Twenty four boys in navy-blue overalls sat cross legged on the concrete floor of the plant nursery and listened as Doctor Duro spoke to them.

"I tried to pass on to all of you as much knowledge as I possibly could. We all know and respect the plant - Yanada. Yanada provides. It is a good plant. This is Yanada's planet, not ours. We have no right to Sahara. If we respect Yanada, it does not mind our presence. It will resent anyone who tries to destroy it - to bend it to their will or use it for evil. We have learnt to communicate with it at the cellular level - taught it new tricks and coaxed it to do good things. Yanada is a child - just as you are all children. You are Yanada's children, but Yanada will mature. He thinks - just as you all think. I helped him do this. I helped Yanada grow up - to be all that he could be. Yanada loves you all, and Yanada will provide."

He stood up, and walked over to his two proteges. Placing his hands on their heads, he looked at them for a moment, then turned to the other boys.

"Drex and Zak will supply you with the genetic enhancers that will allow you to live in harmony with the plant. Some of these are hormones that will stop you from growing older. You only need to take one dose, and you will never grow old. You see, Yanada has a dark side. A hunger for men.

Many of you have suffered from the guards, or the older boys. They have needs, and you have often been made to fulfill them, because there are no women living here. Sometimes it takes the form of cruelty. Sometimes other things. If you enter puberty, you will become like those men - cruel, hard, sadistic, cunning, and warlike. I want to protect you from that."

Drex and Zak stood up and received some flasks full of tablets from Doctor Duro. They took one each, and walked among the boys, handing them out. The boys swallowed them obediently. Drex handed the flasks back to the doctor.

Duro walked back to the front of the shed. "But I can't protect you. A long time ago, I worked for Division Zero. I was a bio engineer in the section that will run your lives. I made - terrible things. Billions of people died because of what I made. Whole planets lost their human populations, and most of them are off limits to this day. I lost my freedom - imprisoned for life on this desert - I despaired. Now I no longer despair. I have hope. I have found Yanada."

"The Colonel wants me to rejoin Division Zero and start on the manufacture of bio-agents once more. I shall not go down that path again. Nor shall you. I have trained you to become creators and givers of life, not dealers in death. Have faith in Yanada. Yanada will provide."

There was a disturbance at the door, and two armed marines entered.

"You making a speech to these boys," came a dreaded voice from outside. Colonel Krag sauntered into the shed. He carried a swagger stick and waved it around jovially, but with the menace of a cobra about to strike. For the first time in two years, Drex felt very afraid.

"I didn't catch all of it, Doc, but I got enough of the last part to have serious doubts about you. Now I believe in giving everyone the right to determine their own future. So I'm giving you boys that right. There are two classes of people. Citizens of the Empire, and Enemies of the Empire. Those of you who are good citizens of the Empire and are willing to do anything the Empire requires of you - stand over there with my men.

"Those of you who have a problem working for me - you can stand over there with the good doctor."

The boys stood up and looked at the colonel, the doctor, and Drex. He shrugged and walked over to Duro.

"You're a fool, Drex," The doctor muttered.

As one group, the boys, who had seemed to be undecided, walked over and joined him. They stood around the doctor as a cluster, and he put his hands around the shoulders of Drex and Zak.

"I guess they've just given you their answer. Are you going to shoot us down now?'

Krag laughed. "Hell no. I don't waste resources like that, Doc. What do you take me for - a monster? Come on - we'll do this in a civilised way. I'm prepared to negotiate." He slapped the stick against his right leg and turned to the marines. "Escort all of these prisoners to the punishment block. Let's see what a month of marine training will do for their willingness to co-operate."

---0---

Drex awoke to darkness seen through a splitting headache. He groaned as he felt someone grasping his arms and lifting him to his knees. The black canvas hood that he had worn for the two weeks he was in punishment was pulled from his head, and brilliant sunlight pierced his brain through dazzled eyes. He struggled to free his wrists from the steel handcuffs behind his back, but to no avail. His face was slapped hard, and he began to pay attention.

"You stink, and you're full of shit." Krag said. "Look at your little friend on the thorn tree."

