Chapter 20 The orb

After a lot of walking and a few false alarms, they found what had landed. It appeared to be an orb about a foot in diameter. The impact of the falling abject had created a crater almost a hundred feet across with the orb in the exact center.

"Princess, I am detecting levels of alpha and gamma radiation… they appear to be within normal limits." Rotor said, consulting his instruments. Sally started towards the orb.

"Sal! Don't go near it! We don't know what it is! Be careful!" Sonic said. Sally bent over and touched it; she noticed that it was cold to the touch. She also noticed that it reflected light but not images. Sally picked it up and tapped on the outside of it. The tapping reverberated through the object as if it was hollow.

"Rotor… let's head back to your lab. See if we can crack this egg." Sally said as she climbed out of the crater carrying the orb. Once out, they all headed back to the lab. Back at the lab, Rotor tried everything he had to get it open. After two hours of trying chemicals, machines and energies on it, he gave up.

"There is no way that I can see to get that thing open. Lasers just bounce off it; acids evaporate… I can't even compress it because it'll just flatten and then return to its spherical shape. Something else… it seems to generate its own light. I don't know what it is!" Rotor said before he threw his hands up in the air, defeated. Sally kept having a strange episode of Déjà vu… almost as if she had been through this once before.

That night, as Sally slept, she dreamt of the day her and Sonic's marriage. Just as Sonic was about to say 'I do', she woke up. To her surprise, the room was lit as if it was morning already. She glanced over at the clock and found that it was just past two in the morning. She got up, put on her vest, and began looking for the source of the light. She left her hut and found that the light was coming from within Rotor's shop.

As she entered the shop, the light dimmed in intensity. The light seemed to have a pulse to it as if it was a living being. Sally looked all over the small shop for the mysterious sphere, which she suspected of being responsible for this light. Where Rotor had set the sphere, there was now a small computer resembling her old computer Nicole. She went to touch the small computer when it switched on.

"Princess, it has been a long time. I am Nicole, and I am back. I can only stay for a few minutes, then I'll finish my journey." Nicole said in her computerized voice.

"But, you were destroyed in the final battle!" Nicole's lights blinked.

"What you remember is leaving me in the tower when the device detonated. What you did not see me do was generate a force field around myself. The shield ended up catapulting me up into an alternate reality where the Princess Sally and Sonic of that reality had just launched their fight against the Robotnik of that reality. You see… if you hadn't left me behind in the Command Center, you may not have defeated Robotnik." Nicole explained.

"Stay right here for a second… I'll go get Rotor!" Sally said.

"No… I have to go. Alternate realities await and I cannot afford to keep them waiting. If I could, I would… believe me. I must go. But, as I leave, I'll leave you with this… in five years, you and Sonic will ascend the throne and become Queen and King of Greater Mobius. I cannot tell you anything more than that for fear that it would change the future and that can be devastating to a civilization. I will go now…" The computer said as it generated its shield around itself.

"Be sure to take care of any other civilizations you run into… and if you can, come back. Remember… we love you." Sally said with a tear-choked voice. At that, Sally picked up the orb and carried it to the window and watched it as it flew away. Sally went back to her room and wrote down what had happened and what she had been told in her diary. She happened to look at her vest and found that there were six words glowing on it. Sally picked up the vest and found that the words were stitched in gold thread into the cloth.

She wrote down the words in her diary and then went outside and sat in the palace gardens deep in meditation. She sat there the rest of the night thinking about what she had been told. Sally decided to keep it to herself; not even telling her husband, Sonic. Once morning came, she slipped back into the castle and back into bed, lying next to Sonic. Sally curled up next to Sonic, put her arm around him and fell into a restless sleep. That morning, the entire village seemed to remember something about a bright light, but no one knew where it came from or what it was.

With each passing day, the Queens health deteriorated a little more to the point that she passed away. The Kingdom was greatly saddened by her passing. Then three years later, the King died in his sleep. It would later be found that the both died from brain aneurisms. After the King passed away, Sonic and Sally assumed the role of King and Queen. By this time, Aaron and Samantha had moved across the Great Ocean to the massive eastern territory. All was peaceful and quiet.

The Mobians had become friends with the remaining Overlanders and they proceeded to share their technology and trade goods. Aaron and Samantha later became King and Queen of the eastern territory and they developed the first air purification plant on the planet. The unfortunates, it was discovered, could be turned back by using the energies of the power rings in conjunction with a power amplifier. Through prolonged exposure to the resulting energy, the answer to changing them back was found.

(End of Chapter 20)