The Kursas

by George Willson

  Inside the box was an interface panel with a screen and keyboard. Next to the screen was a large button which Retinda pressed. The face of a middle-aged man with graying hair appeared on the screen.

  “Who is it?” the man asked.

  “Professor Wilster, this is Commander Retinda. I need you to grant us entry so we can talk.”

  “About what?”

  “I don’t wish to discuss it through your comm system, sir,” Retinda sighed. “Let us in please.”

  “Very well,” Wilster said with a heavy sigh, and as he disappeared from the screen, a beeping sounded.

  “That’s the ten-second warning,” Retinda said. “Get in.”

  The four of them stood in the small box and after 5 beeps, a door closed and the box descended into the ground. Only moments later, they felt the compartment rotate and then open into a short hall with a door at the end of it. As they approached the door, it opened, and the man from the monitor stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.

  “What do you want?” Wilster asked.

  “It’s a matter of national security, and I believe you know what it is about,” Retinda said. “May we come in?”

  “If you must,” Wilster huffed, and he stood back to allow the four of them to enter his main living area just behind the door. The room was appointed with several chairs that were attached to the floor positioned in front of a large screen that showed the yard above them like a window. The walls contained several shelves containing books and items that looked like artifacts or memorabilia.

  Wilster walked to his chairs and seated himself in the fanciest of them which looked like a recliner, but its arms contained multiple switches and controls. Retinda and Darvin sat in the chairs closest to him while Blake and Michelle were further away. Wilster stared at Blake and Michelle while they sat before he spoke again.

  “Where did you two come from?” he asked Blake.

  “We’re not from around here, to be sure,” Blake said. “We popped in to help with your problem, though I confess we’ve done precious little so far.”

  “What makes you think you’ll be useful against these invaders then?” Wilster asked.

  “Something usually presents itself,” Blake said.

  “That being beside the point,” Retinda interrupted. “We have come specifically to speak about a relic from the vessels you helped catalog which has gone missing.”

  “And what is that to me?” Wilster asked.

  “Process of elimination,” Darvin said. “Of everyone who was on the dig, you have emerged as the only one who might have taken something that these Kursas want.”

  “And we need you to return it,” Retinda said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wilster said.

  “We not only traced the item to you, but the Kursas have tracked the unique crate it was contained in,” Blake said. “Their ship has sensors that can find what it needs, so they’re in the area.”

  “They just don’t have the intel we do on who was on that dig, and where they live,” Retinda said.

  “You can’t have it,” Wilster said defensively. “No one can.”

  “This isn’t your decision,” Darvin said. “You should never have taken it to being with. Given its importance, we’re prepared to forgive you for this crime if you will give it to us without any trouble. We’ll be on our way.”

  “No,” Wilster said, and he pressed a switch on his recliner. A transparent cylinder rose out of the floor beneath Michelle’s chair. Everyone stood, and Blake ran to it. He took out his scanner and examined it.

  “You need to let this go,” Wilster warned.

  “What are you doing?” Retinda asked.

  “Do you know how deep my home goes?” Wilster asked. “Do you want to find out what’s down there?”

  “Where is the item?” Darvin asked.

  “Forget the item,” Blake said. “Let her go.”

  “The item is deep within my vaults, but knowing you’ll want to go after it, I need to make sure you stay busy looking for something else.” Wilster never moved from his chair. Retinda drew her weapon and trained it on him.

  “This is your only warning,” she said.

  “No,” Blake said. He walked to her and placed his hand on her weapon which she lowered in response, never taking her eyes from an over-confident Wilster. “This is not how we’re going to get it. You know it. He knows it.

  “Professor Wilster, I understand you may think you have something of great value, but those Kursas out there will not think twice about destroying you and ripping your home out of the ground to get at whatever this is they want.”

  “They won’t do that,” Wilster said. “It’s too fragile. They want it intact.”

  “What is it?” Darvin asked.

  “A dream,” Wilster said. “A beautiful, beautiful dream.”

  “You’ve used it?” Blake asked. “It has a psychological effect?”

  “It spoke to me,” Wilster said. “As I held it, it comforted me. It knows me.”

  “What kind of device is this?” Retinda asked.

  “An addictive one, at least,” Blake said. “But that doesn’t seem like all it would do if the Kursas want it so badly. Drugs can weaken a population, but they’re useless without another goal. Wilster, let Michelle go.”

  “Why?” he asked. “What will you do to me if I don’t? What would happen to her if you did something to me?”

  “So what do you want?” Blake asked.

  “I want you to leave me alone,” Wilster said. “Leave me before I make you.”

  “We can’t do that,” Darvin said. “You need to give us that item, or we’ll have to search for it.”

  “If you insist,” Wilster said, and he pressed another switch on his chair. Michelle disappeared down a trap door along with her chair which had unclamped from the floor. The floor closed behind her. Wilster stared at them proudly.

  “Now you have two things to find,” he said.

  “What did you do with her?” Blake demanded.

