The following short story is based on characters created and/or copyrighted by SEGA! Enterprises, DiC Productions, Archie Comic Publishers, Fleetway Comic Publishers, and the Taki Corporation. All other characters were created and copyrighted by Roland Lowery. The author gives permission to distribute this work freely as long as it remains intact and unaltered, and the transfer of monetary units is not involved. Comments, questions, suggestions, complaints? Send them to me . I enjoy hearing from people who can spell. Chaotic Multiverse Tale #11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote for the day: "Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight, or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" -William Shakespeare, MacBeth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dagger of the Mind by Roland Lowery SONIC T. Hedgehog was never one to back down from a challenge, especially one from Dr. Ivo Robotnik. The latest challenge had brought Sonic deep into the heart of Robotropolis, right up to the command tower. "Hey, 'Buttnik!" Sonic yelled from his stand of wrecked SWATbots. "Hey . . . down here!" He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked just in time to see a mounted camera shift in his direction and focus. "Greetings, hedgehog," Robotnik's voice emenated from a speaker. "I'm so glad you could make it. Why don't you come up and see my newest toy?" A door slid open, letting Sonic inside the tower. Throwing aside all caution, as usual, he sped through the door before it have even had a chance to open all the way. Robotnik watched as the wretched blue hedgehog cut through every defense he set in the way. As was expected, of course. The fat doctor almost giggled in glee. "Are you sure this will work, sir?" asked a whiney, weasely voice. "Of course it will, Snively!" he shouted at his diminuative assisstant. "Don't ALL my plans work?" "If you're self-delusional, they do," mumbled Snively. "What's that?" "Er, I said, um, 'Ifyer sevvdesional,' sir. Latin, I think. Means, 'of course'." "Right." "Boooooooring. C'mon, SWATbutts! Give me more of a challenge!" One of the 'bots dropped his rifle and put up his metal fists. "Oh, a boxin' match, huh?" Sonic was suprised at the 'bot's initiative, and decided to take it up on the offer. He landed half a dozen punches before the SWATbot could manage to miss with one. After doging a second swing, Sonic maneuvered the 'bot to a garbage chute and kicked it in. "NEXT!" The remaining SWATbots raised their laser rifles. "The welcome wagon, yer not," said Sonic, just before plowing through them and racing down the hallway. "TA-DA!" Robotnik's first impulse was to turn around and shoot the hedgehog, but he fought it off and remained standing with his back turned. "Right on time, I see," he said calmly. "The Sonic Express is always on time, 'Buttnik." "Yes, so I noticed." "So, doc, whadda ya want ta show me?" "This." Robotnik stepped aside to reveal a strange contraption that was shaped much like a cannon. "H'okaaaaay," said Sonic. "Ya got me. What is it?" "That's for me to know, hedgehog, and for you to find out!" The "cannon" turned towards Sonic and expelled multicolored energy that stopped just short of hitting him. The energy grew and shaped itself into - - a zone portal. "What?" said Sonic. "This is what you want to show me? Another zone?" Sonic couldn't believe Robotnik was trying this old trick again. He had thought that the doctor had given up on the mini-realities that were based on the technology that created the Zone of Silence. Sonic had proved over and over and over again that he could outdo any tricks or traps Robotnik could put in a zone. "What, hedgehog? Scared of my new little zone?" scoffed Robotnik. "Oh, puh-leeze! I could run any zone you make backwards and forwards, sdrawrof dna sdrawkcab! I'd even bet everything I've got on it!" With that, he jumped into the portal - - and came out the other side, unconscious. "Unfortunatly for you, hedgehog," said Robotnik, "what you've just bet is your life!" Sonic felt the normal displacement feeling he got from entering a zone. It passed through his body, then a second later, his feet touched ground. "I wonder what crazy - Wha?" Instead of the loops, spikes, and normal zone traps and pitfalls, Sonic saw the last thing he had expected. Knothole Village. It wasnt a close duplicate, a rough estimate, or even a reasonable facsimile. It was the real thing. Sonic recognized the placement of huts to be exactly as