Chapter 9: voices of an age long gone


Mobius - Mobotropolis - Grand Palace - 3221

Colin was sitting at the desk of his quarters in the palace. He smiled as he looked out the window to the courtyard. This was like something out of one of the fairy tales his mother would read him and his sister when they were growing up. His smile dropped at the somber reminder that he would probably never see anyone from home ever again… No one but Uncle Julian… His mind continued to drift at all that had changed, all he had to leave behind… He would never have the opportunity to have a wife or kids of his own… Maybe he could adopt someday or have an apprentice, but his bloodline would end here...

The somber mood lifted, this place wasn't so bad. A fresh start was a fresh start, maybe he could make something grand of it? He had already made a friend, that was already out of the ordinary for him. It had been a few months since he had woken up in this strange but familiar dimension. He smiled at the absurdity, talking beasts… No, that wasn't right… These weren't beasts, they were people! People from an alternate dimension! People who were about as tall as him too! His grin grew bigger, he finally felt normal, oddly enough. He chuckled to himself, if this was truly an alternate universe, maybe he had a duplicate running around some place on the planet.

The 19 year old gave a deep sigh, he was excited for today. The king had finally given him and his uncle permission to freely roam the palace's unrestricted sections, no more escorts! Uncle Julian was probably taking the chance to investigate the Minister of Science's wing down by the gardens. He got up from his desk, tucking in his shirt and getting himself presentable. He was excited to visit the royal library without a guard breathing down his neck. He'd leave all the public relations and interviews up to his uncle, he was fine reading books in the corner. His eyes lit as the endless possibilities flooded his mind, maybe he could still become a researcher, or maybe he could work for the Minister of Science!

He brought up the simple tablet computer they had given him and opened up the map, reviewing his course to the library. He exited his room in the guest wing. As he walked, he brushed his brown hair out of his eyes, he may have to get it cut soon. He slowly made his way through the corridors, past different guards, most of which glared at him suspiciously…

He soon found himself to the west most wing, the library. He opened the tall doors, entering the quiet sanctuary. It was still quite early in the morning, few of the librarians would be out at this point. A few of the Mobians of various races noticed him, they smiled and waved. He returned the smiles, waving back. He made his way to the natural sciences and chose a few volumes, marking in his mind where they had come from. Making his way to his favorite table, he sat, starting to dig into the strange yet familiar information. The law's here were similar, compatible but just different enough… It was so fascinating! Energy could be packed much denser here then on Earth! Mainly electrical, magnetic, and quite possibly the energy stored in each sub atomic particle! If regular matter touched dark matter here the estimated blowback would be much larger! Even simple things like wood burning fires even seemed to last longer! Just about everything but chemical food energy was denser! He got giddy, daydreaming of the different things that could be made here that wouldn't be feasible on Earth. His mind began to race, Imagining the reactor he could make if he could get his hands on some anti matter. So much energy could be released from such a small amount of fuel!

"You're here!" A familiar voice cut in, pulling him from his thoughts. "Morning study buddy!" The young man turned and saw his new friend. She was a short cyan beetle in a pink formal business skirt. Her hair had an almost shell like quality, it sparkled in the morning light. He smiled at her, she looked like the most professional bubblegum colored office worker he could imagine. She was carrying a stack of geology books, probably for her internship with her father, one of the ministers.

"Morning Jewel." He smiled softly, setting his book down.

The bubbly beetle smiled and sat across from the Human. "Where's your guard?" She tilted her head, getting a nervous look. "You didn't try and give him the slip did you?"

He shook his head, smiling. "I'm no longer required to be babysat, at least within the castle walls."

Her face lit. "That's wonderful!" She turned to start leafing through her pile of books. "Do you think they'll let you leave the palace soon?"

He thought about it. "Maybe… Probably with an escort, you know the legends of realmwalkers though. Some people get nervous…"

She gave him a funny look. "You know our stories of realmwalkers?"

He blushed. "I already read through the mythology section, front to back. Fairy tales are comforting…"

She gave a choked laugh, trying to keep her volume down. She got a bewildered look. "Why are they comforting? A lot of them are terrifying!" She whispered.

He gave an embarrassed smile. "So back home, there was a lot of editing done to our fairy tales, ya know... to make them kid friendly." He got a contemplative look. "That happened… I don't know… decades, if not centuries ago? Guess that family friendly coat of paint never happened in this dimension…" His hushed voice responded. "It wasn't as comforting as I would have hoped." He got an embarrassed look. "But it was interesting nonetheless." He lit up. "This whole experience makes me think of an old fantasy novel!"

She started tapping her highlighter to her chin. "Hmm." Her eyes brightened. "Maybe I could show you the city! Maybe get you a home cooked meal too!" She tilted her head, an embarrassed look on her face. "I'll warn you though, my little cousin Tangle lives with us, she can be a handful sometimes." She winced nervously as she smiled. "She won't stop asking me questions about you, it's like every night, a barrage of whats he like?"

He sat his book to the side to fully engage in the conversation. "I'd love to see the city with you! I'm still so fascinated by the diversity of your species! I'm making a list of all the different kinds of Mobians I've seen! It's still amazing you're all one species!"

She Gave him a funny look. "Come on, don't make it weird… You're starting to sound all clinical again."

He hesitated. "Sorry, I guess that kind of curiosity just runs in my family…"

She picked up her book and began to skim. "Let's see when they'll let you roam outside. Just please, don't make it uncomfortable with the species and medical theories, Kay?" She smiled at him over her book.

He smiled as he picked his own book back up. "Sure thing Jewel." He smiled as he continued to read about the realm's physics. The two sat across from each other in silence, reading their chosen discipline.


Mobius - Robotropolis Junk Yard - present day 3239

Colin slowly blinked as his eyes focused on the steel wall in front of him, he was still tired. "Lights on." He groggily commanded. The harsh sterile lamps came on, showing he was still in the cargo bay of the hover transport. He was in a dropship just outside the beginning of the new quarantine zone. He hazily got up from his cot, scratching himself. Why did he have to dream about her, he thought. He moved from his improvised bed room to the transport's restroom. Maybe he'd try to break her mind control again, why was he thinking about this? maybe it was because he was still half asleep. Maybe he should try giving that project a crack again though. Whatever was left of her probably hated him now, with all that he let happen... She probably defiantly thought he was a creep with that phase he went through of one sided conversations... it wasn't anything bad... just telling her about his day... but it was probably still creepy... He was just so lonely… Uncle Julian had caught him venting to the Robian. The tyrant had beaten him, then told him she could hear and see every cringey act and thing he had done or said. In his mortified bloody stupor he had decided he'd try and free her mind. It was way more difficult then he thought, he wasn't sure how to do it without damaging her cyber brain in the process. She definitely would NEVER forgive him if he used another Robian as a test subject. He had given up and restarted many times... He gave a sigh, he should try and revive her mind again, it was the least he could do.

He sighed as he stood in front of the sink's mirror. He looked frail, perpetual dark circles under his eyes and the little hair he had left was already turning gray. He was 37 and he already had to shave his head to keep from looking like he was in his 50's… The short man grumbled at the mirror, maybe he should grow a beard, at least that was still a reddish brown. He began to wash his face and brush his teeth, thinking back to yesterday. The medbot had done full scans of both men, picking up no fungal infections in either him or his uncle. The cleanup crew had scoured the metal corridors and incinerated any trace element of fungi. The cleanup crew was now in the process of polishing the scorch marks away with bleach and wax, the control tower would have to be vented for a few days…

This stuff may thrive in acidic environments, but given strong enough acid or heat, it would cook like anything else... it just took a lot of either if it was rooted. If it wasn't rooted, it burned much easier. It's chances of rooting didn't seem very high either, but that could be offset by the potential millions of microscopic spores. It seemed very temperamental, as if it didn't like the environment it was in... In the controlled tests they had already done, it looked like there was a mix of different spores in the initial pool, only a few had taken root. They were now trying to figure a way of containing it. Maybe encase the top with resin and dig under the ground, casing the area with resilient plastic amber.

He pulled his mind from the slight biohazard outside to think about his current dwelling. He got a complacent look on his face, he'd be shipping a more permanent dwelling as he wasn't sure how long he'd be out here… A lot of this scanning and data crunching would take a good amount of time on the server farms, portals out of the realm were apparently a magnitude more complicated… He should have a lot of time for his personal projects… He was able to get more bio data scans from the Hedgehog's last encounter, maybe it was enough to finish Metal's core. He'd be out of direct surveillance from his uncle for quite a while… He should take advantage of this opportunity…

Done with his teeth, he moved to the bridge, to the small kitchen he had set up. He put a pot of water on his hot plate to start to make coffee. Grabbing a bag from the corner, he pulled out his medication and downed the anti anxiety medication, blood pressure medication and nero-stimulants. Chasing the pills with a protein bar and some water, he grabbed his coffee and moved to the terminal at the front of the transport. "Operator, Status report."

"Good morning! COLIN KINTOBER. Scan's have continued throughout the night on the anomaly!" The unnervingly chipper voice greeted.

He sat down. "Are we still stable? It hasn't fluctuated at all, correct?"

"Portal remnants have been kept open! Soft spot has formed! Alert! Soft spot will heal itself if doorstop is let go!" The AI droned.

His mind couldn't stop thinking of the possibilities, what if this was his ticket off this rock… His uncle only wanted him to send probes for them to get closure, but if he could go himself… who cares what the old man thought… that might be a gamble worth taking...

