Man! You'd think with what's currently going on in the world, there'd be plenty of time writing and uploading stuff. Guess it's just the opposite... :|.

Thanks everyone for reading up to this point :).

Chapter 6: Access Denied

Sonic lay down on a weather-worn rock protruding from a grassy incline. The blue sky above him was spotted with puffy clouds, lazily pushed along by a soft autumnal breeze.

It turned out that a 'moderately warm air duct' was exactly what he'd needed to fall asleep on the spot the past night. When he'd woken up again, the inner yard of the museum was already filled with people, blaring kids included. No guard guy in sight, obviously, so he'd decided to check out the mountains instead and headed straight for the snowy-white tips that rose from behind the hills surrounding the city. If for some reason he wasn't back on Mobius by night, there'd still be plenty enough time to catch up with the museum guy again.

By now though half the day had passed, and he hadn't found even so much as a clue to where the stupid Post could've been. He'd started by going in circles, gradually checking the whole area and looking for some kind of chasm. But while 'running around real fast' was totally the solution to his problem for a change, running around on a basically empty stomach was also more exhausting than he cared to admit. And he wasn't even halfway through with the area.

He wasn't exactly starving, of course—there were berries and nuts and all the other green stuff you'd find in the outdoors. But by now he was extra-careful not to ruin his stomach again, and that left him with only tiny portions of whatever he found until he knew whether it affected him or not.

…And that stupid bruise he got the other night was bugging him whenever he took a moment to rest up. Not exactly top conditions for a long-going search.

But maybe he wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer. The Star Post had to be somewhere around here, and he knew he had more than enough left in him to make it there. Then he just had to make the thing take him home.

Easy peasy…

Sonic sighed then hopped to his feet again with a grunt. He looked down onto a vast landscape of grassy hills, forests and lakes, occasionally broken up by a lonely road or a river gleaming in the sun's rays that made it through the clouds. He'd made it pretty high up already, but he was still way beneath the snow line. Hopefully the crag in question wanted to stay out of the cold as much as he did.

He stretched a bit, then continued along the incline, trying to keep track of the places he'd checked before and pulling his circle around the mountain a little tighter each time he passed a landmark. He was sure he'd find the thing eventually. If it didn't work out he'd just check out all the other spots he'd memorized from the museum's map.

Still, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that the one he was heading for was the only shot he had. The weather was probably about to get less friendly, and he really had no idea how to go on about communicating with the local aliens. He knew he could figure these things out if he needed to—worrying hadn't ever helped anyone after all—but still…

There was movement in the corner of his eye, and Sonic slid to a jog, scanning the area. Below, a mountain road widened into a small rest stop sticking out from the mountainside, and a family of three had picked the spot for a rest. It was kinda idyllic, with a handful of trees standing at its edges, casting their shade without obscuring the wide view into the valley.

The mom and her daughter headed towards a crammed car, arms full with things picked up from a single wooden picnic table where a man, probably the father, loomed over a spread-out map. He absently picked a ring-shaped pastry from a box that stood at the map's side and took a bite.

Sonic's foot slipped on a stretch of rubble and he instantly ducked behind a boulder, realizing he'd unconsciously inched closer. The guy down there had not less than two of the things Sonic could've used hours ago. Food, and a frickin' map. Something told him though, that going down there and asking nicely wasn't going to get him any further.

…Then again, there was always the 'swing brooms first, ask questions later' way of doing stuff.

Sonic stepped out from behind the boulder, skidded down the incline, somersaulted across the narrow road, then slid to a halt on the bench opposite of the man who, the moment he looked up, jumped from his seat as if spikes had grown from it. He stumbled backwards and barely avoided falling across the bench by performing a clumsy dance, still holding the half-eaten pastry between his fingers when he regained his balance.

The smaller one of his companions turned around from the car's door. »Dad, ha—?«

Sonic lifted a finger, already a quip on his lips, but then decided it was useless and simply grabbed the map and one of the ring-things from the box. He zipped down the embankment and high onto the wide branch of a tree where he put the map across his lap and inspected the (almost) unscathed pastry in his fingers. It seemed to have been made of a tan dough and had a dark topping that looked a whole lot like chocolate. Plus, it was the shape of a ring. Nothing could go wrong.

