Chapter 9
The best defense is a good offense.
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The colors of the crystals around us changed as we walked, and soon we came to the white crystal, surrounded by crates and watchful monkeys, even at night. The airstrip was empty.
"Did they drop him off already?" I whispered.
Jazz and I were standing around a corner from the white crystal, out of the range of vision of the guards.
Jazz peered out with one eye. "There's nobody moving around. Maybe they did. You see Knuckles anywhere?"
I scanned the walls. He could be anywhere, just as hidden as we were.
The chao whispered together in my arms, and Zinc stated, "Chimera senses him, so he's here somewhere."
"Sense him?" said Jazz, lifting an eyebrow. "You mean you little guys are psychic?"
"No," said Zinc. "We're just extra-sensitive to the smell and movements of our masters." His tone was condescending, and I fought to keep from grinning. Jazz grunted and peered at the empty airstrip. Then he waved me back and flattened himself to the wall.
Descending without a sound into the light of the city was a Ghost. It moved like an extension of the night sky, and was shaped like no aircraft I had ever seen. It reminded me of a bat--sleek, smooth, with wide square wings. It landed on three spidery legs, and a door irised open on the underside. A Shellizaa climbed out, and four monkeys scampered out to it. Between them they hauled Sonic's limp body out of the craft.
"I'll distract them," said Jazz. "You come after and get him away."
"Okay." I set the chao on the ground near the wall, but before I could do anything else, Jazz rocketed out of hiding, firing as he ran. The gun was so loud I felt my teeth rattle in their sockets, and sparks exploded everywhere. The monkeys scattered with shrieks, and the Shellizaa dropped and pulled into its shell.
I bolted after Jazz and glimpsed Knuckles running parallel to me. We reached Sonic at the same time, and we put Sonic's arms over our shoulders and lifted him. Sonic groaned--there was a nasty gash on top of his head, and his blue quills were stained purple. "Great, he's alive," panted Knuckles. As we half-dragged Sonic out of the open, he added, "What are you doing here?"
"Kita helped me rescue Zinc, he was being sold," I said. "Sonic, if you could walk it'd help a lot."
"I have a splitting headache," he moaned, struggling to get his feet under him. "Note to self--exit planes by doors, not through walls."
More firing erupted behind us as we ducked around the corner where I had left the chao. Knuckles scooped up Chimera with his free hand, and I picked up Zinc, who stared at Sonic. "Gee, what happened to him?"
"You found Zinc," said Sonic, squinting at the silver chao. "Can we go home now?"
"Let's get out of this city first," said Knuckles, and he and I set off at a near-run up the street.
We ran two blocks and had to slow down. I couldn't avoid Shellizaas the way Jazz and Kita did, and we had to retrace our steps to avoid a busy thoroughfare.
"Zeff," panted Knuckles, "have you been shot?"
Sonic's head jerked up, and they both looked at the bullet-dents in my metal.
"They didn't go through," I said, peering up and down an intersection. We had more important problems than my health.
"Are you hurt?" Knuckles asked, and from the look on his face I knew he was ready to drop Sonic right there.
"No," I said. "I'm fine. Sonic, can they track you from a Ghost?"
We looked up at the sky, but the brightness of the crystals drowned out all the stars. Ghosts were invisible up there. "I don't know," said Sonic. "The insides of those things are bizarre. You ride on your stomach." His mouth worked fine, but he had trouble standing. His eyes were glazed with pain.
Jazz appeared in a rush of wind, changing gun attachments as fast as his hands could move. "This way," he said, and darted up a wide, empty avenue. We followed.
I didn't realize our danger until we were hoisting Sonic up the hill toward our grove of trees. I glanced back over Diamonda and saw Ghosts swooping over the city, black against the glare. I said nothing until we were under the trees, and Knuckles and I were raiding my backpack for the first-aid kit I had packed.
"Ghosts," I said, and pointed. Everyone looked, and I saw the fur rise along Knuckles and Jazz's backbones.
