Chapter 04

›Tension‹

Thirty minutes later Sal stood on the stairs of the building she lived in, a large backpack on her shoulders. Not a clue what ›some things‹ meant in Robotnik's world, she had packed what she needed for a few days. Yawning into the quiet darkness of the suburban neighborhood, she wished she had slept a little. Instead of reading. Instead of polishing Shiro earlier. Sal turned her head to look at the drone to her left. Well, it did look neat now. Her eyes moved again, when a deep, vibrating sound echoed through the street in an unsettling way. Before she could decide whether to run or not, a massive vehicle approached from the right. Blinded by the headlights, Sal had to wait until it had stopped right in front of her, before she could tell what it was. A giant, black, eighteen-wheeled truck, was taking up the length of at least five parking spaces. Not that it had parked. It just stood there in the middle of the road. Instead of a windshield it had what looked like a black shutter and a familiar looking, red-glowing circle above that. Before she could even let her eyes wander over the whole monstrosity, something on the side opened, letting down some kind of ramp. In the blink of an eye, actual stairs flipped up from it, while a tall figure appeared in front of the blueish light from inside the truck.

»What are you waiting for? Get in!«

Sal had to give herself an inner push to even make her move. Unsure and completely baffled, she climbed up the stairs, feeling like entering a space ship. The inside didn't exactly change that impression. Maybe it was her sleep deprivation or the weird lighting, but once again she was mesmerized. The whole interior strongly resembled L708. As if someone had taken a part of it and built a truck around it.

»...what... is that here...?«

Sal's head slowly moved all the way from the right, the far end, to the left, where Doctor Robotnik stood, slightly smirking. He made a wide gesture with his arms, while taking a seat in front of three large holographic displays.

»This is my mobile lab.«

»...mobile... lab...« She repeated, still looking around, while the door behind her closed itself again.

There was just too much to see. Everything surrounding the doctor really looked like a laboratory. Completely with tools and devices. On the other end Sal spotted a bunch of drones sitting in racks, as well as some other machines. Self destruct, she thought, wondering about that ominous fuse box. As the vehicle hearably set itself in motion, she turned back around.

»So... where are we going anyways?«

The doctor moved his hand over a tablet in his table to make some inputs. On the large display in the middle, a map with a route appeared.

»The military has a little mission to fulfill, giving us the opportunity to test some equipment.«

Sal stepped a little closer to look at the hologram. It looked as if their destination was somewhere in the middle of the forest. Robotnik went on, swiping some pictures in.

»There's a government laboratory in the mountains about 150 miles northeast from here. Some douchebags are researching on long-range radio waves there. That's... all you need to know about that.«

He cleared his throat while Sal gave him a suspicious look.

»Anyways... looks like they built something promising and one of said douchebags took the chance to steal and run off with it.«

»Just like that?«

»Not everyone is capable of creating a perfectly flawless security system, like I do.«

Again she raised a brow. Of course.

»Our job is to find that guy.«

The doctor pointed his finger to the blurry photo of a red-haired man in a lab coat.

»He fled on foot in very rough terrain. It would take him days to reach civilization, so he has to be taking breaks, hiding somewhere.«

»And... how are we going to do that?«

A complacent little smile appeared on the doctor's face as his eyes moved to the right. Sal turned her head, following his gaze. A few meters behind her, a drone was fixated on a work desk. It seemed like any other drone, but as Sal slowly walked towards it, she noticed a small, red triangle over the lens.

»Version 4.0.8. New board, highly improved optical scan unit, better transmission system.«

She had no idea what he was talking about, but she noticed something else. Her finger touched the side of the machine, slowly sliding over a long scratch in the surface.

»...«

»I... didn't get to change the shell. The call came in before I could get to that.«

»Number three...«

This was the one her hand had stuck in. Maybe there was a drop of her dried blood inside this thing even. A weird thought.

»What... you don't have some stupid name for it yet...?«

Sal turned around to find Robotnik still sitting in his chair while smirking with a risen left eyebrow. Somewhere below her stomach a boiling sensation started to form. It crawled up her esophagus and throat and forced it's way out.

