* * *
After leaving Bunnie and the others, Sally went looking for Olivia. She spent several minutes combing the barracks, getting more and more incensed by the second. Bad enough that they had been stranded here, bad enough that all but two of the twenty odd Mobians didn't speak English, bad enough being deceived, but not even being given the benefit of the doubt was too much!
Sally finally found Olivia in the mess hall. She was sitting at a table along the far wall, sipping at a thin broth of something that smelled heavily of cabbage. She seemed quite taken aback when Sally suddenly sat down opposite her and said:
"I want the truth." Olivia nearly choked on her soup. Recovering quickly she said, "What goes on 'ere isn't any of your concern unless we choose to make it. I've already told you more than you 'ave a right to know."
"Like hell." Surprising herself by her own ferocity, Sally pushed on. "I can understand the mistrust, I can understand the fear, and I can even understand the edginess. But what I can't understand, what I REFUSE to understand, is why you seem perfectly fine with lying to our faces without even giving us so much as a chance to understand you!"
"If I've chosen not to bloody tell you everything, which is NOT the same as lying, then you can be sure I've done so only to protect our privacy." Sally saw that she was simply agitating Olivia, not a great strategy. So she decided to switch tracts.
"Look, I'm not trying drag anything out of you. I'm just asking that you give us a chance. We're lost, confused, and frankly your unresponsiveness isn't helping. We only want to help."
Olivia visibly seemed to deflate, as if she was a punctured balloon. "All right, all right, no need for the ruddy guilt trip. Your good, bloody good." She sighed. "What do you want to know?"
"For starters, what exactly is the relationship you have with the Overlanders? I heard Misha talking to a dragon about some sort of task the Colonel requested of him and I remember you coming to us right after the Colonel promised a tour. Mind you, I want the whole truth this time." Sally added.
"I didn't lie to you before. They aren't our captors and we aren't their captives."
"Then what are they?" Sally asked, trying to be patient.
"Our protectors."
"Protectors? You mean from those beasts in the jungle?" Sally asked.
"Got it in one." Olivia shuddered, and not from the cold.
"What are those...things?" Sally asked in a low voice.
"I 'onestly 'ave no bloody idea. They've always been in the jungle, as long as I've been 'ere. Used to be they'd stick to the interior and rarely foray out. But over the last few years they've gotten a 'ell of a lot more aggressive." She paused, as if in need of encouragement.
"Go on." Sally urged.
"Well, used to be that we could actually go outside the wall. Even managed to pick fruit and berries from the outskirts of the jungle. And the Overlanders used to 'ave watchtowers and outposts all around the bloody jungle. Not anymore though."
"How did you and the others get inside this valley?" Sally asked. "We had to fly in and that wasn't all that easy. Or pleasant." She added, remembering the crash.
"There are caves, tunnels in the mountains that lead from one side to the other. When I came in, I ran into an Overlander patrol in one of those tunnels. They took me back to the garrison 'ere. I was the first Mobian they encountered."
"But not the last." Sally stated.
"No, not the last." Olivia agreed. "In the first week after the Coup, there were no less than a dozen Mobians 'ere. Misha among them. The rest came soon afterwards. Most of them 'ad similar stories to my own. Visiting relatives, trying to start a new life in Mobotropolis, or just coming for the Victory celebrations. Then after Robotnik took over, we all ran like 'ell and ended up with the Overlanders."
Sally paused and mentally nodded. Now things were starting to come together, some things anyway. "How did they treat you at first?"
"At first? I don't think they 'ad a clue about what to do. They just lost the Great War, but now it looked like Mobotropolis 'ad gone to 'ell in a 'andbasket. They didn't quite know what to do. I remember they gave us food, blankets, but pretty much left us alone. Until..."
"What?" Sally asked, unconsciously leaning forward in her seat.
"They 'ad to abandon the base. They didn't want to start a war they couldn't win, so they began to pack up." She sighed. "The plan was for them to seal up the tunnels after they evacuated and leave us out in the wilderness. Either to die or to be captured by SWATbots."
"That's horrible!" Sally exclaimed, her face a mixture of shock and disgust. Then she paused and thought about where this was going. "But someone intervened on your behalf." She said, not a question. "Colonel Franklin?"
"General Franklin, actually." Olivia corrected. "I still don't know why, but he threw away his rank, his career, even any hopes of a normal, peaceful life for us. He never told us why, but he stood up for us. When the Overlanders left, the Colonel stayed, along with over a dozen of his most loyal soldiers."
" 'Over a dozen?' What happened to the others?" Sally asked. "Colonel Franklin said their were only ten Overlanders..." She trailed off, a sinking feeling in her stomach gave her a pretty good idea what happened to them.
