Dark Sentinel: Book one in the Sentinel Series

by Adam Matlow

  “Oh my god,” gasped Marcus. “Is that what they look like?”

  “Of course, this is the first time you’ve seen them as they truly are, isn’t it?”

  “Jeeze, no wonder Davon uses a chameleon device. They are ugly looking sons of bitches.”

  “We need to find a way of getting past them,” said Vana.

  “Well what about the drone?” asked Marcus. “You said it was well armed. I say we put it some good use.”

  “Inadvisable,” replied Jax. “We would undoubtedly trigger a response. The odds of us being able to withstand an assault from the Krall forces and indeed the drones under their control is negligible.”

  “What about the other junctions?”

  “There is no reason to suspect they would be unguarded. We could send the drone to check, but it will take some time and increase the likelihood of us being detected.”

  The air around them was suddenly filled with a high-pitched whine. It oscillated rapidly and hurt Marcus’s ears. It was unmistakably an alarm.

  “Shit!” shouted Marcus over the din. “Did we do that?”

  The radio on Marcus’s belt crackled into life.

  “Marcus. Marcus, come in,” came the voice of Kali. “Answer god damn it!”

  He reached down and unclipped his radio and shouted into it, “Are you okay?”

  “We may have accidentally, by accident, totally not on purpose given away the fact we’re here.”

  “What happened?”

  “We were jumped by one of those bloody bugs on our way to the holding area. I blew it’s head off which apparently was enough to trigger the alarm.”

  Vana tugged at Marcus’s arm and pointed at the junction. Two of the guards sprinted away, leaving only two now guarding the entrance.

  “Kali, I think you’re about to get more company. At least two more of those things are heading your way. Can you still get to the holding area?”

  “I don’t think that would be wise,” interrupted Doc over the radio. “From what I can tell, that’s the direction the reinforcements are coming from.”

  Marcus closed his eyes. The noise from the alarm made it difficult for him to think. They were scattered and vulnerable. They needed to regroup. He pressed the transmit button on the radio. “Kali, can you make it back to Doc?”

  “We’re already on our way back.”

  Marcus looked to Vana, who shook her head. He sighed and spoke into the radio.

  “We’re too far away to make it back. We’ll push on, see if we can cause a few distractions of our own.”

  “Give em hell Marcus,” said Kali. There was a click as she stopped transmitting, leaving only static.

  “They’ll be fine,” said Marcus, as he noticed the concerned look on Vana’s face. “I think it’s time we made some noise of our own.”

  The alarm suddenly stopped, Marcus’s ears rang from the sustained assault. Vana pulled him to one side and lowered her voice.

  “We should attempt to remain undetected. It’s our best chance of making it to the tower.”

  Marcus looked over at the two remaining guards. “There’s no way we’re going to get past them without a fight. If we can get the jump on them, we may stand a chance of getting across.”

  “What do you have in mind?” she said after a few seconds contemplation.

  “The drone. We can use it to take those two guards out. They’ll never know what hit them and if we’re lucky we can make it to the other side before anyone realizes what’s happening.”

  Vana shook her head. “A lot could go wrong with this plan,” she said. “There could be guards at the other end, or they could stop the carriage before we even reach the other side, trapping us mid-way.”

  “The longer we stand around here arguing, the harder it will be. Jax, can you have the drone take care of our two friends down there?”

  “I have already targeted them,” he replied. “Vana, I calculate either course of action has a similar chance of success. The decision is yours.”

  Vana pulled out the pistol Kali had given her before they split up and turned it over in her hands.

  “She gave me this and never asked if I even knew how to use it.”

  Marcus put his hand on hers and pushed the pistol downwards.

  “Let’s call that plan-b shall we? We’ll leave the shooting to Jax. Be ready to run.”

  Vana smiled weakly. “I hate these things you know,” she said softly. “Do it Jax.”

  A few seconds went by and nothing happened.

  “Jax?”

  “Unable to comply,” said Jax eventually. “Attempting to fire on the soldiers has triggered a hidden protocol within this drone. It appears they have been configured not to fire upon the Krall. I may be able to bypass it, but it will take several hours at least.”

  Marcus’s face dropped, and he blew out a lungful of air. “Great, there goes our biggest advantage.”

  Jax’s image changed back into a map. It wasn’t of the area they were in. Marcus recognised it as the control room where Doc and the others were holed up. Several green dots were converging on their position.

  “The others are about to be overrun,” stated Jax.

  “Only one thing to do then,” said Marcus unslinging his rifle. “Let’s make some noise of our own.”

  He ran forward and took cover behind a pile of crates, much closer to the Krall soldiers. His charge had not gone unnoticed and the guards had started making their way towards them in slow deliberate steps. Their weapons were raised but they held their fire. Marcus wasn’t waiting for them to get any closer. Using a crate to steady the rifle he shot several times at the guard on the left. Most of the shots landed square upon their target before bouncing off their armour harmlessly.”

  “Shit! Nothing I’ve got is even going to slow these guys down. I don’t suppose we could still go with the sneaky option?”

