“Right on time,” Rami’s mom said, taking the butter and eggs from them and placing it on the counter. “Dinner is almost ready. Will you go get your sister from the field?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rami replied, leaving out the front door again.

“I’m sure you guessed,” she said, turning to Orion, “but you’re welcome to stay for dinner. We want to talk with you more about how long to stay and such.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

He waited in silence, hovering around the living room while Rami went to fetch Max. Their house was quiet. It was a strange change of pace from the bustling sounds of the apartment complex, with cars occasionally driving by down below, and one hundred other people sharing the same building as a living space. This was almost something he could get used to.

When the two returned, everyone took their places at the dinner table. Orion sat at one of the two empty seats after everyone else had already picked, and dishes were slowly passed around, allowing everyone to get a portion of what felt like the most diverse meal he’d seen in a long time.

“So, Orion,” the dad began, setting his fork down a couple minutes into dinner. “We wanted to talk to you about what your plans were. It’s alright if you don’t have an answer yet, but there are some obvious things that need to be discussed regarding being in our house, should you choose to stay.”

“I’m not totally sure,” he replied, halfway through his chicken. “The only other place I have right now is my home, but with being hunted down, it’s not a very safe place to be. And I don’t want to get my dad and sister into any more trouble than they probably are right now.”

“Is there something you can do about that?” Rami asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not a fighter, but I want to protect my family. If I could figure out how that machine out there operated, then maybe I could do something, but for now…”

“No worries,” Rami’s dad said. “For now, you can stay with us. We have a spare bedroom up the stairs that you can use, and we’ll give you some of Rami’s clothes to wear. We’re obviously taking in a little bit of risk having you here, but that’s a bridge we will cross when the pastor gives us some insight. But, while you choose to be under my house, you will abide by my rules.”

“Understandable.”

“Good. The first rule is that I’ll be putting you to work. We need all the help we can get out there in the field, and you could use a little manual labor. The second rule is that you listen to me and don’t talk back, and the third rule is that you’re coming to church with us when we go.”

Rami shoots him a knowing look, which he ignores for now. “Sounds fair to me.”

“Right on. We’re up at dawn.”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

Dawn came much earlier than Orion was prepared for. After a long day of walking around and coping with the Clockwork, Rami had helped get the spare bedroom set up for Orion, including a few changes of clothes. The bed was larger than he was used to, and much more comfortable. Or maybe that was the exhaustion.

And yet, at the first peeking of sunlight over the horizon, Orion was still dreadfully unexcited for the day ahead. Aside from working at the butcher shop, he’d avoided the bulk of physical labor in his life. Not to mention the possible concussion he was sporting. He only hoped today would go fast.

His footsteps creaked down their wooden stairs, where he arrived in the dining room once again. Dinner the night before had ended quietly, and everyone had left to head to bed. This morning, everyone was back, bowls of some sort of cereal replacing the pleasant dinner.

“Didn’t even need us to come wake you up,” Rami said, smiling.

“Guess not. Usually don’t wake up this early.”

“It’s a good thing you did,” Rami’s dad said, finishing his bowl and standing from the table. “We have a good portion of field to tend to today. The three of you kids are on scythe duty. Mom and I will haul what you load to the silo.”

“Scythe duty again?” Max’s shoulders slumped.

“Scythe duty is good for you. Keeps your heart pumping, and your muscles lean.”

“Can’t I just do the animals all day?”

“Your brother already volunteered to do them all once the fields were taken care of.”

Max shoots Rami a look, who intentionally doesn’t look her way.

There must be some sibling rivalry going on there as well, like Sam and I, Orion thought. Hopefully, I don’t get caught in the middle of that.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Enough, you two. Finish your bowls and get out there. It’s supposed to be a warmer day today.”

Orion sat to eat from his own already prepared bowl. Now that he had a closer look, he could tell it was some mixture of oatmeal and something finer. It was flavorless, but that didn’t mean it was bad. He politely shoveled it down and went outside, where the Clockwork greeted him.

“I almost forgot you existed,” Orion said, passing it without acknowledgment. “Almost.”

He walked to the barn to find Rami, and naturally, the Clockwork followed. Rami was inside, pulling down a set of scythes that looked more than worn from years of exposure to the open air.

“Here,” he said, tossing one down to the hay floor of the barn. “I’d ask if you’ve ever used one before, but I know the answer.”

“I think I get the general idea. Swing out, don’t hit yourself or anybody else.”

“If that was all there was to it, this job would be done in an hour. Keep the scythe low to the ground, cut at the bottom of the wheat plant, always cut the same direction so that it all ends up in a line, and don’t go too fast.”

“Makes sense.”

“They’ve had me doing this sort of thing since I was old enough to dress myself. Sorry if I’m ever blunt about it.”

“You’re fine. I’d rather know the things I need to do than find out the hard way.”

“Amen to that. We’re hitting the section right next to the house on the east. It’s a pretty small chunk compared to some others, but it’ll still be a few hours of work.”