»Stupid name...? Well... how about... ›Ivo‹?«

Within a second his facial features slumped down into a dangerously dark frown.

»... what...?«

He stared her down in a way that would make her regret her statement if she wasn't so bugged herself. Even the concerning way he was slowly grinding his teeth, didn't make her back away. Though her heart was racing and she was indeed frightened, Sal just widened her eyes, as if she didn't say anything out of the ordinary. As if that name had no meaning. She was, of course, well aware that she had a problem now. A big one. As she swung back around to walk into the back of the truck, she was sure that he was already calculating all possible ways that she could have gotten to know his name. It was rather unlikely that he knew about Stone's special page. In a way it was almost entertaining to leave him in this unknowing state. Almost. Sal avoided looking his way again. She just laid down in a corner, using her backpack as a pillow and closed her eyes.

»I have to get a little sleep, so... if you'll excuse me...«

»...«

Even though she didn't get an answer, she could still feel him stare. There was some kind of heat in the air. Pretending to sleep would probably be the best option, she thought.

Sal was yawning and stretching her arms as she stepped out of the truck about two hours later. The sound of coarse gravel under her shoes, slowly brought her back to live. Slightly disoriented, she looked around her. They had parked at some kind of rest stop. There were three sparsely lit, wooden buildings to be seen. A small gas station, a diner and a motel. All around that, nothing but spruce. A big wooden sign next to the parking site said ›Welcome to Cold Springs‹.

»...«

Blinking in wonder, she turned around, only to find more forest on the other side of the road. This looked, like a lot of horror films began. Sal almost jumped as Doctor Robotnik rushed past her impatiently. With a suitcase in hand, he stomped towards the motel. As Sal followed him, with five meters of safety distance, she noticed a black SUV standing in front of the house. She knew that this was a government vehicle. Being distracted by it for a moment, she almost stumbled onto the porch. Clearing her throat and straightening herself, she followed the doctor into room 004.

»Good evening Doctor Robotnik.«

A rather short guy in a black suit nodded his head to him while keeping his hands behind his back.

»I hope you arrived here well and-«

»Spare me the crap. What have you got?!«

»...«

Sal could see the man's lower eye lid twitch before he inhaled to form an answer.

»Not very much unfortunately. The dogs did a large-scale search in the area, but the forest is extremely dense. Even with thermal images it is hard to detect anything. A lot of wild life too.«

Robotnik had already turned away from him, putting his suitcase on the table. In the corner of the small motel room, Sal spotted two German shepherds, resting next to the bed. Another agent that sat on a chair had noticed her gaze.

»They are good boys.«

He pointed to them, smiling. Hesitantly, Sal sneaked around the doctor, who was fumbling with a laptop, and approached one of the animals.

»This is Hector. The sleeping one is Angus.«

With a wagging tail, the big dog let the young woman pat it's head.

»... I guess this is a job for your technology.«

»Obviously.« the doctor hissed with an arrogant flavor.

He was looking at his screen and typing in high speed.

»Watch and learn, Agent Lawrence.«

That said, he grabbed the curtain and jerked it aside. Sal stretched her head to look up. The giant truck could be seen, releasing a bunch of drones into the air. The last one took flight with a little delay. She was pretty certain, that this was the upgraded model. The two agents watched in awe as the machines split up and disappeared into the dark.

»...«

»...«

»Now get the hell out! What are you waiting for?!«

Almost in a terrified manner Agent Lawrence fled, followed by his colleague and the dogs.

Sal looked after them, sadly waving Hector goodbye. Then Robotnik's disgruntled gaze hit her like an electric shock.

»And you, make yourself useful!«

Sal winced, almost losing her balance.

»U-uh... and... how?«

She got another look from him. One that seemed to indicate, she had asked the dumbest question of all time.

