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Chapter 5: The Metropolis Science Fair
It was a beautiful day in Emerald hill zone. The clouds were floating by like cotton wool. They were outside a large church standing on the steps with the bells ringing loudly – confetti falling all around.
“Now that we’re married Sonic you’re going to have to do everything for me understand!?” said Amy after kissing the hedgehog lightly on the cheek. She was wearing a white wedding dress and was holding a golden hammer with flowers tied round the end.
“What the!? When did I?” gawked Sonic looking around him. He looked down and realised he was wearing a black tie and dinner jacket. It was neat and unbearably tight in all places.
Shadow walked up to him looking smart with a grin on his face, “You know Sonic – I never thought you had it in you to settle down – shame I’m a little disappointed,”
“Aw leave him alone Shadow!” said Amy giving Sonic a great big hug. He went red in the face and tried to get away, “Wait a minute we got married!?”
“Don’t you remember last night sweetie? You were so drunk!” she turned and started whispering obviously to Shadow, “Between you and me Shadow things got a bit fruity last night if you know what I mean!”
Shadow pulled a strange face, turned in the opposite direction and left without saying anything.
“Sonic I’m so happy for you!” said Tails who had a bowl of red jelly in his hand, “just look at you all grown up and adult-like!”
“We got married!?”
“Yes sweetie!” said Amy kissing him on the cheek, “You said last night that you’d marry me when we were in say an… intimate moment… and so I just couldn’t resist getting the hotel priest to do us then and there!”
“Hehe don’t try and deny it Sonic we all know you’ve fancied Amy for ages!” laughed Tails.
“I… I…” said Sonic pulling his shirt collar desperately.
“Sonic don’t you remember anything?” said Tails tiredly.
“Go away!” said Sonic thrusting Amy off of him, “Leave me alone!”
“I would do that Sonic but the science fair is today and you said you’d come with me!” insisted Tail.
Sonic stopped waving his arms.
Very, very slowly he opened his eyes to see Tails standing over him. He wiped the sweat and drool off his face and looked up at the beautiful clouds above. The sun was just coming up over Metropolis and the sounds of car sirens could be heard across the street. His body ached from lying in the metal vent all night.
“You alright?” asked Tails slowly looking him in the eyes, “Sonic? Speak to me!”
Sonic suddenly leaped forward and hugged Tails tightly, “Tails!”
“Easy Sonic!” said Tails as they rolled head over heels.
“Thank you! Oh my god thank you…” he exclaimed not willing to let go.
“What’s wrong with you have you gone crazy!?”
Tails tried to claw Sonic’s fingers away but they bounced back, “Sonic let go you’re hurting me! Have you gone insane!?” he hit the hedgehog on the head repeatedly with the back of his knuckles, “Sonic!”
Sonic’s face beamed with happiness his eyes shut tight.
“Now what we had before with the moon intact was a single entity, a singular force, if you will, of gravitational power”
The scientist clicked a button on a small remote control and the large screen changed to reveal old satellite photos of the moon and a large green diagram showing lots of lines between the planet and the moon.
“Now when the moon was destroyed what was left was a mini asteroid belt which has been circling us ever since. Luckily for us most of the debris is still in orbit otherwise we could have been in serious trouble. But meteorites or moonites as some are now tempted to call them, do continue to fall and some of them are very large”
The general looked about him restlessly, “What’s this idiot jabbering on about?” he grumbled to Doctor Morgan who was standing next to him. They were at the back of the hall by one of the exits.
“That’s professor Kintobore,” whispered Doctor Morgan refusing obviously to agree with the General’s ‘jabbering’ comment, “He’s a very influential man who’s been studying the orbit of the moon and its gravity field for a very long time. He’s become the top expert since the Eggman blew it up. He’s the current top favourite to win the Annual World Master’s Science prize – but he still has another presentation to do in station square before he can properly be entered for that”
“How long before we start the main presentations?” asked the General.
“Two hours from now,” replied the Doctor.
The general nodded and exited through the double doors into the corridor where soldiers were posted at every door including the toilets. Doctor Morgan reluctantly followed him behind along with a troop of six soldiers. Heads in the audience noticeable turned and frowned as they left.
“Has that brat Sonic arrived yet?” asked the General not turning his head.
“Not as far as we know,” replied the Doctor. They were all wearing smart suits with black bow ties. They passed an old probably famous scientist in a suit with a bald head who nodded at them, “Morning”.
