Dark Sentinel: Book one in the Sentinel Series

by Adam Matlow

  Marcus ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled deeply.

  “But, won’t that … kill, the mind that’s already in there?”

  “Unfortunately, yes… but believe me when I tell you it is the most merciful thing we can do.”

  Marcus hesitated. Killing Krall that were shooting at them was one thing. It was self-defence. But to take a life in this way? Was Sentinel even alive by his definition? It was one thing to blow up a hulk of machinery, quite another when realising it was essentially someone’s body.

  “Whose mind is controlling it now?” asked Marcus. “One of the Krall I suspect?”

  Vana shook her head. “No, it’s the mind of a J’Darra. A scientist, called Trelevo. He was part of the original team that came here all those years ago. When the others left…. They couldn’t take him with them. He was abandoned.”

  “But why? Why would the Krall not put one of their own people inside this thing?”

  “They are not biologically compatible with Sentinel. Basically, they can’t. Perhaps it’s a way of keeping the Krall subservient. But we don’t know for sure.

  “So, if the mind running this place is one of yours, why did it… did he, allow Sentinel to be used to attack other races, including your own people?”

  “We don’t know a great deal about what happened, but it’s generally assumed they somehow broke him. They forced him into taking those actions. We don’t know how.”

  One life. One life to save all those countless others. He supposed the choice was obvious, but it didn’t lift the heaviness in his chest. He tried to push the thoughts aside.

  “Tell me what to do,” he said flatly.

  “Guard the door. I need to make some adjustments to interface Jax to the system, it’s going to take a little while.”

  Marcus nodded and walked back to the entrance of the tower. He stood for a moment, looking out past the junction and out onto the circular body of the Sentinel beyond. In the distance, black specks darted back and forth. Drones, he assumed. Nothing much was happening, so he sunk to the ground, standing the rifle between his legs and resting his head back against the barrel. The radio still clipped to his belt caught his eye. He hadn’t heard from the others in quite some time and he cursed at himself for not trying to contact them sooner. He removed the radio and spoke into it.

  “Kali, you there?” He waited a few seconds, hearing only static before repeating his call. “Doc, Amara? Anyone?”

  Still no answer. The rational part of his brain assured him there were a million reasons why they didn’t answer. Perhaps they were out of range, or they had damaged or lost their radio. He tried to ignore the louder, more persistent voice in his head that argued they were probably all dead.

  After two more failed attempts at contacting the others, he returned the radio to his belt. What was he even doing here? Vana hadn’t even told him how they were planning to escape. He closed his eyes and longed to go home. He’d never felt homesick before. Wherever he had gone, he’d always known how to get back. Not this time though. His fate was completely in the hands of Vana. She was his only way home.

  He looked out into the stars above him, the air held in place by the grav-fields surrounding the tower. A glint of light in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he snapped his head around to look. At first, he thought it was a star, like all the others, but this one was moving. It was growing by the second. It was getting closer.

  Marcus jumped and ran back towards the doorway. He turned in time to see a sleek silver craft descend through the grav-field a few hundred meters from him. Once inside the field, the low rumble of its engines filled the air which stopped abruptly as the craft landed. A door appeared and out stepped Davon. Unmistakable even from this distance and still using his camouflage technology to appear human. Several more Krall soldiers disembarked and took station around the ship, while Davon alone headed towards the tower.

  Marcus ran inside, skidding to a halt a few meters away from Vana. He gasped in the thin air and pointed wildly at the doorway as he tried to regain his breath.

  “Davon,” he managed through laboured breaths.

  “No, no, no. I haven’t finished. I need more time.”

  “How much?” Gasped Marcus.

  “An hour at least.”

  “An hour!? We’ve got maybe five minutes, and that’s if he’s feeling talkative.”

  Vana looked across at Jax, still sitting on the table. “I have an idea,” she said. Her hands darted across the console in front of her and she pointed to the opposite wall. Marcus followed the line to the spot she had indicated, and a small black doorway appeared in the otherwise unblemished greys and whites of the tower.

  “The maintenance hatch leads out towards another junction. We can use it to get across and make our way back to the others. We’ll have to find another way to disable Sentinel. Go, make sure it’s safe, I’ll be right behind you.”

  Marcus hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her behind but there wasn’t time to argue. He set off as fast as he could, still struggling in the thinner air. As he passed the halfway mark he turned to make sure Vana was following him. If she wasn’t he was resolved to go back and to drag her, kicking and screaming if necessary, along with him.

  The silver ball hanging from the ceiling at the centre of the room now glowed with a soft blue light. The beams of light tracing the outline of the pyramid were now more intense, and the space between them was translucent and shimmered, distorting the image of Vana who was still inside, working on the consoles.

  “What are you doing?” shouted Marcus. Vana didn’t reply, so he started back. Every breath was harder than the last and his legs grew heavy and harder to lift. He clambered back to the pyramid and once there, found he was unable to get inside. The energy field surrounding Vana was as solid as a real wall and just as impossible to pass through.

  Marcus pulled himself up and leaned against the field. It crackled underneath him but was unyielding. He pumped his fists against its surface and called to Vana again.

