Rotor couldn't see the device from the right angle. He turned his work lamp a little to get the light in the right place.
Motion from outside drew his attention. He looked up and out his window, but saw only a few rustling bushes. Must've been me, he thought, and returned his gaze to his work.
"What is it, Snively?"
"Sir, we've lost a Stealth Orb."
"Snively, how is that in any way significant? When we lose ten or more Swatbots every time the Freedom Fighters come to Robotropolis, how does the loss of a single Stealth Orb matter?"
"Well, sir, it was the way in which the Orb was destroyed. Swatbots have arrived at the crash site and identified the weapon. The damage looks like it came from a small welding torch."
"Welding torch? Aren't torches of that kind the weapons those idiots on the Southern Continent have been using?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hmm… interesting." Robotnik sat back in his chair. "Very interesting indeed. Snively, I want reserve Stealth Orbs deployed to the area that intruder was in. If it returns tonight, I want it identified. Not necessarily captured, though that would be nice, but I definitely want to know who and what it is."
"Yes, sir."
"And bring the damaged orb up to my lab. Is its recorder undamaged?"
"No, sir. Although the main damage was to the front of the orb, there is a much more precise hit to the recorder area."
"Of course. Very professional. I want to see the orb anyway. And keep me informed of anything else that happens."
"Yes, sir."
A few rays of daylight penetrated the forest cover over Knothole and played across Sally's face, warming her just enough to wake her up. She smiled—today would be a glorious day!
With a stretch Sally sat up. Sonic's running sounds reached her ears, and she laughed to herself. Every morning, Sonic would wake up early to run a few laps around Knothole—then, more often than not, he'd go right back to bed. It made no sense to Sally.
Sure enough, from across the path through Knothole, she heard Sonic's door shutting—and a few seconds later, the sound of Sonic's snoring like dragging a bed across a wooden floor.
Sally reached for Nicole. "Nicole, what's on today's agenda?"
She dressed as Nicole told her. "There is a meeting with Sir Charles to discuss the impact of last night's raid. Also, the annual trade meeting with the villagers of Sumberland South."
Sally cocked her head, unsure. "What do we trade with them?"
"In exchange for food, we give them various mechanical devices and oil."
Sally nodded. "I remember now. Anything else?"
"You want to question Sophia about what she's doing here."
"Right, I can deal with that later. Thank you, Nicole." She attached the computer to her boot as she stood. She'd talk to Rotor about the trade meeting—but first, she was ready for breakfast.
Rotor wiped his paws with a grease rag, smiling in satisfaction. "That should do it," he said to himself. He looked up as motion caught his eye. Strangely enough, he saw Sophia emerging from the forest.
Rotor puzzled to himself, Now didn't I see someone leaving last night? He watched Sophia reenter her hut through the rear window. He thought to himself, Maybe that was her I saw last night, leaving Knothole. Well, thought Rotor, I often get all-nighters with no trouble. Maybe it's normal to her.
Yeah, he thought. Maybe she's still adjusting to the time change—she's been on a long trip, after all. He was just about to return to his clean-up and forget about it entirely when he saw Sophia emerge from the door. She gave the yawn-and-stretch of one who's just woken up, then headed to the main hall for breakfast.
The incident nagged at Rotor as he put away his tools. It had seemed as if Sophia was stretching for effect, as if it was an act. Which it probably was, thought Rotor, since it looked like she'd been awake all night. But what could he do, really? What did it matter? He shrugged. He felt that asking her would be like prying, and he didn't think that anything could come out of telling Sally, so he filed the incident away for future reference.
Sally saw Sophia stretch, then head for the Great Hall. Sally smiled. Good, Sophia had slept well. Sally heard Sonic a split second before he brushed past her. Sophia was opening the door to the hall as Sonic approached. No! thought Sally. It's too late to warn her—
Sonic blew past Sophia, nearly sucking her into the hall with his vacuum. Sally winced, but Sophia picked herself up and calmly walked into the hall, through a door which a gloved hand held.
