Dark Sentinel: Book one in the Sentinel Series

by Adam Matlow

  “Oh, thank god for that,” said Marcus, relief washing over him. He spun around to see the figure from before, but this time he was no longer a shadow, but whole like himself.

  “Who are you?” asked Marcus. His facial features looked familiar, slim cheekbones and bright purple eyes. “Are you… the same as Vana? J’Darra I mean?”

  “Once yes, but now I am Sentinel. And you are Marcus. I know everything about you and your friends. Where you come from, why you’re here.”

  “How could you possibly--”

  “The implant in your head. The connection works both ways. I can see the inner workings of your mind. I know you better than you know yourself.”

  “Hey, be careful mucking around inside there - I’ve got the place how I like it.”

  Sentinel reached out towards Marcus, who stepped back, maintaining the distance between them. “You are quite lucky,” said Sentinel. He stopped and made no further attempt to get closer.

  “You know, I was just thinking that myself. How lucky I am to be here. Thousands of lightyears from home, hooked into an alien machine, with a xenophobic genocidal creepy insect alien trying to wipe out me, my friends and the rat-infested pile of garbage of a planet I come from. Yep, things couldn’t be better.”

  Marcus tilted his head slightly as he waited for the figure to continue. The other just stared at him silently. Perhaps sarcasm was lost in translation. He sighed. “Fine. Why am I so lucky then?”

  “Your implant: it’s damaged and is only able to interface on the most basic level and at a greatly reduced rate. If not for that, your mind would be quickly overwhelmed.”

  The figure held out his hand and above it appeared a device, about one centimetre long with dozens of tiny tentacle-like tendrils trailing from it. From the context of the conversation, Marcus assumed it was a representation of his implant.

  “The design is quite ingenious, but Davon has never found anyone who could handle the connection to Sentinel. Most people he tried to connect simply ‘burned out’, their primitive minds destroyed. In his arrogance, he hasn’t yet realised limiting the connection would stand him a much greater chance of controlling this place.”

  Marcus shook his head impatiently.

  “This is all very interesting, but I came here to do a job. And besides, I don’t trust you. The only thing I know about you is that you near as damn it destroyed my planet a hundred years ago and now you’re at it again.”

  Marcus glared at him angrily. “I’m gonna end this once and for all, and you won’t be able to stop me.” He had no idea if he could follow through with his threat, but it felt good to shout it out.

  The figure didn’t react to the outburst aimed at it but instead spoke calmly. “Well, I certainly see you have strength of spirit, but that alone will not guarantee victory.”

  “How are you even still here anyway?” asked Marcus through gritted teeth. “I thought when Vana tried to connect earlier you were… displaced. Overwritten. Gone.”

  The figure tensed slightly as Davon walked right through him, and was now idly inspecting the interface chair in the centre of the room. It was if he was waiting for someone. Perhaps Davon expected the others would try and reach the tower for a second time and he was waiting in ambush.

  “Obviously this was not the case,” replied the figure. “I used your friend Vana’s connection to ‘fake my own death’ as you might put it. I’ve seen enough death and destruction, much of it by my own hand and I’ve had enough.”

  “Well, boo hoo!” said Marcus sarcastically. “It’s a bit late for a change of heart now isn’t it? I’d have been much more inclined to feel sorry for you if you hadn’t just hurled another huge chunk of rock at my planet.”

  “There’s still time to prevent any further loss of life on your world.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” said Marcus with frustration. “I thought you said you knew everything about me? If you really do want to help me, you can start by telling me exactly how to kill you.”

  Chapter twenty-one

  “I will help you,” said the figure. “But first there are things that you need to understand. After this point, we will set into motion a chain of events that cannot be undone. Whatever happens from now on is in the hands of you, and your people.”

  Sentinel waved his hand, and everything faded to blackness. Only the two ghostly figures remained. Around them, points of light sprung into existence. First one, then a handful more, and so on until pinpricks of lights flickered all around them, and Marcus could make out a pattern. A spiral shape with four arms, coalesced into view, becoming more defined as the seconds ticked by.

  Before long the structure was complete, and Marcus stared at it in awe.

  “This is the galaxy we inhabit. You call it the Milky Way. Here, this is where we are.” A patch of stars brightened at one of the spiral arms remotest edges. “And your sun is here:” One of the stars three quarters from the centre of the galaxy pulsed more brightly, before fading into obscurity amongst the millions of other stars around it.

  Marcus snapped himself out of his stunned silence. “Why are you showing me this? What has this got to do with anything?”

  Around the galaxy, more lights started to pulse. Spread equally across the face of the Milky Way they formed a lattice structure, which became more apparent as lines appeared between them with each point connected to its four closest neighbours.

  “The Sentinel network was not built to enable faster than light travel,” said Sentinel. “It was designed to do the opposite: to inhibit FTL, so only those who were in control of this network could travel freely around the galaxy.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Marcus. His head swam from the enormity of the imagery he saw. His human brain struggled to comprehend the size and complexity of the scene in front of him.

  “Did you say, ‘network’? You mean there’s more of these places?” He pointed to the lines linking the points together. “Are all these dot’s other Sentinels?”

