_______________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 17
		Outpost 1
_______________________________________________________________________

	The ground was further away than it had seemed--ten feet down instead 
of the five it had appeared. This went through Sonic's head as he spun to the 
ground and landed with a grunt. To his left and right, Serena and Tails 
were also landing and rolling to break their fall.  
	"Quick, get to cover!" he hissed, and they all scrambled to the cover 
of the woods. There they all turned and anxiously watched Slasher land.
	The beam shut off a split second before she hit the ground, so 
automatically her feet whipped out and hit the ground first. At her speed, 
though, she couldn't keep her balance and fell over. She skidded for 
several feet before stopping. Her friends held their breaths as she lay 
still for about thirty seconds, motionless. Then she raised her head and 
said, "Whew! Well, that wasn't so bad." She climbed to her feet, folded 
her wings and dusted herself off. She turned and faced the little 
building, about fifty feet away.
	She had good reason to. Out of the woods stepped three ultra SWAT-
bots. They quickly surrounded Slasher. "Give us your identification," 
one of the badniks snapped. Cooly Slasher replied, "I have no identity 
to give you. I'm just passing through, and I carry nothing." A lie. 
But at the moment she was carrying nothing. The robots confirmed this 
with an X-ray scan. "Where are you going?" the same bot asked. Slasher 
hesitated, then said, "The great desert."  
	"Ha!" the SWAT scoffed. "Why would you be going to that barren 
wasteland?"  
	"Business."  
	"And that business is?"  
	"None of yours." 
	The robot didn't appreciate that. It drew it's gun and pointed it in her 
face. "Are you a Freedom Fighter?"  
	"A Freedom Fighter? You mean those puny wimps who think 
they're leading a rebellion? Ha! You gotta be kidding me." The robots 
looked at each other uncertainly. "What I'd like to know," Slasher 
continued calmly, "is why you dragged me out of the sky like that. I'm 
not a ship."  
	"We brought you in," the robot replied, "because on a radar map you 
contain more mass than a bird, and--"  
	"And so you reeled me in. I get it. Now, I would very much like to 
be on my way. And if you take me in for extensive questioning, I'll turn 
around and go straight to Dr. Robotnik."  The robots seemed intimidated, 
and consulted among themselves before answering.  
	"All right, you're clear to go," the robot growled. "If you come through 
here again, though, we'll blast you. Get it?"  
	"Got it."  
	"Good. Now scram."
	Slasher leaped into the sky and was gone. "Did she leave?" Serena 
whispered fearfully. Sonic shook his head.  "Nah. She'll get out of sight, 
then land and circle back to us. All we gotta do is wait." And so they 
did. They had waited fifteen minutes when Tails said softly, "Here she 
comes. That way."  A moment later their raptor friend glided out of the 
brush to their right.  
	"Hi, guys. Everybody okay?"  
	"Yeah, sure, we're fine," they replied.  
	"Listen," she continued, "I found the generator. It's off by itself,
behind the guardpost. C'mon, I'll show ya."
	They crept through the woods in single file, Slasher leading the 
way. They circled around the building, keeping always to the thickest 
cover, and at last came to the generator.
	It was in a big circular clearing. A huge, heavy cable ran out of 
the woods and disappeared into the side of the machine. The thing itself 
was round and flat, almost like a turtle shell. In the top was a lens 
which resembled the one in the teleporter that had taken Slasher and 
Knuckles to Hidden Palace. It was lit from within by a blue glow.  
"Ooo, bizarre," Sonic murmured. Slasher nudged him. "You're the fastest. 
Go check it out."  
	"Me?"   
	"No, I'm talking to the blue hedgehog behind you. Yes, you. See how the 
thing opens."
	Sonic shrugged his shoulders, then dashed out to the big machine.
As he walked around it, looking for seams, he was aware of a faint 
humming sound. The metal was highly polished; he could see his reflection 
in it's surface. The metal hull was completely welded together. No seams 
or weak spots. Sonic climbed up on top of the contraption to examine 
the lens. It was about two feet in diameter, and translucent white. Down 
inside it he could see a glowing blue spark--the spark inside the 
time stone. Sonic reached down and touched the lens; it was warm.  
He tried to pry it off, but the glass was inserted so firmly into the 
metal he couldn't get a fingerhold. Sonic knocked on the glass, 
then hit it. The glass was probably over an inch thick. He slid off 
the generator and ducked into the woods again.
	"It's all melted together," he told his friends. "Nobody's 
supposed to get the stone out, I guess."  
	"Well," Tails spoke up, "there's more than one way to skin a cat. 
Become hyper and bust the thing!" Sonic snapped his fingers. 
	"I just thought of something. I'll just become hyper and bust 
the thing!"  Tails smirked at him as he started to crouch down, but he 
stood back up and looked at Slasher. 
	"Won't the power of the supers and the power of the time stones--
uh--clash? What if it blows up?"  
	"Then it blows up," Slasher replied. "You're invincible. You 
should be able to handle it. Now move!"
	Sonic chafed the emeralds and became Hyper Sonic. Then he 
attacked the machine, spindashing it from every angle. When the 
metal was completely dented out of shape, Sonic leaped lightly to 
the top, and with super strength pryed the lens off. Inside, 
the timestone was held in an iron vice, it's power drained off and 
configured to form a laser beam. Sonic reached down and touched the 
machinery. Instantly a power surge rushed through, frying almost 
everything. The stone, it's power no longer directed away, began to 
glow brightly. Sonic reached down and tried to pull it free, but the 
vice held it fast. Annoyed, Sonic swung his feet down into the cavity 
and kicked it to pieces. The stone broke loose and fell to the bottom 
of the machine. Sonic reached down to retrieve it, but to his surprise 
it flipped away from him like wet soap. Sonic tried again and again 
to get it, but each time it evaded his grasp. Finally it entered his 
head to use this to his advantage, and he catapulted it out onto the 
ground.
	Sonic slid down the machine's ruptured side, became normal, then 
reached down to the stone. To his surprise he was able to grab it 
easily. Must have something to do with the supers, he thought. Then 
he held the stone above his head and shouted, "That's one!"
	Five minutes later found all four of them on Slasher's back, fleeing 
amid heavy blaster fire. As they finally got out of range, Serena 
said, "Well, we got the first time stone, but did you have to 
announce it to the whole station?"  
	"Yep," Sonic replied. Nothing could dampen his spirits; one of the 
mission objectives had been completed. "Two down, five to go," he commented. 
	"Yes," Slasher answered. "But if the others on the far side have been 
doing as well as we have, it's only four to go. I just hope they 
haven't had any trouble."  
	"Ha!" Tails laughed. "Anywhere Knuckles goes there's gonna be 
trouble."