"They were close," said Jazz through his teeth. "Good thing you don't have that thing in your back the way the slaves do."
Sonic said nothing. He was lying with his eyes closed, and only his hand stroking Zinc showed he was awake.
Knuckles helped me wrap Sonic's head with gauze and cotton, but it was tricky in the dark, and not being able to see Sonic's wound. Then I gave him a painkiller pill and told him to lie still until it took effect. He obeyed and lay with his head turned, watching the hunting Ghosts.
"They're really ticked off," I said. "Jazz, did you kill any turtles?"
"I tried," said the rabbit, "but I was using my smallest caliber because I didn't want to hurt Sonic. If I'm lucky I took out some eyes."
I picked up Zinc and he snuggled his head into my neck and sighed. I watched the black ships sweep toward us. They were scanning every inch of the city. "What if they come out here?" I asked. I looked at Knuckles, and he looked at Jazz. Jazz was attaching new parts to his gun and ignoring us. "Jazz?" I said.
"Oh," he replied, looking up. "This is SAM." He patted his gun, which now was braced on four legs and had two monster rockets mounted on it.
"Tails would love that thing," said Sonic.
From his spot under my chin, Zinc whispered, "It means Surface to Air Missile, Zephyer. It's for blowing up airplanes."
"Oh," I whispered back, glad I had not had to ask.
Sonic lifted his head and stared into the darkness in the opposite direction of Diamonda. "Zeff," he murmured, "do you hear that?"
I looked out into the dark hills, but could hear nothing.
"It's gone now," said Sonic, lowering himself back to the grass.
"Maybe there's a Ghost out there," I said, and wondered if my metal would show up on radar. I sat down at the foot of a tree with the idea to get as low as possible.
Knuckles walked up and stood over me, arms folded. "Jazz is a weapons maniac," he whispered. "He's hoping they'll come here, nevermind that they'll find us."
"Sonic thinks there's one out there," I said, inclining my head toward the western hills.
Knuckles looked and listened for a long moment. Sonic lifted his head again, and for a second I thought I heard a faint mechanical purr from the dark sky. Then the airs shifted and the sound was gone.
"Something's out there."
The very words struck dread into my marrow. And there was nowhere to hide but under the scanty protection of the trees.
Knuckles crouched beside me, elbows on knees, and set Chimera on the grass. Chimera sat where he was placed, eyes shining in the shadows as he peered at the sky. One Ghost broke off from the rest and flew toward us, blending into the darkness as it left the light of Diamonda. A moment later a searchlight flicked on, and I watched the disembodied beam sweep the hillside. It moved south, away from us, but another searchlight appeared and swept toward us. I bowed my head over Zinc. Knuckles tensed, and Sonic sat up and got his feet under him. Jazz sat beside his missile launcher and gazed upwards.
The searchlight raked our grove, outlining every leaf in brilliant white light and black shadows that moved and swirled and vanished as the light moved on. They had missed us.
There was a sound like the roar of a blowtorch, and Jazz launched his missiles at the source of the spotlight. "No!" Knuckles bellowed, but his words were drowned out as the sky exploded in bright hot flame. Engines shrieked, and the Ghost crashed on the hill above Diamonda in a ball of fire.
"Ha!" Jazz laughed, loading another two missiles onto his launcher.
"What did you do that for?" roared Knuckles. "You gave us away!"
"Their only weapon is the beam," said Jazz, too euphoric to heed our danger. "I'll thin their ranks tonight!"
Our shelter was illuminated on all sides by searchlights. The sky was crowded with Ghosts, and I sensed the anger of the pilots from the jerks of the beams. I looked at Knuckles. "What if they have stunners? They stunned Kita!"
"Then we've had it," said Knuckles. "Blast Jazz and his--" His voice was drowned out as two more missiles turned a Ghost from a plane to a mass of burning rubbish. It crashed uncomfortably close, and the light from its fire illuminated our hiding place.
