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Chapter 3
There was utter silence in the hangar as Shadow stared at the metal-and-glass structure, locked into place by two padded bars. His stomach jerked painfully and the memories of that final night aboard the space colony flooded his thoughts. The blur of the outer halls rushing past him as he pulled his best friend along. The screams of scientists, soldiers, and artificial Chaos that emanated from the open doors they bobbed by. Somewhere, a gruff voice shouted after them.
"Halt!"
Shadow remembered the burn of adrenaline as it pumped from his core into the branches of his nervous system. He remembered looking over his shoulder to see Maria, pale and quickly running out of energy. Somehow they'd made it to the western docking bay and Maria was setting up the pod launch sequence when it happened. A small group of over-armed GUN soldiers barged in and raised their weapons, shouting orders to surrender.
The moment that followed would forever remain in the immediate background of Shadow's mind, clear as the day it happened. In a matter of seconds, Maria gave a withering, determined look to the soldiers, then a concerned one at Shadow. She ran to him, scooping him into her arms and tossing him into the escape capsule. She knew that if GUN captured him, he would be killed before proper questions were asked. Before he could react, she was already at the control board again and the soldiers were advancing, their too-eager fingers twitching near the triggers.
Shadow pounded on the plexi-glass. He couldn't remember exactly what he had said, probably something along the lines of begging the GUN operatives to stop, or for Maria to let him go so he could protect her. The blonde girl finished putting in the code and pressed one final button. When she turned, the first soldier shot her, clean through the chest. A small stream of blood erupted from the wound and she simply fell.
It was a haunting, gruesome, beautiful sight.
Shadow was destroyed by it.
The Ultimate Life-form shook his head, retreating from his past and back into the present, where he stood before that very escape pod. The memories chattered in his mind, ebbing away with the tide of logic until their voices faded. He crossed his arms over his chest and appraised the capsule. How long had it been here?
There was a throb in the base of his skull and another explosion of thought; yes, since he had been roused from his cryogenic slumber in the capsule. Eggman—Robotnik—had woken him. Those days seemed a lifetime ago. No wonder he had forgotten.
Shadow rubbed his head absently. There were many things that seemed to be missing from his memory. After Eggman had broken him out of GUN's overly-cautious grip, the villainous Robotnik had tampered with Shadow's memories in order to better manipulate him into stealing the Chaos Emeralds. A dark time. Perhaps he was still feeling the effects? Were his changing dreams a symptom of his addled memories?
The black hedgehog began to pace around the capsule, studying all the nicks and scratches in the metal. The outside of the glass was scuffed, but not damaged. Shadow, pausing by the open door of the artifact, laid a hand on the frame. Deep in a more superstitious part of himself, he wondered if the contact might trigger some aspect of truth that had been locked inside his thoughts.
Nothing happened of course, but he did notice something glinting in the dim light. Inside and to the right of the door, there was a small control panel. The screen was bulky and old—a remnant from technology's past. It was littered with smooth gray buttons and one shiny red one, as well as a layer of dust. However, the glint that had drawn his attention was not the control panel, but rather a small, almost imperceptible etching next to it. Curiosity burbled in the base of his throat and he swallowed, glancing over his shoulder before climbing inside the capsule.
There was a strange sense of nostalgia when he settled down on his back. The oddly-shaped, cushioned seat he perched in was angled perfectly for navigating the control panel. Shadow narrowed his eyes, running a finger along the etching. It was... a number sequence? He frowned deeper, attempting to make out the code. Did the numbers stand for letters? Was it a type of "product identification" that GUN had worked out for cataloging purposes? Or had it been there for much longer, a relic from sixty-some years ago when it had been first manufactured?
No, Shadow concluded, noting the frantic scratch marks that pervaded the sequence. It's something else. Garnet eyes slid between memorizing the numbers and studying the control panel. On a whim, the black hedgehog typed the code into the corresponding buttons on the panel and waited.
Once again, nothing happened. The capsule had probably run out of battery thirty years previous and it wasn't going anywhere. Shadow berated himself quietly for doing something so embarrassing. He waited a moment, pondering what his other options were. Shrugging, he gave the large, shiny red button at the bottom of the control panel a smack and laid back, sighing.