_____________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 18
		MechWarriors
_____________________________________________________________________
	Tails wasn't far from the truth. At that moment the other Freedom 
Fighters, Sally, Roter and Bunnie, were crouching breathlessly in the 
bushes, watching Knuckles run toward them, hands covering his head. 
Behind him was another guard station, and walking out of it were two 
SWAT-bots and an Ultra SWAT. They were firing repeatedly at Knux's 
retreating back, trying to hit him squarely. They were coming awful 
close. Knuckles dropped to the ground and rolled behind a fallen 
tree. Using it for cover, he crawled into the woods, got a 
couple trees between himself and the robots, and ran to his friends. 
As soon as he reached them, Sally commanded, "Split up, everybody. 
Rendezvous back at where we parked the mechs. Let's move!"
	This was the first real opposition they had met with. They 
had landed the big freighter in an open meadow to give themselves 
enough room to unload the mechs. Disembarking four seventy-five 
ton mechs actually wasn't that hard. Knuckles just said, "VAL, 
remove cargo." Automatically the entire back half of the ship opened up, 
and there were the big machines. Each one's legs were folded beneath 
the head, and the arms were stored away neatly by themselves. None 
of the robots had fuel. To give the mechs energy they would 
have to re-fuel them, and the only difficult thing about that was 
finding the attachment that screwed into the mechs' tanks.
	While the computer fueled up the robots, the four Freedom Fighters 
released the clamps on the joints of the legs, allowing each one to 
stand up. Here was the first problem. Each mech was over thirty feet tall. 
"Gosh," said Roter, "How're we supposed to attach the arms? It'd take
 a crane to put these things together!"  
	"That's why Doc took their technology a step further," Knuckles replied 
smugly. He walked over to a compartment inside the freighter, opened 
it, and took out four things that looked like remote controls. He flipped 
one on, punched several buttons, then pointed it at one of the mechs. 
Immediately the machine moved itself, rotating until it was facing 
into the still-open ship. Two of the twenty-foot mechanical arms--which 
had recently been unpacked--levitated upward, floating toward the mech. 
Each one turned and positioned itself, and finally hovered on either side of 
the mech. Knuckles pressed another button, and the arms moved inward 
and attached themselves to the robot.
	"That 'un's ready to go," the red echidna announced as he picked 
up another remote and repeated the process with another mech. It wasn't 
long before all four robots were on-line and awaiting their pilots. 
Since they had no way to get in the cockpit directly, Knuckles had the 
VAL 9000 direct the mechs to lower the ground access lifts. Each one 
lowered a little platform from the underside of the cockpit, or the 'head' 
of the robot. Sally, Roter and Bunnie  rode them up into the cockpits 
and got themselves settled while Knux closed up the freighter and 
had it hover ten feet above the ground. Then he got in his own mech, 
and the four of them drove the mechs around the meadow for a while, 
getting the hang of how they worked and moved.
	The mechs were the type called 'timberwolf.' They averaged from 
seventy to seventy-five tons, depending on how much ammunition each 
carried. They could move up to one hundred seventy-two m.p.h., but cruising 
speed was only about 108. The robots' heads were oval, and were set into 
the square engine housing. Attached to the sides were the big arms. The 
ends of each (instead of hands) were heavy guns. And the top of the arms, 
the shoulders, sported great square missile launchers. Each leg had a 
certain amount of flexibility. There were joints where the leg attached 
to the body of the mech, the joints that flexed backward in the knees, 
and the swivel joints in the feet. Each foot had three toes; one in
back and two in front. The whole robot resembled a chicken walker, but 
sleeker and meaner looking.
	Knuckles's robot was the full seventy-five tons, for it had the 
heaviest weaponry available. Everyone else's were a bit lighter than his. 
To drive the mech, each person sat in the pilot's seat with the motion 
controls in front of them, and a big helmet on. The helmet was attached 
to the robot by a network of cables and wires. It sensed which way you 
wanted to go, and the cockpit would either swivel in that direction, or 
the mech would turn and go that way. The weapon controls were also 
automatic, so everyone made sure the personal computer was set to 
'reconnaissance' instead of 'combat.'
	Once everyone had got the hang of how to steer, Knuckles showed 
them how to get into formation, and told Sally to lead the way. "I already 
told you, I'm no good at navigating," he told her over the battle mech's 
radio. So Sally set her nav points and took off, studying the infra-red map. 
They cruised for a short while before Bunnie Rabbot commented, 
"Ah've always wondered what it'd be lahk to be ro-bo-tized completely.
Now Ah know."
	It took about an hour and a half of hunting to finally locate the 
outpost. They parked an eighth of a mile away and snuck through 
the woods to the outpost. As they hid a short distance away, Knux said, 
"Hey, I'll bet I could get us free access to the stone. I still have 
my clearance card; all I gotta do is give it to the robots."  
	"You think it'll work, Knux?" Bunnie whispered. 
	"It should. Doc won't suspect I've defected until three days from 
now. Wait here. I'm gonna try it."
	But Robotnik had already learned of Knuckles's treachery and 
had alerted all the SWAT-bots to be on the lookout for him. As soon 
as Knuckles entered the building the robots identified him and 
surrounded him. When he realized his cover was blown, Knuckles had 
attacked the robots with his spiked fists, shattering one with each 
blow. That's why there were only three left to run him off.
	And now they had joined up back at the parked mechs. "Get 
into the robots!" Knuckles commanded. "We'll be safer there." They 
all took the lifts back up into their transports. As soon as they were 
hooked up again, Bunnie asked, "Well, what the hoo-ha we gonna do now?"  
	"I don't know," Knuckles replied through his intercom. He was still 
panting. 
	"I say we use these mechs and blast 'em," Sally suggested 
aggressively. "And then we can disable the generator, get the stone, 
and get out of here."  
	"Sounds like fun to me," Roter put in. 
Knuckles considered. "All right, I'm game. Bunnie, what about you?" 
 	"Ah think it'd be a real blast to take out that there hornets nest. 
Let's do it!"
	They all switched the mechs' computers to 'combat,' and 
following Knuckles's directions, turned on 'targeting computer' 
and locked onto the building. "Now," Sally grinned, "let's give 
Robotnik a taste of his own medicine."
	They attacked one after the other. Roter went first and hit 
with pulse lasers and machine gun. Bunnie was second, and took out 
the thick front wall with light and heavy lasers. Sally came next. 
Her mech had a little of everything, so she hit with machine gun, 
light lasers, pulse lasers, and rockets.
	The outpost was a wreck by now. It was on fire from the rockets, but 
wasn't yet leveled. Knuckles took care of that. He came in last, and 
made sure everyone was a safe distance behind him. Then he stopped 
his mech before the building and let it have it with everything he had. 
