Lair of the Sentinels

by Geoff Palmer

‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It’s more like a declaration of war. They’re saying they haven’t finished with us yet.’

  44 : Special Friend

  Alkemy was out of the full-body suit Ludokrus had zipped her into the night before. They found her reclining on a lounger in front of the caravan. She wore a broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses, her legs covered with a brightly coloured beach towel. Around her lay a litter of cups and plates, along with several books. She looked up and waved when she saw them approach, saving a particularly warm smile for Tim.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

  ‘Bored but much better, thank you.’ She lifted the towel to reveal the pair of inflated silver boots that encased her legs from the knees down. The most exposed area. The area the goo had done the most damage. A small pump nestled between her ankles, coordinating the activity of the healing gel.

  ‘Only two more hour to go.’

  ‘Will you be able to walk OK?’

  ‘Muscle will be new and not so strong. I must go careful.’

  ‘You would not think so careful if you see her eat.’ Ludokrus came out of the caravan carrying a tray laden with fruit, energy bars, nuts, raisins, cheese, chocolate and two slices of cold pizza. He set it on her lap. ‘Already she gobble all the cereal, egg and toast we have.’

  ‘I cannot help!’ Alkemy said. ‘My body need the energy for the remake.’

  ‘Well on that basis,’ Coral said, ‘Norman must about to clone himself.’

  ‘Hey!’

  Ludokrus collected the empty dishes and returned to the caravan. Coral followed him in.

  ‘And how are you?’ she asked.

  He shrugged. He looked drawn and tired.

  ‘Did you get any sleep?’

  He gestured towards his sister. ‘Busy night. Checking. Keeping watch.’

  ‘More nightmares, huh?’

  He shrugged.

  She studied his face. ‘It’s not your fault, you know.’

  ‘Whole thing is my fault. All the danger is down to me. I nearly kill us all.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous.’

  ‘Who else then? Who drive Albert away by saying the rude thing to him? Why else does he go out to place the scanner blocks that night? Excuse. To get away from me.’

  ‘You don’t know that.’

  ‘And who should be in charge when he is gone? I let Tim and Alkemy go into mine. Then I take us three there also.’

  ‘But you got us out again. You built the laser cutter.’

  Ludokrus said nothing, then, ‘I was scared.’

  ‘We were all scared, Ludokrus. People handle things in different ways. Everyone does what they can. We’re a team. We’re a good team.’

  Norman stepped into the caravan.

  ‘Now here’s nerd boy to say something inappropriate,’ Coral said with surprising gentleness.

  ‘I ... just came ... for the ...’ He gestured at the receiver lying on the bench, but Coral put an arm around his shoulders.

  ‘I never said thanks for what you did yesterday. It was team work, but I reckon you did the most. If you hadn’t found those secret passages, we’d all still be stuck down there. So good work. And thanks.’

  ‘Yes, thank you,’ Ludokrus said.

  Norman turned a beetroot colour. ‘I ... it’s ... you’re welcome.’ He grabbed the receiver and scuttled out.

  ‘But you’re still a nerd!’ Coral called after him.

  * * *

  The morning air was warm and still. Gulls soared overhead and the sound of distant surf was soothing. Alkemy leaned back and watched Tim and Norman as they huddled round the receiver, trying to make sense of the streams of information coming in from the activated scanner blocks. The Sentinels were alive and active and didn’t care who knew it. They had nothing to hide now.

  ‘I almost forgot,’ Coral said. ‘Aunt Em invited you all for lunch.’

  ‘Albert also?’

  ‘Of course. It’s a thank-you for looking after us yesterday.’

  ‘Will need excuse.’

  ‘I’ll think of something.’

  Mention of Albert made them go quiet.

  Coral dragged a hand over the ground, plucking at tufts of grass. ‘Your ship’s due about seven, right?’ He nodded. ‘It’ll still be light.’

  ‘Should be OK. Is why we chose this place. Remote.’

  ‘Albert said it’ll avoid potential witnesses. Does that include us?’

  ‘Friend is OK. I put you in the signal. But if others come, she will go elsewhere.’