  Vana glared at him.

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Bolts of blue energy flew over Marcus’s head. The air crackled and fizzed as they did so, melting holes in the metallic walls and floor wherever the shots landed. Vana tucked down behind the largest crate next to Marcus, who glanced over the top of the one he was hiding behind, only to duck down as another barrage of lethal shots flew over his head.

  He stuck his rifle over the top of his hiding place and blind-fired at the approaching enemy. Bullets pinged as they ricocheted off the approaching Krall’s armour and they were now less than fifty meters away. In moments their position would be overrun.

  With no cover for them to run to, trying to leave this position would be suicide. An easy target for the Krall. Marcus reloaded and fired again. A blast of energy hit the crate above them, hitting the barrel of his rifle and melting it clean off. He cursed and tossed it to one side.

  “A little help here Jax?” he said.

  “I’m afraid there is very little I can do,” replied Jax. “I am still working on the bypass to the drone’s weapons. I have flooded their communication channels with static, so they are unable to contact their reinforcements, but I suspect they will be able to counter that quickly. There is however some good news. Their firing pattern indicates they are not trying to kill you; rather, they are keeping you contained. I suspect they want to take you alive.”

  “That’s not good news,” muttered Marcus. “We’ve seen what they do to people they capture. You end up working for them.”

  “Any other ideas Marcus?” asked Vana. She flinched as yet more shots flew past them.

  “I don’t suppose you have anything I can make a white flag from?”

  “White flag?” She tilted her head and looked at Marcus. “What good would that do?”

  “Figures,” sighed Marcus. “I guess we have no choice but to surrender, maybe--”

  “I have a suggestion,” interrupted Jax. “I may not be able to use the drone’s weapons, but I still have access to all the other functions of this drone. Including
the power matrix. If I overload it in close proximity to the Krall soldiers, it may be enough to incapacitate them.”

  Marcus looked at Vana. “Unless you have a better suggestion?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “I guess it’s boom -time then Jax,” said Marcus.

  In the distance above him, Marcus saw the faint outline of the drone as it flew towards the Krall soldiers, who were now almost on top of their position. Jax began a countdown.

  “Overload in five seconds... four…three”

  “Take cover,” yelled Marcus, pressing himself against the crate and shielding his face with the crux of his arm.

  The explosion tossed the two aliens into the air, depositing them several meters away. Shards of hot metal rained down on Marcus and Vana, who shielded themselves as best they could while the dust settled. When the smoke and debris had cleared they cautiously emerged from hiding. Both guards were down. One of them was still moving, crawling towards his weapon which had been flung from his grasp and sat on the ground a few meters away. The other fared much worse and was quite definitely dead.

  Marcus staggered over, reaching the weapon before the remaining guard and swiped it from the floor. He aimed it at the soldier, whose eyes flickered menacingly as he crawled still closer to Marcus.

  Marcus looked at the weapon he had picked up. It was the length of a rifle but weighed almost nothing. It appeared very simple to operate, with a large and obvious trigger mechanism located on the bottom. He found he had to stretch his hands to be able to reach the trigger, the weapon having been designed to be used by the Krall and their long bony fingers.

  “Stop, or I’ll shoot,” he yelled at the badly injured alien. It stopped, reached out with a long grey arm towards Marcus and let out a final raspy breath, before collapsing to the floor.

  Marcus relaxed his grip on the weapon and stood back. He took a few deep breaths and tried to steady his nerves. His heart was trying to beat out of his chest.

  Vana came over and knelt next to the dead Krall.

  “Careful,” warned Marcus. “Don’t get too close.”

  “Come look at this,” said Vana. Her fingers traced the outline of a scar on the Krall’s head. Marcus reached up instinctively and touched his own scar.

  “What the hell,” he gasped. “He’s implanting his own people as well? Why would he do that? Aren’t they already loyal to him?”

  “There’s something odd going on here,” said Vana.

  “You must leave now,” said Jax. “The Krall are sending more soldiers to this area to re-establish communications with the guards. We should cross to the tower now before they arrive.”

  Marcus jumped to his feet. “Sounds like a mighty fine idea to me Jax.” He touched Vana’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s finish this.” She looked at him and smiled.

  They ran across the platform and into the junction, where they found a tram waiting to take them across. It hovered motionless in the air but as they approached it a door appeared, and a set of steps materialised from a hidden compartment near its base. Marcus hesitated for a second before climbing on board. Vana followed and as soon as she was onboard, Jax initiated the sequence to take them across. Inside there were no seats, only thin rails spread evenly down its length. Large windows on either side stretched from ceiling to floor and there was a distinct lack of glass. Marcus didn’t bother to ask this time. Grav-fields again. He shivered. It was hard to trust in something you couldn’t see.

  Columns blurred past the windows as they picked up speed. The platform behind them receded quickly, while the tower ahead loomed ever larger.

  “It was my people who started this war,” said Vana quietly. “When we came here all those years ago and awoke the Krall.”

