Okimoto, a brilliant star in the midst of the Takeda Star Cluster, dawns on the horizon of the agricultural planet Keto. The red light of the local star over the horizon of Keto saturates the clouds of a massive superstorm becoming barely visible on the opposing skyline. The cumulonimbus formations and massive sparks of lightning reach out towards space like tendrils of light in search of darkness. An ominous moving painting in the early dawn of Keto’s sky.

The morning star casts a red hue upon the Sullivan Family Farm, illuminating the crops of barley, wheat, and corn. Keto is a farming planet, occupied and terraformed to feed billions of creatures across the galaxy of Andromeda. The planet, along with the local star cluster, had been colonized and owned by the Takeda family for several centuries now. For thousands of kilometers around, there is nothing but dirt roads, drainage ditches, and crop plots that stretch as far as the horizon itself. The entire planet had been repurposed for harvesting by the Takeda family, but this change of the planet had also caused a significant imbalance in the global weather systems.

Enjoying the glorious view of the sunrise and storm from his farmhouse’s front porch, Vikta Sullivan takes a long smooth sip of his imported coffee. The blackened sugary drink let off its final puffs of steam as Vikta finished sipping. Gently placing his now emptied coffee cup down on a short table next to some rocking chairs, Vikta turns from the colorfully tinted sky and strides over to the front door. He clutches the handle and swings open the wooden door with a hefty shove.

Vikta takes a deep breath before shouting through the open door from the porch, “C’mon boy! Get your ass moving! We’ve got to get going. A storm is on its way and you just so happen to be taking your sweet ass time. This thunderstorm isn’t gonna wait for you to get your pants on.”

The clamor of feet scuffling and hopping across the wooden floorboards shakes the house. Vikta continues to grumble under his breath as he impatiently waits by the door. Echo comes bounding around the corner of the bedroom hallway, still trying to get one leg into his jeans with his shirt slung over his shoulder. Just as soon as Echo rounds the corner within sight of Vikta, he takes another hop to get his other leg into the jeans and his feet slip from under him, dropping him flat on his ass. “Oof! Owww. Dammit”, exclaims Echo.

Still sitting on the floor, Echo continues to get his other leg into the jeans and slips on his button-down black collared shirt. Reaching over to the wall near the corner, Echo grabs his work boots with a long stretch. Vikta just stands there, silently judging his son’s progress with grumpy furrowed brows.

When Echo finally finishes, Vikta gives a quick nod and says, “You done screwing around? Let’s get moving. That storm is moving fast and could be here sooner than I expected. I already see a large number of lightning sprites coming out from atop the clouds. This one is gonna be one hell of a superstorm.”

Echo’s expressions flutter between excited and worried for a few moments before he finally says, “That doesn’t sound good. There are lightning sprites already visible from this far off?”

Vikta just nods his head and says, “Go look for yourself. We’re going to have to sleep in the shelter tonight. It’s heading right for us.”

Echo jumps up off the floor and rushes past his father down the front porch steps, his boots thudding and crunching in the rocky dirt as he strides over to an open area where he can get a better look. Echo turns to stare in awe at the morning light show displayed above the thick clouds. The lightning strikes up from the top of the clouds multiple times every second, towards space in the shape of an upside-down cone. From this distance, they may look small but are a couple of kilometers across and reach hundreds more into the outer atmosphere before dispersing into thick leaf-like tendrils. These ‘lightning sprites’ are so powerful that they are capable of discharges that will take out any unlucky spacecraft flying overhead.

Vikta takes a moment to look at the superstorm again before turning and calls out through the door once more, “Alright hun, we’re on our way out. Can you keep an eye on those storm sensors and call me if something changes?”

Unseen from another part of the house, Andrea responds, “Sure thing. I’ll probably be in the storm cellar getting prepped for when you get back.”

Vikta gently shuts the door and quickly strides down the steps of his porch. The soft dirt crunches beneath his work boots as he makes his way over to a spot beside Echo. Standing beside his son, Vikta can’t help but stare in wonder at the sheer power of nature barreling down on their farm. His jaw clenches and untightens at the pace of his thoughts.

If only we had more time to prepare for the storm. We have to make quota though, or many out there in the galaxy will starve.

Vikta breaks the silence as he turns and beckons Echo with a light tap on his shoulder, “We’ve got to get moving, Echo.” Both of them turn and start walking around the house to the backyard. “Our quota is due today, and the shipment launch is tonight. If we don’t leave for Launch Central by noon, we may be heading back home through that superstorm with an extremely pissed off boss nipping at our heels. Let’s get on over to the control station, bring the harvesters back in, and get the wheat shipment onto that railway immediately. I need you to go and make sure the engine is running with a full charge, hook up all of the shipment containers, and then go fill half of the containers with the barley stock while I bring in the wheat.”

