Knuckles worked to gather up the refuse that still stood around the outside of the store. The girl and the elder walked out of the store to join him. But when they did, the elder stopped.
"Hey… what happened to the city?"
Knuckles looked back over his shoulder. "City?"
"Where all the echidnas live," relayed Myla, also wondering.
"We should be able to see most of the taller buildings from here," continued the elder, "but I see almost nothing. In fact, there should be a bunch of houses just down the road, but I can see from here that the road just goes into a forest."
"There is no city," said Knuckles. "I know not why you remember a city being there. However, if you wish the truth, I have never known you to be here, either. I have existed on this island for a very long time, and you have never been here."
"Island?" said the elder.
"Yes," confirmed Myla. "Bizarre as that sounds, this entire area is an island now."
Knuckles noted that she left out the fact that the island floated in the air. Then again, he thought, the elder was having trouble accepting things as they stood.
The elder shook his head, confused. "I just don't understand it. And you know what? My watch doesn't match the sun at all. According to my watch, it's morning, but the sun is getting lower."
Knuckles managed to piece the elder's meaning together without Myla's help. However, Myla confirmed his theories. "So, it should be before midday, but it's closer to night?"
"That's right. I can't explain it. I know that those hoodlums weren't here for that long!"
Knuckles filed away the term "hoodlums". So that was the term echidnas applied to undesirables. Useful knowledge.
However, there was nothing Knuckles could do at the present. He shrugged and continued to clean, calming himself with his patience. "I know nothing about this. I would help you if I understood, but I do not."
They worked for a while, and then the elder said off-handedly, "So, little lady, don't you have to be home soon?"
She laughed. "I would, I guess. But since there's no way for me to get there, and there's no way to know if it'll even be there, I guess not."
The elder nodded. "Yes… with everything so crazy and unpredictable, I can see why you'd have doubts."
"Besides, the only way I'd be able to get there is walking—or if Knuckles would be willing to help."
Knuckles thought about it. "I would help you. We could go very quickly."
She gave him a look he hadn't seen before. "Now wait a moment. If you could go so fast, why did we walk everywhere until now?"
"There was no reason to go quickly. I am in no hurry." And that was true. "I also might hit something—very dangerous at high speed. If you are dead, there is no point to moving quickly."
The elder laughed, while Myla smiled and said, "I guess you have a sense of humor after all." And Knuckles might have agreed, had he known what she was talking about.
The three of them worked until the birth of night. Knuckles would have worked longer, and did for a time, but after his companions went to sleep he lost heart. For some reason, he felt… like the work wasn't worth as much if they weren't doing it together.
This feeling startled him. He pondered it as he sat in the dark. He was in a room in the store, back behind the area echidnas normally went in. The elder had explained how this was the "private" area, whatever that meant. Both the elder and the girl slept now on elevated platforms of sorts. They'd offered one to Knuckles, but he found it far too soft. He was uncomfortable unless he slept on a hard surface—in his experience, soft surfaces had a dangerous tendency to give way.
Besides, he had no intention of sleeping. He had too much on his mind.
So he sat alone on the floor and reviewed the day's activity. The most disturbing element of the day had been his meeting with other echidnas. Those echidnas were despicable in every regard—they caused harm and destruction with neither rhyme nor reason. Their strength allowed them to take advantage of the works of others. The strong pillaged the weak.
Well, said a voice within him, strong over weak is a universal constant. It exists amongst all forms of life—the weak are stepping stones that allow the strong to advance and prosper. Why would you hold echidnas to a different standard than, say, the snakes of your island?
Yes, I would! Because they can think! thought Knuckles. At least I can, and Myla can; surely they can. Once an animal can think, it should no longer be driven only by its own will to survive. All morality begins with the idea that there are stronger imperatives than the blind urge to do whatever will ensure survival. Without morality, there is no purpose to the existence of an animal that can think—he is lower than the life forms without the ability to think, since they can't know better.
All of this is why I accept my duty to guard the Master, he thought. I've thought about this before. The Children of Chaos cannot be undone; however, the strength they bestow is far too much than can be wisely entrusted to any animal. Therefore, the only way to prevent their abuse—to prevent animals from abusing that strength—is to ensure they remain out of the paws of anyone.
Including me. I can only use the power they wish to give me. And I cannot use them to harm.
So where does that leave me? These echidnas—my own people, those from which I spring—are lower than snakes. They are too foolish to use the Master, that is certain. And if what Myla and the elder said is true, this foolishness is not restricted to a handful of rogue echidnas. Yes, echidnas are bad.
His train of thought crashed to a halt.
What about Myla?
I don't know the elder very well, but I do know Myla. She seemed eager to help in case of trouble. It was she who'd suggested we go to the store in the first place. And she worked—not skillfully, but diligently—the whole time we cleaned.
Here was an echidna who wasn't covered by the rule. It was a tremendous comfort to Knuckles—that he'd found an echidna that had some vestige of morality.
At the same time, though, it disturbed Knuckles on a different level. If he could not judge the whole race at a time, then he had to judge worth individual by individual—and in a worst-case scenario, he might not have the chance to do that. He shuddered at what might happen.
His thoughts were interrupted yet again. A sound… a screech/rip! Instantly he ran out of the store and looked down the road, towards the center of the island.
