Chapter 23 Saying Goodbye
The following day, Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters dug a grave for Julayla so they could bury her at sundown, as was custom. No one said much all that day; mainly everyone cried and helped however they could. Sally, Sonic, and Bunnie dug the grave while Rotor, Tails, Antoine, and Rosie built a hasty coffin for Julayla's body. Once the coffin was ready, Rotor and Rosie were about to place Julayla's body in it when Sally hurried over to where they were.
"I'll do that. Daddy would do it if he were here, but he's not so I'll do it." Sally said plainly. Rotor and Rosie placed Julayla's body back on the gurney and let Sally do what she had to. The Princess had tried placing a call to the Eastern Quadrant where Julayla was from to try and get hold of her family there, but she was unable to get through at all. Sally had spent much of the night crying no matter where she was; she ended up sleeping for a couple hours in Bunnie's hut before getting up before everyone else to get as much as she could done before anyone else woke up.
Sally's first order of business had been to try and gather enough cut lumber to make the coffin. That proved to be no easy task as most of it had been used to build the three new huts. Princess Sally felt that as much as possible should be her responsibility as Julayla was her mentor and teacher before the Betrayal, though she was also the teacher for the rest of the Knothole children. For the whole day, hardly anyone talked; not even Sonic cracked a joke. He could see how sad Sally was about Julayla's passing so he both kept his distance and stayed by her side in case she needed a shoulder to cry on.
As the sun started to go down, Sally went to her hut, as did everyone else. Sally had hand-made a black dress from scrap cloth she had found around the camp for this one occasion; everyone else simply wore darker colored clothes. A few minutes later, they all gathered back at the grave where Julayla's coffin sat suspended above the grave on a rope and pulley system Rotor had come up with. When the sun met the horizon and turned the sky pink, blue, and gold, Sally lowered Julayla's coffin into the grave. Then everyone grabbed a handful of dirt and after saying what he or she most remembered about Julayla, placed the dirt upon her casket. Once everyone was done, Sally and Rosie finished filling in the grave and afterwards, planted a white rosebush on each side of the headstone and then went back to their huts before dinner. After a quiet dinner, everyone turned in early.
Sally and Bunnie stayed up most of the night talking and trying to keep from crying. After about three hours of talking about everything they could think of, they both fell asleep. Rosie let the children sleep late, which Julayla never would have let them do. Once Sally woke up, Rosie called her aside and talked to her.
"M'lady, your mentor Julayla was most explicit in the division of her estate. She left you everything she had ever owned. Follow me…" Rosie explained as she led Sally to her hut. Sally had never seen the inside of Julayla's hut, so she did not know how much she had. Rosie showed Sally into her former mentor's hut. Once inside, Sally saw that Julayla had boxes, crates, and piles of things covering both walls; old paintings, boxes of old dresses and clothes, many unmarked boxes. Sitting at the foot of her bed was a very old-looking chest. "That was Julayla's Hope chest." Rosie said, running her hand over the dusty, deeply etched lid.
"Oh, my… she meant for me to have it on the day of my coronation." Sally remarked as she opened the dusty lid. Rosie let Sally know where she would be should the Princess need her and left Sally in Julayla's hut. Sally opened the chest and began going through its contents. Inside were some of Julayla's old photographs, a couple old journals, more pictures. Then Sally came across something that brought tears to her eyes; a photo of Sally standing next to her mother and father in front of the palace. Sally set the picture of her with her parents aside and continued looking through the chest.
Underneath the picture of the Royal family, Sally found a vest with pockets; a vest just like she had always wanted. She picked up the vest and the photo and went back to her hut, and then went out to play with the rest of the children and try to put the past couple days out of memory for a bit.
Sam woke with a start; she had been dreaming about driving the Lamborghini down the highway and just as she was about to land on Mobius, a loud popping sound woke her up. She sat up in bed and looked around her. At first glance, nothing seemed to be different but when she turned on her bedside lamp, she found Nicole had disappeared. Glancing at her clock, she figured Aaron would probably be awake and called him.
"Umm… hello?" Aaron sleepily said.
"It's Sam. Nicole's gone… I woke up from a dream and found she was gone!" Sam explained quickly to Aaron. Silence.
"What do you mean, Nicole disappeared… how can a computer just up and walk away?" Aaron asked, sounding more awake. Sam looked at the clock again before continuing.
