Sentinel: The Race Against Dark Energy

by Andrew McIntyre

  Nell’s mouth was open, bottom jaw dropped in wonder. She slowly mouthed the remainder of her sentence but it was a whisper. She looked once again directly at Saul. She looked around the room from her position on the floor. She jerked her head around the whole room, back and forth. Then freaked! “ What the hell is this? What the hell is going on? WHERE the hell is this for Christ’s sake?” She demanded.

  Saul also scanned the lab and shook his head, raising his hands defensively, he tried to comprehend it for himself and explain, but simply said “Ummmm,…. Well, I’m not quite sure.”

  Nell jumped to her feet still moving about in discomfort from the fall. She walked about the laboratory agitated and visibly shocked. “There is no laboratory that I know of in the museum!” she screamed. “ So where the hell have you taken me?”

  “Well,… I don’t think we are in the museum.” He said embarrassed.

  “So where are we?” Nell barked, “Did we leave the museum? Did we get to the party?” She suddenly looked terrified. “Did you slip me something in a drink AT the party you fuckwit?”

  “No,.. No!” Said Saul disgusted at her insinuation. “I think we may be in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.” He said, disbelieving his own words.

  Nell stopped scurrying about the lab. Stood very still, then walked aggressively towards Saul.

  “Saul Casey, I swear to God, you better explain this shit to me and fast. Before I break your arm.” Nell was a brown belt in martial arts and was not joking.

  “Well OK,… OK! So the thing is,… We were obviously,… at the museum,.. And so this weird thing,….” Saul endeavoured to explain like a child caught in the act. “This VERY weird thing happened,…”

  “You’re telling me!” Nell shouted across him.

  “Yes!.... Well Yes,…. I suppose I am telling you. I am telling you something which even I don’t believe, so how the hell will you believe it!” Said Saul, reluctantly.

  “OK – Let me start again.” Saul raised his hands in defence.

  “SHALL I HELP?” Came the voice again – out of nowhere.

  Nell jumped back about two feet and Saul equally shocked pointed into thin air and looked at Nell urgently, saying “See! – See I told you it was weird!”

  Nell looked around the room trying to find the source of the voice. “Who is that? Who is speaking?” She said urgently.

  “Saul pick up your phone” Said the voice in its monotone style.

  Saul glanced around and found his mobile phone on the floor where he and Nell had landed. He scurried over and grabbed it. ”What now?” He asked looking around the room.

  “Place it on the bench in front of you.” Came the monotone reply.

  Saul placed the phone face-up on the bench in front of him and the startled Nell.

  The phone began buzzing and the screen flashing with all manner of digits and symbols appearing, flickering and disappearing. Then from the screen rose an hologram of a man’s face, stretching up in luminous green light. The image reached just eight inches or so out of the phone’s screen and shimmered and flickered continuously. Nell looked directly at Saul in total and utter shock.

  The face looming out of the phone looked nondescript in terms of features but was clearly male.

  “Jesus Christ!” Said Nell alarmed at the image floating up from the screen. “What the hell is that?”

  “So you are a man after all?” Said Saul enquiring at the image. Nell looked at Saul in disbelief.

  “No! I am not a human being Saul,” Said the man’s head, “I am pure energy. To be precise I am pure positive energy, which makes up most of your Universe. I am simply appearing to you in human form as it is difficult for human beings to assimilate information from a non-physical entity.”

  Nell stepped back from the phone holding her hands up over her mouth.

  “It is quite safe my dear, no need to be afraid, nobody here will hurt you.” The voice reassured Nell.

  “Energy?” Enquired Saul.

  “Yes – correct. Positive Energy. I am everywhere.”

  “Well currently, you are in my phone.” Said Saul defensively.

  “Part of me is in your phone Saul. I am in you, and Nell as organisms; I am in the desk, in the walls, in the air,. Everywhere.” Explained the voice.

  “That’s great,.. Just great! But can someone please let me in on what the hell is happening here and why this jerk has kidnapped me.” Nell interrupted sharply.

  “Yes that was unfortunate, wasn’t it Saul. Although deliberate on this young man’s part.” Said the voice bordering on sarcasm.

  Saul looked at Nell and once again raised his hands defensively, “Look,.. Look it was just that I saw you there and,…”

  “And?” Said the voice.

  “YES! AND?...” Enquired Nell, giving Saul the look from hell.

  “And,… And I was scared,.. and so I wanted you with me” Saul blurted.

  “You wanted me with you?”

  “Yes!” Said the voice. He wanted you with him on his journey and so when I explained for him to touch nothing,…. He decided to touch you.”

  Nell looked curiously at Saul with a slight hint of recognition on her face. Recognition that he was attracted to her. She folded her arms in a display of displeasure, but secretly she was not displeased.

  “Fine!” Nell said abruptly, “But it doesn’t explain what’s going on. It doesn’t explain why one minute I’m in the British museum and the next I’m back at school.”

  “All will become clear shortly my dear. We are just awaiting a visitor.” The voice replied.

