Chapter 4: Diplomacy

Knock Knock

Rotor tore his eyes away from the bright glow of the monitor and found that he could barely see anything. Though it was daytime the Freedom Fighter HQ was always a bit dark, hidden in the side of the hill, and the monitor contrasted against the dim light.

"Yeah?" He said as his eyes adjusted. A figure walked in, his silhouette hedgehog-shaped. Rotor smiled and leaned back in his chair, "Hey, Sonic. What's up?"

"Sal told me to tell you to unglue your brain from the workbench and get some dinner," the hedgehog responded sassily, "What the heck are you doing anyways?"

Rotor turned back towards the monitor, "Oh, just going over one of the disks one of the humans – was it Chuck? – gave to Tails on their tour. It's really quite interesting, actually. They managed to replicate the energy signature of the Chaos Emeralds by bypassing the first ext-" Rotor cut himself off, remembering who he was talking to, and turned around. The hedgehog was staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

"…and you don't care," Rotor finished.

"In one ear, out the other, Rote," Sonic confirmed.

"Right. I thought so. Anyways, where is everyone?"

"Chris, Chuck, Helen, and…everyone else went to their huts to drop off their stuff. You wouldn't believe all the junk they fit in those packs. Anyways, I bumped into Sal on the way and she told me to get you. So I zipped over here and now you and I are here when we should be over there."

"Ah," Rotor said, getting the message. He ejected the disk and turned off the monitor, secretly planning to come back later and go over more data with Tails. He decided to leave his vest on the chair. His fur needed some airing out in the evening, now that the summer heat had subsided a bit. He shut off the dim lights and joined the hedgehog in the walk to the Mess Hall.

"I didn't get to meet them besides the formal intro, how're they?" Rotor asked.

"You'll see," Sonic, rolling his eyes.

Rotor noticed the hedgehog's actions and bit his lip, feigning fear. "Uh oh, should I run and hide? I thought they were your friends."

Sonic waved his hands as if to shake away what he had said, "No, no, not Chris, Chuck, and Helen. I don't have a problem with them. It's the others that are weird."

"How so?"

"I dunno. They just are. They write down everything."

Rotor laughed, "Well, of course they do, Sonic. They're scientists, or so I've heard. It's their job."

Sonic frowned, "Yeah, well, it's weird. This one guy kept staring at us the whole time. The big tall dude."

"When we found them he said he was a geneticist. Maybe he, a normal human, was curious about the supersonic hedgehog and twin-tailed fox he had just met," Sonic shrugged in response, and Rotor patted him on the shoulder, "They're humans, they act differently than us."

"Not really," Sonic said, and pushed the doors open to the Mess Hall. The Mess Hall was not the only place for the residents of Knothole to get food. Many of the people had their own gardens next to their huts, and came at different times. Thus, the Hall was never too crowded. Tonight, however, was a different story. News had spread of the new guests, and everyone wanted a glance.

"Dang. Busy," Sonic remarked, and the two of them got a tray and stood in line. It took a while, Sonic tapping his foot the whole time, but eventually the two got their meals and moved on to the task of finding a place to sit. Almost every seat was filled.

"Hey, over here!" Sally's voice carried over the crowd, and the two Mobians walked over to where she was sitting. The Freedom Fighters and the humans were all at one table. Rotor found a spot next to Sally, and Sonic sat on the other side, a couple of spots down. Across from him, he realized, was Wildenburg, who smiled generously and offered him some salt.

"Thanks. So, how do you guys like the place so far?" Sonic asked, his questions and eyes directed at Chris, Helen, and Chuck. They sat two spots away from him, on the end, since Helen's chair didn't fit anywhere else.

"It's marvelous," Chuck extended. Chris, his mouth full, nodded energetically.

"Do you guys have every meal together?" Helen asked.

"Not every single meal, but at least once a day," Sally said, smiling. She took a sip of her water and leaned over so she could better see Helen, "It helps us brainstorm for upcoming missions."

Sonic shook his head, "Leave it to Sal to talk about the most boring parts of our day."

