Fast Tree: A Science Fiction Story

In the year 2045 Nat Watkins should have been happy with his lot in life. His wife Matilda was a genetic engineer who had invented a product called Fast Trees that was a huge success. The success of the product had made the couple five million dollars.

When Matilda first discussed the idea of genetically engineered Fast Trees with Nat, he told her it would never work. People like natural things in their backyard, Nat argued, not a genetically engineered tree. But Matilda was insistent that the product would succeed. She said the main reason few people plant trees in their back yards is that the trees take years to reach a decent size. But, Matilda explained, a genetic engineer like her could remedy that defect, by using gene-splicing to create a tree that would grow two meters every month.

Matilda was right. After she got the genetic engineering right, Fast Trees became popular all over the country. People loved the idea that they could plant a tree in April and get a good shade tree by July or August.

Nat should have been happy with his clever wife and the financial bonanza she had produced. But there was only one problem. Matilda was middle-aged and plain-looking, and Nat had developed a big crush on a much younger and prettier woman named Vanessa who lived down the street. Slowly an evil idea began to grow in Nat's mind: that he could kill his wife, and be left with the family fortune to do anything he pleased, such as wooing the lovely Vanessa.

For weeks Nat thought about ways he could commit the crime of killing his wife. Then one day he came home and found his wife in the back yard planting a tree. 

“We've made so much money from Fast Trees, it's about time we had one in our own yard,” said Matilda. She had dug a large hole in which to plant the tree sapling. Next to the hole was a large pile of soil and the tree sapling. 

At this point a terrible thought entered Nat's mind. This is my golden opportunity, he thought to himself. Now that she's dug that hole, I'll just kill her with the shovel, and bury her in the hole.

BANG! Nat struck his wife's head with the shovel, and she fell to her knees. BANG! Nat hit his wife's head again with the shovel, and she fell to the ground, twitching. BANG! Nat hit his wife's head again with the shovel, and she died.

Nat then threw Matilda's body into the hole. He asked himself: what should I do with the Fast Tree sapling? He decided to throw that into the hole also. Then he filled up the hole, tossing all of the soil from the pile of soil into the hole. He then covered up the filled hole with a sprinkling of leaves. 

Nat then began to tell a story that his wife had ran away with another man. He began to spend some of the family fortune on fancy cars, gambling, and wild parties. Meanwhile, the Fast Tree planted in the back yard began to grow very quickly, just as genetically engineered Fast Trees always did.

One day Nat was having a wild party with several beautiful young women including Vanessa. There was loud music and much drinking. But suddenly the party was interrupted by a loud noise.

BANG! There was a sound of something rapping on the window. BANG! The loud sound was heard again. BANG! The third rapping sound caused Nat to wonder if this could be the police coming to investigate his wife's disappearance. Nat went to the window.

“Oh, it's only a branch rapping against the window,” said Nat. The branch was a branch of the Fast Tree, which in the two months since Matilda's murder had now grown to a height of four meters.

Nat felt a chill when he looked at the branch that was knocking on the window. The end of the branch had finger-like protruding twigs that made the branch resemble a human hand.

There was no further noise from the branch that day. The next day Nat was alone watching his holographic wall-screen. He was again disturbed by a rapping noise.

BANG! The tree branch knocked on the window. BANG! The loud sound was heard again. BANG! The third rapping sound caused Nat to notice that it had been three raps against the window, just like on the previous day.

There were no more knocks of the branch against the window. The next morning Nat had a troubling thought. He remembered he had killed his wife using three blows with a shovel. And each night the branch had rapped on the window, it had banged three times. Nat asked himself: was this just a coincidence?

Nat was troubled, and he tried to smother his worries with alcohol and partying. The next night he again entertained friends, including the young Vanessa. There was more loud music and laughing conversation. But then the sounds returned.

BANG! The tree branch knocked on the window. BANG! The loud sound was heard again. BANG! The third rapping sound caused Nat to lose his composure.

“Bang, bang, bang!” hollered Nat. “BANG, BANG, BANG! Have you noticed that the accursed tree branch always bangs the window three times? It's like the branch was trying to remind me of the three blows I struck to my wife's head!”

“What's that?” said Vanessa. “You told me your wife had left you, not that you hit her three times on the head. I'd better leave, and let you work this out in your own mind.”

Vanessa left, and drove immediately to the police. She told about what Nat had said. The next day the police arrived at Nat's house with a search warrant. Using one of the new portable X-ray scanners, they scanned the back yard, and quickly found the shape of a buried body. They dug up the Fast Tree that was two months old. They found that the roots of the tree had become completely entwined with the heart of a decaying corpse. It was the corpse of Nat's murdered wife Matilda.

Presented with the evidence, Nat confessed the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.

After his imprisonment, there was debate about the strange case. Some said that the banging of the strange branch with a hand-like end must have been somehow caused by the spirit of Nat's wife Matilda, who may have haunted the tree entwined with her corpse. Others said it was all just a coincidence.

Which of these was right? The answer will never be known in this mortal life.