The Experiment

by Serinthia Kelberry

Based on a concept from a very obscure game called Burn: Cycle. Imagine being able to upload some poor Mobian's conciousness into a computer system and go from there...

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Experiment

by Serinthia Draftwood

The author of this work will accept questions and comments at the

following addresses:

serinthia@draftwood.com

This work is protected under copyright law. The author grants his

permission for free, unedited, unaltered distribution of this work. Any

and all other uses of this work including the sale of it for money, is

strictly prohibited.

based on characters created by Service and Games (SEGA),Inc. and on

characters created by Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

Story:

A lone shuttle flew through the night skies. On board, Packbell

sat in the pilots seat with a grim expression on his face. He had been

called back to Robotropolis to perform one of the lowest services anybody

could be asked to perform, new prisoner orientation. Normally, when a

large group of rebels were captured, they were officially charged with

treason against Robotnik, found guilty and sentenced to the robotizizer

after an agonizingly long stay in the holding cells. Normally, a

Swat-bot was assigned to give the orientation, but, for some reason,

Packbell had been selected for this duty. As a First Class Commander,

prisoner orientation was listed under his job duties, but he was rarely

assigned it because both he and Robotnik knew there were better things

Packbell could be doing with his time.

Packbell sighed as he set the shuttle down in a landing bay.

Stopping by his quarters to grab his dress cloak, he headed to the

prisoner orientation chamber.

The chamber was massive. It had fifty rows of benches facing a

raised podium. Behind the podium was a large screen on which could be

displayed the many terrible robotization and interrogation recordings

that were always made.

Packbell stood behind the podium and waited patiently. Soon,

Swat-bots began escorting rebel freedom fighters into the room. It was

the typical scene that Packbell was so used to. Some silent, some

crying, some glaring at him in defiance, families holding to one

another. How pathetic, thought Packbell. Soon, the entire group was

sitting in front of him. He began to speak from the script that sat in

his memory.

"As a Commander in the Robotropolis Central Command, it is my

duty to inform you that you have all been charged with treason against

the Emperor of Mobius, Ivo Robotnik."

At those words, some leaped up and began shouting words of

defiance. Packbell rarely listened to such nonsense. The Swat-bots

quickly silenced them by shooting warning shots over the heads of the

crowd. When the crowd quieted down, he continued.

"Having been so charged, you have been tried based on an

evaluation of your general behavior, and have, consequently been found

guilty. You are therefore sentenced to the robotizizer after intense

interrogation, and a stay in our holding cells until such time as we need

more worker-bots."

At this some began trembling in fear, while some still haven't

recovered from the shock of what was happening. Suddenly, a raccoon who

had apparently snapped from the stress, jumped up and made a desperate run

for the door. Before anybody could react, Packbell pulled a laser rifle

and shot three blasts, each of which slammed into the prisoner, throwing

him against the wall where he collapsed in a lifeless heap. The

prisoners stared in shock and terror at Packbell, who was still holding the

smoking rifle.

"Anyone else feel like dying tonight?" he asked, placing the

rifle back under the podium "if so, please feel free to make a run for

any of the exits provided. While you're here, there's one thing you need

to understand. I care nothing for your futile little lives, and I have

no reservations about relieving you of each and every one of them."

He turned to the Swat-bots.

"Take them away," he ordered.

As the Swat-bots began to escort the prisoners from the room,

Packbell suddenly had an idea.

"Wait!" he yelled. The Swat-bots stopped where they were.

In a single sweep of the room, he analyzed each prisoner

individually. After make deliberate calculations, he arrived at a conclusion.

"Take the twenty prisoners in the back row to my experiment

holding cells," he ordered.

"Acknowledged," responded the bots.

Packbell was getting tired of experimenting on worker-bots. Some

live subjects might just provide some better results. He doubted that

any of the prisoners would survive the process, but then, that was their

problem. Packbell left the prison block and headed for the Scientific

Research Building.

Sir Charles Hedgehog was widely know among the resistance for his

logical attitude and somber manner when it came to getting a job done.