Rami walks, and Orion follows, with the Clockwork always close behind. When they arrive, Rami gives off a bit of a demonstration, giving Orion the basic gist of what they already talked about.

With that visual, Orion was off to start on the next row, about thirty feet behind Rami, who was much more efficient at doing his rows. By the time Orion had finished one row, Rami was nearly done with his second, and showing no sign of stopping yet. Orion’s muscles had already started to ache, but fortunately, Rami’s parents came by in a tractor carrying a large trolley for wheat. The two stopped cutting to load it up about a third of the way full, and they drove off to the silos.

“Deposit one of one hundred,” Rami said, smiling. Orion groaned a little.

“You weren’t kidding.”

“Nope. And this is a light day. Fortunately, this is usually only a week-long project. For the wheat, at least. We usually have a fall crop as well. Or at least, when we can afford it.”

“I don’t envy the lifestyle.”

“Gives you lots of time to think.”

“About what?”

“A way to get out of the lifestyle.” Rami smiled again, and Orion smiled back.

The two go on for another twenty minutes before Max joins them, already going faster than Orion, and another ten minutes before their mom and dad returned with the cart. Once the second batch was loaded, they returned to the physical slog. Orion was already feeling the burn pretty strongly in his arms and chest.

Behind him, the Clockwork hummed softly, sticking out like a sore thumb against the country backdrop. If only that thing could help somehow.

Wait. Can it?

Orion stepped away from the row he was on, which was two-thirds finished, and approached the Clockwork with the scythe. It gazed at him, and before he could even reach the metal behemoth, it stuck out its hand.

Orion hesitantly placed the scythe in the outstretched hand. “Did you hear how to do this properly?”

He couldn’t tell if he made it up, but the Clockwork seemed to hum in response. Then, it slowly walked towards the field, causing the other two to pause and back up.

“What’s happening, Orion?” Rami asked, looking between the two.

“I think it’s going to do our job for us.”

Sure enough, with its massive wingspan, the Clockwork began swinging against the wheat, shearing it down to the bottom of the stem in an orderly pile. Its row was much bigger than any the humans could produce, and it worked as fast as Rami did to finish that expanded row. After the first row, it stopped and looked at Orion as if for approval.

Rami stooped down to view the freshly harvested wheat. “It’s good. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect this to work.”

Orion gave the machine a thumbs-up, and it moved to start on the next row. When their parents came back the next time, the three of them were watching as the Clockwork did all the work.

“What’s this all about?” the dad asked.

“I think the city-folk call this working smarter and not harder,” Rami said.

“It doesn’t look like you’re working at all. Just because you convinced this untrained robot to do the job doesn’t mean you can sit around and do nothing. Load what you can in the cart and keep working on the field.”

“You can take a break when you’re done,” the mom adds.

“At least we got a break,” Orion said, grabbing a spare scythe from nearby.

“No kidding. At this rate, we’ll be done with this in an hour.”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

Fifty-two minutes later, all but Max had finished with cutting and, and they were working on getting everything put in an enormous pile for when their parents came back with the tractor. The Clockwork had taken the extra scythes and placed them up against the wall of the barn, and was now quietly standing in the middle of the field, like a giant, futuristic scarecrow.

“I think your friend over there is developing a personality of sorts,” Rami said, pointing to the Clockwork.

“What do you mean?”

“It almost sounded like it was humming a song earlier while it worked.”

“It’s always humming. It’s like a natural background noise, I think.”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think you give that thing enough credit.”

Just then, Max cried out in the field, crumpled on the ground, grabbing at her leg. Rami and Orion ran over to her in confusion.

“What happened?”

She replied with a teeth-grinding yell. One look at her leg determined it was pretty severely broken. Orion surveyed the area for a cause while Rami worked to calm her down, but couldn’t immediately find anything.

“Clockwork, come help us!” Rami shouted. It stared in their direction, but made no effort to move.

“Come help her!” Orion repeated, but still it did nothing.

“Run to the silo. Go get Mom and Dad. We have to get her to a hospital.”

Without hesitation, Orion made a break for it, running over to Rami’s parents, who were still in the process of unloading the last large batch of wheat.

“Max is hurt,” he said, out of breath. “Leg broken. Not sure what happened.”

“God bless it,” the dad said, taking his hat off. “Let’s go. Honey, boot up the truck. The boy and I will lift her in.”

Orion and the dad ran back together, where he could get a good assessment of what happened. “Right along the shin. Did you trip over the scythe?”

Max still couldn’t respond, but that was answer enough for her dad. “Rami, help me load her into the truck when Mom pulls it around. We’ll take her to Biomed.”

“What about Orion?” he asks.

“No, Mom and I are taking her. You’re going to stay here and finish up chores. Pick up the rest of the wheat and set it beside the silo.”

When their mom arrived, the two lifted Max in carefully, slammed the door shut, and they peeled down the road toward the Biomed District. Orion, Rami, and the Clockwork were helpless to do anything but watch the truck disappear on the horizon.