Chapter 6

Launch Base

The warm cement vibrated around the flat circular door in the ground, a vent beside it expelling air like a reversed vacuum cleaner. A few seconds later, the door snapped open. Two figures shot out of it, propelled by the wind, curled into compact balls for protection.

The round door slapped shut. Sonic uncoiled in midair and landed on his feet, but Tails rolled and breathlessly jumped up. Sonic gazed at their surroundings. "Wow," he said.

The Ice Cap range towered up in the north and south, a distant, misty blue. The green valley floor spread out from them, running south and west.

But to the west, like a monstrous spider crouching on the plain, was a cluster of factories and towers. A paved road snaked down from the vent outlet to the industrial zone. The morning sun, shining hazily through the mare's tails overhead, picked out other ribbons of asphalt entering the place.

Sonic shaded his eyes, and Tails said, "What is that place, Sonic?"

Sonic shrugged and squinted. "It looks like a city or something."

"You think Knuckles is anywhere around here?"

Sonic dropped his hand and looked around at the tawny hills. "I doubt it. He pry high-tailed it for that place down there."

"Let's go!"

"You said it."

I was sure they had followed me. That snoop Tails! Now they had found Launch Base, the one place Robotnik had warned me to keep secret.

I jogged down a street, showed my passcard to a sentry-bot, and ran on. I had to warn Doc. I didn't want to think about what he would do to them, and neither did I want to think about what had happened in the mountains. I was their enemy, and they had saved my life. It didn't make sense. I couldn't squelch the memory, either; the muggy weather felt wonderful, but I shivered every time I passed through shadow.

The buildings fell away and the black lake I had protested earlier stretched into the distance. I didn't look twice at it. I didn't care about the enormous ship parked on the launch pad, either. Where was Doc?

My answer came as one of the ship's rockets fired up with a screeching roar. He must be testing the rockets from the main control tower, a block to my right. I headed toward it, watching the cloud of white rocket smoke billow into the sky.

A moment later I clanked up the steel steps to the tower's door. I opened it and was met by a rush of air-conditioning. I shivered and stepped inside.

Doc was standing before the control console, reading system status printouts. He growled without looking up, "You're late." I was supposed to have met him at nine-thirty. I glanced at my watch, but it had 'frozen up'. "What time is it?" I panted.

He frowned at me over his red mustache. "Ten after."

I was forty minutes late. I gulped. It was not the best time to relate bad news.

Doc returned to watching the computer screens. I was freezing in the cool room and longed to step outside, but kept still. "Uh, Doc ... there's something I need to tell you."

"What?" he asked without turning.

"Sonic and Tails followed me from Ice Cap."

I cringed as Robotnik turned to face me. "What did you say?" he asked. I couldn't read his expression, so I repeated myself. To my surprise he only turned to face the computers again. After a moment of cold silence, he said, "I had not planned on this, but it doesn't matter. Launch Base has twice as many robots now, because of the evacuation of Ice Cap. Once Metal Sonic arrives we can concentrate all power it on the launching of Death Egg." He looked at me over his shoulder. "Use the military units to slow them down. Capture them if you can. If they reach the Death Egg, let them go. I will deal with them myself."

"You mean with that new gear I built for your hovercraft?"

"Yes. And Knuckles, if you really want to impress me, trap them."

"What kind of trap?"

He removed a small object from a drawer and flipped it to me. It was the size of an arubix cube with a keypad and liquid crystal screen. A bomb.

"Give me some instructions for this thing and I'll impress you."

A moment later I stepped into the warm sunshine. I closed the door and leaned against it, relieved to be in once piece. Doc could be unpredictable sometimes. I was sure he would have killed me ...

Something struck the inside of the door, and I jumped. Robotnik roared, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"

Quite unpredictable. I fled. He might change his mind about killing me if he saw me again.

Sonic yanked Tails into the shadow of a building. They pressed themselves against the hard wall and held still as a pair of fire cobras slithered by, red eyes scanning for intruders.

Tails slumped and closed his eyes. "Oh gosh, Sonic," he gasped. "I didn't even see them!"

Sonic was shaken. "I only heard them." He stuck his head around the corner and scanned the street. "All clear. Let's go."

It was the second time they had hidden from dangerous robots. Sonic had made the mistake of destroying one, putting the others on red alert. They fired at everything that moved. The cobras were the most common, and the most dangerous. The natives of Launch Base were black with red trim, and the evacuees of the Ice Caves were white with blue markings. The trouble was that Launch Base was swarming with them.

