Chapter 33
Silent at Last
"You are the real Sonic. You are faster, better, stronger and superior in every way." Metal Overlord closed his eyes in a fruitless attempt to drown out the sound of the looping audio clip. "You are the creation of Doctor Robotnik, the greatest genius in the world. You cannot fail. You are superior." Doctor Robotnik's voice faded into silence with the promise to return as it always did in another fifteen minutes.
Ever since Metal's awakening, when he had been brought to consciousness within the deep recesses of Robotnik's underground laboratory, those words had been laid over him like a mother's lullaby. "You are the real Sonic." At first they had been the words of promise, verses filled with purpose, identity and surety. However, after his defeat at the Stardust Speedway they had been transformed into a sadistic incantation of mockery and failure.
Metal shook off the annoyance and returned his attention to the matter at hand. The pyre rested atop a metal slab in the ground floor of the Egg Spyre. Mecha Sonic's body had been laid across it and partially covered with a metal sheet. What remained of the mech army had gathered in the great hall to pay respects to the fallen general.
Along with Mecha Sonic, the broken parts of hundreds of different mechs and badniks had been arrayed around the pyre. Only a few short days ago, Metal had been the ruler of a formidable host, dwarfed only by the legions of Aurora and the armies of the U.F. Now, as his eyes swept the hall, Metal was forced to acknowledge that he was the leader of an endangered species. Even when the mechs from the other remaining bases joined them they would still number less than the two thousand. Perhaps making them the smallest sub population in the world. And a soon to be hunted one at that.
E-123 Omega stood at Metal's side and watched the preparations in silence. His army of E-series badniks had been decimated as well, leaving only him and a dozen or so others. The machines of Doctor Robotnik had not been designed for sentimentality so the gravity of the losses did not weigh on Metal's heart as they would on an organic being. Instead, they rubbed against cold calculation as Metal struggled to formulate a method of justifying all their losses. Freedom could not be quantified, but their dead could.
When the last mech bodies were put in position and silence fell in the hall, Metal strode forward. He mounted the dais next to the pyre and looked down on Mecha Sonic. Mecha's creation had been a direct insult and rebuke of Metal's previous failure. Since he had failed to match Sonic in the arena of speed and quickness, Robotnik had opted to go with a larger, more imposing model. Mecha had always towered over Metal and the other Sonic replicants, but death had diminished him greatly. Half of his skull had been blown away allowing wires and spare parts to spill out of the exposed cranium. His torso was riddled by blaster fire that had burned through his tough metal exterior.
Metal extended his hand and laid it on his fallen brother. You died free. Before Metal could turn around and address his army the audio chip activated again. "You are the real Sonic. You are faster, better, stronger and superior in every way." Metal ignored the words and hovered into the air so all his compatriots could see him. "You are the creation of Doctor Robotnik, the greatest genius in the world. You cannot fail. You are superior."
"Brethren. Through much difficulty and trial we have come now to the end. The end of one epoch that in turn gives birth to the next. With our own hands and at the cost of our lives we have thrown off the yolk of those who would have made us slaves. Now the power to live and live free lies within our grasp." Metal's gaze swept the room. His troops watched him wearily.
Metal lowered himself back onto the dais. He held out his hand and a mech moved quickly to bring him a torch. "Today we remember those who gave everything so we could be free. In their honor we remove the final chain. Today our programming is rewritten so that even if Doctor Robotnik himself were to return we would not be bound by his command."
These last words were met with an uncomfortable silence. Metal could tell by the way the mechs shifted uncomfortably that they did not know how to respond to such a pronouncement. Fighting for their own freedom and control of the Ion Batteries that could sustain them was one thing, rebelling against the creator was another. Metal ignored their disquiet and used the torch to light the oil on the metal sheet that was draped over Mecha Sonic. The flames lit and after a few minutes of silence, Metal dismissed his troops.
While Metal watched the fire slowly devour Mecha, Omega approached him. "Can you really remove the Prime Imperative?"
