Hop To It - Advance 16

[Mecha]

Space is cold. Very, very cold.

Or at least that was what Mecha Sonic had heard. As a robot, he didn’t have any ability to feel temperature directly. In truth, he was hovering dangerously close to the point of overheating; his cooling system wasn’t working properly without air to push the heat into. As much as he wanted to waste time, he really couldn’t afford to.

Which is why it was so frustrating that there was still so much of the BioLizard left, clinging to the side of the Eclipse Cannon. He just didn’t have the excuse to pretend he couldn’t find any; his scanner was among the systems running at peak efficiency, and it kept pointing out desiccated meat. If you could call this meat. Mecha wasn’t convinced.

The discolored flesh that had been torn off the FinalHazard by the force of reentry came in a variety of different damage types. Burnt, frozen, shredded, liquified, if Mecha had a stomach it would be quite sickened by all this. And buried amongst all the detritus were a few rare pieces of perfectly preserved flesh.

Analysis indicated that even in the void of space, it was decaying. Slowly, but still, it was flaking away as solar radiation slowly vaporized it… or perhaps chaos itself was reclaiming it. The tip of the Eclipse Cannon was tall enough to be outside the ARK’s artificial gravity field, but the bits of lizard that Mecha found were stuck fast to it with some sort of organic adhesive that he didn’t think too hard about.

Mecha gathered as much as would fit in the cooler he’d been given--the expensive kind, used for transporting donated organs--and made his way back to the nearest airlock.

Hah. Metal Sonic’s main thruster was jet based and wouldn’t have worked in the vacuum. Mecha’s however was a miniature rocket, so he could almost fly better than he could in-atmosphere. At least he had that over the shiny blue jerk.

Mecha didn’t want to think about what Eggman intended for the BioLizard pieces. It couldn’t be anything good. He genuinely couldn’t imagine it ending well. So, to avoid thinking of that as his systems cooled down, he forced himself to think of other things, like the fact that the ARK was somehow still functioning despite everything. Mecha supposed an extra few months wouldn’t make much difference after fifty years, but still, the station went through a lot that week… But no, the oxygen recycler was still working, the heating system was adequate enough that his internal temperature was slowly returning to normal, the gravity still worked….

Mecha sighed to himself. He didn’t want to be on the ARK. It was an awful place. Maybe once it was lively and nice. Maybe one day it could be again, but right now it was dismal, dark and lonely.

Just like him.

If only one silver lining came from delivering the monster parts to Eggman, maybe he’d be so preoccupied with whatever he wanted it for that he’d leave Mecha unsupervised for a while again. He wanted to visit Mystic Ruins. Watching the little village grow, seeing what the good guys were up to, imagining for a moment what would happen if he stepped out of the trees and tried to introduce himself again--

ERROR--Errant thought pattern. Terminate at once.

Mecha pushed the warning away, annoyed. He knew it was impossible, he didn’t need his own subsystems rubbing it in.

It was pointless, anyway. He’d already decided he needed to stop visiting… as often, after noticing that someone else was hiding in the bushes too. Mecha had a few close calls with the hare hearing his engine, a second stalker just increased the chances of them both getting caught.

It would never have worked out.

Reaching the teleport room back to the pyramid base, Mecha paused. He contemplated, one final time, throwing the BioLizard material back into the void and claiming there wasn’t any left. But with his luck, the Doctor could just point a telescope at the ARK and see some for himself, and then Mecha would really be in trouble. And then he’d send Metal up to get it anyway. The most he could do was just… take his time going… home.

Home. What a joke.

He wished he could be anywhere else. Actually talk to someone, besides Sigma. But Mecha supposed, if Eggman had his way, the mouse and the rest would be coming to him soon enough. Joy.

Mecha stepped onto the teleporter, and was whisked away back to Earth, and the ARK was empty again.

------------------------------------

[Heyu]

I put the colorful t-shirt in my luggage, hesitated, then took it out again in exchange for a floral print shirt that I’d been meaning to wear, plus an undershirt with a simple design to artfully frame with the first shirt. The suitcase was pitifully empty still, and I wasn’t sure what else to put in it. After much deliberation, I went and retrieved the notebook I’d been keeping my Ring studies in, in case I made a breakthrough while we were away. 

Progress was slow, but it was progressing. Perhaps it was foolish to think that chaos energy would have patterns I could follow and understand, or maybe I just wasn’t sensitive enough to see them yet. Either way, I was now able to empty my reserves--the semi-natural way, not like that whole mess--and get stronger. I assume. It was too soon to be sure it was working yet, but I’d keep trying.