  “Who the hell are you calling ‘Dear’?” Said Nell, suitably affronted.

  “A visitor?” Saul questioned, interrupting.

  The hologram explained, “Of course. The only visitor from whom you will accept an explanation of what is happening and why you are part of it.”

  “That would be nice.” Nell added sarcastically.

  The lab door opened distracting Nell and Saul from gazing at the hologram. In walked a man in a white coat, wearing brown trousers and brown brogue shoes. He had wild, white hair and small spectacles balanced precariously on the bridge of his nose. The man was ever so slightly bent-over in stature and walked at pace. He began scouring the lab for something. Checking drawers, on shelves and as he approached what they assumed was his own desk, he finally looked up and acknowledged the presence of the students.

  He said nothing, just studied them for a moment. Then asked in a slight and soft German accent, “Who are you?”

  Saul and Nell looked at each other then back at the man. “Well I’m Saul and this is Nell,” Said Saul puzzled.

  “Good,.. that is good. So why are you in my laboratory?” Asked the man.

  “Hold on,.. Are you,… I mean are you like” Saul was getting tongue-tied.

  “Am I? Am I like what? Asked the man.

  “Well you look just like albert Einstein.” Nell blurted out in comedic sarcasm.

  “Of course!” Said the man “Obviously I look like Albert Einstein. Who else would I look like?”

  The students looked back at each other smiling wryly. “Yeah right!” Said Saul.

  “How strange your patterns of speech for two young people.” Said the man curiously. “ Where are you from, America?”

  “No!” Said Nell pulling a face. “We are both English. British! Whatever,… Why would you think we’re American?”

  “America is the new world. I assumed your new way of talking came from the new world.” Said the man dismissively.

  “We talk, like you talk!” Said Saul interrupting.

  “EXCUSE ME!” Came the voice from the hologram. “May I speak, otherwise this will take eons. May I present Albert Einstein. He will explain everything to you about your situation and what is required.”

  Saul and Nell looked at each other in a mix of total disbelief and curiosity, with Saul slumping down onto a stool beside the lab bench and clasping both hands to his head. Nell on the other hand s
tood motionless and remained, arms folded in a defiant stance.

  “You gotta be kidding me!” She finally exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence. “You honestly expect me to believe that this guy is Albert Einstein and that you are some kind of energy sat in Saul’s phone and one minute I was stood in the British Museum, but that now I am stood in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute? Yeah right! Somebody tell me what’s going on and you better tell me the truth pretty damn quick, because I am getting a little tired of this stupid joke, its gone way too far. In fact, I’m out of here!” Nell begins walking towards the lab door as she turns her back on the group in total disgust, dismissing the whole premise and the situation with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

  Saul shouted after her, “Nell, wait,… just hang on a minute, where are you going?”

  “Screw you! I’m going home, this is sick. You somehow kidnap me after dropping who knows what shit into some drink and then you bring me to this dive of a place! What were you thinking, you and that crazy Moose have rigged up some juvenile new app onto your phone to make it look like he’s inside and you want me to play along? Well its gone way past a joke now Saul, who the hell thinks a girl would be ok with this type of stunt? You are so out of order I should kick your ass. And if you’ve been videoing this to upload online then get a reality check, you imbecile – I see anything up there and I will,…”

  Saul desperately interrupts her tirade of abuse, with an embarrassed plea, “I have done nothing of the sort, I promise you! This has all been just as weird for me as it has for you,…..”

  As Saul desperately attempts to calm Nell, the hologram from the mobile phone transforms into a full-blown projection filling half the laboratory, floating and shimmering. The voice still speaks in the same unemotional tone but now it is louder and commentates upon what is being shown within the projection.

  “You are Nell Beauclerk. Daughter of Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford and Heir to the Dukedom of St. Albans, the title created for the first born, illegitimate child of Charles the Second and Nell Gwyn, whom you are named after following the family tradition to keep the name alive. You are one of three siblings and your ancestors have resided within the family seat for the last 200 years. However, your family are blissfully unaware of the secret you share with your beloved father, that your family is all but insolvent. Your father is suffering from both the onset of Parkinsons Disease and also a central nervous condition brought about by continual financial pressure relating to the upkeep of the estate. Your father bore this truth alone until you discovered him in his study with paperwork relating to debts and he shared his debilitating secret with you. Because of your devotion to your father, you are willing to sacrifice yourself into a relationship with Mr. Stephan DeBrecht because the financial position of his family offers you and your father a way out, whilst preserving your family’s reputation.”

  Nell span around and gazed at the huge projection floating in front of her. “How do you know these things? How do you know private and VERY personal information about myself and my family?” She bellowed at the voice.

  “This is the moment your father confided in you about his problems and resultant illness. “The voice shows a close-up of her father’s frail and ageing face, which appears to be talking to the viewer.

  “How do you know this? Demanded Nell. How did you get this footage? She becomes tearful and upset as she watches the shimmering, flickering images of her father talking silently, as if being filmed by a separate person.