  This time she turned to face him and shouted a reply, her voice muffled by the field. “Marcus get out of here.”

  “What’s going on? Turn this damn barrier off and let’s go before Davon gets here.” Marcus glanced at the doorway, then at their escape route. He estimated it would take him at least two minutes to run the distance. In his current state, probably more. Davon would be here long before then. It was fight or flight, and flight had just been taken off of the table.

  Marcus dropped to the ground and went prone. He laid the alien rifle out before him and pointed it at the doorway. His fingers twitched over the trigger and a bead of sweat ran down his cheek and dripped to the floor beside him.

  “I’m sorry,” shouted Vana through the barrier. “It’s the only way.”

  Marcus twisted around and looked at Vana. She ran to the centre of the pyramid and activated another console. A new piece of equipment rose from the ground. It was bigger than the rest and flat. One end was raised slightly and at the bottom a footrest. Vana climbed onto it and lay back. This place needed a mind to run it, there wasn’t time to interface Jax. She was going to take his place. Marcus hadn’t asked what happens to a person’s body after they uploaded themselves to Sentinel, he didn’t need to. The look on Vana’s face told him everything. She was saying goodbye.

  Small devices from underneath the headrest snaked out and attached themselves to her head. Her eyes closed, and her body slumped back into the machine.

  Marcus didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t get through the barrier, Vana had made sure of that. He suspected however that Davon would have no such trouble. He could run for the exit and take his chances. Or he could stay here, try and hold off Davon long enough for Vana to do what she needed to do.

  If he left her now, everything they had done to get here would be for nothing. After all, where was he going to? Marcus hunkered down, lined up the rifle with the entrance to the tower and prepared for a fi
ght.

  He was distracted by the radio on his belt crackling to life. Through the heavy static Marcus could barely make out the voice of Kali. “Marcus, Vana? Are you there?”

  He grabbed the radio and answered back. Seconds later Kali repeated her call, she hadn’t heard him. Perhaps he was too far away, or there was interference from all the equipment around here.

  “Marcus, if you can hear me, we’re being overrun. We can’t hold them off, we’re going to have to--”.

  The transmission abruptly cut out. Marcus yelled into the radio, but there was no reply. He pushed it back into his pocket and refocused his attention on the doorway. A dark figure stood in the middle; Davon. He marched towards the centre of the room, flanked by two guards on either side. Marcus took aim at Davon and squeezed the trigger. A bolt of energy left the barrel, missing Davon by a wide margin. He adjusted his aim, this time skimming the top of his head. Davon looked at the guards at either side and pointed at Marcus. Seconds later shots rained down on his position. Marcus returned fire, but none of his shots connected with the targets.

  He rolled out of the path of several more shots, and they hit the pyramid behind him, fizzing as the barrier absorbed the energy. He dove for one of the corners, resting the rifle on the leading edge and using the barrier to protect him from most of the incoming fire.

  He squeezed off several more shots before hitting one of the guard’s square in the chest, lifting him off his feet and throwing him several meters back. Two more Krall soldiers arrived at the tunnel entrance and joined in the attack. The nearest one charged to one side trying to flank Marcus, who was forced to retreat further back along the pyramid.

  “Well, I suppose that’s that,” Marcus said to himself. He pushed his hand against the pyramid barrier and looked through at Vana. “Go get em.”

  Marcus was about to resume his attack when the radio sprang to life again, only this time it was the voice of Jax.

  “Marcus, there’s a problem. I need your help. I’m going to lower the barrier protecting the interface long enough for you to get inside. But we must do it now before the Krall get any closer.”

  Jax didn’t wait for Marcus’s reply and the barrier dropped as soon as he had finished speaking. Marcus rolled across the threshold and onto the other side and immediately the field was restored. Several shots hit the barrier just inches away, causing Marcus to jump back. The shots stopped, and he could make out the outline of Davon approaching the pyramid.

  “Over here,” called Jax, who was projecting himself from the console where he was sat.

  Marcus struggled to his feet and stumbled over to Vana, who was connected to the bed by several snake-like cables, most of which were attached to her head. Several more plugged into her arms and torso.

  “What the hell was she thinking?” he said. He stroked her hair, brushing a dark lock away from her eyes.

  “There was not enough time to complete the interface with me. Vana saw this as the only alternative.”

  “She tricked me.” He placed a hand on her cheek. Her skin was cold to the touch.

  “She knew you would not leave her behind.”

  “You said there was a problem?”

  “Vana rushed the connection, but the interface is not stable. She is not fully connected to the Sentinel and cannot complete the mission. She is dying.”

  “There must be something we can do?”

  “There are no good options. Everything we can do carries the risk of further injuring Vana. But in her present condition, she will die anyway. You must manually disconnect her from the interface. I am unable to access those systems to do it myself.”

  Marcus reached for the nearest cable connected to Vana and gripped it tightly.

  “What do I do? Just rip it off?”

  “Essentially, yes,” said Jax.

  He tugged firmly at the first cable, which came away much easier than he was expecting. It fell away before rising slowly back up, trying to reconnect. Marcus batted it away, and after several attempts, it gave up and retracted back into the headrest.