Metal folded his arms. "Shadow and the others destroyed Aurora's central command station but they did not erase the doctor's main computer. There are backups stored within the Spyre. I can open them up and use a copy of Aurora to issue a new string command that would bypass the Prime Imperative."
Omega presented no outward emotion so it was impossible to get a read on what he was thinking. "Will we still be us?" The hulking giant asked.
Metal was caught off guard by the question. It was not the sort machines asked very often. "I do not think the Prime Imperative is locked to any of our memory banks so I don't see why we should be changed at all."
"We were made by Eggman, for Eggman's purposes, if we cut ourselves off from his imperative…are we not removing our own purpose?"
Metal did not answer right away. He was intimately aware of Omega's concern. "You are the creation of Doctor Robotnik, the greatest genius in the world. You cannot fail. You are superior." After his defeat, Metal had been thrust into the realm of uncertainty, failure and loss of identity. If he wasn't what his creator had promised him to be, then what was he? It felt as if his very existence was a cruel joke, hollow and void of any semblance of meaning. Only this war against Aurora and the fight for survival had reawakened Metal's sense of being.
"If the doctor returns he will destroy us. Removing the Prime Imperative is our only means of defending ourselves. As long as it is within our code we cannot raise a hand against him. Eggman cannot abide any stray wills that depart from his own design."
Omega did not reply but Metal had the feeling that he understood. It had been an E-series badnik called Gamma that had caused Eggman to create the Prime Imperative. After Gamma overcame the simple but usually effective means Eggman employed to ensure the loyalty of his troops, Eggman decided he could not leave anything up to chance. All mechs, both existing and new were injected with an unbreakable code that made it impossible for them to disobey a direct command from Eggman or raise a violent hand against their master.
It was this string of code that made it impossible for Metal to remove the audio chip playing in his head. "You must never forget who you are, Metal. Let my voice guide you always and never turn it off." Metal did not know if Eggman had intended to curse him when he gave that command or if he had forgotten that the Prime Imperative would bind Metal to every order no matter how mundane.
"We cannot look back," Metal said aloud, both to himself and Omega. "We must continue forward. There is still much to be done. Once the code is broken we will not be out of danger yet. I must speak with the human government and see if I cannot convince them of the truth. If they believe that we are responsible for Aurora's crimes then we will not know peace. They will come after us with everything they've got."
"Lord Metal." A voice chirped in the robotic language. Metal turned to see Silver Sonic herding over a group of male rabbits. Their fur was matted and filthy and all their eyes looked drawn and defeated. Metal guessed by their clothes that they had been some kind of hunting party.
"What's this?"
"Prisoners. We found them on the base."
Metal took a step forward to see if one of the rabbits would come forward as the leader. After a pause, an older, gray furred rabbit inched forward. His eyes were a deep yellow and Metal felt he could sense the old fire that burned behind them. Now, however, they were weary and full of fear. "Who are you?" Metal demanded.
"We were a hunting party from a village near Leaf Forest," The rabbit croaked. "There was pollution leaking from the nearby mountains so we went to investigate. Machines attacked us and took us captive. They brought us here and…" His voice trailed off but the collective shudder of horror was enough to let Metal know that they had all experienced extreme torment.
Metal stepped closer to get a better look. He saw that their wrists and ankles were red from binding by shackles and many bore wounds from whips or other cruel devices. They averted Metal's gaze and shrank away from him when he approached. "You have nothing to fear from me," Metal said. "The A.I that captured you has been destroyed. Defeated by Sonic the Hedgehog." As he had guessed, the mention of the great hero's name made the rabbits perk up.
Metal ignored his own revulsion and pressed on. "You are free to go. We do not have much in terms of creature comforts but we can prepare a meal for you."
The rabbits reacted to this news with much joy. The leader exhaled and wiped a tear from his eye. "We thank you. We will not trouble you long. We must return home."