The door to the capsule hissed and slammed shut, jarring Shadow into half-way sitting up. The control panel blinked on, its archaic green lettering rolling like ticker-tape across the screen. It said something about a "return sequence" being activated, and a cold knot of dread settled in the depths of Shadow's core. A metal bar clamped down over him, locking him into the seat. His blood ran cold. An electronic voice sounded over his head.
"Returning to: Space Colony ARK."
"No!" Shadow shouted, struggling against the safety harness. He hadn't expected it to work... "No, this is wrong! Let me out!"
"Arrival to destination: one hour."
The Ultimate Life-form pounded his fist on the control panel, hoping to abort the launch. Hydraulics whirred around him in a deafening song. A strange display on the control panel screen began to play; it was a slide show depicting arrival on the ARK and the different types of "cleansing" any potential visitors could expect. Shadow pulled against the bar so hard it dug into his collar bone and shoulders. His helpless fingers squeaked as they rubbed against the glass door.
"You're an escape pod! WHY ARE YOU LAUNCHING?" The rack that had been supporting the capsule unlocked and fell away. The bright light of noon filtered down into the warehouse as—somewhere above—an opening revealed itself. Red lights spiraled on either side of the ARK pod and something below angled it upward towards the door. Shadow continued to shout and struggle, his voice rising in intensity as his panic began to overwhelm him.
"Aboard the space colony, you will meet many of today's most influential scientists," the voice continued, unable to comfort its reluctant passenger. Shadow flailed and—in his flailing—did not notice the tell-tale rumbling that signaled that take-off was imminent. So when the capsule shot up like a bat out of hell, the force slammed him back into his seat. His head smacked hard against the head rest and his vision burst into fuzzy bubbles of color and light. The ARK introduction droned on. He raised his hand one final time, fingers trembling towards the red button.
The blue-whiteness of Earth's sky fizzled out, parting like water around the black stone of space. Shadow attempted to keep himself awake, breathing in and out as rhythmically as he could. Yet, somewhere along the way, negative-Maria dragged him down to the depths of unconsciousness. He heard her voice echoing in his head, felt the cloth of her dress against his arm, smelled the scent of ancient books' pages.
"Shadow," she whispered. It ricocheted around him, bouncing in and out of his ears. "Shadow, please hurry. She's getting so much stronger... Hurry... We need you..."
Maria...
A gag forced its way through Shadow's clenched teeth and he choked, inhaling mostly by habit. Instead of a soothing gasp of air, however, his mouth and throat filled with a gel-like substance and he gagged again, this time releasing the offending ooze and bile into his surroundings. He opened his eyes, realizing that the nerve twinges which were prodding him all over were far too many IV needles plugged in at his joints and across his scalp. His vision attempted (in vain) to filter through the blue-green slime that encased him inside a glass cylinder. Another instinctual inhale threatened his sanity and he managed to clap a hand over his mouth and nose. The motion ripped out several of the intravenous needles, causing his arm to smart and tingle. His eyes darted around frantically.
There was a noise, muffled by the gel, across the room. He should have guessed who it was considering the subject matter of his dreams lately, but the crushing pressure on his faltering lungs was enough to distract him from the girl in the yellow dress. He didn't see her pale mouth open in an 'o' shape of shock, or her white hands gripping a wet crow bar, which they promptly dropped. He didn't see when she attacked the nearest computer with spidery fingers.
All he could experience was the sweet breath of freedom when the cylinder drained and the IVs suddenly released and pulled away from his skin. He collapsed against the glass, limbs weak and trembling, the foul-smelling moisture clinging to little spikes of his fur.
The girl knelt on the other side of the glass, pressing her hands against the places he leaned on. Still choking on air, he looked up and met her orange eyes with a blank feeling. She blinked, her dark brows knitting together with regret.
"Shadow," she said solemnly, "I'm sorry."
The Ultimate Life-form exploded from his sleep, still gasping as if he was drowning. His fingers searched blindly as he gathered his bearings.
Oh, good... still in space.
Space...
The star-studded, velvet night washed over him, pushing all panic and worry away. There were few times that Shadow was truly awed by anything. If such cases happened, mostly he'd shrug or nod... or cross his arms. He wasn't easily impressed by anything that inspired average people.
But he'd be completely soulless not to be floored by the beauty that now surrounded him. Yes, he'd been in space since Eggman had resurrected him... but not like this. Not with merely a glass wall and some metal separating him from oblivion, surrounded by countless stars and planets, the blue glow of Earth behind him and the ominous silvery sphere of the ARK in front.