A gloved hand?
Sally's jaw dropped. Had Sonic just held the door for someone?
Sally had never seen it happen, and she'd known Sonic for close to twelve years. But, apparently, he'd just acted unexpectedly.
Sally shook her head in wonder as she followed them into the hall. Sure enough, there was Sonic, chatting amiably with Sophia. Sonic, of course, was saying more; Sally quickly guessed the topic of conversation, and confirmed her suspicions when she picked out the phrase "fastest thing alive".
With a quick roll of her eyes, Sally tried to tune out the conversation. Soon, the only sounds she heard were the occasional punctuation of Sophia's strangely irritating laughter.
After getting herself breakfast, Sally sat down, picking at her food. She grabbed at Nicole. "Nicole, has Sonic ever held the door for me?"
"Not to my knowledge, Sally."
"Right. I didn't think so."
"Looks like someone needs to do some talkin'," said Bunnie as she approached and sat down beside Sally.
"About what?" Sally asked, shutting Nicole abruptly.
"Whatever you feel like."
Sally sighed. "I'm worried about the meeting with Sumberland South. I really don't think it's fair to put all our responsibility for trading with them on Rotor. All those devices he's been working on for the past two weeks have been for this meeting, and I haven't done anything to help."
"Don't feel bad about that, Sally-girl. Rotor loves this kinda thing. Ah mean, if it weren't this, it would be somethin' else that's bouncin' around in his head like so many crickets. Don't worry about it."
"I won't," said Sally. "But I've been worried about Sumberland South, too. I've been having a hard time dealing with their leader."
"Like Ah said, Ah wouldn't worry. Robotnik's just makin' him nervous—just like you."
Sally's jaw dropped, then formed into a smile. "Thanks, Bunnie."
"Any time, sugah."
"Bunnie, can you do me a favor?"
"Anything."
"Take Dulcy up to Robotropolis and meet with Uncle Chuck. We want to figure out just what impact we've had."
"Alright, sugah, but Ah'm not quite sure myself. Ah mean, we drilled a hole, but gophers do that an' it doesn't shut the power off."
"Don't worry. Uncle Chuck knows. I'd go myself, but the trade meeting is soon, and Uncle Chuck wants to meet around the same time Sumberland South is arriving."
"Don't you worry your lil ol' head, Sally-girl, I'll handle it."
"Thanks a lot."
Bunnie tried to help Dulcy land. "Okay, now ease up… a lil' more… no, wait—aah!"
A few spins, whirls, and trash heaps later, Dulcy came to a stop.
The dragon shook her head. "Well, that wasn't so bad."
"Speak for yourself, sugar-dragon." Bunnie eased herself out of the saddle and on to the ground, using a hand to keep her head steady. "Be right back," she called to Dulcy.
With a few more steps, she came to the entrance of Uncle Chuck's spy center. Obligingly, the camoflauged door opened.
"You know," said Uncle Chuck from below, "with Dulcy's landings, I sometimes wonder why Swatbots haven't found us yet."
"Ah think Ah know whatcha mean. So, what did we do last night? Ah mean, sure we drilled a hole, but so what?"
"Yes, you drilled a hole, but location's important." Uncle Chuck pulled up an image on the over-sized monitor in the wall. "You drilled it here," he said, "which is between where the water is boiled into steam and where it turns the turbine to generate electricity."
"Ah'm sorry, but why does that matter?"
"It means that some of the steam can escape! Once it's out, the power plant can produce far less electricity. Eventually, it'll stop altogether—there won't be enough steam to turn the turbine. Once Robotnik realizes the problem, he'll have to shut down the whole plant just to find the hole—which means putting out the fire, finding the hole, replacing or patching that section, adding water to replace the lost water, then restarting the fire. Overall, just a big deal. Plus, it'll put some strain on the rest of his grid—which is when you guys hit your next target."