Echo and Vikta split up as they walk towards an outcrop of metal buildings behind the farmhouse. These simple box structures with slanting metal roofs are separated into three main buildings. These massive metal structures make the small farmhouse look like a children’s toy house.

There is one building for storing the massive harvesters and another for food. The control station for the tractors is located between the food storage and harvester storage buildings and up atop a skinny metal tower that stands twenty meters tall with two metal ladders on each side. A single long corridor set between the two buildings is the only way to reach the tower from either side. As Vikta heads into the small dark corridor between the two metal buildings, he flips a switch at the corner, and the passage lights up with a brilliant yellow glow that spills out onto the grass.

The third building, to which Echo headed towards, is also a storage area. However, it stores a particular type of equipment. A train engine and eight steel shipment containers sit on a railway inside this metal building that dwarfs those next to it. From end to end, the building is about 120 meters long by 80 meters wide. Large enough to fit the train equipment neatly inside and still wide enough to fit a harvester for transferring crops to the shipment containers. Atop this building sits a multitude of solar panels and small wind turbines. Wires litter the top of the metal building, exposed to the elements, but protected by rubber coatings. Out of the back of the building is a railway leading a straight line all the way beyond the horizon.

Echo enters the building with the train equipment through a small steel door near the corner of the structure and disappears into the darkness. He emerges once again into the artificial light of overhead spotlights that were activated by his movement through the doorway.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

A small black box begins shrieking on the wall next to the door. Echo covers his ears with his hands as he curses under his breath. The sounds of Echo's curses are drowned out as he reaches for the shrieking alarm box. Quickly flipping open a flap on the black box, Echo enters a code with a free hand as he presses his ear against his shoulder and the alarm quits screeching. Stretching his jaw and shaking his head, Echo walks over to a nearby table with an old-school 20th-century amateur radio set and sits on one of the corners of the table.

Before Echo even gets a chance to relax on his little corner of the table, the radio sparks to life behind him, “Boy get your ass up off that table and get moving! I said there’s a damn storm!”

Echo falls forward off the table and onto his hands. He quickly and quietly pushes himself up off of the floor. Echo quietly mutters under his breath as he looks out the corner of his eye at a small camera neatly placed in the corner next to the door. Vikta’s voice comes through the radio once more, “And quit your bitching. You know what’s at stake here.”

Echo quietly makes his way over to the train engine, moving around small equipment and tools, and climbs on using a small ladder near the front of the train. Clambering up onto a small walkway on the side of the engine, Echo turns and opens the door of the cabin. Inside is two seats on each side separated by control panels with a windshield that wraps around the entire front, giving a 180-degree view. On the back wall is another control panel with monitors.

Walking up to the back wall inside the cabin, Echo flips a single switch and a monitor flickers to life. On it, are readouts of power input, output, and charge. Echo turns to a control panel near one of the seats and flips another switch. Radio static fills the cabin with a loud sizzle and goes silent as Echo turns down the volume.

Turning a dial on the same panel, Echo flips the channel to his farm’s local radio signal and presses a red-lit button. The static clicks off as he speaks loudly in the enclosed cabin, “Dad!? You there?”

A few moments of static and a click, “Yep, how’s the engine doing?”

Echo presses the button once more, turns his head back towards the monitor on the back wall, and starts giving readouts over the radio, “Output at 0, obviously. Input at 30%. We have more wind power than the solar power to charge the engine right now. It’s still early in the morning. The charge is holding steady at 95%. We should be able to make it to Launch Central and back with at least 30% charge left.”

Echo lets go of the button. A few moments of silence and static. Vikta’s voice comes over the radio once again, “Alright, can you come up to the control station? It seems we have a bit of a problem. One of the harvesters is out of commission, and it’s carrying our shipment of wheat.”

Echo chimes in quickly, “What about the barley? Don’t we have to get that on board soon?”

Vikta snaps back, “I’ll set the reserved harvesters out to fill up those containers. Just get up here, son.”

Echo hastily flicks off all of the controls he’s turned on since he’s been in the cabin and makes his way off the train engine. Pushing past all of the tools and equipment in the room, Echo makes his way outside and towards the corridor that his father went down. Reaching the long hall, Echo picks up his pace and started jogging toward a ladder near the center of the walkway. Once he reached the ladder, Echo looks up and can see his father pacing back and forth on top of the large metal grating. Taking his time, Echo climbs up the tower to where his father is.