  The lines Vanished, leaving only faint pinpricks of light where each line had intersected with the others.

  “You are correct. Each of the points you have just seen is another Sentinel, just like this one and each containing the consciousness of a compatible species. Built to suppress the ability of others to develop independent faster than light capability.”

  The scientific and engineering knowledge needed to build just one Sentinel was beyond the comprehension of Marcus. He couldn’t even begin to grasp the capabilities of a people who were able to build dozens of them.

  “You’ve told me why the Sentinels were built, but not by who.”

  “A race so ancient even their name has been lost in the midsts of time. Almost nothing is known about them. Only their technology remains. One thing we do know however, is they were locked in a battle for survival against a dark and insidious foe that spread throughout the stars as a plague. The Sentinels somehow played a part in all this. Sometime after, these builders vanished - leaving only their servants: the Krall, to continue their work.”

  “I was wondering how those bugs fit into all this,” said Marcus. “So, they are fighting this enemy of the builders, and what? Some worlds are just caught in the cross-fire?”

  “No one has ever seen this ancient enemy. It’s possible they no longer exist. That they died off or moved on from this galaxy aeons ago.”

  “So why do the Krall keep attacking?”

  “The Krall consider anyone attempting to build their own FTL capable ships as an attack on their Masters – the builders, who they revere as gods. The Sentinels prevent faster than light travel – so to try to attempt it is heresy.”

  “But as you say, the builders have been gone for so long. Wouldn’t they just give up?”

  “You have to understand the Krall were nothing more than insects before the builders uplifted them. They gave them sentience and built into their makeup a compulsion to serve which they could not ignore. They built the same control into all their
devices, including the Sentinel. Once a mind is joined, it becomes compelled to obey.

  Marcus waved a hand dismissively. “I don’t feel any different,” he said.

  “Stay here long enough and that will change. The most frightening part is you will not even realise it is happening. When fully under its influence you will obey any command given to you from Davon and will carry it out with devotion. You will honestly believe destroying those worlds; taking all those lives, is justified and necessary.”

  “How does that explain you then?” asked Marcus. He glared at the semi-present figure hovering several meters away. “Shouldn’t you be under Davon’s spell, carrying out his deranged orders?”

  The manifestation of Sentinel looked down and shook his head. “For the longest time I did. I’ve been complicit in the destruction of a great many civilisations before various failing systems and components allowed me to break free of its control. I accept the fate that comes to me now, and hope my sacrifice, as small as it is, will go some way towards my redemption.”

  Marcus noted several of the points of light scattered around the map were dimmer than the rest, which piqued Marcus’s interest.

  “What about these,” he said, pointing to the nearest dimmed point of light.

  “Those are Sentinels that have already failed, probably as a result of the minds running them deteriorating, as my own has begun to. As each one goes offline, the network becomes more unstable. Should this one fail it is likely the whole network will collapse.”

  “And to get them working again they have to find someone who is compatible because the Krall aren’t,” mused Marcus.

  “By design,” continued Sentinel. “The builders made sure their servants could never take control of the network. The Krall, with their single-minded devotion to their once-masters, have wiped out almost everyone who can interface successfully. You humans seem to share many of the same qualities of the J’Darra. Indeed, your presence here confirms that. The experiments, the implants, were all designed to allow Davon to use humans in the heart of this place.”

  Marcus nodded along with Sentinel. It was all starting to make sense. “When Vana showed up out of the blue, he went crazy trying to capture her – because he wanted her to take your place,” he said.

  “The J’Darra once thought extinct, proved to be exceptional candidates. Now he has captured more, he would not only be able to repair this place but the others too.”

  “So, if we destroy this Sentinel, what will that mean? The Krall lose access to faster than light travel? Could they still threaten other worlds?”

  The figure paused for a moment before he spoke. “They still have their ships, but they would no longer be able to prevent others from developing their own FTL technology.”

  “Let’s get on with it then,” said Marcus steadfastly. “We’ve wasted enough time as it is, and I promised everyone I would get them home. If you can help me do that, I’ll help you put an end to this place. For good.”

  “Then listen to me carefully,” said Sentinel. “Because timing is going to be everything.”

  ◆◆◆

  Marcus awoke with a start; shot bolt upright and sucked in a huge lungful of air, which he spluttered back out again between wheezes and coughs. Vana let out an involuntary yelp at the sudden return of Marcus, before helping him regain some composure.

  “What went wrong?” she asked hurriedly. “Did the connection fail?”

  Marcus batted Doc away, who was busy trying to take his pulse. “I’m fine. I’m back in one piece.” He paused for a second and patted himself down. He didn’t realise how much he missed his body. He winced as his hands found the bullet wound on his leg, still tender even after being treated with Vana’s medical device.

  Vana was staring at him, waiting for a reply.

  “It worked. The connection I mean. I was inside. I met someone, the previous mind to control this place. He told me all about this place, what it does and why. And why Davon is such an insufferable ass and-- well, I’ll tell you about it later. Right now, we have some business to take care of.”

  Doc, who had given up fussing over Marcus, removed his glasses and polished the lenses with a small cloth retrieved from his top pocket. “Care to be more specific?” he asked.

