Thankfully, this time there was no ambush waiting for Tails when he stepped through the portal. Instead, he was met by the chill of the space station—a welcome relief after the heat and humidity of Sweet Mountain—and an empty room full of blinking consoles. The strange-but-familiar non-sound was back, easing a tension Tails hadn't even realized he had. For a moment he thought Sonic had run off and left him behind again, but then he saw him standing at a window nearby. Tails quietly walked over to join him, peering up at Sonic's face. He was expecting the thoughtful, distracted expression he'd had in the space elevator. But instead Sonic's face was just… blank.

"Sonic?" Tails asked cautiously. "Are you alright?"

Sonic jumped at the sound of his voice—or, rather, he jumped a second after Tails spoke, almost like he was experiencing lag. He whirled around, a smile plastered on his face. It looked… strange. Not exactly forced, but not quite right, either. "Of course! Never better!" His voice, too, sounded oddly strained.

"…Right," Tails said doubtfully. He's probably just tired. "Maybe we should take a break. There's not really a day-night cycle up here, but it's probably been about a day now. We can head to the next planet after taking a rest."

To his surprise, Sonic agreed easily. "That sounds great! I'll go look for some food." He sped off without waiting for Tails to respond.

Tails waited a minute, and then, when Sonic didn't return immediately, exhaled shakily. Sonic was acting way too strange. Maybe it was just a side-effect of… whatever Eggman had done to turn him back to normal, but what kind of side-effect? Was he just acting oddly, or was there more going on? Normally Tails hated keeping things from his brother, especially important things, but until he figured out what exactly Eggman had done to him, it would be better to do his digging without Sonic peering over his shoulder.

Tails glanced at the door once more, ears perked, but there was no sound of Sonic coming back. He must be taking his time finding the food. Maybe he really was tired. At least that gave Tails time to look around on his own. He surveyed the room, trying to think where Eggman would keep confidential information. He knew one door opened to a corridor that would eventually lead back to the space elevator, and another door led to a dead end in the snack bar area. There were a few other doors, but one stood out to him. It was made of a different, sturdier metal than the others, and didn't automatically open when Tails walked near it. A keypad was set in the wall next to it. Bingo.

Tails hurried over and pressed the "open door" button. Locked, as expected. He grabbed his Miles Electric and a screwdriver and got to work. It took longer than he'd expected, which hopefully meant there was actually something useful on the other side, but also meant he kept nervously glancing over his shoulder to see if Sonic was coming back. No hedgehogs appeared. He wasn't sure if he was worried or relieved.

The door finally swooshed open, and Tails hurried inside, tucking his screwdriver away. The room lights didn't turn on when he entered—probably because he broke in—, so he took out a flashlight and clicked it on. The white beam cut through the darkness, illuminating sleek metal walls covered by large black monitors. A colorful console in Eggman's typical style curled along one side of the room.

Tails approached cautiously. His tails lashed nervously with anticipation of an ambush, but none came. He touched the console gently, then sprang back as it came alive. Lights lit up along its surface and the monitors came online, casting the room in an artificial glow. The central monitor showed a simple lock screen, asking for a password.

When nothing else happened, Tails sighed in relief. As long as it didn't trigger a self destruct sequence or anything, he could handle breaking into a computer. Simple enough. Not to say Eggman's security was easy to get by, but Tails had experience—more experience than anyone else on the planet, or any other planet for that matter. It didn't take much longer to get access to the computer than it had to open the door. The lock screen disappeared, and Tails chewed his lip, waiting to see if he'd successfully broken in or if he'd triggered a failsafe. He grinned as the monitor changed to display a simple message: "welcome back, Dr. Eggman."

No longer worried about triggering a self-destruct sequence, Tails quickly pulled up what Eggman (or, more likely, one of his robot proxies, since Eggman himself seldom bothered with such minutiae) had last been looking at. The monitors changed to display several different readouts. Each was labeled for a different location in Eggman's "amusement park". They looked similar to the readouts on the consoles back in the portal room, but with less colorful graphics and more actual information. Information Eggman didn't want his guests to know. Tails immediately seized on one particular graph: an energy output from some sort of generator. The robot generator, Tails guessed. There were other readouts for badnik production and construction progress, but what really caught his attention was two progress bars. One was labeled "area roboticization progress" and the other "planetary roboticization progress".

