Chapter 7

The next day

7:21 PM

The sound of Robotnik snoring loudly over the intercom gave Snively pause. He normally enjoyed doing things to annoy his pompous uncle, but only when not dangerous to his own health. He desperately wanted to wake Robotnik with an obnoxious alarm or sound, but knew better given the circumstances. Robotnik would certainly want to hear the news Snively had, but there was no way to wake him peacefully.

He waltzed over to the doctor's throne and pulled himself into the chair. "Snively! What's that sound!?" he bellowed to the empty room, mocking Robotnik. "Snively! What's the status on the project? Snively! Aren't you done yet!? Snively! Bring me my coffee! Snively! Cluck needs an oil change!"

He snickered to himself, pleased. One day he would have the chance to order people around, but for now he had to stomach another day accepting orders from his blathering uncle. He relaxed and flicked the control on the chair's armrest. With each press of a button, the massive screen fixed to the wall cycled through a variety of security cameras throughout the primary operation complex. As it settled on Robotnik's luxurious bedroom, Snively sneered. Through the dim lighting, scores of Robotnik's portraits stared back at him, and the distinctive mountain that was Robotnik himself was obvious through the royal purple bedsheets.

He depressed a button and called meekly into the microphone, "Excuse me, sir, I have some news." Unsurprisingly, there was no response. He spoke loudly into the system, "Sir, I have some news for you!"

With still no response, he shouted, "Dr. Robotnik! I have some news you should hear!" Instantly Robotnik jumped up in his bed, followed by Cluck fluttering to life on a perch nearby. Robotnik glanced around the room for an instant before settling his glowing robotic eyes on the camera.

The doctor grunted and sneered. "This had better be important, Snively..."

"Sir, as you requested, I wanted to let you know that the robots have finally finished constructing the launch pads. They are preparing them as we speak for the first tests, which as you know can't be performed without your supervision."

Robotnik grinned and clasped his hands together. "That is good news, I'll be there momentarily." He tossed his bedsheets up and stared into the camera before adding, "Oh, and Snively, are you in my chair?"

"N-No sir, I'd never do that!" he replied, hastily shutting off the monitor. Robotnik was in a good mood for the first time in weeks, and he didn't intend to ruin it by making a crack, or mentioning that a sizable portion of materials had gone missing earlier that day. When Robotnik was in a good mood, Snively's life was much less stressful.

"I thought it was supposed to be Seltic's turn to cook today," Kyros said to everyone as he barged into the cafeteria.

Seltic replied with a puzzled look and asked, "Now what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that you normally just heat up something from the freezer, and whatever is cooking smells too good for that."

"Actually, it was supposed to be Sissera's turn tonight, but since she's still a little weary I took over for her," Maya said from the kitchen. Moments later she gingerly stepped through the swinging doors, brandishing a pizza-topped tray. Everyone instantly grew quiet and watched as she set the gourmet dish on the table and pulled out a slicer. "I wanted to thank everyone for the effort you've all been putting out lately, so I couldn't resist cooking this up when I saw what Kyros brought back this morning."

"There was a mission this morning?" Sissera innocently asked as she lugged herself into a chair.

"Yeah, while you were still snoozing, Kyros, Tantalus, Vlad, and I went back to Robotropolis and did a little looting," Stanely replied, accepting a plate of Pizza from Maya.

"I thought we should probably take a few days off from spying and get back to rebuilding here," she added.

"We found a couple million tons of prefabricated walls lying around, so we took them off of Robotnik's hands. We've got enough to rebuild the lookout station ten times, so I'm sure you can find something to use it for."

"Maybe Kyros can get his own house now and not have to live in the attic of the utility garage," Tantalus added before taking his first bite from the pizza. "Wow, this is the best pizza I've ever tasted!"

"I don't know about that now," Maya said humbly. "It's been so long since any of us have eaten it, after all."

"No, I mean it. I'm loving this about as much as Seltic's going to love putting that robot back together."

"You mean you found it?" Seltic asked excitedly, eyes wide.

"It wasn't easy, but yeah, we got what was left of it. Better shape than I'd have figured, but still not too good," Kyros replied.

"Now, Seltic, before you run off after lunch to spend the rest of the day cooped up in your lab, I want you to help Kyros and Vladimir start putting the lookout station back together," Maya said.