  Marcus looked around, his eyes darted across everyone in the room and finally to the ceiling. “Sentinel wants this place destroyed as much as we do, but he needs our help. I agreed on the condition he helps us get everyone home safely.”

  Vana stood and reached out her hand to help Marcus up. He accepted the help and struggled to his feet. He hobbled to the nearest wall and leant against it, taking some of the weight from his injured leg.

  “What do we do now?” asked Vana. “I expect Sentinel gave you some instructions?”

  “It’s all in here,” said Marcus, tapping his temple with two fingers. “But we don’t have much time. We need to split up. Doc, Kali - you guys need to head to the holding area where our people are being held. Davon has most of his soldiers out looking for us, there are only a few of guards left there.”

  “Are you mad?” scoffed Kali. “We’ll never make it back there on our own.” She held her rifle up and tapped the barrel. “As awesome as I am with this thing, I don’t fancy my chances against a whole platoon of those bugs.”

  “That’s where these guys come in.” At that moment two drones appeared at the doorway. Marcus had to hand it to Sentinel; his timing was impeccable. Kali swore loudly and jumped back, raising her weapon. Marcus grabbed the barrel and pushed it down.

  “They’re with us,” he said.

  “Jesus Marcus, next time give me some warning. I nearly had a bloody heart attack.”

  “Jim and Bob here will give you cover as you make your way to the holding area.”

  “Jim and Bob?” asked Doc.

  Marcus waved his hand at the drones hovering silently in the doorway. “Yeah, they needed names. I think it suits them.”

  Kali groaned. “They give me the creeps,” she said, not bothering to disguise her contempt.

  “You’ll get over it,” snarked Marcus. “Now, when you get to the holding area you need to find Vana’s people. Sentinel told me they are being kept in stasis somewhere in that area.”

  “Then what?”

  “You need to hunker down and wait until me and Vana have disabled the lockouts preventing Sentinel from taking actions against the wishes of Davon.”

  Vana looked concerned and shook her head. “But I don’t know how to--”

  “It’s okay, Sentinel told me what I need to do.” Marcus turned back to Kali, who was waiting to hear the rest of the plan.

  “Once we’ve got Sentinel back up and running again, he’s going to send everyone back to Earth the same way as they got here. One big portal focused on one room. But there’s only enough time to do this once. So, you’ve got to get all the survivors into the same room as the stasis pods containing the J’Darra.”

  “What about the asteroid heading for Earth?” asked Doc.

  “Sentinel told me he’d deal with that as well.” Marcus glanced at Vana. “As for what Sentinel needs me to do, he gave me very detailed instructions. Watch.”

  He walked over to a console mounted to the wall at the back of the room. A small button on one side flashed slowly. He reached out and pushed the button once and the flashing stopped. He turned and beamed a wide grin at Vana.

  “There,” he said triumphantly.

  Vana tilted her head and looked at him as if she was expecting more.

  “There what?”

  “That’s what he told me to do.”

  “What? Push one button?”

  “Yep.”

  “And these were detailed instructions you say?”

  “He was quite clear about me pushing that button.”

  “I have to say Marcus, this was not at all what I was expecting.”

  “Ah well, that’s the clever bit. Apparently, lots of complicated stuff is going to appear on
the monitor behind you and when it does, you’ll know what to do.”

  “So, your job was just--”

  “To push the button. Yes. I managed quite well don’t you think? Sentinel said this was the best way. He said I didn’t have the sort of mind that could understand the information. At least not in the time we had available.”

  Vana nodded. “The human mind is quite primitive in comparison,” she said.

  “Yeah, but Sentinel said it in a nicer way,” replied Marcus.

  The screen behind them flickered to life and filled with lines of text and schematics. Vana dashed over and studied the information closely. After several minutes she straightened up and looked at Marcus.

  “I think I understand what Sentinel wants us to do. The station was built with failsafe’s to prevent the controlling mind from ever being able to go against the wishes of the original builders. It’s taken Sentinel a great many years to find a way to circumvent the blocks - but it needs to be done here in the real world. He can do nothing from the inside.”

  “Let’s get on with it,” shouted Kali from the doorway she was guarding. She waved at the drones floating nearby. “And can you get rid of those things? Send them ahead to scout the way or something, just keep them away from me.”

  “The drones will lead you back to the others,” said Marcus and with that they turned and rocketed down the corridor, stopping at the next junction, waiting for Kali to catch up.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming. Jeeze,” shouted Kali. “Come on Doc, let’s get you and Amara back to the holding room. If we’re lucky we won’t meet too many of those things on the way back.”

  Marcus placed a hand on Kali’s shoulder.

  “Good luck,” he said gently. “And don’t worry. Sentinel said he was going to distract the Krall as best he could. Sealing them in remote parts of the station, turning drones against them, that sort of thing. But it’s only temporary. Once the Krall realise what’s happened, they’ll try and stop him.”

  Kali nodded, indicated towards the doorway and stepped out. Amara hesitated at the exit for a moment and smiled at Marcus. “Well, whatever happens, it’s been… fun. Get back to us in one piece, won’t you?”