What was not well known was that a part of him always craved living life

on the edge, and playing the part of a Freedom Fighter spy deep inside

Robotropolis was about as close to the edge as one could get without

falling over completely. Not that he took the job lightly, he was always

very serious about it, because if he were ever found out, he'd be

interrogated and either reprogrammed or sent to the scrap pile.

Having finished his duty cycle, he quietly slipped away from the

other worker-bots and went to the his hideout to continue with a few

things he had to do. First, however, he sat down in front of his

computer and tapped into the section were Commanders post their daily

progress reports to see if anything remotely important had happened.

As he scrolled down the list, everything appeared to be pretty

much the same, that is, until he got to Packbell's entry:

REPORT #:548722226-457B

DESIGNATION: PACKBELL

RANK: COMMANDER

SUMMARY REPORT FOR: 3-14-35

1900HRS -- SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED 165 REBELS LOCATED IN GREAT JUNGLE

2100HRS -- PRISONERS PROCCESSED FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCEDURES

NO OTHER ACTIVITY

END REPORT

AUTHORIZATION: 458-5874412-55

This is ridiculous, thought Chuck, if this keeps up, Sally won't have

any freedom fighters left to contact even if she does find her father's

list.

He connected to the prison block records to check on the status

of the new prisoners. Some could be rescued if they were being held in

the right areas. Looking over the reports, he noticed something unusual.

The number of new prisoners processed was 145. Chuck stopped and

thought a moment. Packbell had reported a score of 165, so someone was

off by twenty.

The more he thought, the more Chuck began to worry. This was the

tenth discrepancy in the records regarding prisoners and worker-bots in

the last four months, and, in every error, Packbell had somehow been

involved.

Chuck realized that something was going on, and he was beginning

to think that not even Robotnik might know. Calling a messenger bird to

him, Chuck dispatched a message to the Great Forest.

Deep in the Great Forest, in Knothole Village, the freedom

fighters slept soundly. The small bird flew, unnoticed, down past

various huts until it came to rest in the window of the hut belonging to

Princess Sally. Sally lay in bed next to the window in a sound sleep.

The bird began chirping rather loudly until Sally groggily woke up to see

what the problem was.

Going to the window, she took the note from the bird and read it

as the bird flew away.

To Knothole Freedom Fighters,

Prisoners have been disappearing en route between their orientation and

the prison block. Suspect Packbell is taking them to an unknown location

for some purpose. Request any ideas on what to do.

Respond ASAP

Sally looked at the clock on the wall. No matter how serious

such a problem was, no one was going to have good, suggestive ideas at

this hour. Folding the note and placing it on her nightstand, Sally went

back to bed and would handle it first thing in the morning.

Packbell walked into a chamber deep in his research center. In

the center was a long table with shackles on it. Above it, hanging from

the ceiling was a semi-circular piece of metal which appeared to have

laser scanners attached to it, which could be moved up and down the

length of the table. At one end of the room was a large display screen,

and at the other end was a large set of controls facing the table.

Packbell went behind the controls and sat down. Pressing his

hand to a sensor on the panel, he powered the system. For a few moments,

he sat listening as the machine quietly sucked power from the Central

Power Core to serve his secret, twisted purposes.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened and two Swat-bots entered,

escorting a frightened looking badger who they promptly strapped down to

the table.

"Greetings, citizen," said Packbell in a voice so friendly, it

would fool all but the most cautious "You might as well stop struggling,

you can't leave."

The badger calmed after awhile and simply glared at Packbell.

"Now, don't be like that," continued Packbell, still speaking as

though he were the badger's comrade "Just because you've been found

guilty of treason doesn't mean that we can't be friends. In fact, you

should feel honored that you're here instead of back in the prison

block. You see, you have been chosen to take part in an experiment that

will change the way people think of computers and robotics forever.

First, however, I despise having to call you 'prisoner' so why don't you

introduce yourself."

After glaring at Packbell for a moment, the badger responded.

"My name's Hugo," he said.

"Hugo? Pleased to meet you, I'm Packbell, but you already know

that," said Packbell, smiling.

"Now then," Packbell continued "Let's get down to business. All

you have to do for this experiment is to lie perfectly still."

