Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy

by John Anderson

  Ian and Trip are staggered by his cold-blooded overreaction.

  Charles looks bemused and says, “Ian? Are you alright? You look a little shocked. You should always listen to what I have to say. I mean every word of it. I want you to pull back, to pull back now! Am I making myself clear?” And with that he begins his walk up the stairs. Several of the soldiers point their guns at Charles but Trip indicates that they should put them down. Everyone stands stunned, in horror, as Charles walks up the stairs like a modern day Nero.

  At just that moment Juan and Ruth are in a helicopter coming into Washington and they see the flash and the tell-tale mushroom cloud rising in the distance. "My God what has happened," Juan gasps.

  "Charles has launched six nukes. When Trip Wagner tried to arrest him he did this as a warning and threatened to do more, if Trip and Ian don’t back off." Ruth explains.

  Juan just sits back in horror, "What have we done, what is wrong with us?"

  Ruth responds, "A great deal!"

  Trip was sitting in his parked car in front of the armory chain smoking cigarettes. He took deep drags and then laid his head back for a few moments of rest. Ian walked over, got in next to him, didn’t say a word and took one of Trip’s cigarettes.

  “Today I smoke, may I?” Ian asked.

  “Be my guest,” Trip replied. “You know, cigarettes are great, too bad they kill you.”

  Ian paused and then spoke, “I used to smoke, then I stopped and now I’m starting again.”

  “Me too,” Trip replied.

  Ian says, “Anyway, the first reports are nearly as bad as I expected. The nuke detonated in Cold Harbor a small town just outside of Richmond. The number of people killed is estimated as fewer than 20,000. It could have been much worse. It was a disaster, but could have been a worse disaster. You know Cold Harbor was the site of one of the worse union defeats of the Civil War. 7,000 men died in less than twenty minutes. History has a way of repeating itself, even in the same spots.”

  “How are we going to take Charles down?” Trip asked.

  “Carefully,” Ian replied.

  Chase and Ally stand in front of the wide transparent wall in Beneizen’s Tanimbar home staring at the scene around the Armory and suddenly see the mushroom cloud rising in the distance to the south. "We have to intervene," Chase opens.

  "Absolutely," Ally responds.

  "Making Charles a Klacknel turned out to be a terrible idea. Beneizen really did need a mate. Working on his own, he made some terrible decisions, and we’re going to have to clean it all up," Ally says.

  "I agree, if you transfer a sick distorted, unbalanced personality into a synthetic organism, you end up with a sick, distorted sociopath in a powerful body; what was he thinking?" Chase replies.

  "Maybe we could fold time backwards and deal with Charles directly in a different manner," Ally says. "Yes, but then we would have no justification for the actions we’re going to have to take. As terrible as it may have been this unspeakable attack justifies any actions we may take," Chase continues, speaking slowly, "This is a possible turning point for mankind maybe even its last chance. Let's give them all a taste of their true future. Let them witness, for a time the conditions under which the earth and all of its creatures will have to exist within the next century and make them all see and experience the results of the world they have created for the end of their lives and the lives of their children with their actions and inactions. Let them live a day or two in a time in the future, agreed?"

  "Agreed," breathes Ally.

  Charles is sitting in his large chair as Ally and Chase teleport themselves directly to the EOJ conference room. As Chase and Ally appear, Charles greets them with, "I succeeded in my mission. When you managed to stop the test in New York I had to take matters into my own hands. I succeeded even more quickly than I had planned,” Charles boasts, justifying his actions.

  "Charles, you killed nearly a half- million people worldwide and the nuclear fallout added to all the other indignities the earth has suffered could render this planet unlivable for all of organic life. How can you bear the responsibility for something like that?" Ally asks.

  "Where are Beneizen and Sam? I think they would approve," Charles replies defiantly.