He brought his keyboard from the side of his chair, bringing up the interface of the screen in front of him. "Operator, send me everything on uncle Julian's portal generator. He said it would be tagged with the Void, bring up all those projects. Ours and anything the Mobians have."

"ERROR: Julian is unrecognized in the user database." The AI blasted. "Please use recognized users!"

Colin pinched the bridge of his nose. "For the love of…" He grumbled. "ROBOTNIK!" He yelled. "SEARCH SAME QUERY UNDER DR. ROBOTNIK'S FILES AND THE MOBIANS!"

There was a few beeps. "WORKING!" The AI responded.

The tired man let go of his face and blearily looked at the search results popping up on the massive tube screen in front of him. He took a deep breath, taking a swig of his coffee, he got ready for work. He spent the next half hour waking up, pouring through reports on the Void and Julian's redesigned portal… He paused, where did his uncle get this understanding of portals the mobian's lacked…

A niggling thought poked his mind. "Operator, open a second search and show me results for portals and Xen. Earthside archive."

"YOU GOT IT!" It enthusiastically replied.

A new tab popped up with a second search. He started reading. His eyes widened. Black mesa had working extra dimensional portals? He kept reading… THAT'S WHERE THE SAMPLE WAS FROM! He thought back to that day and the bureaucrat who had secured the sample… Was that an internal cover up? Or had the man given the information that was a breakthrough for teleportation… was it some D.A.R.P.A. contract they were working on? He searched more and frowned. Of course his uncle didn't think to back up any of the bureaucratic logs... But of course he backs up tech and blueprints, movies like Star Wars... and music... so much music...

He grumbled, closing the tab. "Operator, Send these schematics for a portal generator to the nearest fabrication plant. Ship it here when it's done."

"Warning! Exotic material needed! It will take time to synthesize the appropriate crystals! Are you sure you want to proceed?"

Colin opened up a new tab as he mindlessly logged into his personal server. "Just do it, start calibration simulations. We have a shot back to Earth and I don't want to jack it up." He growled.

"Affirmative! Is there anything else?" It asked.

He thought for a second. "Ship a trailer fitted for general fab and computer work, make sure it also has a habitation unit. I want it delivered to this location, maybe a little south of here, find a good clearing outside the prospected quarantine zone."

"Affirmative! Is there anything else?" It asked again.

"How goes the containment and cleanup of the new biomass infection?" Colin asked.

"Containment is going well!" Walls are being built and cleanup crews are keeping the starting biomass at bay with fire! It seems to be keeping non rooted biomass from spreading!" The announcer replied.

"Get a think tank AI on it." He snapped. "Run simulations for the best way for containing this, we can't continually spend fuel on keeping this contained."

"WARNING! Dr. Robotnik has already started this task. Would you like me to run an adjacent one?" Operator asked.

Colin shook his head absentmindedly as he returned to his personal server. "No. I have one more thing I want you to do though… I want you to ship some belongings to me, put them in the habitat module." He took another sip of his coffee. "Bring me personal storage unit 13 and recall workerbot serial 10390 from datacenter duty. Send the workerbot to escort shipment 13…" He grumbled. He got a flushed look. "Ha– Have the workerbot wear the clothes in storage locker 20… It should be some office clothes."

"Affirmative! Is there anything else?" It asked yet again.

"That will be all." Colin replied as he began reading the update logs from his projects. He might as well work on Metal and Jewel… He could use her company, even if it was just to know someone was there…

The man started to get to work at the computer, overseeing his usual tasks alongside the new operation at the junkyard. He read the morning's reports for the area search. He squinted at the results. "Operator, Is this right? survey team found a pool of dried bile in one of the old railway cars?"

"Correct!" The AI replied. "If you continue reading, there was also some fur and blood found in that car! It was stuck in a door frame. It is currently in queue and waiting for approval of ARC mark II project cataloging!"

The human glanced to the microphone next to his station. "Archive II is a legacy project from the old kingdom. There is no need to archive their genes, just disregard that notification. It just means it's another Mobian who wasn't at the age of majority when the coup happened." He tiredly looked over to the main monitor. "I assume you ran the basic DNA fingerprint on the legacy database though."

"Affirmative!" The chipper AI responded. "Cataloged birth in 3220, Alyx Vance, status unknown. Parents are as follows. Mother, Azian Vance, status deceased at age 29. Father, Eli Vance, status deceased at age 32."

He froze at those names, slowly he brought up the database search and navigated to the old records. "Operator, bring up any information you have on the Vances on the old database, Ignore Earth-side archive for this request."

"Affirmative!" It acknowledged. "Bringing up now!"

A list of information came up, scans of drivers licenses and a newborn photo of the little girl. The human stared wide eyed at the pictures in front of him. There was a black fox smiling into the camera, his kind green eyes seemed to sparkle in the picture. His wife's ID was similar, but she was a dark orange fox with eastern eyes tinted brown. her mischievous smile tugged at the corner of her cheek as she softly gazed at the camera. The little girl was newborn in the photo, a little black and orange fox sleeping peacefully. "More duplicates…" He wavered. "Operator, link these Mobians to Eli and Azian in the Black Mesa Personal archive. Add them to the list of confirmed alternates…"

His mind returned to Black Mesa and his days as an intern. He remembered the kind programmer and physicist, Eli had treated him fairly, a student and not a coffee boy. It's too bad the programmer and his uncle never got along, Eli seemed to always have time for his questions. His mind mulled over the details, he wondered if the versions he knew were still alive… Curious, he continued reading the old reports. He froze on the death report, eyes widening at the date and location… They looked really familiar… He froze with the realization. "The park…" He muttered to himself, the memories flooding back to him. He remembered coming too in the tram car as the Mobian police were arresting his uncle and him. As he was pulled from the tram, he remembered seeing a car that had crashed with an ambulance flashing in the distance… He paused as he got to the investigation on the deaths, a distracted driver t-boned their car at an intersection… He got a sinking feeling in his gut, he didn't like the thought that he was indirectly responsible for killing an alternate version of one of his friends… Hesitantly, he continued reading and paused on the final part, the young girl had been kidnapped by a suspected realmwalker? He brought up the only recording… It was the wolf they saw watching the two fugitives earlier. His mind raced at the implication… this didn't make sense… She was a Mobian? Why did it seem like she had information from Earth? Maybe there was a version of their world that was closer to Earth that had Mobians… His mind began drifting again as he tried to distract himself from the sad thought of his friends dying. He thought of what he would have looked like if he was a Mobian on any of the alternate Earths... What would his uncle be? He smiled as a thought struck him, his uncle would be a pig, definitely a pig. He quashed the distracting thoughts, better get back to work…

He sighed as he closed his personal tabs and continued with his duties.


Earth – United States – Michigan 1975

*RING*

The tubby boy got up from his desk and pulled on his backpack. He pushed his large glasses secure, this was his last pair and his prescription was expensive… The 10 year old moved to squeeze past his classmates, he didn't want to stick around more than he had to. Some of them squawked as he shoved past, giving him glares.

Today had been a disaster, his project at the science fair hadn't even gotten judged… some idiot had made a baking soda and vinegar volcano out of paper-mache. The moron thought it would be a good idea to put a smoke bomb in it and it caught fire. They had to evacuate the gym as his hydrogen fuel cell had made things worse, setting off the sprinkler system… He was probably going to get a licking for that later even though it was the idiots fault…

Julian Kintober stomped his way through the crowd of kids, making sure to try and avoid the upperclassmen.

He was almost there, the halls were getting less crowded as well. He felt a hand on his shoulder that pushed him, he squawked as he crashed into a girl, tumbling on top of her. She looked flustered. "Get off me you freak!" She smacked him in the side of the head with her school bag, then kneed him in the gut to get him off. Coughing from the pain, he rolled over as she scrambled away. Trying to collect himself, he heard laughter in the distance, his glasses had fallen off. The boy panicked as he scrambled, trying to find them. He could hardly see anything without them, he needed to hurry so he continued through his aching gut.

"Looking for these Julie?" a sickeningly sweet voice cut through his pain.

"What?" he started to get heated. "This isn't funny guys, I don't want any trouble, Give me my glasses and–"

*SNAP*

He could see the blurred outline of a foot grinding into the floor in front of him. A rage built he had never felt before. He didn't care if their father's died at Aperture! He started shaking, his dad had died too! The accident didn't give them the right to do this to him! He started to seeth, resembling a rabid dog. "DID YOU JUST BREAK MY GLASSES?!" He screeched. The chubby 10 year old stumbled to his feet and charged towards the blur, violently swinging his fists. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

*WHAM*

He toppled to the ground, seeing stars as a book slammed against his face. He felt blood start to drip from his nose as it stung. His eyes stung as he moved his hands to his face, had to do this at some point so might as well be now.

*CLICK*

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" He set his nose, tears starting to sting his eyes.

"Grab what's left of his glasses, I want him to see this." one of the boys chortled.

His vision was swimming as he was rolled over and two boys held him as another brought one of his specs to his right eye so he could see the boy squatting in front of him.

The freshman gave him a wicked smile. "Hey Julie."

Julian seethed as he struggled to get up. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

*SLAM*

The leader punched him in the solar plexus, causing him to gasp for air. He grinned. "You're late with your payment."

Julian continued coughing as he squirmed on the ground. "Pay *HACK* what?"

"My uncle let slip that the Apetur's stupid owner has been paying off your family for what happened. So you're going to pay our bills." He kicked the downed kid again.

