Chapter 11 Secret No More
"Nothing!" cried Eggman casting the broken ring across the room. "This ring is useless!"
"That's about the size of it," said Sora-Ya, examining the blue stone with a magnifying glass.
"She must have lied to you," said Eggman. "You told me that no one could lie to you without you knowing!"
"I know what I said," said Sora-Ya. "And I'll have you know it's true. But then you know that already, don't you."
"So why did she give you this?" asked Eggman. "How did you bring me the wrong thing?"
"Stupid of me," said Sora-Ya. "I simply asked her if she possessed an item that she was told never to part with. She tried to lie to me but I could tell straight away. I then asked if she had that item with her and she gave me the ring!"
"You never confirmed that the ring was the item you sought?" Eggman suggested.
"Precisely!" cried Sora-Ya. "I'll go and get the real thing from her."
"This time I'll come myself," said Eggman and so he did.
They found Silky sitting huddled in a corner with her face buried in her lap. She looked up as the door opened but to Sora-Ya's disappointment she wasn't crying, but there was fear in her eyes.
"That ring wasn't what I wanted was it?" asked the echidna.
"It was important to me," said Silky, trying to avoid lying at the same time as avoid the truth about her necklace, which still remained hidden from sight within her pyjama shirt.
"Maybe," said Sora-Ya, "but it didn't contain any plans. I suppose you still have the item I'm looking for."
Silky was silent.
"You just can't bare to reveal it to me, can you?" Sora-Ya grinned evilly. "Something which you've cherished for so long as your only family heirloom. You might as well give it up, because Gigapolis has been using you, using you to carry one of its many secrets. Believe me, whatever it is, it was given to you for no sentimental reasons. It was given to you to hide a weapon of mass destruction that the wicked would use to enslave mankind. Trust me, we don't want to use it for anything like that. We want it so that we can change the world for the better."
"I don't need psychic powers to recognise that lie," said Silky.
"It's not a lie, Princess," said Eggman. "Earth has so much potential, it can be so great! But the governments keep a lid on advancement for various ethical and religious reasons, so we're stuck. There are stupid people who don't want their lives to get any better! Why? I don't know! But everyone can have a better life if technology of all kinds is allowed to advance! Government doesn't do anything. They sit around shouting at each other all day over trifles while people everywhere suffer because nothing ever gets done. We can end that. I don't want to rule the world as a tyrant; I want to open the doors to a better future - for everyone! Just like my grandfather"
"That's why we chose the EMP Cannon," said Sora-Ya. "It disables all machines in a given radius but it's relatively harmless to people (unless they happen to be driving a car or using some other electrical machine)."
"You must think I'm very stupid," said Silky. "Forget it! You can't have my…" She faltered.
"Yes?" asked Sora-Ya.
"Kiss my arse," Silky retorted.
"How unladylike," said Eggman. "All right! No more Mister Nice-nik! You know what it is and one way or another we'll get it from you. You can either give it to us with no trouble or we'll search you for it after we've knocked you out cold."
Silky stuck her middle finger up in front of Eggman's face.
"Since such is your answer…" said Eggman, as Sora-Ya came behind Silky with her gun drawn. She turned the gun round so that she held it with the barrel and then struck the vixen in the back of the head with the handle. Silky fell to ground unconscious.
"Search her," said Eggman.
"Excuse me!" cried Sora-Ya. "Who are you to order me? The deal was that we're partners in this plan. And who's done most of the planning?"
"I have other things to attend to," said Eggman.
"Like what?"
"Mecha Sonic has been salvaged. His mission was a failure and I must find out why."
With that, Eggman turned and left the room with Sora-Ya and the unconscious vixen behind. Sora-Ya soon found the star necklace about Silky's neck but she did not stop searching until she was sure she had found the only possible location of the plans. With the necklace in hand she left the room and shut the door once again.
Eggman was angry. He was in the command centre of the ARK and Mecha Sonic II had been sent to his workshop to be reassembled. First though, Eggman had found out how his prized creation had failed by plugging his CPU into the hard drive of the ARK's computer and uploading the robot's visual log.
"Stupid interfering fox-boy!" he growled. "If it wasn't for him and his wretched plane, MS II would have turned Sonic into ashes!"
"Something wrong?" asked Sora-Ya, as she entered the command centre.
"Mecha Sonic failed," said Eggman.
"Oh dear," said Sora-Ya. "Well if the plans aren't in this little necklace, I don't know where they are." She held up the star necklace. It glittered in the light and a pale purple ray shone from the central diamond onto the floor.