  "No Charles, Beneizen didn't approve. What we understand is that we can't allow the transfer of a sick personality like yours into a powerful, healthy lifeform like a Klacknel. What you've done will require us to destroy you. You are beyond redemption." Chase threatens.

  "You can't hurt me, I'm immortal," Charles says. Ally turns into to her true life form; tall, porcelain and black eyed as she lifts Charles out of his chair with a wave of her hand and hangs him motionless in midair. Charles is reduced to nothing but a collection of Nano-genetic cells which appear as great cloud of dust. She has disassembled him at a cellular level and then as dramatically as she took him apart she puts him back together again. Charles is stunned by both his experience and by seeing Chase and Ally in their natural forms.

  "What did you do to me and what are you?" Charles asks tremulously - he is shaking, "I was just doing what I was told to. I was reducing world population according to the plan."

  "That's what happens when you have no sense of self, no conscience, when you are acting as no more than a machine. You think you know. Knowing is a terrible disease Charles and the combination of ‘knowing’ with power is a disaster waiting to happen," Chase continues. "We're going to alter you Charles. Beneizen made a terrible mistake in leaving you with your personality. Putting that imbalanced personality in a powerful organism is horrific and Beneizen will pay the price for his actions for eternity. He was trying to help you find yourself. But you’re too damaged, too far gone."

  "What are you going to do to me?" Charles pleads. "Unfortunately, for the moment we have an important use for you and fortunately very few people know what you did. A Klacknel is a powerful organism and making you one is like giving a grenade to an infant. A Klacknel has the power to have all information in the world at once. It can control all mechanical devices. We're going to modify you Charles," Ally says.

  "What do you mean you're going to modify me?" Charles asks fearfully.

  "We're going to reprogram you. You'll appear the same to the world, but we’re going to balance your mind, body and feelings. That is your punishment and it could even be a reward. You are going to serve something much higher than yourself, but without ever having the ability to taste and experience the higher self. You will have no soul. Human's call it Hell. You will be a slave."

  "To whom or what will I be a slave?" Charles asks. "To your own mechanically," Ally says. And Charles is then modified and reprogrammed on the spot to the specifications of Chase and Ally.

  Juan and Ruth exit the helicopter as it lands a few hundred feet away from where Trip and Ian are standing in front of the armory still in a state of shock. They all look at the mushroom shaped cloud of the explosion slowly dissipating in the distance. Juan asks, "So Charles Dean did this all by himself?" Trip replies, “It appears so."

  Juan says, “That seems impossible.”

  "Obviously not, and he didn't do it alone, the President would have had to supply the launch codes or he wouldn't have had the access to do that. The President is a Guard and Charles could have been controlling him," Ruth explains.

  "There are forces at play here I don't understand at all!" Juan says quietly.

  “Right now he's in the EOJ offices in the armory with his Guards. We need to bring in the army. This is going to be a big operation, and very messy, Call General Heathcliff,” says Ian.

  "Do we know who he's got in there with him?” Ruth asks.

  "No, we don't. I suggest we get hold of Sam Nichols immediately. He may know a way to defuse the situation more amicably or try and find Chase Stern," Juan suggests.

  Ruth says in a matter-offact tone says, "We’ve also just gotten a report that there were a number of other nuclear explosions around the world; so far we know about Lyon Fran
ce, St. Petersburg Russia, and Hurgata in Egypt."

  “My God, how do we stop this? This is technology gone amuck," Trip says and thinks for a moment, then says, "Find Sam Nichols and Senators Lee and Bennett, and bring them all here, do it now.” He takes out another cigarette and lights it up. Ian looks at him longingly. He hands the pack to Ian who with hands almost shaking takes out a cigarettes and lights it up. Trip says "Those things will kill you."

  Ian looks at trip with a sneer and at the mushroom cloud and says, "Really?"

  Chase and Ally, back in their human forms sat with the newly modified Charles in the conference room. Charles is quiet and obviously changed. "This is what you're going to do Charles," Chase begins.

  "OK," Charles replies.