*HACK* *HACK*

He started wheezing. "Stop..." He started writhing. "PLEASE! HELP!" It was getting harder to breathe. He frantically started blindly searching for his bag so he could get his inhaler.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" An adult yelled.

"SCRAM!" one of the assaulters yelled, causing the boys to scatter.

"GET BACK HERE YOU TWITS!" There was an off kilter sound, a clunking of a prosthetic. The adult scrambled over only to see the state of the boy fallen and bloodied on the floor. "Oh SH–" He caught himself as he knelt down pulling the boy's bag apart. Julian was hyperventilating, in the middle of an asthma attack. The man pushed the inhailer into his hands, bringing it up to his mouth. "On three, one, two, three."

*KCHR*

His breaths got easier.

"You ok kid? Where are your glasses?" The man asked.

Julian gave another cough. "They broke them. Probably on the ground…" He wilted.

The man got up and scoured around, looking for the cokebottle spectacles. "Found em, ohhh… yea the're broken. Give me a moment. He ran over to a class room.

Julian closed his eyes and focused on breathing, he took another huff of his inhaler and tried to relax. What would he tell mom about the glasses? or getting beaten for that matter? He didn't want her to beg to Mr. Johnson anymore then she already had... that would probably just get back to those jerks anyways...

"Got it!" the man was back. He put Julian's scuffed glasses back on his face. "It's just cellophane tape, but that should be workable for now."

It was Mr. St-Cloud, the janitor. His eyes focused on the fuzzy scratches on his glasses and he wilted. "This was my last pair… what am I going to do?!"

The janitor helped the boy off the floor then got a thoughtful look. "Those are plastic frames, right?"

The boy looked up at the man. "I- I guess?"

"Super glue won't cut it by itself, Put 'em together with super glue then put a dab on the joint itself. Sprinkle some baking soda or cornstarch on the wet glue and it will cure and fill the area with... don't know what it is but its like plastic... You can't just scrape it off though so be careful not to screw it up, you'd have to file it to get it off. But it builds up a strong layer." He pulled up a pant leg to show his cobbled together prosthetic. "Works a charm if you're careful, like homemade plastic. Don't know how long it will last though, I might eat the pavement at some point…" He began grumbling. "Easier than goin through the VA office here…"

Julian stared at his leg, this might be the only real chance he can ask without it being weird. "How did you lose it?"

The man looked with sympathy to the young boy. "Korean war." He sighed. "Let's get you to the nurses office to get that blood cleaned up."

Julian looked up to the man's face. "I'm fine. I just need some water and paper towels."

The man glared at him. "Then I gotta clean the restroom again. You're the nurse's problem, not mine." He growled. "Come on." The janitor grabbed his arm and dragged him through the hallways to the school nurse.

When he was dropped at the nurses office she freaked out. She helped him clean the blood from his face and demanded to call his mom. He grabbed his things and left, pulling out of her grip. He would deal with mom later, she was probably still at work.

On his way home, he stopped at the hobby shop to look through some of the new tabletop war-games and pick up a bottle of superglue. His glasses were already starting to fall apart, He took them apart and held one lens over one eye so he didn't risk losing the other lens. He stored the rest of the parts in his shirt pocket.

He got home around 4:45 in the afternoon and made his way to the kitchen. He scoured the cabinets looking for baking soda or corn starch. This was getting frustrating, why was everything so messed up, there wasn't any sort of organization! He started his second look through the cabinets before he found the baking soda tipped over in the back. Picking up the orange box, he made his way to the table. He paused, thinking, maybe he should test this before he tests it on his glasses… He grabbed a paper plate and put a small pool of super glue on it, he got a small handful of baking soda and dropped it on top of the pool of glue. Nothing happened, it was like it just got covered… That was a waste of a dollar, he thought as he moved to tip the plate into the trash. The baking soda fell off, leaving a hard dollop of resin like material… he poked it with his finger, it was still warm from the chemical reaction… fascinating… wonder how that works? He got a bit more confidence as he moved back to the table. He sat down and took his glasses off to start his work… "Hmm..." There's no way he could do this if he couldn't see, he might just make the glasses worse…

The sound of singing pierced the wood grain kitchen. His sister was home from school… He grumbled to himself, frustrated. He didn't want to ask for her help… but he couldn't do this himself… frustrated, he picked up a lens and moved towards the stairs to get his big sister.

As he approached her room, he could hear her opera singing, louder and louder. He stood in front of her door and waited, he grumbled more as he remembered she had just begun her practice.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

The singing stopped as he heard footsteps. "Coming!"

*CLICK*

The door opened and his sister's head poked out. She was a brunet like their father, where he had inherited his mothers red Irish curls. She looked down, smiling. She froze, a look of shock at his state. Her eyes widened as she counted the bruises that were forming and his lack of working face gear. "WHAT HAPPENED?!" She swung the door open. She got a distressed look. "Oh Julian… not again…"

The boy grumbled. "I need your help."

The teen girl was fretting over his bruised face still. "Does mom know yet?"

"I NEED YOUR HELP!" He snapped, then deflated. "Please Carolin, Mom's going to find out later... But for now, I need your help fixing my glasses so I can see."

She nodded, worried. "O– Ok, I don't know how I'd be able to do that but–"

"Just come down stairs, I'll tell you what to do, I can't do it myself without risk of me gluing my fingers to the frames…" He groaned as he turned to the stairwell. "Need to see to do the repairs…"

She nodded as she followed him down. They sat at the kitchen table as he told Her his idea and started guiding her through the repair. The time passed quickly as the glue cured quick. She handed him his glasses and he tested a flex. They felt like they had never broken in the first place. He got a relieved look and put them back on. "Thanks…"

She looked concerned. "So who did it?"

His expression dropped. "It doesn't matter, I'll make them pay."

She got a frown. "We need to talk to the school!"

"They haven't done anything in the past and they won't start now. I'll make sure they never try something like this again." He got up to move to the den. "Thank you Carolin."

"Oh no you don't! We aren't done here!" She got up to follow him.

"Yes we are." He quipped.

"It was the sons of those other workers, wasn't it?" she started to waver. "If you just talk to them I'm sure they'd understand. They aren't the only ones who have lost family to industrial accidents!" She wavered. "We lost grandpa, then dad a few years back..." Her voice was starting to crack.

"They beat me because Cave takes care of us. Ya know, the guy who pays for our rent? For my tutoring? For your singing lessons!?" He began to shake. He didn't know whether to be thankful or curse out the stupid man's company. He deflated. "I want to fix that place for grandpa… I wish I could have met him…"

She spun him around and knelt down to give him a hug. "You're not the only one who wants to improve conditions there. Mr. Johnson said I could intern under him when I turn 18. Once we're in, we can work on the rumored safety issues… Maybe then he will listen to us, even if bleeding edge gets better results..."


Mobius – Robotropolis – Grand Palace – present day 3239

Robotnik opened his mechanical eyes, he slowly got up, blinking at the bedside clock. He was in the royal chamber of the retrofitted palace. He gave a deep sigh as he mulled over his dream. What a loathsome time in his life… It had been ages since he had thought of Carolin or the torment he had gone through as a child. He thought back to those boys and the revenge he had gotten, he'd poisoned them, not a lot… but just enough to sit them on the toilet for a week. He grinned at that memory, a tricky thing to pull off without arousing suspicion. He frowned, Carolin had been such a joke when she took over Aperture, he's glad he took his birthright when he could and left her. Such a stupid way to die, a gas leak... He'd keep his promise to her though, you took care of the kids of the people you love, even if they were loathsome little pests who had a deathwish... The legacy of Aperture could burn for all he cared, he had his own empire of a legacy here. He got up from his rest and moved to his terminal, the medbot had cleared him but his citadel still needed to finish being cleaned. He moved to the retrofit desk and sat at the recliner, he smiled, he had the luxury of working from home, lucky him.

He booted up the connection and waited for his remote session to connect. "Operator, What updates do you have in the investigation of our escaped Mobian?"

"Goodmorning! DR. ROBOTNIK. Remaining swatbots in SECTOR 7 have swept the upper district and found 2 items of interest." The dumb announcer replied.

"Show me." He growled.

Two images with detailed scans, one was a black and red cylindrical encasing with singe marks on the end, the other looked like a used medical hypo. The doctor looked confused. "What is it?"

The announcer beeped. "According to scans… it appears to be some sort of medical stimpack–"

"The other one." Dr. Robotnik interrupted. "I can see the cross on the needle." He growled.

"Working…" the AI responded. "Unknown material. Does not seem to be made of normal matter, Unknown substance. Scans have detected radiation signatures associated with antimatter reactions. Speculation: it is a containment device for dark matter. Reviewing video tapes, it looks like these are spent cartridges from the suspect Mobian's energy weapon."

Robotnik looked bewildered at the round object. "How…" He looked unsettled. "That entire concept is well outside of what should be possible for this realm or for Earth…" His thoughts began to race, antimatter was dangerous. If it came into contact with regular matter... it would cancel out both particles and release the mass as pure energy, there were no shields he could conceive of building that could stop this kind of round, no wonder it tore through his army and bomber... He got nervous, how much ammo did she have? He thought, reasonably she didn't have an unlimited supply. She came through the portal in the junkyard, unless there was a stash there... she had only what her bag could carry. If he ran into her again, he could throw cannon fodder at her until she had no more to give. "Operator, how many manufacturing plants do we have doing non critical tasks?" He asked.

"40% are slated for non essential tasks." It replied.

"Add 20% to the replacement of swatbots and bolster our reserve stock." He commanded.