they should be. The river ran through the right spots and the bridges were placed correctly and looked exactly like the real ones. So, how did Robotnik make a zone exactly like Knothole? He didn't know what it looked like. He didn't even know where it was! Sonic noticed something strange. He looked all around him, but saw that everyone was missing. There should've been lots of people going this way and that to finish their chores, going to guard duty, or just milling about. He noticed the total silence as well. He strained to hear until he thought his eardrums would burst, but he didn't hear anything, not even background forest noises, not even the babbling of the river. "Testing, 1, 2, 3," he said, to make sure he hadn't gone deaf. "Teshting, 1, 2, 3," echoed a squeaky, lisping voice. "Testing, vone, dwo, tree," echoed a heavy, accented voice. More and more voices joined in until Sonic thought that even though he hadn't been deaf a second ago, he was about to become so now. He ran from the voices, but they followed and cascaded over him in inundating waves. He jumped into the open door of the computer hut and slammed it shut. "Thesthing, un, deux, trois, westing, vun, wwo, whree, jesting, eno, owt, eerht, besting, gnitset, chestin, tasting, blazerg, dun, bun, ones, thumb, boo, zoo, twan, tea, trhee, free." The voices, now outside, banged on the door like a physical force. Sonic looked for something to shove in front of the door, but he knew that even with his speed, he wouldn't be able to do it in time. He swore. "Chit, flit, bit, tihs, hsit, mitt," said the voices outside. Then, as suddenly as they appeared, the voices stopped. Sonic still held the door tight for a second and started blurting things out to see if the voices would come back. They didn't, so he relaxed. He snapped back to attention when all of the computers suddenly sprang to life. The screens flashed out random scenes and the printers printed out garbage. "What the hell?" yelled Sonic. "Whur . . . de . . . ell?" came a warbled reply. The computers turned off, on, off, and on again, this time all showing the same thing on their screens: CONTACT ESTABLISHED. ATTEMPTING TOTAL NEURAL INTERFACE. [....................] PARTIAL INTERFACE ESTABLISHED. TRY AGAIN? (YES/NO) YES. ATTEMPTING. [....................] PARTIAL INTERFACE ESTABLISHED. TRY AGAIN? (YES/NO) NO. CARRYING OUT PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: SAVE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. Sonic tried to make sense of it. Save me? he thought. This is DEFINITELY not a zone. What is going on around here? His attention was brought back to the screens as they blinked and filled with another set of dialouge. HOLO-INTERFACE ENGAGED. ATTEMPTING INITIAL ATMOSPHERIC SWEEP. [....................] SWEEP ESTABLISHED: ATMOSPHERE - 25.78% OXYGEN (BREATHABLE) CLASSICAL GAS INTERMIX VISIBLE LIGHT SPECTRUM CLEAR AIR MOBIAN HOMEWORLD SCENARIO - SPECIFICALLY, KNOTHOLE VILLAGE ADJUSTING HOLO-IMAGE ACCORDINGLY. [....................] DEFINING INITIAL PHYSICAL PARAMETERS. [....................] PROJECTING IMAGE NOW. Sonic watched as a shadowy figure appeared in the center of the hut. It became darker and more solid as he watched. The computer screens started flashing error messages and the figure twisted. Sonic heard a female scream. The figure formed fully and fell to the floor. At first, Sonic thought it was Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, but a closer look proved that, while she looked similar to Sally, the woman on the floor was not the Princess. Sonic heard a creak, which was followed by a multitude of groans and squeeks. He looked around to find that the hut's walls were squeezing in on him. He grabbed the Sally look-alike and crashed through the door. "Lady," he said as he ran along, "I don't know where the hell this is, but I hope you can get us out." Two seconds later, reality crashed away around them. He stopped running when he noticed that he wasn't getting anywhere. The last few shards of reality fell away into the black void surrounding him. "Whur's . . . happn'n?" mumbled the woman in Sonic's arms. He set her down on the invisible "ground". "I have no idea, lady," he said. "I was hopin' that YOU could help me with that." She sat up and shook her head to clear it. "Where am I?" she asked. "So much for that," mumbled Sonic. Louder, he asked, "Who are you?" "I-" She stopped and looked confused. "I . . . don't know? I . . . can't seem to remember anything. Who are