The War of the Tree

By Adam Ornstead and Enoch Ornstead

In the far distant future the most surprising thing about the Earthis how little has changed. Technology has advanced, but people still continue to have all the same disagreements and problems. In an attempt to escape from what they view as madness, a group of extreme environmentalists push forward the practical implementation of space flight. Believing that the Earth was too far gone to be saved, they instead decide to terraform some other planet to start over there, only they would do everything right this time. Their plans succeed so far as preparing a place and departing the planet, but en route some new recruits aboard the last ship begin to engage in debates over whether the stance taken by their leaders is too extreme to be viable or not. On bringing these concerns to the attention of their leaders, they and their ship get thrown out of the whole colonization effort. Desperate to make things work, the crew of the now outcast vessel, called the Creeping Phlox after an obscure flower, attempt to return home only to find that is impossible. Not welcome on their target world of Tulon, nor able to return to Earth, they are forced to make other arrangements and do the best with whatever planet they are able to find.However, the crew of the Phlox find themselves unable to survive the harsh native environment without heavy recourse to technology. The survivors of the Phlox are unable to cling to the sameenvironmental views that had gotten them on the ship, but the crews of the other vessels fare almost no better. The extreme anti-technology stance of their founder cause the eventual collapse of the society they try to build on Tulon, regressing into an era of barbarism. The story begins after an automated probe, part of the originalterraforming effort but lost and never heard of due to a navigational error, sends a radio report informing both planets that instead of being entirely lost, it had terraformed a third planet, and that effort is now complete, with the planet ready to be colonized. The degenerate descendants of the failed colony on Tulon, as well as the struggling survivors of the outcast ship, both hear that message. Each side wants what can be found there, and puts their old ships back into service to see who can get it. When both sides arrive, they go to war.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1469988755
• ISBN13: 9781469988757
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"