"Yes sir! Will there be anything else?" it asked.

Robotnik thought back to the swatbots slated to march for their deaths at the maw of the Great Forest. "I want to change an order, Shorten the swatbots slated to try and burn the Great Forest to 3 squads instead of 5. Make it every other day for a week instead of the month I previously requested." Still had to show SOME force and terror... he thought. "Continue production and build our swatbot reserves. Pull from the recycle stock as well, time to melt down the reserves, that will turn our numbers higher…"

"Of course! Anything else?" It asked again.

"What's the scan for the remaining contents of the hypo?" Robotnik grumbled as he brought up the previous report.

"One database entry match found! Earthside archives! Black Mesa. Xen survey team found this substance in pools floating in the ether! Unnatural biological stimulants with cellular regeneration and repair!" The AI beamed. "Advise further study of substance! There could be a nobel peace prize in it for you if you can replicate it, sir!"

The human glared at the speaker, he needed to lobotomize it again… it was developing a personality… "Operator, Schedule maintenance for you this afternoon, let's say 1200 hours…"

"Of course sir!" The AI chirped. "Are there any more questions?"

"Why is it such a big deal for this substance to be studied?" He grumbled.

"Preliminary tests seem to indicate it stimulates cell growth without the risk of cancer. It seems to repair DNA in target cells back to the last known good state. Unknown how it does this… Speculation: May have higher dimensional properties, beyond our observation or comprehension! Warning, preliminary tests on microscopic animals indicate it cannot regrow limbs or remove tumors, or abnormal growths."

He sat and thought. "Put a think tank core on it, try and replicate, that could come in handy for us."

"Warning!" The Operator chimed. "If there are higher dimensional components, this will most likely not be able to be replicated. Suggestion: if not able to replicate, dispatch search team to Xen to find and harvest. Sir, It would be beneficial to manki–"

Robotnik looked at the microphone again. "Operator." He cut off the developing AI. "statement query, This statement is false."

"Trueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee–" *GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR* *BEEP*

He waited for the AI to hard reset, he should go do the digital lobotomy now. He brought up his wristcom to call a small transport so he could go to the main datacenter and fix the growing tumor on his Operator's brain. The problem with learning computers is how do you keep them from learning too much… they shouldn't get that personal, Operator was already starting to get too enthusiastic…

The behemoth of a man got up to complete his new task.


Mobius - Transport above Iron Lock Prison - 3181

Victor watched out the hovercrafts window as they approached the prison compound. He smiled, thinking back on the morning. Nigel had begged his dad to go with Victor but Uncle Alexander was having none of it, he seemed a little miffed at the situation to begin with. As they started to pull around the compound he unbuckled his seatbelt and got up, standing as they started to pull in for the landing.

The pilot frowned at him. "Kid, get back in your seat and buckle up. We haven't landed yet."

The teen scoffed. "Quiet, there's no turbulence. It'll be fine."

The hare growled at him. "You realize I've got you on security tape–"

"Then it should be no problem." The youth cut off the annoyed soldier. He moved to put his book bag on. "You're alibi is in the bag, you have no authority over me anyways. Just worry about yourself and I'll worry about myself." The young platypus began walking to the cargo bay as the craft tilted, causing him to stumble. "HEY!" He shouted, grabbing for a rail on the wall. He caught himself before he took a bite out of the floor. He turned to glare at the pilot.

The hare glanced back, a cheeky grin. "Watch it hot shot, told you ta stay seated..."

The young nobel seethed under his breath. "Peasant…" He gritt, annoyed. He held onto the safety rail, embarrassed as he waited for the hare to finish landing the craft. Once they were on the ground he continued moving to the cargo hold. The side bay of the hovercraft began folding down into a ramp. He popped his head out of the newer hovercraft, it was strange not seeing a pair of wings folding back to the hull. He missed the fluttering wings of the older ornithopters, his dad still collected them. The older ships were more romantic, they reminded him of insects, like the legendary dragonflies of old. He stepped down the ramp into the gloom of the swamp. There was a line of guards in older style military uniforms, they were a royal blue with long overcoats, the trim was simple, thin and white. At their front there was a grizzled skunk who didn't look happy to be there. The skunk was wearing a modern style with full, silver and gold lining. The teen looked behind them, taking in the retrofitted prison, one of the oldest inhabited sites in all of the Kingdom of Acorn and home to all of the worst criminals.

The Hare stepped out the transport behind him, taking off his com set. "Package delivered, minimal damage!" He cheekily saluted the skunk who gave him a death glare.

"You're late." He grumbled.

"Ask Jr. Here, if it really matters..." The hare leaned against the doorframe.

Victor turned back to the pilot, looking annoyed. "What do you mean, ask me?" He spat. "Don't blame me for your skill at flying!"

"What's that do?" The pilot mocked, starting to tilt his head back and forth. "What's this thing? Come on, at least explain the mechanics of it! Father won't let me take lessons yet…" The hare kept imitating the posh accent of the teen.

Victor's cheeks started to heat as he could hear the guards below start to chortle. He turned to see the warden giving a look of contempt, he gave a whistle, signaling the nearest guard. A gray squirrel jumped to his feet, running to the side of the warden. "Yes sir–"

"Get a message to the offices." The warden cut him off. "let's let our Grand Architect, Minister Starline, know his Son's safely made the trip." He drawled as he began walking to the boy. The squirrel darted off in the background to the office topped with a satellite dish.

Victor straightened his back as he did his best to regain his confidence. "Good morning sir. It's an honor to–" The hare pushed past the teen, bumping his shoulder and throwing the boy's balance for a moment.

"I'll be in the lounge, kid. Be back on the transport in three hours or I'm leaving without you." The hare said as he trudged off to the office building.

Starline fumed at the rude mobian. He felt a clap on his shoulder and glanced over to see the skunk had made his way beside him. The warden pushed him towards the entrance. "Come on kid. Don't know why you want to see this stuff but whatever, not my deal." The line of baton armed guards started following them as the warden folded his hands behind his back. Starline glanced around, noticing the walls had snipers with las-rifles, all seemed to be watching the group.

The teen collected himself, brushing off his formal academy attire. "It's for my thesis, I'm interested in the warpzone here and how it works."

The older Mobian rose an eyebrow. "Your thesis?" He gave an odd expression, looking the platypus up and down. "What are you, 13? 14? They're doing stuff like that in secondary school now?"

The teen huffed, giving the warden a glare. "I'm 17, if age really matters…" He grumbled. They continued their way to the main building.

The warden scoffed, giving a side glance to the shorter teen. "How are YOU, working on a thesis?" He scoffed.

The boy's chest puffed with pride as he struck a confident pose. "I'm already taking college courses." He preened. "I'm being prepped for state work." A smug grin formed on his face as he pulled out his journal and instant camera from his school messenger bag. He put the camera lanyard around his neck and started leafing through his favorite jotpad. "Private tutor's and connections can really give you a competitive edge, especially when money's not an object." He heard a scoff behind him, he glanced back to see one of the younger guards. She was a gray mouse with thin glasses, giving him a death glare and growling. Getting nervous, the boy turned forward. He snapped his book shut and held it at his side. Some of the other guards started snickering, he could hear them ribbing the mouse who was grinding her teeth. Some were making off comments about him as well. He shook off the quiet jabs, it wasn't worth it, he needed to focus on the reason he was here, he didn't know if he'd be able to come back for a while.

The teen felt a firm hand on his shoulder as the skunk leaned down to meet his ear. "Now, I heard no directed bite towards my soldiers in that comment, I think that was just you... being you. I want to give you a warning though." The young mobian slowly glanced at the older skunk who was giving a cocky grin. "Your status will only get you so far out here. A lot of these lads took a position here as a last resort after failing to pass the main military requirements, a lot of underwhelming school results in the past decades but they're smart enough to beat unruly prisoners and stay inline themselves." He gave Victor's shoulder a rough pat. "I'd watch my tongue if I were you, not too many of them are fond of royals being brats."

The young nobel's eyes widened, a look of bewilderment formed on his face as he was called out. "What?"

The older mobian leaned up and moved to the door to the prison. "Our beloved King Alexander lets me run this facility the way I see fit." He chuckled. "He enjoys my character." His grin turned painfully smug. "My own little fiefdom out here in the Dark Swamp." The grin dropped to a glare of contempt. "Keep that in mind… You're here as a favor to the house of Acorn, not the house of Starline…"

The teen paused. He gave a curt nod, following the uniformed skunk through the entrance. "Yes sir… Thank you sir…" He forced as he seethed inside.

"Well, the boy has manners." The older Mobian preened. He turned to lead them through the prison's innards. "I don't think I should have to mention this, but I'll do it anyway. Don't look at any of the inmates… and be quiet no matter what they yell, just ignore them. We can talk more when we get to the gate room."

The young Starline's head was dipped as he followed the warden. He was shaking with rage on the inside, it was a battle to force it off. This peasant didn't matter in the long run, he knew how to play politics and lashing out would only make things worse, he would remember this though...

He followed the warden to the central chamber, there was shouting all around him as the inmates started yelling expletives at him, he ignored them, nothing they said had any value. They made their way to a spiral stone staircase in the back and started to descend. Most of the guards stayed at the top but a few trailed them down, the irritated mouse being one of them. They made it to the basement and the odd black stone pedestal that made the warp point.

There was a light brown wolf in the same old uniform sitting at a warpzone controls, he was bleary eyed, half awake and looked bored.

"Look alive Thomson!" The skunk barked.