you?" "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." "Well . . . hello, Sonic. You can call me . . . um, whatever you want to, I guess. Until my memory comes back, anyway. Assuming it does," she quickly amended. "Well, ya look like a friend of mine named Sally, so an 's' name would be appropriate. How's . . . Samantha?" "Sounds good," said Samantha as she stood up. "All righty then, Sam. Let's find a way out of this place!" "You mean like that?" She pointed, and Sonic followed her finger to a door standing in the nothingness. "That," replied Sonic, "is a start." They walked up to the door and Sonic, half-seriously, knocked. "Who's that rapping, tapping, rapping at my chamber door?" asked a voice from behind the door. Sonic and Sam exchanged glances, then walked around to the other side of the mysterious door, but nothing was there. They heard the door open, but it closed again before they could run back around to the other side. "'Twas the wind, and nothing more," said the muffled voice. This time, Sonic rapidly kicked the door until it splintered and flew apart. "Ladies first," he said, and bowed to Sam. "Er, thank you," she said, stunned at the show of speed from Sonic. They stepped into a large library-like study. A fireplace was in one wall, and the fire within illuminated the astonished features of a human wearing a robe. "Wha-wh-what?" the human sputtered. "Never mind that," said Sonic. "How's about 'whe-wh-where' are we?" The human man stood silent. "C'mon, Sam," said Sonic, "this dude's not gonna tell us anything." He grabbed her arm and ran for the door on the other side of the study. After they had left, the man slumped back down in his chair. He withdrew a flask of whiskey from the nightstand, took a swallow, threw the rest into the fire, and fainted. Sonic ran right into a sign. It couldn't have been but three feet from the door he and Samantha had just gone through. "Sonic?" Sam leaned over him and tried to wake him up. He looked up at her and tried to see past the stars of pain. When his vision finally cleared, he saw Samantha's worried face floating over him. From this close, he was able to see exactly how alike she was to Sally. They were almost the same in the face, save Sam's slightly higher forehead and green eyes instead of blue. Their hair was the same color, but Sam's was wavier than Sally's straight hair. As she helped him stand up, he also noticed that she was slightly taller than Sally, but still stood the same way, like a royal Princess. "Wha'd I run into?" he asked. "That." The sign was very large. On it were the words: "Welcome to Robotropolis. Population - 10,482 robots, 5,984 Mobians (roboticized), and 2 humans. City Limits" "Here," said Sonic, "is definitely NOT where we want to be." "Where DO we want to be?" "Preferably, Knothole Village. The REAL Knot-" He was interrupted by the chaotic swirling of their surroundings. They finally consolidated into Knothole. "What the-? Hmm. Obviously," said Sonic, "we aren't out of this wacky zone, yet." "This place seems . . . familiar somehow," said Sam. "But, I feel there should be a lot of people all around. Where are they?" "Dunno. It was like this last time I was here." He gave her a quick run down of everything that had happened. "What do we do now, then?" Sam asked. Sonic shrugged. "Look for something to eat, I guess. You hungry?" Sam shook her head no. "Well, I am. Let's go to the mess hall." Sam opened the door and looked inside. "Uh, Sonic," she said, "I think I found everyone." Sonic looked in over her shoulder. Inside, the mess hall tables were packed with Freedom Fighters, more than those that usually ate here instead of their own huts. Sonic couldn't be sure, but it seemed that the entire population of Knothole was in there. They were all staring straight forward, ignoring the plates of food that had been set before them. "Freaky," said Sonic. He and Samantha walked in and looked around. Sonic found Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, and Sally sitting at their regular table. Sonic's own seat was vacant. Samamntha was looking at the zombie-eyed Princess. She turned to Sonic. "I look like her, don't I?" Sam asked. "Sort of," replied Sonic. He listed the few differences he had noticed earlier. "Plus," he said, "ya both dress differently." Sam looked down at herself. She was wearing a brown leather jacket, tennis shoes, and a gray form-fitting fatigue that looked much like Bunnie's. It was quite different from Sally's normal blue vest and boots. "Hey!" Sonic