Josie nodded as she looked around the tent city. Elaine and Hilda were talking on one


    side. They still hadn’t found Jane, so Jack and Mister Warner were doing better with


    their thing than she was.


    She had flashed some of the women with Doctor Occult and they were in stasis as far


    as she could tell. She had to think of some way to get these people on their feet and


    moving out of here.


    “What do you think, Ear Ripper?,” said Hilda.


    “I haven’t done it enough,” said Josie. She frowned at Jane’s second. The blond


    woman smiled at her.


    “Matilda?,” asked Elaine.


    “June found something,” said Josie. “Jack and Mister Warner are there. Apparently


    Mister Warner took a hand in things and showed them why he was the champion of


    order for so long.”


    “Even your children are dangerous,” said Hilda.


    “Every kid is dangerous,” said Josie. “The question is how dangerous are they.”


    “What do you think?,” asked Hilda. She turned her gaze across the tents.


    “I am impressed with the work that has gone in,” said Josie. “How long can you hold


    them here before there is a problem?”


    “We don’t have to worry about additional food yet because they aren’t eating,” said


    Hilda. “We have water supplies we are giving them. They aren’t doing anything. We


    have a midwife who is supervising everything, but she says they aren’t doing any


    normal functions like sweating.”


    “Could they still be infected?,” said Josie. “I can go back up the line and check on our


    gardener friend since he knew everything about goblin trees.”


    “Massa is here,” said Hilda. “I can get her so you can talk to her.”


    “Go ahead,” said Josie. “If we can’t wake them up, all we are going to be able to do


    is warehouse them until they die.”


    Hilda strode off to look for her midwife. She talked to people who were in her way.


    Nods and questions were exchanged as she moved through the makeshift shelter.


    “Opinions?,” asked Josie.


    “You might have to cast some kind of spell to wake them up,” said Elaine. “It is


    unnatural that these women are doing nothing. I would expect they would need to be


    cleaned up at least.”


    “I’m thinking the same thing,” said Josie. “Did we just stall the problem and bring it


    home so it could hit us here? Are these women trapped in their own bodies? I don’t


    like any of this and I don’t like the feeling that this is some kind of trap.”


    “If there is a danger, wouldn’t the Society say something?,” said Elaine.


    “Right before it’s too late,” said Josie.


    Hilda returned with a heavy woman with a cloth to cover her gray hair, large hands,


    and a small scar on her round chin. She frowned at Josie and Elaine.


    “Ear Ripper, this is Massa Oryne,” said Hilda. “Massa, this is Josie Fox, and Elaine


    Numera.”


    “Madame Witch,” said Massa.


    “The Ear Ripper thing is old and I’m not a witch,” said Josie. She frowned at the


    taller women. Hilda gave her a Jack grin in return. “Hilda said you haven’t seen any


    signs of life in any of these women.”


    “They breathe, a check of their eyes shows the eyes moving in their skulls, but they


    don’t move at all,” said Mass. “I have never seen anything like this.”


    “They were being used to try to perfect a way to grow goblin trees,” said Josie. “We


    destroyed the laboratory when we got them out.”


    “Goblin trees are a rare thing,” said Massa. “My limited reading indicates all these


    women should be dead and coming back to life as monsters.”


    “That was my reading also,” said Elaine. “I was a bit surprised when Matilda said


    they were a type of monster mushroom.”


    “I haven’t heard that before,” said Massa. “A mushroom?”


    “A fungus,” said Josie. She went into the nearest tent. She sat down on the ground


    next to the cot keeping the patient off the ground.


    “What are you doing, Josie?,” asked Elaine. She stood in the entrance of the tent.


    “I’m having a Jack moment,” said Josie. She stared at the sleeping woman. This


    woman had a hard life before she had been taken from the Shemmarians. Would


    waking her up be a mercy?


    “That doesn’t sound good,” said Hilda. She looked over Elaine’s shoulder.


    “Come in,” said Josie. “I’m still thinking.”


    She had the most powerful tool on the planet. She had a brain with forgotten facts that


    she could access at any time. She had millions of examples of powers being used to


    do the impossible. All she needed was an inspiration.