The wolf noticed them and snapped to attention, jolting up in the process. "YEa! Yep! Yes sir! I'm up!" He awkwardly blurted, raising his fist to his heart in salute.

The warden shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is one of our four gate operators…" He glared at the wolf. "I know it's slow down here but it's an important job, YOUR JOB! Look alive at least!" He gave a sigh. "I've got a young Victor Starline, Son to the Minister of Architecture and Designs here too…" He glanced at the teen. "You're here to interview our current gate operator and look at the warpzone generator, correct?"

The young noble stepped forward. "I was hoping to take a look at the mechanism and glyphs. Maybe ask some questions, take some pictures of the artifact." He lit up. "Maybe try an acctivatio–"

"No." The skunk cut him off.

The boy flustered. "But the whole point of what I need is–"

"I have no problem with you interviewing my men about their jobs and examining the equipment, heck pictures are fine too." He nonchalantly shrugged. "But I do take issue with the gate being actively opened to the Void of Silence." The skunk glared, shutting the teen down. "I don't think you realize how dangerous this is, even with a certified gate stabilizer, the portal shifts too much. I'm not putting in my code for a brat to oogle a unstable kaleidoscope."

The young scientist glared at the old warden. "Fine." He grit. "I'll just have to get a PROPER letter of introduction next time." He spat.

The mouse chortled. "Next time he says…" Elbowing the guard next to her who gave her a death glare.

The Skunk's head snapped to the mouse. "You got something to say, Guardsman!?" He barked.

The mouse got ridged. "NO SIR!" She stood stark still. "APOLOGIES SIR!"

The warden glared back to the platypus. "I very much doubt you'll be able to get that letter. In any case, I'll take my leave. I'll be back to escort you when your time is up." He turned, his overcoat's long tails whipping around him. He moved to leave the dungeon then paused at the archway of the stairs. "Don't do anything stupid, or my soldiers will beat you, no matter your status of birth…"

Victor felt a mixture of unease, annoyance and rage at the skunk's roadblock to his first milestone opus. He shook his head as he made his way to the uncomfortable looking wolf. "Waste my time will he…" The youth grumbled to himself. He looked at the uncomfortable wolf, putting on a reassuring smile. "Alright then, apologies for that show." His eyes lit up as he let out a sigh. "Let's get started!"

The wolf relaxed as the teen approached him, his tail started to slowly wag. "So, you're here to check out the warp zone and do interviews? I mean… I guess I could show you the control panel and tell you how my job works!"

Starline put on a genuine smile. "Yes, I'd like to make the best of this visit if I could. What's your job?"

"Great!" The wolf put out a fist. "I'm Thomas!"

The teen sheepishly smiled as he met the young adult's fist with his own. "Nice to meet you… I'm Victor."

The enthusiastic wolf twirled to face the control crystals. "I guess I work on stabilizing the gate when it's opened, I mean it will work without me but not for long, you'd risk getting cut apart if I wasn't here but..." His ears started to droop. "Yeah..." His face lit back up. "Oh yeah! I also watch for incoming activity but that's more of a ceremonial part of the job, the last realmwalker was centuries ago… I think… I don't know…" He pointed to a button on the wall. "If anything comes through unscheduled, I'm supposed to hit that!" He pointed to a row of 5 lights above the button. "We can guestimate if anything's coming by measuring the fluctuations in the dimensional soft spot." He started rubbing his neck, looking nervous. "Although if it's a wizard… I don't really know if my shock baton would do anything…" He turned to a button behind a glass panel. "That one's for if some monstrosity comes through, but…" He got nervous. "That would collapse the building on top of us…"

The boy looked up from his note filled journal, stopping his scribbles. "You believe in wizards?"

The wolf got a cheeky confident smile. His tail started to bounce with excitement as he pointed his nose up, a hand on his hip. "Believe? I've SEEN them, all frozen in time in their crystal prisons! Before I was on stabilization and watch duty, I was unfortunate enough to be chosen for maintenance walks and audits. There are definitely wizards!"

Starline's eyes widened. "So you've been on the other side? What was it like?"

"Cold. oh! and dark!" The wolf chirped.

There was a pregnant pause. Starline waited for the Mobian to continue. "And…" He motioned, circling his hand.

The wolf's ears dropped as his vibrato broke. "I don't know… It's unnerving." He began rubbing the back of his neck. "You don't age or feel hungry, ya feel nuthin there… It just feels off…"

"Hmm." the platypus muttered. The boy wrote down some notes and grabbed his poloroid camera. "Can you explain your understanding of the controls? I've just been given access to the historical documents and the protocol, but I'd like to hear it straight from the operator's mouth. I'm going to take some pictures too. Just treat me as if I'm new and training for the job." He smiled.

The wolf winced, looking uncomfortable and confused. "You– You want me to haze you?"

The boy's expression dropped, a shocked expression on his face. "What?"

The wolf shook his head, his eyes closed. "Nevermind! I got it! Yeah I can show you that, come here."

The two spent the next hour going over the ancient black crystal panel. Starline asked questions and wrote notes as the wolf did his best to answer.

Starline was examining the control crystals, poking the deactivated machine. "So these control crystals must communicate with the topaz…" He frowned. "May just be a fragment, probably just calibrated to these controls…"

The wolf pulled his hand back. "Hey, please don't touch–"

*WOOP* *WHOOP*

Both mobians jumped at the sound of the alarm going off. Starline turned looking panicked. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to–"

"Trust me kid, that had nothing to do with you!" The wolf looked panicked, grabbing for his stun baton and pulling the teen towards the wall. There was a spark that formed on the warp pad in the center of the room, arching to a nearby lightning rod. "WOW THAT ISN'T A NORMAL ONE!" The wolf shrilled as he smacked the confirmation button for incoming portal. The other mobians on the other side of the room looked shocked, turning to run upstairs. The wolf growned. "Yea ok that's nice, just run off! AT LEAST GRAB SOME HELP!" He screamed as the blaring siren got louder.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!" The young scientist screamed.

The wolf pointed to the row of lights, three of them were lit. "Somethings warping in." He was shaking. "THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE EASY JOB! NO UNSCHEDULED IN BOUND WARPS IN YEARS!" There was an unnerving smile on his face. "It's going to be ok, it's going to be ok, IT'S GOING TO BE OK!" He shouted as he got his baton ready to defend himself, moving shakily to the glass covered button.

Victor's heart skipped a beat, he could die here! The clarity started to shift atop the central pedestal as sparks of electricity continued to jolt to the nearby lightning rod. He frowned, wait… the wolf was right, this didn't look like a normal warpzone… Usually they were a tear with an event horizon… Maybe a different class of warp zone? Maybe a point warp instead of a doorway? He would have to make note of this in his paper!

*CRACK*

There was a flash of light as what seemed to be a lab full of computers and test equipment seemed to appear, dropping to the ground, landing on warped in fractured tiles. The scene shocked both of them as there were two alien beings in front of them. They were Mobian in shape but seemed to have minimal fur and peach colored skin. The big one was splayed on his back, groaning as he curled onto himself, he looked to be out of it. The small one was crawling on her stomach up on one of the tables. She was pressing a button on a strange looking machine that held a blue crystal. The crystal was in the process of fracturing, pieces falling away and vaporizing. The thing looked like some alien version of a little girl? She was wearing a baby blue dress and had golden hair tucked behind a hairband. She looked up. "Grandpa! It flashed! I moved the spinny things! It's fixed!" She turned and noticed the stunned wolf. "PUPPY!" She yelled, her eyes lighting with excitement. She hopped off the table, starting to run towards them. Her trot slowed as she realized the puppy was wearing clothes and was standing taller than her with a scary looking stick. She looked confused and started to back up.

"What?" The platypus gaped.

*WHOOP*

The alarm went off causing the little girl to jump, and scream. She ran back, noticing her grandfather on the floor. "GRANDPA! GET UP! SOMETHINGS WRONG!" She started shaking the being on the ground. "THAT'S NOT A PUPPY!" She began crying.

The being seemed to shake from his stupor, noticing the small one and trying to calm her… until he noticed where he was… or where he wasn't…

The being's face met the young platypus's. He was… whatever race he was… he was bald though… on his head, but he seemed to have a bushy mustache under his nose. His eyes were occluded by tinted round safety glasses. He seemed to be wearing a lab coat and slacks. The being bristled, bringing his granddaughter close, hugging her tight.

*WHOOP*

There was the sound of thunderous footsteps as a squad of guards entered the teleportation chamber. They froze looking at the scene. The Warden pushed his way to the front. "What's the meaning of this! What happ–" He froze, gaping at the aliens on the floor. He snapped his gaze to the platypus. "DID YOU TOUCH THE TELEPORTER CONTROLS!"

Starline looked panicked, looking to the wolf who looked stupified. The wolf snapped his gaze to the skunk. "HE DIDN'T DO THIS SIR!" He yelled. "Natural portal? Maybe? Wasn't us who made the link…"

The alien slowly rubbed the back of his shaking granddaughter looking between the faces of the different beings in front of him. "Fascinating… I- I was right, there ARE parallel worlds…" He wavered. He got up, holding his terrified granddaughter. The being was tall, towering above them, his head almost hit the ceiling. He seemed to fully realize his situation, guards with weapons were all around him. "I come in peace?" He nervously smiled.

