Chapter 12 Queen Alicia Acorn
"Great Scot! You're serious! What happened to her?" The King asked.
"I'm not sure. From the first x-rays I took of her body, I found there was a small white lump on one of her lungs, which I suspect was due to the chemicals or radiation she was exposed to when the Overlanders started the Great War so many years ago. She is also… her blood pressure has been rising since I found her and her white blood cell count has been falling as of late. I'm actually hoping that Aaron or Sam could maybe help diagnose her and maybe cure her of whatever it is she has." Rotor explained, reading part of it from Doctor Quack's notes.
"Why didn't you tell me about this immediately? Why did you wait?" King Acorn asked.
"We wanted to wait and make sure you were the real King before letting you know. I'm sorry Your Majesty, but we did not want to risk losing her again." Doctor Quack explained on entering. Sam then came into the room hauling one of Aaron's computers with her.
"What the devil is she doing here? How do you know she isn't a spy for Robotnik?" The King exclaimed as Sam walked into the bunker.
"Sire, I have no intention of harming you or your Kingdom. All I want to do is help you defeat Robotnik. But, right now, I have volunteered to help in trying to cure the Queen of whatever ails her." Sam explained.
"Should I get Sally?" King Max asked.
"Sire, you can go and get her, but I must have it as quiet as possible during whatever procedure will take place." Samantha said as she powered up her medical encyclopedia, which was on the computer she brought with her. She ushered out everyone except for Rotor and Doctor Quack, as she knew that she would need Rotor's computer knowledge and Quentin's medical knowledge for the procedure. Remembering what Quentin had said about her condition, she punched in the symptoms into the encyclopedia and waited as it searched through its database for a possible cause.
"Okay, according to this, she has lung cancer, a potentially lethal disease. Can you get x-rays through the tube she is in? Because, Quentin will need to know where it is before curing her of it." Sam looked up from the computer as she said this.
"Yes… I have been able to get pretty detailed ones of her while she has been in the tube. Charles, can you get the x-ray machine from the Infirmary and bring it here? And, hurry as much as possible." Quack asked through the intercom between the gallery and the temporary operating room. Charles hurried as fast as possible over to the Infirmary and retrieved the x-ray machine and brought it back to the bunker. While Charles brought back the machine, Sam and Quentin discussed how to treat it and the possible side effects from the treatment of it. After a few minutes, Sir Charles came back with the machine. After some tinkering, they were able to set it up so it would take several x-rays through the cryo-tube at varying angles.
"Okay… as it appears, the cancer is concentrated on the outside of her left lung. That means it should be somewhat easy to remove it. Dr. Quack, I hope you don't mind performing the actual surgery… I'm just an assistant nurse back on Earth. Rotor, if you would be so good as to watch her vitals during the procedure. How long will she last outside of the tube, Rotor?" Sam asked as she brought up the x-rays on the main viewer screen. Rotor ran a quick calculation on his computers.
"She should live about 45 minutes outside of there before this cancer continues its progression through her body. Will that be enough time?" Rotor asked while he setup the heart monitors and the breathing apparatus.
"It'll have to be. We may be cutting this a little close, but it should be enough time. Okay, bring her out of there." Sam said to Rotor and Doctor Quack. They walked over, inserted two keys into the corresponding keyholes, and turned them both at the same time. After a few seconds while the locks disengaged, there was a hiss of the cold air from inside the tube as it escaped into the area surrounding it. Rotor and Quentin carried the Queen over to the table and laid her upon it. As soon as they had her in place, Rotor hooked up the heart monitor and breathing equipment to her, then it was Quentin's turn to go to work. After about fifty minutes, Quentin was finally done with the procedure.
"Is the device ready?" Robotnik asked his somewhat incompetent assistant.
"I was even able to set it to home in on the hedgehog and take him out straight-away." Snively answered. Robotnik grinned and so did Snively as he ser the targeting systems to home in on Doctor Robotnik.