Packbell pushed a few buttons on the panel, as the laser scanners

began glowing.

"Oh, by the way," said Packbell "Good Luck."

The laser scanners came on and shot down onto the badger. The

scanners moved down the length of the subject, examining each and every

inch of him.

"Preliminary subject analysis complete," the computer reported.

"Proceed to phase two, neural pathway analysis," ordered Packbell.

The lasers changed color as they moved up towards the badger's

head and stopped. They began an intense scan of the badger's brain.

"Analysis complete."

"Begin Upload Processing analysis."

The lasers again scanned the badger.

"Analysis complete"

Packbell pushed a few more buttons on the panel.

"Begin full upload procedure."

The lasers changed color to red and concentrated all their energy

on the badger's mind. On the screen at the far end of the room, was

displayed a 3-D wire frame model of the badger and an immense amount of

unreadable information. All seemed to be going well for the Commander

and he felt a slight tinge of joy at a possible success. Suddenly, the

information on the screen changed.

"WARNING! NEURAL IMBALANCE DETECTED."

"What!!" exclaimed Packbell, he joy turning to shock.

"WARNING! NEURAL PATHWAY COLAPSE POSSIBLE."

"Shut down the experiment!" screamed Packbell above the noise of

the alarms that had sounded as he began frantically pushing buttons on

the panel. The badger's body began jerking about violently.

"WARNING! NEURAL SYNAPSE COLLAPSE IN PROGRESS"

"WARNING! SUBJECT VITAL SIGNS FAILING."

Packbell managed to shut off the system. Walking over the badger

on the table, he glared at the still slightly twitching body. After

standing there for what seemed like an eternity, he turned and went to

the comm. panel.

"Send some bots in here to dispose of the body, and bring me

another subject in one hour," he ordered.

Turning off the panel, he walked back to the system controls.

"I'm going to get this experiment right if I have to kill every

Mobian on the face of the planet!!!" he declared, and began going through

the program for the thousandth time looking for bugs.

The next morning, the freedom fighters met in the war room to

discuss Uncle Chuck's latest message.

"The idea that Packbell is kidnapping prisoners for his own

twisted purposes is a frightening thought," Sally was saying "We've got

to find out what he's doing with them. any ideas?"

"Just the obvious one, Sal," responded Sonic "Jam to Robotropolis

and find out."

"Sonic, you know we can't go running to Robotropolis without a

solid plan. We don't even know exactly what we're looking for," Sally said.

She turned to Bookshire.

"Have you had any luck locating info on this, Bookshire?" she asked.

"Not much," he admitted "Packbell has always suspected that

someone's been sneaking into the Core so he code-locks all his personal

files. I'm examining other areas to see if he forgot something, but

it'll take time."

"Well, until we have a better idea of what's happening, there's

not much we can do," said Sally "Bookshire will continue work on the

computer system, but it might be a good idea to send one or two of us to

Robotropolis to follow Packbell and see what he's up to."

Later, deep in Robotropolis, Bunnie and Sonic, both having

volunteered to follow Packbell, arrived outside the main Command Center.

After avoiding the guards, they managed to sneak inside through the

ventilation system. After taking many turns and searching many rooms,

the team lucked out when they found Packbell. He was in the main control

room with Robotnik.

"You still haven't answered my question," Robotnik was saying to

Snively "Why are there prisoners missing from my holding cells!"

"I really don't know sir," responded Snively weakly.

"Don't give us that!" said Packbell "Do you have any idea how

hard its been for me to capture these traitors lately. I've gone through

a lot of trouble to get them and you lose them!"

Snively glared at Packbell. He knew that Packbell was at fault,

but, with all the trust Robotnik had invested in his finest creation, he

would never believe it.

"I'll keep looking into it sir," Snively said rather lamely.

"You do that," said Robotnik "If you don't find out what happened

to them, I'll give you to Packbell for target practice!"

"Yes sir," said Snively, as he turned and left.

"Why do you keep him around, sir?" asked Packbell.

"You know, sometimes I honestly don't know," responded Robotnik.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do," said Packbell.

