The Blue Typhoon careened sharply to the side, barely avoiding a red bolt that passed by the hull. The interior of the bridge glowed a bright red for a brief moment, quickly fading away. Cloudy handled the controls with surprising dexterity for one new with them while Clames slowly found herself pulling away from the window, the distance between them and the Bolt slowly increasing.
"Alright, Cloudy," Clames nodded as she finally tore her gaze from the gargantuan ship. "Keep it up. A little more and we'll reach the Star Lane."
A sudden confidence had overcome the feline as he gazed out the side window, suddenly pulling back on the throttles as he noticed one of the Bolt's cannons glowed a hot red. As he predicted, another Dissipator bolt flew past the front of the Typhoon, and he finished with another push on the throttles, jetting the ship forward. Tails still sat on the floor at the top of the steps, examining the small box that had resuscitated him minutes ago. "So it was this?" He looped the wires around a finger, slightly tugging on them. "This was only to test the voltage of compatible machines!"
Cloudy momentarily glanced back at the kitsune before returning his attention to the task at hand. "Well, that little tester just got your heart beating again! I'd give that thing a good buff later as a reward."
"Why? It's practically worthless. Well, besides getting a heart working again, obviously. I doubt it'll ever do that again."
"No machine is worthless. Even if it seems that way, it may have another use than one would believe... It was that way with my Rally!"
Across the room, in her own little world, Cosmo stood, now entertaining her realization of what she had accomplished. I saved him...He's alive and it's because of me. Cloudy gave up, but I didn't...And I saved him. The warm feeling she felt suddenly left as a more assertive thought entered. But if it weren't for you standing down, letting him step between you and Dareth...this wouldn't even have happened... No, don't feel good or bad about this! I made a mistake and I fixed it. One step back, one forward. Minus one, plus one.
"You know, you're taking this with a surprising lack of emotion," the feline continued, referring to the fox. "I gave up on you. I basically pronounced you dead. It was Cosmo that didn't give up."
Tails quickly swapped his attention to the now-flushed Seedrian. "Really? You...it was you?"
Cosmo looked down at the floor, not wanting to look him in the eye. Not necessarily for guilt, but rather to avoid group attention. "I...I just didn't want to lose anyone else... I'm not sure what came over me. I just...couldn't accept that. Especially when you didn't do anything wrong!"
Clames, now having completely pulled herself from the window, lightly stepped over by the Seedrian, an annoyingly smug smile across her face. "I'm not surprised. After all, it hurts to lose someone you...care so much about. That can lead you to some rather extraordinary feats." Cosmo glanced up at the Kemao, a look of irritated disbelief on her face. Clames reciprocated with a look of all-too-sweet glee. "Not that I'm implying anything..."
"Shouldn't you be more concerned with keeping us alive?" Tails stoically suggested from the stairs.
"Oh, I trust Cloudy. We're well out of range of most shots, except for occasional Dissipators. Good thing they haven't found the Hypersphere Drivers or else we'd already be down. I think I can spare a moment to congratulate you, Tails! It's not every day someone comes back to life! You brought Cosmo back and now she's brought you back! It can't just be a coincidence."
Both Cosmo and Tails slowly let their gazes drift from the woman to each other, both immediately looking away with flushed faces after noticing that the view was mutual.
"Sonic, Knuckles, one small warning..." Spyke whispered, staring at the colorful body that was their foe. He, Sonic, Knuckles, Zhagohst, and Jeckres formed a loose wall, each in their respective combat positions. The Iono's body had just finished materializing, a head with pectoral fins on either side and a spike on the very top, with an empty, cleared face, now emerging from its shoulders. "Heat is the transfer of energy. An Iono will absorb energy as long as it's not overwhelming. If you must make physical contact with your skin, make it very brief."
The Iono continued its looped speech. "Beginning Objective A, removal of immediate obstacles. Beginning Objective A, removal of immediate obstacles." From the middle of its chest shot out a thin, red beam into the ceiling. It stretched out into a fan shape and slowly fell to the floor and rose back to the ceiling, retreating back into the Iono after it finished its task. "Life forms detected. Quantity: Five. Specimen One: Unknown race. Origin unrecorded. Identification: Unknown. According to databank, is referred to as 'Spyke.' Strengths: Physical strength and endurance and sharpened armor plates. Weaknesses: Slow movement and selfish capabilities of sacrificing comrades to achieve own ends.