  He continued to speak with Jax as he disconnected the other cables.

  “How long will the barrier protect us?” asked Marcus.

  “Several more minutes. I have detected their attempts to disable the field and have been able to stall them for now, but they will be able to circumvent my blocks before long.”

  “Great, then what? What’s the great escape plan? I hope you’ve got something up your sleeve. If you even have sleeves that is.”

  “You surrender.”

  “Great plan. Really great. What makes you think he won’t just kill us the moment the field is down?”

  “Remember Davon has been trying to capture Vana, not kill her. I do not expect he will kill her now.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think he holds me in the same regard.”

  “Whatever Davon has planned, it will undoubtedly require Vana’s cooperation. If he kills you, it would make her more resistant to him. I calculate a forty-seven percent chance Davon will keep you alive, in order to coerce Vana.”

  “Oh, well isn’t my day about to get brighter,” said Marcus with a deep sigh. “I still don’t see how this gets us out of here.”

  “It buys us time.”

  With a grunt, Marcus disconnected the last cable and pulled Vana from the table, laying her gently on the floor. Her breath was shallow but regular. She had the appearance of simply being asleep. Marcus spoke into her ear and shook her gently by the shoulder, but she remained unresponsive.

  A shadow crept across the floor and Marcus looked to see Davon on the opposite side of the barrier. He peered in, a sneer crossed his face as he saw Vana laid out on the floor.

  “What have you done?” he shouted through the barrier. “Put her back in the machine.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Marcus backed away from the barrier and over to the console Jax was sitting on. “What the hell is going on here,” he asked. “Why would he want her connected to this thing? And no more secrets, for once I want someone to be straight with me.”

  Jax’s projection quickly flickered between walls of text and complex diagrams before being replaced by his face, which hovered a few centimetres above the console.

  “Sentinel is dying,” he said finally. “The mind that controls everything here is breaking down. Soon, it will be unable to maintain the station.”

  “What does that mean exactly? That this place will shut down?”

  “In the best case yes. In the worst case, the resulting instability would trigger a catastrophic overload that would destroy this place entirely.”

  Davon sneered at Marcus through the barrier. “So, he wants Vana to take its place?”

  “Yes, and it is reasonable to assume that Davon has taken steps to ensure she wouldn’t be able to do anything to threaten the existence of Sentinel.”

  “So that was his plan all along? To capture Vana and bring her here? And we just delivered her right to his doorstep.” Marcus pounded the nearest console with his fist, bloodying his knuckles. He shook out the pain.

  “How long does the Sentinel have?”

  “At the current rate of decay, less than six months. But I am afraid we have another problem. The barrier protecting us is about to fail and there is nothing I can do to prevent it.”

  Marcus grabbed the rifle from the floor next to Vana and aimed it directly at Davon.

  “If you come in here, you’ll be the first to die,” he shouted.

  “I really don’t think so Marcus,” replied Davon smugly. He pointed a bony finger upwards. Marcus followed it to see at least a dozen drones hovering silently several meters above him. He hadn’t seen them arrive.

  “The drones are considerably faster than you Marcus. You won’t get chance to fire a shot.”

  “We’ll see about that,” said Marcus. He stood inches away from the barrier and aimed his rifle at Davon’s head. A wide smile appeared on Davon’s face.

  “If you i
nsist on doing everything the hard way. So be it.”

  “Containment breach imminent,” announced Jax. “I must take steps to protect myself.” The projection of Jax vanished, leaving Marcus alone.

  “Hey, what the--? Get back here! What about us?!” The small clear disk that housed Jax remained inert.

  He gripped the barrel of the weapon tighter and stretched his finger to the trigger.

  “Damn you Jax, you picked a fine time to leave.”

  His hands trembled, but he fought to maintain control, not wanting to give Davon the satisfaction of seeing his reaction.

  The barrier began to thin and collapse from the edges inwards. As it did so, the drones above him had a clear shot. Marcus squeezed the trigger as the area covering Davon began to dissolve away, but it was too late. From the corner of his eye Marcus saw a bolt of energy leave the nearest drone. It hit him in the chest, knocking him off his feet and sending the rifle clattering away, out of reach. He struggled to breathe as if a weight was pushing down on his chest. His vision dimmed at the edges as the dark grip of unconsciousness tugged at him.

  Davon leaned over as Marcus slipped away. His voice distant.

  “Get the girl and put this one with the others.”

  Grey, bony hands from all around him reached out. Then, darkness.

  ◆◆◆

  Marcus gasped and jerked into a sitting position. A throbbing pain ran through his head, and his chest tight and badly bruised. All around him, indistinct blobs moved across his vision and voices filled the air.

  “He’s awake,” came a voice.

  The blurry image in front of him sharpened until Marcus recognised Kali, leaning over him. Her hand on his shoulder.

  “Finally,” she huffed.

  Marcus tried to stand, but a bolt of pain shot through his head, and he was forced to lay back again. Helping hands reached out for him, and lowered him gently back to the floor.

  “Not so fast,” said Kali. “You took a real beating. I think you’ve cracked a couple of ribs. I’ve bandaged them up as best I can.”