"Yes ma'am," he acknowledged.

Maya finished handing out plates of pizza and began to cut some for herself. "Kyros, I didn't get the chance to ask earlier, but did you happen to find anything new while you were there?"

Kyros scarfed down a bite and replied, "No, not really. Robotnik hadn't cleaned up the mess at all yet, and everything seemed to be going about the same. You know, security being too lax in the outer areas of the city, the works."

"How long exactly has this been going on for now?" Sissera asked.

"We've known that he's been up to something for over a week now, but like always he had probably been planning it for months," Maya answered.

"And we still haven't figured much out," Seltic added, "every time we get close to getting some decent info, something goes wrong."

"His luck can last only so long," Vladimir broke in, to everyone's mild surprise.

"And when we do figure it out, you're going to give Robotnik what's coming to him, right?" Marcus said to the badger.

"Of course."

"Don't you worry about a thing, dear. We'll get back at him some day," Maya consoled him.

"It took you long enough," Kyros shouted to Seltic as he spied him approaching the construction site from the woods.

Seltic closed the distance slightly and replied, "I had to test the power lines running out here before we got started. The last thing we needed out here was an electrical fire."

"Ha-ha," he mocked. "I know, I get it. Fire bad."

"Anyway, what have we got to work with?"

"This," Vladimir grunted to the two, dragging a large sheet of plastic-ceramic prefab material towards the tree that housed the previous shelter. He kicked a chunk of burnt remains aside and propped the sheet against the tree.

"Looks like it's about the same stuff as before," Seltic mumbled to himself. "I don't know why Maya insisted I come out here, I mean you guys can probably do this just as fast without me."

"I know, even Stanley would be more help."

Seltic stepped over to the tree and looked up into its incinerated branches. "I just hope this tree can hold up."

"Didn't the old station fall out when Sissera went looking inside?"

"Yeah, exactly. Are there any other trees around here that look better?"

"I think we were going to use that tree over there, but it was too small or something. Then again, it's been years," Kyros replied as he pointed to a nearby tree.

Seltic took a moment to look over the tree and pulled a powered saw from the toolbox that he had lugged out to the site. "I figured we might need this, so who wants the honors?"

Kyros glanced over to Vladimir and said, "I think this is your niche."

Vladimir gave him a grim look and took the tool from Seltic. He awkwardly grasped a low branch and pulled himself into the tree. "Where should I start?"

"A little higher, just get up to a decent height and find a few branches that can hold the station," Kyros called to him.

Vladimir grunted a reply and climbed higher into the tree. As he reached about a story from the ground, he placed the saw against a small branch and asked the two below, "Is this high enough?"

Seltic glanced back to the old tree and replied, "Yeah, I think so, go ahead."

Kyros dodged a falling branch and asked Seltic, "I'm surprised you didn't bring part of that robot out here or something. You looked a little too eager to ask us to bring it back to ignore it for this long."

Seltic sighed. "I would have, but Maya really did insist that I come out here first."

"Come on, she'd get over it. Besides, it's not like you ever get in trouble with her, it's always me."

"Now don't play that card. I don't get in trouble because I make it a point to do what she asks. If you did what she asked, you'd never get in trouble either."

"Really? Remember when we went to take out a satellite relay in Robotropolis last year?"

"Yeah, so?"

"She freaked out on me because I 'got the ship all beat up' when the defense forces started shooting. How am I supposed to keep them from shooting at me?"

"If I remember correctly, she got mad because you took the ship too far into the city after she told you not to. You could have been killed you know. She's only looking out for you."

Kyros stared at him blankly for a moment. "I can take care of myself. I'm 27 for crying out loud. It's not like she's my mom or something."

Seltic smiled and replied, "Just don't take it that way, she's looking out for all of us. She really is old enough to be our mom, so I guess she just feels like we're her kids or something."

Kyros chuckled. "I guess you're right."

"Anyway, I'd have that robot out here anyway if it wasn't for all of the dust that could muck it up. She never said I couldn't bring it out here, just that I couldn't stay in my shop all day."

"Yeah, well, I'm not staying out here all day. As soon as Vlad's done here I'm going to slap the floor up and be done with it."

"I hear you there," Seltic replied, watching Vladimir rip a stubborn branch down.