"Specimen Two: Anthropomorphic Hedgehog. Origin: Mobius. Identification: Sonic. Strengths: Movement speed. Weaknesses: Quick to respond to emotions of anger and fear, basing decisions off of premature instinct.
"Specimen Three: Anthropomorphic Echidna. Origin: Mobius. Identification: Knuckles. Strengths: Physical strength and endurance. Weaknesses: Premature mental capacities and rash decision making. Gullible. Known to respond to threats and minor situations.
"Specimen Four: Anthropomorphic Mongoose. Origin: Likely descent of one of many planets in the Delphinius System. Identification: Zhagohst. Strengths: Keen eyesight and movement speed. Retractible claws. Detection Lens for improved accuracy and information on targets. Weaknesses: Known to submit in hostage situations, primarily involving children.
"Specimen Five: Kemao. Origin: Kemao. Identification: Jeckres of the Occuli House. Strengths: Weapon is capable of long-range and close-quarters combat. Capable of flight. Weaknesses: Unrecorded."
Spyke took a step ahead of the others, looking the Iono in its face-area. "Iono! Inform me of your purpose!"
The machine/life form paused for a moment, processing the question. "My current purpose is to assist in the destruction of the ship known as the Blue Typhoon under the circumstance that it may escape the master's pursuit and terminate all life forms boarding the previously mentioned vessel. Will you comply?"
"Burn in hell!" Jeckres yelled, swinging his weapon at the Iono, a mass of energy flung from his weapon. The strange being raised a few of its front tentacles upwards, blocking the shot and essentially absorbing it into its own body.
"Reverting to Objective A, removal of immediate obstacles." Finishing its directive yet again, the Iono lunged forward with impressive speed for its size, smashing two of its arms into the floor ahead of it. The group scattered away from the collision, narrowly escaping injury or death.
Sonic was the first to recover, hopping onto one of its oversized hands and making a quick sprint up its arm. He quickly reached the head without incident, curling into his spinball at the last moment. Surprisingly, he found himself suddenly on the floor once again, having run straight through its skull. He unrolled, looking back at the Iono as some particles buzzed around its head, quickly realigning in their original positions. "I...what?" Surprised, he didn't notice as one of the lower tentacles reached in a wide circle behind him, the end losing particles to make a sharpened tip. The tentacle gave one large slam against the ground and rushed forward, the sound alerting the hedgehog. Sonic spun in time to see the tip mere feet from his frame, suddenly stretching out as if in pain and falling flat on the ground.
The end of the whip-like limb had been severed from the rest of the creature, Jeckres' weapon having cut clean through. He pulled the paddle back up in a combat stance and unfolded his wings. "Be quicker next time, blue boy! I can't watch your back all the time!" And, as if to simply put an end to the obnoxious attitude, another tentacle swung at him, knocking him to the side as a swung log would a small insect. Causing further bother was the severed end of the limb which had now dematerialized into further particles, reattaching themselves to the original tentacle.
Knuckles quickly found himself in a predicament as a fist wrapped around him, squeezing with enough pressure to crush steel. Noticing the potential damage this could cause, he pushed against the inside with both fists, growling to help relieve the pain. Feeling the grip loosen, he gave one last push, shoving both fists through the "skin." The entire hand disappeared in a shower of particles and(dropping the echidna) rematerialized, once again connected to the arm.
"Zhagohst!" the Yajus called, keeping his fists in a primed punch position. "Same as always?"
The mongoose unfolded his lens from his headband, dropping it around his eye, and he focused his gaze on the Iono. Through the lens he was fed multiple readouts including thermal scans, bodily strengths and weaknesses, and, in this particular case, a red blip that was quickly swimming around the inside of the creature/machine. "Same as always. Get the CPU!"
"The what?" Sonic bent at the knees, ready to spin again.
"That small crystal is still inside the Iono! I can see it..." Zhagohst ran over to a wall and leapt up to about half its height, digging his claws into the metal. "Keep it distracted and I may be able to fish it out!"
Jeckres cleaved his paddle through the tentacle that had previously batted him away(not caring if it regenerated or not) and flew up to the wall opposite the mongoose. "Better plan, weasel! Let's make it a simple process of elimination!" Finishing his half-pointless statement, Jeckres dove downward and plunged directly into the waist of the Iono, swinging his weapon in a furious flurry that seemed to resemble a small twister.