Sonic bit into the pastry and his mouth almost shriveled from the onslaught of flavor. For a moment, he could only uselessly succumb to his senses. Everything was too sweet, too soft, too frickin' chocolate. Then he devoured the thing with a speed that would've made his own feet jealous.

He was still licking his sticky fingers when he heard a bunch of noises from below. At the foot of the tree the one Sonic had decided to be the father had begun smacking his lips in intervals, occasionally throwing a 'Hey' into the mix. It looked like he was trying to lure him to the ground like you would do with a pet, and he was looking ridiculous at it. The only thing that kept Sonic from simply ignoring the man was the still half-filled pastry box he kept shaking in Sonic's general direction.

Sonic swallowed.

He tore his eyes away from the sweets and unfurled the map, scanning it for landmarks. There'd been a couple of unique spots on his way, and so far he was pretty sure he'd be able to point them out even on a foreign map like this.

From the corner of his eye he noticed the man deflate, now looking up at him with a frown. A moment later his daughter came jogging down the embankment, red locks bouncing, and joined him beneath the tree.

»Whoa!« She looked up, eyes bulging, then turned to look at her father. »What's that?«

The man shook his head. »Good question. Next question! We need to get our map back.« He put the box in her hands, rolled up his sleeves, and made for the lowest branch.

His daughter put the box on the ground and hurried past him. »I'll get it!« she said, already pulling herself up the lowest branch.

»Whoa, hold up.« He grabbed her by the waist and set her down again. »It's bad enough you want to climb that high up, but—« he seemed to struggle a bit. »What if it attacks you?«

She looked up, doubtful, then eyed her father suspiciously. »What if it attacks you?«

»Well, I'm bigger,« he said.

»What if it runs away because you're bigger?« She crossed her arms.

»I—« He paused, humming in thought and scanning the tree once more. »Well, I might be able to catch it on the ground if it tries to get away…« He nodded slowly, facing his daughter again. »You can climb. But be careful, alright? Start with the two branches over there.« He pointed.

Sonic had watched from the corner of his eye while trying to fold the map to a more manageable size and at the same time trying not to get too distracted. He could've gotten a bit farther away from them in the first place, obviously, but now he didn't want to stir them up a second time. He'd already narrowed down his current position to a spot at the map's lower left corner, anyway, and all he had to do now was align it with the places he'd spotted on the way up here and point out his destination.

…Unfortunately, nothing else on the map looked particularly familiar, let alone like any of the drawings he'd seen at the museum. If he wanted to get a proper sense of direction, he had to look at the map as a whole, not small portions of it. No wonder the guy down there had it on a table—the frickin' thing was the size of a tent! Sonic repositioned and unfolded the map a bit further, trying to use his branch and the trunk to lay it down and have some sort of stand. But the edges of the map folded away from him before he could get a good look at any of the upper areas. Sonic groaned.

His eyes met with the girl that had already managed to scale a branch on his level opposite of the trunk. She began to inch closer on all fours.

Sonic carefully drew in the map, getting ready to retreat and find another spot. At this rate it was going to take ten times as long to make them understand he was just borrowing the thing for a moment, than to just… borrow it for a moment.

The girl wrapped her arms around the trunk, brows furrowed in concentration. Her eyes briefly met Sonic's again, then she extended a leg trying to reach his branch. The father tensing up was almost palpable.

»Guys, what's taking so long?« The voice belonged to the probably-mom coming down the embankment. She adjusted a pair of thin-rimmed glasses as her eyes were drawn to the tip of the tree. »What the—Carrie!«

The girl craned her neck, legs spread between the two branches and arms still wrapped around the trunk. She opened her mouth for a reply, then her fingers lost their grip, tearing pieces of bark with them as her upper body veered away from the trunk and her eyes went wide.