"I woke up after hearing a loud popping noise and found the computer was gone. I dunno what happened or anything, but it's not here. I know I didn't leave it anyplace 'cause I was using it before I went to bed." Sam explained. In the background, she heard Aaron grabbing the car keys.
"You sure it's not in the car?"
"I'm sure… I used it here before going to bed. I'm not imagining it or anything… it's not in my room and I didn't leave it in the car. I have no clue what happened to it."
"Well, I'll be up in a few hours. I'll come over there when I get up and help you look for it. I'm dead tired, so see you in a few hours, Sam."
"Okay… I'll be up by then. See you then, Aaron." Sam said before hanging up. They both went back to bed and fell asleep almost instantly. In the morning when Aaron woke up, he had a quick breakfast and then went over to Sam's house. When he got there, the house was a mess.
"What on Earth happened here, Sam? Looks like a tornado went through here!" Aaron asked as he walked in. Sam's parents sat in the living room looking rather annoyed that their daughter was tearing through every drawer, cupboard, and closet in the house.
"Aaron… did you check your house and the car for the computer?" Sam asked from behind a pile of winter coats. Aaron walked over to where she was digging through the bottom of the coat closet.
"I checked everyplace a computer that small could end up; under my bed, in the car. I even called up school and no luck there either. I'm sure it'll turn up eventually someplace." Aaron reassured Sam while helping her pile the coats back into the closet. Once they had everything back in the closet, Sam took Aaron upstairs to her room.
"I hope it turns up someplace soon. I'd hate for it to fall into the wrong hands." Sam said as she sat down on her bed, checking under her pillows for the fourth time.
"Sam, you're talking about Nicole as if she was a national secret or something. We'll find her, don't worry. In the meantime, I think I can come up with a way to interface a regular laptop with that docking port in the car." As Aaron spoke to Sam, his cell phone began ringing. He dug through his pockets and got the tiny phone out.
"Hello?" There was a pause. "Alright, great! Yeah, I can be there then." Another pause. "Okay… thanks very much!" Aaron then hung up the phone.
"I bought a custom laptop off the Internet earlier today for the car and that was the company calling to confirm when I'd be there to pick it up. It'll be ready today in about three hours. The company I got it from is out in California, so I've gotta take a trip out west in an hour or so. And, of course, you're more than welcome to come with." Aaron explained.
"I'd come with even if you didn't ask… I love riding in that car and going out cruising with you. I'll go down and let my parents know." Sam said, taking Aaron's hand and leading him downstairs with her. She let her parents know where she was going and how long they would be gone. Once they got to the car, Sam insisted on driving which Aaron let her do after he tried to talk her out of driving without the computers to assist her. They arrived in Silicon Valley, California with about thirty minutes to spare. Once they got to the Valley, Sam let Aaron take over driving the rest of the way. Once they reached the computer factory, Aaron had to go through the security checkpoints with the car; X-rays, bomb sniffing dogs, and Aaron and Sam were searched before they were let onto the show floor.
"Can I help you?" Asked one of the many sales representatives assisting the customers.
"Yes, I'm here to pick up a custom laptop I ordered online. I can't remember the name of the person who called me earlier today to let me know it was ready…" Aaron was explaining when another sales representative came up to him.
"You must be Aaron Brandt. I'm Penny, the woman you talked to on the phone earlier. Your laptop is ready; all you have to do is sign for it and make sure it works for what you need it to. Please follow me…" She said as she led Aaron and Sam back to her desk. "Let me tell you, you gave the guys in research and development a work-out with this one. If you don't mind me asking, what do you plan to use this laptop for?" Penny asked as she got the paperwork from her desk and handed it to Aaron.
"Actually, the laptop's gonna be controlling my car. The computer that was controlling it previously got lost somehow, and I needed to replace it as soon as possible. Where do I sign?" Aaron asked, trying to judge her reaction. She was studying Aaron with the same curiosity that Neile displayed when Aaron and Sam first took him to Mobius.
"Just sign here and the laptop's yours. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I see this car that your laptop is going to be controlling?" Aaron signed the papers and was handed the laptop, which was resting inside a cushioned case. Aaron opened the case to make sure everything was there; the laptop, the power adapters he asked for, all the original installation discs, and the interface cable Aaron had specially made to connect from the laptop's docking port to the interface slot in the dashboard.
