“So, what are you going to do now?” he asked, more to give the Pattani time to complete its mission rather than to hear the answer.
His implant blipped once to inform him the ship had entered the wormhole. Not much longer now.
«I will restore my garden, undo the scars you have wrought and recreate beauty and poetry. And you, the weeds in my garden, will be gone from here. Impressive Meat, flee back through your spacial anomaly. My pods will follow. You have demonstrated that your kind is too dangerous to leave its worlds. My pods will alert others of my kind, summon them with the means to contain you and end your threat.» It paused and Colby felt its attention on Duke for just a moment before it resumed. «You understand there are higher orders. You are Meat that suborns lesser Meat, just as I command all the vegetation of this world. You do this for your own purposes and often to the benefit of that lesser Meat that serves you. You restrict it, instruct it, educate it, to the degree that any of these things are possible for lesser Meat. Such is your future. You will be restricted to your worlds. Space will be denied you, as will the means of transit. You will not be harmed, but you will be contained.»
And that is so much bullshit, Colby thought as he waited for the inevitable. And finally, it happened. The Pattani went off the net. Colby sent a simple query through his implant to. . . nothing. His implant still worked, and it still had terabytes of data, but there was no connection back to humanity. They were truly cut off.
“And now you’ve lost. That was the Pattani with a handful of brave men and women, destroying the wormhole. You don’t know anything about my people, where they are. We’re safe from your. . . weeding. Meanwhile, we’ve got two more ships chasing down whatever of your pods are still out there. They will follow your pods to the ends of the galaxy, if they have to.
«Resourceful Meat, you continue to surprise. I had not imagined your capacity for death included self-destruction if it achieved your ends. But you have failed. My pods don’t transition to your area of space. I don’t need to create a beacon there for my people to find you. It is enough to inform them of your existence, your capabilities. Many of the pods that launched seek their way home, and you have only two vessels to pursue. It is a long journey, and you are short-lived. The galaxy is vast, but we are patient. Only one needs to get through. Once they are alerted, informed of your existence and the threat you pose, my people will repurpose themselves to find you.»
While the Gardener pontificated, the Marines around them began to stir. Whatever had knocked them out was short-lived. Colby sensed that the Gardener was about to lash out, probably with its more lethal mist.
“You’ve lost. It’s over. They’re going to burn you where you stand, and destroy every atom. There will be no coming back this time.”
«I am but a leaf on a tree in a single forest. My own existence is insignificant. The designs I imposed upon this world have already been set back in motion. Strike me down again, perhaps for a final time. It is your way. But it changes nothing. Not upon this world, nor elsewhere.»
“Colby!” a welcomed voice cried out from the edge of the field. He didn’t turn around, but he could hear feet pounding. A moment later, Topeka was at his side, staring at the Gardener, the same one she’d beheaded a week before. Marines flowed to either side of him, weapons aimed and waiting for the order to open fire.
He didn’t have to. Duke barked twice, and as if that was a signal, the Gardener collapsed, its body decomposing into mulch as they watched.
It was over. . . right?
The melon pods were ships, no doubt about that, and he knew they were being sent out as some sort of spacefaring vegetable message beacons, letting the other gardeners know there was Meat out in the galaxy, Meat that fought back. If the Portnoy Bay and the Gazelle could catch and destroy every one of them, well, all for the good. That would just delay the inevitable confrontation that would eventually happen. But humankind was aware of the gardeners now, and they wouldn’t be caught by surprise.
“What now, Colby?” Topeka asked.
There were about 700 people on the planet between civilians, sailors, and Marines. That wasn’t much, but it was enough to be a viable population. The planet was fertile, if they could control the gardener’s plantings and make sure their own crops thrived.
“Now, we live,” he said.
“Really? That’s all you have to say?”
He shrugged.
“I guess you’re back to being a farmer. And here I was, just getting used to calling you General.”
Colby thought about that a moment. He had his Marines, and soon enough he’d also have the surviving sailors from the Pattani, but Vasquez had little need for either.
