Chapter 5
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death!
-Patrick Henry
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"You bet it's been a lousy morning," said Sonic. "Lead the way, Jazz."
Jazz flashed to the end of the street, then returned. I saw Sonic's eyes widen, then narrow. "All clear," said Jazz. He turned to zip off, and Sonic beat him to the end of the street. I plodded after them, grinning to myself--it seemed Sonic had discovered an instant rival.
They raced up and down the streets, turning sharp corners and casting dark glances at each other. The only thing that kept them from declaring a showdown was having to stop and wait for me. I followed them at a walk, too sick at heart to move any faster.
Shellizaas ate chao. They must have monkeys steal chao for them and hightail it back to this crystal city. No matter if the chao were expensive or rare or loved by someone. How would I break it to Knuckles?
I smelled ammonia, and we arrived back at the hot, clear river. Jazz and Sonic led me along it toward the biggest crystals in the center of the city. More Shellizaas appeared, all busy as ants, but I could not tell what they were doing.
After half an hour of walking, we arrived at a large square near the center of the city. It was surrounded by crystal-buildings the size of human skyscrapers, and a diamond-shaped pool of water dominated the center. A group of Shellizaas stood around this pool. Jazz and Sonic gave them a wide berth, and he and Sonic waited for me in a corner of the square.
Both of them were panting and eyeing each other, as if daring the other to admit he was tired. "Well?" I said.
Jazz motioned to a smaller crystal off to one side with bars in the window-holes. It was guarded by two monster turtles with spikes welded to their shells. "Okay," I said, noticing that unlike most Shellizaas, these two were staring at us. "What do we do?"
"Wait a minute," said Sonic, looking at the pavement. "Jazz, is this what the floor is paved with inside that jail?"
"Probably," said Jazz. "Why?"
Sonic looked at me, winked and indicated his knuckles. Then I understood. Knuckles amused himself by digging tunnels all over his island. Mere pavement wouldn't hold him long--it had to metal, and fairly thick metal at that, to stump him.
Jazz looked from me to Sonic and back again. "What?"
"He'll have dug out by now," I said. "It just depends on how deep and how far."
Jazz looked horrified. "Dig? You think he'll try digging? Here?"
"Why not?" said Sonic, looking smug. "He does it all the time back home."
"You don't get it, do you?" said Jazz. "I'll take care of the guards. You get in there and get him out." He dashed toward the turtle-guards.
Sonic and I ran to the crystal jail as the guard turtles snarled at Jazz. Sonic arrived first and peered into the little cell through a window. I jogged up and peered in, too.
Knuckles had tried to dig out, for there was a hole in the pavement several feet deep, but there was a foul smell, and Knuckles had collapsed to one side with a pained expression. The earth in the hole was yellow-green, and a pool of sickly water stood in the bottom.
The door was a slab of crystal, but it was locked. I wound my robot hands around the bars in the window, and Sonic grabbed me and took off at ninety miles an hour. The bars snapped out of the rock, and Sonic climbed inside and we hauled Knuckles out through the window. Knuckles was heavy, and it was all I could do to keep from dropping him on the cement.
Sonic vaulted out and crouched for a few seconds, drawing deep breathes. The atmosphere inside the jail was poisonous, and only the open windows had saved Knuckles's life.
Jazz ran around the corner of the jail and saw the three of us sitting on the ground. "I knew it," he muttered, helping us lift Knuckles. "We've got to hide him before those guards figure out the answer to a hundred times sixteen."
I whipped off my cloak, wincing as my metal body flashed in the sun, and threw it over Knuckles. Jazz's eyes widened, but he recovered himself and said, "Get him across the square to that statue." He dropped Knuckles and whipped his gun to his shoulder as the turtle guards rounded the corner of the jail, snorting and ready to kill someone.