exclaimed as he snapped his fingers. "I just remembered! Nicole!" "Who?" Instead of answering, Sonic reached into Sally's pocket and pulled out the mini-computer. "I just hope this works," he said. He flipped the palm top computer open and said, "Nicole?" "Wur-wur-working, Sssssonic," the computer said. "Nicole, scan me." "Ssssssssssscannin-in-ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bzzt . . . unable to c-c-comply. Error mark-marker 1274." Samantha's face lit up. "Hand her to me," she said. "Something's coming back to me!" Sonic handed Nicole to her. "Error marker 1274, huh?" Sam mumbled. She started pushing some of Nicole's buttons. After she was done, she said, "Nicole, finish your scan on Sonic." "Scanning . . . . . . done." "List all of his vital signs." "Working . . . . pulse: normal. Circulation: normal. Nervous system: normal." Nicole continued the long list. "Nice job," said Sonic. "How'd you do that?" "I'm not sure. Something about the words 'error marker 1274' jogged my memory a bit. When you handed me Nicole, I just did what felt natural." "Way past cool, Sam! Mebbe you were a computer opera-" "What?" interrupted Sam. "Nicole, run back vital signs to 'brain waves'." "Acknowledged," said Nicole. "Brain waves: Sleep 1/REM. Synap-" "Stop." "Sleep one REM?" said Sonic. "What does THAT mean?" Samantha seemed not to hear him. She started to mumble to herself. Sonic snapped his fingers at her. "Yo, Sam! Snap outta it!" "Huh?" Sam looked up as confusion crossed her face. "Sonic, I . . . I think some more of my memory is coming back. I was . . . sent here to save you." "Yah," said Sonic, "that's what the computer screens said when you first appeared." "Yes, but . . . something's wrong. We . . . miscalculated." "'We'? Who's 'we'?" Sam screwed her face up, then relaxed and looked at the blank-eyed Freedom Fighters sitting at the table. "Them," she said. "Sally and Rotor. And me. Someone found you just outside the . . . something forest . . ." "Great Forest?" Sonic prompted. "Yes! Thank you. Um, you were unconscious, and you had this thing stuck to your head. According to our scans, you weren't actually unconscious, but only asleep and dreaming." "And that's what Nicole meant by the 'sleep' statement?" "Yes. You are currently in the first stage of sleep. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. Your eyes move rapidly back and forth while you dream. We were able to transfer me into this place," she waved her hand expansively, "your dream world." "Weird. Do you remember who you are yet?" Sam screwed up her face again. "No, not yet. My guess is that the transfer partially erased my memory. It's only temporary though, apparently." Sonic looked around. "So, this is all a dream, huh?" "Yes." "That would explain a lot. Mainly why we keep hopping from place to place. If I think of something, it happens." He looked at the Freedom Fighters. "In a slightly twisted fashion, that is," he amended. "When I wanted to check my hearing, dozens of voices appeared to check it. When I wanted to escape, I ended up in the void. When I wanted to get out of the void, a door appeared. When I wanted to get back to Knothole, we showed up here. So, now that you're starting to remember stuff, Sam, how are you supposed to get us out of here?" "Simply put, hedgehog," said Robotnik's voice, "you DON'T." "So, 'Buttnik, finally decided to join the party?" Robotnik's form materialized in the center of the mess hall. "Technically," he said, "no. I am not truly Robotnik, merely a program designed to resemble him. But, if you like, you can pretend I'm Robotnik for now." "Yah, great," Sonic snorted. "What've you done ta me?" "Everyone deserves to see their dreams fulfilled, hedgehog. I gave you this dream world in exchange for my own. With you out of the way, my hold on Mobius will be complete!" "So, why didn't you just kill me?" Robotnik rolled his eyes and sneered. "How . . . anti-climactic. Sure, I could have, as I have tried many times before, but lately I've been feeling a little dramatic. You are stuck in a waking coma and," he looked pointedly at Samantha, "you CANNOT wake up. Any attempt to remove him will result in his brain terminally flatlining." "So, either I die, or stay here where every nightmare comes ture," said Sonic. "Correct." "Wrong," said Sam. She held up her hands, which were glowing yellow. The glow exploded in a ray of light. "Wrglizburtz," said Robotnik as the ray passed through him. The beams continued on through the mess hall