Sentinel
© 2022 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


A glance at the repeater screen to Varan’s left indicated that the Bōank and five other cruisers had phased out of hyperspace. The Pilot said, “Lalande System, Ma’am.”

“Thank you, Pilot.”

“The leading captain is reporting to the lead ship of the sentinel formation, Ma’am,” Communications reported. “Our patrol pattern is being uploaded to the Pilot.”

“Good.” Varan was still junior relative to the other captains in the cruiser division that Bōank was part of; the most senior captain in the current formation was the designated leader. The vir had heard that had she been Terran, she would likely have been leading the patrol force based on her relationship with Admiral k’Daridh.

Which might be one explanation for why the Terran Navy had suffered so many losses, and why so many Terran captains and admirals had demonstrated that they had dung for brains when it came to tactics.

The six ships were the relief for the current unit patrolling the space around Lalande, part of a Fleet element that included several destroyers and one battleship. They’d be out here, a short hyperspace trip from Terra, for forty days. All the ships had supplies for the period, but there would be no station leave, as there was no Support station equipped with the requisite facilities and the planet was still largely in ruins.

Still, Varan thought as she settled back into her seat, the Bōank had sufficient facilities for the crew to divert themselves when not on duty.

And she had a game module awaiting her in her quarters after she finished her duty shift.


***


The ramp the mage and the paladin were descending curved around, spiraling downward past darkened levels. “Light up ahead,” Varan remarked, extinguishing the light she had conjured on the tip of her staff.

“Friend or foe?” Meredith asked.

“I expect we will find out,” the vir replied as the ramp leveled out. Her feline pupils narrowed as her eyes adjusted to the light.

Three strange figures sat under one of the lights. All three were feline, a tiger and a cheetah who were seated on the concrete floor gazing steadily at each other, and a leopard who was working on something in his paws.

“Hello,” Varan said to the tiger and the cheetah, and her ears flicked as she got no response.

“Never mind them,” the leopard said. “They’re having a beard-staring contest.”

“Who are you, then?” Meredith asked.

“I’m on break,” the feline said in an amiable tone. “Trying to get this train set fixed.”

“Train set?” Varan looked past him to see an elaborate but oddly unfinished collection of tracks that wended its way among small model buildings. “Aka, a transit system. It seems to mimic Ottokar City’s street plan.” To the leopard she asked, “What seems to be wrong with it?”

“Can’t get it wired up.”

“HAH!” the cheetah suddenly said, pointing at the tiger. “You lose! One of the hairs just got longer!”

“No, it didn’t,” the tiger said placidly.

“Yes, it did,” the cheetah dug out a pair of calipers, measured, and brandished the tool. “A full half-millimeter!”

“No it didn’t,” the tiger countered, “it merely stretched out.”

“Oh.” The cheetah sulked for a few moments before the pair settled back down and continued staring at each other.

“Why are you all here?” Varan asked.

All three felines turned to look at her. “We are guarding the underground entrance.”

“In other words, a tunnel,” the tiger said.

“That leads into the basement of Lord Foad’s castle,” the cheetah added.

“The Old Crow likes to come and go quietly,” and the leopard winked conspiratorially.

“The ‘Old Crow?’” Varan asked.

“Lord Foad. He’s a raven,” the leopard replied.

“He’s certainly no Grackle of Weltschmerz,” the tiger added.

“But he certainly is flighty,” put in the cheetah. “I always thought he was the Penguin of Giddiness.”

“He looks nothing like Burgess Meredith,” the leopard declared while the mare’s ears perked at the name, “and he’s a stubborn old cuss, truly a Grebe of Obstinance.” He continued to work on his task, fingers getting entangled in lengths of wire and connectors.

“May we help you?” Meredith asked.

The leopard smiled. “Sure! Here’s the wiring diagram,” and he offered a small rectangular object that resembled a padd, but was rigid and far thicker. It had a screen on one side, with four knobs arrayed along the bottom.