Another large portion of the island was glowing, the glow becoming ever brighter as the sound grew. Finally, with a now-familiar 'crack' sound, the land changed. The sight took Knuckles' breath away.
Where there had been jungle, now there were buildings—so many they blocked Knuckles' view. He stood transfixed for several seconds, then grimaced. Turning, he jumped to the store's roof, then took an Master-assisted leap straight up.
He was now about fifty echidna-lengths in the air. From there, the buildings stretched out in his view—many of them, covering the ground like a swarm of ants, far and away more than Knuckles could count. He directed his gaze to the limits of the transformation. As far as he could tell, the buildings continued only for a certain distance. Past that, the island was unchanged.
His mind swirled with possibilities—and distracted him. His concentration gave out, and almost before he realized it, he was in free-fall. He struggled, trying to grasp the power of the Master, yet it eluded him. Somehow his preoccupation with echidnas, with the changing landscape—with everything—was limiting his ability to hold on to the Master.
He finally achieved a weak grasp on it, but it was far too late. His last effort slowed his fall by a little, but his landing was still very hard.
The air flew from his body; he was unable to force it to return. As he lay paralyzed by this he assessed the damage done to him. As usual, the Master kept him from real harm without lessening his suffering; although his bones were intact, several blood vessels had ruptured, and he had numerous massive bruises.
He finally managed to get some proper airflow into his body. As normal functions returned, he felt his powerful systems begin repairing the damage his carelessness had caused. All manner of biological agents rushed to the wounds of his body; he was aware of their every progress. He hated having to focus on the reparations, as he had other things to think about, but he could never take his mind off of them as long as they worked.
Thus preoccupied, he walked back to the private part of the store. He walked to where Myla was sleeping. He tried to shake her awake. She responded far too slowly for his liking.
"What?" she said, clearly irritated. Knuckles was hardly able to deal with her at the best of times, but he had no time to waste.
"Something has happened. Come with me."
She got out of bed ever so slowly. Her slow movement was agony to Knuckles. "Come! Quickly!"
She shook her head and looked up at him. "It's still the middle of the night!"
"Actually, between beginning and middle, but you must hurry! The land has changed again!"
She stood. "Alright, what do you plan to do?"
"We should go down there and see what has changed," he said, leading her out of the building. "I saw buildings, but I do not know what they are."
As soon as they were out of the building, Knuckles begged the Master for its power again. It took several seconds for him to concentrate enough, but when he had it, he refused to let go.
He put Myla's arms over his shoulders. Rather than use the Master to move himself, he poured the Master's power into his legs. He began running—faster… faster… faster still, until the wind deafened him.
Now he was in amongst the buildings. He slowed and stopped.
Immediately Myla let go, but when he looked at her, she didn't seem disturbed. She is getting more accustomed to things, Knuckles thought.
She looked around. "This is just a residential neighborhood," she said.
"What is that?"
"It's where echidnas live."
Knuckles' eyes widened in excitement. "I want to see them!"
She curled her lip. "Well, you can't just invade people's homes. That's not allowed."
Knuckles' face fell. "But do they not want to be with other echidnas? I know I would."
She had difficulty answering. "They want to be with those they like and stay away from others."
"But if they do not interact with others, they cannot determine if they wish to spend more time with them."
Myla shook her head. "I… guess you're right, but they feel that way anyway."
"Is that how you feel?"
Her head shot up, and she looked at him in surprise. He waited for her answer, and she was long in delivering it. "Yes, I guess it is. It's one of those things that doesn't make sense. We wish to be open with others, and yet we fear others at the same time. It's the way of things."
He lowered his head and shook it. "I do not understand."
She patted him on the head. "It's something we have to figure out for ourselves. It's not a simple world at the best of times."
Had he not known her so well, his reaction to her touching him would have been to rip her arm out of her socket and beat her with it. And yet, for reasons he did not understand, he allowed her to continue touching him, making contact in a way he'd never known.
On the quiet road—this had to be a road, Knuckles thought, it's too flat and solid—a noise shattered the silence. Knuckles whirled to face it. An echidna was poking its head out of a door. Its expression was one of confusion.
"Hey," shouted the echidna, "why's it so dark all of a sudden?"
Myla shouted back, "It's been dark!"
"Spraint," said the voice again, "it's ten in the morning! What are you and that nudie on, anyway?"
"We are on the road," Knuckles said.
Myla hid her face from the echidna. The echidna stared for a few seconds, then slammed the door.
"Was I wrong?" asked Knuckles.
"No, you were right, but that wasn't what he was asking," she answered. "C'mon, let's go back to the store. I need to get some sleep."
"Not yet," said Knuckles. "We must know how far this change goes. I will run us to the edge of it, then we will return to the store."
She shrugged. "Fine by me."
Knuckles ran to the point where the buildings stopped and his jungle began anew. The location worried him. "This is too far towards the center. This change is less than the others, yet it is approaching the center of the island."
"Is that bad?"
"Yes."
"What's at the center?"
Knuckles shut himself up before he could answer. The strength of the urge to talk to her was frightening. The prize of the island must be kept as best a secret as can be maintained, he thought to himself. He had to concentrate on the thought to make it stick in his mind, but eventually his urge was suppressed. Calming, he looked back up at her.
"Let's return to the store," he said.