"David. Do you always pick on the smallest?" Drex asked. He struggled for breath. "What do you want?"

"Your cooperation. That tree grows fast. By this time tomorrow, the thorns will have grown through him."

"I know. If you're going to kill us one by one, that is the way to go." He laughed.

"You think you can watch him die? Well that's fine by me." He turned to one of the marines. Cuff him around that pole so he can watch."

The marine hesitated.

"You heard me, Soldier!"

The marine snapped to attention and grabbed Drex, lifting him against one of the steel fence posts. He unlocked the handcuffs and re-fastened his wrists behind the post.

"You can stop it anytime," Krag said. "Agree to bring your team over to us, and bygones will be bygones."

"Do you know what happens next?" Drex said. "The larger thorns will drill through his bones. They'll shatter, and bleed. He'll go into convulsions from shock, vomit, involuntary incontinence, semi-conscious, he'll feel all the pains and despair of hell. Then the thorns will pierce his brain, and he'll die. The thorn tree will absorb him totally. He'll be part of it."

"You're a monster."

"No. You put him there. I'm braver than you, because I can watch him die, and you can't. You're the coward, Krag."

David started to scream. Drex looked up at Krag and smiled. "Stay with me and watch him die, Krag."

Krag looked at Drex with disgust. "Be damned. Cut the boy down. Put them back into their cells."

He walked off, and Drex managed to wink at David before he fainted.

---0---

Darkness, but not from a hood. The feel of bodies pressing together for comfort and human warmth, even in the stifling heat of the enclosed cell. The walls were not thick enough to keep out the screams as Duro died. It took two days, and then there was silence. Many of the boys cried dry tears sobbing silently into the thick fabric of the fouled overalls.

A week later, they were assigned to the chain gangs, weeding and planting along a tightly stretched wire cable. At least they were allowed to drink and took regular meal breaks. The plants withered and died beneath the brunt of the cruel sky. Their labour, without the ministrations of the nursery and the special projects shed, was a total waste of time. At night, they were marched back to the prison. There was no salvation for the weak, no beating and transfer to the infirmary for a rest. The dead and dying were left in the fields. On the morrow, nothing remained of them - only empty overalls, manacles, and fetters remained on the scorched fields. It was a mystery that spooked the guards - hardened soldiers who stopped and looked in amazement, and a little fear.

At mid day, when the shadows were smallest, a flitter arrived at the field. A marine reported to the guard tent, and the guards walked over to the chain gang who were taking a lunch break.

"Why are they coming here," David asked. "They're coming for you, Drex."

"Don't be frightened, David. Zak will look after you," Drex said. He stood up and spread his legs apart as one of the soldiers unlocked his fetters.

"Come with me," he said.

"Look after the boys, Zak," Drex said, as he was led away. The boys stood silently and watched him go.

---0---

They cleaned him up and gave him civilian clothes to wear. He sat in a comfortable armchair with a sparkling lemonade in a glass with a straw and a slice of lemon. Small cakes placed on a plate beside him vanished in moments. He looked around at the shelves of books, ornamental vases with flowers from all over the galaxy. Rich carpets were spread on the floor. A bay window overlooked the prison camp which was spread out below. Prisoners of war moved about their assigned tasks, exercised, or rested in the shades of the huts. Drex was interested, for he had never seen the men, who were always segregated from the boys.

Krag coughed, and Drex turned to see him framed in the doorway. He wore camouflaged uniform, boots, polished black belt, holstered maglev sidearm, and carried his swagger stick under his armpit.

"Please come in," Drex said. "Take a seat."

"I have come to the conclusion, that no mater what I do to you, I will not break your spirit. I wish you were on my side. You would make a fine Imperial Officer."

"I wonder what one of them looks like."

"I haven't come here to spar with you, little boy."

Krag sat on a straight backed office chair opposite the armchair, and looked at Drex, almost eyeball to eyeball. "I have lost a hundred men. They were sent into the forest for military exercises, and did not come out. Those who searched for them have also disappeared."