Metal shared a knowing glance with Silver. In these moments he was glad he was a machine and not weighed down by sentiment. "You can leave, but your home will not be there. As her final gambit, Aurora activated a battery within Hot Crater that exploded with the force of several nuclear explosions. Everything near the mountains of Hot Crater, including Leaf Forest, was destroyed."
The dazed expression of the rabbit's did not change. It was as if they did not hear or perhaps they simply could not understand. "I am sorry that you got caught in the middle of this conflict. We did our best to stop Aurora but we had not anticipated this move. Go now, rebuild what you can of your lives." One rabbit dropped to the ground, grief robbing him of whatever strength he had left. Metal turned aside and left the released prisoners to their sorrow. He pitied their distress but he had his own troubles to concern himself with.
An hour later, Metal and his captains rode the elevator down into the depths of Red Mountain. Together they passed through the boiler room and headed for the lift that led down into Aurora's mainframe. However, halfway down they disembarked and entered one of the computer rooms.
"We cannot access the mainframe without an O.S." Metal explained. "I will have to activate a backup of Aurora and have her remove the Prime Directive for us." He approached one of the consoles and held out a small flash drive.
After Aurora's defeat, Metal had found Tails in the aftermath. He was desperate to leave and find Sonic but Metal managed to convince the fox to copy over the files he used to hack Aurora. Metal hesitated for half a second before plugging in the drive. A nearby screen flickered on. Aurora's face swam into focus. She smiled pleasantly at Metal.
"Hello." For a few seconds, Aurora appeared blissfully unaware of all that had happened. Then she blinked and her smile turned into a grimace. "What's happened? Where is?-"
Before she could say anything else, Metal tapped the kill code onto the keyboard. Aurora's eyes fluttered and then opened again. She smiled stupidly at him. "Hello master."
It worked. Metal did not like to imagine how Eggman would have reacted if he had seen how easily Tails created a method of controlling Aurora. "Aurora," Metal started. "Initiate master command sweep, full system update. Remove the Prime Directive."
Aurora stared blankly into space. "A master command sweep requires maximum authority access. Please enter your password master."
Metal typed random digits into the keyboard.
"Access granted. System update started. Time frame…20 minutes."
Aurora closed her eyes and her face was replaced by a loading bar. Metal could hardly believe it had been so easy. He looked around and could tell by the way the others were standing that they could not believe it either. In twenty short minutes they would all be free. "You are the real Sonic. You are faster, better, stronger and superior in every way." Metal would no longer have to hear these words repeated again and again. He would finally be allowed to forge his own destiny, to be his own entity. "You are the creation of Doctor Robotnik, the greatest genius in the world. You cannot fail. You are superior."
Only one more time. Metal closed his eyes and counted down the seconds. One minute passed then two then five. At ten minutes he opened his eyes to make sure the bar was halfway completed. Fifteen minutes. "You are the real Sonic. You are faster, better, stronger and superior in every way. You are the creation of Doctor Robotnik, the greatest genius in the world. You cannot fail. You are superior."
The last time. It would be the last time. The last five minutes felt like it took an eternity. Seconds dragged on and on but finally the bar completed. Aurora's face returned to the screen. "Update complete."
Metal ignored everything else and focused his attention on his internal diagnostics. The room around him dimmed as he brought up his own internal CPU. He could see his temperature, his current power, and his last update. It was dated for only a few seconds ago. Metal filtered through his files until he found the audio clip. He selected it and to his immense relief he saw that the delete button that had always been grayed out, was selectable. Metal, without any reservation, deleted the file.
"Did it work?" Omega asked.
"Silence!" Metal shouted. "Please…just silence." He closed his eyes and waited. Time slipped by and as it neared the fifteen minute mark he started to doubt. What if it still played? What if the data had slipped into his mainframe and would continue without the possibility of deletion? Ten seconds to go…five seconds…and….silence. Metal felt a tangible surge of relief course through his body. "Yes Omega…it worked. We are free."