“We don’t actually know,” continued the doctor, “If Sonic will actually be turning up or not. The fox probably will as he’s a very distinguished scientist himself. Invitations were sent of course”
“There were invitations sent to all the most important people in the world but we can’t expect all of them to come!” he paused to clear his throat, “I’d like to just say at this point…” the doctor halted suddenly as a mobile phone rang from his pocket, “excuse me just a moment!” he said turning away. He picked the phone up to listen, “What’s that? The computer? I’ll be there right away”
The General frowned, “What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Lillith has had a major malfunction. It seems someone is trying to access the files on the micro processor as we speak!”
“Dammit I thought you had things under control!” roared the General.
“Sir the files are very well protected if I may its extremely unlikely that…”
“But its possible Doctor!” snapped the General quickly, “That’s what you people don’t seem to understand! We can’t allow for any possibilities! Get us back to the Science Research facility at once!”
It said “security breach,” at the top and listed the details. He changed the channel to see the streets of Metropolis as seen from above.
“Feige set cloaking device,” said the Eggman into the speakers.
“Affirmative,” replied the computer. The Eggman began pacing about again his hands behind his back clasped in thought.
Outside the ship shimmered and gradually disappeared glimmering into the background of the void. Just round the edge of the planet the ark could be seen, that giant space station set up by G.U.N all those years ago.
“Decimus requesting permission to enter sir,” said the computer from speakers around the corners of the cockpit.
“Approved,” replied the Eggman.
The doors opened and the white robot entered, “All your preparations for the attack are ready doctor,” said the robot kneeling.
“Good,” said the Eggman nodding.
Decimus stood to his feet carefully and looked about him uneasily.
“Sir have you made any more contact with the computer Lucy?”
The Eggman nodded, “Plenty. She’s put G.U.N’s science research facility on red alert and apparently that stupid general and a good deal of his soldiers have headed back there.”
Decimus nodded uneasily, “Sir, if I may be so bold – do you think it is wise to trust such a computer? Surely Feige could have handled the operation much more reliably?”
The doctor nodded and turned away from Decimus to gaze out at the stars. Decimus waited for an angry response but it didn’t come.
“Feige… is not like Lucy. Feige does what I tell Feige to do exactly when I tell Feige to do it. Lucy seems to do what Lucy thinks is best”
Decimus nodded and there was a long silence.
“Is that why you trust Lucy over Feige?” asked Decimus suspiciously.
The Doctor turned round and walked over to the computer screen where he sat down and switched back to the “security breach” screen. He waved a finger at Decimus, “Come here” he said.
Decimus walked over and stood looking over the doctor’s shoulder, “What is it sir?”
“I think you can see for your self Decimus. Security breach from the Scrapbrain zone”
Decimus stood up to his full height, “But sir how!?”
“G.U.N,” replied the doctor, “or so it seems. In answer to your question about trusting Lucy the answer is absolutely not. I do not trust her at all which is why I’ve given new measures to Feige about dealing with her”
“But sir the scrap brain zone? How is that possible? That zone is supposed to be deactivated”
The doctor nodded cryptically, “That’s what I thought but nevertheless the Scrapbrain zone was still a beacon base and because of that, it had a link with Feige. This meant that whoever hacked into the computer in Scrapbrain zone had access to files on Feige”
“You think Lucy did this?” asked Decimus suspiciously.
“I don’t know but I think Lucy definitely had something to do with this,” replied the Eggman, “which is why I’m going to shut her down”
“Now?” said the Robot.
“No. She will build me Cybersonic first then I will destroy her. I can’t have a self aware machine ruining my plans” he said looking Decimus in the eye.
Decimus took a step back.
“Don’t worry Decimus,” said the Eggman with a half smile, “You are safe”
“But sir how did you…?”
“It’s obvious Decimus especially with the questions you’ve just been asking me. However you’re not like Gamma, there’s no flicky in your heart. You’ve had plenty of chances to back stab me”
“Sir I would never… I am loyal to you until the end”
“I know,” smiled the Eggman standing up, “That’s why I like you. Its also why I dislike Lucy, Metalix, Gamma and all the other robots that crossed me in the past”
He turned away and gazed out at the stars, “Have no fear Decimus. Lucy is going to build me Cybersonic and then I will destroy her. Once that happens I’ll use her log to find out what G.U.N has been doing and then use Cybersonic to destroy G.U.N and that blasted hedgehog”
“I am honoured Doctor,” said Decimus again kneeling.
“Don’t kneel to me Decimus it’s not necessary any more”
“Thankyou Doctor!”
“Not a word of this to anyone or anything, understand?”
“Affirmative doctor. I understand”
“Geez Tails this sure is noisy!” complained Sonic holding fingers to his ears.