Sonic and I hustled the limp Knuckles across the square as Jazz's gunshots echoed around the square. Dang him, didn't he have a silencer in that backpack of his? The statue was a turtle standing on all fours, and there was space under it to hide. We stowed Knuckles under there and retreated, waiting for attack.
All the turtles in the square looked up at the sound of gunfire, and were converging on Jazz, who had laid out one turtle guard, but had been jumped by the other. The green rabbit was struggling to escape the turtle's grip, but it was crushing him against its under-shell in a bear hug.
"It's gonna kill him, Sonic," I breathed.
"Right," he said, and raced off to help. Good ol' Sonic, always ready to help somebody in need. Then I realized his motives were less than pure, for Sonic snatched up Jazz's T-D-1 and yelled for the other turtles to back off. All he wanted was to touch that nifty gun.
Knuckles groaned. I forgot about Sonic, hurried back to the statue and peered under it. He was pushing back my cloak and blinking, looking ill. "Hi Zeff," he mumbled. "What happened?"
"No time now," I said, as Sonic yanked Jazz from the turtle's grip. "Keep that cloak on, we have to get out of this square."
Sonic and Jazz raced up to us, Jazz coughing uncontrollably, and making snatches at his gun in Sonic's arm.
"They're not happy about our jailbreak," Sonic remarked, jerking a thumb at the Shellizaas gathered around the fallen turtle. Some of them were moving in our direction. "Knux, come with me. Jazz, you make sure Zeff gets back to camp, okay?"
Jazz was leaning against statue's base, coughing, and could only nod. Sonic handed him the T-D-I with a lingering look at it, then grabbed Knuckles's arm and dashed away with the echidna in tow.
Jazz glanced at his gun with narrowed eyes, then jerked his head at me. The Shellizaas were loping in our direction, and they looked angry. Still coughing, Jazz broke into an easy run and I followed him into the shelter of the streets, in a different direction from the one Knuckles and Sonic had taken.
I felt conspicuous without my cloak. I was aware of the sun striking my metal, and every glint and flash seemed jewel-bright to me. Actually I was tarnished, for I had not polished myself in a month, but I didn't want to parade my greatest weakness in front of this hostile people.
The streets were deserted everywhere we went, and once in a while we saw a single Shellizaa hurrying by in the distance. Jazz stopped at a seven-way intersection. "Where's this camp of yours, again?" His coughing had subsided, and he was examining his gun for scratches.
"Um, it's on the west side of the city," I said. "In a grove of trees."
"Oh," said Jazz with a sneer. "So you guys are staying in the only cover for twenty miles. They'll never look for you there."
"You got a better idea?" I snapped.
"Sure," he said. "Hide in Diamonda, like me. There's plenty of vacant crystals. Take your pick." He selected a road leading off the intersection, and we jogged on.
"But this place is poisonous!" I panted. "Why stay down here?"
"I question I'd love to ask the Shellizaas," said Jazz. "I think it's because it has a rail station."
We traveled two more blocks of yellow crystals before we saw any turtles. "Hey," I said, panting, "is that the square over there?"
"Yeah, we're going around it," said Jazz.
I stopped and looked at the turtles--they were grouped around some flashing, fluttering thing. "Jazz, what's that?"
The green rabbit doubled back and followed my gaze. "Um. I don't know. Come on, let's go."
"Wait," I said. I wanted to see it closer, and the knowledge that the crystal city was nearly empty encouraged me. "Can we sneak up and look?"
Jazz huffed at me and slid off his backpack. He rummaged around in it and handed me a fat tube. "Here's my sniper scope. Look through it."
I held it up and fumbled at the zoom wheel. To my surprise I could see the turtles as if I were standing behind them, and as for the fluttering thing ... For a few moments it was hidden from sight behind the Shellizaas, then it bounded into sight, and my stomach gave a sick sort of wriggle.
It was Kita, the girl from the tree, and she was dancing. In either hand she held a short stick, and attached to these sticks was a pair of wide flags, red and yellow, like the one she had dropped on me. She whirled these in spirals and circles around her body as she danced, forming bright hypnotic patterns. She leaped and twirled, performing complicated steps and spins, her silk clothing floating about her.