"Sonic was rescued by Tails!" cried Eggman. "Don't you realise that by now the President of Mobotropolis will realise that the Princess is my prisoner? With Sonic and Tails safely back in Station Square, they'll probably be planning an attack on the ARK to rescue her!"
"Let them. We don't need her now."
"But how the hell are the plans going to be in that? And if they're not we still need the Princess!"
"The plans will be in the necklace if I'm right. I think I know what this beautiful piece of jewellery really is. Let me show you."
"Very well."
"Does this place have a cinema screen?"
"I think so, several if I'm not mistaken."
Eggman and Sora-Ya headed for the nearest cinema screen, which happened to be a mere five minutes journey by the ARK's turbo-train system. Upon arrival, Sora-Ya placed the necklace in front of the projector and placed several more lights around it, all pointing into the diamond points of the star. She turned on the power and a ray of bright purple light shot out of the central diamond onto the blank cinema screen. Eggman gave a stifled cry of amazement to see a complicated series of diagrams on the huge screen. They were definitely the plans to a complicated and powerful cannon, but there were no labels, only numbered arrows pointing to each component.
"So we have the diagrams!" laughed Eggman. "Now where are the instructions, the labels! How am I supposed to know what materials to build this cannon from?"
"Simple," said Sora-Ya. "You see these patterns on the silver of the necklace?"
"Yes," said Eggman, glancing at the intricate carvings in the necklace's silver structure.
"Those are the instructions that go with the cannon," said the echidna. "They are in the ancient echidna alphabet but the language is simple English. I can translate that text very easily. It's because of that that I knew this necklace did indeed contain the plans."
"Genius! But how did you know how to get that diagram?"
"There's a lot of state secrets that I know of, and this series of necklaces is one of them. The necklace was made by the world-renowned jeweller, Nigel Harrington, based on a series he had planned. The government of Gigapolis paid him a fortune to keep all of the necklaces himself and make only one to give away, one containing a secret that was not stated in the report. Having found this necklace it was simple enough to put two and two together."
"Genius!" Eggman repeated. "Now we must get this image uploaded onto computer so that I can draw out some real design schematics! You must translate the labels on the necklace at once!"
"I'll get on it right away," said Sora-Ya.
"Nothing!" cried Eggman casting the broken ring across the room. "This ring is useless!"
"That's about the size of it," said Sora-Ya, examining the blue stone with a magnifying glass.
"She must have lied to you," said Eggman. "You told me that no one could lie to you without you knowing!"
"I know what I said," said Sora-Ya. "And I'll have you know it's true. But then you know that already, don't you."
"So why did she give you this?" asked Eggman. "How did you bring me the wrong thing?"
"Stupid of me," said Sora-Ya. "I simply asked her if she possessed an item that she was told never to part with. She tried to lie to me but I could tell straight away. I then asked if she had that item with her and she gave me the ring!"
"You never confirmed that the ring was the item you sought?" Eggman suggested.
"Precisely!" cried Sora-Ya. "I'll go and get the real thing from her."
"This time I'll come myself," said Eggman and so he did.
They found Silky sitting huddled in a corner with her face buried in her lap. She looked up as the door opened but to Sora-Ya's disappointment she wasn't crying, but there was fear in her eyes.
"That ring wasn't what I wanted was it?" asked the echidna.
"It was important to me," said Silky, trying to avoid lying at the same time as avoid the truth about her necklace, which still remained hidden from sight within her pyjama shirt.
"Maybe," said Sora-Ya, "but it didn't contain any plans. I suppose you still have the item I'm looking for."
Silky was silent.
"You just can't bare to reveal it to me, can you?" Sora-Ya grinned evilly. "Something which you've cherished for so long as your only family heirloom. You might as well give it up, because Gigapolis has been using you, using you to carry one of its many secrets. Believe me, whatever it is, it was given to you for no sentimental reasons. It was given to you to hide a weapon of mass destruction that the wicked would use to enslave mankind. Trust me, we don't want to use it for anything like that. We want it so that we can change the world for the better."
"I don't need psychic powers to recognise that lie," said Silky.