The ARK... Shadow swallowed dryly, pushing the saliva back across his tongue before licking his chapped lips. Was he ready to face his past, whatever it may be? He didn't know. That's what scared him the most about the entire situation: he didn't know how he felt about it at all, other than cautious. Maybe deep inside he felt a twinge of excitement at the prospect of discovering unknown truth, but with the weight of what Eggman had said to him stewing in the forefront of his mind, all joy was pushed aside for clinical observation. He would go forth with an open—if guarded—mind.
The space colony loomed overhead. With its hemispherical shape and the grooves that carved over its outer shell, it had always reminded Shadow of a brain. When he was first created and very curious and naive, he thought they had built it to look like a moon made out of brain matter, because it housed so many smart people. Time had passed and—when the funding began to drop—the real purpose was revealed. Half of the orb was removed and sent back to Earth, leaving behind the hemi-sphere and a long cone sticking out of it. The Eclipse Cannon.
The capsule floated on its trajectory towards the flat side of the ARK, where the western docking bay was already open, ready to receive its guest. Shadow steeled himself for whatever was to come, taking deep breaths and massaging his shoulders. He straightened his gloves and ran a hand through his quills.
Loud, metallic grinding echoed above as he fell under the looming shade of the space colony. If he craned his neck, he could look up and see faint, blue lights inside the bay. He rolled the tips of his fingers on the harness impatiently. A black, ribbed AI arm descended and wound its "fingers" around the top of the capsule. It drew Shadow inside the ARK for the first time in several years. He chewed his tongue absently and the capsule hissed, locking into place.
"Thank you," the electronic voice crackled from the panel. "Please watch your step." The harness lifted off the black hedgehog and the door open. Shadow breathed in the stale air with stiff lungs.
He was here; he had made it to the ARK.
The surroundings were dimly lit by old, blue runner lamps. The room was in the same state of disarray as when he'd left it so many decades before. Shadow wondered if—had the light been brighter—he could see a dried pool of Maria's blood by the bay's control center. He took a cautious step forward onto the perforated metal floor, unsure of whether or not he wanted to call out. Who would he be calling to? Brushing a hand over his chest, smoothing the contrasting white fur, he stepped deeper into the room.
There was a clatter across the room and Shadow fell into a defensive stance, standing a still as possible and eyeing the direction the noise came from in apprehension. The slate-colored door scraped on its track. Shadow's legs tensed, his back muscles coiling like a snake about to strike. Then, they went limp all at once.
It was Maria.
Not the real one, but that palette-swapped, eerily-smiling doppelganger in the yellow dress. She shoved the door open with a great deal of effort, grimacing. When she squeezed her way through, Shadow realized that—much like in his vision—she was holding a crowbar. She didn't look at him right away, instead keeping her eyes focused on the skirt of her dress, which she swiped a hand at in order to dust it off. Her pale fingers kept their tight grip on the weapon, Shadow noticed. He wondered why that particular detail would be different.
Finally, when the silence grew too heavy, the girl turned her gaze on him. Her copper irises flicked over his form and a faint expression formed in them, growing until it was clearly-defined as relief. Negative-Maria rushed forward, flinging herself down and draping her arms around the black hedgehog. Dry sobs made her body tremble slightly, ragged breaths breaking out of her.
Shadow was stunned. Was he still dreaming? This didn't feel like a nightmare or vision; he had woken up only minutes before! Unless he had knocked himself out and was still comatose on Earth in the GUN facility... But the arms around him, trembling and pressing him into the girl who owned them, felt more real than any of the visions he'd experienced in the past years. There was a fearful tug in his stomach—was he insane? Had he finally snapped?
The girl suddenly spoke breathily, "You're here! You really came!" Shadow reached up and gripped her shoulders, pushing her away to face him. He needed answers, fast.
"Why do you look... weird, Maria?" The question blurted from him. "Am I dreaming?" Negative-Maria stood and moved back a step, looking away with something akin to embarrassment on her face.
"I... You'll have to forgive me, Shadow... I wasn't expecting to get this far." A garish, blotchy red tinge worked its way over the bridge of her nose as her eyes danced between meeting his and looking away. Shadow cocked his head. Something about the... specter... seemed vastly different from the Maria he had known. She wasn't... as confident in herself, perhaps? He crossed his arms across his chest and frowned expectantly. Eventually, the not-Maria met his eyes once more, looking very serious.
