Chapter 4: Aftershock

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Evening fell across the earthquake-stricken Mobius, drawing a veil of darkness over the mountains where Sonic wandered, and a misty swamp where Slasher lay on a patch of damp earth as if dead. It drew over the Floating Island, making the forests grow larger and darker, and throwing the eastern side into shadow.

It found Knuckles holed up in a secret library in Sandopolis, seated at a table with a single lamp burning, surrounded by stacks of parchments and scrolls. He had two notebooks open before him, and was referring to one as he translated a scroll into the other. He worked with steady patience, as if he had been at it for years. In reality he had spent the last four days working around his island, adjusting its hovering trajectory, and scuffling with the Chaotix. He had entered the hidden library a few hours before, sufficiently recovered from the frustration of training Sonic to try his hand at translation.

He pushed his dreadlocks out of his face, laid down his pencil and read what he had written. Then he slid the parchment to one side and began translating another. Sally had contacted him and asked if the ancients had written about a flux of any kind. He glanced around the library, lined from floor to ceiling with shelves, on which were stacked old books, scrolls, parchments, and engraved tablets. The dry climate of Sandopolis had preserved them for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. There were many dialects that the echidna could no longer read, and so had to translate them one word at a time.

Flux. "What kind of flux?" he wondered. The echidna clan had written about fluxes galore; organic fluxes, Master Emerald fluxes, time fluxes, lightning discharges in the sky ... the word was fairly common. He was digging further back into the past, looking for something that had been forgotten by later generations. But nagging doubts plagued him. How did this Twilight character know about such things? And how would any mortal correct the faulty orbit of the moons?

Knuckles had been the only one Sonic ever told about Shadow's death, and the echidna was convinced that Shadow could not have lived through the horrific emerald unbonding. He doubted that this Twilight was Shadow, but how did Twilight know these things? It made no sense.

Knuckles worked on several other manuscripts, then got up and rummaged around for something different. Not the tablets, he had deciphered those long ago. Maybe one of the old scrolls ... he opened the lid of a clay jar and withdrew one of the scrolls preserved inside. He carefully unrolled the yellowed, delicate paper, and peered at the faded characters scrawled on it. It looked mysterious enough. He carried it to his table and set to work.

* * *

Sonic spent an uncomfortable night curled up on the ground under a tree, dozing and waking suddenly at small sounds. He was relieved when the sun finally rose, although it would be hours before it climbed high enough to shine into the narrow rocky valley Sonic was in.

A small stream ran through the valley floor, and Sonic drank from this, but he was miserably hungry. On top of that he was lost and confused. Why had he and Slasher been randomly warped across the planet? And where had Slasher gone?

He ran up the steep mountainside, hoping to simply run back--wherever 'back' was--but the ground gave under his feet, and the trees grew too close together. Their branches reached out to snare him, and roots lifted to catch his feet.

It took him several hours to reach the top of the ridge, but he made it at last and stood in the sun, his hands and knees soiled with dirt. He shaded his eyes and peered about. It was a clear day, and fading into the distance north, south and west was a vast mountain range, peaks and crests poking up like whipped meringue. To the east the land dropped into a wide valley, but it was at least a hundred miles off, and between it and Sonic stood rough mountains and narrow valleys.

As Sonic surveyed this, discouraged and worried about his friends at home, his eyes fell on something on the hillside below that was not forest. It was a tall metal pole with a wire protruding from the top. An antenna? The trees blocked Sonic's view of what it was attached to.

"Great, maybe they'll have a radio I can use," Sonic muttered, starting down the hillside. "Or at least tell me where I am." And where there was civilization, there would be roads, he thought, hopes rising.

It took longer than he thought to scramble down the steep hillside, sliding through years of leaves, pine needles, and other cast-offs of nature. He arrived at a gentler slope with his legs and gloves full of burrs and twigs. He picked them out as he walked, looking about for the antenna. It was close by, and there were several smaller antennas poking up around it. He trotted toward it, keeping an eye out for a road.

The antennas were mounted on the roof of a square grey building, like a cement cube that had been dropped on the hillside. It had no windows and one narrow steel door, locked. There was a tiny black sensor embedded in the wall beside the door, which Sonic waved at and spoke to, but it did nothing. Discouraged, he turned away.

There were two faint wheel tracks winding away down the mountain. He loped along these, feeling lonelier than ever, and wondering how long it would take to get home. What if Twilight answered his letter? Would Sally try writing to Twilight herself? For some reason the thought chilled him. If Twilight had attacked Slasher ... (he tried to rationalize this as Shadow had never seen a velociraptor before and was defending himself) ... anyway, he didn't want him near Sally.

Sonic turned a corner and heard a tiny, sharp sound that reminded him of something unpleasant. An instant later something jabbed into his arm like a lance. He glanced down at the orange dart sticking out of his skin, then looked up at the human standing in the trees, air-rifle trained on him.