"Excellent!" Zhagohst peered through his lens. The red blip(obviously representing the crystal) continued its directionless swimming, however keeping closer and closer to the top of the body as the ferocious Kemao slowly rose higher and higher, the destroyed body parts regenerating beneath him. "A bit higher! Force it into the head!" The Iono had obviously grown aware of the figure tearing up its body from the inside, reaching one arm into its chest(where Jeckres had now risen to) and pulled out the Kemao, swiftly tossing him across the room. "Close enough!" Zhagohst leapt off the wall and straight at the head, one arm reared behind him with the claws at full length. Just as he came near and threw the punch, an arm reached up and plucked him from the air, leisurely flinging him to the ground.
"Dammit!" Spyke grimaced as he watched the mongoose face-plant into the floor. His attention returned to the Iono as it raised all four arms above him, the fingers of each hand spread out. He raised his own arms in a defensive stance and planted his feet into the floor. Just as the arms fell, Spyke suddenly reached an arm down into his belt and squeezed a small cube. The effect was too familiar to a certain two witnesses as the fists smashed into the steel floor, an unusual amount of smoke blasting from the point of impact.
As before, Cloudy sat at the controls, expertly maneuvering the ship past occasional Dissipator shots. Tails and Cosmo were both seated in the chairs next to him(Clames had finally left them alone) and Clames stood at the window, once again watching the Bolt fire futile shots. "Just a little bit more," Cloudy reassured everyone, a smug smile across his face, "and we're home free! The Bolt will never catch up to us once we've entered the Sirverei Star Lane."
As if some unknown force felt the need to contradict him, Tails' TSCA began beeping. He hastily tapped the screen, which turned a pale white, as if viewing smoke. The Yajus' voice transmitted through it. "Tails? You there, kid?"
Cosmo and Clames quickly huddled together behind the kitsune as to see the screen. Tails glanced back at them, then to the accessory. "I'm here! What's wrong?"
His voice seemed strangely confident, but there was a hint of worry. "The fight's not going as well as anticipated. I doubt we'll need them, but did you install any escape pods on this ship?"
"...I put in a few. You don't think we're going to need them, do you?"
The screen became a little clearer and Spyke's figure was silhouetted against the smoke. "I don't think so, but I think it would be safe, as a precaution, to have you and Cosmo load up into a couple. If it comes down to it the sooner we leave, the better."
Tails nodded hesitantly. "Alright. What about the rest of you?"
"If it comes down to it, we'll follow as soon as we can. But, like I said, I don't think it'll come to that."
The transmission ended, leaving them staring into their reflections in the accessory. Clames was the first to respond. "Alright, then! You two get moving! No need to hang around here." She pulled Tails out of his seat by his arm and turn him and Cosmo around to face the hall.
"We'll be back soon, when Spyke gives the okay!" Tails looked over his shoulder at the temporary pilot, who responded with a thumbs-up. "This should just take a moment!" He and Cosmo both began a brisk pace out the door.
Tails, however, stopped for a brief moment as Clames gave one last remark: "Stay in separate pods, alright?"
He stared for a moment and, unable to properly respond to her insinuation, turned and followed the Seedrian.
"Just in case," Spyke said to himself as he turned off his TSCA. He was slowly walking around the giant ionic beast, the smoke released from his bomb obscuring its sensors. Both Sonic and Knuckles remained at a distance from the smoke cloud, but had heard every word. Zhagohst and Jeckres, however, were using the cover to ready themselves for the same strategy as before at opposite ends of the room. The smoke was beginning to clear to the point of average visibility, working in the favor of both sides. "Sonic, Knuckles! Listen to me carefully!" He hopped to the side as the Iono(its sensors no longer obscured) swung an arm down at him, smashing only the floor. "Jeckres and Zhagohst can extract the CPU from it, but they need cover! If we can keep its arms busy then they can take care of their part! Surround it!"
Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a glance and a determined nod, then rushed into battle. Sonic stopped to the right side of the creature/machine, spun into a ball, and rocketed at its frame, smashing against it and rebounding back to the floor. The impact caught the Iono's attention, sending its front and back right arms down to greet him. Now with a strategy in mind, the hedgehog found the arms to be slow and uncoordinated, simply smashing at the ground wherever it managed to notice a glimpse of him. Within seconds of jumps, flips, and occasionally landing on a hand, he had managed to confuse the Iono into swinging an arm downward as the other was grounded. As an obvious result, the Iono crushed one hand with the other, the matter disintegrating into airborne particles. Now for the other one, he thought, racing up the arm whose fist was now stuck in the floor. He now ran up to its shoulder, stopping and stomping his foot repeatedly into it. The Iono, as annoyed as an artificial lifeform/machine could get, immediately swept its back left arm around its back and at the hedgehog, who nimbly leapt off as the fist collided with the shoulder, the impact severing its second right arm. Likewise, the decapitated limb split into a collection of tiny particles.