  ‘Well, Alice is going home this afternoon, and Aunt Em and Uncle Frank always watch the six o’clock news. There’s no one else round here.’

  ‘Do you have that memory bulb thing?’ Norman said. ‘Can we see it?’

  Alkemy took it from her pocket and held it out, cupped in the palm of her hand.

  Coral said, ‘It doesn’t look like much.’

  ‘I think it’s pretty neat,’ Tim said. ‘It looks old fashioned and really advanced at the same time. See that? It’s like there’s a little world in there behind that swirling cloud. You almost catch glimpses of things now and then. How does it work?’

  Ludokrus frowned. ‘I never see a thing like that before.’

  ‘What is it exactly?’ Coral said. ‘I mean, what’s in there?’

  ‘Albert,’ Alkemy said.

  ‘Albert?’

  ‘From what he tell us, it is a copy of his mind.’

  ‘You mean like a backup?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Of his mind?’

  Ludokrus said carefully, ‘Maybe you make mistake from what he say.’

  Alkemy shook her head. ‘Is new technology. Very secret. Tim hear this also.’

  ‘Actually, he said it was a special storage and recording module,’ Tim said.

  ‘He mean mind. That is how he talk.’

  ‘But is not possible to copy a whole mind,’ Ludokrus said.

  ‘Maybe this is why is secret. New. The normal syntho do not have.’

  ‘But all have memory unit for the math and computation and the storage.’

  ‘Does not look like this.’

  Ludokrus conceded the point.

  ‘So what was your silly old syntho doing with secret new technology?’ Coral said.

  ‘Albert was not silly.’ Alkemy closed her fingers around the bulb and drew it to her chest. ‘He was special. He was friend.’

  Norman leaned forward and tilted her fist to look at the bottom of the bulb.

  ‘That’s interesting. That’s where it was plugged in, right?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Look at this.’

  He picked up the receiver and turned it sideways. ‘Remember how Albert rebuilt this thing and added 3D mapping? Well he also added this.’ He tapped on a circular socket, an indentation seven millimetres across and five deep. On the bottom of it was an array of fine metal contacts in a distinctive pattern.

  ‘I couldn’t figure out what it was. I thought it might be air vent or something. Until now. Look.’

  He held it beside the end of the upturned bulb in Alkemy’s fist. They saw at once how the patterns matched perfectly.

  ‘I reckon that’s designed to plug in there.’

  45 : Connections

  ‘Cannot be.’ Ludokrus studied the connectors.

  ‘They’re the same, look. One’s a mirror image of the other.’

  Ludokrus looked at his sister. ‘You think he plan this? Think something may happen? Remake the receiver so this will fit?’

  ‘He make the Temporal Accumulator also,’ Alkemy said. ‘Why rush? We cannot use. No ship. Back then we cannot even summon one.’

  ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’ Tim said. ‘That he built the Temporal Accumulator and modified the receiver, then went off knowing he might not come back?’

  Norman said, ‘Maybe he guessed where the Sentinels were from Mum’s maps. Maybe he went looking for them and left a little insurance be
hind. He knew we’d go looking for him if he didn’t return.’

  Alkemy bit her lip and studied the bulb. ‘You think I should try to plug it in?’

  Ludokrus said, ‘Does not make sense. How can he know he does not come back?’

  ‘Not know, but like Norman say. Insurance.’

  ‘He mentioned a mission too,’ Tim said to Alkemy. ‘Remember? He said he’d completed his mission to the best of his abilities.’

  ‘What sort of mission?’

  ‘Didn’t say.’

  ‘The old receiver,’ Ludokrus said to Norman. ‘She have this socket also?’

  ‘Definitely not.’

  Ludokrus sighed. ‘Albert, always with the secret.’

  Alkemy held the bulb out. Norman set the receiver in her lap. ‘He say I must keep it close. Will still be close, yes? Can keep my hand on.’

  Tim nodded.

  Still, she hadn’t quite decided, but as she moved it near the socket, the bulb decided for her. It jumped from her fingers like a paperclip brought close to a strong magnet. The two surfaces met, the bulb rotated half a turn, then sank in as it made the connection.

