It was silent on the ARK, Professor Gerald was hunched over on a chair next to the bed of his granddaughter Maria. Her bedsheets twisted up in his fists, held so tightly that the knuckles on his wrinkled hands were white.

He had failed, he was too late.

Maria's face still held a trace of a smile, only light tear tracks still wetting her cheeks, leading down from her closed eyes.

She had went peacefully, passing quietly in her room, that was all Gerald could do for her. He knew she would not have wanted to spend her final moments holed up in the infirmary, and buried in wires.

He had let her stay in her room, where she would be comfortable with a view of the planet below showing through her window.

He had hoped to let her return there one day.

If only he had succeeded. But he was too late.

Now he had to bear the burden of her death, her body would be sent back down to her beloved planet, and buried in the Robotnik family graveyard. And he would stay upon the ARK, too ashamed was he to go back home.

Besides, he was still under contract. For him leaving was no option, not even for her funeral.

--

Deep within the bowels of the ARK, came a slow, steady heartbeat. The sound closely monitored by screens, and muffled by the liquid the creature was suspended in.

A large upright tube sat in the center of the room, surrounded by various monitors and tubes, all connected to the being that floated peacefully within.

Unaware of the events happening elsewhere, was Project Shadow. Gerald's greatest triumph, and largest failure.

Named after the secrecy surrounding, it's creation.

The shadow of death he would cast upon his sponsors enemies.

Maria's own shadow, to stay by her side.

And now, what laid heavy on the minds of everyone on the ARK, the creature whose existence would leave Gerald as a shadow of his former self.