Bound around her wrists and ankles were ornate silver bands I thought were jewelry until I noticed the one around her neck like a collar. I looked at the patronizing expressions of the turtles around her, and I realized that Kita was a slave. A dancing slave. I remembered the glowing thing in her spine, and the whoosh of the invisible ship as it retrieved her. "You won't report me?" She was a slave and had been trying to escape.
Now that my attention was on her and not her dance, I saw the hollows under her eyes and her ribs showing through her thin shirt. Of course--they wouldn't beat a delicate slave, but starving her was another matter. My heart bled for her as she performed for her masters, without hope, lost in her whirling red and yellow flags.
She leaped into the air for her grand finale, higher than I knew a human could jump. But she rose high and higher, twirling her flags, then turned a flip in midair and sank back to the ground. The Shellizaas applauded. One of them stepped forward, clipped a chain to her collar, and led her away. She followed him, rolling up her flags, head bent.
I lowered the scope and looked at Jazz. He had watched the dance through a smaller scope, and his ears were flattened in pity.
"Jazz," I said, "why do they have a human slave?"
He gave me a sidelong glance and took the scope from my hands. "Later. Come on."
We reached the camp without further incident, and found Sonic and Knuckles looking out for us. "What kept you?" Sonic demanded, trotting toward us.
"We stopped to watch Kita," I said. "She's a slave, Sonic."
Sonic frowned. "I was afraid of that. Hi, Jazz." He gave the green rabbit a dirty look, but Jazz ignored him and moved toward Knuckles, who looked better. "I'm Jazz."
"I'm Knuckles," said Knux, and they shook hands. I noticed Jazz stared for a second at Knuckles's enormous hand.
"Pardon my asking," said Jazz, "but what species are you?"
"Echidna, same as her," said Knuckles, jerking his head in my direction.
Jazz glanced between the two of us. "You related?"
"Not yet," said Knuckles. I felt my face grow hot in embarrassment, but he caught my eye and gave me the ghost of a wink to let me know he was teasing. "By the way, Jazz, Sonic just told me about what they do with chao. I think we need to find out where they keep them. Should we ask a turtle?"
"No, and don't call them turtles," said Jazz, his ears looking annoyed. "I suppose we could try the restaurant's back rooms."
Sonic had been standing off by himself until now, frowning down at Diamonda. At this point he turned around and asked, "Jazz, do they have a lot of human slaves?"
Jazz looked at Sonic without meeting his eyes. "Kita's the first one I've seen."
"Are there other humans here?" I asked.
When Jazz didn't answer, Knuckles stepped forward. "Answer her."
"Hey, I don't know you guys," snapped Jazz. "Why should I tell you my business when I only ran across you an hour ago?"
Knuckles held up his fists. "I don't like your tone."
Jazz lifted his gun. "I don't like your face."
I stepped between them, pushing down Knuckles's fists and Jazz's gun. "Stop it. We're all on the same side. If you want help saving the humans, we'll help you, Jazz."
He glared at me a second, then relaxed. "Okay. Fine." He lowered his voice. "The kingpin of this operation is a scientist-politician named Devan Shell. He's experimenting on humans here. Or I think he's here. All the Shellizaas here are his cronies from the universities at Carrotus." He motioned to the crystal city. "You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
"Is that why Kita has that thing in her back?" said Knuckles.
"It's a Chaos Drive," said Sonic tonelessly. He was staring at Diamonda again.
Jazz jumped. "How do you know what it's called?"
"Old technology," said Sonic, not seeming to notice what he was saying. "They had them on the ARK, they regulate chaos energy. Humans invented them. And now it's being used against humans by Mobians. How ironic." He spun around. "Jazz, I want a gun like yours."
"Let's worry about your chao first," said Jazz.