ROBERT

Uncle Chuck's hideout was a burrow in a pile of scrap metal. It was once a house in the central district of Mobotropolis, now suffering a terrible fate at the hands of Robotnik's waste disposal crew. Piles of useless shell casings, melted beams, ruins of the Acorn palace, they were thrown all over the city, over roads, on top of houses, everywhere.

Chuck had outfitted the only surviving room in the house with electricity, video monitors, surveillance equipment, repair tools, bunk beds, blankets, and a refrigerator he kept fully stocked with freeze-dried chilidogs. All right under old Buttnik's nose.

Plastic chest plates, body armor. Broken SWATbot arm emplacements, cutting tools. Something bundled up tight in a duffle bag. A large electric drill and a large electric saw. EMP grenades. A can of kerosene. Thirty feet of rope. Wire cutters, screwdrivers, bolt cutters. Hell, the works, shoved into the corner. Happy holidays from the underground.

Robert worked intently with Chuck's tools. He set the pliers and the soldering gun down, leaning back and sighing. Two days in and Uncle Chuck still wasn't fixed. The place had been thoroughly thrashed, every independent electronic device shorted out. Robert had set himself to the task of putting it all back together, maybe picking up where Chuck left off.

So far, he had the surveillance monitors up and running, all three humming happily and glowing bright. Nice and blank. He had the control panel put back together, and soon he would be able to piggyback onto Robotnik's security system. All he needed were the codes.

Uncle Chuck held the key. The guy had been damaged pretty badly, but anything was salvageable. If Robert could at least get Chuck reactivated, he could set up a RAM dive and extract the codes he needed.

Ten seconds had passed since Robert stopped working. He sighed and tried to relax. His hands were shaking. His heart was beating faster, faster, faster. Spit was forming in his mouth.

He couldn't last like this. He had to work. He had to risk going outside.

He rose to his feet, knocking over his chair. It slammed against the metal table, jarring something loose. Robert froze in place, watched a tiny handheld electronic device clatter to the floor, dropping from the underside of the table.

NICOLE.

"Unbelievable!" he said, kneeling. He picked her up, running his fingers over her smooth exterior. A sticky adhesive had been applied to her back, and she had been hidden under the table this entire time. Robert touched the release switch, hoping she was still alive.

She opened, lights from her tiny control panel illuminating the darkened room. Her display screen flickered and grew faint, but held steady on a low power output.

"zzGREETINGS."

"H-hi, Nicole. You recognize me?"

A pause. "OzF COURSE, ROBERT. ACCCES GRzzzANTED TO LEVzzEL ONE ARCHIVES."

Robert no longer had the strong urge to leave. He wanted to stay. He could last a just little bit longer by himself… with her. "I'm glad you're here, Nicole."

"THANK YOU, ROBERT."

He picked the chair up and sat back down. "Patch me a map of Robotropolis, the most recent you have on file."

"CERTAINLY. ACCESSING…z" Her display screen flickered, then expanded a three-dimensional hologram of the robot city. Robert searched for his location, finding the strange ivory building on the map.

"… Is this a satellite patch?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"How are you still hooked in?"

"RzzEMOTE LINK."

"Remote? To where?"

"THAT IS RESTRICTED INFORMATION, ROBERT. YOU KNOW THIS."

"I'm sorry." It was going to be tough. "Nicole… can you tell me what happened?" He didn't have the heart to ask how much time they had left together. "To the others. To… everyone."

The 3-D map shifted to an overhead of the Great Forest. "AT APPROXIMATELY 01:00 HOURS, CANISTERS OF CHLOROFORM INVADED THE PERIMETER OF LOCATION 7546-B, PERMEATING THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE, EFFECTIVELY KNOCKING OUT 90 OF LIVING ENTITIES WITHIN. THE SURVIVORS CARRIED THIS UNIT TO LOCATION 2391-B FOR RETALIATION. WE WERE HEAVILY RESISTED, AND FORCED INTO CURRENT LOCATION FOR REGROUPING. CLASSIFIED."

"Were we found out?"

"CLASSIFIED."

"Did Robotnik find out where Knothole was located?"

"CLASSIFIED."

"Damn!" He brushed his sticky red fur away from his face, struggling to calm himself. "Bring up the map of Robotropolis again, Nicole."

"CERTAINLY." The map moved back away from the Great Forest, centering on his location.

"What is this?" He pointed to the ivory building.

"BUILDING X1."

Robert closed his eyes, making sure he had never seen it before. He opened them again. "How long has it been there?"

"UNKNOWN."

"When did it appear on your map?"

"PROCESSING…" Robert could feel her getting warm in his hand. She'd have to shut down soon. "LAST INITIAL SATELLITE UPLINK."

"Okay, so what is it?"