Seltic anxiously checked the bank of transformers lining the interior wall of the generator shed, closing the cover over each as it blinked a green safety light. As he shut the final cover he reset the computer with a practiced series of commands and left the shed to its normal automated procedures. Now that the power grid had been checked and electricity rerouted back to the lookout station, Seltic could concentrate on his true prize.

He could feel himself tensing up as he always did when he was excited about something. Beneath a ramshackle pile of random scraps deposited by Kyros after returning to the settlement, a hint of brown glossy metal flickered under the faint accent lights hanging from the shed. Seltic eagerly brushed the pieces of trash aside to reveal the devastated robot. He examined the remains, rotating the head around to check for any serious damage. Convinced that the damage to the robot's eye and face was superficial, he pulled the robot from beside the shed and into the light cast by a night light overhead.

Despite having half of its body missing, the robot proved to be quite heavy. Seltic awkwardly dragged it through the moon-lit night towards his workshop, taking a moment to glance back at his trophy as he passed under the lights strung between the buildings. He began running possible schematics through his mind, and failed to withhold a childish smile. As he reached the gritty exterior of his home and workshop, he fumbled with a keypad to enter his thirty two digit access code.

Amazed that he managed to enter the code correctly on the first try, he hurried inside as the great vehicle door ground open. He set the roboticized deer's body in the first opening on the floor he came to and flicked the light switch. The lights blazed to life, revealing the workbenches and computers that he had ignored for too long. He was going to enjoy this.

After two hours of dissecting the entrails-like wiring of the robot, connecting power sources, searching for tools, and cursing himself for his mistakes, Seltic had managed to mostly reassemble the deer's vital internal systems. Despite being exhausted from the ordeal, and it being well after midnight, Seltic decided to press on with matters. He meticulously connected a final line where the annihilated generator once resided, and flipped the needed switches to send power through the deer hanging from an engine crane.

Curiously, the robot's body twitched for several moments after the raw electrical energy coursed through the power lines. Seltic approached it and passively raised its remaining arm before muttering, "Well buddy, you've been through a lot, but at least you'll be worth something now."

He breathed deeply and shuffled over to the computer wired into the robot. The internal structure of the machine's memory was impossible to guess, and he could only hope that the circuitry and systems would be still be functional to some degree. He had written a series of programs to retrieve important data from one of the robots' memory years ago when he had an opportunity to examine the programming of the original roboticizer, but he was confident that Robotnik had modified it in some way.

It had been years since Seltic had last had an opportunity to dissect and study the internals of a roboticized person, and even then he learned very little. Everyone else seemed to think of the entire process as too morbid, considering that it had actually been a person at one point.

Kyros had personally exclaimed his dissatisfaction of the idea earlier that day while the two were working on the watch station, but mostly because he though Seltic was wasting his time. The deer was very badly damaged, but he remained optimistic for once in his life. He discarded Kyros' comment and ran the first program from his computer.

As he waited for the program to return some meaningful information, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He snapped his eyes to focus on the deer, and jumped as it blinked and shifted itself into a more natural position. It stared blankly forward into the wall behind him, its good eye half opened in a lethargic expression. Seltic watched intently as it opened its mouth and vaguely droned, "Critical damaged detected. Power failure has resulted in loss of volatile memory and possible circuit damage. Should I attempt to recover my operating system?"

Seltic stared on in disbelief and stammered the response, "Uh, y-yes?"

After receiving no response, he turned to the computer and found the same prompt. He typed the requisite answer and looked back to the deer. It blinked once more and responded, "Understood, please wait."

The deer fell limp and closed its eyes. After an agonizing wait, it twitched its ear and scowled as if in deep pain, letting out a weak moan. At last it muttered, "Am... I dead?"

"I-impossible," Seltic stuttered in response. He stepped back and marveled at the events unfolding.

The deer opened its good eye partially and slurred, "So... there is an afterlife. And God has a squeaky voice." It weakly turned its head and eye to scan the room and continued, "I must still be in Hell, and Snively's here with me."

It turned its attention to Seltic and tried to focus on him. The mechanics in its eyes whirred to bring him into focus, glass shards and sparks showering from its dim left eye. Moments later its eyes snapped open and it threw its arm up defensively. "No! Please, don't kill me!" it shouted, moving its stump of an arm to meekly cover it terrified face.

Seltic stepped back and raised his palms to face his guest, replying, "Whoa, whoa, it's alright! I'm not going to hurt you."

