Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (38 page)

"Where the hell did this come from?"
he asked himself. Had the accidental intimacy of last night's innocent embrace breached a barrier of some kind? Zack found himself being assaulted by a prickly combination of exhilaration and anxiety. He swallowed, took a deep breath of his own, and managed to stammer out, "I still say you'd be a good candidate, probably a lot better than I would be."

"Why do you say that?"

"I've been one of the bad guys, Ariane. I've killed dozens of people during my career as a soldier. I'm certainly not happy about that but I can live with it. I just get the impression that I'm not the kind of material this Amalgamation is looking for."

"I've had to kill several people myself," replied Ariane, "all in the line of duty, like you; maybe that makes me a little less fit as well?"

"Possibly," said Zack, with a nod, "We'll just have to see. If either of us does get picked, we'll just have to give it everything we've got."

She sighed and visibly relaxed, "I knew it was a good idea to come and talk to you." He could tell that the shadow that had been looming over her was far from completely gone, but he could also sense that her spirits had lifted considerably. She reached across the table, grasped his hand and gave it a firm squeeze, "Thanks, Zack, I feel a lot better now that I got that off my chest."

Her simple touch was almost electric, "No problem," he managed to reply, again without stammering. She released his hand and got up from her chair. "It's almost time to go."

"Yeah, I know. Hey...I'm glad you came down to see me. For what it's worth, I feel better about this whole thing myself than I did a few minutes ago."

"Maybe we need to talk like this more often," she said.

"I think I'd like that."

They gazed at each other for a long moment before Zack broke the silence, "I suppose we'd best get to the suit room."

She gave him a nervous smile, turned and headed towards the door. He gathered up a couple of his things and left right behind her. As he followed her to the suit room, he realized that her short visit
had
lifted his spirits somewhat. At the same time it had made him aware of some tantalizing but frightening possibilities that he wasn't sure how to pursue or if it was wise to even try. He could still feel a slight tingle in his hand where she had touched him.

Chapter 47.
Show Time.

Voltaire Crater, Deimos, July 17, 2676
.

Over the next forty-five minutes, all of the candidates made the slow trip across the surface of the tiny moon over to the cavern complex where they gathered in the outer chamber, the one that contained the Sentinel pyramid. Only a few of their number had ever seen the device before and all of the newcomers stood in respectful awe of the enigmatic, transparent tetrahedron covered with its softly glowing inscriptions. Maybe they had the numbers close to right, Zack reflected; they couldn't have stuffed very many more people into the now crowded chamber.

When everyone had gathered inside, Arnold, the only Representative that had been chosen so far, went into the teaching and learning chamber alone. As he went through the softly glowing, green barrier guarding the door, he could see the center console come back to life.

"Welcome back, Representative Arnold Mobutu,"
said the teaching device.

"Thank you," replied Arnold, "I am here with an additional twenty candidates to be considered for representative. We have decided to allow you to make the final two selections."

"Yes, I sense that they are waiting in the outer chamber. You may bring them in at any time."

"Is there any additional information that you think we should have before we continue with this process?"

The machine did not answer immediately. Apparently it was performing an analysis of some kind again. After some thirty seconds it replied,
"Your time grows short. A preliminary scan of your candidates indicates that you have elected to present as broad of a representation of your species as possible. This is a wise course. Bring the candidates in and we shall begin the selection process. Inform me when you are prepared to proceed."

Arnold crossed the chamber over to the portal where Zack was watching him through the barrier and poked his helmet through the force curtain, "I think everything is ready in here," said Arnold, "Tell everyone to come in and gather around the center console."

Zack went back out to the assembly of people in the outer chamber and informed them that it was time to proceed. He then led the way into the teaching and learning chamber. The others followed, many of them unsure of their footing in the transition from low to full gravity. Ariane was the last to enter. The group instinctively formed a ragged circle as they crowded around the central console

Arnold didn't have any idea what they were supposed to do next but figured that the magnitude of the occasion deserved some kind of formality, even if he had to make up something on the spot.