"Actually, I was gonna ask if the technicians who built it for me would be able to come out and see the laptop used for the first time. Of course, you're welcome to come out and see it too." Aaron answered. Without hesitation, Penny called down to the R&D team and had them send up all the technicians who had worked on Aaron's computer. While Penny was talking to the technicians, Aaron powered the laptop up and, after the initial setup, wirelessly connected to the car and managed to figure out how to install the car's software on the laptop.
Once the R&D team who worked on Aaron's laptop arrived, they all went outside to where Aaron's car was parked. They were not incredibly impressed with the outside of the car, as Aaron had the car morph back to normal before they left the floor. Once at the car, under Aaron's direction via the laptop, he had the car drive into the middle of the parking lot and execute a perfect doughnut and then come back to him. The research and development team was fairly impressed with the two morphs, but wanted to see what all the car was capable of. Aaron morphed the car into its stretch mode and then to InterDimensional travel mode. Again, they were moderately impressed but they wanted to see more.
The last thing Aaron wanted to do required he be at the wheel to control the car. Aaron and Sam unceremoniously got back into the car and powered up the electric propulsion system and physically connected the laptop to the car for the first time. Once the laptop coordinated its software and clocks with the car, Aaron drove to the farthest parking space and floored the accelerator. Within the small parking lot and using a few commands on the laptop, Aaron managed to open the portal and drive into it. Once he was on the other side of it, Aaron drove as fast as he could to the nearest point where he could turn around, and once he had turned around, Aaron drove back to the parking lot where the people from the computer store were still standing.
"Incredible! How'd you do that?" Was the consensus of the shouted questions asked by the research and development team. Aaron just grinned and drove off towards the highway leading back towards Texarkana. The highway took them through Los Angeles and right past a group of street racers. Aaron dug through his pockets and pulled out fifty dollars. Sam knew Aaron would race them and win every race.
Alongside both sides of the road, cars were lined up for almost two miles, and at the far end a group of cars and people stood talking and pulling out money for bets on the races. Aaron pulled up in front of them and he and Sam got out of the Lamborghini and went up to the racers.
"Hey, you guys got room for an amateur in the races?" One of the racers came up to Aaron.
"Maybe… you got money?" He asked, acting tough. Aaron pulled out his fifty dollars. "What you got under the hood in the Diablo?"
"Custom built engine; no nitro or turbos or anything special like that… just good ol' fashioned gas and a few extra horses. You wanna check for yourself?" Aaron asked. The racer, who Aaron guessed was the leader, shook his head.
"It's cool. You ever raced before?" Aaron nodded. "Alright, you're in. I'll put you up against me. Oh, and I'm Jeff. I'm running the McLaren over there." Jeff said, then he turned to the rest of the racers, "Alright… we're ready." The first group of racers lined up and raced, and soon the second group and then the third group. Finally it got around to Aaron and Sam's turn to race Jeff. Aaron ended up taking first, followed by Jeff and then a couple other guys tied for third. Aaron and Jeff's race almost ended in a tie; Jeff was faster off the line, but Aaron was able to out power him in the half-mile. Once they were done racing and everyone had left, Aaron let Sam do the driving back to Texarkana. They made it back to Arkansas two hours after they left the races with Sam driving all the way and Aaron napping in the passenger seat.
All the following week, Sally tried her best to keep from being down and depressed and sad about Julayla's passing. Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters did their best to keep her company and keep her active. Towards the end of the week, Sally began planning a secret mission. Once she realized how dangerous Robotnik was, the young Princess set about planning how she could recruit more Freedom Fighters to help in the war against Robotnik. Scattered throughout the continent, the remaining free people were known for doing as much as possible to keep as much distance as possible between them and Robotnik, but Sally nonetheless called on them. This she did by leaving a note at the prearranged drop site and awaiting a response. The response simply told Sally to meet whoever was willing to join her group of Freedom Fighters at a specific location on a specific date and time. To test the Mobians she was hoping to recruit, she came up with a mission that they would complete along with Sally. Once she had a mission in mind, she grabbed her vest and her computer and snuck out of the village, leaving a simple note for the Freedom Fighters.
Sally left for a small island just off the southern coast where the first objective of her mission lay; a power sub-station that Robotnik had recently built. From what Sally had found out from what Nicole was able to find in Robotnik's mainframes and satellites, there were three power sub-stations located around Robotropolis and just off the shore. Apparently, they were part of a defense system that surrounded Robotropolis and taking those three sub-stations offline would render the city defenseless. Using this information, Sally had formed the first mission for the new recruits to test their skills and to show them what they would be dealing with.
(End of Chapter 23)