The world ran in slow-motion. For a moment, the girl hung suspended between the two branches, and the two adults below stood frozen in mid-scream. Sonic let go of the map and leaped forward, closing his fingers around her still outstretched forearm. He had just enough sense to get down and wrap his legs around the branch, then gravity took hold and his face and chest smacked into the wood, her entire weight tearing into his arm and shoulder. She looked up at him with wide eyes, gasping as she tried to claw her fingers around his arm and eventually clinging to him with both her hands. She struggled to reach one of the branches with her dangling legs, but only came as close as the tip of her shoe.

"Hey, wanna hold still for a moment?" Sonic said through gritted teeth. His legs and his free arm tightened around the branch and the muscles in his shoulder burned. She wasn't as heavy as he'd expected, but that still didn't mean he made for a good counter-weight. If he dropped her now, she'd probably come out alright, but she was still at least twice her height above ground.

Her father spread his arms below his dangling daughter. »I'm here. I'll catch you.«

She took a tentative glance downwards then back at Sonic and swallowed. »Okay.«

The man searched Sonic's eyes and gave him and intense look. It was the second intentional attempt at communication Sonic had had in over a week that actually seemed to work. He nodded.

When the guy had gotten into position, Sonic loosened his grip and the girl dropped, landing with a shriek in her father's arms and on her feet. She spun around to hug him tightly, then let go again to rush into the arms of her mother.

»What were you thinking?« the mother said. Sonic wasn't sure whether she was addressing the dad or their daughter.

Sonic sat up again, massaging his aching shoulder. That was another bruise he could've done without, but maybe it would at least earn him an uninterrupted look into the map. He glanced downwards to the halfway folded heap on the ground, then noticed the father's eyes on him.

He could practically see the guy's thoughts play out on his forehead.

They both lunged for the fallen map at the same time.

Sonic landed right beside it, took a roll to dampen his fall and midway grabbed the map by one of it's stacked ends. When he got to his feet, Dad had grabbed the other end of the map and gave it a tug—determined, but careful not to break it. Sonic held tight, trying his best not to glare but probably failed miserably.

»Oh, come on.« A tug. »Believe me, I'm glad you caught my kid, but I really don't have time for this right now—« Dad tugged again, then sighed and let his arm drop, map still in a firm grip. He stared into the sky for a moment.

Something tackled into Sonic, instantly clamping on to him. The girl had jogged over and decided to pull him into a hug. A set of deeply ingrained 'being glomped' and 'no-I-don't-want-to-frickin'-suffocate'-reflexes from that one hedgehog girl that had followed him through most of his 9th school year threatened to surface, but their daughter just calmly kneeled there, arms around his neck and rubbing her cheek into his. She'd even managed to avoid his quills.

When that brief moment of almost-panic passed, Sonic realized he'd never been more aware of feeling greasy than at exactly this point in his life. He was stunned enough to let the map slip from his fingers.

He grimaced, trying to figure out how to gently remove her arms from his body. "Don't—ugh."

Her mom came to his rescue, pulling the quietly protesting girl to her feet.

»—I don't think he's dangerous, either,« the mom said. »But we need to be careful before we know more, okay?«

The kid nodded, not looking particularly fazed when Sonic smoothed down his cheek fur again. He felt as if he'd fallen into a tank of cream or something. Why was water so lousy at actually getting you clean? It wasn't that he didn't try, but, man. At this point he was doubly glad he'd held on to those pants. Sonic suppressed a shudder.

Meanwhile, the other three were having a discussion that apparently concluded in Dad giving the map to his daughter (frown included). She stepped in front of Sonic and held the now folded map out with both hands.

»Thanks for catching me,« she said. »But, uh, we need it back, so don't run off. Please?« She looked kinda hopeful after that, chewing her lip. Both parents eyed him carefully.

Also, Mom had gone and picked up the pastry box. Dang.

Sonic felt like saying something, but any attempt at picking up their tone was already enough of a gamble, they probably wouldn't have much luck picking up his either. He settled for a nod (which at least had worked before) and gently took the map from the girl's still outstretched hands.

She retreated and Sonic simply nodded again before heading back to the parking lot and the table. If he put the map onto the dirt now, Dad would probably have a stroke or something. He earned a collective startle the moment he got into motion, but they seemed to follow calmly enough after that.

