Episode IV-- Conclusion
Venice, Italy-- Day 3
The canals of Venice sparkled under the midday sun. Jason's ring flashed
brightly as we took a gondola tour through the "streets" of Venice.
He had found it in the middle of Strauss' birthplace, stuck in a
harpsichord, shortly after I had returned from Mobius. This morning
we had found ourselves on a bus heading across Austria's southern
border into the northern Italy; destination: Venice. As we turned
a corner down another canal, I focused the glasses to a 3-mile range...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robotropolis, Mobius
"You failed."
"He was ready for me."
"I thought you said the rings were scattered across Europe."
"A coincidence; the cities just happened to be those on the tour."
"You said he didn't have his ring."
"You yourself know that the lightsaber works without the armor; he
left it with Sonic so that airport security wouldn't catch it."
"Why did you transport right in front of him? He probably has it
figured out by now."
"He'll be more cautious; I can take advantage of that." The robot
rubbed his right hand, visibly missing the six-inch-long daggers.
"Very well; I'll leave it in your hands... or what's left of them."
RK glared at Robotnik, then left the room.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Venice, Italy
I finally found my ring, which was in one of the huge cathedrals in the
middle of the city. To celebrate, we headed for a local pizza place.
"This is pizza?" Wes asked.
"Actually, yes," I replied.
"This is _not_ pizza," Christie responded.
"To Italians, this is pizza," I told her. "We haven't ordered yet, so
if you want a Big New Yorker or something, there's a Pizza Hut across
the street."
"Good idea."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
That night I lay on the bed in my hotel room, thinking of any way
possible to get that red robot off our backs. We had to get rid of
Robotnik's plans for the Dimensionalizer as well, so he couldn't use
it again. To add a little bit of fun to it, we could also blow up his
mainframe. Sonic's sister Serena had done that before with some huge
magnets, but the plan needed to be executed from a distance...
"Eureka!"
"I resent that!" Wes commented. I'd forgotten that I was sharing a room
with him.
"Very funny. Do you think that you could create a virus?"
"Sure, but what's it for?"
"I have an idea that will get Robo Knux off our case."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barcelona, Spain-- Day 4
We spent all night creating the virus; twelve hours, fourteen minutes, and
three seconds, to be exact. While the others went looking for the next
ring, the two of us crashed. Or so everyone thought. I was not going
to sleep while I knew that RK was out there somewhere planning my
execution. We borrowed some extra pillows from the front desk and
formed some shapes in the beds in our room. That night we hid in the
bathroom, with all the lights in the room off. I watched with my armor
visor set to infrared. Sure enough, the robot sneaked in through the
window, headed straight for one of the beds, and raised his left hand.
The hand that still had its spikes.
I activated my armor-enhanced Walkman, which transmitted the virus to
RK via his audio sensors. Twelve-plus hours of programming played
through in under ten seconds. The robot began to glow brightly, and
suddenly he was gone.
"Bingo."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
London, England-- Day 5
Wes found his ring in the Tower of London.
"You've got to be kidding."
"Wes," I told him, "they're not going to kill you for touching the
glass."
"The glass case holding the Crown Jewels of England, and they're not
going to kill me for touching the glass? Are you crazy?"
Refusing to argue, I grabbed his hand and lightly touched the glass
case. The ring reappeared on his hand.
Later that day, at a fish-and-chips place in Trafalgar Square, we
related to the others what our plan was concerning the virus.
"Did it work?" Lisa asked.
"Only one way to find out," I replied.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robotropolis, Mobius
"He was ready for you again?"
"Yes, and this time he managed to send a delete command to my central
computer. I must copy a file from your mainframe."
"Very well, but make it quick."
Five minutes later, the unexplainable happened.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Knothole, Mobius
"So the virus deleted a critical file after RK warped back here," I
explained to Slasher. "That meant that he'd have to copy a file from
Robotnik's mainframe. Five minutes after he makes the copy, that
virus is going to go berzerk. Both the mainframe and RK's central
processor are going to get absolutely fried. I also set up a power
surge to go through a primary transformer. The electromagnetic pulse
should fry just about anything electronic within a few miles,
including SWATs."
"Ruthless and efficient," Slash noted. "I like it. So when
should the fireworks start?"
Sally entered the hut. "Nicole just detected a temperature spike
down in Robotropolis."
I looked at Slasher. "I'd say in about five seconds."
Sure enough, a huge KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! echoed
for about the next ten minutes. It was music to my ears.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
After I returned to our dimension, we completed our Europe trip. The
rest of us found our rings; Cliff found his in the Anne Frank House
in Amsterdam, and Vicki found hers sitting on the Little Mermaid
Statue near Copenhagen, Denmark. On the plane home Jason reflected
that we'd need a vacation _after_ this vacation.
I returned the scanner-glasses to Sally, and they were finally
completed. Sonic used them for reconnaisance missions; it seems that
there was some heavy duty reconstruction efforts happening down in
Robotropolis lately.
As for Robo Knux, no one has seen him for a while... but it's hard to
discern whether or not that is a good thing... ... ...
