CHAPTER 14 - Cracking the Egg
Tails stood back, admiring his now polished plane as it gleamed in the cloud-dappled morning light. "Ever considered a career as an Autopilot?" He called out jokingly as he watched Nicole fiddling with the controls in the now refurbished cockpit. Nicole stuck out her tongue and pretended to pilot the plane into a dive,"Flying enemy fox detected, taking evasive maneuvers!" she cried out, swerving wildly left and right and causing the ailerons to flap up and down comically. She stopped her act and looked out at her amused spectator "Hey Tails, do you still fly yourself anymore? With your Tails I mean, can you still do it?"
Tails twirled his bushy tails around quickly but halfheartedly, kicking up dust behind him "No, not for years, I doubt if I still can even" he admitted, a hint of regret in his voice.
Nicole half-smiled sympathetically then stood up and swung herself out of the cockpit, jumping to the ground. She walked backwards until she stood next to Tails, joining him in admiring the fruits of their labours. They stood like that for a minute until Tails finally broke the silence "Are you ready for this?" he asked, looking seriously at Nicole.
Nicole nodded with confidence, "I was built ready" she quipped. "The panel is open, the cable is ready and the nanite control array is in position, once you start firing the missiles In the planned sequence we should have about five minutes."
"Lets do it then" said Tails, and boarded his plane. Donning his goggles, he flicked a switch and the repaired engine purred into life. He gave a thumbs up to Nicole and started his takeoff, Nicole's newly installed turbo-charger sending the plane into the air with a burst of acceleration. Nicole watched the Tornado climb upwards and into the cloudy sky, Its bright fog lights creating a cone of light through the mist. She closed her eyes and snapped out of existence, appearing again instantly just outside the small inner wall that surrounded the broken Death Egg.
Nicole looked around and spotted the long cable they had laid out earlier, she dashed over to where it lay in a heap and wrapped the end of it over her shoulder, securing it to herself.
"Alright I'm coming around for the first pass, Go!" Came Tail's crackling voice over the radio and Nicole scrambled over the wall. A wave of radiation hit her as she passed through the shield, she glanced at her body and noticed small pixels of light seemed to drop in and out creating a hazy distortion that was disconcerting to look at.
The roar of a propeller grew closer overhead and Nicole looked up to see the Tornado diving out of the clouds behind her, two missiles left the undercarriage, fired with pinpoint accuracy, and penetrated the hull of the steel fortress. A muffled thump rang out from within and suddenly Nicole could feel the nanites' presence. let's do this!
Rushing forward she clambered headfirst into the waist-high open shaft. It was very narrow, barely wide enough to wiggle through, and she found herself quietly praising the heavens that she had picked a slender form. After about four meters, there was a claustrophobic turn upwards and she pushed up, popping through a ventilation grill that lined the hallways of the vast metal fortress. She strained to look into the darkness, the smell of stale air and leaking mechanical fluids filled her lungs. Switching on her night vision senses didn't help too much, the air was dusty, thrown up by the sudden explosions. She could feel the nanites around her, they were dying quickly in the intense radiation, she concentrated hard to gather them together.
The death egg had landed on its side and the once level corridors now leaned steeply up into the air. Nicole grabbed onto the walls, vents, handles, anything she could get a hold of and pulled herself towards an open doorway that she could see up above her. 'four minutes', the timer on her wrist flashed ominously. Reaching the doorway, Nicole pulled her body over and sat on the frame, surveying the area in front of her. A pitch black elevator shaft lay nearly on its side, a quick path upwards towards the control room at the top. She scrambled inside and struggled upwards, feeling herself getting weaker, the strength of the holo emitter outside now only reaching her through the bridge of nanites she had created. She looked down at her body, semi-translucent and shifting in distorted waves, her vision started to weaken, black spots appearing and disappearing before her eyes.
