A Horrifying, Yet Miraculous, Absolution
Ch. 3
[x]
Gerald did not know how long it was.
Seconds? Minutes? Hours?
The ringing eventually ended and white agonizingly dissipated. A mind soon saw last night's report folded wrong side up; the reflections of various other bioengineered subjects in their preserved, eternal rest; the memo that reminded its human owner that he needed to submit a budget outline to the pencil pushers; an outline of a hall with test tubes and tables; the darkness of space lacking electricity- Oh. It seems that the entire lab itself was not without primary power, but the backup had tripped on in order for him to see-
He's missing something… important-!
"-ria-!" The voice escaped his lips as his brain caught up.
The weight of a thousand mountains removed from his chest when he felt her small hand squeeze him. Heard her voice. "I'm… okay." And she was. Her eyes were dilating back to normal, she was still standing right besides his taller form [that remained in a stance of protection], there were no marks or mars on her dress nor skin, and even her headband remained firmly in place.
Silence returned. Gerald was confused as to what to accomplish. How about focusing on that golden light? Where had it come from? It wasn't aimed at the Robotniks – with the accuracy just exposed, the scientist had a deep feeling if it had been, he would have never awakened again. It was a threat, but also a solution – the larva was no longer amidst the living… but that feeling of being watched remained all the same. Different. Calculating. Other emotions he could not place. As the elderly man struggled to get moving, he realized that his whole body was shaking.
He was afraid.
Experimental accidents were not foreign. Not at all. Deaths of fellow scientists were unwanted, but when the quest was to obtain immortality and a weapon, the different variances of creations could cause it. Yet, it was a bigger problem with the PSUL1-series as a whole. All the 2-s had failed without incident, expression, or… explosions. Obviously! [Gerald was a fool. An angry fool at that! Maria would have never been allowed in the lab if-!] The dots were being tied together as the scientist pulled the girl into the front half of the room – ignored her comments. [She was speaking. She was scared. She was shocked. He had to move her away. Away. Away.] The hallway looked so far, now. Alarms had been killed- Why? Should he run to the Security Forces member and tell them to enter his sanctuary for a sweep? Report to the board – the President – that one of his creations had managed to reign in Chaos energy? Could he use this for more funding?! [Maria could have died. She could have been vaporized. She could have been stabbed, bleeding under that blue dress. This was a warning. A mistake. He had played God and as a response to his hubris, he-!]
"GRANDPA!"
He was... on the floor?
Since… when?
His response was a looming figure of darkness; ruby; something all encompassing.
It was… PSUL2.018-BD.
Maria's voice was… relieved[?!]. "Oh, thank you, Shadow. Grandpa would have hit his head really hard if you hadn't…" There was a pause. [Normally, this was when a highly readable expression would rise upon her features, but he could only see the winged being before him! That darkness!] "… gotten out of the tube?" Another pause- Gerald could see the face of 2.018 leave him and change targets. That crimson, hypnotic; blank gaze- That disappearing feeling of instinctual hunger- Tension in limbs that liquefied- "Shadow! Oh, my God! Shadow! You're awake!" ended the screams of joy and bliss to a creature that Gerald had suddenly became aware was-!
It's not sentient! Maria, stop-! He couldn't move. He couldn't reach his hands out-! The specimen somehow left his sight, and Gerald couldn't move to see-!
"Is this… my final dream?"
A new, unknown voice. Soft. Deep.
Lost.
It heralded Dr. Robotnik's demise.
[x]
His next memory was in the infirmary. The white walls, the Healing Units, the surgical tools tucked towards the right; the sleeping face of Maria besides him; the concerned face of the physician that held unease. Sterile tabletops, no color, and the strong smell of isopropyl alcohol assaulted his senses. Coughing, Gerald strained to sit up – the nasal tube still shoved in his body made things uncomfortable.
The medical personnel shook her head. "Glad to see your back with us, Dr. Robotnik." The woman's nametag was out of focus, but Gerald recalled that she was one of the underlings of his biologist assistant. Normally, that would include a name, but his mind was still… off. "I understand that you have been after your Project for years, now, but you need to remember that dying from a heart attack upon your success is not a way anyone us from here wants your brilliance to go out." A pause. "Especially with the Project's potential."
Easily read confusion filled his face.
The physician blinked. A sigh. A shuffle of a stack of papers. "You're in recovery right now. Haven't been down too long, but you really need to take care of yourself some more. You already had issues with nutrition and sleep based on our analysis, but your recent collapse points to more tenuous issues. Everyone has been… worried." A grumble. "That includes G.U.N.. Been hovering around the civilian half of the ARK like gnats, but Maria has been holding them off for your much needed recovery time." The reports were stuffed back into the file that contained Gerald's name in bold black font – onto await the next professional. "She's… going to be happy you're alright. Been shuffling duty with us over hiding our… Project from them to prevent your overtaxing."