"Of course," replies Robotnik.

Packbell, walked from the room and out onto the side walk. As he

walked down the deserted street, Sonic and Bunnie followed close behind.

They followed him to a small building. AS he entered, Sonic and Bunnie

stopped outside.

"Okay," said Sonic "I'm going to follow him in. You stay out here

in case he comes back."

"You got it sugar-hog," said Bunnie. She crouched in a dark

corner of the street as Sonic went into the old building.

Sonic crept down the corridor. He looked around, but saw no sign

of Packbell. He continued down the corridor, certain that he'd catch up

to Packbell eventually.

Bunnie waited patiently behind a garbage can for Sonic or

Packbell to emerge.

Suddenly, without warning, a metallic hand shot out of the

darkness behind her, grabbed her by the back of her neck and lifted her

easily off the ground.

"Scream and die, rabbit," said a chillingly familiar voice. The

arm turned her around and she found herself face to face with Cmdr.

Packbell.

"Did you really think you could sneak up on someone with a

proximity detector?" asked Packbell, smiling.

Without answering, Bunnie drove her robotic foot into Packbell's

chest. The Commander was unmoved.

"Such is the advantage of dent-proof alloys," continued Packbell

"Now, why don't we go find your friend."

Keeping Bunnie in a tight grip, he returned to the building.

Sonic had searched the entire building and found nothing. As he

returned to the entrance, a figure appeared in the doorway.

"Greetings, hedgehog!" said Packbell "I believe this belongs to you."

Packbell held Bunnie firmly in his right hand.

"Let her go, metal head!" ordered Sonic as he prepared to rush

the commander.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," remarked Packbell "Your

distance from me is such that you could never get to me in time to

prevent me from breaking this beautiful rabbit's neck. Now, I suggest

you stay where you are unless you believe taking me down is worth your

friend's death."

Sonic stopped where he was knowing that Packbell was right.

There was no guarantee he could get to Packbell in time to save Bunnie.

"What do you want?" asked Sonic.

"Just the two of you," Packbell replied "I've sent a transmission

to my team at the Research Center informing them you are on your way.

You will go there and allow them to escort you to a special cell I made

just for you. If you have any ideas of doubling back, just remember that

all I need is to hear your sonic boom and Bunnie is as good as dead. Now

go."

Sonic wanted nothing more than to rip into Packbell and tear him

apart, but his logic finally won out. He moved past Packbell and ran off

towards the center.

"You're friend appears to be a very reasonable person," Packbell

remarked to Bunnie as they started for the center.

"You'll never get away with this," said Bunnie defiantly.

Packbell smiled.

"Well, well, another satisfied member of the cliché of the month

club," he said.

In a lightning move, he shifted his grip on her neck, robbing her

of her consciousness. He continued walking towards the Research Center

where his experiment awaited.

Arriving at the Center, Packbell proceeded directly to the

holding cells where Sonic sat in a cell guarded by ten Swat-bots. Still

keeping the unconscious Bunnie in his grip, he gazed at Sonic through the

force field.

"What's the deal, Packbell," demanded Sonic "What have you been

doing with these 'extra' prisoners?"

"That isn't your concern at the moment. However, you'll find out

soon enough," said Packbell "It was a tough decision, but I have decided

that you will be the next subject for my experiment."

Packbell pushed a button on the wall. Suddenly, Sonic cell was

filled with sleeping gas. Sonic collapsed to the floor. Packbell turned

to one of the bots.

"Take the hedgehog to the chamber," he ordered.

As Sonic began to wake, he realized he was strapped tightly to a

long metal table in the middle of a large room. Looking around, he saw

Bunnie in the tight grip of a Swat-bot while Packbell began to power the

machine. Sonic struggled to break free, but something was holding him in

place. Watching him struggle, Packbell grinned.

"Force fields are wonderful things aren't they," he remarked

"Just relax. I've worked out all the bugs this time so there shouldn't

be any problems. Granted, that's what I thought the last five times I

tried it, but this time I'm sure."

"Is that what you do with those prisoners?" demanded Bunnie "You

experiment on them?"