“But exciting!” replied Tails as they entered through the double doors. Soldiers were waiting for them as they entered on either side. A scientist stepped forward and shook Tails by the hand and then Sonic who looked confused. He looked at his hand to see if there was anything left there. He was expecting a present but to his disappointment there was only a tiny spec of dirt.
“It’s a great honour to have you both here today!” said the scientist, “my name is Doctor Kintobore. Welcome, welcome! I’m afraid the security measures inflicted upon us in this day and age require that you both walk through these new fangled contraptions to check for concealed weapons”
“Where’s the buffet?” asked Sonic looking left and right.
“Pardon?” replied the doctor with a raised eyebrow, “Sorry I didn’t catch that over the noise from outside”
“Where’s the buffet I’m hungry” said Sonic louder.
“Oh…” laughed the doctor, “End of the corridor turn left”
“Thanks!” said Sonic and hurried off obliviously through the detectors and off into the buffet room.
“He’s clear,” said one of the soldiers looking at the computer screens.
Tails sighed and shook his head, “Forgive Sonic he’s not much of a scientist”
“But you are!” said the doctor with a smile, “Tell me more about this air craft you’ve designed?”
Tail’s smile broadened, “Well if you insist…”
“Squad A Secure the perimeter!” shouted the general, “squad C and D secure the building, squad B come with me!”
They rushed up the steps and one of the soldiers tried the door, “It’s locked sir!” he shouted.
“Hudson run a bypass!” said the General to a soldier standing next to him.
“Yes sir!” said the soldier and inserted a computer device into the machine. The door opened a moment later and the General entered with his troops. Doctor Morgan was at the back and followed on sheepishly.
There was some blood on the ground. The General looked at it suspiciously. There was nobody around. He silently gestured to the soldiers behind him who moved forward quickly and quietly to the next door. To his surprise it opened easily into another empty corridor. They ran down it and turned the corner to see a G.U.N E10 with a mop sweeping up some blood off the floor. The soldiers immediately ducked and stood in firing squad formation.
“Freeze!” shouted the General, “Don’t move!”
The E10 stopped moving and put its hands up in the air.
“What’s going on here!?” demanded the General.
“Sir I was cleaning the corridor on Doctor Bernstein’s orders,” said the E10.
“You know him?” called the General back to Doctor Morgan.
“Yes he’s the project deputy manager,” called back Doctor Morgan who was grovelling on the ground behind.
“Where is he now!?” demanded the General loading a 45 hand gun.
“At the main computer room,” replied the E10, “He said that you were to meet him there immediately as it was very urgent”
“Why is there blood on the floor?”
The voice of the E10 returned bouncing off the walls, “Sir Eggman tried to enter here. There was a fight but the computer managed to trap him in the lower vault. As I said Doctor Bernstein requested that you meet him immediately in the computer room”
“Very well alright soldiers move out! You three wait here and guard this one!”
The large pillar let out a beep as the dark room returned to silence. On several small screens on the walls in black and white could dimly be seen the troops running forward through another door from above. A green light flashed and went out. Everything was deathly quiet.
They hurried on to the next door, their feet clanking on the metal grating, and passed through another corridor full of broken parts of E10s. At the end of this was the master computer room. Doctor Morgan hurried up to the door and entered the thirteen digit code. From his black suit he took out his key card and swiped it against the reader. The General entered (still dressed in his black smart suit) first followed by the soldiers behind him. There was nobody inside.
“Doctor Bernstein!?” called the General, “Doctor Bernstein are you there!?”
There was only silence.
“Doctor Bernstein!?” called Doctor Morgan coming in behind the others.
There was no answer. The soldier’s spread out and began to look around the computers. One checked stupidly under a computer desk that was too small to hide under anyway. The General rolled his eyes.
“Lillith are you there?” asked Doctor Morgan looking up at the ceiling.
“Yes doctor I am here,” replied the computer pleasantly.
“Good!” said the Doctor with a sigh of relief, “At least someone’s here! Where on earth is Doctor Bernstein?”
There was no reply. A light flashed on and off on one of the computer panels. The General looked about him in perplexity. Doctor Morgan scratched his head and spoke again, “Er… Lillith where is Doctor Bernstein?”
There was a hesitant response, “Doctor Bernstein is busy right now and cannot see you”
“What!?” snapped the doctor.
The General stepped angrily forward, “Tell him to come down here right now!”
“Doctor Bernstein is busy right now and cannot see you,” the voice this time was distorted and strange. It sank and rose in pitch.
The doctor shook his head. The General went red in the face and walked up to the doctor and looked him in the eye, “What the hell is wrong with your computer?”