" zzzZ CLASSIFIED, ROBERT."

He dropped her on the table. "Great, just great. PERFECT!" The room practically vibrated at the sound of his voice, but otherwise, nothing responded to his outburst. Even NICOLE had gone silent. Still angry, he leaned down close to her. "What security level number accesses that information?"

"LEVEL TWO."

"And how do I get to access level two, my darling?"

In the dark, in the complete silence that followed her reply, Robert could swear that she was laughing at him. "YOU CAN'T, MY LOVE."

A lot of time had passed and it was racing by even faster. The trick was to keep moving. Travel keeps you young, and leaves the rest of the world to age. With luck, you can catch up.

Within a day, they had what they needed. They worked diligently, far into the night and well into the next morning, ignoring what wasn't being said. Work was all that mattered.

Taking apart a motherboard was different than taking apart a living creature. Things made of metal were less personal somehow, easier to cope with. They made more sense. "ADJUST TWO DEGREES LEFT." NICOLE's garbled voice came from close to Chuck's right foot. Two red and blue wires ran from topside and snaked into the robotic hedgehog's midsection, another running into the house wall from her back. "There." He held the hard drive in place and pressed the chest plate closed. "Everything in its proper place?"

"AFFIRMATIVE, ROBERT."

"Initiate shock." Robert lowered his head and shielded his eyes with his free arm. NICOLE routed power from the house generator, draining electricity from the monitors and lights. Robert heard Chuck whirrrrr to life. He looked up and saw the eyes turn red, red, red…

"STATUS REPORT OF UNCLE CHUCK NOW AVAILABLE."

Robert smiled and nodded, standing to his feet, still holding Chuck's chest plate closed. He reached for the blowtorch. "Read it to me." He slipped the welding goggles back down over his eyes and drew out the hot blue flame.

"INTERNAL POWER SOURCE 50 FUNCTIONAL. POWER DETOURED FROM SECONDARY FUNCTIONS: VISION, COGNITION, MOTOR SKILLS, VOCAL OUTPUT, AUDITORY INPUT, WARNING SYSTEMS. UNCLE CHUCK APPROVED FOR INDEPENDENT OPERATION. DISCONNECTING GENERATOR…" House lights and monitors came back to full power. Robert finished the welding job, melting it just enough to keep it closed.

"What about his memories?"

"ACCESSING… CORE MEMORY 12 FUNCTIONAL. DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO CORE."

"Is the damage repairable?"

"NOT WITH THE TOOLS WE HAVE, ROBERT."

"Hmmm." Robert took off the welding goggles and tossed them over his shoulder. "Get him talking. Reactivate his vocal output. Route more power from the generator if you have to."

"CERTAINLY." The whir started up again, dimming the lights.

Uncle Chuck's mouth dropped open, baring his bottom silver fangs. A rumbling, low frequency electronic hum came from his throat, bearing only a small resemblance to his voice. "S-ss-ss-sssss-soooonn-n-nnnn-n-n-nnnn-eee-e-eeeee-eee-eee-ee-e-"

"Cut it." He pushed Chuck's jaw back into place. "I see what you mean. We'll set up a RAM dive."

"YES, ROBERT. UNHOOK ME."

He pulled the red wire out of Chuck's stomach. He leaned down and picked NICOLE up. Robert's eyes stayed on her as he circled around to Chuck's back and slammed the wire into his brain. "How is it?"

"… GOOD…"

He set her back down on the floor, backing away, confused. He sat down at the work table, yawning loudly, stretching his arms above his head, popping his back. He wished he had a way to wind down, but there wasn't time for his own comfort.

"DONE."

"… Pardon?"

"WE HAVE IT, ROBERT."

"It… wasn't damaged?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"… Yes!" Robert almost stumbled over himself getting to the monitors. "You got the codes?"

"SAVED AND STORED."

Too good to be true. "Then bring power back to all systems." Amazing… she was amazing…

The monitors flickered on, displaying white. Robert typed into Uncle Chuck's commandeered mini-satellite.

"Read them off to me one by one."

"CERTAINLY. FIRST SEQUENCE. A: 4-10-24-3-4-5. B: 13-9-3-12-25-6zzz"

Robert's breath caught in his throat. No, not this, not now. "You okay?"

"zzzzz- ROBERT?"

"Right here."

"YOU'RE READY?"

"Yes, yes, of course."

"SECOND SEQUENCE. C: 18-25-9-2. CASCADE AND LOOP."

He typed it in. "That's it?"

"YEP."

Robert executed the command, and waited. The monitors remained motionless at first, flickering pure white snow, then came to life with black and white images of prisoners, Mobians, held captive within brightly lit cells. Mirrored walls. Bunk beds.

"SUCCESS, ROBERT?"

"… We're in."