Bunnie nodded. "When'll that be?"
"Well," said Uncle Chuck, "according to my calculations, the plant will begin to "brown out" in a few hours, with a complete blackout inside of three days. The funny thing is, if you take out another plant near this one, you make it much harder for Robotnik to repair either of them! You'd better get some sleep, because Sally will want to take advantage of this—and she should."
"Alright, I'll tell her. Thanks for everything!"
"No problem, Bunnie. Now say 'hi' to Sonic for me!"
Sally winced as she turned the wrench just a little more. She was helping Rotor with a few last-moment devices to trade with Sumberland South. Just how much Sumberland might want was a mystery—it mostly depended upon how much had broken down. Unfortunately, there was no way to know that. Sumberland was so far away that it was a long trip for them to come to Knothole, so they did so only once a year, excepting the occasional food drop. Robotnik made transmissions far too risky, of course.
Sally sighed, laid her arms on the table and buried her head in them. "Nicole, what time is it?"
She'd placed the computer on the table. "Five minutes until noon."
She shook her head. Well, what they had was what they'd use. "Did you hear that, Rotor?"
"Sure did. I'll finish up, then clean the place up a little so they can see."
"Do you have all the types of components they might want?"
"Nah. I'll have to open the storage shed."
Sally groaned. "Well, might as well be done with it and open it now. We don't want to crush someone from Sumberland."
"Okay. Soon as I'm done."
"Just what kind of things do we give them?"
"Well, since we've got such a wide selection thanks to Robotropolis, all sorts of things. I make a lot of them. Sometimes, components for their farming. Sometimes stuff to use against Robotnik. This little thing, for example," he said, picking up a roughly spherical device. "I call it a flashbang. It makes a sudden burst of light that can blind Swatbots' eyes."
"How come we never see stuff like that?"
Rotor was abashed. "Well, I have so many…"
"Forget I said it, Rotor, I'm sorry. I do want to try it out, but it's all right. We just don't appreciate how much you do around here. I know you're doing your best—and it's more than I could do in your place." After making sure Rotor had enjoyed the complement, Sally turned. "Nicole, where is Antoine?"
"My sensors do not have him in range. However, based upon previous data, there is a 68% chance he is in the kitchen of the main hall."
"Explain."
"At last check, he was preparing some sort of elaborate food. There's a 50% chance the recipe calls for him to still be cooking at this point. The remaining probability is that it is a shorter dish which was somehow ruined, prompting him to stay there and continue cooking."
"I need a way to keep him there. I hate to say this, but Antoine needs to stay in that kitchen for a few more hours. I remember the last time he cooked something for some guests of ours."
Rotor looked up. "Hey, I think I remember that. Wasn't that the guy whose mouth…"
"Yes, Rotor," Sally interrupted. "I know what I need to do—I need to ruin whatever he's making so he'll have to do it again. But I can't be that mean to Antoine."
"Get Sonic to do it."
"Rotor!"
"Well, it makes the most sense."
"No." Sally suppressed the idea. "We're just going to have to hope. Now finish up, they'll be arriving soon."
"Right."
Sally led the representatives for Sumberland South towards Rotor's hut. Even as they walked, there was the sound of a huge boom. The Sumberlanders turned to Sally, but she did her best to calm them down. "Don't worry. I know exactly what that was. It was just the tool shed. Our technician will be with you as soon as he can get out. So, tell me about Sumberland. Has it been a good year?"
"Yes, by and large," said their leader. He kept glancing nervously in the direction of the boom, but finally shrugged it off. "We've only had a few breakdowns—your technician is very good."
"Almost too good," Sally said grudgingly. "He's putting us out of business!"
"Don't worry," said the rep. "We'll give you the same amount of food—we're all friends here after all, and we've got the common goal of defeating Robotnik. We've got no interest in gouging you."
