Red Leaves and the Living Token by Benjamin David Burrell Read Free Book Online Page B

trees, the group stopped. Several men and women, wearing light jackets emblazoned with the orchard’s bright red insignia, stopped at the trunk of an gnarled old tree. Its branches twisted up into a dense canopy over them. They waited as Lord Valance and the Clan Lord pushed up from the back of the crowd.
    "This is our oldest." Lord Valance announced to the Clan Lord then rested his hand up against the trunk. "She produces more fruit than almost ten younger trees."
    He followed the Clan Lord Ranth's gaze up into the fruit laden branches above them. The coverage was thin compared to the younger trees they'd just passed through. The tree could easily have held two or three times the count.
    "How quickly is she declining?" He asked one of the men in the light colored jackets.
    "Fifteen percent per year now." He answered.
    "Fifteen percent?" The rate had increased since he'd last reviewed the numbers. "And this is the highest rate?" He asked.
    "Yes. She's the worst case scenario. She was the first to show the decline and has so far contracted the farthest."
    The Clan Lord stared at the old tree then redirected his gaze to the young scientist in the jacket. "OK. So what are we saying? The rest of the trees are going to hit fifteen percept when they get as old as this tree?"
    "With some margin of error, yes, we believe so."
    "So you have to tear these out and plant new trees? I'm not sure I understand..."
    "The life cycle of the trees isn't the concern." A middle aged woman interrupted. Valance and the Director both turned.
    Lord Valance extended a hand towards the new voice. "Clansman this is Doctor Bihinlem. She's been heading our alternatives research. Go ahead doctor."
    The Doctor nodded in greeting. "What concerns us is the distribution of our production load across the age range of our trees. These relatively few older trees produce almost half of our total yield. As the director said, one produces as much as ten younger trees."
    "OK. I'm still not sure I see the problem. Won't all your young trees grow into large high producing old trees?" He asked.
    "Yes, naturally that should occur..."
    "What do you mean, should?"
    "It'd be better if we showed you." Lord Valance motioned for the Clansmen to follow him, as he carefully stepped over the fallen dead branches from the giant tree.
    He led the group through more rows of the massive old growth trees. It seemed so strange to him; they were such immense creatures; they looked so healthy and strong. In many ways, they were the symbol of his vast empire, his power and vitality.
    The change was abrupt as they crossed over into the younger section of the orchard. From one row of trees to the next, the giants shrank to nearly a quarter the size. Their branches weren't even tall enough to step under.
    "These are the oldest of the next expansion of trees. They were planted a decade or so after the older ones." Lord Valance explained.
    "Only ten years younger? They can grow that much in ten years?" The Clan Lord asked.
    “No they can't. The size difference between these and the old growth represents about fifty years of time.”
    “I don't follow.”
    “These trees, for all intents and purposes, are as large as they'll ever be.” Valance explained.
    “But that's...”
    "The simple matter is this," he paused, "For some reason that we cannot explain, our younger trees are not growing to what we would consider a mature size."
    "Has this ever happened before?"
    "Not that we're aware."
    “Are there other orchards that have been effected in this way?”
    Lord Valance took a moment before he answered. "There are no orchards that have escaped this problem."
    "All of your orchards? That’s more than half of our supply of Manea!"
    He cleared his throat. "Not all of our orchards. All of the world's orchards. All Manea orchards have been effected."
    "What?" He stammered. "How could that be?"
    "We're trying to understand that."
    "So what does all this mean? Have you planted enough new trees to