***
Tails sat in his cage, gazing at the computer screens. Robotnik was pacing back and forth in front of the wall-length console, supervising the launch of his robotic logging crew. Snively was sitting in a swivel chair, watching a screen and tapping a key now and then. The process of chopping down trees was automated--all they had to do was transfer the units out to the forest, a distance of five miles.
Tails squinted at the screens, trying to read them. He was just a little too far away. He rocked back and forth slightly, wondering if his cage would shift on its wheels. He felt it move. He rocked some more, trying to roll it closer to the console without attracting attention. If he could only read those screens! He might be able to figure out what was going on.
Robotnik noticed his efforts. "Look here, the fox wants to see!" He walked up and pushed the cage up near the console. "I'm going to cut down the Great Forest, and now you have a front-row seat."
"Oh no, Brer Fox, not the briar patch," Tails thought in quiet glee. He looked from one screen to another, figuring out how they worked and what buttons controlled what monitors. As for cutting down the Great Forest, he knew for a fact that several acres of bog stood between Knothole and Robotropolis. Any machines would have a fit trying to cross that. And by then Sally would have figured out some way to sabotage the machines. No, all Tails wanted was a closer look at the way the mainframe was run.
He sat and watched with such rapt attention that Snively grew nervous. "Sir," he said to Robotnik, "is it a good idea to let it so near the computers?"
Robotnik looked at Tails and mistook the fox's attention for fear. "It's going to see its home destroyed. What's wrong with letting it watch?"
Snively didn't answer, but gazed at Tails from time to time and sucked his lower lip. Tails didn't care. Sonic was gone, and there was nothing worse they could do to him. And so he watched the screens, trying to memorize everything he saw.
***
The first squadron of transports did not reach the Great Forest. Sally and Bunnie Rabbot hid a short distance from the trail and shot holes in the fuel tanks of the trucks. When the fuel began to dribble out, Sally shot a flare at it, and the pair fled as the trucks burst into flames.
In the control room, Robotnik howled with fury and vented his rage by kicking Tails's cage several times, as if it were Tails's fault. Tails examined the dents left in the cage wall by Robotnik's boot. The steel was reinforced from the outside, and could be damaged by blows from the outside. Hmm. Maybe Robotnik would be kind enough to smash open the cage for Tails.
As the day went on, two more convoys were damaged or destroyed by Freedom Fighter activity, and Robotnik kicked Tails's cage over and over.
Tails disliked being kicked at, and whenever it happened, an animal rage reared up in him that made him want to snarl and snap and attack the bars. He fought this down and wondered at himself, then remembered a book he had read where they made dogs fight by putting them in cages and poking them with sticks. Now he knew how those dogs felt.
At sundown Robotnik and Snively left the control room for a break, leaving Tails alone in the control room. He immediately stood up as high as he could in the cage, trying to see up on the console. He had noticed a tool box up there earlier, probably for maintaining the innards of the computers. He pressed his head against the top of the cage, straining to see. The toolbox was further down. He threw himself against one wall of his cage to roll it in that direction, and to his horror the cage toppled over.
His attempts to get it upright again proved fruitless, and he was forced to sit and wait for his captors to return. Robotnik may not make anything of the knocked-over cage, but Snively ... Tails trusted Snively less than Robotnik. Snively was the sort to put a bullet in Tails's head and fake astonishment when they found him dead.
Tails hated them both.
***
There was no painkiller available in Petra, and Sonic had to suffer the torment of his broken body without the aid of drugs. On top of that the cave was hot, and he sweated under his bandages. He passed the day in a stupor, moaning without knowing it. Sometimes Amy was with him, and other times the badger Skratcher was bending over him, holding a cup of some gruesome herbal substance to his lips. Sometimes it would be the doctor Ranith, taking his temperature or watching him.
Sometimes Sonic spoke to them, but it took a Herculean effort to summon the energy around the pain. And the pain only grew worse as the day wore on. And so as the logging robots were foiled over and over near the Great Forest, Sonic suffered in a little hidden village in the canyon.
As the sun sank, Skratcher forced a herbal infusion down Sonic even more horrible than the ones she had made him drink all day. Sonic coughed and sputtered as the liquid burned its way down his throat, protested feebly, and fell asleep at once.
When Ranith looked questioning, the badger said, "The poor bloke has suffered enough. I gave him a sleeping draught."
"It's the most powerful one I've ever seen," said the doctor, and sniffed. "And the most aromatic." The room reeked of a sweet, minty smell.
"It does more than make him sleep," said Skratcher, laying back her short ears. "Let him be. If he's going to heal, he needs rest." She pushed past the ground squirrel and left the cave, leaving Ranith looking down at Sonic.
"Live, you," he growled.
***
Sonic slept without dreaming, and woke sometime the next day feeling sick in his head. He lay there for a while before he noticed that the pain was less. He moved slightly--little more than tightening his muscles--to test it, and yes, the pain was less. It had to be those foul things that one person was making him drink. Oh, but if only he could see!
