The Commissar

[Shryke]

Year 810

This particular metal box was unusual. It did not a typical box. This particular metal box was very different. The only light shone down from a solitary light bulb, suspended from the top of the box by wires. A black solid shade concentrated light onto a table and part of a chair. This was not a box that held guns, or bullets, or missiles. This box held something far more dangerous. It held political prisoners.

Inside this particular, very different box, was a particular chair. Like the room it was made of metal and the hand rests were not like a typical chair. Fastened onto them were straps. The headrest as well as the front two legs had straps as well. This was not a chair you sit in, it is not comfortable nor does it add character to a room.

The man that was strapped in was breathing quick short breaths. A blindfold covered his face and he has been sitting in utter silence for several minutes since the men that brought him, and bound him, left. The isolation was beginning to play tricks on his mind. He hears sounds other than the hum of the ventilator.

As mentioned, this was an unusual metal box. It had high fidelity speakers placed at certain places around the chair. Currently, the ominous rattle of a poisonous snake echoed faintly throughout the room much to the agony of the man.

With a loud thud a door leading to the inside of the metal box was unlocked. The heavy frame groaned against the wall as it opened and another man entered, wearing a military uniform. The rank on the shoulder lapels indicated he was a Lieutenant, but a badge on his chest also confirmed that he was a Commissar.

Following the man were guards who brought inside and set up a small display monitor while he placed his briefcase on the desk. A moment later another guard placed a chair behind the officer and the guards left, locking the door behind him.

"W-who are you," stammered the man strapped in the chair.

"Commissar Lieutenant Ulrich Eichel, and I already know your name mister Andreev," the officer replied as he sat at his chair.

He opened his briefcase and pulled out a file and set it on the table in front of him.

"What do you want with me?"

"You see, that is your problem mister Andreev, you are simply too curious for your own good. Haven't you heard of that expression? That curiosity killed the cat," Eichel said.

"Y-you are going to kill me," the man blurted out.

"Not if we have to," the man said as he stood up and took the blindfold off the man. "Now then, let us begin," the Eichel said through a smile.

He took several documents from the file and scanned them, shuffling them around in his hands. Andreev on the other hand started scanning the room. All this time, the sound of the rattlesnake faintly echoed every once in a while.

"Ah yes, here it is," Eichel began. "Let me just read this to you, 'At the age of 6, Yuri Andreev was admitted to Sverdlovsk Hospital Four after being bitten by a snake.' We know you are afraid of snakes, indeed we know a lot about you mister Andreev. We know that you are a close friend of Menachem Rosenthal and we would like his location."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Andreev replied.

"Please mister Andreev, do not play the fool it is utterly useless and will only serve to lengthen this much further than it needs to be. We know you are involved in the Utopian movement, however, we do not care about you, only mister Rosenthal. All you need to is tell the location of his safehouse and you will be set free."

Andreev's eyes narrowed, the fear fleeing his emotions and his resolve beginning to return. "Those who fight for freedom will not betray their comrades in exchange for it," he said.

Eichel chucked before he was interrupted by Andreev, "and it does not matter what you do to me in here, I will not break. You can use whatever club or knife your twisted mind desired, but I would rather die than tell you anything."

Eichel stood up and walked up to Andreev before sitting on the edge of the table.

"You have such a warped sense of my purpose here. I am not here to insert toothpicks underneath your fingernails, nor am I here to threaten to start severing your fingers outright, although to be honest I am more than capable of such actions. It serves no purpose, physical torture is not how I go about my business. You see, I am here as your only friend for millions of kilometres around," he said.

Andreev's response was to spit. Eichel's expression, which had been cheerful throughout turned much colder. He took out a handkerchief from his pocked and wiped away the spit from his uniform.

"I was hoping that you were a reasonable man, as you are so widely considered as the intellectual centre of the Utopian movement. I can see that you are just as radical as the criminals you associate with," Eichel said.

"Criminals? We have committed no crime! Our only sin is that we challenge the government line, that we desire to be free instead of driven down," Andreev responded.

"Free? Oh yes, this concept of freedom is quite fascinating," Eichel said as he sat down in his chair and leaned towards Andreev. "Here is the part I don't understand about this concept of freedom. Even in the bastion of democracy and freedom that is Liberty, you cannot do many things. For example, why can't a man have more than one wife if all participants choose to? They are not harming anyone and instead wish to live their life with the freedom to be married to more than one person. This is a restriction of freedom is it not?" Eichel face focused intently.

"It goes further than that. From the time that you are a small you are told that when you are in a hallway to stay towards the right. What happens should you choose to walk down the left side of a crowded hall? It feels like you are a fish swimming upstream, it is a struggle if you want to be free but easy if you choose to conform."

"I am not going to argue philosophy with a monster like you," Andreev said with spite in this tone.

Eichel's expression soured.

"You are quite correct mister Andreev I am a monster. Since you do not even wish to engage in conversation I feel that I have no choice but to resort to coersion," he said as pulled out a remote control from his pocket and pressed a button.

The screen on the display flickered as it came to life. On the screen was a setting very similar to the metal box that they sat in except there was just a chair in the very middle. A woman sat strapped in, her blonde hair partly covering her face. Eichel pressed another button and the room lit up entirely, bright lights exposing the woman's features.

"Anna?" Andreev's utter was faint, as if something sucked the air out of his lungs.

Eichel pressed another button. "We also have your children."

This time Andreev could not say anything, his face reduced to that of complete horror.

The screen returned to Ms Andreev. "Mister Andreev, where is the Menachem Rosenthal's safehouse," Eichel asked

"Let them go, she... she has nothing to do with this!" Andreev pleaded with Eichel.

"I will ask you once more, if you do not tell me she will die."

"Let them go, please!"

Eichel sighed, and pressed another button his control. An arm rose on the screen, gun in hand, and leveled off at Ms Andreev's head and pulled the trigger. Her husband's scream filled the room. No sooner than he finished the screen changed to that of his children. Eichel placed the remote control on his desk. He leaned back into this chair, the light bulb barely illuminating his face.

"I assure you I am more than capable. The location, mister Andreev."

Andreev broke down into a sob. "You bastard."

Eichel sighed again, and reached for the remote control.

"Sverdlovsk, North District Worker Housing," Andreev began, sobbing as he spoke. "Building C, room 425. Please, just let them go."

Eichel's face turned slightly to the left and nodded. On the display, the children can be seen being taken away.

"Thank you very much mister Andreev, you have been most helpful," Eichel said as he packed up his suitcase and started to walk out of the room.

"Will you set me free," Andreev asked.

The commissar stopped at the door and turned toward Andreev, a compassionate expression on his face. "Yes, I will set you free."

As he walked out of the room he nodded towards one of the guards who promptly walked into the room and shot Yuri Andreev in the head.

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Later that evening, state owned holovid news broadcast.

'Our top story tonight, Menachem Rosenthal is wanted and the run after witnesses saw him fleeing from a murder scene in an apartment block in Northern Sverdlovsk. Inside the apartment was Yuri Andreev, found with a bullet wound to the head. Andreev, a long-time associate of his was pronounced dead on the scene as police officers responded to reports of gunfire from one of the neighbours, in what could be the most incendiary twist to the ongoing Utopian saga...'

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