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

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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.