  “Put her in my little obstacle course down there,” Wilster said. “Maybe she can get out. Maybe not. Maybe you can find her. Maybe not. Either way, none of you are safe.”

  Blake took out his scanner to see how far she had gone, but no reading was coming from the device on her blouse at all. He touched his logo and said, “Michelle.”

  “Oh, do you have some method of talking to each other?” Wilster asked condescendingly. “You don’t think that isn’t something they thought of?”

  “What are you talking about?” Blake asked, his stomach sinking.

  “As soon as you get dropped down that tube, you get hit with several electromagnetic blasts that won’t hurt your person, but it’ll completely destroy any technology you’re carrying,” Wilster explained. “If you want to find her, you’re on your own. You should have just left.”

  “Maybe you haven’t heard us correctly,” Retinda snapped. “It doesn’t matter what think of us or why we’re here or whether we’re entitled. We’re trying to keep you and the rest of the planet safe by getting whatever this thing is out of here. If we leave, the Kursas will come in here and destroy you.”

  “Let them try,” Wilster said.

  As if on request, the ground quaked. Everyone looked at the screen on the wall and saw Kursas holding devices over the ground and using large weapons to blast holes in it. Moments later, a blast hit the camera, and the screen went dark.

  “Now, what do you have to say?” Darvin asked. Wilster appeared shaken by seeing the troops above them. Something had snapped.

  “How did they find us?” Wilster asked in a panic. “Surely it can’t be the item they’re seeking. It is buried too deep.”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Retinda said. “You boasted about how deep this goes. You’re about to show us.”

  “And we need to find Michelle,” Blake said.

  “I will show you to my vaults,” Wilster said, “but not to lead
you anywhere. They won’t find what I’ve hidden down there. You can follow me to escape, but if you wish to locate the item, you’re on your own.”

  “Stubborn even now,” Blake said.

  “It doesn’t belong to you,” Darvin said.

  “Apparently, it doesn’t belong to any of us,” Wilster said, “but you have to admit that if they want it that badly, their attempt to retrieve it won’t bode well for any of us either.”

  “Especially after you make them work for it,” Retinda said.

  “I doubt that would have made any difference,” Wilster said. He led them down a flight of stairs just off his living area to the lower level, which looked like any other house. He moved through that floor to a bedroom closet where he revealed a trap door. They all climbed down a ladder to a bare hallway. Blake closed the trap door behind them as Wilster pressed a switch to turned on a row of lights along the passage. As the lights illuminated the way before them, they could see halls branching from this main one until the last light lit up another junction at the far end.

  “Here we are,” Wilster said. “You’re on your own from here. I will be taking the shortest route back to the surface and away from here.”

  “I don’t think so,” Darvin said, and he grabbed Wilster by the back of the neck and forced him to the ground. “We came here for a purpose, and you’re going to fulfill that for us.”

  “You can’t force me,” Wilster said.

  “No?” Darvin asked. He stepped on Wilster’s right hand, spreading out the man’s fingers, and drew his weapon. “I can hurt you quite a bit without killing you or even debilitating you. You were all fancy with your switches up there, but how well would you flip them missing a few fingers? How bad would that hurt down here?”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Blake asked in surprise. “You’re not seriously thinking of torturing him for information.”

  “I do what I have to,” Darvin said.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Blake said. “Out there, you have an alien race which is already torturing your people for their own ends, and here you are to do the same thing?”

  “This is different,” Darvin said.

  “How?” Blake asked. “Both of you would inflict pain to get what you want. Both of you only care about your own agenda.”

  “His agenda is leading to the destruction of our people,” Retinda interjected. “I know you’re not from our planet, but so far, you’ve been on our side. Whatever your ways are, perhaps they are not ours as well.”

  “There must be a way to resolve this without resorting to this end,” Blake implored.

  “It’s all empty threats anyway,” Wilster mocked.

  “I’ll show you it isn’t,” Darvin said.

  “I wouldn’t push him, Wilster,” Blake said.

  “You wouldn’t hurt me,” Wilster said confidently. “You military types are all the same. All talk and no action. You’ll threaten me all day before-“

  Darvin had had enough, and he shot off the tip of Wilster’s right index finger, interrupting the worthless banter the man was providing. Darvin released him as he screamed in agony and held his bleeding appendage against his belly.

  “Are you crazy?” Wilster screamed. “What are you doing?”

  “Showing you that I can cause you pain without killing you,” Darvin said. “You have a lot of joints that can take a lot of grief, and starting with the hands, you can walk for quite some time. We even carry medical supplies to bandage you up and keep you going.”

  “I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” Blake said.

  “Unless you want my colleague to relieve you of another finger joint, you’d best start talking,” Retinda said. “He’ll probably just skip your thumbs for this first round, but that leaves five more that are just ripe for the taking.”

  “Fine,” Wilster said. “Fine. I’ll help you. But this administration is getting a strongly worded letter from me when we’re done.”

  “You just consider how well it’ll sound coming from a man in jail for stealing government property,” Darvin said. “Property that has placed this planet at substantial risk and has directly led to our people being taken as prisoners and losing their lives on that ship. Do you want to be tried for being an accomplice to mass murder and kidnapping as well or do you feel like helping us now?”