Sally raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog, "Boring? I'd say more than half of our most brilliant mission plans have been charted over this table. That, my friend, is not boring."

"Your culture, we've noticed already, places a lot of importance on group performance, rather than individual accomplishment…" Mary said, referring to Brent as her accomplice in her analysis.

"Well, of course," Sally answered, "We've been through a war. We have limited resources. Our best bet of survival is to stick together."

"And we're a team, sugah, don't forget that," Bunnie added, seated on the other side of Sally.

"Yes. Eet is our friendship that makes us such a well-workeeng group," Antoine stated. Chris and Helen exchanged glances, both intrigued by the French accent.

Sonic took a swig of his water and set the cup down on the tabletop. He glanced up, and saw Mr. Weldenburg was looking at him. Rather than look away, as most people would, Sonic held eye contact with the man. He continued to stare back, and his expression almost seemed to challenge the hedgehog. Then, as if nothing had happened, he broke away and glanced down the table.

"Princess Sally," he said, "Your species is a rather marvelous one, and I must admit: I am indeed curious, having never seen intelligent life form other than humans in my dimension."

Sally tore her attention from her other conversation and smiled at Weldenburg, "Is that so, Mr. Weldenburg? I'm afraid I can't share the same fascination with your species, as I have grown up knowing about their existence."

"Yes, so I've heard. How unfair, it seems, that my planet lacks the sophistication to house both species," he responded. "Which brings me to the actual object of our visit. When my colleagues and I heard that the Thorndykes were travelling to this new world, we jumped at the opportunity to tag along and learn. Frankly, while they are here to visit, we are really here to study. I was wondering if you would have any objection to that?"

Sally was turning her cup of water in her hands slowly, listening to the geneticist's words, "It depends on what type of studying you intend to do, sir."

"Nothing drastic," Weldenburg assured, "For example, Jen is a biologist and is interested in cataloging the different species of plants and Mobians that you know of. Brent is interested in the cultural history of your planet. Mary does her job simply by having a conversation with you all, as a psychologist, and I…well, I'm interested in your genetics, especially those of you who demonstrate some very unique talents."

Sally glanced at Sonic, who didn't notice. He was scarfing down a chili dog, as he did almost every dinner, and wasn't paying attention to the geneticist or her. He had lost his patience halfway through the man's short speech.

"I'm fine with your team observing our culture, so long as their motives extend only as far as pure curiosity," Sally said.

"Might we then mingle among the crowd?" Mary asked, again referring to Brent as her partner, "We would like to get to know some other people in your village."

"By all means," Sally said. She turned back to Weldenburg as the two got up and moved to the next table excitedly. With two of the humans gone the table was much less crowded. However the atmosphere had changed, though many didn't know why.

"Your field of study suggests something a little more invasive," Sally said bluntly.

Weldenburg raised his hands as if to surrender, "True, Princess. This is why I am asking you for permission to conduct my own studies. But I assure you, the invasiveness of the procedures stops at a pin-prick. All I ask for is a few blood samples from a couple members of your village, to compare against one another as well as against our own kind," He smiled, "After all, I expect that the differences in our species will not necessarily be revealed through the study of culture but rather through the study of our evolution."

"…You make an excellent point, Mr. Weldenburg," Sally said. "I also do not think our species differs that much mentally. Physical features are our most prominent difference, which had been enough to strain relations between our races in the past." She glanced at Chuck Thorndyke, the eldest of the group. Despite this man's authoritarian attitude, Sally had a feeling Chuck was really the leader of this team. He was, she knew for sure, on their side, being a friend of Sonic's in the past.

Chuck noticed this glance, and looked at Weldenburg carefully for a moment. Then he shrugged, "Mr. Weldenburg is a rather forward man, Miss Sally, but I assure you a simple blood test will do no harm to your people. We were specifically instructed not to bring anything back to Earth. Nothing can be or will be used to exploit your people. Our society values physical evidence too highly."

