Lost and Found Through Space and Time

#KuriStory #HeyKuri

Every night, Clarance looked at the sky, looking for the brightest star, hoping that she would be looking at where her dad was. Marco was working as an engineer at the Atlantis Space Station. Looking out the window, he stared into a planet he could hardly recognize. Earth was not the same after the melting of the glaciers, and the rising of the oceans displaced many deep into the continents. The race for establishing and sustaining life in space was in full speed as Earth’s population continued to rise, and Marco had been on it for ten years now. He had to leave his family behind for two years at a time, and hardly had time off work to video call home. Clarance missed him the most. She always admired and loved her daddy. Marco, feeling for his little girl, decided to make things better. He decided to built something for his little daughter that would remind her of him, and would make her company whenever she felt alone.

“Mr. Kuri, why do you keep working over time? We already have a 10 hour shift,” asked a young man as he grabbed his belonging to go back to the dorms.

“I’m working on a personal project, Eddy,” answered Marco to his assistant.

“Okay… just watch out when you pass by wing 26. I heard some weird rumors about what they’re doing with those shuttles when everyone leaves,” Eddy said, looking hazily down the corridor. Marco heard him and nodded his head, but he wasn’t listening.

Four hours later, his little project was almost finished. All parts were being printed in 3D, and Marco had all the tools he needed to build Clarance’s new companion. He kept hearing a high pitched sound once in a while, coming from wing 26. A faint light would appear, coming from around the corner where the huge doors to the shuttles were. Marco didn’t seem to think much of it. Once he had all the parts for the new robot, he decided to assemble them at home. He gathered his tool and left with his project, just thinking about how delighted Clarance would be with the gift.

A gashing wind caught him by surprise and cleared his mind of his dreams of home. He had missed his turn and kept walking, now finding himself on wing 26. He knew that couldn’t be right. All shuttles had to go through a two door system, and the second door would not open up to Space before the Station door was locked. He decided to peek inside and see what those crazy scientists were doing. Coming into the room, he caught a glimpse of two shuttles. Another gashing wind passed, now so strong that it made Marco lose his balance and fall on the floor. A great light appeared and everything seemed to spin around in the room. When the light was gone, Marco got up and found four men in protective space clothing staring back at him with inquisitive looks. He couldn’t speak when he realized one of the shuttles was missing. He stared at the men and at where he had seen the two shuttles seconds ago, now with only one.

“Mr. Kuri? Didn’t I tell you not to walk around here after hours?” The voice sounded familiar, and Marco recognized his assistant Eddy.

“Eddy! What just happened?”

Eddy had a mischievous look on his face. “I’m sorry I lied about going back to the dorms, but we wanted to keep things quiet for now. But, I guess you’re my boss, in a way. So, come one, I will show you.” He led Marco to the computer room where the screens had thousands of calculations on them. It didn’t take Marco long to realize that their project was about time travel. At that moment Marco braced himself, feeling overwhelmed and reached for his bag, but it wasn’t there anymore. He looked at Eddy, “My stuff…”

“Oh! Well, there’s a chance it got dragged by the machine and went out with the shuttle. Let’s see.” Eddy looked at some information on the computer, “Yep, I’m sorry, Mr. Kuri. Your bag is now traveling back to the 2000s.”

Marco couldn’t believe it! He couldn’t even speak. He was also very excited. He looked around and asked Eddy a bunch of questions fo another 30 minutes. They walked back to the dorms together and Marco totally forgot about his little invention that was lost in space and time. The next day in the office, he stayed late again to reprint the parts and went home wondering what was happening to his first set.

Back in time, a young woman found a strange bag with a tag written “KURI.” Inside it, she saw a bunch of parts that looked like a puzzle. She went home and put the puzzle together. She thought it was very cute, and realized it was probably meant to be a robot with AI. But, she couldn’t understand any of the other parts and tools that were inside Kuri’s bag. Everything looked from a different planet! But she was not about to give up. She was already feeling attached to the little thing. Together with some friends, set out to create the AI for Kuri with the available technology, and share him with the world.