  "First you're going to say you were under the influence of the President. At that exact moment, Ally and I will ‘bend’ reality a bit so that everyone comes to that same conclusion and is in agreement that it is the most plausible answer," Chase says.

  Ally continues, "You now have a very important new mission. You are to prepare all of humanity to move to Mars and prepare Mars to receive them. But before that can be done you are going to use your considerable political skills and knowhow to support Chase as a candidate for the presidency and help us accomplish his election as quickly as possible. Charles looks up at them and says, "Agreed, but what did you really do to me?" Charles seems unusually confused.

  "Think of it as if we gave your personality some Prozac." Now, get up, you're going to go outside and invite everyone in, "Chase orders.

  "Why" Charles asks and then Ally begins to speak to Charles telepathically. "Don't ask stupid questions. You're going to act and say exactly what we tell you, word for word or we will see you rot in prison for eternity - or I will personally disengage you back to dust."

  "OK," Charles agrees telepathically.

  The three of them walk out of the armory and stand on the steps. Guns begin to fire in all directions, but the bullets simply fall to the ground in front of them. Speaking in a booming voice, Chase says, "We would like to invite Trip Wagner, Ian Fustic, Ruth Grimes and Juan Gonzales to meet.”

  "Stop shooting," Trip orders through a bullhorn. Trip, Ian, Ruth and Juan look at each other; then for some reason they all look at Ruth for approval. "Why are you looking at me, I'm just a machine?" she snarls. They still continue to look at her as she says sarcastically, "It will be fine, and Chase and Ally are in there with them."

  "Chase? I don't like it," Ian questions under his breath.

  "It's OK, I know Chase, I don't really like him, but he saved our daughter’s life and I’m convinced he’s one of the good guys and on our side," Juan says. "OK!" Trip turns and announces though his loudspeaker, "Stand down!" All the guns are lowered. The four of them walk up and join Chase, Ally and Charles and they all enter the armory together. They get into the elevator and descend into EOJ. They go through all the doors and hallways lined with offices, laboratories, storage and machinery filled rooms. They stare in amazement at the scope of this organization and finally they arrive at the large EOJ conference room. As they are invited by Charles to sit around the table they look up and see a great white eagle above the entrance to the room with the words "Eagles of Justice carved below it."

  "Where did you get the money for all of this?" Trip asks in amazement.

  "Your budgets," Charles says in a matter of fact tone. "I believe you," Trip says. Charles then looks at Ian and says, "And yours!"

  "Astonishing, I believe you too," Ian says.

  A moment later Sam Nichols and Senators Bennett and Lee are ushered into the room and Chase says, "We wanted everyone involved here at once," as the three of them take the remaining chairs."

  "Why are the two of you chairing this meeting and not Charles?" asks Juan.

  "Good question," Chase replies as he pushes his hand forward and a square window appears in the middle of the space above the great round table. Ally reaches into the window and pulls it upward exposing a three dimensional model of the universe slowly moving in harmony. "Ally and I are Sentinels of the Universe from the planet Kalactin in a galaxy two hundred and fifty thousand light years away from earth, very close to the center of the universe. The descendants of our planet have been maintaining balance within the cosmos for millions of years." At that moment they stand and assume their natural life forms. Everyone at the table is stunned.

  "Get over your shock quickly, we have too much work to do," Ally says coldly as she and Chase return to their human forms.

  "Fascinating, they’re from a planet called Kalactin near the center of the universe," Ruth says.

  "I found out earlier today!" Juan says.

  "Why are we here and what do you want from us?" Asks Trip firmly.