"Of course," answered Packbell, casually "The worker-bots just

weren't delivering the results I had hoped for. They kept having neural

breakdowns and had to be scrapped. Some saved me the trouble by

exploding. Very interesting effects, but they were setbacks just the same."

"You're insane, Packbell," yelled Sonic.

"Yeah, and you're fast. Do you think I care?" stated Packbell as

the system powered up.

The system indicated it's readiness. Packbell paused for a

moment and gazes at Sonic, lying strapped to the table.

"See you in infinity," he said, simply. He flipped a switch on

the panel.

Later, that was the last thing Sonic remembered. . .

"Cold . . .I'm cold."

such was Sonic's first thought. Before he was aware of his

surroundings, even before he was aware of his own body, he knew he was

cold. It wasn't quite like any cold he had remembered feeling before.

It was hard for him to tell if the cold was coming from him or from the

darkness surrounded him.

After what seemed an eternity, he began to regain some of his

senses. His body was in one piece, at least that's how it felt.

However, for some reason, it wouldn't move. No matter what he tried, it

wouldn't respond to him.

He tried to get a bearing on where he was, but all that

surrounded him was dark. There was no light anywhere.

What had happened? Sonic's mind felt strange and fuzzy. He

could barely recall who he was much less what had happened to bring him

to this dark place. He vaguely recalled a machine of some kind, and a

tall, artificial person who he knew he should know, but had forgotten for

some reason. He remembered the words, "See you in infinity". Was that

where he was? Was this what infinity looked like?

As he thought, more questions seemed to pile up. Questions that

he didn't have answers for. For one of the few times in his life, Sonic

the Hedgehog became frightened. He didn't know where he was or why he

was there, he couldn't see, he couldn't move, he couldn't hear . . . or

could he? Sonic could barely make out a soft, distant humming sound

which seemed to rise in volume and then fade again at irregular times.

And so, Sonic continued to float aimlessly through a dark,

sightless void with his own thoughts, and a distant hum as his only

companions.

The words "Procedure Successful" continued to flash on the

control screen. Packbell stood behind his control panel staring at the

words for what seemed an eternity before turning to the Swat-bot holding

Bunnie.

"Would you take the prisoner and wait outside," he said "I'll

send for you in a minute."

After Bunnie had been removed, Packbell turned back to the screen.

"YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he cried out as he began dancing in

happiness. After all that work and all those failures, his machine

finally worked. It was several minutes before he was able to calm himself.

He called the Swat-bot back in.

"Computer, what is the status of the body?" he asked.

"Body is being maintained on full life support. All systems normal."

"What did you do to him, Packbell!" demanded Bunnie.

"The same thing I'm going to do to you my dear," replied Packbell.

The table holding Sonic slid silently out of the way as another

table came up from the floor under the laser scanners. The Swat-bot took

Bunnie over to it where it strapped her down.

"You see, my dear," began Packbell "The one thing I've always

admired about Robotnik is his ability to make people suffer. The

robotizizer is, in my experience, one of the best devices in existence

for causing such suffering. Not only does it turn the victim's life into

a living nightmare, but it also provides free slave labor. However, it

has it's flaws. The person's senses are maintained so that they are

aware of what's going on. I've recently become aware that, because of

this, worker-bots have the capability to break their spell of submission."

Bunnie froze for a moment, hoping he wasn't referring to Uncle Chuck.

"Fortunately, I have yet to hear of such a thing. You see, the

purpose of this machine is to upload a person's mind into the computer,

leaving their body to be robotizized and given the necessary programming

for it to function. The person, however is stored in the computer which

is a living nightmare in itself since I or anyone else can toy with them,

torture them or erase them. Therefore, we have the same purpose of a

robotizizer, but this eliminates the possibility of worker-bots turning on

us."

Bunnie stared at Packbell as he told his tale of horror.

"You'll never get away with this," she said.

"You keep saying that," Packbell said as he walked behind the

control panel "Sometimes I think that's the freedom fighters motto. Oh

well."

Packbell flipped the switch and the process began again.