wall, making it ripple like water. "Nice trick," said Sonic. "How-?" "I don't know," said Sam. "I suggest we leave." She blew away the door and ran through the empty frame. "Get them!" yelled the reconstituted Robotnik. The Freedom Fighters at the tables started to move around jerkily, then loosened up and ran out after Sonic and Samantha. Once they had gotten outside, Sonic picked Sam up and started running as fast as he could into the forest. "You don't know how you did that?" asked Sonic. "No. It was just like with the computer. I did what felt natural. Maybe it's a program I can use in here. If so, I might have some others." "If ya do, I hope you learn or remember how ta use 'em real quick-like. We cot company!" Sure enough, Freedom Fighters were loping along in the trees just as fast as Sonic was running on the ground. The trees, even, where reaching for them with their gnarled branches. Sam took some potshots at their pursuers, but they were still gaining. "What happened to your ability to change all of this?" she asked Sonic. "I dunno. I've been trying it, but Robuttnik must have cut it off . . . crap!" Sam looked forward in time to see that thay were heading straight for a sheer cliff face. Sonic slid to a stop in front of it. "Would'ja lookit that," Sonic said, nearly inaudable. The trees were moving around to surround them on the left and right while Freedom Fighters, with Sally in the lead, were walking down the middle towards them. Samantha looked up the cliff. "Can't you run up it?" she asked. Sonic looked up and made some quick calculations. "If I had a running start and a Power Ring, just maybe, but I don't have either at the moment." "Looks like we fight then." "C'mon, Sam. Surely ya got another trick up yer sleeve." " . . . . . . . . Maybe." She held out her glowing hands facing each other. In the middle, a small ball appeared. "Run," she said, and threw the ball of light up against the cliff. He grabbed her, ran towards the advancing Freedom Fighters, then ran back after Sam's lightball exploded. In the rubble of the cliff stood a door. "Perfect." Sonic turned the knob, opened the door, and jumped through with Sam in his arms. "Out of the frying pan-" "-and into the sun. This don't look good, Sam." What seemed to be an infinite number of SWATbots were staring them down with laser rifles, blaster pistols, and wrist lasers. "Mebbe if we just keep smiling, they won't shoot," said Sonic. One of the 'bots narrowly missed Sonic with its laser. "Let's go with 'plan B'," said Sam. Her hands lit up, and she and Sonic jumped into the crowd of 'bots and started to flail away. The SWATbots proved to be as inept in Sonic's nightmare world as in real life. They fell easily under Sonic and Sam's attacks, as well as their own stray laser shots. The advantage, however, was in the SWATbots' favor. There was only two Mobians, while there were effectively an infinite amount of SWATbots. "You might be interested to know," boomed Robotnik's voice over the battle field, "that I have removed the safety locks on my dream machine. If you die in here-" he chuckled "-then you die out in the real world as well! Isn't that just delightful, hedgehog?" "Yah, a real treat," Sonic mumbled. Out loud, he yelled, "Sam! I hope you got somethin' else in your bag o'tricks!" "If I do," she yelled back, "I don't really have time to pull it out now, Sonic!" "How's about I buy us some time, then?" Sonic cleared out a small space for himself, then started spinning in a circle. Soon, he was twirling fast enough to create a small tornado with him in the center. The Sonic-tornado moved in circles around Sam, clearing the area of SWATbots. Then, he stopped spinning and fell, dizzily, at Sam's feet. "Jeez, Sonic," said Sam as she helped him up. "How many times have you done that before?" "Countin' this one?" he asked dizzily. "Um . . . twice, I think. Jus' try 'n' get us outta here . . . " "Right." Using the bought time, Sam dug deep into herself to find any skills she had missed before. She dug and dug with almost super-Mobian strength as the SWATbots started to close in on them. As she searched, more memory blocks fell into place. Bit by bit, her computer knowledge compiled upon itself. She began to remember people, places, and things; she saw each face, scene, and object as if they were sitting in front of her right that moment. Some of the SWATbots leveled their lasers at them, but Sam didn't notice or care. Suddenly, instead of a trickle, her complete memory came in a flood, all