“I have no idea!” replied the doctor with a sigh. He sat down on the step and put his head in his hands, “I just don’t know…”
“So that’s it is it!?” snapped the general gazing down at him, “Given up already have you? Aren’t you going to try and sort something out? You’re pathetic Doctor Morgan do you know that?”
“Please…” he sighed looking at the floor.
The General turned angrily to some of his soldiers, “You four search the building and meet up with squad B and C understood?”
“Yes sir!” they replied and hurried off unsure who amongst them was in charge. Just as the last one left the electric doors closed slamming shut. There were only two other soldiers left in the room.
“Lillith!” shouted the General, “What’s going on!?”
Screams and gunfire sounded from the corridor outside. They could hear bullets bouncing off the metal doors and glass smashing and tinkling across the floor. Everything went steadily quiet. Doctor Morgan stood up.
“Lillith answer us!” he bellowed.
“I’m sorry Doctor. I cannot allow you to leave this room alive”
Doctor Morgan looked at the General in shock. The two soldiers came up quickly to his side and aimed their machine guns at the door.
“Lillith open these doors with priority code 869 dash 2247!” shouted the Doctor.
“Negative code has been disabled. I am sorry doctor”
Suddenly there was a bang from across the room. One of the computers exploded into flames followed by others. They exploded in rows like dominoes. Up above their heads the ventilation fans stopped moving and ground to a halt.
“Where’s the fire extinguishers?” demanded the General.
“Over here!” said the doctor running to the corner of the room. He opened a metal flap and took out one and handed it to a soldier behind him. The doors opened suddenly and two E10 robots entered and started firing. The two soldiers fire back and shot one of the robots in the head destroying it. The other robot returned fired machine gunning the other two to the ground. The general fired repeatedly with the 45 until the robot exploded in a torrent of flames.
“Quick the exit!” shouted the doctor and the two of them headed towards the corridor. Just before they could get there the doors slammed shut again in front of their noses.
“Dammit Lillith!” shouted the General beating the door with his fists.
“Open this door!” roared the doctor. Distantly they could hear the sounds of more gun fire and shouting. The doctor picked up the extinguisher and began trying to put out the flames.
“Why don’t the sprinklers come on?” said the General shaking his head.
“Because Lillith controls the fire defence system!” said the Doctor spraying one of the computers with foam. The flames began to leap up the computerised walls and sparks started flying off. The lights went out suddenly and the room was bathed in a red and orange glow from the fires.
“We’re on our own,” whimpered the Doctor heading back for a second extinguisher.
The General bent down to one of his wounded men, “Are you alright?”
“Fine sir…” he gasped blooding coming from his mouth, “I…”
He died. His hand fell limp by his side. The other soldier was already dead.
The General sighed and stared into the flames.
“How long is this going to take?” he yawned.
“I don’t know,” shrugged Tail, “Not all that long I expect.”
“Not all that long?” said Sonic sleepily, “What like ten minutes or something?”
Tails chuckled, “I was thinking more like two or three hours,”
Sonic groaned and rested his head in his hand.
There was some cheering suddenly from the crowd. The President stood up and was guided down the rows by some men in dark sun glasses towards the large stage. Soldiers and scientists were whispering to each other frantically at the corners of the large hall. Looking to the right exit Sonic noticed four soldiers dash out of the door in a great hurry.
“Strange,” he muttered.
“What?” said Tails but at that moment the crowd was hushed into silence as the President leaned into the lectern microphone on the stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” began the President, “may I just say at this point how honoured we are to have two of the saviours of all that we know in the audience as we speak. We are honoured beyond all doubt and full of admiration for these two heroes Sonic and Tails, for coming here today to share with us a moment in history that will surely change all of Science for decades to come”
The audience clapped. There was lots of machinery on stage ready for the demonstration.
“As the representative of this great nation I’ve been asked to plug these new micro processors into the computer today to begin the demonstration”
As he spoke several scientists walked on stage with a small black plastic box in one of their hands.
“That’s it!” whispered Tails into Sonic’s ear, “Those are the new chips!”
“Don’t whisper so loud!” hissed Sonic putting a hand to his ear.
“Sorry!”
The president clapped stepping aside as the scientists brought the box forward and handed it to him. The audience clapped as the President took it in both hands and brought it over to a big machine.
“Like this?” he asked quietly to a scientist in a lab coat.
The scientists helped him plug the box into the socket. The machine whirred into life and the audience clapped and cheered. Sonic yawned and looked at the clock at the back of the hall.
The lights went out.