A venomous yellow light stabbed into the trees. It swept across the grove, and I heard it stir the leaves as it passed. We shrank aside and it left us unharmed. Sonic glared up through the tree above him and growled, "Come down and fight, coward."
Even with the sky above us filled with diving, teeming Ghosts, the only sound from them was the whoosh of air over their wings. How could a machine be so quiet? Another one dropped from the sky, a victim to Jazz's rockets, and he laughed aloud.
"Pyromaniac," Zinc spat from the shelter of my arms.
The grove was pierced from every angle by bright yellow beams, and I covered my face, bending over Zinc to protect him. "Drop!" someone yelled, and I heard thuds as everyone threw themselves flat. I pressed myself against a tree trunk and crouched as low as I could. The beams didn't seem to do any harm, possibly because trees and leaves broke them up. I dared to open my eyes, and saw with horror that Ghosts were landing all around us, sleek and deadly. Zinc saw them, too, and remarked, "Well, we're dead."
Suddenly Sonic jumped up, the bandage on his head a startling white in the darkness. "That sound!" he exclaimed, staring into the sky and ignoring the Ghosts. "That's not a Ghost!"
It dawned on me that I had heard the drone of an engine for several minutes, but had been too distracted to notice.
Knuckles lifted his head. "Why? What is it?"
"It's Tails!" Sonic cried, half-laughing. "The biplane! He's here!" He ran into the open, waving and shouting Tails's name. Stun beams swept after him, but he was already gone. I guess the painkiller had started working.
Knuckles jumped up. "Jazz, there's a biplane coming in, don't shoot it. It's ours."
"You don't say," said Jazz, targeting a Ghost, eyes wide and unblinking. "I'll let it through, then." He launched a rocket and another plane crashed in a fiery explosion.
The noise of the biplane grew louder, and I glimpsed ordinary blinking aircraft lights against the starry sky. Then I heard the rattle of its machine gun.
Ghosts leaped from their half-landed positions, as three cartwheeled and impacted on the ground. The biplane swept overhead, and I glimpsed the undersides of its twin wings as it passed. "Bless you Tails," I whispered.
Knuckles shoved Chimera into my arms and commanded, "Run south, we can't stay here!" He pushed me in the right direction, and I ran out into the open. I could hardly see after the firefight, and I stumbled on the uneven ground. Above me were the whistles of passing Ghosts and no more searchlights were visible. Tails had upset them, and they were swarming like a stomped anthill.
Behind me, Jazz was firing rockets as fast as he could go. Chimera was struggling to get down and go back, and I had a hard time holding him. At last Zinc sank his claws into Chimera's arm, and Chimera stopped writhing.
I slowed to a walk, straining to see through the darkness. What we needed were more trees, but it was as open as far as I could see. "Zinc, do you see anywhere to hide?" I asked, hoping his eyes were stronger than mine.
"No," he said after a moment. "Maybe you could find a hollow in the ground."
"That's not much protection from above," I said. But I paid closer attention to the rise and fall of the land.
Further on I felt the land dip, and I descended into a fold in the hills. I crouched there in the deeper darkness and set down the chao, who were heavier than they looked. "Are we safe?" asked Zinc.
"Not sure," I said. "Hold on to Chimera. I'm going to see what's happening." I climbed to the top of the fold and peered toward our grove. There were scattered fires all around it, and half-seen things moved to and fro in the sky. I was so busy watching the Ghosts fly that I nearly missed Knuckles, who was walking stealthily and peering from side to side. I called him and he trotted toward me and stumbled down the side of the fold. "What's this?" he asked.
"A streambed, I guess," I said. "It's not as good as the trees."
"It'll do for now," said Knuckles. He handed me my backpack. "I saved the food."
"That's the important thing," I said, grinning and knowing he couldn't see me. "Where's Sonic and them?"