His mech was armed with heat-seeking guided missiles and a PPC cannon. 
(PPC = Particle Projection Cannon.) The PPC really caused a lot of damage, 
leveling the building almost instantly. Knuckles was careful with it, 
though, for the super-heated ion blasts could easily cause his mech to 
overheat.
	He backed away a safe distance and rejoined his friends. Sally 
said over the intercom, "Well, now we gotta find the continuum generator. 
I'm gonna scout around for it."  
	"Be careful," Knuckles warned. "The PPC leaves residue radiation. 
It ain't much, but it'll harm your mech if you get too close."  
	"All right, I won't get close to the building," Sally replied. She 
opened the throttle and took off.
	The others watched her mech move around through the trees, torso 
twisting this way and that and the young squirrel scanned for the 
generator. Fifteen minutes passed and she still hadn't found anything.
 	"Try locking onto the strongest power source," Knuckles suggested. 
Silence a few minutes. Then, "Hey, I think I found it. It's over here."   
	"Where exactly is 'over here?'" Roter inquired.
	"Uh, to the north of you guys--I think."
	Knuckles turned on his sensors and located her mech. "Be there in a 
minute, Sal."
	The generator was identical to the one Sonic had destroyed, except 
it's timestone was pale green. They discovered the whole thing was solidly 
welded together. A few well-aimed laser blasts blew the contraption to 
pieces. Knux retrieved the stone, and together the four mech-warriors 
reorganized and settled into a long, cross-country tramp that would bring 
them within jump-jet distance of Copie Wright Island.
_______________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 19
		Metal Sonic 
_______________________________________________________________________
	Deep in Robotropolis, Snively had just received some bad news. He was 
manning the big receiver radio and had just gotten word two of the time 
stones had been stolen. He knew he had to tell Dr. Robotnik, but somehow 
the idea didn't appeal to him. Ivo was already in a foul mood over 
Knuckles joining the Freedom Fighters, and this last feather would surely 
break the camel's back. But Snively had to tell him.
	Reluctantly he made his way up the hall to Robotnik's office. He 
knocked nervously. "Come in," came Robotnik's growling voice. Snively opened 
the door and peeked around it. Robotnik was hunched over his computer 
terminal, typing something. It was quiet a moment as Snively worked up the 
courage to enter. The only sound was the hum of the computer and the click 
of the computer. Robotnik knew he was there, though. He stopped typing and 
swiveled around in his big chair. "What do you want, Snively?" he demanded. 
"This had better be important--I don't have time to chit-chat."
	"Oh, it is."
	Ivo watched his nephew edge into the room, Snively cringing at each step. 
	"You act like a whipped dog," Robotnik commented drily. "What is it?"  
	"I have some bad news, sir," Snively sniveled. Robotnik sighed heavily. 
	"What is it this time?"  
	"Well, sir," Snively began, nervously clasping and unclasping his 
hands, "I just got some--uh--reports from. . .um, uh, outpost two and, um, 
outpost, uh, six." Robotnik leaned forward. "And?"
	"And, well, you see, um, well, outpost two lost a stone earlier 
today, and--" 
	"WHAT?!?" Robotnik grabbed Snively by the front of the shirt and 
nearly lifted him off the floor. "How could they just lose it?" he hissed 
in his nephew's face. Snively cringed backward. "I don't know, sir, honest! 
The robots went out to check everything, and the generator was smashed and 
the stone was gone!"
	Robotnik dropped the sniveling Snively on the floor and walked to 
the window. He stared out it for what seemed like hours before he turned 
around again and glared in Snively's direction. "Did Sonic do it?"
	"They don't know, sir. They beamed me some photographs, and I don't see 
how one hedgehog could do it. It looks like it was attacked with a wrecking 
ball!" 
	Robotnik turned to his computer, logged on to Snively's and was soon 
examining the photos. "You're right, for once," he admitted grudgingly. 
"Even Sonic couldn't do that to stainless steel. What about outpost six?"
	"It's gone, sir."
	Robotnik spun around and stared at Snively. "What did you say?"
	"Outpost six is gone, totally blown away. Log on to the recon camera 
in that area. It looks like a crater."
	Ivo did so with amazing speed. He stared at the smoking wreckage as 
if his eyes would pop out.
	"Um, sir--"
	"WHAT?"
	"The big freighter, the one transporting the three mechs--"
	"Four."
	--four mechs, is missing."
	"What do you mean, missing?"
	"It's been hijacked or something. It's not in the hanger."
	This was almost too much. If not for the fact Robotnik hadn't been 
brooding over that very thing when Snively knocked, it might not have been 
so bad. Robotnik went ballistic. Since Snively was the only hurtable thing 
in sight, he became the object of Robotnik's wrath. It ended when 
Robotnik drop-kicked him through the door. The door was closed at the time, 
so exit was somewhat painful. Snively found himself lying on the floor of 
the hall, surrounded by the remains of what had been the door.
	Robotnik pressed a button on the intercom and said, "Metal Sonic, 
come to my office right away."  
	"Acknowledge."
	A few minutes later the steel-blue robot came clanking up the hall, 
but stopped at the sight of Robotnik's bleeding nephew. "Gosh, Snively," 
Mecha said gravely, "you don't look very well. Did you make another exit 
through a closed door? Don't you know it isn't good for you? I know you 
think it's fun and do it routinely, but eventually you must quit this."  
Snively's only reply was a hideous glare.
	Sniggering to himself, Metal Sonic shoved open the shattered door 
and walked in. The room was a wreck, and Robotnik was standing at the 
window again, hands behind his back. Once more the only sounds were the 
hum of the computer and a high-pitched whine. Robotnik whirled around and 
bellowed, "Snively, stop the high pitched whine! It's getting on my nerves!" 
He focused his attention on Mecha. "Are you sure they took the freighter 
with the four mechs?"
	"Yes, sir. I told you that already." 
	Robotnik looked as if he would hit him, but Mecha didn't care. He 
was made of metal, and wasn't the one who would suffer from such a blow. 
He simply stood there, awaiting orders. "Metal Sonic, have you seen outpost 
six?"
	"Recently?"
	"No. Now that it's gone."
	"What?"
	"Take a look at the computer.
	The robot turned and studied the screen with his video sensors. "It 
was done by the four mechs," he stated calmly. "My enhancement software shows 
light radiation. It is only caused by the particle projection cannon, and 
only a mech can carry PPCs."
	"Mecha, the Freedom Fighters, and possibly your namesake are in those 
mechs. I need you to hunt them down and destroy them. Leave the mechs intact 
if possible, and bring me the two time stones." The robot turned to leave. 
"Oh and Mecha," the robot paused, "if you find Knuckles the echidna, bring 
him to me. I want him alive. Go."
