Before I start this new chapter, there are some reviewer replies to be given.
Thanks to SpartanCommander for voting and informing me about the armor piercing rounds of the Master Chief's weapons. From now on expect the bullets to be more effective.
Thanks to keystone for the FTL drive information. I've never read any of the books, even though I would like to, and I appreciate you informing me about it.
Once again thanks, not only to the reviewers mentioned above, but to everyone else who reviewed. So far this is my most popular story.
Finally, in an unanimous vote of 1 – 0, Cortana will no longer be able to project her holographic form from the Master Chief's helmet. Now … ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
What Exactly is Going on Here?
-----Great Forest: Just Outside of Knothole-----
"Your turn Chief." Cortana and Spartan-117 had completed round one of twenty questions with the AI in the lead by one point. That didn't matter to Earth's last hope though; he had more important matters on his mind than this silly game which wasn't helping any of them get done. Cortana often worried about the armor-clad warrior, he took so many things way too seriously, not including the survival of the human race and the Covenant's defeat among a few select others.
"When is that kid's aunt supposed to be here anyhow?" Chief asked feeling even more bored during the game than before.
"I'm not sure on that one." Cortana replied thoughtfully.
Master Chief would have said something else had his scanners not picked up a new blip that was slowly making its way to their position.
"It appears that she's here now." Cortana observed. "Remember to mind your manners." She advised the stern veteran.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Master Chief assured the Smart AI. Mere moments later, the figure of a roughly 3'3'' tall Mobian came into view. Closer inspection revealed brown fur, a blue vest and boots, and an athletic build. To him, she seemed most likely a cross between a ground squirrel and chipmunk.
Chief noticed that she had caught sight of him leaning against the tree and was making her way towards the augmented soldier with great caution studying him carefully with bright blue eyes. When they were just five feet away, the female Mobian came to a halt and Chief straightened up from his position.
For a few tense seconds, the two of them stood there examining each other until Chief finally broke the silence. "I take it you're Sally."
"Yes, and you must be Master Chief?" Sally returned. "I heard you saved Tails earlier." She added while crossing her arms.
"Then I guess you heard right," Chief responded calmly and did likewise, "but enough pleasantries. I'm here for information about that city." The gruff warrior stated bluntly.
"You mean Robotropolis?" Sally questioned.
"Why yes he does." A digital voice equivalent to that of a SWATBOT, yet more feminine, answered from out of nowhere and startled the squirrel. "Sorry, I should have warned you about the external speakers. My name is Cortana, AI assigned to the Pillar of Autumn. I'm sure you heard of me from Tails."
"Oh, yes. He did mention you." Sally replied, regaining her composure.
"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, can we continue?" Master Chief asked, keeping the annoyance out of his voice.
"Just a couple things before we do." Cortana assured him. "First, I thought Tails said that he would be with you."
"I sent him to check on Antoine who's currently on sentry duty." Sally answered. "What's the second thing you wanted to know?"
"I noticed that Tails referred to you as aunt, but you're both obviously two vastly different species. If you don't mind answering, can you explain this?" Ever since it was confirmed that the squirrel was indeed Sally, Cortana's processors had been going haywire trying to figure out the reason behind their relation. If this mystery couldn't be solved soon, her systems would overload shortly. The artificial life form, not being used to the confused feeling bombarding her, just had to know.
"I'm not his biological aunt if that's what you mean." Sally responded while relaxing and allowing her arms to hang loose at her sides. Master Chief, however, remained the same in his spot, content to just wait for a part of the conversation that interested him.
"Now that that's cleared up, why don't we play some Q & A?" Cortana suggested with renewed vigor. This statement caused Chief to groan to himself, the last thing he wanted was another game. There would be plenty of time later once they were on board the Longshore fighter and headed back to Earth.
"Sure, what do you want to know?" Sally wondered.
"First off," Cortana started, "who exactly are Robotnik and Snively? Tails told us that they use those SWATBOTS as some type of enforcers, but we know little else of them."
"The story starts ten years ago. We Mobians were at war with the humans of the opposite continent…"
"Wait just a second," Cortana cut her off suddenly, "did you just say humans?"
"Yes, in fact Robotnik and Snively are humans. Robotnik betrayed his own kind for a reason we're still unsure of. With his help we won the war; however, he deceived the entire city, including King Acorn, whom he threw into the Void. That was the time Snively, Robotnik's nephew joined with him." Sally said.
"How could this planet have human life on it? The chance of something like that happening has to be astronomical at best." Cortana exclaimed.
"Settle down, Cortana. That's not why we're here. Our mission objective is getting back to Earth." Master Chief reminded his associate. The soldier stopped caring about the similarities between this planet and Earth a while back and now his only thought was returning home.
"Yes, but before we get any further, do you have any historical documents of this planet, Sally?" Cortana asked; this world just had too many mysteries that were unexplainable to her. Her common sense told her she didn't need to delve too deep at this point, but her curiosity just overwhelmed her.