"Sonic's off being a loon," said Knuckles with a touch of sarcasm. "Jazz is packing up SAM. I don't know what Tails will do--he can't land on a Shellizaa airstrip."
"Can he land out here?" I asked, looking at the plain.
"Sure, if he had some lights to guide him," said Knuckles. "I hope he doesn't crash after saving us."
There was a whoosh of air and Jazz flashed past us. Knuckles yelled after him, and he doubled back. "Where are you guys?" he called, and fell into the ditch. "Oh, here you are," I heard him say.
Knuckles and I scrambled down the slope, and I sensed Knuckles's restrained fury by his heavy breathing. "Jazz, why did you shoot those planes?"
"To thin them down," said Jazz. His eyes gleamed in the darkness with manic energy. "There's too many Ghosts in Diamonda."
"You could have got us killed!"
Jazz smiled. "Does that upset you? I am sorry."
Knuckles moved as if to hit the rabbit, but I grabbed his arm. "Don't," I whispered. He whirled on me with bared teeth, but I grabbed his other arm. "Don't," I repeated.
Knuckles stared at me a long moment, then relaxed and turned away. I let him go and he stalked back up the hill to check on the aerial dogfight. I turned to Jazz. "Consider your future face-pounding postponed, not canceled."
"I never asked you to hang around me," he snapped. "You got your chao back. Now go away and I won't have to put you in danger."
I gazed at him as he began to remove bolts from his gun. He was right. We had got what we came for, and no one would blame us for leaving. I looked toward the glow on the horizon that was Diamonda. I never wanted to see it again, and yet Kita was still there ... and the dragon ... Was it possible to help them? If not, perhaps we could send help. And to heck with talk of a Second Great War.
I heard the faint whisper of a passing Ghost, and shrank down to the grass. Another followed it as they soared above the hillsides, looking for us.
I heard the biplane's engine again, and looked up. It was flying toward us, and there was a burst of gunfire from its mounted weapon. The Ghosts winged away.
Sonic appeared, glowing a dull yellow in his excitement, and raced ahead of the biplane. He moved so fast that he seemed to leave trails against the darkness. A little way beyond it he turned and began to dart back and forth, creating a long rectangle with his glowing body. I climbed up beside Knuckles to see better. "What's he doing?"
Knuckles was silent a moment. "Oh, I see. He's outlining a place for Tails to land."
"Will that work?"
Knuckles shrugged. "Maybe. Tails doesn't have much choice, unless he has more fuel than I think he does."
We watched the biplane descend, its wings and tail tipped with red and green lights. We watched as it coasted down and bounced to a stop, Sonic streaking up and down to outline a rough runway. I admired Sonic's concentration, and Tails's trust in him. I would have bailed out had I been in Tails's place.
After a few minutes Sonic and Tails jogged up. Sonic was tired out, for his glow had faded, but Tails was Mr. Adrenaline.
"Did you see that?" he screamed in a whisper as they reached us. "I landed on bumpy ground in the dark with Sonic as a guide! That's totally unheard of! And did you see those black planes? They're so fast! Did you get the chao? Did you see those giant crystals? Who's that?" The fox stopped and stared across the fold at Jazz, who was adding some new accessory to his gun and ignoring us.
"Oh, that's just a loser," said Sonic, throwing himself on the grass. "I'm gonna sleep now. If you wake me up, no matter what for, I'll kill you."
"Why, what's his name?" Tails persisted, ignoring Sonic's threat.
"His name is Jazz Jackrabbit," said Knuckles. "He's got a vendetta against the Shellizaas."
"The what?"
I glanced at Sonic, whose eyes were closed. "Come down here," I said, guiding Tails to the bottom of the ditch. "We'll fill you in. How'd you find us, by the way?"
"I gave Sonic a tracking device," said the fox with a shrug. "He turned it on yesterday and I was able to find you guys. You sure are a million miles from nowhere."
"Good thing," I said. "Let me tell you about these Shellizaas ..."