Meredith looked at it, closed her eyes, and looked at it again. “It – it doesn’t seem to – Varan?”

The vir looked. “What is this?”

The paladin suddenly said, “Hang on,” and moved her head. “Ah, there it is. Face up there,” and she pointed at the ceiling to her right, “tip your head to the left, squint, and look out the corners of your eyes at the screen.”

Varan complied, her ears dipping. “How can you read this?” she asked the leopard.

“Oh, I’ve been using the Escher-Sketch™ for years,” the leopard replied, with the mage and the paladin turning to look at him as he added, “it’s useful for when you’re planning on curves at right angles to reality. Just don’t turn it upside down and shake it, you’ll erase all my hard work.”

“Aka, this seems to be the puzzle we have to solve,” Varan said.

Meredith nodded, and the vir saved the module before beginning.


***


The first attempt saw Varan inadvertently upend the Escher-Sketch™, causing the track diagram to vanish. All three felines suddenly attacked, forcing the paladin and the mage to kill them in self-defense, which caused the entire Car Park to collapse in on itself, killing the two adventurers and ending the game.


***


Varan took the opportunity to research her copy of the Terran cultural database, as well as look up a few works on hyperspatial geometry that she had saved from her training academy courses before re-entering the game and trying again.

This attempt failed, with Varan being electrocuted to death and Meredith forced into a rather indecent posture and used as a train tunnel.

Still, it hadn’t resulted in an immediate attack, so the vir felt that some progress had been made. She got a drink and a snack before going back to the last saved point.


***


The third try resulted in the same ending as the second, although with the roles reversed.

Varan thought that being used as a tunnel was very indelicate, and a sign of poor manners on the part of the designers.


***


On the fourth attempt, Varan slipped her hand into the screen of the Escher-Sketch™ and gently traced the design with her fingers, taking care to memorize the various curves and connections while she gave verbal instructions to Meredith and the leopard.

“That should complete the connections,” Varan said as she withdrew her hand.

The leopard looked up from where he was sitting, having rejoined the beard-staring contest. “Oh?” He got to his feet and padded over. “Do you think it’ll work?”

“If you and Meredith followed my instructions, yes.”

“Okay,” and the leopard turned to a squat control box. There was a low hum, and he slowly advanced a lever. There was a pause, and the cars started to move on the tracks. After they had made two full circuits of the track (disappearing at moments as the track transitioned in and out of reality) the feline cheered. “It works!”

There was a bright flash, and the entire train set glowed and transformed into a small, flat likeness of an ursine in profile, with some links of chain on either end.

The leopard scooped it up and offered it to Varan. “The first third of the Amulet of Asininity,” he explained. “The bear symbolizes strength, patience – and bloody violence if his nap is disturbed.”

“Thank you.” Varan placed the piece in her bag, and her ears flicked as a pronounced rumble shook the Sacred Car Park. “What is that?”

“Our cue,” the cheetah said. He and the tiger stood up and moved to stand beside the leopard, whose formerly dark circular fur markings had changed to a variety of green squares.

“Your fur’s changed,” Meredith observed.

The leopard looked down. “Huh. I guess the leopard really can change his spots."

The three felines suddenly dropped to one knee and chanted, “Three are we / Two are ye / Have mercy on us!” There was a sharp cracking sound, and the shaking subsided.

A glow was seen at the far end of the parking level. “Walk toward the light,” the tiger said in an odd singsong voice.

Meredith exchanged a glance with Varan, and both readied weapons and combat spells before going to investigate.

The Black Gate, a small sign proclaimed beside a set of double doors that were painted a bright red. Other signs read:

Authorized Personnel Only

Employees Only

Totally Not A Trap, Honest.

After saving the module again, the two adventurers stepped through the doors.


***


Varan deactivated her padd and ran a hand over her head and ears before yawning. A glance at the horolog told her that she had less than a cycle remaining before she had to go to bed.

Switching the padd back on momentarily, the vir satisfied herself that everything was well with the ship and its patrol route before shutting it down for the night.