  There was a pause. A thin red band lit up around the receiver’s edge and a voice said, ‘Restricted recollection parameters activated. Five sentient beings present. Please identify yourselves.’

  Tim recognised the robotic voice immediately. ‘It’s the one from the mineshaft. From when we first found Albert. Just say your names.’

  They did so.

  There was another pause.

  ‘Identities confirmed,’ the voice said. ‘Access permitted.’

  The shallow basin of the receiver filled with grey static that slowly formed into a recognisable shape.

  ‘It’s the gully!’ Tim said.

  It was early evening. A view from the hut. Dark clouds overhead. The picture panned from one side of the valley to the other. Around the edge of the display were graphs and indicators, all in green.

  ‘This must be from Albert’s perspective. We’re seeing what he saw.’

  ‘What’s that overlay?’ Coral said.

  ‘Threat assessment,’ Ludokrus replied.

  Albert took his time, checking through three hundred and sixty degrees. The indicators all stayed green.

  The image zoomed to a high point on one of the rock walls, then scanned the slope below. Calculations flashed in the bottom corner. Estimates of time and distance. A clock overlay appeared briefly. He started to move.

  ‘Looks like he’s going to put a scanner block up there and worked out how long it’ll take,’ Norman said.

  ‘Don’t go. Don’t go,’ Alkemy muttered.

  Albert went. He moved with surprising speed, pausing at the gully floor before starting up the slope. There was a flash of lightning followed by a boom of thunder. The image inclined skyward. A view of boiling clouds.

  ‘It’s that storm the other night. He’s right underneath it!’

  ‘Just like we were.’

  As he continued up the slope, the air filled with pounding rain. His pace quickened.

  Another flash of lightning showed the outline of a mineshaft ahead. A slight hesitation, more threat assessments, then he made straight for it. There was a brief blur followed by a view of the valley below, framed by an oval of rock.

  ‘He’s taking shelter.’

  A hand came into view and set a scanner block outside the entrance.

  Lightning crackled close by. More thunder. Albert backed a little deeper into the mineshaft. A single indicator on the lower left turned yellow.

  Alkemy closed her eyes and looked away.

  Another roar of sound. For a moment it seemed that lightning had struck the cliff above the mine. Rock exploded outwards and the images became a confusion of tunnel walls, boulders, dirt and dust. But the thunderous booming didn’t stop. It went on and on, as if a series of charges were being detonated, one after the other.

  The receiver went dark then lit up again in ghostly green as Albert switched to low-light mode and sprinted down the shaft, the roof caving-in behind him. He was beating it! Then another explosion brought down a section directly ahead. He had no choice. He dived into it like a swimmer plunging into a raging stream. Jumbled images showed him fighting through the falling rock. The chaos cleared for an instant. An open space ahead. Then something enormous caught him in the back and threw him to the ground.

  The sound stopped. The picture froze on the open space ahead. A low angle, skewed, tilted to one side. Dust settled as the glowing indicators — now all red — flickered out one by one and lines of static scored the fading image.

  There was a long respectful silence. Alkemy stared at the flickering static, tears in her eyes.

  Finally Ludokrus said, ‘OK. But I think we work this out, yes? How they catch him?’

  ‘Wait,’ Norman said as Alkemy moved to withdraw the bulb. ‘I think there’s more.’

  46 : Weapon of War

  Shapes formed in the static haze. A seething blue-grey mist. There was a rumbling hiss. The sound of a mistuned radio. It came in surges, like waves crashing against rocks.

  ‘Are you all right?’ a voice said.

  The focus sharpened and they saw that’s exactly what it was. A stormy sea.

  ‘I think so, yes.’ Albert’s voice, so clear and uncannily close that Alkemy looked around. ‘A little light-headed, that’s all.’

  ‘Not surprising in the circumstances,’ the voice said. ‘That’s quite an implant you’ve received.’