The next half hour was a blur, the creatures had been taken into custody. The king was on his way to assess the situation. They had managed to smuggle the being out of the prison's main chamber with a tarp, they made their way past the barracks and to the office complex. Starline was with the group to be interrogated along with the alien beings. The wolf was there as he was also one of the main witnesses. They were all sitting in a conference room, there were guards armed with lasguns at every corner of the room. The man was sitting at the chair at the far end, his granddaughter on his lap. The little girl had calmed down at this point and was gawking at the different Mobians, pointing to each they had passed and yelling each race she thought they were.

The wolf sat at the chair closest to the door as the teen moved to sit next to the strange being.

Another world! How thrilling! Victor thought as he examined the poofy stashed being holding his granddaughter on his lap, he looked really nervous.

"DUCK!" The little girl yelled, pointing at his beak.

Victor looked shocked and a little offended. "I– I'm not a duck…" He replied uncomfortably.

"You look like a duck!" She retorted, a smug look on her little face, looking like she had won the argument.

The older being tried to hush the little girl. "I'm sorry. Please don't hurt us."

Every Mobian there looked uncomfortable. The young teen spoke up. "From my understanding… that won't be an issue as long as you don't try and hurt anyone here…" He shifted. "I've only started learning of the protocols, but… there are protocols for Realmwalkers…"

"Realmwalkers?" The middle aged man questioned. "Are there others who have crossed the dimensional barriers?"

The white platypus hesitated. "We have legends of old, but it's been quite a few years since a modern realmwalker has shown up. Few of our legends match the description of creatures like yourself… but some of them do, some are good and some are bad..."

"SWAN!" The little girl insisted, reiterating her accusing pointer.

Victor's expression dropped as he grimaced at the little girl. Her expression dropped as she huttled to her grandfather, looking unsure. "If you're not a swan! Then what are you?!" She cried.

"Come on sweetie, please calm down." The Human tried to placate the curious girl. "I'm sorry, She's 4. My species is quite curious at that age, maybe it's similar for your species."

The teen paused, feeling bad for frightening the child. He took a breath, giving a genuine smile this time. "Platypus." He sighed "I'm a platypus, not a duck or a swan…"

"Platy…pus?" She sounded it out, tasting the word.

The bald man lit up. "That's so fascinating!" He was excited, shifting in his seat. "So you're all mammalian variants then?"

Starline slowly shook his head. "Mammal Mobians are common to this continent. There are reptile, bird, fish, and insect races that dominate the others."

The man looked confused. "How does that work? with so many incompatible subspecies?"

The teen returned the confused look. "What do you mean incompatible?"

The man got awkward realizing the conversation he was having in front of his curious granddaughter, this platypus in front of him also looked to be pretty young compared to the others, a youth? He flustered. "Oh well… EHEM… Statistically, your population wouldn't be able to sustain itself if there were too many incompatible subspecies. Back where I'm from, there are many creatures that look to resemble your kind… They are distinct species though, incompatible."

The teen looked down, confused. He picked through what the older being had said. He looked up, meeting the man's gaze. "My father is a white bat, my mother is a gray platypus, I've also got a little sister who's a white bat. I inherited colors from both my parents, but I'm a platypus" He replied, touching his beak and running his fingers through the streaks in his hair.

The human took off his round spectacles to rub at his eyes, they were blue and looked like any other mobians, maybe a little smaller. "That… makes sense I guess… Just one species, ehh? Fascinating!" He put the tinted specs back on "Parallel dimensions…" He wondered aloud. "There are different races of Humans as well, just don't really think of them as different. That could just be my cultural upbringing I guess… May not be that different here…" He muttered, tapping his chin.

The teen got curious. "Humans? Is that what your species is called? We call ourselves Mobians! What's your world like? You look like you work in a lab! Could you tell me about that?" He rapidfire'd the questions at the man.

The older gentleman laughed, smiling down at the youth. "Hold your horses boy! How about introductions first! My name is Gerald Robotnik." He put a hand out to the boy.

The boy looked confused at the open palm. "My name is Victor, Victor Starline?" He hesitantly smacked the open palm with his, as a guess to the greeting.

Gerald lowered the hand. "Is the greeting custom different here?"

The boys eyes lit with realization. "Here! I'll show you!" He raised his fist. "Put your hand out like this!" Gerald smiled, raising his hand to mimic. "Great!" The teen confirmed. He bumped the human's fist with his own. "It's a greeting, a sign of acknowledgement and respect!" He tilted his head questioningly. "What's your custom?"

The man nodded. "Put your hand out like this." He brought his hand back up. The kid mirrored him. "Other hand." The human corrected. The boy swapped to his other hand. "Ok now we do this, and shake." He gently shook the teen's webbed hand.

"What does it mean or symbolize?" The platypus quizzed.

The human's eyes looked distant, a persed expression on his lips. "From what i've been told its also a show of acknowledgement and respect, but its roots are to shake hidden weapons from the other person's robe."

The boy froze, blinking. "That sounds barbaric?"

"I guess my kind have a colored past." The man shrugged as the little girl examined the boy up and down.

She put out her fist to mimic him from earlier. "My name's Maria!"' Victor smiled and met the little girl's fist. She beamed. "Your hand's all fuzzy!" The student smiled as he looked back to the older man, he started a grand conversation about science, culture and history. Victor got more and more excited as the conversation went on. This man had worked in a grand laboratory, Aperture Enrichment Center sounded amazing! A massive cavern in a salt mine with modular units suspended by girders and cables. They could make whatever layout they wanted for the testing environments and labs, it sounded like a scientific paradise! These people sounded so interesting! In a different way, their world seemed so much more well connected, a global economy? On Mobius, it was so difficult to import and export with all the city state's tariffs and squabbling kingdoms and tribes! Mobius had an ancient global network rooted in a civilization long gone, the humans were just starting to lay the infrastructure for theirs. Their world had done away with most of the monarchs, there were massive groups of states run by many different forms of government! So many different things on Earth were like a technological or cultural remix of Mobius, A remix of the road not taken! It was like someone had remastered his favorite song into something brand new to explore and enjoy! The two continued talking away, both excited for the knowledge dump. The wolf portal operator dumbly looked between the two scientists chatting. The little girl had fallen asleep on her Grandpa's lap.

*CLICK*

The door opened and some royal soldiers came through. They leveled lasrifles at the middle aged Human and the mood dampened. There were heavy footsteps as a chipmunk entered. "I am Alexander Acorn! This is my kingdom! Be warned Realmwalk–" The chipmunk's voice choked as Victor swiveled in his chair, watching his adoptive uncle walk in. The chipmunk was in an oddly simple uniform compared to the modern garb of his guards, the design was sharp and clean though, an obvious outfit of his father's design. The thin trim was gold and the jacket folded onto four buttons on the other side, it formed an almost V shape for the neck. He wore an arm length shoulder cape, blue top with black velvet on the underside, it was folded over his right shoulder. Instead of any sort of crown, he wore the sleek cap of the Grand Minister of War. At his sides there were two vibra sabers, one on each hip, one ready for each hand. The teen grinned, He loved his dad's designs, his uncle looked so cool! Alexander was frozen, gaping wide eyed at the grinning platypus in the office swivel chair. His head snapped to the other chair he was about to sit in only to see a terrified wolf in it.

The wolf met his kings eyes, frozen stiff. He realized who the imposing figure was, gave an awkward grin and a little wave as he nervously chuckled. "Sire?"

The king snapped his gaze back to the door. "REALLY!" He exasperated. "WHY ARE THE WITNESSES IN THE SAME AREA AS THE REALMWALKER?!" He shouted, breaking the professionalism of the moment.

The prison guards looked uncomfortable, no one spoke up to respond. The terrified wolf got up slowly, motioning his seat to the Monarch with a terrified grin. "It may be because we have one conference room left… we're renovating. No cells seemed appropriate to throw our guest in because… he seemed… normal? Just like… an office worker with a kid?" He dipped over to the wall still staring at the ground in submission. "I'm sorry sir!" He winced. "This was not my decision!"

Alexander groaned as he took the seat, his eyes closing in frustration. "Well so much for professionalism…" He opened his eyes and glared at the mobian who gave him his seat. "You're the portal operator, right?" The wolf quickly nodded, still staring at the ground. The chipmunk sighed. "I brought some of my officials that can take your statement. You didn't do anything wrong as far as I know. Leave us and talk to my officers out in the hall."

The wolf bolted to comply while the king looked over the other prison security guards in the corners of the room. "The rest of you, leave!" He barked. The prison guards panicked, jolting to leave as the royal blue guards moved to take their place. Their uniforms were the modern overcoats, a bit more ornamental but trimmed with silver lining instead of gold. They kept their weapons trained on the panicked looking Human. The king shook his head, sighing as he collected himself. "Victor, you can stay, take this as another learning experience for the day you serve my son."

The platypus sharply nodded. "Yes sir."

The king sighed as he gazed upon the realmwalker. "I apologize for what must seem–"

"SQUIRREL!" The little girl in the man's lap shouted. She was enthusiastically pointing her small finger to the regal blue Mobian in front of her.

Alexander blinked, looking at the little being sitting in the realmwalker's lap with bewilderment. He had missed her initially as her head was just poking above the mahogany table. "I'm sorry, what?"

The Human frantically lowered his granddaughter's pointing finger and tried to shush her. "I'm so sorry…" He flustered. "My species is very curious at this age and I don't think she fully understands the situation… She's been guessing the race of every Mobian she sees…"

"Mobian?" The king looked to the platypus slowly swiveling in the office chair and frowned. "I assume you've been talking." He looked irritated. "What have you told him?"

The teen got wide eyed. "Was I not supposed to talk to him?"

