Chapter 1
Birth Of A Robot
At first there was nothing but a black void, then words, in green, began flashing across the void.
STARTING OPERATING SYSTEM…
EM/OS v- 1.2.0 STARTUP SEQUENCE INITIATED…FUSION REACTOR ONLINE… LASER GUN CHARGED… PRIMARY CPU READY… ALL PRIMARY SYSTEMS READY… SECONDARY CPU READY… ALL SECONDARY SYSTEMS STANDING BY.
ENGAGING FULL OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS…
The words that hung in the void were replaced with static, then sound, real sound, began to filter in. And suddenly… he could see. As his vision engaged he could see a large, fat, slightly egg-shaped man with a great, orange mustache, that looked like he had two orange ferrets stuck up his nose, standing in front of him.
"All systems! Full power!" rumbled the fat man gleefully, "Look at me! I am your brilliant creator! Dr. Robotnik! You are the second of my E-100 model machines. E-102, codename: Gamma!"
E-102 Gamma stood on pointed feet that connected to spindly legs that didn't like they could support his large chassis. The appearance was deceiving. His body was round and swept back. His black and bronze head conformed to the rest of his body, with his face consisting of two, green photoreceptors. He had a fully articulated hand on his left arm, but his right arm ended in a large blaster cannon. He was painted in a rich red with white and the numbers 1-0-2 were stenciled on his lower left.
"Follow me Gamma," said Robotnik. He walked up to a door that had a sign over it that said: SHOOTING GALLERY.
" Your big brother, E-101 Beta is in there practicing," said the scientist,
" You're not as advanced as Beta is but you'll do fine. Now listen up for your battle instructions! Destroy the Sonic doll at the end of the course. Destroy other targets to increase your score. Now go!" Gamma stomped off into the range without a word.
It wasn't that difficult thought Gamma as wound his way through the course. It dipped and twisted, hair-pinned, and dropped. More than once Gamma had to use his powerful pneumatic limbs to leap over large crevices in the course. At the end of the course Gamma found a large room, and on the opposite wall there was a little Sonic the Hedgehog doll that ran back and forth on a little track. Gamma locked on with his laser sight and fired three short blasts that turned the doll into so much junk.
"Mission Complete," said the big mech as he walked toward the exit.
As Gamma left the Range Robotnik confronted him.
"Great job Gamma!" he said. It was one of the rare times he was pleased with ones of his mechs, "You fared better than Beta! I didn't know you had it in you! Now come and meet your big brother. Come forth Beta!" A big mech landed a couple of feet away from Gamma and Robotnik. It was black and white with the numbers "101" stenciled on its side. In fact it looked almost like Gamma's identical twin. It had no hands though, its forearms consisting of two huge cannons.
"Gamma I'd like you to meet your older brother, E-101. Just call him Beta. My almighty Egg Carrier is a good ship that needs a good crew! So I am pitting the two of you against each other, and the winner serves on my ship!" As soon as Robotnik said this Gamma was charged by Beta. Gamma was waiting for this and let fly with blaster fire. The rounds struck the black mech squarely. Beta let out an electronic growl of rage. He had the advantage of being able to fly in the air thanks to his jet booster but Gamma was quick and agile. As beta fired a barrage of powerful missiles, Gamma rolled, straightened up, took aim, and fired twice in rapid succession. Both shots hit Beta in the back. There was a shower of sparks, an electrical shriek, a deep synthesized moan, and Beta collapsed to the metal floor.
"Well done Gamma! You surprise me!" said Robotnik, "Excellent! I herby grant you permission to serve onboard the Egg Carrier." Robotnik was smiling but his smile was cold and shrewd. Gamma nodded enthusiastically but he felt no real pleasure or pride at his accomplishment. Suddenly Beta inserted himself between Gamma and Robotnik.
"Oh, so you want to come along as well eh?" Robotnik's smile turned to a scowl, "Ooooh, all right you have special permission. We could always use a spare set of parts."