»...«

»...I... uh...«

»Get me a coffee!«

»O-Okay...!«

Similar to the guys, Sal rushed outside while the doctor turned back to his work, muttering. She forced a lump down her throat, as she made her way to the diner that was just about fifty meters away from the motel. This is not going well, she thought, climbing the stairs and entering the little restaurant. The moment she opened the door, a pleasant, sweet smell filled her nostrils. Somewhere distant, a sizzling pan could be heard between the quiet country music. She let her eyes wander through the cozy, warm room, but the only other customer was en elder man, stirring his cup in the far right corner.

»Welcome! What can I get you?«

A young woman with curly blond hair had appeared behind the counter, happily smiling at Sal. Still damaged by Doctor Robotnik's outburst, it took her a second to collect herself.

»Uh... uhm... a... a coffee, please. To go.«

»Milk, sugar?«

»...sugar. Uh... one cube.«

A nasty little part of her had considered messing it up somehow, but she knew that would make her situation critical to a dangerous degree. She already started to regret her taunt from earlier. Even if he had deserved it.

»Oh, and... give me an ice tea as well.«

The girl turned around to fulfill the order.

»... are you staying in the motel?«

»...uh... yeah.«

Well, kind of.

As she turned back around to set the two cups onto the counter, she looked up, smiling.

»Taking a rest here, with your boyfriend?«

»...«

Sal's jaw dropped open as her brain was trying to decide between denying, blushing or laughing out loud. She definitely wanted to say ›no‹, but quickly realized, that she would have to give another explanation then. And she was pretty sure that she was not allowed to tell the truth.

»... uh... something... like that. Yeah.«

»Ah... enjoy your stay. It's very quiet up here. It can actually be very romantic in a full moon night like this.«

»... huh.«

Sal just stared at her. Again the urge to laugh mixed into a very artificial expression.

A few minutes later, Sal stepped into the gloomy motel room 004 again. As usual, she was completely ignored until she handed the doctor his coffee. Without looking at the young woman, he roughly snatched it from her.

»Finally...!«

While he was grumbling on unintelligibly, Sal went over to the bed to sit down for a moment. Still very tired, she stretched her arms and bent her head back, thinking about this day. Unable to see what Robotnik was doing on his laptop, she felt rather useless. Asking for a task didn't seem like a smart move either. No matter what she said, he would surely counter-attack in one way or another. Sal was wondering how things would be now, if she hadn't taunted him. Before that, he had actually been in a decent mood. At least for his standards. And the day they had been working on the prototype had felt like a somewhat positive experience. Like she had earned just few little plus points. Well, these went down the drain tonight. It actually made her kind of sad. As she listened to the clacking sounds of his keyboard, she dared to observe him for a moment. The way his eyes rapidly flashed from one point to another, while his fingers moved in unbelievable speed. In split seconds, windows popped up and vanished again, almost impossible for anyone to process. Anyone but him. He seemed like a well working machine himself. Almost. Sal held her breath when he briefly stopped typing to tilt his head, causing his neck to click unpleasantly. Just two seconds of silence before he bent forward again to proceed.

»...«

Another moment passed, in which Sal was calculating the chance of getting brutally murdered in this very fitting ambiance, if she made an attempt to fix the situation. Very slowly, as if not to make a sudden noise, she stood up from the bed. He could not possibly get any angrier, could he? Nonsense. Of course he could. Right now he was a hot pot, ready to boil over. Before having to witness that, Sal would rather turn off the stove. If that was even possible at this point. With small steps on the dirty, carpeted floor, she approached him. She looked up, trying to distract herself with the ugly pattern on the ceiling, pretending she was somewhere else, while her hands slipped onto his shoulders. Even with her eyes up, she saw the doctor forming a frown by his reflection in the window. He inhaled, but Sal's fingers had dug into his muscle before he could spit out the sassy comment he was preparing. Instead, he let out a weird little sound, that reminded of a dog choking on a treat. She could tell where that came from. Tense was not enough of a word to describe what was under her hands right now. Like kneading a hard frozen lump of dough, she began to carefully massage, wondering if he had ever gotten that done before. Something told her no. His mouth still half open, eyes staring forward, he kept on typing as if trying to ignore the treatment. His pace however, had dropped dramatically. Compared to ten seconds ago, he now looked like a drunk, trying to write a complicated word. The mere fact that he was being touched, seemed to make him stiffen even more. He didn't get it. So Sal pushed her thumbs down left and right of his spine.