Back in Knothole, Sally was getting worried. Sonic and Bunnie

were supposed to have reported back hours before and they didn't. A trip

to Bookshire's house proved fruitless as he was unable to locate any

records of their capture.

"Where could they possibly be!" complained Sally as she stood in

Bookshire's computer room "It's not like them to not come back. Are you

sure there isn't anything on them on the computer, Book?

"I looked at every prisoner info file that my software could

access, but they weren't mentioned anywhere. Chances are, they were

captured, but somebody didn't make a record of it," Bookshire responded.

"Now what reason would anyone have for not making a record?"

asked Sally. Before she even finished talking, she remembered why they

were there in the first place.

"If Packbell captured them, they could be in serious trouble!"

she exclaimed "I'm taking Dulcy, Rotor and the others to get them out.

If you find out what's going on, contact us on the secured channel."?

Bookshire nodded, knowing it was the only choice at the moment

"You have my word, your highness."

Packbell walked back to the research center looking extremely

pleased with himself. Not only had he gotten his machine to work, but

there was nothing he loved more than seeing Robotnik yelling at Snively.

However, it was work time again and he had two things he needed

to take care of, and he meant to do so by the end of the day.

Returning to the experimentation chamber, he paused briefly by the

lifeless bodies of Sonic and Bunnie which were only being kept functioning

buy artificial means. He'd have them robotizized eventually, but now, it

was time for some fun. Sitting behind the control panel, he turned on

the computer links and the monitors as he accessed two files that had

been displayed. . .

Sonic had floated endlessly in the darkness. All he had been

able to listen to was the soft hum. Suddenly, without warning, the hum

increased to a loud roar for a split second as blinding light flashed

before his eyes for an instant. The next thing he knew, he was lying on

his back on some cold surface staring up at an endless sky.

He had a pounding headache. He lay there for a few moments

wishing it would go away when he heard a slight groan of to his right.

Sitting up and turning his head slightly he saw Bunnie lying on her back,

also with what appeared to be a pounding headache. What made Sonic

almost jump with surprise, however, was the fact that Bunnie didn't

appear to be robotizized. Gone completely were the metallic legs and arm

that had plagued Bunnie's existence for years.

He was at her side in a second.

"Bunnie, you okay?" he asked.

Bunnie groaned for a second, holding her hand to her head.

"Ohh, ya'll tell the guy with the jackhammer to layoff, would

ya'" she mumbled.

"Come on, Bunnie, snap out of it," Sonic urged gently.

Bunnie opened her eyes and slowly sat up.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"I don't know," Sonic relied. He wished he could tell her more,

but he really didn't know what else to say.

Suddenly saw that she was no longer robotizized. For several

moments she was speechless.

"oh my stars!" she declared.

"I know," Sonic said "I really wish I knew what was happening."

Bunnie didn't seem to hear him.

"It's...it's like I was never robotizized," she said, testing her

limbs carefully.

"You never were," a chilling voice said.

Bunnie and sonic looked up suddenly. Up in the sky a large

screen had appeared an Packbell had appeared in it.

"The person known as Bunnie Rabbot was NEVER robotizized,"

Packbell continued "Only her body was. Her consciousness is not effected

by physical trauma."

"Packbell!" shouted sonic in anger "You've got ten seconds to

tell me what's going on or I'll rip you apart!"

Suddenly, what looked like liquid metal sprang out of the ground

and wrapped itself around Sonic, virtually tying him to the ground in an

unbreakable restraint. Packbell smirked.

"You're in my world now and in no position to make demands," he

stated "Here, everything is in my control...even you. If I wanted to I

could erase you from existence in a second...but I won't. I'd rather

have some fun with you first."

Packbell grinned...

Bookshire had been up most of the night trying to figure out what

was going on, but he had absolutely no luck. He now sat before his

computer, trying to think of where he had not looked. Long before, he

had given up looking in the logical places and now he was looking where

ever he could.

He took a sip from his cup of coffee as he watched the various

pieces of information scroll by.

Suddenly, he stopped. In front of him was an entry for an energy

requisition to the Research Center requested by Cmdr. Packbell.