Sonic got back to the table and spread out that frickin' bedsheet of a map, trying to get a sense of location again. Somewhere behind his back he sensed the three emerge from the embankment. If he knew at least a few basic phrases, all of this would've been so stupidly easy. But body language (and common sense) simply weren't enough to explain a concept like 'borrowing'.

…Then again, his body language when he snatched the map in the first place, had probably pretty clearly told the opposite…

The two adults quietly started arguing.

The daughter appeared by his side, drawing his attention with the open pastry box in her hands. She met his eyes, then placed it on the table and crouched down at one of its bench-less ends, propping her chin onto her forearms.

Sonic licked his lips. He itched to pick out one of the two remaining rings, but even after only one of those, he could already feel himself craving for something salty to balance it out.

Licking stones really, really didn't cut it.

The girl extended an arm and picked one of the rings, barely keeping her eyes off of him. »You can have the last one.« She said and nodded towards the box.

Sonic swallowed. Did it matter? One heap of sugar more or less? It was food either way. He picked the last ring and took a bite, this time prepared for the taste. He tried his best to take it slow.

She seemed satisfied, quietly watching him as he scanned the map. Now that Sonic saw the thing in its entirety, it was clear why he couldn't figure out where he was before. He'd tried to match the places from his memory to the wrong scale. Knowing that, it was easy to find the rest stop along one of the roads. He gave the girl a quick glance to get her attention, then pointed to a spot on the map just to make sure.

"We're here, right?" he said, gesturing at the rest stop.

She shoved the box aside and got up to lean across the table. After a moment of consideration she hummed and nodded. »Yes,« she said.

»Yes,« he repeated. It seemed like a good word to remember.

»Wow, that's cool.« The girl bounced upright. »Can you say my name? I'm Carrie.« She looked at him, smiling, but also kind of expectant. What was that about now? Sonic played the words back and forth in his head, trying to make out a pattern that was more than just 'yup, that's a language'. But nothing made any more sense than before. He shrugged. "Guess it doesn't just work that way, huh?"

She frowned, but it looked as if she had her mind set on something.

Sonic chose the momentary silence to get another look at the map. There had to be at least something that resembled the place he was looking for. He tried to retrace his path around the mountain to get a better sense of the area, but reached the edge of the map before recognizing anything useful. A couple of tiny arrows pointed outwards, and he followed them flipping the map on its back. On this side, in one of the map's corners, a smaller, much less detailed overview told him he only had one piece of many. Sonic groaned.

The girl followed his gaze and her face lit up again. »Do you need those? They're in the car. I can get them.« She looked at him somewhat hopefully, then pointed a little more hopefully at the pieces of the map overview.

Sonic stared for a moment as he put the pieces together.

"Uh, yeah, that'd be—yes!" He nodded.

She grinned and hurried over to the still open car where she flopped across the driver seat and began rummaging in some sort of compartment.

Her father came rushing past. »Carrie! What are you doing? Don't give it more stuff, you know we don't have all day!«

A muffled reply came from inside.

The mother had followed them for a few steps, first looking concerned then gradually amused. Midway though she appeared to change her mind and headed towards Sonic instead, studying him for a moment with one elbow set into her palm and her thumb tapping her lips. Sonic straightened a bit, still standing on top of the bench. He was at about eye-level this way.

She cocked her head, face somewhere stuck between a frown and a smile. »You clearly get what we're doing here, hm?« It didn't seem as if she expected an answer. »But you're not speaking English, are you…?« She began pacing, developing the telltale signs of a person thinking aloud—about him, no doubt.

Strange, how being in a foreign Zone and not speaking the language wasn't even half as frustrating as not knowing what those guys were talking about. For all he cared, it was about as likely for her right now to wonder whether they had another bag of chips in the car or whether they should deliver him to some kind of alien detention department.

…It was still one heck of a lot of a better reaction than trying to tie him to a bollard, though—above water of all places.

Shame he probably would have to choose between spending more time with them, and finally reaching the one thing that would give him another chance at getting home.

The girl emerged from the car, triumphantly holding a red folder into the air.