________________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 20
		Mecha fails 
________________________________________________________________________ 
	It was dusk at outpost three. A layer of clouds were banked on the 
horizon, so dark seemed to come sooner than usual. The SWAT-bots did a last 
routine patrol, then reported to Robotnik all was secure. All the robots 
entered the building but one. A single Ultra SWAT-bot stayed outside the 
door, scanning with sight and sound sensors.
	Suddenly, out of the dark trees a short distance away, came a 
blindingly bright comet. It sped through the air and slammed into the 
robot, splintering it almost instantly. The glowing figure was motionless 
a split second--in the darkness he was difficult to look at directly--and 
then was gone, shooting over the ground like a fiery missile. He didn't 
head back for the woods, though. He sped around the building like a flash 
of lightning, looking for the continuum generator.
	He spotted it's glowing lens. The dark enabled him to see the beam 
shooting up into the sky and vanished. "Ha! Tag, you're it!" he muttered 
through clenched teeth. He hurled himself at the machine ferociously, 
denting the steel surface inward. He skillfully directed his blows to the 
area a foot below the edge of the lens, so halfway around the glass 
shattered under the pressure. He bounded to the top of the wrecked machine, 
reached down inside it and unhooked the vice which held the shimmering 
green time stone. Then he stood up and rubbed the invisible belt strapped 
around his waist. His fiery glow faded out, leaving him nearly invisible 
in the dark.
	Snatching up the glowing stone, he considered announcing his presence 
with another yell, but Slasher had solemnly promised if he did that again, 
she would personally kill him. Sonic didn't believe her, but decided 
against it just the same. He slid off the broken machine and sped back to 
his friends.
	They were waiting for him a little ways back in the trees. Sonic 
tossed the stone to Tails, who caught it and dropped it into a little 
leather bag. They had figured it was the best way to carry the stones 
without revealing the noticeable glow. "Have any trouble?" Serena asked. 
"None to speak of," Sonic replied. "That bot never suspected a thing. 
I'll bet it doesn't even know it's off-line. Hey Slash, where to now?"  
Slasher shrugged. "I figure we should set up camp for the night someplace 
sheltered. Those clouds up there are promising snow. I spotted a good 
place a ways back--c'mon."
	They had walked the last few miles to avoid a possible tractor beam. 
This base was in the low coastal mountains, where part of the continent 
dipped down toward the ocean. It was built on top of one of the hills, 
but still had been difficult to find. Once they had located it, Slasher 
warned Sonic not to do anything stupid, for robots could pursue them a 
long ways over the open hills and light scrub forest. 
	And now they were following Slasher. She cut straight across the 
open hillsides, heading back toward the valley below them. It was not the 
first one they had entered--this one was further north, smaller, and 
with gentler mountains around it. It was mostly flat and grassy--a prairie. It
was full of game; Slasher had said she could hunt and hunt and hunt 
and never even make a dent.
	They traveled for an hour. Darkness caught up to them, and they 
were forced to use the time stones as flashlights. The four of them were 
footsore and weary by the time they reached their destination; a small 
cave in the side of a hill. The entrance was narrow, but it opened up in 
a nice sized cavern a little further in. Slasher built a small fire on 
the cave floor while the others flopped down, groaning and kicking off 
their shoes. "Gee, I'm tired," Tails complained. He rubbed his feet. "I'm 
not used to walking straight up and down hills for hours on end without 
stopping. I'd rather fly."
	"Yeah, I'd rather run," Sonic put in. "It's more fun to run and run 
and never stop. You can get going pretty fast, too. Like five or six hundred 
miles per hour."
	"Oh, knock it off, you guys," Serena interrupted. "I'm already tired 
as it is, without you guys talking about doing it again." Slasher gave her 
a sideways glance and looked away, a half smile on her face.
	The big velociraptor unstrapped her pack from her back, pulled out 
the sleeping bags and tossed them to her friends. As they smoothed out 
the places they would sleep, Slasher opened their food supplies and made 
supper. A little later, as they were eating, she said, "All right, here's 
the plan." She spread out their map on the floor before them. "The next 
place is a long way from here, about twenty-four hundred miles. I'm 
thinking it will take three days of solid flying to cover the distance. 
What do you guys think?" The three leaned forward and studied the map.
	"If we're going in a straight line," Sonic said, "we cut straight 
across the valley, brush this place marked 'unexplored region,' part of 
the Great Desert, and hit it right on the button. Are these mountains?"
	"Looks like it. See, it separates the desert from the unexplored 
part."
	"Why is it unexplored?" Tails queried curiously. Slasher gave him a 
funny look. "You'll see when we land there." Serena frowned. "I don't 
like the sound of that." Slasher looked at her. "There's a lot of things 
you won't like the sound of."
	"Huh?"
	"Some of it is tropical jungle, but the part we get to cross is the 
Forbidden Zone. There are some really weird and ferocious creatures living 
in it, who crossed over from the jungle. Most explorers don't come out 
alive. I don't want to stop there at all, but we'll cross that bridge when 
we come to it." They were quiet a while after that as everyone thought 
about that and finished eating. Then they cleaned up and climbed into their 
sleeping bags.
	Slasher was tired, but something warned her to keep watch for a while. 
She spread a blanket on the ground and lay down at the mouth of the cave. 
It was pitch black outside, and bitterly cold. The clouds had come in, 
and the darkness was promising snow to come. Slasher was uneasy. She had a 
strange feeling way down inside something was wrong. She stared out into 
the impenetrable blackness, sniffing, testing the breeze, though she didn't 
know why or what for.
	Unknowingly, she was feeling the same kind of fear Serena had on that 
afternoon in Robotropolis when she met Packbell. It was the gut-wrenching 
terror of the unknown. The raptor had only felt that kind of fear once 
before, the day she stood before Robotnik as a pup, wondering what he would 
do with her. She felt it again now. She was suddenly aware of how visible 
the mouth of the cave was to anyone outside--like a beacon shouting their 
location.
	On impulse she began to pile rocks in the cave entrance, blocking it 
in. The entry wasn't very big and she worked fast, so it only took a few 
minutes. She left a six-inch opening along the top to let in air, and held 
her head near this hole, watching and listening.
	Sonic was watching her. Quietly he climbed out of bed and made his 
way to her side. He sat down next to her and whispered, "What's up?"
	"Something's out there."
	The way she said it made the hair on the back of his neck rise. 
"What?"
	"I donno. It's something evil. And I can almost bet you it's looking 
for us. Why don't you hand me Serena's blaster rifle?" Sonic did, and 
picked up his own gun.
	"Suddenly I'm not tired. Can I stay up with you?"
	"Sure. I'd be glad for some company."