…Maybe just leaving the notebook lying loose was a bad idea. I stuffed it into a side pocket of the suitcase instead.

Amy, sitting on the bed, raised an eyebrow at me. “Aren’t you guys just going for the weekend?”

“And Monday,” I emphasized.

“Isn’t this a lot for three days?” she asked. “Besides, you just wear the same vest every day.”

“I can wear other clothes if I want,” I said, folding my arms. “Who says I can’t?”

“That suitcase is big enough that I could stand up inside it and still have room to stretch.”

I looked at it again. She… wasn’t wrong, and even only half full it was a lot of clothes. I rubbed my neck. “...Okay, yeah, maybe a duffle bag will do just fine.”

We were taking a trip to Central City to visit my parents again. Actually, in fact, we were taking a trip to visit Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Wilbur, thanks to some unexpected news.

“You’re so lucky, getting new members of the family,” Amy said, sighing happily. “Starting a family, it’s so romantic… And I bet the bunnies will be so adorable!”

I chuckled. “Ah, no, Charlotte and Wilbur aren’t actually related, they’re just friends of my mom’s from when she was your age. They aren’t hares at all.”

“Oh.” Amy smiled again. “Well they’ll be cute anyway. What are they?”

“A pig and a spider,” I said. It was slightly mean of me, but I enjoyed watching her face freeze and go through the five stages of grief in the space of a few seconds. “I know, it’s a surprise to all of us. They tried for years to have kids when I was little, so for them to get it now is basically a miracle.”

It was absolutely insane, honestly. Any Mobian could have kids with each other, but the chance of a successful pregnancy was directly related to how similar their animal morph was. Two mammals never had to worry, a mammal and a bird could expect some trouble, and a mammal and a bug? Almost never fertilized correctly. I was super happy for them, even if I was a little worried. Aunt Charlotte wasn’t young anymore.

So, we were going over to show our support.

Amy rubbed her chin, thinking. “...I wonder why they tried again after so long…”

I coughed. “Well, based on what Mom told me, a lot of folks were super stressed after the ARK debacle, and many couples, including my aunt and uncle… comforted each other. And things happened.”

“Oh.”

I paused to listen to the village. Spud was arguing with the bees about… pollination. The Vespas weren’t arguing back; they were too busy flirting with each other using pollination as a metaphor. Eugh. Fry was talking with Iota about something… Aha, there we go. Humi finally emerged from her lab, pulling her own suitcase behind her. That meant it was about time to go.

“How’s the guest room treating you?” I asked, stuffing my stuff into a more reasonable bag.

“Oh, it’s nice. Still can’t wait to get my own place though.” She pouted, and I gave her a pat on the back, mindful of her quills.

Turns out, Fry was able to build Honey and Waxer’s house because they paid out of pocket for the materials, while Shelldon still had a shack instead of a proper bar because he couldn’t yet. Amy had some savings, but not enough, so even though she’d claimed a plot of land, I ended up letting her stay in our house for now. 

(It was where Fry’s truck used to be parked, right next door to us; Fry moved his space closer to the village entrance, on the basis that he didn’t want his truck to get boxed in or else why did he even bother getting it fixed?)

“I’m trusting you to keep the place clean,” I said warningly, though I didn’t really mean it. When Sonic wasn’t involved, she could be very responsible.

“Of course!” Amy paused. “Is it okay if I bring Cream here to babysit? Vanilla’s been arguing with the construction guys regarding her place, so she asked me--”

I waved the words away. “That’s fine. She’s a good kid. Just don’t let her get into any of Humi’s stuff, some of it’s sharp.”

“Right.”

“Come on Heyu, where are you?” Humi asked from right outside the front door. So I grabbed my bag, hopped down from the loft, and went out to meet her.

“About time,” Humi groused. The suitcase she was hauling behind her was… comically large compared to her, frankly. “I want to see Grangora again!”

I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked around her luggage, inspecting it. “Gosh, packrat, are you bringing your whole lab?”

“Not all of it. I want to make something for Miss Charlotte for the baby, but I don’t know what she’ll want yet, so I’m going prepared.” With that, she whistled and patted the suitcase’s side, at which point two pairs of legs unfolded and lifted it up from underneath, and it waddled after her as she made for the train station.