»Oh, nonono, that one stays here.«

She skipped out of her father's reach and hurried back to the table. »He's only looking,« she cried. The man threw his hands into the air in a universal display of parental helplessness.

Sonic hesitated as she put the case down in front of him. Even though her mother appeared to be somewhat curious about him, he had a strong feeling those three were actually in a hurry for something. If this was Mobius, he'd have already sent them on their way and looked for someone else to give him directions—no one had to go out of their way just to save him some time with something he knew he'd eventually manage on his own. But they seemed to be in for it now. If he left now, he'd have wasted their time and would've learned nothing.

The father joined them at the table, arms tightly crossed. »So is he looking at it yet?« He gave his daughter a stern look, but seemed to fail at being genuinely angry.

Her mother scoffed. »Don't make such a fuss. Ten minutes more or less won't make much of a difference.«

»They will if we want to check-in on time.«

She shrugged. »You were the one who didn't want to borrow Brian's GPS.«

The girl sat down on the bench across from Sonic and propped her head on her elbows again. Her father seemed to be torn between curiosity and impatience, and her mother observed Sonic with an almost analytical calm. She shared a smile with her daughter.

Sonic took the case and began picking through the stack of folded maps. There wasn't much he could do other than try and match them with the stuff he remembered. He picked one that connected to the one on the table and spread it out on top. The girl rose from her seat and stretched out the map's edges on her side, then began studying it with an air of knowledge.

Mom closed in on her husband. »I wonder what he's looking for,« she asked in a low voice.

»Well,« the man grumbled, arms still crossed tightly. »The map's upside down, so whatever it is, it's gonna take a while.«

She arched both eyebrows. »You're not the least bit curious? I can't believe something like this even exists,« she whispered.

His lips formed a line. »I am. It's just—« He sighed through his nose. »…I went and set her up for a skiing course at 2pm, and it's gonna become a really close call if we don't keep going.«

The woman's eyes grew wide. »What? Why didn't you tell me before?«

»Surprise?« He shrugged.

She shook her head, vaguely gesturing towards the table. »Don't worry. If something like this would've happened to me as a kid, I would've forgotten about skiing for the next three months.«

»True.« He chuckled. »But by now I'm only waiting for her to ask us if she can keep him or something.«

They were quiet for another while, then the woman seemed to be struck by something. »Didn't we bring a camera?«

»Huh, right.« He snapped his fingers. »Damn, it's in the trunk!« The man turned and strode towards the car, then paused midway when his daughter called out.

»I think he got it!«

He returned to the table, leaning over it with his hands behind his lower back.

Sonic had overlapped two maps to complete a path from one of the landmarks he remembered to a spot that came closest to the shape he'd seen at the museum. The man seemed amused, turning towards his daughter. »If you say so. Those two maps don't match anything near here.«

»I think he's smarter than that.« The girl crossed her arms much like her father had before. Then she added: »Can we take him there?« She pointed to the 'u'.

»No.«

That reply came a little fast.

»Awww, come on!«

»No,« he repeated a little more thoughtfully. »This is really far out and we can't afford another detour.«

»Guys,« mom's voice caught their collective attention. She'd left the table and now had one of those brick-for-cameras in her hands, taking a picture the moment everyone looked up.

Welp, that had to happen eventually.

»Your father's right,« she said, joining them at the table again and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

The girl pouted, eyes searching the map, but then nodded. Her parents exchanged a look.

Sonic scanned the map one last time, then attempted to fold the gigantic sheet back into pocket size. The man immediately snatched the thing from his hands.

"Guess I'll be going then." Sonic thumbed over his shoulder. "Thanks, guys." He was about to hop off but the girl jumped to her feet. She looked ready to climb the table, then hesitated, trying hard not to pout. Sonic paused.

The last time Sonic had seen that look was when he'd tried to talk Miles out of another trip to Bingo Highway. The kid had gotten sick all over Sonic's shoes the first time they were there, and Sonic reeally hadn't been in for a sequel. In the end he'd given in and made a bet, after which Miles had to learn and cook chili dogs for the next five weeks. Sonic could never put together how someone who flew loop-de-loops in a plane on a daily basis could be so queasy.

For some reason 'the look' worked pretty well on their faces, too.