"Nicole has a historical database you could scan." Sally offered reaching for the AI situated on her boot. "That is, if your systems are compatible."
"I wouldn't worry about that, I was specifically designed to interface with alien technology." Cortana quipped.
"Very well, Nicole, bring up all files concerning Mobius History and place them in chronological order starting with the earliest." Sally requested once she raised the view screen.
"Processing, Sally. All files found." Nicole responded and a list of events appeared on-screen.
"Impressive, you also have AI's on this planet." Cortana noticed.
"Thank you, now would you like to download the files now." Sally inquired.
"Yes, is Nicole capable of wireless transfer?" Cortana wondered.
"Of course." Sally affirmed holding up Nicole to send the data.
"This will only take a moment, done. Now let's see what we have here." Long seconds went by as Cortana perused the files loaded from Nicole and Master Chief was just about to ask what was taking so long when a digital gasp could be heard.
"Cortana, is something wrong?" Chief spoke up.
"Neither of you are going to believe what I just found." Cortana simply stated.
-----Robotropolis Central Control Center-----
"SNIVELY!" The thunderous voice of the ever malevolent Dr. Ivo Robotnik rang throughout his cavernous inner sanctum. Two of his SWATBOTS had been destroyed prematurely on a routine patrol of the Great Forest. Obviously that meddlesome rodent had something to do with it; you didn't have to be a genius to figure it out.
"Yes, Dr. Robotnik, sir." The wheezy voice of the maniacal madman's nephew and lackey replied. He had been placed in charge of locating the missing SWATBOTS, or what remained of them, in case they were too close to Knothole for the Freedom Fighters comfort. This was the first time a patrol had been attacked and they stood at least a decent chance of finally uncovering and claiming/destroying one of their ultimate prizes after the past decade of continuous searching.
Unfortunately for Snively, he possessed news which he knew would merely enrage his heavily obese uncle and the diminutive, balding human feared yet another severe beating from the robotocized hand of Robotnik. However, he knew that the savage beating would come anyhow if he withheld any information. Timidly, he approached the throne of the dictator of Robotropolis situated in the center of the room on a slightly elevated platform.
"Report, have you found Knothole yet?" How Robotnik could make his voice calm and menacing at the same time would haunt Snively to his grave.
Fortunately, Robotnik's back had been to Snively which allowed the already shaken, long nosed human to pluck up enough courage to speak. "No sir, Knothole has… not been located." He squeaked the last few words knowing only all-too-well what would happen even if it wasn't his fault. Uncle Julian loved to place the blame of failed missions onto him which often ended in painful bruises and sometimes even a broken bone or two.
"Why hasn't it been?" Robotnik's sinister tone questioned menacingly. "Did the Freedom Fighters not destroy my SWATBOTS?"
Snively took a sharp intake of breath, steeling himself for the inevitable thrashing. "No sir, I… don't believe the hedgehog or his friends had anything to do with it."
"Really, and what makes you think so?" The rotund scientist asked, turning his chair so that he had a clear view of his nephew. Snively cowered in fear under the pinpoint stare of his uncle. Not for the first time, he wished Robotnik's eyes were not such a blood-red color.
"Bring it here." Snively ordered to the entrance, barely able to stay calm. A SWATBOT that had been flanking him obeyed immediately and presented Robotnik with what appeared to be an empty, cylindrical, 7.62 mm. shell. The overweight doctor stroked his red moustache in a contemplating way, the look on his face informed Snively that his uncle's temper was hopefully short-lived, or at least curved for the time being.
"Where did this come from, Snively?" Robotnik interrogated in a low tone of voice after taking and studying the bullet's carcass in his real hand. Somehow the hefty tyrant made his voice just as threatening as if he had screamed his sentence.
"It was r-recovered from o-one of the SWATBOTS. S-several bullets have b been f-found in the remains, sir." Snively whimpered in response, losing the last of what little bravery he had and turned from anxious to absolutely terrified in that short space of time. This tone often preceded what Snively feared the most.
"Tell me," Robotnik growled, "HOW THOSE MOBIANS HAVE HUMAN WEAPONS!" He finished, grabbing a conveniently nearby Snively with his robotocized arm, raising him to his eye level, and shouting in his face causing the frail human to cry out in pain, unable to struggle against his uncle's firm grasp.
Not really caring if Snively could answer his question or not, Robotnik tossed him aside in an unmoving, unconscious heap on the cold metal floor. He had more important things to think about than beating his simpering nephew to another bloody pulp, like the ballistic munition cartridge he held in his hand. He didn't recognize what type of weapon had fired it off; it had been such a long time since he was last among his fellow humans.
"Take this to my private laboratory and find out as much as you can about it, and wake Snively so that he can assist." Robotnik ordered the SWATBOT. He had determined that if he couldn't figure out the answers to his questions, science could without a doubt.