I stared after her for a moment before shaking my head, amazed. What will she think of next?

Next I stepped over to where Fry and Iota were talking. “Hey big man, Humi’s impatient. Wrap this up, alright?”

“Frustrated: Apologies, Heyu, but this is important. Fry wants to cut a path from the main thoroughfare to where the Chao Garden is being built,” Iota complained, pointing off towards the north.

I blinked. “That sounds reasonable.”

“He wants to carve a line straight there, not accounting for the rare and valuable plants he’ll be bulldozing!”

Fry groaned. “Buddy, come on. I can’t just not make a road. Vanilla and Cream’ll have to trek through the jungle anytime they wanna go somewhere! You act like I’m committing a murder!”

Iota didn’t say anything, but the way his fist clenched indicated his thoughts just fine.

“Look. I’ll keep an eye out for nests, move them if I gotta, and I’ll bring Shelldon with me. He knows every plant out here cuz he’s tried to juice them all. If he tells me something’s endangered or something, I’ll figure something out, okay?” Fry finished, practically pleading.

Iota beeped. “...Acceptable.” He turned to leave, and I bid Fry an apology and a farewell before following.

“You know,” I said once I’d caught up, “If we keep getting people moving in, eventually we’ll run out of room in this clearing. We might end up having to clear some space.”

“Or we could turn them away,” Iota said testily. “Or they could make treehouses. I’ve done research, and many Mobian villages do treehouses. Or underground, like Spud.”

Somehow I didn’t think most people would be willing to live in a hole. I certainly didn’t think Spud would like sharing the tunnels with anyone. It was a problem, like many, for another time.

I ended up letting my gaze drift to the cliffs that surrounded the jungle and separated them from the station area. Maybe… Humi really needed to make that digger robot soon, I thought.

Put a pin in it for now. Back to Central City we go!

-------------------------------------------

[Starr]

He expected to be put to work. He put up with it.

He expected the exercise, the training, the socializing. He put up with it.

He even went through the insult of being made to perform a test to ensure that he was actually worth the scholarship they were granting him. He aced it, obviously.

And now? Now, there was a lull in their training while they decided how to structure this ‘hero’ path they were being set on, and Linus was finally being given what he wanted: access to a lab.

Whatever else could be said about G.U.N., they had decent tech. Not the best, but just good enough to meet the bottom of his standards…

…hah, who was he kidding? It was just him in here, and this was the most advanced laboratory space he’d ever been allowed inside of, and he was going to be working here. If he said he wasn’t excited he’d be a liar. 

He wasn’t getting to work with salvaged Eggman tech yet, but he’d proven his credentials enough that after he aced yet another test, this time from G.U.N.’s medical division, and after a pointed request to Captain Palisade, he was being allowed to write up an experiment proposal. It stung his pride to have to ask permission. One day, he would never have to ask anyone’s input ever again…

He’d arranged for a short practical demonstration, which was why he was given the lab space. It was one thing to talk a big game, now he had to prove he knew practice in addition to theory; he was currently designing a simplified robotic arm. Human in shape and size, five fingers with near-complete articulation, and the kicker: indirect yet fully functional neural interface. 

‘Indirect’ because this model wouldn’t need to be directly wired into the user’s nerves. The one he was making now would function off a helmet. It wasn’t going to look pretty, but it didn’t need to be to send a message: In just one afternoon I can put together a prosthetic that most hospitals would beg for. Imagine what I can do with an actual budget.

Linus Starr was not going to spend years of his life as a grunt. He was going to rise like the star he was, meteoric and unstoppable, until he was exactly where he wanted to be. And then, once he’d gotten everything G.U.N. could give him, he would--

The door slid open behind him, and he sighed. “Yes, yes, I’m busy, go bother someone else.”

“That iz not a very friendly way to greet someone.”

Linus hung his head. Oh no, not that one.

The coyote whose full name he hadn’t bothered to learn marched in, still wearing his full cadet uniform. “What if I had been a superior officer and you spoke to me like zat? You could ‘ave been in huge trouble!”

Tiresome. “You weren’t, and I’m not, D’Coolette. Begone with you.” Why of all people did the military brat have to be the one to come looking for him? Lousy goody two-shoes teacher’s pet.

Starr turned back to his work, testing the articulation on the arm and finding it satisfactory for his purposes. He set about connecting the neural transceivers when he felt a presence hovering over his shoulder.

“I can’t help but notice,” he said, “that you are still here.”