Sally gave a sigh of relief. "You just made me happy, gentlemen. That was a big worry for…" Sally trailed off. She saw, in the distance, Sonic and Sophia running and laughing. It was unclear who was chasing whom, but whichever way it was it rankled on Sally. "Sonic!" she called. "Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized to the Sumberlanders. "I'll be with you in a moment." She walked a few steps to try and get out of their hearing.
Sonic skidded to a stop in front of Sally. "Yo, Sal, what's up?"
"Sonic, you seem to be having a good time."
Sonic gave her a funny look, wondering about her harsh tone. "Yeah, so what? Sophie's fun. That a crime?"
"Do you trust her?"
"Does that matter?"
"We don't even really know her. We don't know where she came or why she's here. Don't you think you should hold off until we know more about her?"
Sonic looked like he was going to respond, then stopped, laughing. "Ya know, Sal, you almost had me goin' until you told me to hold off. I get it now."
"Get what?" Sally was irritated now. "What's so funny?"
"You're jealous!"
The words hit Sally like a cold, wet fish to the face. "Am not," she said, weakly, reflexively.
"Yeah ya are. You don't want Sophie and me to have a good time. Sorry, Sal, but that's not your job. See ya—and have fun with your boring official stuff!"
Sally was now adding anger to her reflex—that "jealous" shot was low! "That 'boring official stuff' gets you your next meal, Sonic Hedgehog!"
"True… but if you screw up, I can always eat wild mushrooms. Gotta juice!"
He left Sally in the dust. She stood stock-still for several seconds, with the only movements being the quivering of her fists. After about ten seconds, she had calmed herself enough to walk to the Sumberlanders. "The hut is in that direction," she said, pointing with a clenched fist. "I'll be there in a few moments, but I've got to cool down first." She weakly fanned herself with her fist.
"That's okay," said the lead villager, as if he understood. Just what I need, thought Sally, her fury rising. Sympathy.
She left them, returned to her hut, and threw things around her hut for a few moments.
Sonic paused a moment, glancing over at the hovercraft the Sumberlanders had brought. He saw most of Knothole unloading crates of food and bringing them towards a hole in the ground. That hole led to Knothole's cellars.
He felt an urge to go and help them, but at that moment Sophia said. "What is it?"
He answered, "Shouldn't we go help?"
Sophia shook her head. "They've got more than enough animals working on that already."
Sonic saw Sally and nodded. "Guess you're right."
"Let's see what you make of this," said the Sumberland representative. "Robotnik had been trying to expand his operations in the south. But recently, he's backed off. We've noticed he has less Swatbots in our areas."
"That's strange," said Sally. "We've noticed no decline… wait, that's it!"
"What?"
"No matter how many Swatbots we destroy, Robotnik has always had around the same amount in Robotropolis! We've been getting discouraged. But this means he's drawing his Swatbots away from the rest of the planet to maintain his forces here!" Her eyes went starry. "That means that we're weakening Robotnik everywhere, making it easier for other groups to overthrow Robotnik in their areas! If they do, he may never recover!"
"Now hold on," said the representative. "I think you're getting a little too ambitious. Robotnik still has more than enough forces to wipe us out if we're careless."
"Oh, I know, but in the long term, this means we have a chance."
"In the long term, we're all dead."
"True, but this means we're winning. Slowly, but we're winning." She shook her head. "Thanks a lot. We have more hope now—you have no idea how good it feels to actually be winning."
"Speaking of which, would you be willing to take a volunteer?"
Sally frowned. "What does that mean?"
"We want to learn just how you can be so effective. We have an animal who wishes to volunteer his services to you so he can see first-paw."
'Not a bad idea,' thought Sally. 'Bad timing, but a good idea. Of course,' and she had to struggle to suppress her feelings here, 'I'm not sure how capable I'll be when I keep getting distracted. But I can't very well turn him down.'
"It would be a pleasure," she said.
Dinnertime came, and Sally found herself sitting with only Bunnie for company, picking petulantly at her food like a kit. She knew that she owed herself enough food to stay strong, but she couldn't eat.