Sonic and Tails had spotted Death Egg in the center of the base and had heard the rocket fire. And as Robotnik had anticipated, they were heading out to see it. "We may not be able to stop liftoff," Sonic had said optimistically, "but we can stow away and cause trouble from inside, like I did before."

Getting through the streets of the factory/city was a chore. Robots stalked all angles, and several times the two found themselves fleeing before an alerted squadron. Often Sonic would whisk Tails to safety, then attack the robots for the sake of showing off his superior speed. It was good training for Robotropolis in years to come.

At last they reached the black lake. It was laced with fuel pipes, cables and high-voltage wires, all of which were suspended from poles above the water. Sonic and Tails, seeing the danger of it, scorned the bridges and hiked along the pipes, to reach the launch pad.

Before long they hit a snag. Their cement pipe angled off, instead of intersecting the next segment. They gazed across the ten feet of dark water at the other pipe. Neither wanted to brave the water, and both were reluctant to jump. Tails looked at Sonic. "Airlift?"

Sonic nodded, hands on his hips. "Only way over." He glanced back toward the shoreline, then snapped, "Robots! Down!"

They dropped flat on the pipe. Tails moved onle his eyes, as if afraid a movement would give him away. Sonic did the same. The cobras and floating security units were fifty feet away. They were perched a short way out on the biggest pipeline, but were not patrolling.

"What're they doing?" Sonic whispered.

Tails squinted. "Not much. Oh, wait! They've got a prisoner! He's all chained up, and he's got a metal bar strapped to one leg."

"You mean, like, they're gonna take him swimming?"

"Looks like it. He's scared."

"What is he?"

"I can't tell. He's wrapped from head to toe in chains."

Sonic looked at his friend, smiled and held up two chaos emeralds. Tails was horrified. "You're not gonna challenge 'em, are you?"

Sonic focused his gaze on the robots. "Of course. They don't have any backup out here, and that guy probably didn't do anything wrong. Stay here, little bro. I'll be right back."

He struck the emeralds together. His cool blue brightened to hot yellow, his spines bristled on his back, and his eyes became fierce. He stepped off the pipe and skimmed across the dark lake toward the robots.

The prisoner was standing still, heart in his mouth, staring down at the water. It would hurt to drown, but it would be quick. Robotnik had been too busy to devise a longer, more painful execution. If only his arms and legs weren't bound! He could show these robots a thing or two-

One of the robots gave a warning shout, and the group was mowed flat. The prisoner fell across the pipe and lay stunned. What was it? A star? A comet? It returned, shot through the air, plowed into the robots and hurled them into the water. As a cobra slid by the prisoner, it wrapped its metal tail around his leg, pulled itself upright and shot a jet of fire at its bright enemy. The prisoner flinched as he felt the heat on his face. The bright thing didn't mind the attack. It kicked the cobra in the head, knocking it into the water. The robot retained its hold on the prisoner's leg, and its weight began to drag him off the pipe. "Help!" he yelled.

Sonic caught the prisoner before he touched the poisoned water. He set him upright on top of the pipe, snapped the chain with super strength and unwound him. As he did he asked, "What are you? You don't have fur!"

The creature sat up, jerked the heavy metal bar off his leg and let it splash into the water. It would have sunk him deep. He looked at his rescuer. "I'm a chameleon, and my name's Espio. What the heck are you? A sunbeam?"

Sonic shook his head. "Naw, I'm a hedgehog. I'm Sonic, but at the moment I'm Super Sonic."

Espio and Sonic stood up. Espio had smooth skin, a heavy forehead, and a horn on his snout. His tail was held in a coil, and he wore a pair of faded green sneakers. He surveyed Sonic critically. "I can't glow, but I can turn yellow. Wanna see?" Without waiting for a reply, the lizard's skin turned a light yellow.

Sonic smiled. "Cool!" He took two of the chaos emeralds and struck them together, decharging himself. His yellow faded into dark blue. Espio did the same, his shade of blue matching Sonic's.

"You're a wise guy, aren't you?" said Sonic. "What are you doing in Launch Base on the execution line?"

Espio looked down. "Aw, I got caught. I got dared to sneak in here, and some robots spotted me." He looked up at Sonic. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm out for trouble, too. I crashed the Death Egg once," Sonic jerked a thumb at the gigantic ship, "and I aim to do it again."

"Alone?"