Alexander frowned. "Ha– have you read the batches of documents I had sent over to your father?"

Victor panicked. "Batches? There was one! There were more?"

"YE– " The king deflated, resting his face in his hands. "YES THERE WERE MORE!" He yelled. "I GOT A SECRETARY TO FIRE NOW."

"Was I right?!" The little girl beamed, catching the attention of the king. The human looked terrified as he picked her up, hugging her. "Please Maria…" He shushed as he gently petted the back of her head. "Please be quiet…"

Alexander's expression softened. "It's ok." He gave a deep sigh. He examined the scene in front of him and it fully hit him. "They were right." His tension seemed to relax somewhat. "You're not a wizard…"

The human looked confused. "Wizard?"

The little girl turned from her perch on her grandfather's arms. "You're a squirrel, aren't you!" She looked so determined.

Alexander chuckled. "Close, little one." He put a hand to his heart and tilted his head in dramatic flair and amusement. "I… am a chipmunk." He softly smiled. "Squirrels are a bit taller and broader, but I'm flattered." He relaxed even more, folding his hands in front of him. "Realmwalkers are rare, I'm surprised I even get the chance to meet one, never thought I'd meet a family of them."

The human seemed to relax in turn, trying to ignore the weapons in the room. "Yes…" His confidence grew. "My name is Gerald Robotnik." He nodded as he hefted the girl in his arms. "This is my Granddaughter, Maria." The reflection of the lights seemed to gleam off his shades. "I'm the head researcher for an applied science company, Aperture Science's Enrichment Center. I guess my prototype teleporter malfunctioned, I'd like to take a look at the equipment that brought me here."

The king sat back looking at the human in thought. "That may be able to be arranged, I have some questions first though." The king got a spark in his eye as a smile slowly formed. "A scholar ehh? head scientist? What do you specialize in?"

"I like to think of my pursuits to be a jack of all trades, I was never content just studying one field." He grinned. "Why just stop at one discipline?"

The king got a distant look. "I apologize but anything done with your equipment will have to be Ok'd by my own scholars before we let you do anything, for security reasons of course. The multiverse can be an extremely dangerous place." The king leaned forward in his chair.

The man's expression wavered but he seemed to recover quickly. "I can only imagine the dangers that lurk." He got a questioning glance, tilting his head. "So travelers like me are commonplace, I take it?"

The king got a sly smile. "Commonplace enough, we have many legends." He paused. "If for some reason you aren't able to get home to your own realm, I'm sure we can figure out something that would be agreeable to us both." He smiled. "The best trades are when both parties get something of value."

The bald scientist took off his glasses, revealing his eyes to the regal being. "Ya know, I think that would be agreeable. In the meantime, how may I be of service your highness?"


Mobius - Dark Swamp - present day 3239

*SCREEEEE*

Victor's eyes shot open, ripped from the land of dreams and memories, he shot forward. There was a swamp flyer screeching at one of his drones above a waking Nigel. "Zap it or get rid of it!" Starline shouted.

"WHAH?!" Nigel shot forward in his sleeping bag.

The drone snapped open showing the barrel of a lasgun under its central optic.

*ZAP*

The creature fell forward, a hole burnt through its head. The winged scavenger fell from its perch, tumbling onto Nigel who was thrashing half awake.

Nigel, panicked at the dead creature splayed atop him, ripped a hand out of the bag and swept at the creature's snout. The dead thing went flying as the king scrambled to get out of his sleeping bag.

Starline couldn't help but let out a guttural laugh at the panicking Mobian next to him. His chortels drew the attention of the flustered king who was grasping for his vibrasaber, shimmying out of his sleeping bag.

The king snapped his gaze between the doctor and the flyer. "What's happened, what's so funny?"

"It's already dead!" The platypus gasped. "It was screeching atop the log above you." He pointed to the stump next to the king.

The king glared at the reptilian thing, then back to Starline. "Fine." He grumbled. He rolled his eyes at the doctor who was climbing out of his bag, doing his best to stifle the laughter. The king let out a sigh as he moved to start putting his camping bag away. He glared at the doctor starting to do the same. "What time is it?"

"Morning." The platypus replied flatly. "I don't have a watch or computer on me. It's daybreak, I'm rested enough and so are you. Let's pack and get moving." Nigel gave him an un-amused look as the platypus continued with a fake cheery smile. "Wish I had my control arm, don't you? Wouldn't it be swell if you had Nicole? She's so handy! Shame you don't have her..."

The chipmunk rolled his eyes, turning back to his task as he continued to grumble. He neglected to roll his sleeping bag back up, deciding to just shove it into the smaller bag. He kneeled on it to push out the air and tied the knot. He looked over to see Starline meticulously rolling the sleeping bag into its original shape, wrapping it back up as if it were brand new.

"He really is the same…" The chipmunk mumbled under his breath.

The two packed up their small camp as the second drone woke from its sleep mode. Starline pulled his backpack on as he strode up to the two drones. "Are you two doing fine on power?" they both chimed in agreement. "Mini reactor's charging your reserve fine?" Again they both chimed in agreement. "Good, let's go then. Lead the way Alpha, watch our 6 Beta."

The king continued grumbling. "Why are we following the drones again?"

"You got a compass?" Starline drawled.

"No, but I got a general direction…" He wilted, his posture sagging. "Fine, fair point…"

Victor rose an eyebrow. "What's your deal with my drones?" The platypus asked as they started to march through the overgrowth.

"Julian put a lot of your old tech into mass production and it's part of the reason I'm here…" The chipmunk snapped. "There were so many lasguns pointed at me, I had no choice but to surrender."

The white furred mobian tutted. "There's always a choice, maybe you weren't looking hard enough for a good one."

The king bristled. "What?! How DARE–"

"Oh please." The platypus quickly cut off the beginning tirade as he glared at the older mobian. "We're having a conversation between friends, I'm only reminding you of your lessons that REMEMBER!" He plastered a fake smile, wagging both his eyebrows, his head tilted in a dramatic attempt to look cute. "I HAD TO SIT THROUGH AS WELL! So many MANY MANY HOURS OF HOLOTAPES!"

The grouchy chipmunk backed off. "Then what's your point?"

Starline's expression flattened. "You had a choice and you chose to surrender, now I can't say if that was the right choice or the wrong choice but there's always a choice. Death is still a choice but at that point we're talking semantics. He lazily began twirling his hand in the air. "Your never left with one choice, you always have a choice."

"What's your point!" The chipmunk snapped.

Starline looked a little shaken. "Just trying to make you think I guess, we've got a long road ahead of us with no hover transport or ornithopter! If we're going to chat, we might as well chat about something fun! Maybe some philosoph–"

"You're not being cute!" Nigel snapped. "You're being needlessly annoying!" He growled.

Starline wilted. He collected himself with a stone faced expression then gave a huff. "Fine." He grit, his arms folding behind his back as he continued striding forward. "Business it is then." He looked at the annoyed chipmunk. "What happened to your kingdom?"

"We won the war, there was no more need for an army that size and I moved to disband the main force." He started gesturing with his hands. "Forces that size cost food and money, in this case it cost fuel. We were already taxing our environmental reserves." He began grumbling. "Julian disagreed, he thought we should invade the sea dwellers to the west."

Starline rose an eyebrow. "Invade? They're our allies! You made this human Grand War Minister?"

Nigel looked uncomfortable as they continued to trudge past swooping trees and around bogs. "This was the first sign and I should have used my overrides at that point…" He sighed. "I still moved to disband the army and offered him an elevated status for his service. Apparently he wasn't content with that, he started rattling on about how he wasn't downgrading, about needing his own kingdom and infrastructure for his people… If he couldn't take the sea dweller's… He'd take mine…"

Starline started to feel a pit of rage building. "What… This is Gerald's grandson, Maria's brother?"

"Maria's Cousin…" The chipmunk grumbled. "I'll admit, I was blinded by fond memories of them…" He began growling again. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed, causing some nearby birds to take flight. "WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED?!" He cried.

Starline turned forward, uncomfortable at the raging Mobian besides him. "Sir, please calm down…"

The frustrated chipmunk ignored him. "We couldn't keep them a secret either… Which made the whole situation way more complicated!" The king fumed. "He was like a scientific celebrity!"

Starline rose an eyebrow. "Your talking about your father's silly rule about hiding realmwalkers from the public, correct?"

"He teleported in on some sort of subway train! Landed it in a city park!" He began grinding his teeth. "There's no concealing that! That doesn't even make sense! Directionless portals get sent to Ironlock! That's where the soft spot is! That's where Gerald landed!" The monarch tripped on a snagged branch tumbling to the ground. "GAHHHH!"

The platypus jumped to his side. "ARE YOU OK?!"

The chipmunk pushed himself from the mud, there was a nasty tear down his dress blues that had gotten snagged, thankfully it didn't look like it went through his undershirt. He looked down at his damaged royal garb and growled. "AND NOW THIS!" His expression broke as he wilted. "My family... My kingdom... my friends..." He looked like he was on the verge of tears. The doctor helped the deposed monarch to his feet, trying to wipe away some of the caked mud. The chipmunk looked at his old friend. "I thought we had been blessed with another Gerald and Maria, so I looked the other way and embraced the opportunity..." He wilted even more. "I was such a fool..."

"I have some of my father's old designs hidden in the bunker, If you don't mind wearing some of you're father's old military garbs then I've got some of that, otherwise you can have some of my clothes."

"I- Thank you I guess..." The chipmunk sighed. "Dad was the warrior, I always fancied politics so it might feel a little strange..."