The woman talked as if Gerald was… successful?
In Project: SHADOW?
The… weapon?
[A cure?]
… A being who was now held in a sentence akin to normalcy?
His most recent movement caught Maria with enough force to awaken her. Her blue eyes fluttered as recognition flashed. "Grandpa!" was a sweet coon, as if everything was going to be alright – which it wasn't. Things had spiraled out of control- "You better listen to Dr. Eruba!" his granddaughter cut in with a wag of her finger. "I… was really worried about you there." Her face distorted into a pitiful smile. "I'm the only one that should be visiting a bed here."
"My dear…" So many questions. He couldn't ignore how everyone acted like the experiment was running around in… In what? Civility? "You shouldn't joke like that." Perhaps letting a deflecting comment would calm her as well. "But… why don't you let me know what happened?" It was best to sit and gather more intelligence, right?
The medical expert understood when a private moment was needed. "Maria, you know which button to press if you need me to come back immediately. I'll be out in the hallway," she ended, waving her pen towards the direction of comment. With only a few simple steps, she, too, was gone.
The two Robotniks hesitated.
Eventually, something broke.
"Please don't hurt Shadow's feelings when you see him. He's a little – okay, a lot – confused right now, and you might accidentally say the wrong thing." Her face scrunched, as if admitting this aloud was as painful as one of her 'bad days:' pressed lips, pale face, and a breath rate that increased the longer Gerald did not respond. "O-Of course, Grandpa, he totally knows that you love him! That's- That's not the problem at all!"
[Love 'him?']
Maria continued, not having had caught the scientist's misperception. "It's the other things. He's scared! He won't admit it, but I can tell. It's the way he moves his little ears – you know, how he flicks them towards his behind for just a petite moment?" [No. Gerald doesn't know this at all!] Her hand reached towards the adult's. "He was terrified for us, Grandpa," her voice gentled out; soothing. "The alien larva was a threat." Pursed lips. "I don't think Shadow should have… ah, erased a life like that, but Shadow mentioned that the larva had no mind, would never have a mind, and was just a slave- Or at least, that is what I managed to get out of him. He's… more lost than you are right now."
PSUL2.018-BD was created by the DNA of that larva, however. Why would a hybrid worry about what was basically the outlandish view of a 'relative?' Unless it had to deal with those things' culture: did the starfish-shaped type have an innate enemy in the squid-style? Both were rather aquatic in form, yes, but the larva was not capable of Chaos specifications in the way Gerald had seen PSUL pull off. How could 2.018 have thought-?
Oh.
'Thought?' That's something only sentient things could accomplish-
The Ultimate Lifeform:
He…
He actually…
Did it?
[x]
Everyone of his immediate scientists that were in the know were congratulating him for his 'unbelievable success,' but each expression was muted in the corners of their eyes. He came to recognize there was a pattern in his colleagues – fear, awe, and trepidation. They all muttered to themselves, in huddles of gossip they must have known Gerald could hear – about the Project's appearance, the Project's uncanniness, the Project's motif, and the Project's silhouette. The Devil, almost, some of the younger commented. No, but certainly not Mobian, countered another. As if the Ultimate Lifeform was destined to be normal, argued the last, whom held onto fear the least.
The lab was empty when he was finally allowed out of the medical area.
Not a single living thing to be found.
[x]
The scene was eerie. There was no other word he could label as such easily: the cool undertones of the ceiling lights reflecting off the carbon palette of the specimen; how a set of wings, etched with fiery daggers at the tips, were limped behind the body of a hedgehog, dragging – almost – upon the floor; that pyrrole crimson eyesight that kept to Gerald's recollection of a gaze that was far, far away [mindless, soulless; nothing home]; matched highlighted stripes on the crowns of each quill bundle and traced on the appendages in equal loudness; the sounds of machinery grinding to a halt before the specimen blinked slowly and the pumps regained their subtle squeals.
Maria… was petting it.
Her hands rubbed through ink – the face of PSUL abed upon her lap – the rest of its body lying limp on the couch she sat on by the viewing window of an isolated wing. Gerald could hear her whispers: 'It's okay, Shadow. It's okay. I'm here. Just relax. Fall asleep if you need to. I'll be with you until you wake up again.' A sad sounding sigh. Her gaze went towards the lights above – the same that seemed to hum with each of 2.018's blinks. 'I won't leave you again. I promise.'
[The lights stopped their fluctuations after that.]
That deep, almost drugged, voice returned, except this time Gerald was collected enough to realize whom it belonged to. "This isn't real…"
"I didn't think so, either, at first," continued her soothed tone. "Go on. Nap. I'll tell Grandpa you said, 'Hello.'"
The being stirred.