By now the entire table was paying keen attention to the negotiations being made. Even Sonic had set his chili dog down and was listening. Chris and Helen were now looking at Chuck warily. It was obvious they did not like the geneticist, but was it because of his personality or because of his motives?

"Very well," Sally said, after a moment of deliberation, "I will ask around the village for any volunteers. However, Mr. Weldenburg, realize that I will not force anybody to come forward."

"Oh, of course not. I'm not interested in doing science against someone else's will," He said earnestly.

Sally looked around the table. There were mixed emotions all around. Chuck seemed indifferent, though he was a scientist, while the adolescents looked uncomfortable. The Mobians seemed uneasy as well, excluding Rotor, who also looked indifferent, and Antoine, who looked angry. Sally sighed. She couldn't base her decision off of the others' reactions right now. This was more than just a negotiation about a science project. This was a first negotiation between two races. Whether their new relationship started out on a good foot or a bad one was up to Sally. To simply refuse this man's request with no real reason other than her gut told her so was impossible. She had no idea of knowing whether her suspicions of this man were real or biased, since the Great War had tainted her general view of humans. A blood test was harmless. He was not asking for much.

"I would like to make one more request, Princess," Mr. Weldenburg suddenly said.

"What is it?" Sally asked.

The geneticist folded his hands on the table and looked straight ahead at the blue hedgehog in front of him, "I was hoping that Sonic here would be willing to volunteer a sample."

The hedgehog looked at the geneticist with a confused expression, before breaking eye contact and glancing at Sally. The squirrel frowned, furrowing her brow slightly, "Why?"

Weldenburg shrugged, "As far as I can tell, all of the people in this village look different but are relatively normal, except for the extra appendage on your Freedom Fighter in Training, Tails. Sonic is the only one that displays a unique, and quite frankly abnormal, skill. Personally, I am fascinated by this outlier and wish to study the cause." He grinned, looking at Sonic.

"Think about it: aren't you curious as to why you can do what you can? Just a couple of vials of blood and I might be able to give you an answer to that question. There could be a genetic miracle in your DNA waiting to be unlocked. Think of what we could do with that information? We may even be able to help others…"

Sonic tilted his head to the side. What the heck was this guy talking about? "How could my DNA help others?"

Weldenburg shrugged, "I don't know, perhaps something within you could be of use. For example, some old footage of you battling against the Doctor revealed your body's ability to sustain heavy impacts with minimal damage. Something in your DNA made you stronger than the next person. The question is what? Oh, don't worry: I'm not going to copy your DNA or anything. Like Chuck said, I can't take anything with me. Merely there might be something in your genes that I could use to better understand the genetic system as w hole. From there, I can use my knowledge to help others. So, what do you say?"

He looked at Sonic expectantly, who was taken aback by everything the man was saying. The hedgehog personally felt a little weird, hearing that this man had already studied him. This wasn't like meeting some guy on South Island who had heard a story about 'The Blue Blur'. But still…perhaps he had mistaken Weldenburg for some kind of creep when in fact he was just some weird gene enthusiast. He laughed a little uneasily.

"I'm not really a fan of needles," he replied, looking sideways. Mr. Weldenburg frowned and crossed his arms.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, who has gone up against the Doctor's most vicious robots, afraid of a needle?"

Chris frowned as Sonic narrowed his eyes at the human. Already the geneticist knew how to work an angle, by challenging the hedgehog and thus testing his pride. Not wanting to appear weak, of course Sonic would say yes. The hedgehog put on a grin and said, "Just testing your resolve. Fine, I'll do it, if it could help others."

The human smiled, having gotten what he wanted, and held out his hand for the hedgehog to shake. At the end of the table Chris heaved a heavy sigh. He felt Helen's hand on his as she leaned forward and whispered something into his ear.

"That guy's a creep."

"Yeah, I know," He said softly back to her. "But what's he going to do? Like Grandpa said, he's just overly curious."

"More like obsessed. It's not natural."

"He's got what he wants. Better to just let it go, and let things settle into some kind of normalcy."

Helen leaned back and crossed her arms, pouting. Chris did the same.

And dinner went on without any further disturbances.