  “I said I’d help you,” Wilster said.

  “Then tell us where to find Michelle,” Blake said.

  “I know your friend is important to you,” Retinda said, “but we need that item more urgently.”

  “He implied that she was in some kind of danger down here,” Blake said. “Is that right?”

  “I really need something for the pain,” Wilster whined.

  “Tell me!” Blake demanded.

  Wilster looked at him through eyes stained with tears of hate. He smiled sinisterly and chuckled.

  “Oh yes, she’s in danger,” he said. “You cross me, and you risk it all. I put all kind of stuff in my vaults that I don’t want people to get to, and some have tried. They try the front door, and I drop them in. They try to sneak in the exits and get trapped. What’s down there are tests and traps of my own design. If you’re good enough to get through it, then I let you go. If you’re one of the rabble, however… They say it takes a body to be convicted of murder, and well, I’ve never even been on trial.”

  “So what makes you any better than Darvin?” Blake asked. “Why should your torture be excused and his not? What makes either of you better than the other? You’ll claim it was defensive.” Blake looked at Darvin. “And you claim it is for the greater good. Yet in the end, you both do the same thing: put yourself in a superior position to inflict pain on someone who is defenseless to reach your own goals. And how does that make you better than the enemy who is looking for you right now?”

  “Because this is our home,” Retinda said. “We belong here, and they don’t. We have a right to drive them away by any means necessary.”

  “Even to the point of maiming or killing your own people?” Blake asked.

  “The few for the many?” Retinda asked. “Yes, I would do that.”

  “Would you sacrifice your own family?” Blake asked. “How many children would you send to die? To what end would you let it reach? Are there any limits?”

  “Perhaps you are not a people who understands war,” Retinda said.

  “I promise you my people do,” Blake admitted. “My planet always has someone at war. It is an ever-present threat, and something we can never escape. But it is one thing to be at war with yourself and another entirely to face a threat from another world. When my planet has faced off world threats, it banded together, and for those brief, shining moments, the humans of Earth showed incredible solidarity. Then, no sooner did the threat leave than we were fighting amongst ourselves again. What for? Stuff. Always stuff. I have no need for stuff. I just want to get my friend back.” Blake turned to Wilster.

  “Just tell me where to start,” Blake said. “You all can go after whatever the thing is.”

  “If your friend is smart, she’ll sit and wait for us,” Wilster continued. “That’s probably the only way any of you will get out alive.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  When the floor dropped out from under Michelle, she thought she was going to die. A short distance below the floor, she realized that she was sliding down a long tube, and the angle lessened the further she went. Behind her, she could hear her chair tumbling after her, and she hoped it would get stuck somewhere behind her and not land on her once she found the bottom of this slide.

  The tube finally opened a bit, and she fell out of the end of it about three feet to a slightly cushioned floor. She rolled out of the way as the chair plopped out of the round opening to land a short distance from where she ended up. The room was lit with a single bulb in the center which did not show the walls. She wondered how far she had fallen and what was to happen to her from here.

  She tapped the logo on her ches
t and said, “Blake.” There was no response, and knowing how she had disappeared, she figured he would have tried to contact her as well. That either meant their signal was blocked, or the fall did something to break her device. Either way, she was on her own.

  She let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting, and she was able to make out walls on three sides with a deeper darkness on the fourth. The walls appeared unbroken, so she decided to walk slowly in the direction of the open darkness to see if anything would present itself as well as hoping the floor did not just drop out from under her as she shuffled across it with her hands outstretched.

  Her hands touched another wall, but her eyes, still adjusting to the deepening gloom, disagreed with the existence of this wall, and she thought it might be a wall of glass or some other transparent material. She felt along it until there was an opening, and she stepped through it.

  As she it, the rest of the room lit up. Before her, a floor of electrified panels stretched out under a high ceiling. At the far end of the chamber, high on the wall, was a spinning grid of squares with two different colors across it. The number of squares on the grid matched the number of panels on the floor, and it was immediately apparent that this was intended to lay out some kind of path across the sparking panels before her. The difficulty lay in how the spinning grid was designed to match up to the floor. Since it was spinning, it did not give a clear indicator as to which direction was right.

  She could see that her destination lay at the far end of this floor since a sign was lit up next to an opening that indicated “exit.” This one would be simple enough. Try to figure out the path as shown on the spinning grid as it would relate to the floor in front of her. However, as both were perfectly square, nothing seemed to indicate a positive match.

  She walked to the floor before her, and of course, the path was not lit, except for a single square. The square was not along the outer edge, but the second one in from her and from the left. She looked back at path indicator and specifically studied that square on each of the four sides. As it happened, this square was unique on the grid.

  Based on this, she walked to the 3rd square from the right on the row closest to her and stepped on. That square lit up, and the rest of the grid suddenly sparked to life with red bolts of electricity shooting across every panel except the one she had stepped on and the one that was previously lit. It certainly added a level of fear to an already trying situation.