Roboticization. The word sent a chill down Tails's spine. Is that what had been happening to the jungle in Tropical Resort? Metal spreading through the plant life like a disease. So it was the robot generator's doing. Eggman was trying to not only enslave entire planets, but turn them entirely to machines. Why? The answer came easily, and with it a churning sensation in Tails's gut. A practice run. Perfecting the technology before turning it on Earth. Eggman had always wanted complete control of the planet, to turn it into his personal "Eggmanland". And with these "robot generators", he was frighteningly close to his goal.

That's why we're stopping him, Tails reminded himself. We already destroyed two of the robot generators.

Tails looked at the Tropical Resort readouts to reassure himself… and his stomach lurched. No, he had to be reading this wrong. He scanned the graph again, and then again. Checked the time of the latest data receival. It was from just half an hour ago, and as he watched another data packet arrived. The roboticization progress bar jumped up by a few decimals.

The robot generator was still running.

Tails's gaze swiveled to the Sweet Mountain readout. The same thing. The generator was still outputting energy and badniks. It was still roboticizing the planet. It was still running.

Tails stumbled back, bile rising in his throat. It was one thing to suspect it, but another to have the cold data staring him in the face. His mind scrambled for an explanation—maybe Sonic had made a mistake, maybe he'd thought they weren't working and hadn't realized they were—but all he could think of was Sonic insisting he'd taken care of the generators. Insisted they go on to the next world without letting Tails check for himself.

Sonic was lying to him.

Acting on autopilot, Tails shut the computers down and scrubbed any traces of his presence. As the monitors went black he scrambled out of the room, struggling to steady his breathing. The door shut and locked behind him. He wanted nothing more than to flee the console room entirely, but he forced himself to stay and check he hadn't left evidence of hacking the lock. His hands were shaking. Why would Sonic lie about this? Maybe it was a mistake. It had to be a mistake. Sonic would never willingly leave those planets to be slowly enslaved to Eggman's will. Right?

Footsteps pounded in the corridor, and Tails hurried away from the door to pretend he was examining a nearby console. The footsteps were familiar, but now he could have sworn the rhythm sounded off. No, he had to be imagining things. He had to be. It was still Sonic. He wouldn't lie about this. Why would he lie? What was Tails missing?

"Hey Tails!" Sonic called cheerfully. His voice didn't sound weirdly strained like it had before, and his grin looked normal. Maybe Tails had been imagining it earlier. "I found some food, do you want some?"

"I'm good," Tails said, smiling queasily.

"Are you?" Sonic asked, brow furrowing in concern. "You don't look so good."

"I'm feeling kind of nauseous from all the traveling," Tails admitted. It wasn't entirely a lie. He did feel sick, but it wasn't from the portals. "I'm gonna go lie down." He couldn't make himself look at Sonic's face any longer. It looked so much like Sonic, sounded so much like Sonic, but… why would Sonic lie?

"Sounds good!" Sonic said brightly. "Get some rest, buddy."

Tails nodded and walked to the opposite side of the room, choosing a corner near the portals and beneath a window. Looking out at the stars outside, he felt something in him settle. They still shone like they always had, glittering points of white in the black sky. Just like they had back on West Side Island as his mother told him how one day they'd fly far, far away. Just like they had as he and Sonic flew around the world in the Tornado. Just like they had when he was being carried home through quiet city streets, when he heard Sonic call him "little brother" for the first time. Just like they had sitting on a grassy hill, laughing and talking and seeing the side of Sonic the world never did. The stars had always shone above him just the same, whether in a clear black sky far from civilization, or in a sky smudged by smog and city lights. The stars never changed.

Feeling a little less nauseous, Tails took his sleeping bag from his subspace. He unrolled it beneath the window, then carefully unclipped his belt. Subspace was handy, but nothing beat a good utility belt. He almost left it sitting beside his sleeping bag, but then he glanced at Sonic, standing on the other side of the room and looking at a console. He put the belt in his subspace instead, kicked off his shoes, and climbed into the sleeping bag. He lay facing the wall, closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep as Sonic unrolled his own (hedgehog-proof) sleeping bag and crawled in. He continued to lie awake, staring at the wall, as Sonic snored beside him.

Why would Sonic lie? Why was he acting so strangely? What was going on?

Tomorrow, Tails told himself. Tomorrow, I'll find out the truth.

The stars sung him to sleep. He dreamed he was back home.