  Chase reaches into the transparent 3-D display of the universe still turning and finds earth and spins it to one hundred years into the future, saying, “You and everyone on earth are now about to witness, simultaneously, the same vision of the future, the true horror of all of it. What happened at Cold Harbor, Lyon France, Hurgata Egypt, Shanghai China, Fort Douglas Australia and St. Petersburg, Russia is just a drop in the bucket. The press will impress those images into the world's consciousness starting now. Television and the internet will record the horror with its usual drama and ceaseless repetition. America will be vilified and be held accountable. Russia will want to level an American city, China will want to destroy San Francisco, but what people around the world are about to see and experience consciously are true visions of their own futures. They will all see the world that their children and grandchildren will inherit if nothing is changed.”

  Everyone present was filled with apprehension. Ally and Chase themselves gasp in dismay as they watch the scenes unfolding before them, humans and animals starving in the streets of cities and in the countryside, technology run amuck, natural resources completely gone or in extremely short supply, air nearly un-breathable, oceans polluted, sea life dying or deformed, medical services and pharmaceuticals available only for the wealthy few; a terrible scene of a world where only a few people have control over the dwindling resources and fresh water and fresh air are more valuable than gold.

  The corporations and their oligarch heads rule like slaveholders whose subjects are all indebted to them. Everyone is watched constantly. The best jobs are either military or communications. Everyone was aware that none of the principal perpetrators were paying the price for these conditions. The very earth is dying, people, animals and crops have developed terrible afflictions and mankind is on the brink of extinction.

  Then as suddenly as the vision appeared to all, it disappears.

  But this experience had been seared deeply into their consciousness, their consciences finally touched. Imagine everyone in the world, even the children, experiencing the same terrifying vision of this future all at once - unable to avoid the horror of the situation.

  Only hours before, hundreds of thousands had died in nuclear disasters. The continuing fallout contributed to the true terror of the situation showing a portal into their futures; the future that that everyone had just experienced. The entire world screamed in one voice, “How could this be allowed to happen?” No one knew how this all happened! Was it a giant computer glitch? Was it was a visit from our creator? But regardless of how or why, the earth had been changed and it became obvious that mankind would no longer be able to live on this planet with what they were doing to it.

  There was a long pause before everyone recovered from the experience. When those around the table recovered their senses Chase began to speak again: "As I said, Ally and I are Sentinels of the Universe. Our assignment is to restore the balance to this solar system. You must understand that there are not many planets in our universe that can support organic life. Earth is one of the few. And the human form of organic life is made and exists, in fact, in order to produce energies that the Cosmos requires from each universe to balance itself.

  This earth originally had two mo
ons. Your species was created when there were two moons and those that lived to maturity at that time knew, understood and cooperated with their natural purpose and served the earth and the Cosmos. They learned and lived a life in balance with nature, the planet and the universe. But one of your moons was destroyed by an asteroid and humans began to evolve in ways that were out of balance with nature. You somehow began to develop egos and personalities to compensate for the loss of your moon. This caused terrible afflictions for all of you but with special efforts it was still possible for some of you to serve great nature appropriately again. It was a noble struggle for some to try and balance themselves and live in balance with their environment, but there were just not enough who tried and even fewer who succeeded. A great shame really."

  Ally continues: "As you saw in that vision this earth is dying and all of mankind is responsible. We could let that happen. Planets die every day, suns go nova or turn into black holes. The process of transformation is the will of the universe - chaos to order, order to chaos. What should be available from earth is unique and needed to help maintain the universe and the cosmos. Ths universe cannot wait any longer for a sufficient number of you to balance yourselves. The nuclear bombs that were exploded today are the final straw. Over half a million people and huge amounts of other organic life died today, but the real horror is what was done to the already enfeebled planet. That is inexcusable. We have the responsibility to try to preserve the earth and its millions of life forms so they can be able to do their jobs.

  “We knew nothing about Charles’ plan,” exclaimed Senator Bennett.

  “It’s not our fault.” said Senator Lee.

  Tripp chimes in, “We had no warning about this kind of possibility.”

  Ally responds, cuttingly. "That is how you all are. You all blame others, but you are all responsible. You have no aims as a species and your individual and nationalistic aims are merely self-serving."