"After the main Overlander force withdrew, those blasted beasts started turning up. I guess without all the bloody racket from the garrison troops, they decided to get bold. Nowadays they come right up to the ruddy walls and start scratching around, even during the day. Without the Overlanders..." Olivia turned away, that thought best left unfinished. She cleared her throat. "But some Overlanders weren't so lucky. Two years ago, one fell off the walkway at night, when those things were on the prowl. I-I still 'ear his screams sometimes, in my dreams."
"Oh good god." Sally breathed. No wonder Mikhail and the others were so grateful to their Overlander patrons! "Olivia, I-I had no idea." Sally could feel her eyes water. "I'm sorry."
Olivia shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to dwell on that. "Well there you 'ave it. The Overlanders protect us from those creatures since we can't use their weapons and we 'elp ensure that the garrison is well maintained and grow the food. Everyone benefits, though right now I'd sooner be at the beach."
Sally paused, she really didn't want to push for anymore answers right now. It was clear that the older girl was emotionally exhausted, but she needed to find out one last thing. "Do you know why Mikhail seems to hate the House of Acorn?"
"Sally," Olivia said after a tense pause. "As cliché as this might sound, it's nothing personal. But do you 'onestly think that everyone in the Greater Kingdom of Acorn was as well off as you?" Sally opened her mouth to answer, then shut it when she realized that she had no answer. "Sally, I like you. I really do. If I 'ad to 'azard a guess, so does everyone 'ere. But..." She licked her lips and tried again. "Eleven years is a long time to get to know a group of people Sally, especially in such cramped quarters. We eat together, work together, sleep together, even shower together. As you can probably well imagine, that tends to break down walls of privacy. We 'ave few secrets from each other."
Sally nodded, waiting to see where she was going with this.
"So we all know about each other's childhood's, our backgrounds, our experiences. And based on my experiences with the monarchy, to say nothing of theirs, I'd say it would be hard to NOT 'ave a problem with the monarchy."
Sally just sat there, as if she had been physically struck. Olivia just shook her head and sighed. "I'm really sorry, Sally. Maybe we should talk about this later. Right now I have to-"
"I understand." Sally said softly. "If we had only known sooner we might have been able to-"
"To do what?" Olivia asked, her voice heavy with resignation. "We can't change the past, any more than we can simply walk out of here. Bloody wretched beasts. We're stuck 'ere." She gave a little laugh that was anything but humorous. "And now, you're stuck 'ere too."
* * *
After leaving Bunnie and the others, Sally went looking for Olivia. She spent several minutes combing the barracks, getting more and more incensed by the second. Bad enough that they had been stranded here, bad enough that all but two of the twenty odd Mobians didn't speak English, bad enough being deceived, but not even being given the benefit of the doubt was too much!
Sally finally found Olivia in the mess hall. She was sitting at a table along the far wall, sipping at a thin broth of something that smelled heavily of cabbage. She seemed quite taken aback when Sally suddenly sat down opposite her and said:
"I want the truth." Olivia nearly choked on her soup. Recovering quickly she said, "What goes on 'ere isn't any of your concern unless we choose to make it. I've already told you more than you 'ave a right to know."
"Like hell." Surprising herself by her own ferocity, Sally pushed on. "I can understand the mistrust, I can understand the fear, and I can even understand the edginess. But what I can't understand, what I REFUSE to understand, is why you seem perfectly fine with lying to our faces without even giving us so much as a chance to understand you!"
"If I've chosen not to bloody tell you everything, which is NOT the same as lying, then you can be sure I've done so only to protect our privacy." Sally saw that she was simply agitating Olivia, not a great strategy. So she decided to switch tracts.
"Look, I'm not trying drag anything out of you. I'm just asking that you give us a chance. We're lost, confused, and frankly your unresponsiveness isn't helping. We only want to help."
Olivia visibly seemed to deflate, as if she was a punctured balloon. "All right, all right, no need for the ruddy guilt trip. Your good, bloody good." She sighed. "What do you want to know?"
"For starters, what exactly is the relationship you have with the Overlanders? I heard Misha talking to a dragon about some sort of task the Colonel requested of him and I remember you coming to us right after the Colonel promised a tour. Mind you, I want the whole truth this time." Sally added.
"I didn't lie to you before. They aren't our captors and we aren't their captives."
"Then what are they?" Sally asked, trying to be patient.
"Our protectors."
"Protectors? You mean from those beasts in the jungle?" Sally asked.
"Got it in one." Olivia shuddered, and not from the cold.
"What are those...things?" Sally asked in a low voice.
"I 'onestly 'ave no bloody idea. They've always been in the jungle, as long as I've been 'ere. Used to be they'd stick to the interior and rarely foray out. But over the last few years they've gotten a 'ell of a lot more aggressive." She paused, as if in need of encouragement.