The back left arm, now returning to its original direction from the mistake, targeted Knuckles, clenching into a fist and rocketing downwards at him. The echidna, rather than avoiding as Sonic did, raised both arms in front of him and blocked, catching the fist in front of him. He slid back a few feet from the impact but quickly regained control, slowly pushing the fist away. With a quick twist of his arms and a step to the side, Knuckles pulled the arm into the floor, hitting nothing but. "You like to box, do ya'?" With the needless taunt he raised an arm into the air and shoved it straight through the pinned hand, leaving a sizable wound. He didn't quit immediately, smashing his fist again and again into the helpless limb, filling it with holes. Likewise, the arm disappeared in a collection of tiny particles.
Spyke stood, staring at the remaining limb. "One left!" The arm fired directly at him and, without wasting time for grace, raised all the spikes on his body into sharp points, leaping directly at the hand with a fist forward. The impact was only felt on the Iono's end as the Yajus' body plowed directly through its knuckles and into its arm, burrowing deeper and deeper and splitting the limb down the middle until he had arrived at its shoulder. With a quick spin in the arm he swung his arms through the circumference of the limb, effectively severing it. As with the three arms before it, it disappeared in a shower of particles. "Zhagohst, Jeckres! You're open!"
Jeckres repeated his earlier action of ramming into the body of the Iono, spinning like a tornado to drive the CPU upwards. All regeneration energy being spent on repairing the wounds as the Kemao made them, the Iono's torso remained unarmed(no pun intended).
Zhagohst stared at the creature/machine through his lens, the red blip representing the CPU moving gradually upward as Jeckres slowly cut off its free space. He had worked his way up to the chest and the blip had now moved into the Iono's head. "No escape this time!" The mongoose leapt off the wall and through the air, a clawed fist ready to strike. At the last moment, Jeckres ceased his spin and allowed himself to fall through the wounds in the body. The CPU, however, was not as swift, and experienced the full impact of Zhagohst's claws through its mainframe.
"Is this it?" Cosmo asked as she stepped into a short hall. On either end were a total of eight fourteen doors.
"Yes, these lead to the pods." Tails tapped the door to the nearest one, it automatically sliding open. "I based them off the one you fell to Mobius in so that you would be a little familiar with them."
"Okay, then." She took a step into the room but emerged when she noticed that he was not heading into one himself. "...Where are you going?"
He took a step out of the pod room and into the main hall. "Spyke may have said that this is just a precaution, but I have a bad feeling about this... You stay here. I'll go see if I can help!"
Cosmo opened her mouth to object, but closed it once again as he disappeared down the hall. The door silently slid shut behind her as she quietly entered the pod.
The ionic body completely disintegrated into thousands of tiny particles as the CPU crystal was knocked from its head, the particles suddenly flying back into the various machines that the Iono had pilfered the energy from. The crystal, already cracked, flew at high speed into a wall and fell to the ground with a light clink.
Zhagohst fell out of his jump next to the Iono and immediately went to town, smashing his fist again and again into the machine. It glowed and dimmed multiple times, its computerized voice emitting once again. "This is a message from Master Wildson: Resistance is futile. The worlds will submit to Ahea. The Salvator will be brought to Master Wildson. Resign yourselves to the fate set to you by Ahea. This is a message from Master Wildson: Resistance is futile. The worlds will submit..." With one last roar, Zhagohst gave the Iono a final bash with his clawed fist, efficiently smashing it to pieces and silencing it for good.
"Well, I guess that's that, then, isn't it?" Sonic folded his arms, studying the shards of the Iono.
"For now, yes." Spyke nodded with confidence. "That was a Tank Iono. Dareth only deploys them on their own. Notice how big it was? Tanks are the largest kind."
Knuckles growled from across the room. "How many of these things does he have?"