»Grmph...!«

With a twitch, his fingers stopped moving as if she had found his off-switch.

»...«

As she went on, he was trying to reactivate them, but it hardly worked. Only single letters made it onto the screen, as each of her pushes interrupted his breathing mechanic and forced him to blink. A weird kind of satisfaction came over Sal. Had she just shut him up without a word? Without a fight, even?

»...gh...the...hrrrn...«

It was obvious that he was pressured to say something. He always had to. It didn't work. His ›agent‹ worked all the way to the outsides of his shoulders and back in. Slowly, firmly and highly concentrated. After what felt like forever, it finally achieved some effect. He felt more like a well done steak now. She could make that better. At least medium rare. Lost in her thoughts and weirdly motivated, her right hand slid onto the back his neck. Sending her fingers north. Over those short hairs that feel like a rug. Like hypnotized. Almost at his ear.

Like stung by a wasp, Robotnik swung around. Sal jumped in shock and the sudden realization of who she had just almost caressed.

»...«

»...«

He stared at her with an unreadable expression. Appalled almost, but also confused. Frozen with her hands up in the air like a caught burglar, she stared back. The doctor was breathing strangely for a guy that had been sitting for half an hour. Sal swallowed a lump.

»...I... uhm... just...«

With an unexpectedly quick move, Robotnik got up and almost lunged forward. Once more he was towering over the thunderstruck girl. Pierced by his demonic glare, she felt like shrinking even more. That was it. Sal was expecting death. As he got uncomfortably close to her again, she closed her eyes in defense. Just when she was certain something was about to happen, an alarming beep came out of the doctor's laptop, making him turn his head. Sal blinked. As the sound repeated, Robotnik rushed back to his seat.

»...what the...!«

»...«

Hesitatingly, Sal squinted over his shoulder. She could see a map with several yellow triangles, indicating some kind of problem. At least that's what it looked like.

»... that is... impossible...!«

»... what's wrong...?«

Now he nervously typed some kind of code, while more icons appeared.

»The drones are off the radar.«

»... what? Wait... all of them?«

As he looked up for a second, it beeped one last time.

»... yes, all of them.«

The doctor growled lowly, while cracking his finger-bones.

»...«

Something about that scared Sal. What did that mean? The triangles were scattered all over the map. It didn't seem to make any sense.

»So they disappeared in different locations, at the same time...?«

»They are there still. Something shut them down.«

»What could do that?«

Robotnik was scratching his chin while visibly thinking.

»That can only be caused by some kind of electromagnetic interference.«

He made an annoyed hissing sound, closed the laptop and got up again, to stomp out of the room. Sal quickly followed him outside.

»W-wait! What does that mean? What are we going to do now?«

»We, of course, are going to find my badniks!«

»Whoa, wait, we are actually going there?!«

In a flash, he swung around, to give her a burning look.

»Someone, most likely that joke of a scientist, has possibly damaged my precious machines! So yes, we are going there!«

»In... person...?«

That sounded awfully creepy. They were talking about somewhere in the forest. The one that was dense and had a lot of wildlife, like Agent Lawrence had said.

»... you don't seem to get the picture here. We have no drones left!«

»...«

»And as long as this presumptive transient signal is around, they cannot reactivate themselves.«

That said, he was about to march on, when Sal snapped her fingers.

»Hold on...! You are wrong!«

With a frown, he turned back to her.

»... excuse me?«

»We still have a drone!«

»...«

»We have Shiro!«

»...«

In a mechanical fashion, the upper half of his body rotated towards the truck. Three seconds passed, before it came back. Squinting his eyes, grinning like a true villain, he whispered.

»... we have Shiro.«