	Long into the night the two kept watch. After the first two hours the 
feeling of nameless dread left Slasher, but she remained at her post; just 
in case. It began to snow right after that, and she wondered if it could 
have been a robot. Around midnight Sonic simply lay down and fell asleep on 
the floor beside her. Before long, she too relaxed her vigil and yielded 
herself to slumber.
		At the same time, elsewhere. . . .
	"It's snowing, Dr. Robotnik. I can't search for them anymore." A 
pause. "Yes, they have the time stone." A longer pause. "No, the tracker 
didn't work. I didn't pick up anything on the stone's location. Only distance 
or solid rock can block the signal, so they must have fled." Another pause. 
"Yes, I've noticed they're hitting the generators in order. Next would be 
outpost four." Silence a moment. "No, they aren't driving the mechs. 
They're on foot. It will take them a while to get to station four, and--" 
Mecha seemed to have been interrupted. He stopped in mid sentence. "No, I 
don't know how they took out two, three and six on the same day. They 
must be split up--one group on foot and the others in the mechs." He 
paused. "And no, I don't know how they got from two to three so quickly." 
He stopped again. "No doctor, I don't know who we're dealing with. The 
SWAT-bots here never saw a thing." Metal Sonic heaved a deep, robotic sigh. 
"Yes sir, I'll go to outpost four and wait for them. Do you want them dead 
or alive?" He paused, then replied, "Acknowledge. Only Knuckles the echidna 
is to be brought back alive. Anything else? Very well. Mecha out."
	Metal Sonic clicked off the radio and pounded his robot fist into 
his other hand. "Well?" asked the person standing behind him. Mecha turned 
around. "Packbell, my friend, we get another chance to exterminate these 
Freedom Fighters once and for all. Dr. Robotnik only wants Kunckles."
	"Yes," agreed Packbell, "and he doesn't have to be in good shape, 
either. What about Sonic?" Packbell had hardly spoken the first syllable 
of Sonic's name before Mecha struck him across the face. It knocked him 
down. As he cowered on the floor, one hand pressed to the red mark on his 
cheek, Metal Sonic spat, "Don't ever mention his name in my hearing again, 
do you understand?" Packbell hurriedly nodded.
	"When we find him," Mecha continued, turning away and acting as if 
nothing had happened, "he is mine. I don't want anyone to interfere when 
I have him in my grasp. You and your U-SWATs can take care of the rest, 
but HE is mine." There was murder on the robot's face as he abruptly walked 
out of the room. Packbell watched him go. He wasn't surprised at his 
companion's actions. He hated Sonic, too, but hatred didn't begin to describe 
Mecha's feeling for him. Mecha hated Sonic because Sonic was the original 
and he was only a cheap copy. If Sonic was dead, Mecha would be the only 
one. And now Mecha might have a chance to destroy his rival.
	Packbell envied his friend a little, but he knew Sonic was smart. 
This is why, although Sonic and his evil replica were bitter enemies, Sonic 
didn't hate Mecha as Mecha hated him. Hatred eventually kills the one who 
bears it, be he human, hedgehog or robot.
	"That will be one heck of a battle," Packbell muttered as he strode 
out to the awaiting transport. The shuttle would carry both robots to base 
four. And it was there they hoped to nail the Freedom Fighters once and for 
all.
________________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 21
		The MechWarriors again
________________________________________________________________________
	Thirty-six hundred miles from outpost three was outpost seven. It was 
built on Copie Wright Island; the biggest volcanic island on Mobius. The 
crater in the center was no longer active and half of it had collapsed or 
eroded away, leaving a crescent ridge like the letter C, the reason for it's 
name.
	The outpost on it was hidden somewhere in the dormant crater. It's 
generator was powered by the biggest of the time stones, the blood red one. 
It easily contained half again as much power as the rest put together, and 
for this reason was well protected.
	The four Freedom Fighters in their mechs were going to make an assault 
on it.
	The night it snowed on their friends in the valley to the west, they 
set up camp on the beach and slept on the ground, surrounded by the parked 
mechs like huge sentinels in the night. The next morning they were ready to go.
	At dawn they boarded the mechs. Roter calculated the distance from the 
island against the available jump-jet fuel, and figured they could cross the 
twenty miles of ocean with some to spare. "Good thing," Sally commented. "I 
wouldn't want to crash in the ocean with seventy-odd tons of metal around me." 
Knuckles pointed out the kind of jets they had were 'skimmers,' not 
'jumpers,'which was a good thing. 'Jumpers' launched you straight up into the sky, 
and you had to rely on momentum to get anywhere. 'Skimmers' rocketed you 
over the ground at  a tremendous pace, and were generally better for 
covering distance swiftly.
	Knuckles took the lead, as usual. He headed inland a short distance, 
then turned his mech and charged toward the ocean full tilt. As his mech's 
feet splashed in the shallow water, Knuckles punched the jump-jets. The 
others were impressed to see the bright yellow flames spurt from the back 
and legs of his mech, lifting it out of the water and propelling it 
forward.
	"All right," he said over the all-mech radio, "Bunnie, you're next. 
Don't go too deep in the water, and don't run into me. Remember, everybody, 
the mechs are more than thirty feet tall. Don't sink so low your feet 
drag in the water, or you'll get pulled under."
	"Alraht, mister know-it-all," Bunnie broke in. "Ah've got sanse. So 
does ever' body else. We won't do none of them there thangs."
	"I know. I'm just making sure you haven't forgot or something."
	One by one the Freedom Fighters took off over the ocean. The twenty 
miles of ocean would take some time to cover, so they sat back and enjoyed 
the ride. Everyone kept an eye on the fuel gauges for a while, but it was 
obvious they would indeed make it with fuel to spare. Usually heat would 
have been a problem, but Robotnik had installed automatic fans to cool the 
jets before they got dangerously hot.
	"Hey Knuckles," Sally called over the intercom, "did Robotnik build 
these robots himself, or did he get them somewhere?"
	"These are from earth," Knux replied, "only, they aren't from right 
now."
	"I beg your pardon?"
	"Doc wanted to see what the time stones could do before he started 
the continuum, so he went to earth. He used the stones to time-warp, and 
arrived there in the thirty-first century. These mechs and others are used 
in warfare. Doc bought four of them (he couldn't steal any without being 
found out and killed), and brought them back to Mobius. He spent several 
years upgrading them and adding stuff. . ." He paused. "I was his test pilot, 
and that's why I'm sorta bossy about driving them."