"An army," Zhagohst answered as he stood back up to full height. "And he's constantly manufacturing more and more. We're probably okay for now, though-"
The entire group spun around toward the entrance as they heard footsteps echo down the hall, falling at ease as they saw the kitsune sprinting toward them. Spyke stepped ahead of the group as Tails entered the room, panting heavily. "Ah, I was just about to contact you! We're done here. Iono's down."
"Oh, that's good," he managed to breathe between gasps. "So..are we...safe?"
"We should be... Where's Cosmo?" His expression suddenly turned serious. "You didn't leave her alone, did you?"
"She's in a pod." Tails had now caught his breath, standing straight up. "I left to see how you guys were holding up."
"Good to hear," he answered, tapping a few keys on his TSCA. The screen flickered on to Cosmo's face, bright and expectant. "Heat's off, kiddo! You can come out now."
"That's good!" Suddenly, before the conversation could continue, all lights in the interior turned blue, and Cloudy's voice crackling over the intercom.
Cosmo looked up from her TSCA as the pod's room suddenly began to glow a deep blue. Cloudy's voice crackled throughout the room. "We are now entering the Serverei Star Lane and the Lane Destabilizers have been launched. Please keep all hands, feet, and other appendages inside the vehicle at all times. Failure to comply with this rule may result in leaving the appendages in question behind and we will not be returning to retrieve them. Such a mishap has occurred in the past in which a Kemao officer had a limb half jettisoned into space when we entered the Highbeam Star Lane. We could have easily reattached it if we could return, but it is difficult to turn 180 degrees in a Star Lane."
Cosmo stepped to the door, ready to open it, but ceased as the Jaynu's voice continued. "Sealing all non-main doors to reinforce hull integrity. Please remove yourself from any open doorway. Failure to comply with this warning may result in having your person split into two separate fragments from a fast-moving metal door. Such a mishap has occurred in the past where..."
"Cloudy!" Cosmo yelled as she pushed on the door, unable to open it. "Cloudy, wait! I'm still in the pod!"
"Cosmo, are you alright?" Spyke's voice buzzed over the accessory.
She scrambled to turn the device to her face. "Cloudy's locked the door! I can't get out!"
"Calm down, kid. I'll let him know. If it comes down to it, you may have to stay in there when we jump into the Lane, but he'll let you out once we're in."
Cloudy's overly calm voice continued. "If you look to your left and your right, you will notice that we are in a spaceship and, as such, there are no exists available at this time. In the highly unlikely event of us coming into a head-on collision with another ship traveling through the Lane, death is certain. Please strap yourselves in as we enter the Lane. You will feel slight turbulence as we enter. Failure to strap in in time may lead to your person being whiplashed across the room and into furniture, likely causing injury. Please do not cross your eyes as we enter, as this may lead to a permanent state of crosseyeness. Please do not consume any beverages as we enter, as you will likely drown. Please do not consume any food as we enter, as you will likely choke. If you do wish to consume food during entry, please be sure there is someone nearby to perform resuscitation on you. Any comments on how I sound like an air hostess will be ignored, as will one plea for me to save your life at any point in the future. If you insist on reminding me of this, you will be given the cold shoulder treatment for a length of time of which I will determine. However, if you are our Yajus, I will give you the cold shoulder treatment, regardless."
Spyke simply nodded on the other end. "He's really enjoying this. Let me go burst his bubble. I'll call you back up in a moment, alright?"
"Okay..." she answered meekly.
The transmission was cut off, leaving the Seedrian alone in the room. Please, just let me open this door... The universe practically giving her a resounding NO, the entire craft shook with ferocious violence, whipping her across the room and into the pod's control panel. The impact was heavy, as if something metal had slammed the back of her head. As she slowly sat back up, rubbing her head, an electronic voice echoed through the room. "Command accepted. Jettisoning pod A."
"'Jettisoning?'" Cosmo hopped to her feet, looking across the panel. It was, indeed, similar to the one she left her home in. But then again, she didn't exactly understand that one, either. "Stop! Cancel! Don't!" She placed a hand on the wall as she felt the craft lurch forward. It's moving...and we're in a 'Star Lane...' What does that mean?
Her TSCA flickered back to life with Spyke's now furious face. "WHAT HAPPENED!"
"I don't know! The pod shook and now it's being jettisoned! What do I do!"
The Yajus spent a moment to ponder the situation. "We're in the Serverei Star Lane right now, so you should be traveling alongside us until we emerge. We'll have control once we emerge. Unfortunately, you will not. Alright, Tails knows more about those pods than I do, so I'll swap it over to him."