"Uh, Sally-girl?"
"Bunnie, if it's anything about business, don't say it."
Apparently it was about business, Sally noted, since Bunnie shut up.
Sally noticed her inner unrest with distaste. I have to keep control of myself, she thought. Anything that clouds my judgement I have to suppress.
"Sally-girl?"
"Bunnie, if—"
"It ain't, Sally-girl. Now you listen. What's with mopin' around all droopy-like? As if you were some kind of moss hangin' limp off a tree!"
"I don't know. Something about Sophia just bothers me."
"Don't worry about sugah-hog. He's got more sense than that."
"I hope s—hold on, who said anything about Sonic?"
"You didn't need to, Sally-girl."
Sally let her head drop in embarrassment. "Is it that obvious?"
"Just to me, an' I won't tell if you don't."
"Apparently it's obvious to Sonic, too. I got humiliated pretty badly earlier today, and I don't want to go through that again."
"Are ya askin' for advice?"
At that moment, though, Sonic, Sophia, and a few others entered the hall for dinner. One of them was the new animal from Sumberland—Boro, they said his name was. The jabber of the group was animated, spirited; Sally could see that everyone was enjoying it. Sonic and Sophia kept looking at each other—not much, but Sally could see it quite clearly.
Once more, Sally felt a rankling in her gut. This wasn't right! There was something she disliked so badly about that girl, but she couldn't put her paw on it.
Sally forced herself to move towards the table the group had settled at. She sat down, prompting a call from Sonic, "Hey Sal, missed ya today!"
Ignoring him, Sally said, "Sophia, you said you'd tell us why you're here."
Sophia nodded. "I'm from the Southern Continent."
"Funny. We've never had someone from there show up here before."
Sophia ignored the hostility that even Sally noticed. "It's hard to get here from there. I had to catch a ride on one of Robotnik's freighters and stay there while the thing lumbered over here. I landed in the southeast and I've been trying to make my way here. I was pretty desperate to find you—I'd run out of food by then, and I'd been travelling for days without seeing anything other than a few stupid birds.
"Finally, I came to a part of the forest on my map…"
"A map? I need to see it," Sally said all too quickly.
"Let her tell the story, Sal," said Sonic, irritated.
"If it tells the area Knothole might be in," Sally shot back, "it's a security risk I have to know about."
"That's okay," said Sophia. "You can see it soon. I understand that it's important to you." The way in which she said it only made Sally feel more bitter, and stupid for being so openly suspicious.
"So I just kept on wandering along. Then Sonic came and found me…"
"Tripped on her, more like," Sally mumbled, but faced only frowns.
"…And now I'm here."
"What's it like there?" asked Sonic.
"Sonic, you wait. I'd like to know what Sophia is doing here."
"Come on, Sal, what's your problem?" Sonic's hackles began to rise. "I asked first, anyway."
"That doesn't matter. Sophia: just what are you doing here?"
Sonic turned a way in a huff and stalked to the kitchen. Sally fumed at him even when facing the other direction. Sophia broke the awkward silence after a pause, as if she was trying to come up with the correct words. She glanced towards Boro, then spoke. "You see… I came to evaluate how everyone's doing here in the continent. I needed to find out what groups there were, and where. Also, it was very important for us to know if any members of the Royal family were still intact. I guess we were wrong."
"But what about Sally?" piped in Tails. "She's the princess."
All eyes turned to Sally. "Well, yes," she said uncomfortably. I'd rather dissociate all that's happening from my title, thank you, she said with her eyes.
"Really?" said Sophia. "Oh my. I was expecting someone a bit more…" she stopped.
"More what?" Sally said testily, drumming her fingers.
"Tall."
There were chuckles around the table, leaving Sally to burn. Yeah, right! She thought. That's not what you were going to say.
Unable to take any more, Sally left the room and returned to her hut in a rage. No one noticed her leave except Bunnie.