THE PEASANTS

"The rice fields and the jungle surrounding them whisper death. Each morning I wade thigh-deep into the warm muck, I can feel it has a hunger. But the overseers don't care. The quotas must be met, even if we plant the rice in soil soaked with our own blood."

• LKF-387, Rice Field Worker, Third Season Survivor

Every cycle, an endless stream of worker clones is produced in the Prime cloning facilities, to be sold to the countless domed greenhouse farms of the mud lands and the vast rice fields of south-east Asia, better known as the lands of Hell.

In the months after their emergence from the growth tanks, this particular batch of new clones receives neural downloads to train them for a life as rice farmers. The neural downloads give the workers an idealised vision of the life that awaits them.

Eventually, the day comes for the clones to be taken to the rice farms, where most of them will spend the rest of their lives. Vast land trains are made ready to take the entire batch of clones on the long journey.

The clones, now several months old but with the mental age matching their adult bodies thanks to the neural training, board the land-trains.

The land-trains are leaving the Prime Tower facility. Their destination are the rice fields of the Yunnan province.

The Yunnan rice fields stretch from one end of the horizon to the other.

The rice farms are run by local warlords.

Each warlord controls a clusters of fields and storage facilities, as well as greenhouses, usually from within a well protected fortress!

Morning mist rises from the rice paddies as another day dawns.

A land-train packed with a delivery of new clone workers arrives at the rice farm of an independent Warlord.

Coming fresh from the sterile environments of the Prime Tower facility, the heat, humidity, endless rain and mud of the rice fields are initially a shock for the new clones.

The new worker clones are soon put to work and are on the march to begin their shift in the fields. Life for these clones will be hard and monotonous - and short. While under constant guard, they labour in the rice fields for as long as the sunlight allows.

Clones are not technically slaves, but will have to work the rice fields for 5 years to pay off an indenture - the amount the warlord paid for them. Afterwards, they are free to move on or to continue working for a wage. Most of them won't ever see that day.

The pace of work is relentless, but a moment's rest and inattentiveness may bring death...

Several times a day, the mud  kraken and other nameless creatures rise out of hidden sinkholes in the rice fields to feed on the human herd, especially those that may be resting or may be separated from the rest of their work gang.

The guards activate distortion fields that repel the creatures from their own positions, and then watch as the creatures feast on a few hapless workers. As an important part of the eco-system, the creatures must be allowed to feed. This way, the workers become part of the cycle of life and the very soil they work on...

As the daylight fades and the shift ends, the weary survivors carry the harvest of the day to the warehouse units.

Under the watchful gaze of their Warlord and her heavily armed guards, the workers stack their harvest in the safety of the warehouse domes.

Afterwards, they finally get some food and rest. All of them are marked by the exhaustion - and terror - of a day in the fields.

As dawn breaks, another day begins...

After a few months, most of the peasants realise that they have little to no hope of lasting 5 years to earn their freedom. Over time, most of them will either be eaten alive...

...or simply collapse and die from exhaustion one day.

Some of the guards feel empathy for the plight of the workers - they are clones themselves and understand that their fates could easily have been reversed. Nevertheless, when a guard discovers a dead worker, they swiftly bring in replacements to fill the vacant position.

But today will be different. On this day, ragged Neo-Cong fighters are waiting in ambush to attack the guards and to liberate hundreds of peasant workers from their indenture. They too were once working on farms and in factories and are willing to risk their lives to liberate their fellow sisters and swell their own ranks.

A Neo-Cong officer gives the signal...

...and the first few guards are killed in silence!

Alerted by the screams of the dying, the other guards open fire - they don't know where the attack is coming from and shoot anything that moves - dozens of workers in the rice paddies are gunned down by mistake.

Using the confusion to their advantage, the Neo-Cong eliminate more and more guards...

When the remaining guards finally locate the attackers, their accurate fire takes down many of the Neo-Cong raiders...

...but many more workers are killed too, stuck in a deadly crossfire between the lines, without much cover.

Amidst the chaos of battle, the workers realise their chance is now or never, and begin to flee the fields. Many of them of them are shot in the attempt, and a growing number of dead and dying are left behind...

With most of the guards suppressed, the Neo-Cong begin to destroy several of the storage and greenhouse facilities, causing maximum carnage to cover their retreat.

The Neo-Cong's tactics are as callous as they are brutal, and they pay no regard to the large numbers of workers that are still within the domes, seeking shelter from the battle.

Meanwhile, the battle has disturbed the monstrous kraken and other creatures that live in the hidden depths of the marshland. Attracted by the scent of blood, they begin to feed on the dead and the wounded.

As the fighting dies down, the surviving workers are beckoned into the jungle by the Neo-Cong raiders. For those that survived the battle, freedom - of a sort - awaits!

The guards are under order to let no-one escape, and many more workers are gunned down as they attempt to flee.

Those that make it to the relative safety of the jungle, are quickly herded together by the Neo-Cong warriors.

At first a few survivors trickle in...

...but soon there are hundreds!

The battlefield they leave behind is littered with countless dead and dying.

The workers, guards and raiders - all of them clones - have all paid a terrible price today...

The survivors begin the long journey through the jungle, to one of the hidden fortress sanctuaries of the Neo-Cong.

The surviving guards are ordered to pursue the fleeing workers into the jungle - but the elite Sanctuary Guard of the Neo-Cong have set up a rear guard and already await them...

The pursuit is a death sentence, and none of the Guards survive the encounter...

Only now do the workers realise, that the worst is yet to come. There is a reason that these lands are called Hell on Earth - this is the "Dìyù" - and many of them won't survive the coming journey.

The jungle is alive, from flesh-eating plants and giant spiders to nameless, abhorrent mutant kraken and other predators.

The workers are not accustomed to this environment, and for more than half of them, their escape into freedom ends in the bowels of a nameless creature or carnivorous plant...

The group must also traverse the territory of ruthless cannibalistic headhunter tribes. The Neo-Cong have agreed a price in human flesh with headhunters in advance, sacrificing a handful of lives so that the rest of the survivors may pass unhindered.

The headhunters prefer to only wound their prey with bow and arrow, for their tradition favours that the actual kill should be made while looking the prey in the eye! The surviving peasants look on in horror, while the flesh of their friends is taken...

After a few more horrific days, the survivors  finally reach the hidden valley. Here, nestled into the jungle, stands one of Sanctuaries, the secret temple fortresses of the Neo-Cong.

The freshly liberated workers join the ranks of the ever-growing Neo-Cong peasant army. Over the coming months they train to become fearsome warriors and learn to survive in the predatory jungle.

For a while at least, these clones may feel free and hopeful for the future. But soon their training will finish. The peasants have become warriors and the endless cycle of war and death grinds on forever.