He lay in his own personal darkness, listening and trying to figure out what time it was. After a while he heard the footsteps he had come to know as Amy's. "Hi, Sonic!" she chirped.
"Hi," he whispered. "What time is it?"
"About ten in the morning," she said.
He heard the scrape of a stool being drawn up to his bedside. "Am I better?" he whispered.
"Do you feel better?"
"I don't ... hurt."
"That's good!" Her voice became cheerful. "Skratcher says that if you're going to recover, the biggest recovery will be made within the next few days. She says your spine might heal."
"Oh." Sonic was glad for this possibility, but he also wanted to know about his eyes. Before he could say anything, Amy chattered on, "She and Ranith--he's our doctor--they think your spinal cord might have just been pinched. You can break your backbones without breaking your spinal cord."
"Oh." Sonic had never heard this, and wondered how much he ought to trust medical jargon parroted to him by a young girl.
Amy left this topic and moved on to others, telling him how so and so had had a litter, and how someone else had found a salt lick, and how some other person was working on a way to run pipes from a spring to the caves. Sonic let her chatter wash over him, grateful for her company, which broke up the monotony of listening to passersby and having nothing to take his mind off his pain.
He heard Skratcher come in--she had a shuffling gait--and waited for the inevitable horrible sludge to be held to his lips. It came, and he gulped it down, accepting water afterwards. "How do you feel?" came the raspy voice of the badger.
"I don't hurt so much," he croaked, trying to sound strong.
"Good," said the raspy voice, sounding satisfied. "It's working. You may get your legs back in another few days."
"But my eyes?" he asked.
There was a brief pause, then Skratcher said, "That's from your head injury. Your sight might return in time, if that part of your brain hasn't been damaged."
He listened to her shuffle out, and thought about brain damage. His head did hurt an awful lot. How much was concussion and how much was brain damage? Or was a concussion brain damage? He wished he had paid more attention to biology in school.
Amy was still there, and he felt her pat his shoulder, just above his cast. "Don't worry. There was this guy who tangled with Robotnik's robots, and they tore him up and left him for dead a mile from here. Skratcher and Ranith patched him up and he's good as new. He kind of limps, though."
"Bet he wasn't blind," Sonic thought, gazing hopelessly into the darkness. Still, there was a hope his vision might return, along with the feeling in his legs. He would cling to hope and ride out the road to recovery. He had a feeling there was something he had forgotten to do, something urgent...
Tails sat in his cage, gazing at the computer screens. Robotnik was pacing back and forth in front of the wall-length console, supervising the launch of his robotic logging crew. Snively was sitting in a swivel chair, watching a screen and tapping a key now and then. The process of chopping down trees was automated--all they had to do was transfer the units out to the forest, a distance of five miles.
Tails squinted at the screens, trying to read them. He was just a little too far away. He rocked back and forth slightly, wondering if his cage would shift on its wheels. He felt it move. He rocked some more, trying to roll it closer to the console without attracting attention. If he could only read those screens! He might be able to figure out what was going on.
Robotnik noticed his efforts. "Look here, the fox wants to see!" He walked up and pushed the cage up near the console. "I'm going to cut down the Great Forest, and now you have a front-row seat."
"Oh no, Brer Fox, not the briar patch," Tails thought in quiet glee. He looked from one screen to another, figuring out how they worked and what buttons controlled what monitors. As for cutting down the Great Forest, he knew for a fact that several acres of bog stood between Knothole and Robotropolis. Any machines would have a fit trying to cross that. And by then Sally would have figured out some way to sabotage the machines. No, all Tails wanted was a closer look at the way the mainframe was run.
He sat and watched with such rapt attention that Snively grew nervous. "Sir," he said to Robotnik, "is it a good idea to let it so near the computers?"
Robotnik looked at Tails and mistook the fox's attention for fear. "It's going to see its home destroyed. What's wrong with letting it watch?"
Snively didn't answer, but gazed at Tails from time to time and sucked his lower lip. Tails didn't care. Sonic was gone, and there was nothing worse they could do to him. And so he watched the screens, trying to memorize everything he saw.
***
The first squadron of transports did not reach the Great Forest. Sally and Bunnie Rabbot hid a short distance from the trail and shot holes in the fuel tanks of the trucks. When the fuel began to dribble out, Sally shot a flare at it, and the pair fled as the trucks burst into flames.
In the control room, Robotnik howled with fury and vented his rage by kicking Tails's cage several times, as if it were Tails's fault. Tails examined the dents left in the cage wall by Robotnik's boot. The steel was reinforced from the outside, and could be damaged by blows from the outside. Hmm. Maybe Robotnik would be kind enough to smash open the cage for Tails.
As the day went on, two more convoys were damaged or destroyed by Freedom Fighter activity, and Robotnik kicked Tails's cage over and over.