at once. She could remember everything, and she knew what she had to do. The SWATbot lasers sliced through the air where Sonic and the intruder had been just seconds ago. "S-Samantha?" "Sssh." "Wh-where are we?" "We're safe." He was laying in her arms, his head up against her shoulder. He gently opened his eyes. Light assaulted him from every direction. "Wha-?" "It's your mind," said Samantha's soothing voice. "We're almost out. For now, sleep." His eyelids were getting heavy, but he was able to fight it off long enough to ask one more question. "Sam?" "Yes, Sonic?" "D'you- Do you remember your name yet?" "Yes, Sonic. My name . . . is Nicole." Sonic slowly opened his eyes. Everything was fuzzy . . . sounds, sights, and his thoughts. "Sonic?" said a blurry voice. He couldn't make out the rest. There was a sharp pain in his upper arm, then everything jumped into sharp relief. "WHOA!" he shouted. "What?" "Rotor, help him sit up," said Sally. He looked around dizzily and saw Sally, Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, and Dr. Quack. "What's going on? How'd I get out? Where's Ni-" "No time for questions now, Sonic," said Dr. Quack. "I gotta check you out, make sure you're all right!" The doctor pulled out a tray full of instruments, none of which Sonic liked the looks of. "Here." Sally threw the dream machine on the table in front of Sonic. "What? Souveniers?" Sonic laughed. He picked the small machine up. It was built to fit from his mouth to his ear, and it was segmented so that it would bend with his skin. "How long did I have this on, exactly?" "Almost two days," said Sally. "Kee-ripes! It only seemed like two HOURS!" "Time dialation in dreams is pretty common." Sonic's face clouded over. "How did you guys get me out?" "Like all programmers, Robotnik stuck a back door into the dream machine's code. He hid it very well. We only stumbled upon it on accident. After we found it, though, we were able to send someone in. None of US were able to go in, of course, but-" "-Nicole could," Sonic interrupted. "You armed her with a truckload of defenses and trasferred her in." Sally nodded. "Unfortunatly, something went wrong with that transfer. We're not sure what, exactly, but me and Rotor will keep working on it until we figure it out." "So, Nicole went in and pulled me out through the back door." "Right." Sonic looked down at the dream machine and frowned. "This may sound crazy, Sal," he said, "but do you think I could have a talk with Nicole . . . privately?" "Uh, sure, I guess," said Sally, slightly confused. She pulled Nicole from her pocket and handed her to Sonic, then left. "You didn't tell them about Samantha," said Nicole. "Nope, I didn't," said Sonic. "I . . . uh . . . wanted to sort everything out for myself first." There was a short pause. "Who is Samantha, exactly, Nicole?" Sonic finally asked. "Samantha is an artificial intelligence entity that was created by a combination of the dream machine's programming and my own. She was created to fill in the glitches that occured during the initial transfer sequence." Sonic set Nicole down and rubbed his eyes. "She was a glitch." "Negative. Samantha was a solution, and quite an effective one." "Why did she look so much like Sally?" "She is actually a conglomeration of the tri-d images of Princess Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot, pre-partial roboticization. The image was agreed upon before the initial transfer even occured." Sonic nodded. "So, where is she now?" "Safely stored in my memory banks." "Good. She deserves some rest." He stood up and reached for Nicole. "One more thing, Sonic," the computer said. Sonic hesitated. "I have gleaned off a lot of program material from the dream machine. Much of it that did not concern fulfilling your wishes in nightmarish fashion had to do with literature from Dr. Robotnik's home planet, Earth - mostly theatre plays and poems." "Yah," said Sonic. "There was some strange stuff in there that I didn't understand. Well, Robotnik DID say that he was feeling dramatic. But, why did you bring that up, Nicole?" "Because I found one play with a line that is very appropriate. 'Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight, or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-opressed brain?'" "A dagger of the mind, huh?" He looked at the dream machine. "Yah, it was that, all right." With that, Sonic grabbed Nicole and the dream machine, collected his thoughts, and disappeared through the hut door. THE END Roland Lowery