"I hope that's only tranqu ..." Sonic began, and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

Zephyer was robotized from the neck downward. While this made her body bulky and heavy, it also lent extra strength to her hands and arms. She was kept busy in the Knothole camp, stamping down tent pegs with her metal feet, or jamming together poles that wouldn't join together. Being robotized was so often a disadvantage that it was pleasant to be needed for a change.

The morning fixes applied, the echidna went searching for Sally, who had been withdrawn and silent all morning. Zephyer found her within the outskirts of the forest, sitting on a log with her head in her hands. The squirrel straightened up as Zephyer approached. "Hello, Zephyer."

"Hi Sally," said the echidna. "Is there something wrong? Besides the obvious, I mean." She motioned a silver hand at the campground.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Sally replied, running both hands through her hair and resting her forehead on them. "The communicator was on when Sonic reached Slasher. She said something about Tails and--and being attacked by a raptor and a black hedgehog. Then the com went dead, and I haven't been able to reach Slasher or Sonic since yesterday afternoon."

Zephyer was silent a moment, digesting this. "Maybe the battery died."

"I just replaced them." Sally looked up at her, hopelessly. "I'm afraid something's happened to them." She hesitated, then went on, "Today I received an email from Twilight. It was addressed to me." She unclipped Nicole from her boot, opened the screen and held it out to the echidna. Zephyer took it, eying Sally, and read the message on the screen.

"Dear Sally,

"This is to inform you that Sonic and Slasher will be indisposed for a long period. I warned Sonic about the chaos emeralds and he disregarded my advice. Beware the color red. The flux is approaching."

"Twilight."

"What is this guy, a sick joker?" said Zephyer, returning Nicole. "He makes it sound like he murdered them or something."

Sally looked at her without speaking, and Zephyer realized she had voiced the squirrel's own thoughts. "Sally, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Sally, shaking her head and rising to her feet. "All we can do now is wait."

They walked toward camp, Zephyer's feet clumping through the grass, and Sally stepping so lightly she hardly left a footprint. "By the way, how's Knuckles doing?" asked Zephyer.

Sally smiled at her, but the echidna avoided her gaze. "I just wondered how he was."

"Right," said Sally. "You can't fool me, Zephyer Winstrom. I think he's fine. I sent him a question about this flux thing, and he said he'd try to look it up. That was yesterday."

"I hope he finds something," Zephyer replied. "We might understand that creepy Twilight guy."

"And Knuckles might come to the mainland to show us his findings."

Zephyer blushed almost as red as her dreadlocks and turned her head so Sally wouldn't see. But Sally had seen, and grinned. "Good luck, Zephyer."

* * *

Tails sat in a corner of a dark, drafty room, arms, legs and tails bound in rope. He had gotten over his fear of his captors, and constantly said things to irk Twilight. The raptor called Beast was not allowed to hurt Tails, and both the hedgehog and the raptor took pains to treat him decently, and gave him plenty of food and water. The cruelest thing they did was tie him up and leave him locked in a tiny room for hours at a time.

No, he was not afraid of them. What tormented him the most was boredom. In all the adventure books he had read, the hero managed to wriggle out of his bonds and escape his prison within fifteen minutes. The hero was never confined for hours or days, and forced to endure boredom.

"What's the point?" he asked Twilight at noon, when the black hedgehog entered carrying two paper sacks. "Why don't you torture me or something?"

"You're too valuable," Twilight replied, removing the contents of the bags. These were usually take-out meals, and today it was spicy Upper Northern chicken tenders, and Beast untied Tails' hands so he could feed himself.

"We must keep you safe for a time. But today, after lunch, there's something I want you to do."

"What, you think I'm going to help you?" said the fox, stretching his aching arms. The longer he took over lunch, the less time he would have to wait until dinner.

"I need your mechanical expertise," replied Twilight. "Perhaps we could see about letting you out of your prison today too, hmm?"

Tails thought about this as he ate. Anything was better than solitary confinement, and he dreaded it like a toothache. Mechanical expertise? Whatever they wanted him to do, maybe they would untie him completely, and he'd have a chance to escape.

Tails lingered over his food, and Beast and Twilight moved in and out, one of them always keeping an eye on him. When he was finished, Twilight swooped down on him. "If your meal is over, I'd like your assistance."

"Sure, just get me out of here," said Tails, and sighed with relief as the hedgehog untied his legs and tails.

"Come," said Twilight, and led a limping Tails from the room.

They were hiding out in a closed-down factory that still had all its machinery in it. Tails marvelled at it as his captors led him through it, picking a twisting path through the equipment. It looked like a food processing plant of some kind, and there was a lingering smell of old vegetables. Perhaps it had been closed when the earthquakes struck and not yet reopened.

They rounded a corner, and Tails' eyes popped. One of the machines had been disassembled, and parts were strewn everywhere. In one corner was a neat, tidy area with several boxes of small parts and a set of power tools.

