As the central star glowed on the horizon after 24 hours of darkness, the planet Antares entered once again into its phase of life.
The animals were moved to the grazing area, and the crops were watered once more. All cities recovered their light as new cargo entered the planet.
Antares was little more than a dim speck on star charts, an anomaly forgotten in the outskirts of a solitary system. It didn't orbit a star as most worlds did, but a titan of hydrogen and ammonia: Or'Khul, a gas giant of perpetual storms, shattered rings, and a magnetic field so intense it warped long-range transmissions. The system's star, an orange dwarf named Ember, bathed the planet in glowing light.
In the chaos of a new day, a young farmer began his day with a fight.
Ulysses, a young man with less than 21 atomic years, had blonde, unkempt hair, dark eyes like the night itself, and a tanned body. His opponent was Ícaro, his neighbor and best friend—although both denied it.
—I told you! Your father told my father this place was okay for my animals to graze,—said Ulysses, pointing at a piece of land big enough to fit a small building on the hologram map Ícaro had brought to ensure a proper discussion.
—And I've told you more times than space itself remembers, Ulysses. Not only my father but yours too died more than three years ago. Things change. Now I want to export animals too, and I need this place. I'm not going to import food just for a deal that was made when I wasn't in charge.
Ulysses and Icaro knew each other since they were born, Icaro was only 3 months younger,a tall young man with dark hair, light skinned and eyes with the same color as honey
—Look, let me keep the place for three more months. I'll sell enough animals to afford the land Izo offered me, okay? I'm sure it's the best way for both of us. I'll need to move my drinking fountains anyway.
Ícaro closed his eyes, calculating silently, then smiled at his old friend.
—Leave them, Uly. I'll buy them. And it's okay—three months, alright? Not a day more. I need to go back. My mother is waiting,—he said, folding the map until only a small cube remained and leaving the hill where their farms collided.
Ulysses did the same. He had to ensure his animals were ready to graze—only 119 hours remained until night returned.
The same routine, over and over. His 195 cows were guided quietly by him alone, since his mother was sick and no longer strong enough to help. She only did small chores around the farm, and that was it.
Ulysses looked at the sky and thought about his father, Parek. Unlike his mother, Casme, Parek was born on an inner planet, six times larger than Antares. He had escaped from there after an incident he never told anyone about. Some people in the city told stories about him to Ulysses, but they always ended the same: "He was a mysterious man," they said.
When Ulysses was only ten, his father left the planet. His mother explained that Parek had joined the Army of Planets, a force created to respond to any threat in the nearby colonies.
He never came back.
Three years ago, two soldiers arrived at their house. They informed both Ulysses and his mother of Parek Antares's death and handled all the paperwork and bureaucracy Ulysses didn't understand at the time.
Around the same time, Ícaro's father died from exhaustion, right on the front porch of his residence. The man was already old. Ícaro said it was a cardiac arrest during the night. They couldn't do anything.
Ulysses watched the cows in front of him—beautiful animals, older than all the colonies humans had founded.
He remembered attending the only school in the city. Antares was a primitive planet, lacking even half the technology available elsewhere. It had been created by a man whose name was already forgotten, using his fortune to terraform a useless moon into his personal resort.
Over time, many people settled there—persecuted politicians, criminals, war veterans. Antares' society was built from scratch.
And from that society came the cows, imported from the inner planets, who in turn had brought them from Mother—the planet once called Earth, the origin of humanity, and its symbol of hope.
Unlike any other planet, Mother was left behind. After humanity began expanding, all human life departed Earth, leaving only ruins. The planet started to heal as its children went into the depths of space.
But Ulysses wasn't as passionate about space as the other teens his age. He feared leaving this place. His mother insisted, "Leave this place. Go inside the border. Live a great life, full of technology and luxury," she said. Ulysses looked at the blue sky and the orange star that shone like a reactor in it and thought, "What could be better than this peace? I can't imagine a piece of metal being any better than this."
Ícaro was completely different, he thought. He always talked about how he wanted to leave this hellhole as soon as possible. He didn't want to die like his father—in a place so closed, so small.
Space itself was dangerous. People spoke of the war raging inside and outside the border, across countless human colonies. Beings known as "Angels", capable of destroying entire military planets on their own. And that wasn't counting the hundreds of internal wars—conflicts between human colonies and civil wars within the domains of the lords.
All of it was too terrifying for Ulysses: planets submerged in fire and destruction for decades before being conquered, only to be oppressed again until another rebellion began—and the cycle repeated.
Ulysses was thinking too hard. It was his way of passing the time while the cows grazed, usually ignoring him. But this time, they weren't eating—they were looking at the sky. When he did the same, he realized why.
Three warships were stationed in the morning sky, and a glowing light crossed the firmament of Antares.