	The four of them lapsed into silence and concentrated on steering the 
mechs for a while. The jump-jets were eating up the distance like mad, and 
the island came into sight. At first it looked like a low grey cloud on the 
horizon, but gradually became larger and more distinguishable. One side of 
it towered into the sky in a needle-like ridge, bare and rocky. The stone 
cliffs met the ocean on one side, and dropped into the heavily forested 
hills on the other. Most of the island was carpeted with the thick, jungle 
growth, presenting a forbidding, rather unwelcoming spectacle. 
	"There's no way that island could fly," Knuckles muttered aloud. 
"Totally off balance--mass on one side rather than centered, not even 
the right shape!"
	"What are you talking about?" Roter inquired. "Who cares if an 
island could fly or not?"
	"I just think about it every time I see a new island," Knuckles 
replied, slightly embarrassed. "Comes from being raised as guardian of 
Floating Island, I guess."
	"Who's taking care of your island, anyway?" Sally asked.
	"My friends, the Chaotix. They can handle the island for a few days."
	"You actually trust them enough to let them?"
	"Sure. You wouldn't be here if you didn't trust me, would you?"
	"Well, no. . ." 
	The island was coming up quickly now. The side facing them bore a 
wide, sandy beach--perfect for landing.
	"All right, everybody," Knuckles commanded, "ease up on the jets. Don't 
stop, just slow down." 	They all followed his lead, coming up on the right 
and left fifty feet apart. The huge robots touched down on the shore, the 
huge, heavy feet sinking into the sand and making it fly as they moved 
forward. After a few steps, everyone stopped and awaited Knuckles's orders.
	Knux was scanning the island with radar, looking for the generator and 
not finding it. It took him ten minutes to scan the hundred-mile island. 
At last he sighed and said, "I can't find anything that even resembles 
buildings. "It's probably in the volcano's crater, where my scanner can't 
reach. What do you guys find?" It was quiet a few minutes as everyone 
scanned as Knuckles had. All came up with negative reports. "Rats," the 
echidna hissed into his microphone. "I guess we'll have to look for it 
manually. Do we stick together, or split up?"
	The question was a controversial one. It was safer to stick together, 
but they would cover more ground if they split up. In the end they decided 
to split up. They would all stay half a mile apart; far enough away to feel 
alone, but close enough to maintain radio contact.
	They had only been on the move a little while before somebody 
commented on the rough terrain. Jagged lava floes formed impassable cliffs 
and steep, rocky hills. Crumbly black sand streaked the beaches, and 
tropical forest wove an impenetrable wall against the mountainside and cliffs 
further inland. It looked somewhat like Hawaii--a Hawaii that had never 
been tamed or inhabited.
	For hours the group worked their way over the island, fighting the 
mechs through jungle growth that sometimes dragged the powerful robots to 
a halt. Whoever's mech had been snared would have to climb out and pull or 
cut away the vines and things entangled in the metal feet. This was a hot 
and laborious job, for the vines were as strong as iron cables and didn't 
break easily. It was a rather cool day, but the bright sun was irritatingly 
hot to someone hacking through jungle growth with whatever was handy.
	The day passed quickly. That evening they parked on the beach, all 
four of them worn out and discouraged. After they had eaten a lukewarm meal, 
talk turned to the other group, somewhere in the heart of Mobius. "How do 
you suppose them all be gettin' on?" Bunnie asked.
	"Aw, they're probably all right," Knuckles replied. "They got Slasher 
with 'em. And you're safer with Slasher than with a whole army of these 
mechs." He gestured to the robots parked further down the beach, black, 
mechanical shapes against the orange sunset.
	"I wish we had radio contact with them--or with Knothole," Sally 
sighed. "I don't like the feeling of being cut off from everybody." She 
brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked out at the quiet ocean. "I wonder 
if they have any time stones, yet."
	They sat in silence a moment, each one alone with their thoughts. Roter 
wondered aloud, "I wonder where they are right now?"
	"Probably en-route, if they haven't made camp already," Sally said. 
"They've got a lot of ground to cover."
_____________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 22
		Mecha Sonic strikes
_____________________________________________________________________
	The other group was indeed still en-route. Slasher was trying to 
cover as much ground as possible before the sun set and it was too dark to 
fly any more. The sun gradually sank into the west, staining the sky red 
and orange. They were over the Forbidden Zone, and none of them wanted to 
land.
	But hunger and fatigue drove them from the sky at last. They made 
camp near a meadow with a clear stream flowing through it. Slasher scouted 
around a bit and pronounced their camp reasonably safe, but all of them were 
a bit nervous, anyhow. 
	In spite of that, they all managed to sleep quite soundly--exhaustion 
took care of that. They were all up bright and early the next morning, and 
were in the air within the hour.
	"Look," said Slasher, the plastic-coated map in her clawed hands. "We 
covered a good hundred and sixty miles yesterday. If we can do the same tomorrow, 
we'll be there some time tonight."  
	"Is that good?" Serena asked. She was sitting at the very back, with 
Sonic and Tails in front of her. 
	"Yeah," Slasher replied. "It means I won't be completely bushed by 
the time we get done with this."
						* * *
	All day both groups traveled. The Freedom Fighters in the mechs 
tried to work their way further inland, but were rebuffed by the sheer 
cliffs and thick undergrowth in their way. At last it was agreed they 
would have to circle the island on the beaches and enter the crater through 
the collapsed section. But since they had already spent half the day trying 
to enter the wrong way, they didn't cover more than a few miles before dark.
	Slasher's group, on the other hand, were only twenty miles from their 
destination when dark set in. 
	It had been dark for two hours, putting it around eight o' clock. 
The largest of the two Mobian moons had just risen, and Slasher was reading 
the map by it's light. "According to this," she said softly to Sonic, "we 
should be right above it." 
	"Good," Sonic replied. "Nobody else heard you. They're both asleep."  
	"Mm," Slasher answered. "I won't drop straight down, then. We can circle 
until we reach the ground, and maybe we can spot the outpost from the air." 
	Slasher banked sideways and began to glide downward. After they had 
lost a thousand feet, Slasher said, "Hey Sonic, look. There's Little Planet; 
over there, a fist away from the moon. It's just rising." Sonic looked. A 
rare sight, the tiny planet which orbited Mobius coming into view, it's 
land mass dark green, it's ocean aquamarine blue. Usually it's orbit was 
unpredictable, as it skipped through time once a day, although it appeared 
annually over Never Lake, further north. "A bad sign," Slasher said quietly, 
almost to herself. "We shouldn't be able to see it. It's unprotected without 
the stones--it can't warp." 
	They sank into silence. For some reason, Sonic's thoughts turned to 
Serena. How he felt a strange attachment to her, even though she sometimes 
drove him crazy. He thought of how much like Tails she was. His mind traced 
back to the time she went into Robotropolis with him and got lost, and how 
helpless she had been under Packbell's stunner. As he thought about it, he 
sensed something strange--something he had noticed and discarded as 
unimportant. What had it been? It had seemed odd at the time, too. . . 
something somebody had said. He couldn't quite remember, but like things of 
that nature, he was determined to pin it down if it took all night. Sonic 
thought and thought, replaying the event over and over in his mind, looking 
for the key word, element or phrase that didn't fit.
