Testing Grounds (On Dangerous Grounds Book 1)

by G. Allen Wilbanks

  Leon cleared his throat when the man did not react to his proximity. When that also did nothing to get his attention, Leon spoke, “Excuse me, sir? May I talk to you?”

  The man did not move or in any way acknowledge Leon’s presence. His breathing was slow and regular. He might have been asleep for all Leon could tell. Hesitantly, he reached out and touched the old man’s shoulder.

  One eye popped open, then the other. The eyes were watery and slightly bloodshot, but that did not hide the yellow-copper coloring of the irises. Rings of blazing amber surrounded the pupil, radiating out and fading slightly to a more whiskey hue at the edges. It gave the man a strangely feline appearance and Leon felt a deeply primal urge to shrink away. He managed to hold his ground, and respectfully cleared his throat.

  “Hi,” said Leon. “Do you know anything about what’s going on?”

  “I do not,” the man said, then closed his eyes once more.

  “My name’s Leon,” said Leon, not ready to give up despite the obvious dismissal. Peripherally, he noticed that the words the man spoke were not in English, but he did not recognize the language and, ultimately, he figured it no longer mattered. “Who are you?”

  The old man took a deep breath and released it slowly. Opening his eyes again, he looked up at Leon. “My name is Liu Honghui. Now, I ask you spirit, wherever you have come from, please haunt me no longer and allow me to wake up.”

  Leon was taken aback by the response. The man thought he was dreaming. It was as good an explanation of the odd circumstances as any, Leon supposed, and if he hadn’t been awake the entire time he had travelled here, he might be tempted to think the old man was right. Maybe he had fallen off the railing during the ride down the ramp and hit his head somewhere in the parking garage. This entire situation could be his brain working overtime while his body lay in a coma. But no. That explanation, while tempting, did not feel accurate. This room, the people in it, the aliens, it all felt far more real than any dream Leon had ever experienced.

  “Mr. Honghui. I’m sorry, but this isn’t a dream. I wish it was, but we were all brought here against our wills and we need to figure out what we are going to do about it.”

  “Mr. Liu,” the old man corrected. “And there is nothing to do. Nothing but to wait until it is over and to wake up at home in my bed.”

  Leon gestured at the room around them. “Can’t you see this is real?” he pleaded. “We can’t ignore what’s happening to us.”

  “I have done nothing to offend the Yuan gui. They have no quarrel with me, and I have none with them. Please leave me and seek another soul to torment.” Honghui closed his eyes and stubbornly refused to allow Leon to draw him into any further conversation.

  Not wanting to hover over someone who had no intention of interacting with him, Leon considered trying to speak with Michael again.

  A flash of light and a rush of air announced to everyone that another arrival was imminent.

  We’re not done yet, Leon thought to himself. How many are there going to be?

  The next figure to appear in the room was not human.

  A third alien, identical to the other two already present, appeared. It stood upright upon its arrival as though it was familiar enough with the method of travel to prevent the disorientation everyone else had suffered during their journeys. The insectile, armored head swiveled left and right several times then, like a marionette with its strings cut, the creature collapsed face down onto the carpeted floor.

  A series of clicks, hisses and whistles emanated from the creature, an unfamiliar language that immediately translated to English in Leon’s mind

  “No. Unfair. Unfair. I, this test already, have survived. I, forced to repeat, should not! Nooo!”

  “Well,” said Leon to no one in particular. “I think we finally found someone who knows what’s going on.”

  CHAPTER 4

  The creature huddled with its face pressed to the ground, pounding its larger hands against the floor while it screamed. Despite the insectile form and the general alienness of the being’s anatomy, its actions looked to Leon like an angry child throwing a tantrum. He watched in fascination as the alien began to claw out handfuls of the carpet, ripping the fibers free of the weave.

  “No. No. No,” it chanted. “Unfair. Unfair.”

