Ok don't be expecting two new chapters every time I update here; I just had an excuse this time and maybe another as well…you'll see in the next chapter. As for updating, I'm really sorry since I could've updated last week before camp but I forgot, and when I got back I was pretty much wasted from doing tie-dye all day with evil little children. Anyway, here you go!

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As they walked out of the café, they all yawned and stretched.

"Alright, time for out final stop on the tour," Maria said.

"Final part? How much walking?" Evan asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'd estimate about a quarter mile?" Shadow replied.

Evan sighed, "I'm really gonna get in shape by the time I move off this thing."

They walked in silence the rest of the way, finally reaching a metal door. Maria typed in the password and stepped back as the door opened.

"Why do you guys keep on typing in passwords for everything? If we're way above the atmosphere miles away from Earth, I don't think we'll gonna get infiltrated." Evan said.

"We have a few thousand people on board, and since the professor can't watch over all of them, he set up a password to enter certain restricted areas. Like the one to enter the room where the Eclipse Cannon is 'Future Defense.' Maria explained.

"I see, so the password usually has something to do with the thing its guarding?"

"Exactly," said Shadow.

"So what's the one to enter your room?" Evan asked, glancing at Shadow.

"Why do you ask?" replied Shadow, giving him a curious look back.

"Just wondering how it has to do with you. You know, like a personality thing. So, what is it?"

"It's a secret. Only Maria, the professor, and I know it. I'm not permitted to tell anyone because of the danger it poses to me and to other people," said Shadow in a serious tone.

"To other people? You won't kill anyone though, you're harmless."

Shadow chuckled darkly, "Not exactly. I may be good-natured but imagine if someone came into my room at night. I would believe them to be a threat to me and the rest of the colony. Most likely I would inflict heavy damage on them, and I don't mean simply a broken bone."

"Then why is Maria allowed to have it? She could do the same thing."

"I spend so much time with Maria I could recognize her in my sleep." Replied Shadow, smiling.

"I see," said Evan as they walked through the doorway into a giant, cluttered room filled with more jars, test tubes, capsules, and computers than you could count. Dozens of people were working diligently on their assigned tasks, and in front of the main computer stood Professor Gerald Robotnik. He looked up from his work as they came in and greeted them with a smile, "Good afternoon, and what have you three been up to recently?"

"We've been giving our friend, Evan, a tour of the colony," Maria replied.

The Professor turned toward Evan, "I take it when they gave you the tour, they only showed you the ultra-dangerous creations of mine?"

Evan smiled nervously, "Yeah, but they also showed me where Jacob lived too,"

The Professor frowned and turned toward Shadow, "Shadow, I told you to stay away from there. That poor child is scared to death of you,"

"It's not my fault he cringes at the sight of me! Besides, he never leaves his room I wasn't expecting he'd answer." Shadow replied angrily.

The Professor sighed, "I know, Shadow, and I have no idea why either. I still want you to keep away from there though. Your intentions may be good but I don't want to get any more anonymous complaints in my mail talking about horrible red and black monsters."

"Yes Professor," Shadow replied, lowering his head.

Suddenly Evan glanced around nervously, searching for something, "Where's my dad? Doesn't he work in here?"

"Actually yes, right over there," the Professor replied, pointing over to a cluttered desk in the corner with many strange colored test tubes and papers resting on it, "You just missed him. He's on dinner break right now."

"Good," Evan replied, relieved, "What does he do anyway?"

"He works on Project Shadow with me. Originally, it was just me but I've been so busy I had to hire an assistant on the project," Gerald explained.

"What? Are you saying that some weird man I've never met in my life is going to be watching my every movement!?!" Shadow boomed. A few heads turned. When they saw it was just the Professor and Shadow, they smirked and went back to work.

"No, he's only helping me with your exercises and the heavy paperwork that the government keeps sending up," the Professor replied, not even flinching at Shadow yelling.

Shadow dropped his angry expression and frowned, "Oh, sorry Professor."

"It's alright, just please don't scream like that or I'm going to need a hearing aid by the time I'm finished with you," said Gerald, and turning back to the others replied, "So what where you planning to see in here? I'd be more than happy to you anything in here."

"What's the newest thing you've been working on?" Maria asked.

The Professor grinned at that, "Follow me," he beckoned, leading them to a huge square box with countless whirring knobs and buttons, and to the side lay two platforms, "This is my latest invention, the cloning machine! It can clone anything, even organic tissue," exclaimed the Professor proudly.

"Can we try it?" Maria asked, with an eager glint in her eye much like the one the Professor had right now.

"I would advise against it. We've been testing it on animals and so far 1 out of 3 clones turn out insane and twice as strong as their original; another reason I can't put all my time towards you, Shadow. This thing will get me the money I need to continue my research, and without I would have to let go of a few others projects," the Professor replied, turning away from the machine's main console, "By the way, Shadow, your training with Dr. Carl Stanley starts tomorrow. Try to be nice to him, okay? I don't want him thinking negatively of you.

"Too late," Evan muttered under his breath.

"Yes, Professor. Do I have to stay in here for some modifications?" Shadow asked.

"Ah yes. Thank you for reminding me, Shadow. I'll be right back," said the scientist, hurrying off to get ready for Shadow.

"I'd better get home if my parents are eating dinner. I'll see you guys around!" Evan yelled as he ran for the door.

Maria sighed, "I guess I'll go back to my quarters and read." She turned towards the door and walked off.

The Professor turned a corner and walked over to where the group was just standing. He looked around, confused, "Where did everybody run off too?"

Shadow shrugged, "Don't ask me."

Evan's Quarters

As Evan's family was sitting down to a relaxing dinner, Evan's mother asked, "So how was your day honey?"

"I got a tour of the colony from Maria," he replied, stuffing mashed potatoes into his mouth as fast as he could.

"Maria? Professor Gerald's granddaughter?" his father asked.

"Yeah why?"

"She just seems so strange to me, I mean she's lived in space her entire life; she must be lonely."

"No, she's got Jacob and Shadow, not to mention her grandfather to keep her company."

His father looked skeptically at Evan, "Now what would a little twelve-year-old girl like Maria want anything to do with Shadow?"

"I don't know, he's really nice though. I mean, Maria talks about him all the time," he replied, hastily adding the last part on.

His father sighed, "I hope so. Tomorrow I'm running a few tests with him. Professor Gerald won't be there, so I'll have to hope that he's as nice as everyone lets on. I've only seen him from a distance, and just that wasn't very pretty," Evan's father replied, thinking back to his morning in the café.

"Don't worry, Dad. I'm sure it'll be easy. You just have to write down how fast he runs and stuff. That's as easy as you could get," said Evan, comforting his father from across the table.

"Thanks, son. You don't know how much it means to me to have you two backing me up," he smiled.

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Alrightly then, that's another one up for you guys. By the way I just realized a big mistake on my part. Jacob's real name is Arnold Towers according to the comics. I'm gonna keep it Jacob though because I'm too lazy to go back and change it, XD Also, I was looking back and I saw a lot of grammar errors on my part. Sorry! Now that I'm doing this whole computer writing book thing, there should be little or no errors now. Maybe one day I'll go back and change all that, so if you guys ever see that Jacob's name is suddenly Arnold, don't be surprised.