sentinel B a short universe story

chapter 1 the needle in a haystack

The sun was but a memory which shone into my abandoned mind, I walked through the small city in which I found myself alone in the dreary, darkened landscape which prognosticated the pain to come. The sorrow and hesitation of my forefathers brought me here to my resting place which was as grave where I would spend eternity imprisoned in this hell.

As I walked down the small cracked pathway of the city I noticed a small group of my kin shaping the landscape of a small tunnel into the North side of the massive cave where we called home but in fact was just captivity although we caused it on ourselves.

I moved towards a small building located on the southern side of the city and entered with a lingering frown imbedded on my face. I was back to work on the new tunnel system the government was implementing, the large population of the city was ever-growing and the need for new homes was becoming urgent so many thousands were set to work for little to no reward for its completion.

It had been seventeen years underground and we still couldn't make our return to the surface but nobody knew why. I moved quickly towards the Eastern tunnel (which was almost completed) and got to work, grabbing my shovel and picking up all the loose rocks abd rubble, placing it neatly into a large rusty box. The two people In front swung their pickaxes once more, impaling the rock as it revealed its secrets. A small opening which begged for further exploration, the miners entered slowly, searching around as they travelled further inside. I stood there awaiting their arrival but they had vanished so I took it upon myself to enter.

The small cave showed evidence of past inhabitation which made me believe there was some hope in discovering our ancestors but instead I found myself staring at the caves exit. I slowly paced closer; the door which revealed a desolate and destroyed landscape which was constantly havoked by terrible storms of bright lighting and ear quenching thunder.

Next to me I heard a small sound which I had never heard before, I couldn't explain it but when I turned to look at it I found a small rectangular box connected to a smaller cube, the device was activated from some kind of generator and when I moved closer I could hear a voice speaking a mysterious language which was nothing like my own. I took my time examining the device before pushing a small button and saying hello, the voice spoke back but I had no recollection of the speech, I continued to speak but only heard silence on the other side, a sound I was very familiar with. I waited as another voice entered which was much different from the first, "Hello" it said coldly as if it had no emotions at all.

I stood there motionless for some time before voicing a reply " who is this" I asked, the coldness of his voice lingering in my darkened mind. "I am ct-42387 of the ***********" his voice cut out half way through his sentence, "Hello.... hello" my voice spoke urgently begging for a reply but all I got was silence. I waited there for some time hoping that the voice would return but it didn't.

I stared off into the landscape outside of the cave wondering why we were secluded in a cave rather than living in the landscape ahead. I looked deeper noticing the struck of lightning which felt like the turmoil spiking my heart. In the corner of my eye I noticed something, it was red as if there were to red eyes staring directly at me but when I looked over there was nothing but the dark grey landscape ahead.

I stood up from the hard Rock wall i was leaning on and stumbled back towards the cave, turning left so i could find my group. I found them 400 metres from the tunnel entrance and ran towards them, noticing the fear in their eyes. "There's something here" one of them whispered as I scanned the small cave noticing a sword imbedded into the ground with green liquid mounted on the blade. I slowly shuffled towards it and grabbed it out of the rock, lifting it mightily as I waited, it shot out like lightning as it grabbed one of us by the head, removing it from its body.

Acting quickly, I sliced the beast in half, killing it in an instant as another moved into its place. The thing jumped at me, severing my balance as I fell backwards onto the hard rocky floor, the sword relieving itself from my hands occupation. It hit the floor with a clang as the thing jumped ontop of me, I moved for the sword, stretching to try and grab it before the thing murdered me, one of the group grabbed a large rock, bashing it into the beasts head forcing it off of Me and I quickly grabbed the sword piecing the thing in the side of the head as I swung it as fast as I could.

The beast collapsed fast as i ran back to the city striking the side if the tunnel, causing it to swiftly collapse. The owner ran towards us "what in the devil are you doing" he spat loudly. We looked over at each other trying to think of an answer when I then spoke "we saw something out there, it tried to kill us". The owner looked at me in fear "it can't be" he whispered the fear overran his mind as I stared motionless at him. Suddenly the man ran off without an answer to what the issue was and we went back home wondering whether we would have a job the next day.