This wasn’t exactly the first time I’d been in space (there’d been some crazy times) but, weirdly, it seemed to be the first time I’d had the opportunity to ‘enjoy it’. After all, fighting to the ‘death’ against a metallic copy of yourself or chasing after various Eggman-piloted machines or clinging to the side of a rocket just don’t give you much time to ‘sit back’ and appreciate the experience.
Honestly, traveling in ‘luxury’ in what Tails called his ‘X-Tornado’ was something of a new experience for me, and for those who had never been in space in any form, I could tell it was even more impressive.
Quietly, so Amy hopefully wouldn’t hear (though with how…mesmerized…she was by the view of the Earth receding behind us and space now beginning to open up around us, I didn’t think she was paying any attention), I decided a compliment was in order.
“Nice job, Tails. I have to say this is the best experience I’ve had going into space yet.”
Tails looked embarrassed but also happy and answered me in the same quiet way:
“Thanks, Sonic….I was actually thinking of you and how you seem to often end up in orbit fighting Eggman for one reason or another….I thought this might be helpful the next time…you know, if that kind of thing happened again.”
I laughed (quietly).
“...Yeah, buddy, considering what’s happening now…that was apparently good thinking.”
Really, this kind of thing does seem to happen to me with odd frequency. Taking another look at Amy (who still seemed entirely fascinated by the view), I decided I should also try to set the kid at ease a bit.
“...Look, I’m really grateful for this, and while you really do need to take better care of yourself….You're only twelve, buddy….I’ll try to put in a good word with Amy before she has that ‘discussion’ with you….But, however that works out, you know she only gets so upset about all of this because she cares about you, right?”
Tails looked relieved then a bit ashamed.
“Thanks, Sonic….Yeah, I, uh, I know…” He took another look at Amy (who was still engrossed in the view) and lowered his voice even further. “...but still Amy can be really scary at times.”
Deciding to take a risk that I thought I never would, but, hey, my buddy had earned it and clearly needed another guy’s support, I very, very quietly whispered back:
“Yeah, Tails...Amy scares me sometimes too…but, basically like I said, it’s clear she only gets that way because she really cares a lot about things, us especially.”
Tails gave me a genuine smile back, and I knew I’d made the right decision….Though, I really hoped the…twitch…I thought I’d seen from Amy as I said those words was…just my imagination.
Anyways, it seemed we were finally coming up on the ARK Station.
For a moment, we all watched as it became larger and larger in our sight….It was...impressive. Though only dome-shaped, rather than the full sphere of the strange “Death Egg” thing I had been involved with far more than I’d like, it was clearly much larger. Actually, it was probably the largest artificial object I had ever seen (which, given all of my encounters with Eggman, that was saying something). Just like the reports had made it out to be, I could tell even from here that it was basically the equivalent of an orbital city, and I could just imagine how many people could have lived there had it ever been used at full capacity. The firing end of what had to be the “Eclipse Cannon” was also rather prominently visible at the bottom of the station. Fortunately, there wasn’t any sign that the cannon was active…yet.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Wow….”
I wasn’t surprised to see that my tech-loving buddy was obviously very impressed…but it was clearly a sentiment we all shared. Despite all the horrible things that had taken place there (and maybe were about to take place there), it clearly was a marvel of engineering. It was kind of sad really…that something that must have taken such enormous efforts and resources to produce and which seemed like it could have been put to potentially so much better use had gone the way it had….
We all took another moment to take it in before I felt I needed to ask:
“We gonna be okay to approach, Tails? I remember the files mentioning the station having some pretty serious defenses.”
Though, unsurprisingly, that section of the files Tails and Rouge had been able to obtain had been heavily redacted, it was clear enough that the designers of the station (and G.U.N.) had taken its defense very seriously. Tails gave me a (relatively) confident look in return (and also another, more worried, look in Amy’s direction).
“We should be okay, Sonic. I made a lot of modifications to the X-Tornado to account for even very serious attacks and defenses. The X-Tornado’s speed and shielding should be more than enough to get us through any defense perimeter they have set up and onto the station itself. Then, we’ll just need to deal with its internal defenses and probably Eggman…and Shade.”
Honestly, though I’m sure we were all at least a bit concerned about just how potent the station’s defenses might actually turn out to be, it was really that last ‘internal defense’ that we were all really worried about.
“Okay then, buddy. Just be careful.”
He gave me a determined nod and turned his attention back to the ship’s main console, which he was currently using to pilot us in close to the station itself. I noticed that Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles were all looking a bit tense (less so in Knuckles’ case; actually, that was probably just excitement over our very probable upcoming conflict with Shade, so ignore I said anything about him). Still, as we got closer and closer and…nothing happened…I began to get a bit worried…confused(?). I didn’t really know what I should be feeling. And, it seemed Amy was the same way.
“Tails, shouldn’t…shouldn’t something be happening by now?”
He looked back at Amy and the rest of us with the same confusion before turning back to his console.
“....Yeah, it probably should be...but…I’m getting no indications that the station’s defenses are activating at all….Maybe…maybe it’s just been too long without any maintenance having been performed on them.”
I could tell just how unlikely he thought that outcome was, but none of us necessarily had a better answer (suspicions maybe, but not yet anything we knew for certain). Maybe this lack of a response really was just the result of a maintenance failure. It had been more than fifty years after all since the station had been abandoned. Still, none of us felt very comfortable as we drew close to the station and were even able to dock in its main hangar without issue. The sight of a very ‘distinctive’ looking shuttle also docked there pretty much proved that, whatever else might be going on, we couldn’t maintain any hope that we had somehow been the ‘first’ to get to the station.
Amy sighed.
“It looks like they beat us here. I guess there is no reason to be surprised about that.”
Looking at the very obviously ‘Eggman’ themed shuttle and considering the lead they had on us, I don’t think any of us were ready to dispute either of those points. I tried not to sigh myself.
“Well, we better just get moving then. Tails, where do the plans you guys got say we should head next?”
My buddy consulted the portable computer he had brought along with him and was about to answer me when a mechanical voice and a corridor being suddenly illuminated interrupted.
“Please proceed to the fast transit tube ‘C-67’. You have been cleared for access to the restricted section ‘ELPS’, the ‘Eclipse Cannon’ control and powering room.”
After that announcement, the voice fell silent, though the corridor, presumably leading to ‘fast transit tube C-67’, remained illuminated. We all looked at each other, suddenly understanding that our ‘easy’ entry into the station and this sudden announcement couldn’t be a coincidence. Rouge just shook her head before saying what we had all just realized:
“Well, boys and girl, it looks like we are being ‘invited’ in. Don’t want to keep the lady…and probably Tubby…waiting. Though, if it were just him, I wouldn’t mind coming back in a month or two.”
And, without looking back at us, Rouge began heading determinedly in the direction of the illuminated corridor. Meanwhile, I exchanged a last worried look with Amy, Tails, and…(yeah, as you can probably guess by now, there was no worry on the part of the last one, only a clear excitement.)...with Amy and Tails before reluctantly following Rouge.