"No, with my friend Tails." Sonic turned. "Hey, Tails, come over here! You gotta meet this guy!"

Tails came flying over the water, tails a whirling blur above him. He landed beside Sonic and was introduced.

Espio turned a purple-his default color-and said, "You two are taking on Robotnik all by yourselves? Man! You been anyplace cool?"

"Oh yeah. We just got in from Ice Cap. It's way past cool, ha ha."

"We spent all yesterday on the Floating Island," Tails added.

Espio looked interested. "No kidding. You know, I've always wanted to go there and look around."

"You ought to," Sonic said with a significant glance at Tails. "Just steer clear of its guardian. He's really territorial. Know what? He's not there right now, and the island is parked real close to shore. You could check it out now."

The chameleon's eyes opened wide. "Really? Oh, cool! Care if I leave now? I've always hoped I'd get a chance like this."

"Sure, go ahead."

The lizard whirled and ran for the shore. Sonic watched him go. "Hoo boy, I just gave him permission to go on someone else's property. Knux'll hate me."

"He already does."

"Ya got a point there. Oh well. He can't hurt an island, I guess. C'mon, let's keep going."

I watched the confrontation through binoculars. Sonic and Tails had gone out of their way to stop the execution of that chameleon. "Just like they went out of their way to help YOU," my conscience said. I shoved the voice to the back of my mind. I didn't need any feelings of guilt messing up what I was about to do.

I had the detonator set to fifty seconds. I figured it would give me enough time to plant the charge and get to safety. I didn't think about what it would do to Sonic and Tails. All I thought about was how cool the explosion would look.

I slid off the pumping station roof and ran for the nearest bridge. If I hurried, I could beat them there.

There were three tall towers surrounding the Death Egg to stabilize it during launch, and connecting them were three long platforms. The pipes that crossed the lake fed into vast pumping and fueling stations beneath.

Sonic and Tails climbed onto the highest level platform and examined the machinery. They didn't notice the figure on the floor below as he watched them through the mesh floor.

The two were talking idly, but I gathered that they wanted to board the ship. Jerks. They wouldn't find any boarding stations down here. My finger itched to press the Execute button. I had no idea how powerful the charge was, otherwise I would never have considered planting it on the launch pad.

Tails said, "You think Slasher can get that weird writing translated?"

Sonic replied, "I donno. We can ask her when she picks us up, later. Too bad that mural was destroyed-it was a whole story."

I pricked up my ears. Mural? What mural with weird writing? Did they mean the one in Marble Gardens? The one that one of the first Guardians had made? And it was DESTROYED?!

My hands knotted into fists. This was the last straw. I was going to feed that detonator to Sonic, if I had to.

As I made my way up onto the top level, the old, quiet rage returned. The one that had been born in Hydrocity as I chased them down the water duct. My lust for revenge consumed all reason ...

Sonic and Tails were wondering if they could climb one of the towers, when they heard footsteps clanking behind them. They turned. "Don't look now," Tails muttered, "but here comes our favorite person."

Knuckles stalked toward them like a dog ready to attack. His eyes were dark and burning. Sonic, remembering what Slasher had said about fighting, backed away. The echidna stopped ten feet away and lifted a black object in one hand. "Remember when I said I was going to get back at you for scaring me, Sonic?" he leered. "Here it is." He pressed the 'execute' button, flung it at Sonic and bolted.

Sonic caught it and glanced down at the ticking numbers. Suddenly he realized what he was holding. "Tails, it's a bomb!" he cried. "Run! Get off the launch pad!"

Tails darted in one direction, Sonic in another. Tails skidded to a stop and yelled, "What are you doing?"

Without slowing, Sonic yelled back, "Gonna throw it in the water! RUN!"

Sonic neared the edge of the pad. The bomb was like a hot coal in his hands. He wanted to throw it down and run, run, run, but he couldn't. If it went off in the open, it would kill him, Tails, Knuckles-not to mention blow up the Death Egg, which would destroy Launch Base, which would wipe out the countryside for miles around. Its shock would be buffered if it went off in the lake.

He saw the water, a dark still mirror under the grey, overcast sky. He jogged to a stop and flung the bomb with all his might. It sailed out fifty feet and plunked into the water. He whirled and pelted after Tails, who was far off, under Death Egg's underside.

What happened next was total confusion to Sonic and Tails, but I saw everything.

The bomb went off underwater, but instead of a splash, I was startled to see a tongue of flame roar out of the water and spread across the surface. With horror I realized that so many chemicals had been spilled into the water, it was more chemical than lake. The surface bore flammable fumes, which were now burning like a torch.