"Sir, the device is just about ready. I suggest we ready the transport and have them on standby." The little bald man said.
"Excellent. We shall be rid of the annoying hedgehog finally." Robotnik growled.
"Sire, the operation was a success. She may have to rest awhile before she awakens completely, but she should be just fine. You and Sally may go in and see her, but do not disturb her." Samantha said rather sternly. As Sam said this, Doctor Quack and Rotor took the Queen to the Infirmary.
Robotnik was also on the move. He was bringing Knothole a gift. Eventually, Robotnik reached the outskirts of the village where he instructed one of his SWATbots to carry the device into the city. After the robot armed the device, it turned and returned to the evil Doctor who in turn went back to Robotropolis. Uncle Chuck watched from his bunker as Robotnik and his troops marched back to their base of operations. Once they returned to Robotropolis, Snively radioed Rotor and explained that the decoy had been set and that the timer on the shuttle that would get Ivo Robotnik and a select few of his robots off the planet had been set and was running.
"You have to get here soon and defeat him before he takes off in his rocket. If you don't, the device'll destroy you all when it detonates! Make sure that you send Sonic… he's the only one that'll be able to outrun it." Snively explained over the radio.
"We'll be there shortly. Keep him grounded. Do not let him get away." Rotor said. There was a burst of static over the old radio set and then silence. At that moment, Aaron walked into the lab.
"Rotor! I just saw Robotnik at the edge of the village. Don't you guys have defenses against him?" Aaron asked.
"Easy there, friend. What he brought into the village was a decoy; a fake. It is just a shell. The real thing is someplace in Robotropolis right now, waiting for us to set the timer when the time is right. I've had a secret alliance with Snively since about eight years after the betrayal. He's been helping us out as much as possible in trying to defeat Ivo." Rotor explained. He then picked up another microphone from his desk and spoke into it,
"Attention: this is a message for the main Freedom Fighters. Please report to the lab at once. I repeat: I need to see the core members of the Freedom Fighters at the lab at once. This is not a drill. Will Samantha please come with the rest of the Freedom Fighters to the lab?" Aaron kept thinking how much alike and different the Mobians were from the humans from Earth.
"Rotor… what's going on? What's all the hustle about?" Sonic asked as he arrived first.
"Sonic, I'll explain as soon as the rest of the team gets here." Rotor answered. The rest of them arrived within the next couple minutes.
"Okay, gang… the reason I called this emergency meeting is Robotnik is going ahead with his plans to destroy the planet with his Ultimate Annihilator. I had hoped he would not use it, but it appears his attempts to roboticize Earth were unsuccessful, perhaps because of the planets merging together or because of the fact that Mobians are very different than the humans he has encountered there. In either case, we have to go ahead and try to defeat him now before he can leave. I know it's short notice, but we have to do it now otherwise we'll never have a chance, period." Rotor explained.
"Alright… I'm game. What do we have to lose? If we're unable to do it, we'll have lost the whole thing. Let's go." Sonic said in his usual sarcastic manner. Rotor walked out of his lab and was back within a minute with the decoy. He opened a door on the side of it and inside was a hundred Power Rings. Sonic filled his backpack with as many as it would hold. "Let's go! It's a ways there, so this could take a bit…"
"Wait a second, gang. Why don't we take my car? It has more than enough room for all of us and we'll get there a lot faster." Aaron suggested. There was a silent agreement and so they proceeded to flip the car over with the assistance of Bunnie. Once the car was flipped back onto its wheels, Aaron climbed in and put the two emeralds in their proper receptacles. As soon as the emeralds were installed, the car started up.
"Everyone in! I'm driving. Sally, can you give me directions to the city?" Aaron asked as he checked the onboard computers. Sally gave the directions and Aaron drove as fast as he could to Robotropolis. Once there, they piled out of the car and made their way towards the main tower which housed the office of Robotnik.
(End of Chapter 12)