"It's not a lie, Princess," said Eggman. "Earth has so much potential, it can be so great! But the governments keep a lid on advancement for various ethical and religious reasons, so we're stuck. There are stupid people who don't want their lives to get any better! Why? I don't know! But everyone can have a better life if technology of all kinds is allowed to advance! Government doesn't do anything. They sit around shouting at each other all day over trifles while people everywhere suffer because nothing ever gets done. We can end that. I don't want to rule the world as a tyrant; I want to open the doors to a better future - for everyone! Just like my grandfather"
"That's why we chose the EMP Cannon," said Sora-Ya. "It disables all machines in a given radius but it's relatively harmless to people (unless they happen to be driving a car or using some other electrical machine)."
"You must think I'm very stupid," said Silky. "Forget it! You can't have my…" She faltered.
"Yes?" asked Sora-Ya.
"Kiss my arse," Silky retorted.
"How unladylike," said Eggman. "All right! No more Mister Nice-nik! You know what it is and one way or another we'll get it from you. You can either give it to us with no trouble or we'll search you for it after we've knocked you out cold."
Silky stuck her middle finger up in front of Eggman's face.
"Since such is your answer…" said Eggman, as Sora-Ya came behind Silky with her gun drawn. She turned the gun round so that she held it with the barrel and then struck the vixen in the back of the head with the handle. Silky fell to ground unconscious.
"Search her," said Eggman.
"Excuse me!" cried Sora-Ya. "Who are you to order me? The deal was that we're partners in this plan. And who's done most of the planning?"
"I have other things to attend to," said Eggman.
"Like what?"
"Mecha Sonic has been salvaged. His mission was a failure and I must find out why."
With that, Eggman turned and left the room with Sora-Ya and the unconscious vixen behind. Sora-Ya soon found the star necklace about Silky's neck but she did not stop searching until she was sure she had found the only possible location of the plans. With the necklace in hand she left the room and shut the door once again.
Eggman was angry. He was in the command centre of the ARK and Mecha Sonic II had been sent to his workshop to be reassembled. First though, Eggman had found out how his prized creation had failed by plugging his CPU into the hard drive of the ARK's computer and uploading the robot's visual log.
"Stupid interfering fox-boy!" he growled. "If it wasn't for him and his wretched plane, MS II would have turned Sonic into ashes!"
"Something wrong?" asked Sora-Ya, as she entered the command centre.
"Mecha Sonic failed," said Eggman.
"Oh dear," said Sora-Ya. "Well if the plans aren't in this little necklace, I don't know where they are." She held up the star necklace. It glittered in the light and a pale purple ray shone from the central diamond onto the floor.
"Sonic was rescued by Tails!" cried Eggman. "Don't you realise that by now the President of Mobotropolis will realise that the Princess is my prisoner? With Sonic and Tails safely back in Station Square, they'll probably be planning an attack on the ARK to rescue her!"
"Let them. We don't need her now."
"But how the hell are the plans going to be in that? And if they're not we still need the Princess!"
"The plans will be in the necklace if I'm right. I think I know what this beautiful piece of jewellery really is. Let me show you."
"Very well."
"Does this place have a cinema screen?"
"I think so, several if I'm not mistaken."
Eggman and Sora-Ya headed for the nearest cinema screen, which happened to be a mere five minutes journey by the ARK's turbo-train system. Upon arrival, Sora-Ya placed the necklace in front of the projector and placed several more lights around it, all pointing into the diamond points of the star. She turned on the power and a ray of bright purple light shot out of the central diamond onto the blank cinema screen. Eggman gave a stifled cry of amazement to see a complicated series of diagrams on the huge screen. They were definitely the plans to a complicated and powerful cannon, but there were no labels, only numbered arrows pointing to each component.
"So we have the diagrams!" laughed Eggman. "Now where are the instructions, the labels! How am I supposed to know what materials to build this cannon from?"
"Simple," said Sora-Ya. "You see these patterns on the silver of the necklace?"
"Yes," said Eggman, glancing at the intricate carvings in the necklace's silver structure.
"Those are the instructions that go with the cannon," said the echidna. "They are in the ancient echidna alphabet but the language is simple English. I can translate that text very easily. It's because of that that I knew this necklace did indeed contain the plans."
"Genius! But how did you know how to get that diagram?"
"There's a lot of state secrets that I know of, and this series of necklaces is one of them. The necklace was made by the world-renowned jeweller, Nigel Harrington, based on a series he had planned. The government of Gigapolis paid him a fortune to keep all of the necklaces himself and make only one to give away, one containing a secret that was not stated in the report. Having found this necklace it was simple enough to put two and two together."
"Genius!" Eggman repeated. "Now we must get this image uploaded onto computer so that I can draw out some real design schematics! You must translate the labels on the necklace at once!"
"I'll get on it right away," said Sora-Ya.