  After almost a minute of stunned silence from everyone in the room, the taller of the first two aliens approached the most recent arrival. To Leon’s shock and horror, the creature did not offer to assist its new companion, but rather cocked its leg and delivered a vicious kick to the head of the creature already sprawled helpless on the ground. The impact sent a loud crack echoing through the room, a sound like a baseball bat striking a concrete block.

  “Your behavior, stop!” hissed the standing alien. To Leon, the noise was a literal hiss. The sound coming from the creature’s mouth was like steam escaping a pipe under intense pressure. “You, in front of your daughter, yourself, embarrass. You, stand, or I, where you lie, will kill!”

  The creature on the ground stopped speaking, but it made no immediate move to stand. Several more seconds ticked by until the standing creature raised a foot, preparing to drive it down onto the other’s head. Before it could follow through on its murderous act, Leon rushed forward.

  “Wait! Please don’t hurt him.” Leon had no idea if either creature was male or female, but he did not think that was the important issue at the moment.

  The standing creature tilted its head, focusing two, multifaceted eyes on Leon. It raised a large, armored hand in his direction. “You, interfere, do not. This, important to the nest, is.”

  “Do you know what’s going on here? Do you know why we were brought here?” Leon asked quickly.

  “We, selected for the test, have been,” the creature said. “We survive and we, home, go.”

  “So, you do know what’s happening,” Leon said, his eyes widening in surprise. “You’ve been through this test before?”

  “No,” the alien admitted. “Others, yes. I have not.”

  Leon pointed to the creature lying motionless on the ground. “I think he has. He said, ‘not again.’ That makes me think he knows a little more than the rest of us about how to survive. Please, don’t hurt him. I think we are going to need him alive.”

  To Leon’s relief, the attacking alien lowered its foot and stepped away from its intended victim. Its mandibles clicked together several times in agitation, but it made no further move to harm the prone creature at its feet.

  The smaller alien spoke. There seemed to be less anger in its tone, but Leon heard the strength of command in its voice. “Brother, stand. Your nest, do not shame. As your daughter, obey. As you are told, act.”

  At last, the being on the floor pushed itself up and arduously climbed to its feet. The reluctance in its movement was obvious even to Leon. This creature wanted to be here far less than anyone else in the room, and since it had apparently already experienced this “test,” Leon was suddenly very worried about their immediate futures.

  “What is your name?” Sofia had stepped up behind Leon at some point during the exchange, and he startled at her voice coming from so close.

  The defeated looking alien turned to look at the smaller creature, the one who had identified herself as “daughter.” She gestured with one of her smaller hands.

  “You, to the soft things, may speak,” she said.

  The alien turned toward Sofia and issued a long sound of exhalation followed by two fast clicks of the mandibles. Leon heard no translation in his head so assumed this must be its name. His name, Leon corrected himself. The female called him “brother.”

  “I don’t think we can replicate that,” said Sofia.

  “How about if we call you Hiss? Would that be okay?” asked Leon.

  The creature made a movement with one small hand, a repeat of the gesture Leon had seen from the smaller alien. He assumed it was some sort of acknowledgment or acceptance, like a human shrug.

  “
I’m Leon,” he responded.

  Hiss clicked his chitinous mouthparts together several times, then said, “Eeeee-ooooh.”

  Leon was surprised to hear his name echoed clearly in his head. He wondered if when he said Hiss, did the alien also hear his own name spoken correctly.

  With humans and aliens speaking to each other at last, the other members in the room drifted over to participate in the conversation. The only one who made no effort to listen in was the old man sitting by the far wall with his eyes still firmly closed. Leon wondered how they would ever be able to convince the poor man that this nightmare was not something from which he could eventually will himself to wake.

  All members of the newly formed group introduced themselves. The female alien answered to Shoo, although her full name sounded like a shushing noise followed by a whistle that changed in pitch several times. The final member of the three non-humans in the group responded favorably to the name Kack. Through a short conversation, Leon learned that the males were always much larger than the females, and that the terms brother and daughter were honorifics rather than specific terms of family lineage.

  Hiss, Kack, and Shoo told the human members of the group that they belonged to a race whose name translated in Leon’s head as “Many Parts of the Whole.” Leon was also a bit bemused to learn that when Sofia explained to Hiss that the members of her group were called human beings, the aliens heard her say, “thinking animals.” He wasn’t certain if that was a direct definition, but he supposed it was close enough to the truth to not bother trying to correct it.

  At last, someone broached the topic of why they had all been brought together. It was no great surprise to Leon that Malcolm was the one to finally get to the point of the matter. The man had a knack for speaking his mind.

  “So, why are we bloody here? Who kidnapped us and what do we have to do get ourselves back home?”

  “We, here for the test, are,” said Hiss, his head bowed and his posture slumping at the mention of what came next. “We, together, are gathered, and we, challenges, will meet.”

  Leon understood Hiss’ words generally without difficulty, but he found himself struggling at times making sense of the alien syntax. He and the others frequently interrupted the explanation to seek clarification. As Hiss talked, a bigger picture gradually emerged, and Leon got his first glimpse of what they all faced.

  For many years, an unidentified alien race had been visiting Hiss’ home world and abducting members of the Many to put them through a series of challenges and tests. The experiments appeared to be designed to test the Many for intelligence, problem solving, and to determine the extent of their survival instincts. Over the years, rumors of other races that had been forced to participate in the tests began to circulate. There were stories of races being destroyed, of entire planets wiped out because the dominant species did not meet whatever standards had been set for the tests. They either lacked the intelligence to matriculate the challenges successfully or had been too passive in protecting themselves.

  Hiss explained that although he believed the stories regarding other species being tested, he was personally unaware of what those species might be or where their home planets may have been. This was the first time to his knowledge that individuals from two different worlds had been put through the trials together.

  “Hiss?” Leon asked as the alien finished his explanation. “Are you telling us that not only could we die here if we fail this test, but our entire species is being judged by our actions?”

  “My impression, that is,” Hiss confirmed. “This test, relatively brief, is. However, the Apex, many many tests, will conduct. Years of study will pass.”

  “Apex?” asked Michael, who had been listening silently until that moment.

  “Apex, we, the name for the aliens, heard. We, nothing more than the name, know. We, see the Apex, never have.”

  Sofia spoke up next. “You said you have been through the test once already. Do the Apex often test subjects more than once? Is that a common thing?”

  Hiss touched his small hands to his chin. It was a gesture of negation Leon had learned during their discussion with the Many. “Not common, I think. One member, in my test, previously tested, there was. Possible that always one, there is. Perhaps each group, a guide, must have. I, the process for selection, do not know.”

  “Well, if you are our guide,” rumbled Malcolm, “you better start guiding. What are we supposed to do to get home? If you take a look around ye might notice there isn’t even a bloody door in this room.”

  Hiss touched his chin again. “Always a door, there is. We, many rooms, many challenges, will face. The door, each test, must we discover, or must we reach.”

  Leon glanced around the room, reconfirming Malcolm’s observation for himself. Walls, shelves, and cabinets surrounded them, but nowhere in the mass of clutter and debris lining the room was there an obvious exit.

  And then there was.

  A rectangular door, where Leon was certain there had been only shelves of various carpentry tools a moment before, now waited patiently for anyone in the room to utilize. The door was not large, only about six feet high by three feet wide, but it was unquestionably a door. Smooth, and colored plain white, Leon saw no obvious handle on it. A set of three, gold-colored hinges on the inside suggested it would need to swing inward toward the room if anyone wished to leave. He hoped the lack of a knob or bar wasn’t going to be a problem. Michael and Vinod noticed the new portal almost as quickly as had Leon.

  “There!” said Vinod, pointing at the white door.

  “I guess we’re gettin’ out of here, after all,” said Malcolm, moving toward their new hope of freedom.

  “No! No, no, no,” warned Hiss, urgently. “We, ready, are not. We, leave now, must not.”

  “Why not?” asked Malcolm, although he stopped, making no effort to move any closer to the exit. “I don’t like the idea of us staying trapped in here. What if the door goes away again?”

  “It, not again, will disappear. It, here, is. It, here, stays, until we, out, do go.”

  “Okay, Hiss,” agreed Leon. “If you say the door will stay there, I believe you. But why can’t we go out? Why aren’t we ready?”

  Hiss pointed a large hand toward the door. “Multiple dangers and challenges, outside, there are. Many of them, only mind to defeat, they require.” Hiss tapped his head with a finger in emphasis. “Others, perhaps, tools and equipment, useful will be. If correct, I am, if anything other than our hands to survive, we need, then in this room those items will be. What exactly, useful will be, tell you I cannot. We search. We, what may be of assistance, find. We take. Only after everything in this room have we examined, then we, ready to leave the room, will be. I hope.”

  “How will we know what is useful or important?” asked Michael. “I don’t want to load up on bits of rubbish that are only going to slow me down because I’m afraid to leave something behind.”

  “I, specific challenges, do not know,” admitted Hiss. “I, tools to succeed, cannot predict. But all here, one more fact about the door, must know. When one person leaves, all people must leave. No one, ready to exit is, until all, ready to exit, are. Very soon after the door, we open, the door, again will disappear.”

  “How quickly?” said Annie.

  “Quickly.”

  Throughout their discussion with Hiss, neither Shoo nor Kack said anything or asked any questions. Leon wondered if they already knew the facts Hiss shared, or if they did not want to appear ignorant in front of the humans. Perhaps they were content to simply stand by and listen to the discussion. Leon did notice that during the entire time the humans had been close to the Many, Kack carefully positioned himself between Shoo and everyone else in the room.

  “Well, I’m startin’ by grabbin’ me a weapon,” announced Malcolm. “Those sword jobbies over there are nothing compared to a good ol’ two-handed claymore, but I guess they’ll have to do fer now.”

  “Weapons probably us, not
assist,” Hiss informed them. “All tests, I recall, mental, physical skill, are required. Nothing to fight, there was.”

  “Maybe not,” said Malcolm, pulling down a three-foot blade from the wall then grabbing a scabbard and belt from a nearby hook. “I’ll still feel better knowing I have something to protect me from the rest of you wankers.”

  Leon did not want to say it out loud, but he agreed with Malcolm’s assessment. Even if the tests they faced outside the white door did not require fighting of any kind, he would feel infinitely better if he had even a little something besides his bare hands with which to defend himself. He eyed the wall of weapons intently before selecting a belt with a small hand axe slung in a metal ring. He scooped up a dagger and its scabbard as well.

  Others followed their example and began selecting their own weapons. Both girls chose knives, while Michael retrieved a pair of heavy wooden sticks banded with metal straps. Michael also found a leather sash designed to holster the sticks comfortably across his chest where they would not impede his movement. Of the humans, only Vinod opted not to take anything from the extensive collection of weapons. Instead, he worked his way around the room, examining the other items made available to the group.

  None of the Many armed themselves. Leon found it curious, but not overly so. Hiss said there was no real need for weapons, and perhaps his companions elected to trust him.

  On the wall directly to the right of the available armaments, a series of hooks held a bewildering assortment of clothing. Shoes, pants, shirts, and other miscellaneous items draped across the surface of the wall or lay stacked on the floor on top of each other. Leon saw jeans and slacks, dresses and suits, and even a shelf covered with accessories such as ties, belts, scarfs, and hats. There was an assortment of gloves piled on the floor ranging from full sleeved evening gloves to thick leather work gloves, and next to the gloves, in a crumpled heap on the ground, was a large yellow and green jumpsuit that looked like it belonged to a circus clown, or maybe a road construction worker that needed extra visibility at night. The jumpsuit appeared out of place to Leon, not neatly arranged like the other clothing, as if perhaps tossed aside by someone searching through the piles for more suitable attire.