It didn't have to remind him of chili dogs of all things though.

Sonic absently scratched the fur behind his ear. Another hug was positively out of the question, but maybe… He extended his hand across the table.

"That's how it works, right?" he said with half-shrug.

She gave the offered hand an odd look, then took it as if it could disappear any second. She shook it a couple of times with a determined look on her face. Sonic fought with a grin.

»Goodbye,« she said when the shaking was done.

»…Goodbye,« he repeated, and her lips curled into a smile.

Sonic gave a two-fingered salute, then took off towards higher ground without looking back.

#

He reached the edge of a steep, rugged crag forming an arc around a patch of lush grassland below, where a flock of greyish-white, scraggly-looking animals hung out in the afternoon sun. Around the upper edge of the crag, a closed line of trees marked the beginning of an uphill forest that almost seemed to radiate from within whenever the clouds gave way to a ray of sunlight.

Sonic took in a deep breath of crisp mountain air, taking in the view. He'd expected to discover a cave up here, but now that he saw the place it seemed like a real waste to not put the Star Post into a spot where it could overlook everything. From his vantage point though, he neither saw a cave entrance, nor a Star Post out in the open.

Sonic began rounding the crag, checking for a spot to climb down without making a major detour.

Now that he thought about it: how lucky was he anyway to have ended up on a planet with breathable air and decent gravity? That could've gone a lot worse.

Then again, what would've been the point of putting a Star Post in a spot that meant instant death on arrival? He was setting the bar way too low here. All in all he could've just as well ended up in Gigan Rocks or Windy Valley. But nope. Aliens.

The world went black.

A cold feeling crept up his neck and his inner eye lit up with a wide view of the area. He floated, looking down on an arched crag bathed in white moonlight. The Star Post stood near the crag's edge in a small clearing overlooking the valley, tiny spots of light from a group of fireflies dancing around it.

A soft, electrical hum hung in the air as Sonic's brain caught up with what had happened.

He was there.

The Star Post couldn't be more than a couple of steps away.

He'd found the damned thing. And it still worked.

Now he had to make the most of it.

At the corners of his vision the familiar overlay of symbols and controls appeared. There was a gauge to his right, made up of green segments, a choppily scrolling text running bottom to top to his left, and a—red writing flashing in the center of the image?

Everything broke apart as if he suddenly had bad reception.

Sonic's stomach lurched and he blinked his eyes back into the daylight, swallowing down the latent nausea that he hadn't expected to feel again. When he straightened, he looked at a wall of trees and scrubs that he either hadn't properly noticed before or he'd somehow approached while he was out. The Star Post had to be behind there. No way he'd miss the thing gearing up now. Sonic broke his way through the foliage.

The Star Post stood in the dim of a now overgrown clearing, entangled with veins and roots, bright paint blistering wherever they grew. The cage at the bottom had a mass of twigs and tendrils stuck through its bars, rendering the thing unmovable even if it wanted to. Sonic had no idea whether that vision thing was any indicator for the Post gearing up anytime soon (in the end, it hadn't helped the one on the island, and he couldn't remember seeing any vision from the one on Mobius, anyway), but obviously nothing was ever going to happen if he left it overgrown like that.

Sonic got to work, pulling out branches and tearing off tendrils from the bars and out of the gaps below. More paint came loose and revealed seemingly untouched metal underneath. Whatever those things were made of, it was made to last.

He pulled out one last tilted root, ignoring the fact that the Star Post's cage hadn't even so much as budged since he'd started clearing it out—but there was probably just something still stuck in there that he hadn't gotten out yet. He threw the loose root aside then got into a crouch to inspect it from up close.

The cage spun.

It was a sudden, wild burst of motion, spraying Sonic with bits of wood and debris from every gap of the strange mechanism at the bottom.

He dropped to his behind, blinking and flailing about, then scrambled to his feet again, heart racing with anticipation. This was it! Sonic stared up at the sphere where those portals apparently opened up around and banished all thoughts that even remotely connected to 'island' to the very back of his mind.

The spinning stopped as suddenly as it started.