    “The scan with Doctor Occult revealed nothing,” said Josie. “That doesn’t mean


    anything. It might have classified whatever is going on here with a natural process.”


    “So all these women might still have goblin tree seeds inside of them?,” said Elaine.


    “And that would make them a threat to us,” said Hilda.


    “Not just us,” said Josie. “Elaine, step here. Hilda, you and Massa, stand beside


    Elaine. I have a small idea.”


    Josie got to her feet. She stepped back so she could see all four women at once. She


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.wondered if her idea would work as she called on Doctor Occult again. She told the


    scan to compare the four women and tell her what she was missing.


    The scan registered her targets as pictures down to the core of their beings. Then it


    layered on muscle, arteries, veins, the gastrointestinal tract, bones, and flesh. Hilda


    and Elaine registered as normal. Massa had several growths around her spine, and


    what looked like a tumor on her liver. The comatose woman had streaks of growths


    in her brain and along her spine.


    The scan said they were all healthy.


    She let the persona go. She wanted the watch to be recharged before she actually went


    to work. And Massa had to be the first to be worked on.


    “All right,” said Josie. “Hilda, Elaine. Could you grab up everyone who is working


    on these women. Grab Jane if you can find her. I think I need to have a meeting.”


    “How bad is it?,” asked Massa.


    “It’s okay,” said Josie. “I just want to talk to you for a moment. You are in charge


    here and you are going to have to figure out what you want to do.”


    “Josie won’t let anything happen to you, Massa,” said Elaine. “Inside that cranky,


    frowny, crunchy shell is a center made of butter.”


    “That will rip your ear off,” said Hilda. She clapped the other woman on the shoulder


    as she left the tent.


    “She won’t rip your ear off,” said Elaine. She left after their boisterous comrade.


    “All right,” said Josie. “I think you have been exposed to the goblin tree seed. Are


    you having problems feeling things?”


    “I had a pain in my side, but it stopped after I started working to help these women,”


    said Massa. “Are they a threat?”


    “If we don’t stop what’s going on, but we are going to stop it,” said Josie. “I’m going


    to show you a couple of pictures. I want to know what you think.”


    Josie changed into Zatanna. She produced a picture like an x-ray. The streaks in the


    sleeping body were highlighted in red. She handed that over.


    She produced another x-ray with the colored markers on it. This one had the tumor


    in yellow. She let the persona go.


    “What is this?,” asked Massa. She indicated the first x-ray.


    “This is the inside of the sleeping woman,” said Josie. “All the marked areas are not


    supposed to be there. They are on her brain and spine and might be shutting down the


    signal for her to do anything. This one is yours.”


    She handed over the second picture.


    “I have the same growths on my spine,” said Massa. “What is this yellow thing?”


    “It’s a tumor on your liver,” said Josie. “I am going to say you had it before this other


    stuff started spreading around.”


    “This tumor was why my side hurt?,” asked Massa.


    “Maybe,” said Josie. “It might be doing things to your liver which is telling the rest


    of you to help it. And I will. Now that I know what to look for, I can fix this today.


    Then I can get these people out of here and wake them up and let them get back on


    their feet.”


    “You want to see if you can fix this in me before you try on someone else?,” said


    Massa.


    “You’re the only one awake,” said Josie. “I understand if you want me to try on her


    first. I would be scared to have someone trying to pull something out of me no matter


    how much it was supposed to help me in the long run.”


    “What do you want to do?,” said Massa.


    “I would like to build a machine that we can move around to pull this stuff out,” said


    Josie. “When we do that, things will get messy and you will have to keep everything


    clean.”


    “Can you do that?,” said Massa. She looked suspicious as such a statement.


    “If I can’t, I will call Jack and get something from him,” said Josie. “He did the


    original seed extraction with his device.”


    “The two of you are the strangest people I have ever seen,” said Massa.


    “I always thought I was normal,” said Josie. “Jack is the strange one.”


    “I’m sure,” said Massa.


    Amazons began gathering at the door. Jane pushed her way to the front. She looked


    around. Elaine arrived next, and joined Josie inside the tent. Hilda directed the people


    into an orderly crescent around the entrance of the tent.