I was perched on a rickety lookout tower. It only stood twenty feet above the weirdly flaming water, so when the fire encircled the cement base, I knew I was trapped. I crouched down, close to the top of the tower, and found a breathing space. I sat there in a cool island of air, looking across the lake of fire. I had no way of contacting Doc, but supposed the robots would handle the fire. I wasn't worried.

Well, I wasn't worried until I saw Death Egg's rockets fire and stabilize one by one. I clapped my hands to my ears; the roar was deafening.

As the rockets warmed up, they began to viberate the ground. I felt the tower begin to rock. I balanced it with my weight, and that worked for a minute. The Death Egg began to rise, and the ground quaked. The tower swayed back and forth, its eroded underwater supports cracking. I tried to keep my balance, knowing that if I fell into the burning water it would be curtains.

The tower snapped like a matchstick. I rode it as it toppled toward the fire, terrified. An instant before impact, I recovered, leaped off and glided. The rising heat created an updraft, and I rode it with my heart in my mouth. Gosh, if I had hit the water-

I headed for shore. My first trap had nearly backfired. I needed time to think of more. I was going home.

The Death Egg roared skyward, away from the orange, smoking lake below. Sonic and Tails had climbed onto a retracted landing platform at the last minute. It was a flat sheet of metal that was pulled against the underside of the ship. There was a two-foot wide space between it and Death Egg's ugly outer hull, and Sonic and Tails had crawled into it. They were lying flat on their bellies, peeking over the edge at the retreating ground, hands clasped around their ears.

The noise was so intense neither could make themselves heard. Once Sonic touched Tails's arm and pointed to a pipe that ran across the steel above them. There was a hole punched in it, as if it had hit something during the launch. A clear fluid was pouring out of it. "Gas," Sonic mouthed to Tails.

The Death Egg rose until it was level with the Ice Cap range in the distance. Then it moved southward, toward the ocean.

They were passing over the coastal hills when their platform began to extend, lowered by the four hydraulic rods in the corners. Sonic and Tails looked at each other uneasily.

The platform lowered twenty feet and locked. The Death Egg spread out above them like a roof, the booster rockets still roaring. Sonic and Tails stood up, still holding their ears against the noise. The motion of the ship made it difficult to keep their balance.

The rockets toned down to an idle. Sonic looked back. Launch Base was still in sight-there was no reason to stop. He looked at Tails as they came to the same conclusion; Robotnik was on to them. Suddenly the openness of the platform seemed threatening. There was nowhere to hide, nothing to use as a weapon. They were trapped 5000 feet above the ground.

Tails grabbed Sonic's arm and pointed. Two doors were opening far off on the Death Egg's belly. They hung open for a few seconds, then Robotnik's ship dove out. It was decked out in scarlet armor, and two gigantic arms with hands extended in front. A low crown of metal spikes encircled the windshield. It swooped toward them, hands outstretched.

"Uh oh," Sonic said to Tails, over the subdued rumble of the rockets. "I don't like the looks of this one. Steer clear of it until I can test its defences." Tails, already frightened, backed into a corner.

Robotnik charged at Sonic, aiming the hands at him. Sonic sidestepped at the last instant, letting the ship fly by. It was fast and heavily armored. The style was different, too, a little too artistic for Robotnik. Sonic examined it as it went by again. Yes, it had a laser cannon, but that wasn't the main weapon. The main weapons were the huge metal hands that flexed as the ship moved.

"See any weaknesses?" Sonic shouted to Tails.

The fox shook his head nervously. "Be careful-it looks evil!" Tails had noticed the different craftsmanship as well.

This time, when the ship passed by and turned around, it slowed down. It flew over the platform, the hands turned toward Sonic, forcing him back. But, as the platform was only twenty feet square, Sonic didn't have much room to maneuver. He stood still, letting the ship draw close. When the clutching hands were inches away, Sonic leaped over them, landed on an arm, then jumped off the other side. As he did, he noticed a weakness.

The arms were so heavy they had to balance for the little hovercraft to carry them. With his added weight, the ship listed to one side dangerously. As it turned for another flyby, Sonic called to Tails, "The arms are too much for it! If we jump on one, it'll blow the engines! C'mon!"

Tails stepped reluctantly into the open as the boss returned.

Robotnik was no fool. He could see Sonic had found his ship's Achilles's heel. A change of action was necessary.