"What?" Sonic stared at the cage. "No!" He kicked it with his toes, gentle at first, then a bit more firmly. "You're not supposed to stop now!" He grabbed one of the struts, pushing and pulling both ways in an attempt to get the thing moving again. But it only budged the tiniest bit, as if the mechanism was now completely cleared out of even the last bit of dirt that could've interfered, but someone had put a bar into it to block it—just like with the one on the island.

"Oh, come on." Sonic threw his hands in the air. "Can't you stupid thing be a bit more clear about what you want from me?" He paced a couple of steps, feeling his fists clench in frustration, then he kicked a random stone through the foliage and far across the vale.

Somewhere in the distance an animal bleated.

Sonic slumped down against one of the trees, bumping the back of his head against its trunk. He had no idea what he'd expected to happen today, but, Chaos, the thing gearing up then instantly stopping again was even worse than it not doing anything at all. For all he knew the most these things had done in the past centuries was sparkle in the sun. So seeing fricking visions around them should really mean to a lot more than just… slightly less nothing…

Sonic groaned, dragging himself to his feet again and giving the Star Post another once-over. Had he really never heard anything about people seeing stuff near these things? All he came up with were people visiting old Echidna temples and ruins back in the day, hoping for some sort of 'divine afflatus' or something (man, he'd actually remembered the word). Maybe this was the kind of stuff they'd seen back then—only that it didn't exactly feel 'divine'. It was more like some kind of virtual reality game minus the glasses.

…Wait a sec.

Would that mean Star Posts were actually computers of some sort? That would make a lot more sense. There wasn't anything magical or divine about them—the Echidnas were supposed to be super-advanced after all—it was tech! …Only tech that had never exactly looked particularly advanced.

(There were also bunch of not-so-nice ideas about the latter. But they were about stuff that happened like four centuries ago and Sonic had always enjoyed the resulting stories about magical megalomaniac Floating Island bad guys more than the actual history they were involved in…)

Man, where was Miles when he needed him?

The kid would've probably figured everything out days ago. Seeing those visions had already felt like a game back on the island. But Sonic had been so focused on everything being kind of 'mystical', that he just hadn't considered anything else before. The question was: could he use that info somehow?

Sonic closed his eyes and tried to recall the things he'd seen. In its vision, the island had looked a lot more barren, while this place had looked a lot more… magical? And for some reason he'd seen it at night even though it was daytime right now. It seemed safe to say that those images didn't exactly show the real thing. It looked more as if they showed the place at another point in time—or maybe just the way someone had wanted them to be seen.

Then there were those symbols and gauges and all the other stuff he couldn't decipher. He had no idea what the letters meant, but he'd seen them before on all kinds of Echidna stuff. It was annoying to know that he now had yet another language he'd really like to understand. On the fat chance he ever got home, he was gonna check through all the history books he could find.

Sonic opened his eyes again with a huff. He'd found a Star Post, and it seemed to be still intact. Two days ago he thought it was all he needed to know, but now it seemed as if he'd learned absolutely nothing. Some reassessment was in order.

He knew this wasn't the only shot he had. According to the museum's map there were at least two dozen other Star Posts on this part of the continent alone. Also, with the maps he'd studied today, he now had a good enough grasp of his current surroundings that he knew of at least two other spots potentially close to a cave he could head off to without checking in with the museum again. Trying to find walrus-guy was probably still his best course of action—aside from getting lucky (or, finally figuring out what the deal with those visions was…). Anything else seemed to involve getting in touch with more of the people from around here, and while he now knew that they were a bit more fragile than most Mobians he knew, he now also knew that they did pack a kick. He was gonna leave any alien encounters up to chance for a bit longer.

In any case, he wasn't going to stick around and wait for something to happen. The weather was nice up here right now, but if the day's air was crisp, the nights would become downright chilly. If he needed to check out this Star Post again, he could get back here whenever he wanted.

…At least that was what he told himself.

Now the only thing he had to decide was whether to head further north, or more towards the south-east. But if this planet was anything like Mobius, he'd rather check out the north first before it actually became any colder.

Sonic idly rubbed the bruise he'd received the other night, then took off along the edge of the crag.