    “What’s going on, Josie?,” asked Jane. She glanced at Massa.


    “This is a picture of this woman,” said Josie, handing over the x-ray of the patient. “I


    think the growths are keeping her asleep. Show her yours, Massa.”


    The midwife handed over her picture.


    “She has the same growths, only not so much,” said Jane. She glanced at Massa.


    “How?”


    “I think these sleepers are exuding something,” said Josie. “I want to try to pull out


    all of these growths so your people are safe. First, I have to check everybody.”


    “All right,” said Jane. She looked over the group of women. “Is everyone here?”


    “There is the second shift,” said Hilda. “They are asleep in their rooms as far as I


    know.”


    “We can start with the women here,” said Josie. “Then we can work on the sleepers.


    I’ll have to work on a way to extract any growths I might find. When I get done with


    them, they’ll have to be kept clean and hopefully will wake up so we can start moving


    them out of here.”


    “The Exchange is searching for the deed for the building you cleared out,” said Jane.


    “They are going to send a messenger when they find it.”


    “Elaine and I are going to take a run at the owner of the second building,” said Josie.


    “The kids were supposed to ask for adventurers to help us move these women and


    look out for them.”


    “How do you want do this search part?,” said Jane. “I think it will be a bit premature


    to wake these women if we have no place to send them.”


    “All right,” said Josie. “I can check your nurses before I head out.”


    “Can you give us something we can use to check people here?,” asked Hilda.


    “Something permanent?”


    “Jack is the expert, but let’s see what I can do,” said Josie. “Do you want it here?”


    “We should put it next to the house,” said Jane. She pointed out the direction she


    meant. “Once we know how many of our women are infected, we can think about


    how to clear things out.”


    “All right,” said Josie. She wondered how hard it could be to make a scanner to show


    problems.


    If she could solve this, she would be able to step into Jack’s area of expertise.


    “All right,” said Jane. “We’re going to move this riot over to the house. Someone


    get the others. We want to do everyone at the same time. Go ahead.”


    The group headed out, Hilda talking to one of the women. Josie, Elaine, Massa, and


    Jane remained at the back of the pack.


    “Do you think you can put a selection board up for us?,” asked Jane. “I know that you


    don’t usually do anything like this.”


    “I’ll need to think about how we can do this,” said Josie. “I think I can put up


    something like an ultrasound so we can look at things in real time.”


    “An ultrasound?,” asked Massa.


    “Where I am from, medical science has invented things to see through the human


    body,” said Josie. “One is an x-ray based on radium that shoots through the body and


    can be used to form a static picture like I did for you. Too many will cause problems,


    but that won’t matter here for a while if ever. The other is an ultrasound that uses


    sound to bounce against the body and produce a picture. Women routinely get them


    to check on their babies when they are pregnant.”


    “So a sound can be turned into a picture?,” said Jane. “How does that help us?”


    “We set up a machine that will take a picture of anyone stepping in front of it and use


    it to check for the growths,” said Josie. “Once we know how many of your Amazons


    are infected, I can come up with a way to cure that. And once I have a cure, I can use


    it on the sleepers.”


    “If the second building is too far away, we might have to put housing up for our


    people to help these victims,” said Jane.


    “I will put up another two bricks of gold to help with that,” said Josie. “Don’t worry


    about the money. Worry about the manpower that we need to take care of these


    people when we start placing them. We are going to need their names and if they have


    a place to go outside the city so we can send them away if we can.”


    “Two bricks of gold?,” said Massa.


    “When I asked Jane to help us sort through the victims from Montrose, I guaranteed


    enough money to do the job,” said Josie. “And I have the means to stand by that. You


    guys are directly under our wing, and we need you to help the people we can’t. Jack


    and I are stomping out fires, but neither of us can just drop everything for a stranger


    who needs constant care.”


    “You did for me,” said Elaine.


    “You are Jack’s beloved,” said Josie. “You don’t turn away your best friend’s


    beloved.”


    “And we,” Jane gestured to cover the whole yard they were walking through, “plan


    to be at the wedding.”