"Everyone take a moment and try to relax," said Arnold, "You have all volunteered to put yourselves forward to be Representatives of the Human Race in our bid to be considered for citizenship in the Grand Amalgamation of Galactic Civilizations. I commend you all for having been selected and for your willingness to serve.

I went through this process myself just a couple of days ago and I can tell you that you have nothing to fear. This device will be performing a brain scan on each of you. I'll describe what my own experience was like so that you'll have some idea what to expect. The central spire coming up out of the console contains the scanning device. A beam will come out of it and shine on your face while it scans your brain. Expect to see brief flashes of important events from your past. The scan itself is totally painless, though I did feel a little disoriented for a few minutes afterward. It took less than thirty seconds for the process to be completed. If all of you are ready, we can proceed."

Zack was probably less nervous than most because of his extensive experience facing danger and was relieved when no one seemed to have further questions that would delay the process any longer. Seeing no hands go up and hearing no questions over his suit radio, Arnold notified the machine and the assembly of candidates that the moment had arrived, "We are ready for the selection process to begin," he announced.

"As you wish
," came the reply,
"Candidates will step up individually to one of the control stations around the teaching and learning console. When you are ready to be scanned, wave your hand over the green light in the lower right-hand corner of the control interface."

Arnold and Ariane couldn't help but notice that the voice of Deimos had gotten a lot better at using the Standard language. Apparently the computer, or whatever it was, had not been idle while the humans had been embroiled in the arduous process of selecting candidates.

Twenty people surrounding the center console meant that two groups of seven and one group of six were roughly lined up with one of the three stations on the console. Immediately after Arnold gave the okay, Zack stepped forward to the control station in front of him, braced himself against it using his left arm and waved his right hand over the activation light.

A beam shot out of the central spire and caught him full in the face. He felt no pain but found that he could no longer move. A montage consisting of snapshots from his life flashed through his mind, hundreds of them, cascading through from his childhood to the present. He saw himself taking his first wobbly baby steps, playing soldiers with childhood friends, attending his first day of school, having a picnic with his parents, attending a bad movie with his Uncle Marv, enlisting in the Marines, giving the order for his hovercraft formation to fire missiles and even several scenes from the mission he was currently on, concluding with two snapscenes that involved Ariane. One was the brief and comforting embrace of last night, the other, from their meeting just over an hour ago, was the moment that he had been drawn into the almost irresistible depths of her troubled eyes.

All of it went by so quickly that it was impossible for him to dwell on any of the individual memories. After what to Zack had been an indeterminate time, the beam shut down, leaving his eyes dazzled and his thoughts more than a little disoriented.

He backed away from the console, turned and took a couple of steps back through the other candidates to the outer wall of the chamber. There, head down, he braced himself against the wall while he attempted to regain his equilibrium. He could see two people in the middle of being scanned at the other two stations. Zack had been the very first to step forward and, since the other two had started after he had, they were still in the process of being scanned. One of the five people remaining in front of the station that had scanned Zack stepped up to the console and waved his hand over the activation light. Zack saw the candidate freeze as the beam strobed out of the spire and begin the scan.

And so the process went for perhaps a half hour or more. Through it all, Zack remained disoriented and his sense of time seemed to be distorted. He tried to run back over the kaleidoscope of impressions that he'd just been assaulted by and found that most of them were fading from his consciousness already. A few of the stronger ones remained, like the afterimages one sees when closing their eyes after an exposure to something bright.

Arnold said that the events he had experienced had all been glimpses of important events from his past. Why, then, had two of Zack's strongest impressions included Ariane MacPherson? Maybe the experience was a little different for each person and the two scenes had only been included because they were so recent. Still... He shook the feeling off with an effort and renewed his attempt to make some sense of the profound experience.

Finally, at almost the same time, the computer finished scanning the last two candidates. Afterwards, all of the candidates, like Zack himself, looked a little dazed, but no one seemed to be suffering any overtly ill effects from the process. He caught Ariane looking intently in his direction a couple of times with an undecipherable expression on her face. What had she seen during her own experience? Maybe they could talk later?

When the scanning process was completed, the machine did not provide immediate results. Instead, it seemed to take a particularly long time to consider the pool of twenty applicants. Since the fate of the Human race depended on the outcome, Zack didn't think that the delay was necessarily a bad thing.