“You’re right,” he told her. “Looks like I’ll have my hands full teaching a lot of people how to be farmers.”
She nodded and said, “I guess I’m going to have to learn to be one too. Not much of a demand for shipping now, is there? Don’t suppose you want to teach me?” she asked, looking away from him as she petted Duke on the head.
The dog wagged her tail in pleasure.
He slowly reached out and took her hand.
“Yeah, I’m a farmer again, but at least I’ve got my commission back.
Thank you for reading the Seeds of War Trilogy. We hope you enjoyed it, and we welcome your review on our novella on Amazon or any other website.
SEEDS OF WAR
Invasion
Scorched Earth
Bitter Harvest
Other Books by Lawrence M. Schoen
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Barsk
Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard
The Moons of Barsk
The Amazing Conroy
Buffalito Buffet
Calendrical Regression
Barry's Deal
Buffalito Destiny
Trial of the Century
Buffalito Contingency
Selected Short Stories
A Fool's Death
Bidding the Walrus
Pidgin
Mars Needs Baby Seals
The Game of Leaf and Smile
The Moment
Thinking
The Wrestler and the Spear Fisher
Books Edited/Published by Lawrence M. Schoen
Alembical
Alembical 2
Alembical 3
Alembical 4
Cats in Space - Elektra Hammond (ed)
Cucurbital 2
Cucurbital 3
Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight - Cat Rambo
Rejiggering The Thingamajig And Other Stories - Eric James Stone
The Wizard of Macatawa and Other Stories - Tom Doyle
Klingon Language Works
The Klingon Hamlet
Much Ado About Nothing: The Restored Klingon Text
Gilgamesh: A Klingon Translation
A Pictorial Guide to the Suffixes of tlhIngan Hol
How to Speak Klingon: Essential Phrases for the Intergalactic Traveler
Author Website
http://www.lawrencemschoen.com/
Other Books by Jonathan Brazee
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The United Federation Marine Corps
Recruit
Sergeant
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Commandant
Coda
Rebel
(Set in the UFMC uni
verse)
Behind Enemy Lines
(A UFMC Prequel)
An Accidental War (A Ryck Lysander short story published in BOB’s Bar: Tales of the Multiverse)
The United Federation Marine Corps’ Lysander Twins
Legacy Marines
Esther’s Story: Recon Marine
Noah’s Story: Marine Tanker
Esther’s Story: Special Duty
Blood United
Women of the United Federation Marine Corps
Gladiator
Sniper
Corpsman
High Value Target (A Gracie Medicine Crow Short Story)
BOLO Mission (A Gracie Medicine Crow Short Story)
Weaponized Math (A Gracie Medicine Crow Novelette and 2017 Nebula Award Finalist)
The United Federation Marine Corps’ Grub Wars
Alliance
The Price of Honor
Division of Power
Ghost Marines
Integration (2018 Dragon Award Finalist)
Unification
The Navy of Humankind: Wasp Squadron
Fire Ant
Crystals
The Pumpkin Ace (A Floribeth Short Story published in BOB’s Bar 2)
The Return of the Marines Trilogy
The Few
The Proud
The Marines
The Al Anbar Chronicles: First Marine Expeditionary Force--Iraq
Prisoner of Fallujah
Combat Corpsman
Sniper
Werewolf of Marines
Werewolf of Marines: Semper Lycanus
Werewolf of Marines: Patria Lycanus
Werewolf of Marines: Pax Lycanus
To The Shores of Tripoli
Wererat
Darwin’s Quest: The Search for the Ultimate Survivor
Venus: A Paleolithic Short Story
Secession
Duty
Semper Fidelis
Checkmate (Published in The Expanding Universe 4)
Non-Fiction
Exercise for a Longer Life
The Effects of Environmental Activism on the Yellowfin Tuna Industry
Author Website
http://www.jonathanbrazee.com
Twitter
@jonathanbrazee