"Should I feel sorry?" Drex asked. "Every thing was going well. We were terraforming Sahara. The boys were free - galactic citizens - able to do what they wanted, go where they wanted. Nobody cared who governed the Galaxy. We were at peace. Then you came and declared war on us. If you don't want to lose any more men, leave here. Go away. Forget you've ever been to Sahara." Drex said.

"I didn't come here to declare war on you."

"Tell that to all the dead men and boys. Tell it to Doctor Duro."

"He was a criminal."

"He looked after us. We loved him. He was like a father to us. You killed him on the thorn tree, didn't you?"

"He died hard. He didn't need to die. He could have stopped it at any time."

"You could have stopped it at any time, Colonel Krag. You killed him, and now he is your worst enemy."

"He's dead."

"He lives in your nightmares. He lives in your daymares. You'll never get rid of him."

"What is Yanada?"

"Duro is Yanada. I'm Yanada. You aren't Yanada."

"So it's an identity thing - a sort of planetary citizenship?"

"Sort of."

"We are running short of food. Supplies are scarce. We need to get things moving. You don't have to build weapons for us. All I want from you is to go back to whatever it was you were doing to feed the planet. You can return to the factory with all of the boys and do whatever it is you do to get things working again."

"So the plants and crops died?"

"We lost a hundred percent. So I'm making you this offer. Look after the food production, and all of the boys will be freed."

"And after the food is fixed, you'll want more, and more, and more. Why can't your scientists engineer the plants to survive?"

"God knows they've tried. The very soil here is full of salt and poisons. The plants have to fight against the local weed. We haven't got a herbicide that will touch the stuff."

"The native vegetation. Yanada. It's all one plant."

"Help us to kill it, and to grow our crops."

"No, Krag. Yanada owns this planet. You might think your offer is generous, but it falls way short of what we want."

"What in all of the hells do you want?"

"We want you to go away - permanently."

"There's no way the Empire will give Sahara up. I'm stuck here to do a job, and I can't get out of it. You're the key to the whole thing."

"What part of 'No' don't you understand, Colonel."

"I am prepared to crucify every boy on this planet if I have to, to make you obey me. There are enough thorn trees out there for all of you." Krag stood up and put the chair back under his table. "I'll even sit up to watch you all die."

"I believe you would."

"Is 'No' your final answer?"

"I guess it is."

---0---

It took the marines two days to bind all the boys of Sahara to the thorn trees. Most of them died before they got around to the last group, the genetic engineers. Zak and Drex were the last. True to his word, Krag watched the proceedings. He stood in front of Drex as the boy started screaming. Huge thorns pushed their way through his legs and arms, growing slowly and inexorably through flesh, blood, and bones.

"I'm sorry, Drex," Krag said. He stood with his hands behind his back watching the boy suffer.

"So am I," Drex gasped.

He screamed once more, and died.

Suddenly, there was silence. The wind died, the marines fell silent, and there was no noise at all. The men stood watching the spiked bodies of the boys as they hung lifeless on the trees.

Without any warning at all, A gigantic thorn ripped up from the ground impaling Colonel Krag on a cruel spike.

He was lifted into the air, kicking and screaming as side shoots spread laterally out through his body. His men, on either side, were similarly impaled. There was no escape. Men ran screaming from the onslaught as Yanada removed the adult male infection from the planet. The prisoners of War died where they stood, hoisted into the air to wriggle to their deaths on the gigantic living green stakes, not knowing, not caring, not understanding what was happening in their last terrifying moments of lives.

Shuttles and buildings were crushed as huge vines erupted from the ground, squashing everything that was man made. Buildings were demolished at a sweep of a branch. On the launch pad, a single shuttle lifted off with its lone pilot, half crazed by what he had seen during the last days of New Sahara.

The soldiers did not have the benefit of absorption. Their bodies rotted over time, and the huge green thorns turned black, withered and died, eventually, letting the mouldering skeletons crumble away in the blowing desert sands.

The boys had died slowly and painfully, but all their memories and personalities had been absorbed by Yanada.

Yanada shall provide.

---(*)---

The End of Book One.