"Go on." Sally urged.
"Well, used to be that we could actually go outside the wall. Even managed to pick fruit and berries from the outskirts of the jungle. And the Overlanders used to 'ave watchtowers and outposts all around the bloody jungle. Not anymore though."
"How did you and the others get inside this valley?" Sally asked. "We had to fly in and that wasn't all that easy. Or pleasant." She added, remembering the crash.
"There are caves, tunnels in the mountains that lead from one side to the other. When I came in, I ran into an Overlander patrol in one of those tunnels. They took me back to the garrison 'ere. I was the first Mobian they encountered."
"But not the last." Sally stated.
"No, not the last." Olivia agreed. "In the first week after the Coup, there were no less than a dozen Mobians 'ere. Misha among them. The rest came soon afterwards. Most of them 'ad similar stories to my own. Visiting relatives, trying to start a new life in Mobotropolis, or just coming for the Victory celebrations. Then after Robotnik took over, we all ran like 'ell and ended up with the Overlanders."
Sally paused and mentally nodded. Now things were starting to come together, some things anyway. "How did they treat you at first?"
"At first? I don't think they 'ad a clue about what to do. They just lost the Great War, but now it looked like Mobotropolis 'ad gone to 'ell in a 'andbasket. They didn't quite know what to do. I remember they gave us food, blankets, but pretty much left us alone. Until..."
"What?" Sally asked, unconsciously leaning forward in her seat.
"They 'ad to abandon the base. They didn't want to start a war they couldn't win, so they began to pack up." She sighed. "The plan was for them to seal up the tunnels after they evacuated and leave us out in the wilderness. Either to die or to be captured by SWATbots."
"That's horrible!" Sally exclaimed, her face a mixture of shock and disgust. Then she paused and thought about where this was going. "But someone intervened on your behalf." She said, not a question. "Colonel Franklin?"
"General Franklin, actually." Olivia corrected. "I still don't know why, but he threw away his rank, his career, even any hopes of a normal, peaceful life for us. He never told us why, but he stood up for us. When the Overlanders left, the Colonel stayed, along with over a dozen of his most loyal soldiers."
" 'Over a dozen?' What happened to the others?" Sally asked. "Colonel Franklin said their were only ten Overlanders..." She trailed off, a sinking feeling in her stomach gave her a pretty good idea what happened to them.
"After the main Overlander force withdrew, those blasted beasts started turning up. I guess without all the bloody racket from the garrison troops, they decided to get bold. Nowadays they come right up to the ruddy walls and start scratching around, even during the day. Without the Overlanders..." Olivia turned away, that thought best left unfinished. She cleared her throat. "But some Overlanders weren't so lucky. Two years ago, one fell off the walkway at night, when those things were on the prowl. I-I still 'ear his screams sometimes, in my dreams."
"Oh good god." Sally breathed. No wonder Mikhail and the others were so grateful to their Overlander patrons! "Olivia, I-I had no idea." Sally could feel her eyes water. "I'm sorry."
Olivia shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to dwell on that. "Well there you 'ave it. The Overlanders protect us from those creatures since we can't use their weapons and we 'elp ensure that the garrison is well maintained and grow the food. Everyone benefits, though right now I'd sooner be at the beach."
Sally paused, she really didn't want to push for anymore answers right now. It was clear that the older girl was emotionally exhausted, but she needed to find out one last thing. "Do you know why Mikhail seems to hate the House of Acorn?"
"Sally," Olivia said after a tense pause. "As cliché as this might sound, it's nothing personal. But do you 'onestly think that everyone in the Greater Kingdom of Acorn was as well off as you?" Sally opened her mouth to answer, then shut it when she realized that she had no answer. "Sally, I like you. I really do. If I 'ad to 'azard a guess, so does everyone 'ere. But..." She licked her lips and tried again. "Eleven years is a long time to get to know a group of people Sally, especially in such cramped quarters. We eat together, work together, sleep together, even shower together. As you can probably well imagine, that tends to break down walls of privacy. We 'ave few secrets from each other."
Sally nodded, waiting to see where she was going with this.
"So we all know about each other's childhood's, our backgrounds, our experiences. And based on my experiences with the monarchy, to say nothing of theirs, I'd say it would be hard to NOT 'ave a problem with the monarchy."
Sally just sat there, as if she had been physically struck. Olivia just shook her head and sighed. "I'm really sorry, Sally. Maybe we should talk about this later. Right now I have to-"
"I understand." Sally said softly. "If we had only known sooner we might have been able to-"
"To do what?" Olivia asked, her voice heavy with resignation. "We can't change the past, any more than we can simply walk out of here. Bloody wretched beasts. We're stuck 'ere." She gave a little laugh that was anything but humorous. "And now, you're stuck 'ere too."
* * *