The TSCA turned off, then flickered on with Tails in the picture. "Cosmo, are you alright?"
The sight of him filled the Seedrian with a calming feeling. "Y-yes, I'm fine. But I don't know what to do..."
"Okay, on the panel. Do you see a large, gray lever with twelve numbers beside it?"
She glanced at the panel. A lever matching the description was in the upper-left corner. "Yes, I do."
"Okay, that should activate a magnetic field that will pull you back to the Typhoon. That's about all you need to do."
Another voice, likely Cloudy's, could be heard over the TSCA. "I'm afraid that won't work, Tails. A magnetic field can't be created in a Star Lane. If there already is one in existence once you enter, it will hold. But we can't make one in here."
"Alright," Tails continued, unfazed. "The moment we emerge, pull that lever all the way down! That will pull you back to us!"
"Okay," Cosmo said, stepping over to the panel and placing both hands on the lever. "Whenever you tell me..."
Itera sprinted into the surgeon's room. He had an unusual instrument in Dareth's chest, blood openly pouring from the wound. Besides gruesome scene, the rest of the room seemed befitting of a surgeon, with valuable equipment and cleaned walls and floors. "Master Wild...Um, Dareth?"
He grimaced from the pain of the instrument. Besides the pain, he still seemed to be fuming over the whole situation. He attempted to put on as calm a face as possible for the young woman. "Yes, Itera?"
"I-I'm sorry. It seems that the Blue Typhoon has escaped into the Serverei Star Lane and the Tank Iono has been neutralized-"
"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" There was a blur of blackness across the entire room, ending with all the surgeon's instruments and equipment embedded in the walls. Surprisingly, both the surgeon and Itera were completely unharmed, but both cowering as far from him as possible. "NO! I NEED THAT CHILD! AHEA NEEDS THAT CHILD!" He disappeared from the table and reappeared in front of Itera, lightly gripping her by the shoulders. "Itera, sweet, beautiful Itera," he quickly whispered, somehow much calmer than a few seconds ago. "Please tell me that, somewhere on this ship, there is some way to make this ship faster! Anything at all!"
"W-well we do have a Reality Speed Drive..."
"Then put that in!"
"But we can't maneuver with it. Even Spring cannot."
"I don't care. Just put it in! Please!"
"But we can't-"
"Please!"
"But-"
"Please."
Itera looked down at the wolverine's arms. They were shaking violently, far worse than she had ever seen him before. He's desperate... She nodded with a smile, glad to see one come to his face as well. "I'll have it put in. But I can't guarantee it'll work."
"That's fine. As long as everyone tries, I cannot complain."
"How long does a trip through a Lane last?" Tails glanced up from his TSCA at Cloudy, who had left the controls alone during Lane travel. The group(besides, obviously, Cosmo) had managed to work their way into the bridge.
"Depends on the length and the strength of a Star Lane Drive. Luckily, we have a few Lane Destabilizers on hand. Shoot one of those into a Lane and it stretches the entrances and exits so that they're almost adjacent. It will take only another minute." Further proving his point, a large digital number, consisting of minutes, seconds, and milliseconds appeared on a small screen. "One minute, twelve seconds." He leaned over to Tails' TSCA. "Hey, Cosmo, I'll count down once the number's low enough, alright?"
"Alright," she answered, tightening her grip on the lever. "By the way, what if I don't pull at just the right moment?"
"The Star Lane's energy stream is made to be a highway for matter to transport through. Gravitational forces of the stars on either exit are magnified to drag matter along. The Lane Destabilizers stretched the entrances and exits so that we could be dragged at the same speed and trajectory, but would, overall, be a far shorter trip. Star Lanes often lead to more Lanes, so if we don't drop out at the correct time, the gravitational forces affecting the Lane from other star systems will continue to drag us along into the next Lane. Presumably, we can eject ourselves from that chain at any time, but insufficient timing may lead to an extended travel period."
"Um... I'm sorry, Cloudy, but... I really don't understand..."
"Okay, let me start over. The Star Lane's energy stream is made to be a highway for-"
"If you take too long, you may land a good distance from us," Tails interrupted, knowing Cosmo wouldn't want to sit through the explanation again.
"Oh... But I don't have perfect timing. What if it's just a little bit?"
"Then you'll land a short distance away, but nothing that the magnetic field cannot shorten."