End Episode IV
Venice, Italy-- Day 3
The canals of Venice sparkled under the midday sun. Jason's ring flashed
brightly as we took a gondola tour through the "streets" of Venice.
He had found it in the middle of Strauss' birthplace, stuck in a
harpsichord, shortly after I had returned from Mobius. This morning
we had found ourselves on a bus heading across Austria's southern
border into the northern Italy; destination: Venice. As we turned
a corner down another canal, I focused the glasses to a 3-mile range...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robotropolis, Mobius
"You failed."
"He was ready for me."
"I thought you said the rings were scattered across Europe."
"A coincidence; the cities just happened to be those on the tour."
"You said he didn't have his ring."
"You yourself know that the lightsaber works without the armor; he
left it with Sonic so that airport security wouldn't catch it."
"Why did you transport right in front of him? He probably has it
figured out by now."
"He'll be more cautious; I can take advantage of that." The robot
rubbed his right hand, visibly missing the six-inch-long daggers.
"Very well; I'll leave it in your hands... or what's left of them."
RK glared at Robotnik, then left the room.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Venice, Italy
I finally found my ring, which was in one of the huge cathedrals in the
middle of the city. To celebrate, we headed for a local pizza place.
"This is pizza?" Wes asked.
"Actually, yes," I replied.
"This is _not_ pizza," Christie responded.
"To Italians, this is pizza," I told her. "We haven't ordered yet, so
if you want a Big New Yorker or something, there's a Pizza Hut across
the street."
"Good idea."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
That night I lay on the bed in my hotel room, thinking of any way
possible to get that red robot off our backs. We had to get rid of
Robotnik's plans for the Dimensionalizer as well, so he couldn't use
it again. To add a little bit of fun to it, we could also blow up his
mainframe. Sonic's sister Serena had done that before with some huge
magnets, but the plan needed to be executed from a distance...
"Eureka!"
"I resent that!" Wes commented. I'd forgotten that I was sharing a room
with him.
"Very funny. Do you think that you could create a virus?"
"Sure, but what's it for?"
"I have an idea that will get Robo Knux off our case."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barcelona, Spain-- Day 4
We spent all night creating the virus; twelve hours, fourteen minutes, and
three seconds, to be exact. While the others went looking for the next
ring, the two of us crashed. Or so everyone thought. I was not going
to sleep while I knew that RK was out there somewhere planning my
execution. We borrowed some extra pillows from the front desk and
formed some shapes in the beds in our room. That night we hid in the
bathroom, with all the lights in the room off. I watched with my armor
visor set to infrared. Sure enough, the robot sneaked in through the
window, headed straight for one of the beds, and raised his left hand.
The hand that still had its spikes.
I activated my armor-enhanced Walkman, which transmitted the virus to
RK via his audio sensors. Twelve-plus hours of programming played
through in under ten seconds. The robot began to glow brightly, and
suddenly he was gone.
"Bingo."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
London, England-- Day 5
Wes found his ring in the Tower of London.
"You've got to be kidding."
"Wes," I told him, "they're not going to kill you for touching the
glass."
"The glass case holding the Crown Jewels of England, and they're not
going to kill me for touching the glass? Are you crazy?"
Refusing to argue, I grabbed his hand and lightly touched the glass
case. The ring reappeared on his hand.
Later that day, at a fish-and-chips place in Trafalgar Square, we
related to the others what our plan was concerning the virus.
"Did it work?" Lisa asked.
"Only one way to find out," I replied.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robotropolis, Mobius
"He was ready for you again?"
"Yes, and this time he managed to send a delete command to my central
computer. I must copy a file from your mainframe."
"Very well, but make it quick."
Five minutes later, the unexplainable happened.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Knothole, Mobius
"So the virus deleted a critical file after RK warped back here," I
explained to Slasher. "That meant that he'd have to copy a file from
Robotnik's mainframe. Five minutes after he makes the copy, that
virus is going to go berzerk. Both the mainframe and RK's central
processor are going to get absolutely fried. I also set up a power
surge to go through a primary transformer. The electromagnetic pulse
should fry just about anything electronic within a few miles,
including SWATs."
"Ruthless and efficient," Slash noted. "I like it. So when
should the fireworks start?"
Sally entered the hut. "Nicole just detected a temperature spike
down in Robotropolis."
I looked at Slasher. "I'd say in about five seconds."
Sure enough, a huge KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! echoed
for about the next ten minutes. It was music to my ears.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
After I returned to our dimension, we completed our Europe trip. The
rest of us found our rings; Cliff found his in the Anne Frank House
in Amsterdam, and Vicki found hers sitting on the Little Mermaid
Statue near Copenhagen, Denmark. On the plane home Jason reflected
that we'd need a vacation _after_ this vacation.
I returned the scanner-glasses to Sally, and they were finally
completed. Sonic used them for reconnaisance missions; it seems that
there was some heavy duty reconstruction efforts happening down in
Robotropolis lately.
As for Robo Knux, no one has seen him for a while... but it's hard to
discern whether or not that is a good thing... ... ...
End Episode IV