  “This is not footage Nell,” Replied the voice calmly, it is real-life. Recorded in your memory. This is exactly what you saw, when you saw it. It is stored within the zero-point field, which I am accessing now.

  Nell stepped forward and as tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, she reached out to attempt to touch the face of her father but her hand simply passed through the hologram projection, disturbing its resonance as she did so.

  “How could you possibly know about my father?” Nell enquired, wiping her tears away. “There were only us two in the room that day. Even the rest of my family do not know that information.” She said pointedly.

  “I did not know that information Nell, but you knew it. It is possible for me to access information stored within the Zero-Point field from any organism that is alive or that has lived. I can access information or data on any man, beast, plant or even what you describe as extra-terrestrial entities. Everything is stored in the ‘Field’ including memories.”

  The huge holographic projection shrank back down into the mobile phone with a whooshing noise and once again became an image of a man’s head.

  “What the hell is ‘The Field’?” shouted Nell, “You’ve been spying on me and my family!” She said indignantly.

  The voice ignored her distain and replied factually, “The field, being the Zero-Point Field, or Field of Potentiality is exactly that. A field of limitless energy and power through-which human beings create their reality through thoughts and desires, which send out mental waves and interact with the field creating a resonance. This resonance in turn creates that person’s reality.”

  The voice then spoke again but this time in a foreign language, which was undistinguishable to both Saul and Nell. The language used seemed to be something akin to Arabic and was mixed with what they thought might be Latin but was also punctuated with clicks and high-pitched squeaks similar to a dolphin communicating.

  Saul and Nell listened with intent, trying to decipher the sounds and were about to explain that they understood absolutely nothing the voice was saying, when they noticed Einstein nodding and pulling faces as if he understood every word. Even more shocking was when Einstein responded and replied to the voice in exactly the same language, but with a slight German accent.

  Nell once again glared at Saul and shook her head in exasperation, whilst Saul held his hands out and smiled nervously.

  The communication between the voice and Einstein ended abruptly and Einstein walked to a large blackboard taking up half of one of the walls of the laboratory. He silently began wiping from the board some mathematical equations already written upon it, proceeding to write new equations but this time accompanied by diagrams, which he assumed the youngsters would also need to understand the information he was attempting to convey. As he drew the diagrams he began speaking in a tone betraying his displeasure at having to dumb-down his instructions.

  He began addressing the young students. “The world which you inhabit is made up of energy. Everything around you is energy, but it vibrates at different frequencies. The different frequencies denote what the energy becomes. Stone or rock is a completely different frequency to that of wood or water, glass or metal. Your own bodies albeit flesh, bone, muscle or brain tissue, is still energy vibrating at the corresponding frequency. Energy is everywhere, in everything, at every moment in time. It has always been there and will always be there. Some schools of thought believe this energy to be what we as human beings call GOD, because it is omnipotent. Energy can be harnessed. Energy can be manipulated and used to create anything you wish – one simply needs to create the desired frequency.”

  Both Nell and Saul momentarily forgot their anxieties at being where they were, in the situation they were in, as they became spellbound by what the great master was saying. Einstein continued unabated, “ Energy exists in two forms – negative and positive and the universe is made up entirely of these, but in solid form. A baby human being is created by the coming together of two forms of positive energy usually mixed with love, being a third form of positive energy. Natural disasters, such as storms or destructive typhoons are routinely created by negative energy. The universe is created through balance and requires both negative and positive energy to continue existing, however at certain times the balance is disturbed and the equilibrium of the Universe is pulled in one direction or another. The results of which can be devastating.” Einstein continued, without pausing to assess whether the students were indeed understanding anything he’d said. “Bot
h negative and positive energy recruit the assistance of representatives within the ‘physical’ realm to help maintain their position within the balanced state. We ‘Sentinels’ are required to uphold the position of positive energy and face a constant battle throughout time, to redress the efforts of negative energy. Negative energy constantly attempts to destable the equilibrium through the use of Demonicons, its physical representatives throughout the universe.”

  Einstein stopped chalking and turned to the students, “It would appear that you young man have been chosen as a Sentinel for the same task, although I have no idea why, or what unique skills you possess to qualify for this honour.”

  The voice from the hologram interrupted. “Technology!” It said abruptly. “Saul has a brain, which understands and appreciates technology and merging his intellect with his mobile telephone and the energy now contained within it, offers him enhanced powers to that of previous Sentinels. Much more enhanced.”

  Chapter 4: Becoming a sentinel.

  Saul sank. Internally, he crumpled with fear. Externally, he sat rubbing his hands furiously through his wavy hair whilst exhaling and blowing out loudly, but said nothing. Nell stood next to him and slowly took in the magnitude of what they were hearing.

  “So this is really happening!” Nell quietly said. “This is no stunt for the end of term party, we are actually here in Einstein’s laboratory,….but more importantly I am here too! And this has nothing,…absolutely nothing to do with me. This is about you Saul!”

  “I guess so,…” Replied Saul, with resignation.