"Yes!!" Bookshire exclaimed. He quickly accessed the

Research Center Files and came across a secured file regarding Packbell's

research. Fortunately, Packbell seemed to have forgotten to code lock it

so reading it would be no problem.

He sat silently as he accessed the file information and read

through the details of Packbell's horrible assignment.

After he had read through half of it, he decided to get into the

support files section and see what was there. As the filenames scrolled

by, two names caught his eye:

sonic.con 158MB Status: ACTIVE

bunnie.con 146MB Status: ACTIVE

He sat there looking at the names for a moment. The horrible

reality suddenly dawned on him that they must have been successfully

uploaded. Not wasting a moment, he quickly began to search for a way to

reverse the process while he alerted Sally's strike team in Robotropolis.

Back in Robotropolis, Sally, and Rotor, sat hiding behind a

garbage dumpster outside the research Center while Dulcy stood up on top

of a nearby building acting as a lookout.

Rotor crouched by Sally as they listened to Bookshire's

information on Sally's com-link.

"...and the lab they're in is on the third sub-level," Bookshire

finished.

"But, how are we going to get in there?" Rotor asked, peeking out

from behind the dumpster "The place is surrounded by SWAT-bots. We go in

there and we'll be captured for sure."

"I'm working on it," Bookshire responded "I'm trying to see if I

can send them a false order and get them to leave...stand by..."

Bookshire's fingers flew across his keyboard as he issued various

vocal commands to his system. After a moment, he was able to access the

area of the system for issuing orders, and commanded the SWAT-bot's to

surround and guard one of the distant factories. He sat back and waited

for a sign that it had worked. Suddenly, the com-link crackled to life.

"It worked, Book," said Sally "The bots are moving away, and

we're going in...Dulcy, keep guard up there, we'll call you when we need

you..."

"You got it, sally" said Dulcy.

"...and Book, stay on the line in case we need you," finished Sally.

"I'll be here," responded Bookshire.

He returned to his computer, hacking his way back into the

Research Center files as he waited for sally's command.

Sally and rotor watched carefully as the bots dispersed. As soon

as it was clear, they ran for the door. It was locked, but was quickly

unlocked thanks to some quick tinkering on the part of Rotor. Sneaking

into the building, they quietly made their way downstairs.

The lab was silent as Sally and Rotor quietly entered. Against

the far wall, they could see the bodies of Sonic and Bunnie still being

held on life support. They stopped for a moment as the noticed Packbell

sitting at the controls, but it seemed as though he was unaware of their

presence.

The two cautiously approached Packbell. He was sitting in his

chair behind the console, his eyes closed and his left hand pressed into

some kind of direct interface. Sally backed away a bit and whispered

into her com-link.

"We're in, Bookshire," she said "Packbell's behind the console,

but I don't think he notices us."

"Okay, hang on," came the reply "I'm trying to access the

experiment controls. It might take awhile so just sit tight."

"Affirmative, we'll be waiting," Sally replied.

Deep inside the system, Packbell's construct grinned as he paced

thoughtfully around his two prisoners, both held to the ground by the

strange silver metal.

"You know," he said "I've always dreamed of what I'd do when I

got my hands on you. The problem is, I have so many ways to kill you,

but you can only die once...decisions, decisions..."

Sonic glared at Packbell defiantly.

"So this is how you're going to kill us?" he responded "By boring

us to death with speeches?!"

Packbell grinned "True, I could do that. Honestly, I could, and

yet...that wouldn't be much fun. Oh, I know! Maybe I'll have you erased

from the system, byte by painful byte...and I'd make sure it hurt! ;)"

Suddenly, Sonic's and Bunnie's images flickered for a moment.

Packbell frowned suddenly and looked up in the sky.

Bunnie looked at Sonic nervously as they flickered again "What's

happening to us?"

"Don't know," he replied. Suddenly, Packbell's eyes opened wide.

"The link!! Someone's got control of the System!!" he screamed,

vanishing in a flash of light.

Packbell's construct reappeared inside a communications node. he

quickly identified the intruding link and jammed it.

Bookshire stopped a moment as he saw his link to Packbell's system

wavering. He thought for a moment and grinned.