[Incandescent bulbs above brightened.]
"Professor…?"
"Will be here when you wake up." At that, Maria shot her face to Gerald, who was still standing at the frame where hall met room. Her mouth asked what she wouldn't verbally utter: Right, Grandpa?
He could only stare at the sight.
[x]
Dr. Robotnik sat there for two hours, right next to his granddaughter. Maria spent the time chatting about the stars, the future evening meal, and her desire to get a room set up for 2.018 – for Shadow. Conveniently, the specimen was left out of the conversation aside from that living quarters demand – probably because the girl wanted the other two to get a discussion. Her previous actions made it painfully aware that she had already established a deep bond to the…
He adjusted his glasses once again.
PSUL was currently silent and unmoving. Chaos energy hugged the smaller form in the most controlled manner he had yet seen from the Lifeform, but that didn't hide that feeling of an ocean held back by a pebble. Gerald had a deep suspicion that the power fluctuations on the ARK were tied to 2.018 somehow. [Hypothesis: it brought Chaos under its control, subconsciously or not, and since the space station ran off Chaos Drives, its control perhaps extended to that. More analysis had to be accomplished. The fallout of what that could mean to the energy grid was not a joking matter.] Maria must be aware of the same effect, for when the Project moved its head ever so slightly in an attempt to awaken, the machines and artificial objects 'held their breath.' Even when she was mid sentence, asking Gerald what color or wallpaper to put upon the new walls, did her hand continue to rub PSUL2.018-BD back into the folds of deep sleep – and had no reaction when the lights kept humming back into normalcy.
She had seen this before.
Possibly when Gerald had been unconscious.
Yet, the question on his lips remained: if Maria's heart was so good that she would love the specimen without much prior history, then why did said lab-result seem to listen to a young girl's words? Gerald had not accomplished mind training yet – how was he when PSUL was only an embryo turned 'squid' in the shape of a hedgehog-? A stifled moan pressed against his crimped mouth as he hid the reaction from his granddaughter. He shouldn't think about how something without a brain could think. Not now, at the very least. A cursory guess did not give good examples of how that could occur biologically in nature. Nevertheless, the issue with the Project being a winged being capable of ruining the entire station on a whim in close vicinity to Maria was much higher on his plate.
[And IF this truly was the Ultimate Lifeform… was Maria to be saved? Worse: what if the chemical, Chaotic, and alien biology makeup wasn't compatible with a human for healing anymore? The Project has already gone off of the expected growth traits without any meddling from Gerald! He needed to get data from this new form-!]
"You'll need to give Shadow pets, Grandpa," she broke into his musing, looking straight up at him. "There's no-" Blue eyes furrowed as her body winced. Then relaxed. "-way for him to control his Chaos powers right now, so he must stay calm. What's a better way than getting affection from your father?"
The specimen still lacked signs of being amongst the living. "Maria," came carefully crafted words and tone, "I think you might be jumping ahead with certain… deductions."
Despite trying to be neutral, he got stabbed – mentally – by her appalled and horrified expression. "Grandpa!" Maria hissed. "Don't… Don't tell me you don't consider him your-!"
"Of course! Things can change! It's just…" How to fix this, Gerald!? "There's been a lot of shock and suddenness. I didn't have the time to bond with," FIX IT FOR MARIA! "Shadow, yet." He couldn't bare to withstand that pained look of upmost disappointment from her. "Once I get to know him better…!"
The lights suddenly flickered.
"Professor…?" It must have heard the argument and stirred awake – abnormal appendages slowly moved in a stretch. Those eyes of bright ruby opened, aimed at the young girl and the scientist, whom both were still in its field of view. The Project's bare black and red hand reached towards its head, shaking. "Why am I still dreaming…?"
Maria continued to stare at Gerald.
Expectantly.
"Good morning," Dr. Robotnik greeted with extreme control on his tone.
Her eyes still hadn't lost their sadness.
The scientist took in a deep breath. Carefully, cautiously, he reached over. The white of his lab coat was starch against the deep values of the Project's fur/quills; the sleeve that protected Gerald's wrist the only shield he had. He took another inhale as his fingers dug into the surface of his… creation. Felt surprised at the smoothness of it. [Like silk.] The sharpened tips were left flattened and away – PSUL did not feel any threat. Indeed, the Project had moved to face up into its creator directly, and the man was assaulted by complex thought processes that flashed on its…
Oh.
Oh, my.
… It had the ability to express emotions.
Was he in shock? Was he in awe? A part of his brain understood that what he was about to do was going to affect the future in a manner even he wasn't smart enough to predict. "You're a little earlier than planned, and I must apologize for my tardiness. Welcome to the ARK, Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform. We're so glad to see you."
The lights steadied.
In the background, Maria had a smile and nodded in approval.
[x]
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