  “Surely they couldn’t have known what would happen?” replied Marcus.

  “You don’t understand. The memories I carry contain some of what happened back then. This place was inert, deserted, but they worked out a way to reactivate the Sentinel. It caused the Krall to awaken. But they weren’t hostile. Not until… we tried to take this place away from them. We tried to take the Sentinel for ourselves and paid the price for our self-appointed superiority.”

  Marcus leaned against one of the walls next to Vana and turned to face her. “It doesn’t change why we’re here,” he said. “Who cares who started it, we’re here to stop it. Today.”

  Vana reached out and put her hand on his, still resting on her shoulder. “Let’s get this done, and we can worry about the rest later,” he said smiling.

  Vana nodded and stepped back from the window as the tram pulled into the junction at the tower. A door and steps materialised from the wall and they climbed carefully out onto the platform. Marcus went ahead, with the Krall weapon raised. He expected more Krall soldiers, but as he swept the area he found none.

  When he was sure they were alone, Marcus beckoned Vana across.

  “I thought you said this was the centre of the whole place?” he half-whispered.

  “It is, look,” she pointed to the tower looming over them and to an archway several meters tall that led inside.

  “Where is everyone? Shouldn’t there be guards?”

  “Perhaps Kali and the others have them all distracted. Come on, let’s get inside before our luck changes.”

  Marcus hesitated. This had all been entirely too easy. They had managed to board the Sentinel and make it all the way to the tower and only two guards had stood in their way. Even then, the guards were trying to capture them - not kill them. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him. Surely Davon was not that incompetent?

  Marcus snapped from his thoughts. Vana had moved ahead and was stood in front of the entrance to the tower. He jogged to catch her and stopped underneath the archway, breathing heavily.

  “I must be out of shape,” he panted, as he went down on one knee.

  “The air is thinner here,” said Vana. “Take a few deep breaths and you should be fine.”

  Marcus concentrated on his breathing and started to feel a little better. As he recovered he looked at the view ahead of them. The tower was a smooth silvery grey which stretched up as far as he could see. Being this close to it, the top was hidden from view. The archway was at least ten meters high and twice as wide and led to a dark tunnel. Light at the far side streamed in.

  Vana waited for Marcus to get his breath back and headed to the tunnel. She beckoned him to follow her. It came as a pleasant surprise to Marcus when the tunnel opened out into a vast chamber after only a few meters.

  The tower was hollow. Marcus strained his eyes and looked upwards. Various conduits and machinery dotted the walls.

  He fixed his stare on the only thing in the chamber. In the exact centre, a metal rod extended from above and stopped several meters in the air. At its end hung a silver ball which projected beams of light to pegs in the ground, which were positioned in a square shape. The whole effect was to project a giant pyramid shape, with Vana standing at the centre.

  Marcus headed towards her, but she held out her hand for him to stop.

  She knelt and pressed her hand against the floor. Several control panels slid out from hidden compartments in the floor and rose up before locking themselves into position with a click.

  Marcus held up his hands questioningly and Vana gave him a quick nod to indicate it was okay for him to get closer. A gentle prickly sensation swept across his skin as he passed through the invisible lines outlining the pyramid.

  “So how are we going to do this?” asked Marcus. He glanced at the control stations that had appeared; covered in blinking lights and incomprehensible displays beyond his understanding. He levelled his rifle at the nearest one. “Which one of these do I shoot first?” He grinned. He doubted it would be that simple.

  Vana pushed the weapon downwards and stepped in front of him. “Shooting a few consoles here won’t change anything. But with these, I can access vital parts of the Sentinel and cause some real damage.”

&
nbsp; Marcus furrowed his brow, “Aww, you said I could break things,” he said playfully.

  “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities for that later.”

  Marcus waved the barrel of the weapon at the consoles around the room. “So how exactly do you plan on taking this place out then?”

  Vana reached into her jacket and pulled out Jax. She held him in the palm of her hand.

  “It’s all down to Jax,” she said.

  Marcus cocked his head and shrugged his shoulders. Even now she was being evasive. After everything they had been through she was still holding out on him.

  “Look, we’re down to the wire here. I think it’s okay for you to let me in on the plan.”

  Vana placed Jax down on the nearest console and looked at Marcus.

  “Okay,” she said. “This whole place is an amazing feat of engineering. It generates more energy than most stars and all this is kept in balance by a master controller - here at the centre. For whatever reason, the builders of this place saw fit to design Sentinel to be controlled by a single person. Or more specifically, a single mind. That’s why you’ve heard me refer to Sentinel as if it was a person, because in some ways it is.”

  “Wait, what?” said Marcus looking around. “You mean this place is alive?” He shuddered, it was as if he was sneaking around uninvited inside someone’s home.

  “In a manner of speaking yes,” continued Vana. “The plan is to replace the incumbent mind with Jax’s. In this way, we hope to fool the system into accepting an artificial intelligence instead of the real thing. With Jax in control it would be a simple matter for him to upset the delicate balance keeping Sentinel running.”