Up ahead, a dim glow shone through the gap between heavy elevator doors, Nicole shut off her night vision, looking down into the space below. The control deck, the vast circular room where Robotnik had once sat, lay on its side creating a deep cavernous pit. In the middle a ring of control panels stuck out of the floor sideways leaving a skewed horizontal platform and in the very centre of those sat the chaos emerald, encased in a transparent barrier, an unearthly green glow escaped from within.
The death egg shook and dust flew into the air, "Three minutes Nicole" came Tails' distorted voice.
Now what? Nicole thought hard for a moment, surveying the deep open void beneath her, she looked at the cable in her hand and inspiration struck. Pulling on the line she gathered some slack and then lowered it through the gap until it hung down past the control panels, dangling just beyond the protruding ledge.
Here goes nothing. Nicole looped the top of the cable around an exposed beam and tugged sharply, ensuring stability. Her heart pounding as she grabbed a hold and lowered her legs through the gap in the door, squeezing through until she hung by her hands just below the frame. She could feel her hands slipping on the cable as she quickly descended, hand over hand, the nanites that made up part of her body were dying quickly, it was a uncomfortable feeling, sharp and distracting, almost... painful? Finally she reached the jutting control panels' edge and swung herself forwards, then backwards, then forwards again with an almighty lunge throwing herself onto the ledge, sheet metal crumpling under her uneasily, she crouched, cable in hand trailing up into the darkness.
"One min*** lef****icole, I'm firing th***ast missi***" A volley of small thuds barely registered as Nicole knelt down and studied the control station below her feet.
Each panel was connected with six screws, set deep into their sides. Struggling against the crackling lines and blotches that clouded her vision Nicole knelt down and pulled the screwdriver from her pocket, barely able to hold it up, she moved her shaking hand towards the first screw and tried to turn. It didn't move.
No… No. NO! Not again!
Panic seized the lynx as she grabbed the handle with both hands and struggled with all her might.
No! This isn't happening! The emerald! The portal! Tails…
Nicole could feel the nanites dying around her, her body was getting weaker, her blurring vision now clouded by a stream of desperate tears. The cable she held in her hand suddenly slipped, phasing through her like she was a ghost. She fell to her knees as the radiation ripped at her holographic form, tearing chunks away from her limbs and body like an invisible wind ripping at tissue paper. It... hurt... badly! This was what pain felt like! She panicked as her vision flickered in and out, her heart was racing, her head was throbbing. The last thing she saw as she faded to black was a pulsating green glow. The chaos emerald taunted her from its impenetrable cage, It glinted off the smooth metal panel, highlighting a small inscribed word. 'Genesis'.
A cloud of black dust drifted lazily downwards, kicked up by the barrage of missiles that had hit the death egg. Not far away, on the crusty mud, Nicole reappeared, kneeling down on one knee. Panting heavily she tried to stand but collapsed and fell forward in exhaustion, her holographic form weak and flickering, nearly transparent.
"Nicole! Are you alright?" Tails had landed nearby and was running to her side. Dark grey thunder clouds rumbled overhead as he reached her on the open black plains.
Nicole's heart was racing, her vision blurry and her head was pounding, virtual adrenaline shot through her system as she struggled to re-catch her breath. Regret and despair filled her mind, The emerald - I can't do it, the radiation is too strong! I was wrong, I'm always wrong! Oh No, Tails will be devastated!
Tails knelt beside her and watched her with deep concern. Instinctively he put his arm around her shoulders and steadied her as she regained her composure. "Nicole are you alright?", "What happened in there?"
Nicole looked up, her face a picture of shame, She was silent, her lips were trembling, her mouth moved but the words wouldn't come.
I failed! Tails will never forgive me! There has to be another way, some way to fix this.
Tails' excited smile was quickly fading to a look of deep concern.
A thought entered Nicole's mind, a terrible, scary, dark thought that made her cold with fear. No I can't... there has to be another way! There must be -
Nicole looked in Tail's eyes and forced a smile. "I… I did it Tails." She said emptily, "The chaos emerald is connected…"