  The view shifted and centred on a tall, slender man in early middle age. He had a long face, dark eyes and sallow cheeks. Unremarkable except for midnight blue hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He wore a flowing brown robe and had a monitor balanced in his lap that looked remarkably like the receiver.

  ‘Uncle Krilen!’ Alkemy said.

  Albert looked around. The room behind him might have belonged to a small, private hospital. The walls were painted pale green. A mirror on one side showed Albert seated on a reclining chair on the balcony. He wore a wad of bandages around his head.

  ‘Did the procedure go satisfactorily?’ he asked.

  ‘Flawlessly.’

  The movement of Krilen’s mouth didn’t match his words. Tim guessed some sort of automatic translation was taking place. It was like watching a foreign movie that had been dubbed into English.

  Albert touched a hand to his forehead. ‘When can I access the enhancements?’

  ‘Over the course of the next few weeks they’ll come online automatically as your brain adapts and the lace grows to form new connections. But you should be able to access some of the basic functions now.’

  The view shifted back to the sea. The image held for a moment, blurred, then suddenly transformed into numbers. The waves became moving graphs of mass and volume, the rocks a grid of surfaces and angles. An overlay indicated the wave’s impact points and calculated the trajectory of every droplet, a prediction that, half a second later, was mapped and matched to reality.

  He turned back to Krilen who was studying the projections on his monitor, a puzzled look on his face. ‘Sorry, I think I had this on the wrong setting. Can you repeat that please?’

  Albert did so for the next wave then turned back.

  Krilen frowned, got up and left the room, returning with another man dressed like a technician. A small, cheerful man with a round face, a shaved head and a tatty lab coat, its pockets bulging with tools and gadgets. He carried a clipboard and had a badge pinned to his lapel. The Eltherian script was unreadable till a translation overlay appeared: Andop Scolyfol, Theia University.

  The technician checked the dressing on Albert’s forehead, fiddled with the monitor, then produced a second one and asked Albert to run through the procedure again.

  Scolyfol and Krilen stood to one side, talking in low voices for five full minutes, studying and comparing the readouts. There were glances at Albert and much head shaking.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ Albert
said.

  ‘Not ... a problem,’ Krilen said. ‘Just something unexpected. You shouldn’t be able to do that, you see. What you did with those waves. The computations involved are staggeringly complex. You might one day reach that level, but not within four hours of the beads being implanted. That’s barely any time for a neural lace to begin to form a network. This is quite unheard of.’

  The image froze and dimmed. The static returned. After a brief interlude, a new picture formed.

  They were now seated in a clean white room. An office. There were artefacts that might have been tribal artworks hanging on one wall, shelves of equipment, two cupboards, a sofa and armchairs to one side, a large white desk on the other. Behind it was a window and a nighttime view out over a vast city. Krilen was seated behind the desk.

  ‘You’re an oddity, Albert. Irrational, unpredictable and given to whims and fancies. Those, you might argue, are the characteristics of many of your class of synthetic, which is true, but only to a degree. You are an exception: an oddity amongst oddities. Predictably unpredictable. You’re exactly what we want.’

  ‘What do Marileon and Dudilo say?’

  ‘It was the parents’ idea. They approached me. The coincidence of the coordinates, I believe. Transpose two groups of numbers and instead of heading for their new archaeological site, you end up at our target.’

  He waved a hand. The office lights dimmed and a three-dimensional projection of the Milky Way appeared above the desk in front of him. Using a series of gestures, he zoomed in on a tiny portion near the edge of one spiral arm where two regions were highlighted by red and yellow cubes.

  ‘Maril’s always had an interest in Thanatos affairs,’ he continued. ‘It was her speciality once, and she’s kept abreast of what little new information has come down to us over the years. It’s the time scales, you see. The Thanatos work on scales almost beyond comprehension. But I suppose when you’ve been around for ten billion years, what’s a few hundred million here or there?

  ‘All we know for certain is that aeons ago they annexed this portion of the galaxy.’ He gestured at the red-tinted cube. It was labelled KSX-119. ‘We also know they’ve been conducting experiments there since before we Eltherians were little more than pond slime.’