"Sorry, Packbell," he said to himself "You're not stopping me

that easy."

Packbell's attention flew suddenly to a bypass link on another node.

"Not so fast, Freedom Fighter!" he exclaimed.

Bookshire saw the words flash across the screen and thought for a

moment.

"Granted...maybe not as fast as Sonic," he said as he began

typing into his system "but a heck of a lot faster than you."

Suddenly, Packbell noticed connections coming in from over 100

different locations. He quickly moved, dividing himself down to cover

the links and prevent access to his control system. He laughed defiantly.

"Create as many links as you want, Freedom Fighter! I'll block

them all!"

Bookshire grinned. Packbell had fallen for it. He calming

pulled a disk out his top drawer and slid it into his computer. He

activated the program stored on it and paused it a moment. He quickly

typed in commands, sending instructions to the global nodes he used to

open 1000 more connections. he knew Packbell would block them all, but,

the more he blocked, the more weak and spread out he became.

Packbell, divided himself down again as the connections kept

coming in, his consciousness flying from node to node blocking the

connections, completely oblivious to the trap he was falling into.

Bookshire grinned a little as he activated the program.

"bye, bye," he said quietly.

Packbell paused in a node as he blocked the connections.

Suddenly, he saw something flying towards him. Too late, he realized it

was a copy of the 'Black Death' computer virus. He tried to pull himself

back together, but the virus slammed right into him.

Sally and rotor had been waiting patiently for info from

Bookshire. Suddenly, the console Packbell was sitting at exploded,

flinging the android back into the wall. Sally and Rotor jumped in

surprise at the explosion and dove for cover. suddenly, rotor noticed

that the laser system activated and began scanning Sonic and Bunnie's

bodies. Sally's com-link crackled to life.

"I'm in...I've begun the download process," came Bookshire's

voice "As soon as its complete, get them out of there, I've infected the

system and it's going to blow!"

"Acknowledged," Sally replied.

They ran over to the bodies as Sonic and Bunnie were downloaded

back into them. sally glanced over at where Packbell laid. It was quite

obvious that he wasn't even functioning. As soon as the download

process was completed, Sally and Rotor each grabbed an unconscious body

and ran from the room as equipment began exploding around them.

They ran out of the building where they were promptly retrieved by

Dulcy. as they flew off into the air, they heard the huge boom as the

Robotropolis Research Center went up in flames, taking Packbell with it.

Sally watched the destruction solemnly as she held Sonic in her

arms, finding it hard to believe that one of the many threats to freedom on

Mobius was actually dead.

Sonic and Bunnie awoke a few hours after returning to Knothole.

After looking them both over, Bookshire reported that they'd both be fine.

A few nights later, Sonic and Sally were sitting by a thick log

in the forest, gazing up at the stars. Sonic sighed.

Sally smiled "What's the matter?"

"Well, Sal, this worlds now a little more boring than it used to

be. Packbell was a major challenge and now he's gone."

"You can't have possibly liked it when he was around," Sally replied.

"Well, in a way I did. Sal, I gotta have action, I gotta have

adventure! Now there's only Robotnik left to give it to me. sometimes I

wonder what I'd do if and when we finally beat him," Sonic replied.

Sally turned to him, smiling. Sonic knew she only smiled like

that when they were alone by this log.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be able to find things for you to do," she said.

Sonic grinned and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her gently.

"Yeah, probably..."

He leaned forward and kissed her deeply.

the two laid there until late into the night, talking and

kissing...and kissing.

THE END...or is it...

Epilogue:

A lone shuttle flew silently through the early morning darkness.

In the pilot's seat, a lone figure sat quietly. He had a metallic skin

and an evil glint in his eye. deep within his mind was nothing but

hatred and rage.

No one kills me, he thought quietly, no one.

He scanners beeped suddenly, indicating he was just coming up on

Robotropolis. The shuttle began it's approach as it's pilot began

thinking of ways to vent his anger.

There IS a whole block full of prisoners, isn't there, he thought

as the shuttle landed.

He got out of the shuttle and left the bay, heading towards the

prison block...Packbell was back.