Twilight picked up a roll of paper and handed it to Tails. "We need you to build this."

Tails unrolled it and saw blueprints. At first he thought it was a television, then realized that it was more like some sort of tracking device. Intrigued, he examined each page. Twilight and Beast stood on either side of him, silent and watchful.

"What is this?" Tails asked, faintly.

Twilight and Beast eyed each other, then Twilight said, "It is a device for monitoring Chaos energy."

"Something to do with this flux you're always going on about?"

"Perhaps," said the black hedgehog, looking sidelong at the papers in Tails' hands. "If you are willing to build it, we will not return you to your confinement. Once you are finished, we will release you. Do you agree?" He held out one black gloved hand. Tails looked at the retractable claws that protruded a little just above the knuckles. A dangerous hand.

But after careful thought, Tails shook the hand. "Deal. But you'd better let me go."

Twilight gripped his hand and smiled a queer, twisted smile. "I always keep my word, Tails. Always."

* * *

"Get up."

Slasher's head jerked up, and she strained to see with her good eye. Her injured eye was caked with dried fluid, and she could not open it. "Who's there?" she growled, sniffing. There was no smell of anyone, just the rotten odors of the swamp that steamed up all around.

A cold hand touched her neck. The speaker was standing on her blind side. She pulled away and twisted around, trying to see.

Then she saw and froze, lips writhing back in a snarl.

Neither moved for a long moment.

"Get up," he said again. "You are no use to anyone lying in the mud."

The raptor slowly stood and turned so her good eye was toward him, and her teeth remained bared. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," said the blue robot, coolly. He was three feet shorter than she, and was modeled after Sonic. An unpracticed eye might have underestimated his deadly speed and strength, and Slasher had done so once. But she had learned her lesson, and did not take her eye from Metal Sonic's face.

"I was teleported here by accident," Slasher hissed. "I don't know where I am. You can't attack me for that."

"No?" said Mecha. "You could be lying. Oh, your left wing is fractured."

"Yes," said Slasher, as it spasmed. The pain was still there, but for the moment her alarm outweighed it.

They faced each other for another moment.

"You are in no condition to fight me," remarked Mecha presently. "All I have to do is push you off this hump of ground, and you would sink like a stone."

"Ditto," said Slasher. "Want to try it?"

"I have a better idea," said Mecha. "Consent to be my prisoner, and I will remove you from this place and give you suitable repairs."

"Hah," said Slasher without mirth. "I've heard how you treat prisoners. I'll take my chances with quicksand."

"Then die," said the robot, stepping away. "Perhaps we could have helped each other."

Slasher let him take two more steps, then called, "Wait."

He stopped and flashed his red eyes in her direction.

"What kind of help do you need?"

"You wish to bargain with me?" asked the robot, turning to face her. "I seek information on the coming Chaos Flux. What do you know?"

"Patch me up and I'll tell you," said Slasher, sounding braver than she felt.

There was a brief silence, broken by the trilling of insects.

"Affirmative," said Mecha at last. "Follow me and do not try to attack me."

"I won't," said Slasher, and followed in the robot's footsteps, her stiff, mud-caked legs protesting. She was hungry, thirsty, hurting, and had been promised help by an enemy. She knew that the Freedom Fighters had helped him before, but all the same she did not trust him, and tried to watch him with her one eye as she walked.

After a while the green, swampy ground and mournful trees gave way to firmer ground, and the trees became healthier. Small birds chirped here and there. Metal Sonic walked after, often tossing Slasher a suspicious glance over his shoulder. He led her along a thin trail that climbed a hill overlooking the marsh, and a little later they rounded a bend and saw a brick structure like a tiny castle built on top of the hill. As they approached it, Slasher saw that the stone was engraved with snakes, eels and evil symbols. She stopped. "Mecha, where are we?"

"The Forbidden Zone," said the robot without stopping. "This structure was long abandoned when I discovered it."

Slasher hesitated another moment, then picked her way after the robot, a sense of foreboding growing on her. The Forbidden Zone was a region in central-west Mobius that had been the location in physical space where the Order Emeralds had linked to Mobius. When the emeralds were corrupted, their evil blasted that area, which had not recovered to the present day. Upon reflection, Slasher wondered why Metal Sonic had not been drawn there sooner.

There was a single room in the cold brick building, stacked with drums of Mecha's favorite liquid fuel. A stone altar in the far end was now a table covered in rows of instruments Mecha had purloined from various inventors. A generator rumbled outside. It was an ideal hideout for a robot, but Slasher could not ignore the symbols and runes etched into the floor, ceiling and walls. She dared not imagine how this building had been used.

Metal Sonic produced a small first aid kit from among the supplies in one corner and gave it to her. "Physician, heal thyself," he said.

Slasher blinked at him, and rummaged around for ointment and cotton wool. "Help me," she said. "Then I'll tell you what I know about the flux."