When Vikta notices Echo finally reaching the top, he beckons him over and says, “Come here and take a look at this.”

Echo makes his way over to the control panel that his father is pointing at. On it are various controls for each harvester and a monitor showing the location of each one by way of global positioning systems. Next to that was another monitor with security footage for the inside of the buildings. On the monitor showing the harvesters, several red dots are moving about on screen. Only one of the red dots were blinking and not moving. In the center of that dot was a white ‘#3’.

Echo blinks and looks over at his father, “The monitor is showing that the harvester is stuck on the railway. This setback can’t be good. It’s 20 kilometers out, and we don’t have the time to retrieve it.”

Vikta calmly states, “That is why you’re going out there with the train engine. Get that harvester unstuck while I finish up the preparations here. Get going, son.”

Echo silently turns and makes his way down the ladder. Rushing back to the other building, he climbs up inside the train and takes a seat in one of the chairs. His hands rush over the panels in front of him, and the train engine silently springs to life. Vikta chimes in over the radio once more, “I’m opening the door for you. Good luck. Check in with me when you get there and if you have any problems.”

The sound of metal grating against metal fills the train storage building as gears next to the door start grinding and pulling the large metal plates open. As soon as there was enough space for the train engine to fit through, Echo pushes forward a large lever on the front panel. Hydraulic brakes loudly hiss as they release the wheels of the train. The hiss of the engine hydraulics becomes louder as the electrically powered generator works hard to get the wheels turning under the immense mass of the locomotive. The train sluggishly pulls itself ahead but quickly starts to gain speed. Once outside and traveling down the rails at a considerable speed, the only sounds coming from the electric train engine were now that of the wheels against the railways and the churning of gears inside. No steam is pouring out. The engine is using no gasoline. Just pure renewable electric energy from the elements.

Echo stared in wonder at one of the most beautiful sights he has ever seen in his short life. On one side was a stunning view of the sunrise, and on the other, the torrent of an approaching storm. Echo relaxed in the chair as the train made its way towards the horizon. The harvester was too far away to see just yet, but at least he could enjoy this lovely morning. This moment alone gave him some time to think to himself.

I wonder how Uncle Felix is doing. I haven’t seen him in years. He’s always so welcoming to be around. It’s not often that I get to bring a shipment to him personally…

Echo’s thoughts drift away as he stares at the horizon in silence for a few moments before his eyes snap wide open when another thought crosses his mind.

Last night was weird. I swear I could feel the pressure of the ship detonation and the G-forces as well in that dream. What the hell was it with that damn voice telling me about a crystal soul? The hell is a crystal soul anyways?

Echo starts groveling under his breath again as he begins to confuse himself. He breaks away from his daydreaming and starts to focus his attention on driving the train once again and looks into the distance out the windshield to find the harvester. A tiny black dot can be seen in the distance as the train starts to slow down and near its destination. Coming to a complete stop just a few meters from the harvester, Echo can immediately see the problem.

Clicking on the radio, Echo checks in with Vikta, “Looks like the blades may have latched onto the railway. It might just be lightly hooked onto the rail. I’ll go detach it.” Before Vikta can respond, Echo makes his way out the cabin door.

Climbing down from the train engine and making his way over to the harvester, Echo is surrounded by nothing other than wheat crops with a few meters between the train tracks and the crops. The tractor portion of the harvester is shaped like a bulky domed beetle with blades underneath and dragging behind it is a significantly large box container for storing the crops. The beetle looking portion is pressed up against the train track, and its dome-like shape is covering any view of the exact problem. Echo climbs up onto the harvester and opens a panel in the center of the dome. Pressing a single button aboard the tractor, it begins to lurch, and the metal screeches as the blades retract up into the harvester. Another button press and it moves backward off of the rail. He continues backing up the equipment until it is entirely in the midst of the crops.

Closing the panel, hopping down off of the harvester, and making his way back up to the conductor’s seat of the train, Echo chimes in on the radio once again, “It’s all set. You can send the harvester back now.”

Vikta exclaims, “Good work! That was quick. If you don’t mind... When you get back here, can you set the train to charge mode again, and then get those containers hooked up? After that, just wait for me in there while I get everything loaded up.”

Echo clicks the radio on one last time, “No problem, I’m on the way.” Echo pulls a lever back and sets the train in reverse. As he looks back at the harvester in the midst of the crops, he can see it start to turn all on its own and make for the same direction that he was heading. Echo sat alone in the silent cabin as the train made its way back to the farm, with nothing but the sounds of the wheels on the railway and the view of the morning storm to keep him entertained.