	It came to him like the chime of a bell on a clear night. Packbell had 
said, "You wouldn't let anything happen to your sister, would you?" Sonic 
had been so caught up in the excitement of the moment he hadn't noticed, 
and neither had Serena. Sister? Sure, Serena looked like him, and Packbell 
could probably be excused, but it had been pretty spur-of-the-moment. Well, 
when in doubt, ask. He leaned forward, around the nodding Tails. "Hey Slash," 
he whispered in his friend's ear. 
	"What?"
	"I got a question."
	"Fire away."
	"The other day, when we got the maps and Packbell beat up 'Rena, he 
called her my sister. What did he mean?"
	Slasher twisted her head around sideways and looked at him with one 
green eye. "What did he say?" Her tone was deadly serious.
	"He said, 'You wouldn't let anything happen to your sister, would 
you?'"
	Slasher looked ahead again, mind spinning. So, her earliest suspicions 
had been confirmed by a slip from Packbell. The pieces fell into place. 
Serena looked like Sonic. She could run like he did and had his stamina, 
though it wasn't quite as developed as his. She could think on her feet. 
She could spindash. (No hedgehog but Sonic could spindash.) She had his sense 
of humor. The only thing that didn't fit was her age. She was younger then 
Sonic, but older than Tails. This put her at twelve or thirteen. I'd have 
to dig into the local genealogy records to make sure, she thought, but it 
seems awful close to be a coincidence.	
	Sonic was waiting impatiently for an answer. "Well? What did Packbell 
mean?"
	"I donno, Sonic," was Slasher's lame answer. "But I think, and there 
might only be a slim chance, that she could be your younger sibling."
	Sonic's hold on her back relaxed so suddenly she thought he had fainted. 
A backward glance revealed him to be sitting up straight, staring ahead 
without seeming to see anything. "Sonic, are you okay?" It was a moment 
before he answered faintly, "Y-yeah, I'm cool." Then he gripped her tightly 
with his hands and knees. "Slasher, do you think she--she--she might--might 
possibly--"
	"Be your sister," Slasher finished for him.
	"Yeah. Do you think she might?"
	Slasher knew his hopes were rising quickly, and wanted to dim them 
without dashing them to pieces. "Well, Sonic," she said cautiously, "I'm 
only saying she _could_ be, not that she _is_. We'd have to trace your 
genealogy to be sure."
	Sonic was quiet a moment. "All my life I thought my only relative 
was Uncle Chuck, and he's robotized. It would be so. . .so wonderful. . .
to have a sister. . ." He twisted around and looked at Serena. She was 
nearly sound asleep, slumped forward with her forehead pressed against 
his back. "You might be," he said softly. 
	"Don't tell her," Slasher said sharply. "It might lead to one heck 
of a misunderstanding."
	"Or it might not," Sonic added. "I don't like this 'might' and 'maybe' 
stuff. I want to know!"
	He lapsed into silence. Slasher continued to glide downward, eyes 
on the landscape, mind on her passengers. Below them was a small range of 
thrust-fault mountains. They looked like great slabs of rock had been 
shoved up at odd angles, creating the folded look. "Earthquake central," 
Slasher murmured to Sonic. As he leaned over her neck to look down, she 
said quietly, "That region was thrust up by a volcanic reaction not too 
long ago. The ancient maps of Mobius don't show it at all."
	"But there's trees and stuff growing down there."
	"I know. Stuff'll grow in thirty years."
	"I happened thirty years ago?"
	"Uh-huh. And it's still under constant geologic upheaval. I'm surprised 
Ivo was able to build any sort of base at all."
	"And we get to land there."
	"Yup. Keep your fingers crossed we don't encounter any major 
earthquakes, either."
	"Either?"
	"Yeah. I've got a feeling this base is going to be waiting for 
us."
	The words were hardly out of Slasher's mouth when there was an orange 
burst below, and a surface-to-air missile whizzed past her left wing. 
"Yipes! What did I just say? They're trying to shoot us down!" Serena and 
Tails both awoke with a start. "Whassamatter?" Tails whispered. "Surface-
to-air missile," Sonic replied. "Hold on." Slasher dove sideways and another 
missile shot by. "Hang on, guys," she called back. "I'm starting evasive 
maneuvers."
	She wove left and right, then went into a long, spiraling dive that 
sickened her riders and wrenched their limbs. Red streaks lit up the night 
as someone fired at them with a heavy laser, but Slasher was steering a 
drunken course across the sky and extremely difficult to hit.
	Then she folded her wings and dropped like a stone into a grove of 
trees. It couldn't be called a forest, really; just scrubby oak trees and 
tall brown grass. They landed in it as softly as Slasher could. The group 
tumbled off her back. As the two hedgehogs and fox lay where they had 
fallen, Slasher crouched over them on all fours and let her wings drape 
down. "They'll be looking for us," she whispered to them. "Our lives depend 
on our silence, so hush."
	The four of them lay there for what seemed like hours, trying to 
quiet their noisy breathing, listening for any sound that might mean 
their capture. For a while they could hear the metallic voices of SWAT-
bots as they scanned the area, but time and again the scans missed them. 
	At last the robots moved on and it was safe to breathe again. Slasher 
lifted her narrow head high, looking around cautiously. "Good," she murmured, 
"we're relatively safe now." She moved aside, letting the others sit up. 
Sonic's hands went to his belt. "Want me to get the stone now?" The big 
raptor shook her head. "No, not yet. If you get it we'd have to run, and 
I'm too tired to fly like that again.
	Slasher flopped down on the brown grass. "I have to rest a few 
minutes. Keep an eye out for trouble. If anything happens, wake me up, 
okay?" And she was out like a light. Tails stared at her. "Gosh, I didn't 
think Slasher ever slept!" Sonic shook his head. "Me neither. But she 
did just cover twenty-four hundred miles in two days, and that's a pretty 
long distance. Even for me." Tails yawned. "Anybody care if I crash, too?" 
Sonic and Serena nodded their ascent, and Tails lay down and was asleep 
in a moment.
	Serena got up and moved a few feet away to sit at the base of a 
gnarled old oak tree. She drew her knees up to her chest, wrapped her 
arms around them and looked up at the starry sky. Sonic came over and 
sat beside her. "What's up, 'Rena?" She didn't answer him for a few minutes, 
just continued to stare up at the sky. Without moving, she said softly, 
"When Robotnik captured our village and I escaped, I decided I would 
look for my older brother." Sonic felt the urge to gasp loud and long, 
but fought it and outwardly remained calm. Serena went on quietly, "I 
went to every village, every Freedom Fighter band I could think of or 
find, asking if they knew about my brother. Nobody had heard of him. 