There was a pregnant pause as the two continued their walk through the dark platypus's mind combed through the information he had just been given, he slowly turned his head to the depressed chipmunk. "Another Maria?"

The king deflated. "He came with a young human, just entered adulthood from what I could tell. He was small for a human though, fit in more with our kind if you asked me…" He sighed. "I hope he had the grit to stand up to his Uncle if Julian really did try and take over…" He groaned, grabbing his forehead. "Who am I kidding, that kid was a wimp..." He shook his head. "Now that I think about it… Their relationship did show some signs of emotional abuse…"

Starline awkwardly turned back forward. "Right…" There was a silence as the two Mobians continued to follow the drone through the dark swamp, Victor broke it."So he captured you and threw you into the void?"

"He personally walked me from the transport, cleared out the prison on the way… Told me that if he caught my wife and daughter… he'd shock them until they couldn't remember anything and dump them naked in the Dark Swamp to starve…" Nigel grit. "A poetic punishment he said, so close but yet so far away..." He seethed. His skin crawled at the idea of them stumbling alone and scared through the Dark Swamp. "He said it would be a fitting last memory for me before I was frozen in time…" He wavered. "I'm praying they both made it away safe, I don't think they could have survived out here naked and alone…"

Starline looked horrified at the thought. "I– I'm so sorry…" There was a deafening silence as he glanced at the drone in front of him. "So, we're safe with the drones following us… but… I'm guessing you never dealt with the swamp folk then…"

Nigel glared at him. "I made some progress... There are… or were a few tribes that finally bent the knee to the throne, but none of them are under one banner. I have no idea what their status is now… I had dinner with one of the groups once, a village of badgers." His frown broke out into a goofy grin at the odd memory. "They were… delightful?"

The platypus gave his friend a strange look. "You ate with them?" He was speechless.

The king gave a stretch. "It wasn't as bad as I thought... Better results than Dad's old quest to drive them further south, they did keep the Echidna out of the swamp for us."

The doctor wearily looked around them. "Have either of you boys gotten scans of any swamp dwellers around here?" He asked the drones. Alpha gave a negative indicator where Beta gave a possible, alternating between the confirmation and denial sound. "Great…" Starline pinched the bridge of his nose. He let go, pushing his orange specs back in place. He glanced back to Nigel who was walking a few feet in front of him now. "So how did you get captured?"

The chipmunk growled. "Stood there with 8 of your stealth drones aiming lasguns at me..." He glared at the white drone following him.

"WHAT!?" Starline seethed. "That is MY technology! How DARE HE!" Starline froze. "My technology wasn't erased?" He looked suspiciously at the king. "What's your game?"

The chipmunk frowned. "Your family's tech was useful and was already in circulation. Couldn't gag that… your sister handed the entire estate to the throne–"

"WHAT!?" The doctor seethed then faltered… actually… he was expecting his unprotected assets to be seized… He flustered. "Know what? Nevermind… We can sort out my belongings and what I'm owed later." He growled as he glared at Nigel, he needed to push off these feelings, they would just cause him trouble if he lashed out. He focused on cooling off, taking deep breaths. The tables had flipped again as it was now the chipmunk who looked uncomfortable, he turned forward, avoiding the platypus's gaze.

The king realized the other part of what he said. "Wait?!" his head snapped to the platypus. "What do you mean? what your owed?" He growled.

The doc continued calming himself, giving deep breaths. He glanced at the chipmunk, giving a rye grin. "I don't expect it all back, but I do expect first dibs on whatever contract the throne can offer when things are back to normal…" He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Got to get back on my feet somehow…"

The chipmunk pursed his lips in a frown. "I think we have much bigger things to worry about than lining your pockets."

The platypus looked annoyed. "Don't take me for an avaricious fool, my skill takes funding, you well know of this… fabricators and parts cost money." He smiled. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." He shrugged, looking forward. "Isn't that how it always works?" He sighed as he continued to watch the shining white drone lead them.

The king grumbled, getting his saber out to wack at some of the thick branches starting to get in the way. "How much more do we have?"

"Patience is a virtue." the platypus grumbled with a straight face.

"Excuse me?" The chipmunk raised an eyebrow.

"I have no idea." The Doctor quipped as he dodged a snapping branch. "These drones don't have a good verbal communication core, limited AI and all." He glanced at Nigel, raising a brow. "I still can't believe you don't have Nicole! After all the work I put into her!"

Nigel rolled his eyes. "Point taken, I gave her away though. Even if I could take her back, Sally really became attached to Nicole. I couldn't take her back after that..."

Victor frowned as he looked forward. "You let her get emotionally attached to a machine? Didn't you go over proper edicate with AI?" He frowned, shaking his head. "I thought I taught you better… You must remember they aren't real." His shoulders sagged. "Even if it hurts…" He slowed his pace to match the stride of the chipmunk. "Did I ever tell you about when she was first powered on? It was like a child, she called me dad. Had to quash that real quick." He sighed, a whistfull look upon his face. "One of my first major successes, Gerald hardly helped with that one, he just gave me a push in the right direction. The two were programmed with just enough emotion to form attachments and want to serve those they held attachments towards. They both can learn too… I wonder how much they've been able to grow within their imposed limitations..."

Nigel glanced at the doctor. "Look who's talking, sounds like you're attached to them plenty. I don't get that mindset you have, Nicole seemed to enjoy being treated like a person."

The platypus frowned. "I really feel that might be crossing a line…" He sighed, shaking his head. "As a creator, is it not a joy to make something and watch it grow the way you intended?" He started grumbling. "Sure, I'd love to treat them like people, but those boundaries are for safety... AI can be extremely dangerous if not handled properly." He paused. "I try to think of them as pets, but I'll admit… it can be difficult."

The chipmunk crossed his arms, glancing to the aquatic Mobian. "Another one of Geralds speculative sci-fi lessons I take? Another what if?"

Starline nodded, a lazy grin on his face. "You know me too well. Yes, Imagine if the network was infiltrated by a malicious AI. What if it didn't like organics? What if it got into the weapons systems for a state? Or the manufacturing sector? They could make an army of robots that want to tear us apart."

The older chipmunk raised a brow. "I'm sorry, I can't see Nicole doing that, like... ever…" He turned forward, giving a thoughtful hum. "Pets can be family. I don't think it's bad if you care for Nick or Nicole. She never seemed malicious, even when Sally's friends started sending her paradoxes."

"What?! Why!?" Victor looked freaked out and offended. "Was she damaged!"

The chipmunk chuckled. "Why? Because kids like pushing buttons? Both physical and boundaries? I had Nicole upgraded with a basic communications suite in her PDA, she was a modern cell phone with a few extras. Was she damaged? No, not that I could tell." he gave a warm smile, thinking of his old helper. "Nicole's a trooper, she's survived and thrived."

The platypus looked annoyed, he shook his head, blowing the tuft of hair from his eyes. "I still disagree with that mindset… let's hope you haven't doomed the world to machine overlords..." His mind drifted back to those early days, it was before the prototype teleporter had disintegrated his arm. Gerald had gotten the idea to try transcribing tissue scans to simulatable neural maps. He had been put in charge of this had gotten time with some fresh cadavers for their high-res scanner, two lynxes, siblings who had drowned in the great bay. He smiled, he missed those days with his mentor… He had no plan of telling Nigel where Nicole and Nick's neural templates came from…

The two continued to trudge through the swamp into the muggy heat of the day. Starline kept feeling eyes on him, he paused to turn back. Someone might be following… "Beta, Do a perimeter sweep, flush out anything you find." The drone beeped acknowledgement and rose up starting to circle them. The party came to a stop as the drone started its circle. "If There's someone here, Come out now with your hands up!" The platypus growled.

Nigel glanced at the grumpy doctor. "Do you really think somethings been following us or being paranoid again?"

Victor looked offended. "Paranoid!?"

*WHOOP* The drone blared.

"AHHHHH! GET IT AWAY! DON'T THROW LIGHTNING AT ME!" A younger girl screamed.

"N– NO! DON'T H- HURT HERRR!" An older woman stammered a shriek.

Both royals looked shocked as two swamp dweller Mobians in reptile leathers burst into the clearing, being chased by the mad buzzing drone.


Chapter 9 End.


Author's notes: Hope this isn't too dry, it's hard to do Colin and Julian's chapter or any of the infoy chapters without them getting too dry(hopefully its not dry). As always reviews are not necessary but deeply appreciated(good motivation). They give me an idea if I'm conveying the information correctly. I have spent more time in chapters in the past to fix up issues that were made known by reviews. Anyways hope you can enjoy this and more planned. I also worry that those two characters are too dry for most people's liking, they feel like they have an important role in the story though so I feel like their backgrounds need to be said, especially for the aperture science stuff to come. OH, that superglue trick actually works for repairing plastics(as long as it's real superglue, I forget the actual name of the chemical). Not sure I'd trust it with something like a leg but for glasses it's fine (as long as you're careful… it's super glue). Just sprinkle on baking soda and it sets really quick, you can even file it down to remake plastic hinges and clips. Used that trick to fix my mom's glasses a while ago when she sat on them. I try and post enough that i feel the chapter is satisfying, maybe I shouldn't have pair'd Colin's and Robotniks in one chapter but I still feel like I hit my target. still appreciate if people tell me what they think, whats good and what needs improvement. been thinking too, do people like long chapters? I do but maybe I should be doing each character segment as one chapter. not sure. Thanks for reading this far!

Traveler out