The deer trembled for a moment more before peeking through its fingers at the tenrec. "Wh-who are you? Where am I?"

"My name is Seltic Tregenoas, and you're in the remains of the town of Armadi."

"I... don't understand."

Seltic stepped closer and continued, "It's sort of a long story, what's the last thing you remember?"

The deer lowered its arm and stared off. "I remember being scared, and a green tenrec shooting me... but... nothing afterwards."

"That was my sister. She ran into you in Robotropolis. When you attacked her, she had no choice but to fight back. She thought you were destroyed."

The robot listened, confusion playing across its face. "But, why am I here?"

"That's the odd part. She said that you weren't acting normally, and I had hopes that I might be able to find out a way to defeat the roboticizer if I could examine you. We had no idea that you were still alive..."

At Seltic's mention of the roboticizer, the robot's face went grim. Seltic was certain that if it were possible, tears would be rolling down its metal cheeks. It whispered, "Roboticizer... Robotnik... Mobotropolis... Elise..." It shut its eyes and bowed its head. A soft cry passed its scorched lips as it covered its working eye with its remaining hand.

Seltic placed his hand on the robot's shoulder and said, "It's okay, I know how you feel. We've got all of the time in the world to talk about it, if you want."

It sighed and replied, "I feel so tired and disoriented, I wouldn't know where to begin..."

"Well, do you at least have a name?"

"I'm not sure I even remember... Servitor 5108-CEA... no, Kaplain... I think. Kaplain Daubach."

"Kaplain? Where were you from before Robotnik took over? Did you have a family?" Seltic continued, trying to be helpful.

"I... can't remember the name of the town. But... Elise, I do remember," Kaplain replied, choking on his words again.

"Elise?"

"Sh-she was my wife. We had been married for a few years before... he showed up."

"I see... if this is too painful for you I understand."

"Yes... maybe later," Kaplain said, trying to compose himself. He looked to Seltic and asked, "What are you going to do with me? Let me die? Tear me apart to learn something?"

Seltic answered, "No, of course not! Not now! As long as you're alive you can't give up hope."

"But, look at me! How can I have hope?"

Seltic smiled and placed his hand back onto Kaplain's shoulder. "Don't worry about that, I think I can help. But for now, is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Sissera groaned and rolled over in her bed to glance at the clock, sighing as she focused her eyes on the red digital numbers. Ever since the incident in Robotropolis, she had been finding it difficult to sleep, and the thought of another long night frustrated her. Thankfully, she hadn't been asked to return to the city since she had been injured, but even without the added stress she was still tired and dragging around.

As she mulled over the past day and tried to make out the outlines of the shapes in the dark room, she overheard the mechanical grinding of Seltic working on something from his side of the building. For a moment she glared into the ceiling and sneered, blaming Seltic's noise for her inability to sleep.

A second later, a realization dawned on her. Even Seltic rarely worked so late into the night. She snapped her eyes back to the clock and confirmed the time of 3AM. Curious, she sat up in her bed and looked towards the door separating their rooms, and noticed no light bleeding around the edges of the door frame.

She forced herself out of bed and fumbled with her desk lamp for a moment. She squinted through the bright light as the lamp flared to life, and after taking a moment to clear her head she stood. After another faint mechanical whine filled the room, she inched her way towards the door. With a cautious twist of the knob, she opened the door far enough to peek into the hallway between the halves of the building. Through the pitch darkness, only a pair of minuscule red lights on the alarm system mounted on the wall stared back.

She flipped the hallway light on and proceeded towards Seltic's workshop. Just as before, no light shined through the break in the door and floor, and she nearly dismissed her worries moments before the mechanical sound repeated itself. Her heart began to race in her chest as she pondered the sound. There were an infinite number of things in his shop that could produce the sound, but without Seltic causing it, she couldn't imagine what was causing it.

She took a deep breath and began to reach for the door controls. She jumped back with a shriek as the door next to her opened moments before she could press the controls. From behind the door, Seltic stepped through with a groggy expression. "What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep. I heard something going on in there, so I got up to check what it was. Why are you up?"

He smiled and replied, "Same as you. I heard something moving around and I had to get up." He looked towards the door that Sissera was about to go through and added, "It's nothing. I've got the robot hooked up and it's making some noise. Don't worry about it."