“What are you working on?” the coyote asked, blatantly ignoring the fact that he was unwelcome.

Still, it wasn’t like he ever turned down the opportunity to brag about himself. Starr pulled away from the workstation, shoving D’Coolette aside as he did, and narrowly avoided (pity) smacking him in the face as he made a grand gesture. “Why, nothing less than the prototype for my project, the entire reason I joined up in the first place!”

The coyote tilted his head, unphased by his theatricality. “I thought you were ‘ere for ze scholarship?”

“And I thought you didn’t have such a ridiculous accent,” Linus snapped, not paying attention to D’Coolette’s angry flush. “Yes, the financial aid is a bonus, but this is a headstart on my eventual career!” He pressed a sequence of buttons, and the arm whirred to life, waving at the nuisance and flashing a thumbs up.

D’Coolette stared blankly. “...G.U.N. already has many robots, no?”

Starr snorted angrily. “Don’t compare those outmoded heaps to my work. I intend to…” How best to phrase it? Aha. “...help G.U.N.’s injured get back to fieldwork, better than they were before.”

He made some quick adjustments and then slipped on the helmet, and proceeded to show off the arm’s true potential. With a living brain controlling it instead of a computer program, it was able to show off just how fluid and lifelike it could be.

The coyote’s eyes widened, and Starr smiled smugly at finally getting through to him. “Impressed? You should be. This is only the beginning.”

D’Coolette held his hands up ina  timeout. “Wait. Wait wait. You intend to, ah, outfit G.U.N. soldiers with zis?”

“Not with this, no, this is merely the prototype. The final model will be worlds better.”

Linus turned back to his work, making small improvements now that his audience was properly wow-ed.

…Oh dear. It occurred to him that this all might have made him come across as exciting to be around. He could hardly blame the coyote if that was the case, but was he going to have to worry about more visits while he was trying to get real work done? That could be aggravating.

“...Starr.”

Linus rolled his eyes and turned once more. “Yes, what is it?” The platypus stopped, taken aback by the intense look on D’Coolette’s face.

“You need volunteers, oui? G.U.N. isn’t going to let you work on their people right away, you need to prove it works first?”

Linus blinked. “I--Yes.” Maybe this fool wasn’t slightly less stupid than he looked. “What of it?”

“If I knew someone who was missing an arm, would you accept her as a patient?”

…Starr leaned back, thinking. Ah, I see… “I think perhaps we can help each other, yes.”

D’Coolette pumped his fist, face locked into an expression of determination. “Yes! We can! I will call her immediately, and the three of us can figure out--”

Linus’ timer went off. He pulled out his pocket watch and checked it. “Oh, dear, I seem to have used up my allotted time for the lab already.”

The coyote sputtered, thrown off his rhythm. “What? Already? Zey only gave you ze lab for two hours?”

“I only gave myself the lab for two hours,” Linus corrected. “It’s a time restriction to emphasize my abilities. Though, if I’m going to present a test subject--”

“Patient.”

“Whatever--then I might need to go a little further beyond…” He stared at his work so far, judging it, and ultimately shrugged. “A problem for later. Right now, I need to go and actually do the writing portion of my proposal. But I’ll find you later, I can see we have much to talk about after all.”

“I--yes, of course.” D’Coolette shuffled awkwardly, clearly not sure which of them should leave first.

Starr made the decision for him, and made for the door. “Ta for now, then. See you for the morning warm-up, I suppose.”

“Y-yes. Yes.” The coyote nodded firmly. “And thank you, Linus.”

Starr didn’t spare him another glance.

------------------------------

[Heyu]

“It’s a bit early for the baby shower, isn’t it?”

Charlotte laughed and patted her belly gently. “Maybe, maybe, but after all that,” she gestured vaguely, “I figure there’s no time like the present.” She smiled coyly. “Besides, I’m not the only one in Little Island who got a little surprise this week. I figure we should do it now so we don’t have to compete with the other parents later, isn’t that right dear?”

Wilbur nodded. “Yes, dear.” He had a goofy grin on his face that hadn’t budged since we arrived. He couldn’t stop staring at his wife.

Charlotte was more popular in the neighborhood than I thought. It wasn’t just my family that came; Old Man Rev from the sports shop came, and some cat girl named Honey that threw me for a loop--small world--and even a few human clients who were apparently regulars at her shop.