Finally, after a very long ten minutes had passed, the machine made an announcement.

"The two final Representatives have been selected. They are...Gertrude Tvedt...and...Won Ling-tsu. Do you accept this responsibility?"

"I do," said the two new Representatives, almost simultaneously.

Zack felt a combination of relief and apprehension at the same time. Relief that he had not been selected and apprehension regarding those who had. He and the others had certainly done everything they could to make their candidate pool as diverse as they could in the limited time they had with the relatively tiny population of people available.

Had it been enough?

Those selected actually seemed to represent a fairly diverse group of humanity. Arnold's ancestors had been from the African continent, Gertrude's from Europe and Won Ling-tsu's from Asia. What did that mean, if anything?

The machine wasn't done yet,
"Because your race has demonstrated a penchant for violence, the following personnel, Zachary Lynton, Sergei Popov and Ariane MacPherson have all been appointed to act as Guardians for the Representatives. Do you accept this responsibility?"

"Is this a normal part of the procedure?" asked Arnold.

"It is done in special cases wherein extra protection for the Representatives is deemed necessary."

"What are the Guardians expected to do?"

"You will have noted that all of those appointed as Guardians are warriors. The Guardians will accompany the Representatives wherever the Representatives are required to go. Guardians will provide physical protection and counseling when needed or requested."

"In that case, I accept," said Zack. Ariane and Sergei also agreed to accept their appointments.

"
The Representatives and the Guardians will remain here. Those candidates who were not selected may return to their ships, but they must leave this chamber at once."

Arnold ushered out the remaining people, most of whom seemed to be very much relieved that they had not been selected. He worried briefly about getting everyone back to the
Capri
or to their respective shuttles but quickly realized that there were several people among the unselected candidates who were quite capable of directing the evacuation.

The three Representatives and the three Guardians remaining in the chamber watched as three rectangular blocks rose up out of the floor, one directly in front of each of the stations of the center console, leaving a gap of some twenty centimeters between the blocks and the console. The blocs were about a meter wide, half a meter deep and rose up out of the floor about three-quarters of a meter, a height that made them ideal for a human to sit on while working at one of the consoles. In the meantime, some other things started to happen within the chamber itself.

"Representatives and Guardians be advised that the teaching and learning chamber will now be pressurized and heated."

Still encased in their spacesuits, the people in the chamber couldn't feel any of the next changes but Zack could see from the sensors in the helmet of his battle armor that the atmospheric pressure was increasing and the temperature was going up along with it. In a remarkably short time, the machine announced that conditions were such that they could remove their spacesuits. All six of the humans took a few minutes to get out of their suits. Zack, Ariane and Sergei, following their military training, took a few moments to organize all of the gear neatly along the outer wall. By then, the conditions within the chamber had become quite comfortable though the air did have a slightly metallic aroma.

"The Representatives will each have a seat at the teaching and learning console,"
said the machine,
"The first phase of your training will begin immediately."

Arnold, Ling-tsu and Gertrude each nervously took a seat on one of the benches.

"Wave your hand over the activation light when you are ready to begin."

Arnold was the first to activate his station and Gertrude followed soon after. A still somewhat disoriented Ling-tsu went last. Three beams, a different color from the scanning beam, were now emanating from the central spire and shining on the faces of the three Representatives. They all appeared to be frozen in place, just as Zack had been while he was being scanned.

"What's happening to them?" asked Zack.

"These teaching beams are interacting directly with their brains,"
the machine replied,
"The Representatives will be able to learn much of what they need to know at a vastly accelerated rate."

"What are we to be doing?" asked Ariane.

"For the present, it is best that you simply observe. You may converse quietly amongst yourselves while you wait. It is imperative that the three of you become intimately acquainted as you will be working together on one of the most important events in the history of your species. When the Representatives are finished at the consoles and are ready to proceed to the next phase of their preparations, you will each be spending time at one of the consoles for your own training."

"Will we be able to go back to our ship?"

"That which the Representatives and Guardians must do cannot be accomplished by remaining here. You will all be returning to your ships sometime within the next two of your days."