"My name isn't Maria." Shadow's arms dropped to his sides and he backed away. The girl-who-wasn't-Maria continued, "My name is Dulcia, if you must know. I contacted you because I need your help."
"But who are you?" Shadow asked in frustration, confusion clawing through his chest. His demeanor crumbled to pieces in the confines of his mind. "How did you get aboard the ARK?"
"That's—" Dulcia halted abruptly, frowned and turning back to the door as though listening to some far-off sound. Shadow fought the desire to pepper her with questions and perked up his ears, straining to hear what he could not. Dulcia's eyes went wide suddenly and she raised her crowbar, sprinting back to the door. She shouted over her shoulder.
"Hurry! There's no time to explain!" She disappeared through the dark gap in the metal, the edge of her dress catching on it ever so slightly, as if it was daring Shadow to follow. He did. He jumped over the overturned crates and other debris in the room, hoping there were brighter lights deeper inside the space colony.
His hopes were not fulfilled, however. When he wormed his way through the door—holding his breath like he was diving into water—he was met with a stifling darkness on the other side and a disheartening lack of any trace of Dulcia. An intersection of vaguely-familiar hallways stretched before him and to the left and right. Blue, upward-facing sconces hugged the ceiling, extending at paced intervals in either direction. The cool light reflected in the occasional dark puddle, which appeared to be colorless and inky-black at the same time. Shadow rubbed his eyes and looked again, only to see the same effect present. The puddles seemed to cling to the baseboards, half crawling up the wall while remaining attached to the floor.
Shadow ignored the bizarre fluid and searched the murk for the yellow-clad clone. Where could she have gone?
"Dulcia?" His gruff voice descended into the bowels of the halls. Something in the distance, the sound of metal on metal, grated loudly, trailing off into an echoing thud. Shadow breathed quietly, feeling the heavy solitude creeping in on him. He dug desperate fingers into the meat of his memories, attempting to conjure up some familiarity for this particular hallway. When none sprung to mind, he marched left on a whim, glancing behind into the bay with the faintest hint of foreboding. He brushed it aside and continued his march through the dim corridor.
Turning a corner, he was greeted with more of the same: dull gray walls, perforated tile floor, blue sconces and strange, still puddles. His hands clenched and loosened, a slick of sweat beginning to form between his palms and the woven material of his gloves. His heavy shoes made loud noises on the floor, nearly thunderous in the quiet that closed around the black hedgehog.
"Dulcia?" Shadow ventured again. No response. He drew his lips into a firm line, looking around him cautiously. The metal-grating noise he had heard minutes before sounded again—closer this time. Shadow stood still against the wall. Something about the corner he had passed drew his gaze. He slouched against the wall, eyes narrowing. The grating grew louder. Was it Dulcia, carrying something too heavy for her and letting it drag along the floor?
When it seemed as if whatever was making the noise was about to round the corner, the noise suddenly stopped. Shadow straightened up again, breathing a sigh of relief. He almost chuckled to himself; the dark was getting to him.
Then, a monstrous something lunged at him from the darkness, snapping its jaws. Shadow only caught a glimpse of it as he jumped back in surprise. It was dark and shiny, with multicolored, pulsing lights inside of it. The face—if it could be called that—was reptilian in structure, with great glistening teeth that parted hungrily. An unnatural growl belched from its maw, somewhere between a foghorn and synthesized nails on a chalkboard.
Shadow's ankle buckled as he tripped over debris and he fell backwards before he could manage to collect his wits. He slipped as he fell, twisting so he landed face-first into one of the mysterious puddles. He reared back, clutching his eyes with a guttural cry of pain. The liquid felt like lemon juice and smelled of bleach—it burst into a fine spray when he made contact with it and it assaulted his eyes, nose and mouth all at the same time. The black hedgehog yanked himself to his feet, stumbling away in a frantic scramble, the usual confidence that defined him having evaporated in his sudden blindness. There was silence behind him, but he moved too quickly to notice that the creature had disappeared.
He couldn't see or smell; his hands and face were covered in the fluid. As he ran haphazardly through the hall, one thought pierced the fog of his mind.
This is not a dream...