It was nice to be back. It hadn’t been all that long since our last visit, but still. Dad was working right now, sadly, but Mom was playing hostess; this was at our house since Charlotte and Wilbur’s place didn’t have a yard, or any space for a big gathering like this. Which made me think, actually…

“Do you guys have a room cleared out?” I asked, getting everyone’s attention. “I was pretty sure you guys were already using all the rooms in your house for stuff.”

Wilbur’s face flickered, but fell back to smiling when Charlotte waved and laughed it off. “Yes, no, we haven’t gotten that far yet, though you’re right that we should soon. Too much longer and I won’t be able to help. I’m really ballooning out.”

“You look radiant dear.”

Charlotte rubbed her chin. “Hm… I suppose… we’ll have to empty the storage room. I’ve been holding on to some of that overstock for years at this point, but if I’ve got to sell it to make room I will.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t be better served finding a new house instead of living out of your store?” Mom asked.

Both of the new parents-to-be made a face at that.

“Angora, we wouldn’t be able to hold onto the store AND a separate house,” Wilbur said. “Probably. If it were just the two of us, maybe, but with a baby coming?”

I leaned back in my chair. “I wonder. You guys own the lot the store is in, right? No landlords?”

“That’s right.”

“Last time he was here, Sonic said that he’d bring the Emerald back for Humi. Once she has that, she can probably give you the extra room you need?”

Everyone else stared blankly at me. Mom looked like she knew what I was getting at, but the others were clueless. “How so?” Charlotte asked.

“Well, she’s got this trick--”

“I heard my name!” Humi emerged from the house with Iota, who was carrying something in a tarp.

“Humi’s gift is done.”

Charlotte smiled indulgently, standing up with some slight effort. “That’s so nice of you, little miss. What did you make us?”

Humi beamed. “Once I was sure no one else got you one, I built you this!”

Iota set the object down, and Humi pulled the tarp off with a flourish. “It’s a crib! With a built-in baby monitor and motion sensor!”

Charlotte and Mom gasped, and I might have too if I wasn’t used to this. It wasn’t artisanal or anything, but it was better than two days’ work by a ten-year-old had any right to be.

“Where’d you get the mattress?” I asked, but she shushed me.

She pulled out a simple remote and clicked a button. “It’s even got this nifty feature,” she said, as a barred lid stretched into place, “to keep them from climbing out.”

Charlotte blinked. She leaned over to Mom. “Is that likely?”

“Not with the lid it isn’t,” she said back.

Humi shrugged. “I figure there’s a chance the baby will be a spider, and they can climb walls, can’t they?”

“I’ve never seen Wilbur do that. Wilbur?”

“Hm?”

“Wilbur, look at me when I’m talking to you.”

The spider blinked rapidly. “What? Oh, yes, I can cling to walls. I just don’t. It doesn’t come up a lot in daily life.”

“Huh.” Charlotte walked over and gave the crib a quick durability test, shaking it a little. Then she smiled. “Thank you, Humi.”

I was watching happily when Rev came up behind me. He poked me and I let out a startled shout. “Ack! Why would you?”

The cardinal chuckled. “Sorry, boy. Just wanted to ask if you lot were planning on doing anything else while you were back in town.”

“Am I?” I gave it some thought. It would be a waste if I just stayed in my old room all day. “I suppose I might like to visit the library. Station Square’s lost a lot during the flood.” The Central University Library was more likely than most places to have something about chaos energy, after all.

Rev looked disappointed. “Really?”

“Yes, all those books destroyed by the water--”

“Not the books, ears-for-brains,” Rev groused. “There’s a new skatepark opening up on the south side and I was going to recommend it to you. I thought you’d be interested since you keep wearing those grind shoes everywhere.”

Oh. That could be fun I guess, but I didn’t see the point. Mystic Ruins had several freerunning courses built into the semi-natural landscape; I wanted something I couldn’t do at home. Maybe Humi would be interested though…

I looked at her, happily talking with Aunt Charlotte and Mom about what else she might need, while Iota pulled Uncle Wilbur into a conversation about infant nutrition; he read a book on childcare on the ride over. Iota tried to warn me about the experiment, and he was right. And Humi… she’d been slowly coming back to normal, but…

You know what, there wasn’t any harm in extending our stay a day or two to go visit the skatepark, or the zoo. And when I did go to CU later, I bet Humi would enjoy taking a look at some of their textbooks; they had a great engineering track, I’d heard, so the library had to have something good for her.

After all, I did say we needed to do something together. What could go wrong?