She nodded, still unsure. "Alright...I'm trusting you."
"Twenty seconds, now!" Cloudy glanced back at the counter to confirm his estimate."Nineteen, eighteen..."
Don't mess this up...Cosmo closed her eyes and squeezed the lever tightly with both hands, coordinating her breaths with Cloudy's count. Pull down too late and you'll be lost. Pull down too early and you'll have to pull back up, and then down again. And you'll be lost. Don't mess this up...
The feline was finishing his count, his tone turning more and more nervous as the number shrank. "Five, four, three, two, one... Pull!"
Cosmo pulled back on the lever. Even though the plan was simple and easy to think through, with the simplest instructions to follow to avoid catastrophe, there is never any way of properly taking every possibility into consideration. This event proved to be one example of such a situation as the pod shook violently as if it , it and the Typhoon punching through the Star Lane's exit. Cosmo's hands slid off the lever and she fell backwards, her head smashing into the floor. She had barely pulled the device. She sat up, rubbing the back of her head with one hand as she wiped away a tear with her other. It took a brief moment before the situation resurfaced to her attention and her eyes widened at the realization of her mistake. "...No...No, no, no!" She hopped to her feet and threw herself at the panel, wrapping both arms around the lever and yanking down on it with all her weight. It slid down without resistance, but was it too late?
"Cosmo?" Tails' voice crackled over the TSCA. "Cosmo, are you alright? Did you pull it!"
"I think I was late..." She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to hear some positive words across the link.
Instead she heard Spyke in the background. As always, he was upset. "That damn klutz! Would it kill her to do something right?"
Inside the bridge of the Typhoon, Jeckres watched as a small, cylindrical vessel flew parallel to them, but at much higher speeds, rapidly disappearing from sight. He folded his arms, chuckling. "Well, there she goes..."
Tails glanced out the window, not needing to see the pod to understand the situation. "No, no, no, no, no! How did this happen?"
"I'm afraid the distance is too strong for the magnetic field to have much affect," Cloudy sighed, shaking his head. "We can't catch up if she keeps moving at this speed. Tails, are the pods on a predetermined course?"
Tails slowly nodded, massaging his scalp in an attempt to think better. "Yes, they're supposed to locate the nearest planet with a breathable atmosphere and head there, but... Isn't there some way we can catch up to her now?"
"Not at this speed. Not until she stops. And don't worry, she will. Veni Serverei should be suitable for life. It's pretty peaceful, too. You know, it's kind of sad when I have to explain to you how your own equipment works..."
Tails pulled the TSCA to his face, ignoring Cloudy's lecture and Spyke's pointless swearing. Cosmo was shown through the screen, her cheeks stained with tears. "Tails, what...what am I supposed to do?"
It tore him apart to see her this way, so distressed and upset. "Cosmo... Please, hear me out. We can't catch up to you immediately, but you should land on a planet nearby. If you can hold out down there, we'll come pick you up. I know you're upset, but please..."
The news was far too sudden for the Seedrian, who sank to the floor. "But...I'm finally back with all of you...and now I have to leave...again?"
Spyke shoved his face into the screen of Cosmo's TSCA, a look of dire seriousness marking him. "Listen, Cosmo. Save the sentiment for later. You should be floating out of our signal any moment, so I have some instructions for you. Ready?"
She nodded slowly. "...Okay..."
"First of all is when you land. If you find yourself in society, find some way of registering your name for Missing Contacts. They practice that on Veni Serverei. It should make it easier for us to find you. If you aren't in society, such as in a desert or a jungle, stay in the pod. Who knows what could lurk outside. Be careful of who you talk to-not everyone is your friend. Some people may wish to take advantage of you. But most of all, and I mean this, do not, under any circumstances, let anyone know that you are a Seedrian! Alright? As far as they're concerned, you are a Sarpecian! You got that?"
"...Yes, sir..."
Spyke's image began to flicker and his voice became much quieter. Through the static that was beginning to show up on screen, Cosmo could make out a smile on the Yajus. "We'll be there soon!"
The link terminated, leaving the Seedrian alone in the silent pod. She stared silently at the floor for several moments before staggering to her feet and dragging herself to the panel's chair. She plopped down into it, staring at the numerous controls, very few of which seemed familiar. Feeling the silence, the empty space, and the loneliness creeping up on her, she felt the only option was to lean back, close her burning eyes, and attempt to sleep.
