Caged Toy: A Dark SciFi Romance

Chapter 1

Sybil

Sunlight angles down from the mountains, the last rays before it sets. It is a small sun, quite far away from the planet. It’s very warm here during the day, but cold at night.

I’ve never known anything but this planet. Hylo. One of the major farming hubs of the Helios Combine.

My feet are sore, and my arms are tired. My lower back is aching, and the empty buckets seem heavy in my hands. I’m just coming back from the far paddocks where I fed the horses. Father took the wagon out in the other direction to feed the cows. We should arrive home just in time for dinner.

I wonder if there will be enough hot water for me to have a bath. Water is a luxury and it has to be saved for drinking and for the animals. Rains are scarce here and there is water underground in the water table, but we have very little drilling equipment.

I doubt anyone here would have the faintest idea how to operate it, even if we did have it. The processing factories to the west have plenty of equipment and sometimes they do dig wells for us. When those big machines come through everyone comes out to watch. I find them ugly, great hulking beasts that let out clouds of poisonous vapor. 

I can see why the Combine only allows a few of them per planet. They would damage the eco system so badly that it would affect our yield.

I’ve heard of great crystal spires, hover cars and mighty cruise ships. Honestly, I think it’s bull. Why would the Combine keep us in this state if they had that technology? The rest of the galaxy is just like us. Sure, our planet is almost completely taken over by farmland and I assume other planets do have shops, schools and more commerce than trade, but they aren’t that different to us.

When the shuttles come to collect the food it’s a grand occasion. We watch the silver ships descending through the clouds, majestic and sleek. They cut through the air like silver fish, swimming without twisting, gently falling. Some people say there are massive vehicles in the sky, waiting in orbit. I think that’s a load of bull too.

About eighty percent of our yields go to the rest of the Combine. I believe that we do a great service to the empire by producing the food and textiles they need. It gives us a sense of pride.

My mother and father have worked this land their whole lives. It was passed on by my grandparents, who died a few years ago. This land has been ours for generations and we have piles of books, all with carefully printed handwritten notes describing the climate changes and when the soil is best to til, sow or fallow.

I shift the buckets in my hands, feeling them heavy through my shoulders even though they are empty. I was up before the sun to milk the goats and collect the eggs. Then I muck out the chicken coop, bring the horses in and exercise them. We could get a fuel powered vehicle, but father says they are too much trouble. Difficult to run, sourcing parts when they break and the stinky, flammable stuff they run on. Not worth it.

After the horses I usually spend time in the garden with mother and my sister, Sianna. We trim and bundle herbs for drying, harvest small vegetables and prepare them for preserves or processing. We get ground wheat and flour from the nearby mill and bake our bread fresh every morning—usually mothers’ job.

Father works with my brother Grant on the big jobs. Checking the wells and dam—we have two wells and we are considered very rich—getting water to the animals, harvesting and sowing, fixing our boundary fences. Grant is eager to learn and take control of the farm when it’s his turn.

Finally, I crest the hill and I see the cottage snuggled in the valley. The stone bricks she is made of were cut by my great great grandfather, and it said that his father brought the rock from the far mountains with only two Clydesdales and a wooden wagon.

Smoke curls from the chimney and now that the chill is creeping along the ground, I can’t wait to get inside and get warm. I time my day by the sun—we don’t really have clocks here, although I know what they are—and this was a perfectly timed day. If there isn’t enough water, I’ll just wipe myself down with a damp rag before I put on my house dress. 

My hair is so greasy it’s a little itchy. I haven’t washed it for awhile. Even if we had hot water to partially fill the old stone tub, there’s rarely enough for hair washing. Sometimes it seems as if the dirt and grime has settled into my skin and come to stay.

Not that it really matters. We don’t have mirrors. What a waste of glass they are. I only have these leather trousers and long-sleeved flannel shirt and my house dress. Mother is going to try and get some soft silk from the silkworm caves over the mountain to make me something pretty for the summer dance. I’m of age, just turned twenty.

That means that at the summer festival when the whole planet pauses for a rest and celebration, I’ll most likely get married. Lerent lives on the next farm over, he’s strong and dependable and when we marry it will join our farms. Twice as much work but twice as much yield. Our families would become the most powerful in the valley, with the highest value trade. We don’t have money. I don’t really understand what it is, and the old books father gave me don’t really explain it.

The night wind is creeping under my hair as I get to the back door. Just in time. You can freeze on any given night on Hylo. There are signs during the day that hint to bad weather, but not always. The best thing to do is plan your day carefully so you are home by dark.

I put my buckets and tools into the room at the back of the house and head inside. I greet mother and father and Grant and Sianna, smiling at my younger sister with her bright red hair. She has four years before she’s of age. If I am married by then I will have a say in who she marries and I’m hoping for young Paul from the nearby settlement. His father only has a small piece of land, but it prospers. It will be a nice start for her.

Grant, a few years younger, is none of my concern. Men have greater freedom. He could go to the factories, the mines, the lands over the mountains. He doesn’t have to stay. Women produce the next generation of farmers and need to stay in the homestead. Men have no such tie.

I sit down at the table and mother gives me a generous bowl of stew. It has lots of meat from the bullock father killed a few days ago and is thick with potatoes and other vegetables. Since I took on so much more of the responsibilities, I get more food to compensate. Mother smiles as she puts down an extra-large hunk of bread for me.

She doesn’t smile when she hands my brother and sister their small bowls. She looks angry. I see that look on her face often, but never ask her to explain it. She takes a small portion for herself, even though she does as much work as father. He gets the largest share.

From the smell is seems she has made a fruit pie, a rare treat. We will all be full tonight, especially if she has skimmed some cream from the cow’s milk today.

“I heard from Tom that reapers have entered space near Hylo orbit.” Father remarks in an authoritive voice. “He was in the factory sector yesterday and heard it from a space port officer.”

“Oh, pish Joseph.” Mother admonishes him. “You know that Thomas is a great liar. He would see gold coins in a rainbow. He would tell you the mountains were on fire just to see if you run.”

Father shrugs. “Well, he says it comes from the spaceport itself.”

“Of course, he does.” She scoffs and starts on her stew. “As if reapers would come here. What do we have they could possibly want?”

“I don’t know Arianne.” Father says quietly. “But what if they do come?”

The silence that comes after is painful. We’ve all heard of reapers and their violence. It’s a scary tale to tell children, except it’s real. 

Mother and father look at each other. I know what they are thinking. If the reapers come, we have no defense.

They will kill us all.