Tails disliked being kicked at, and whenever it happened, an animal rage reared up in him that made him want to snarl and snap and attack the bars. He fought this down and wondered at himself, then remembered a book he had read where they made dogs fight by putting them in cages and poking them with sticks. Now he knew how those dogs felt.
At sundown Robotnik and Snively left the control room for a break, leaving Tails alone in the control room. He immediately stood up as high as he could in the cage, trying to see up on the console. He had noticed a tool box up there earlier, probably for maintaining the innards of the computers. He pressed his head against the top of the cage, straining to see. The toolbox was further down. He threw himself against one wall of his cage to roll it in that direction, and to his horror the cage toppled over.
His attempts to get it upright again proved fruitless, and he was forced to sit and wait for his captors to return. Robotnik may not make anything of the knocked-over cage, but Snively ... Tails trusted Snively less than Robotnik. Snively was the sort to put a bullet in Tails's head and fake astonishment when they found him dead.
Tails hated them both.
***
There was no painkiller available in Petra, and Sonic had to suffer the torment of his broken body without the aid of drugs. On top of that the cave was hot, and he sweated under his bandages. He passed the day in a stupor, moaning without knowing it. Sometimes Amy was with him, and other times the badger Skratcher was bending over him, holding a cup of some gruesome herbal substance to his lips. Sometimes it would be the doctor Ranith, taking his temperature or watching him.
Sometimes Sonic spoke to them, but it took a Herculean effort to summon the energy around the pain. And the pain only grew worse as the day wore on. And so as the logging robots were foiled over and over near the Great Forest, Sonic suffered in a little hidden village in the canyon.
As the sun sank, Skratcher forced a herbal infusion down Sonic even more horrible than the ones she had made him drink all day. Sonic coughed and sputtered as the liquid burned its way down his throat, protested feebly, and fell asleep at once.
When Ranith looked questioning, the badger said, "The poor bloke has suffered enough. I gave him a sleeping draught."
"It's the most powerful one I've ever seen," said the doctor, and sniffed. "And the most aromatic." The room reeked of a sweet, minty smell.
"It does more than make him sleep," said Skratcher, laying back her short ears. "Let him be. If he's going to heal, he needs rest." She pushed past the ground squirrel and left the cave, leaving Ranith looking down at Sonic.
"Live, you," he growled.
***
Sonic slept without dreaming, and woke sometime the next day feeling sick in his head. He lay there for a while before he noticed that the pain was less. He moved slightly--little more than tightening his muscles--to test it, and yes, the pain was less. It had to be those foul things that one person was making him drink. Oh, but if only he could see!
He lay in his own personal darkness, listening and trying to figure out what time it was. After a while he heard the footsteps he had come to know as Amy's. "Hi, Sonic!" she chirped.
"Hi," he whispered. "What time is it?"
"About ten in the morning," she said.
He heard the scrape of a stool being drawn up to his bedside. "Am I better?" he whispered.
"Do you feel better?"
"I don't ... hurt."
"That's good!" Her voice became cheerful. "Skratcher says that if you're going to recover, the biggest recovery will be made within the next few days. She says your spine might heal."
"Oh." Sonic was glad for this possibility, but he also wanted to know about his eyes. Before he could say anything, Amy chattered on, "She and Ranith--he's our doctor--they think your spinal cord might have just been pinched. You can break your backbones without breaking your spinal cord."
"Oh." Sonic had never heard this, and wondered how much he ought to trust medical jargon parroted to him by a young girl.
Amy left this topic and moved on to others, telling him how so and so had had a litter, and how someone else had found a salt lick, and how some other person was working on a way to run pipes from a spring to the caves. Sonic let her chatter wash over him, grateful for her company, which broke up the monotony of listening to passersby and having nothing to take his mind off his pain.
He heard Skratcher come in--she had a shuffling gait--and waited for the inevitable horrible sludge to be held to his lips. It came, and he gulped it down, accepting water afterwards. "How do you feel?" came the raspy voice of the badger.
"I don't hurt so much," he croaked, trying to sound strong.
"Good," said the raspy voice, sounding satisfied. "It's working. You may get your legs back in another few days."
"But my eyes?" he asked.
There was a brief pause, then Skratcher said, "That's from your head injury. Your sight might return in time, if that part of your brain hasn't been damaged."
He listened to her shuffle out, and thought about brain damage. His head did hurt an awful lot. How much was concussion and how much was brain damage? Or was a concussion brain damage? He wished he had paid more attention to biology in school.
Amy was still there, and he felt her pat his shoulder, just above his cast. "Don't worry. There was this guy who tangled with Robotnik's robots, and they tore him up and left him for dead a mile from here. Skratcher and Ranith patched him up and he's good as new. He kind of limps, though."
"Bet he wasn't blind," Sonic thought, gazing hopelessly into the darkness. Still, there was a hope his vision might return, along with the feeling in his legs. He would cling to hope and ride out the road to recovery. He had a feeling there was something he had forgotten to do, something urgent...