is with
me, and keeping me out of trouble.”
“It is a hard job,” said Aviras. “I have to fight tooth and nail to prevent him from
doing something that I will regret.”
“He’s exaggerating, honey,” said Jack. “I haven’t set anyone on fire in the last little
bit.”
“There is still time,” said Aviras.
“Anyways,” said Jack. “If something happens to us, the Enterprise will call you for
orders. It will be up to you to give orders to save any situation. Say hello, Enterprise.”
“Hello, Elaine,” said the machine.
“Hello, Enterprise,” said Elaine. “Jack, the circle from the model is still
approximately about where you are. Do you see anything there?”
“We ripped up the surface area,” said Jack. “We have all the infected we could grab
onboard. The Enterprise is keeping them in the transport buffer so they can’t infect
anyone else. I wonder if there is something underground that we missed. One of
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Josie’s birds would be handy right now.”
“Sensor array will allow search,” said Enterprise. “Do you wish for me to ping
anything unusual?”
“We are looking for anything that will match with the organic material we’re storing
in the transport buffer,” said Jack. “Maybe they have an underground lab where they
are making more of the goblin trees to infect people with and get them ready for
shipment across the border.”
“Did you say Goblin Trees?,” asked Elaine.
“Yep,” said Jack. “Apparently the government here is going to use them as a secret
weapon and send them back across the border. We don’t really have confirmation
other than the dead woman being used to grow one out of her chest. Seeds were given
to others but I got rid of those with some Stargate puffery.”
“There is a marker for Goblin Trees further east from where you are,” said Elaine. “It
appeared on the map when you asked about it.”
“Enterprise, ahead east, slow,” said Jack. “See what you can pick up on your
scanners.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine.
Pings lit up on the screen. The Enterprise cast a shadow over the ground. Soldiers
scattered under the metal bird.
“Looks like a dozen trees mixed in with regular trees,” said Jack. “Natural growth?”
“Those pings are in rows,” said Aviras. “It’s an orchard. I think they are intentionally
growing those trees to put into people.”
“We might be too late,” said Jack. He frowned at the picture from the ground. “This
is bad.”
“Talk to me, Jack,” said Elaine. “What’s the problem?”
“It depends on how the Goblin Tree spreads,” said Jack. “These idiots might have
exposed all of their personnel to seeds that will cause an infection that will turn them
into cannibals. And if they spread that around, more than the people we have here
might have already spread this out of any way for us to stop.”
“What does that mean?,” asked Elaine.
“We might have a generational problem that will keep coming back even after Josie
and I clear the rest of this out,” said Jack. “Shemmaria might have caused something
that could spread out of control and push the rest of the continent into constant
warfare with what they created.”
“Maybe I was wrong about nuking them until they glow,” said Aviras.
“What?,” asked Elaine.
“Elaine,” said Jack. “Are there any other spots with the trees marked on Josie’s
model? The Enterprise can deal with this orchard easily enough. We need to know if
they’re any in the wild.”
“There is a scattering of dots,” said Elaine. “None of them are close to where you
are.”
“Enterprise,” said Jack. “How much territory can you scan for goblin trees at any one
time?”
“I can cover the whole country from a higher elevation,” said the machine.
“You were a big help, Elaine,” said Jack. “You kept us from letting this grove stay
in their hands so they could keep infecting women to do whatever they planned to do.
We’re going to reduce the grove to atoms and then move on the rest of the work.
Aviras and I are perfectly safe riding along in the Enterprise. As soon as we rip up all
the trees and any samples we find, we’ll link up with Josie and Fass and see how they
are doing with the planners behind everything.”
“You still have to take me to a show,” said Elaine. “Welsher.”
“I will do it,” said Jack. “I didn’t know that Shemmaria was trying to create a zombie
apocalypse and I would have to build a facsimile of a famous airship to accomplish
my ends. Aviras is a great idea board. I think he will be good for you when you are
shopping for your wedding dress.”
He put on his gruff voice.
“That color is all wrong with your eyes. That color is great with your eyes but bad
with your hair. Strapless is easier to take off. You don’t need petticoats.”
“I will take that under advisement,” said Elaine. “Come home when you are done. I
know something else is going on. We will talk about it when you are ready.”
“You know better than that,” said Jack. He grinned at the thought. “I am going to rip
up these trees and talk to Josie about what we should let the Duke know about this
to send up the chain of command because this could be the basis for open war. Josie
might want to keep this in the shadows and pick up quests to keep putting down any
mad schemes they come up with to invade their neighbors. Some of the brains behind
this might be meeting Josie’s fist while we’re talking.”
“Thank you for calling,” said Elaine. “It was nice to meet you, Enterprise.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine.
“I am perfectly safe,” said Jack. “Before I get back to work, could you call Jane and
see if she can set up a field hospital somewhere. If she has to rent a building until we
can get things done, that will be fine. We have a number of women subjected to seeds
we took out. They are going to need to be nursed back to health.”
“I will call her,” said Elaine. “I will draw the money from the Exchange myself and
get it done.”
“All right,” said Jack. “Be careful. We’ll be home as soon as we can.”
“All right,” said Elaine. “Remember the show.”
“Call disconnected,” said Enterprise.
“All right,” said Jack. “We need to pull these trees up and chop them into atoms. Then
we need to climb up and locate the rest of the trees. Are you ready?”
“Affirmative,” said the machine.
“She is good for you,” said Aviras. “You deal with things better with her support. The
world will be in great danger if she breaks up with you.”
“The world was always in great danger,” said Jack. “But my enemies will suddenly
see the sharper divide between my kindness and mercy.”
“I’m glad that Elaine is keeping that in check,” said Aviras.
“So am I,” said Jack. “I would hate to be a bigger menace than the ones I am putting
down. Josie would be sad.”
“She would be furious, and punch you in the face,” said Aviras. “Maybe set you on
fire.”
“You know her so well,” said Jack. “Enterprise, commence grove removal and wood
chipping. Then lift us high enough to locate the other trees and we’ll pull the others
up and get rid of them.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine. Trees began disappearing on the screen. A gardener
threw up a red beam of death at the hovering ship. A glowing blob of high speed
metal turned the gardener into a burning splotch of blood spreading out like a
grotesque flower. The burning book next to it was a period to not get in the way.
The grove left a hole in the middle of the surrounding trees. Holes in the ground
marked where the bodies had been ripped up. The aircraft grew a little bigger with
the additional mass.
The Enterprise began climbing, extending out its sensor range. It pinged random trees
in the wild. None of them seemed to have facilities around them.
It began adding their mass to its own as it cruised east.
Jack thought as he sat in his command chair. Someone had found a random goblin
tree, harvested it, and planted it near Kas. Then they had put in place a plan to infect
anyone who came into contact with the seeds to create their walking dead. They
had even planted a grove of the things for the convenience to their operating station.
Were they dealing with the initial tree that had spawned the rest of the plan?
“Enterprise,” said Jack. “Make sure that we are picking up all of these trees. Someone
must have one they are taking care of to create this program in the first place.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine.