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Urko stood at the prison cell door and addressed the gorilla guarding it. “Is he in there?”
“Yes, sir,” the gorilla replied. “You asked us to find a dark-haired human named Burke and that’s what we did.”
“Then let me by,” Urko growled.
The guard stepped in front of the general. “Just one more thing,” he said. “The soldiers who captured him may have gotten a little aggressive with him.” He paused. “He kept denying that he was Burke and when he started resisting arrest,” the guard shrugged his shoulders, “well, they had to become a little more...militant.”
“As long as he’s alive, I don’t care if you cut off his arms and legs.”
Urko pulled open the heavy wooden door and peered into the dark cell as it creaked open.
Sitting on the floor on the opposite side, leaning against the stone wall, was a young human male, barely out of his teens. His clothes were torn and tattered; his head was slumped down on his chest as if he had fallen asleep.
Urko crossed the cell in two quick steps and kicked at the human’s feet. “Wake up,” he growled. The human took a deep breath and, slowly lifting his head, looked up. His face was a mass of cuts and bruises. Dark, curly hair had fallen into his face and as he pushed some of it out of his eyes, Urko could see one significantly swollen black eye. The human said nothing.
“Are you Burke?”
The human gave a low groan and then shook his head.
“You are not the astro-naut Burke?”
“No,” the human said in a thick voice. “My name is Jarno. I am a farmer on my father’s land.”
In one quick movement, Urko reached down, grabbed the man’s shirt and lifted him to his feet. “Liar,” he spat into the young man’s face. “You are Burke.”
“I’m not,” the young man breathed out. “My name is Jarno.”
When the man’s knees buckled under him and he began to sink to the floor, Urko lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the stone wall.
“Tell me where Galen and Virdon are.” Urko paused for a moment. Then giving the man a hard shake shouted, “Now!”
The man’s head lolled around and then finally focusing his eyes on the gorilla said, “I don’t know those humans. My name is Jarno. I am a farmer. I have done nothing wrong.”
Urko narrowed his eyes. “You’ve never heard of the human called Virdon?” he said slowly.
The man shook his head. “No.”
Urko moved in closer. “What about Galen? Do you know him?” He waited for the young man’s answer with a dark-eyed intensity.
“I don’t know him either.” The man coughed and some blood that came up landed on Urko. “There are no humans in my village with those names.” He took a deep breath. “I swear to you.”
“Bah,” Urko said, throwing the man to the side. He landed on the floor in a heap and remained motionless on the ground, lying on his side. “Your word means nothing to me.”
Urko strode over and kicked the man once.
He walked back to the cell door and threw it open. As he walked by the guard he said, “Let him go. He is not the human I am looking for.”
“Wait,” the guard called after him. “What do you mean?”
Urko turned and thundered, “Take him. And throw him out into the street. Let the other humans take care of him. He is not who I am looking for.”
With that, Urko stormed towards the exit.