Sonic and Tails split up, ready to attack when the ship passed between them. But this time, as the ship swept by, it swerved and drifted left, putting itself between Sonic and Tails. To Sonic's surprise and horror, the hands were not facing him-they were reaching for Tails.

Sonic couldn't see Tails with the bulk of the boss between them, but he heard his friend cry out when the hands closed on him. The ship turned.

The fox was pinched between the metal hands with only his head visible. As the ship moved upward, he cried, "Sonic, don't let him take me! He'll kill me!"

A deadly fear washed over Sonic as he leaped for the ship, but it was too high. He stood below and watched helplessly as the ship carried Tails out over empty space and hovered. Tails, beginning to choke in the tight grip, gasped, "Sonic, he's gonna drop me!"

Before Sonic could react, the hands opened. Tails let out a shriek as he fell. But fortunately-or unfortunately-the ship's laser cannon fired a single blast, catching Tails in the upper body and sending him flying back onto the platform. He rolled to a stop and lay still, gasping. Sonic bounded to his side. "Tails!"

The fox opened his eyes fearfully. "Am I dead?"

"No. Where did he shoot you?"

Tails pulled himself to a sitting position and looked down. Stunned, he felt no pain, but saw the blood. The blast had caught him squarely in the right shoulder, and red was seeping down his chest and arm.

Tails gulped and looked up at Sonic. "Whup his tail, will you? This is gonna hurt in a minute."

Sonic stood up, eyes locked on his hurt friend. Slowly he turned to face Robotnik, who was watching. The hedgehog's head lowered and his body stiffened. "That was too much," he growled. He pulled out two chaos emeralds, held them out so his enemy could see them, then struck them together. His blue flushed to a hot yellow. He took two running steps and leaped onto Robotnik's ship.

He planted his feet firmly on either arm, pressed his electrified hands against the ship's hull and glared through the windshield at Robotnik. The two regarded each other with cold hatred, Sonic's mingled with fury.

The power of the chaos emeralds flooded into the ship, frying the engines and machinery. The ship began to falter and jerk, but Sonic stood firm, anger making him reckless. He didn't move until one of the arms split and plummeted toward the distant ground. Then he jumped back to the platform and stood over Tails, watching Robotnik retreat.

Suddenly Tails said, "Sonic, shut off the emeralds! You're frying the platform!" The hedgehog's energy was flowing through his feet, into the platform and up the support poles. The poles' machinery was sparking and smoking. Sonic decharged himself, but not before one of the poles pulled free with a grinding of metal. One corner sagged.

Tails looked at Sonic, hurting and frightened. "What do we do?"

Sonic looked around, the beginnings of panic gnawing at him. "I-I donno, we can't jump-"

"Sonic, our whistles! Blow the five signal-Slash said it's for an emergancy!"

The whistle was already in Sonic's mouth. He blew it five times as hard as he could, hoping it would carry over the noise of the rockets. Then he dropped it back to its place on the string, looked at his friend and waited.

There it was! Slasher's counter-signal, a high-pitched scream. She was on her way. Sonic peered downward. To his surprise, they were no longer over the mainland-the indigo ocean spread out below, along with the hills and plains of the Floating Island, which was resting in the water. Slasher was a winged dot, rising in large circles like a pigeon.

The huge rockets sputtered. Sonic looked back at them. Tails lifted his good arm and pointed to the ruptured fuel line, which had been leaking, unnoticed. The Death Egg was low on fuel. Sonic cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Hurry, Slasher!"

Another support rod pulled free, and the platform sagged. Sonic fell to his hands and knees and crawled to Tails. He held his friend to keep him from sliding down the platform. He could see the broad ocean over his shoulder, and felt the platform sway. The remaining support poles were too weak to hold them long.

Another jolt. The two of them slid downward a few inches. Tails' eyes were closed and his teeth were clenched. "Hurry, Slasher," he whispered, half afraid a loud word would bring it all down.

"Sonic!" The wind created by Slasher's wings fanned his face. She was hovering in place, gasping for breath. He looked up at her, afraid to move. She swooped forward, grabbed him by the arm and swung him onto her back. Seeing Tails bleeding, she scooped him up and held him against her chest. Then she dove away from the platform.

The velociraptor went into a spiraling dive, retreating from the Death Egg. Sonic crouched low against her neck, watching the Floating Island grow below. Above, the Death Egg's rockets spluttered again. How long it would stay afloat was a mystery ...