Knothole was my last chance to find him." She paused. "And I haven't 
even thought about asking about him. I got sucked into the whirlwind 
of events and totally forgot." She turned and looked at Sonic. "So I 
want to ask you, have you seen my brother?"
	Sonic had to swallow several times before he got control of his voice. 
"How old is he, and what does he look like?" Serena gave Sonic an odd look. 
"What's the matter with you? Your voice went squeaky all of a sudden." 
Sonic shrugged, and she went on, "I think he's only a year or so older 
than me, and I heard somewhere I look a lot like him." Sonic thought, 
I'm a year or so older than you, and you closely resemble me. Aloud, he 
said, "Well, there ain't that many hedgehogs around, and I haven't seen 
any that match that description." Serena sighed with disappointment and 
looked down. "Bummer. I guess he must be dead or robotized, then." Sonic 
gazed at her searchingly and muttered, "I'll bet you're closer to him 
than you think." She jerked her head up and looked at him. "Huh?"
	"Oh, nothing."
	They were both quiet for a while, thinking their separate thoughts. 
Serena was thinking about her brother, and Sonic was thinking about his 
sister.
	Gosh, I'd like to ask her some more, but I'd slip and say something. 
I wish I knew for sure. I wonder if she is. . . .Heck, I'm sleepy all of a 
sudden. . . . 
	He was suddenly so sleepy he couldn't hardly keep his eyes open. His 
thoughts drained away in a blur, and his muscles went slack. It was all he 
could do to keep from collapsing as he lay down. As he gave in to his fatigue, 
he wondered vaguely why he was so tired. As he sank into slumber, he thought 
he heard a soft, distant voice saying, "That's it, Sonic. Just give in. . .
go on. . .fall asleep. . . ."
	Serena watched him with a feeling somewhere between curiosity and alarm. 
"Man, I didn't think he was THAT tired," she murmured. She looked around. 
Everyone was asleep except her, and she felt wide awake. "Strange," she 
muttered, and lay down with her back to Sonic's and her face to the tree 
trunk. But after fifteen minutes, she was no closer to sleep than before. 
She knew the best way to fall asleep is to stop trying, so she sat up and 
gazed out at the quiet landscape. The night was silent--no crickets, no 
wind, nothing. Nothing but the brilliant stars above and the grey, 
dead grass.
	There was no telling how long she sat there, but after a long time 
she heard a voice. "Serena," it said. It seemed to come from inside her 
head and was oddly distant. She looked around. "Huh?"  "Hedgehog," the 
voice said again. "Who are you?" she whispered. The voice was familiar, 
somehow. . .
	"Serena, listen to me. Your life and the lives of your friends are 
in grave danger. To save them you must go to the outpost."
	"The--the outpost? But won't I get captured?"
	"It is a risk you will have to take. Even now your friends will not 
awaken. Go to the rear entrance of the guardstation if you wish them to 
wake up alive."
	Not quite believing what the voice said, she reached over and shook 
Sonic by the shoulder. "Sonic, wake up!" He didn't respond. "Sonic!" She 
shook him again, but he was so deeply asleep he couldn't feel her. Alarmed, 
she got up and went to Slasher, then Tails, but it was the same with both of 
them.
	"You see," the voice purred, "they are completely powerless. Go to the 
outpost if you want to save them." Serena was starting to freak out. She 
decided to do what the voice said, but she took her trusty blaster pistol; 
just in case.
	She made her fearful way through the little grove of trees, heart 
leaping at every sound. She hated to leave her companions, but it seemed 
she had no choice. The outpost was only five hundred yards from her starting 
place, but it seemed like miles. She made her way over the rocky, rough 
ground, stumbling over loose stones and wishing the other moon would rise 
so she would have more light. It was deadly quiet.
						* * *
	Inside the low oblong building, Packbell and Metal Sonic were 
standing before an odd-looking, box-like machine. Packbell was holding a 
microphone plugged into it's side. "She fell for it," he was saying, "hook, 
line and sinker. This little mind controller works like a charm, Mecha."  
"Yes," Metal Sonic replied coolly. "The fox and dinosaur were already asleep, 
but S-Son--the hedgehog was a little more difficult. I would prefer to be 
the one at the microphone, but my voice is not as human as yours is." 
Packbell checked a screen on a nearby computer console and said, "She is 
circling the building."  "Excellent," Mecha growled. "Prepare her 
reception."
						* * *
	Outside, Serena had spotted the rear entrance and hesitantly made 
her way over to it. As she lifted her hand to the doorknob, the door clicked 
and swung silently inward. The voice in her head said, "Go in. Ahead of 
you is a short hall. Walk down it five paces and turn right." Serena did 
so. The building was completely dark. If the lights had been on she would 
have seen the two U-SWATs standing on either side of the door. They studied 
her as she followed her instructions. "You are facing a door," the voice 
said. "Open it and enter." Serena lifted her hand and felt for a doorknob. 
Finding none, she pushed against the door. It swung inward into a pitch-
black room. The air was stuffy and held a taint of exhaust--something was 
in there. She stood in the doorway, straining to see or hear whatever it 
was. "H-hello?" she called uncertainly. "I'm here."
	Something moved. It was soundless, but she sensed it and drew her 
pistol. A cold hand instantly closed on her wrist and yanked her into the 
room. As the door swung shut the lights came on. The dim light showed her 
to be in the same room as Packbell and Metal Sonic. Mecha had her by the 
arm. "Drop your weapon," he said smoothly, "or I'll crush your limb into 
putty." She let the gun fall to the floor. Mecha snatched it up, pulled 
her around so her back was against his chest, one metal arm holding both 
of hers to her sides, his other hand pointing her gun in her face. She 
fought and struggled, but it was like being in a straight jacket. 
	Packbell picked that moment to say, "Welcome." She recognized his 
voice. "You! I knew I'd heard your voice somewhere before!"  "Yes," Packbell 
replied drily, "but it doesn't really matter. We have you, now."
	"What was all that about saving my friends?"
	"A clever ruse, concocted to bring you here. With our brain-belt 
device, we can do just about anything to anybody we want. Your three 
friends are deeply unconscious, and even as we speak a patrol of SWAT-bots 
are going to retrieve them--and the time stones."
	"NO!" What Serena did next amazed her afterward. She ducked down 
through Metal Sonic's arms, grabbed one of his hands with both of hers, 
swung him up and over her head and let him fly straight into the brain-belt 
machine. He hit it back-first, driving his metal spikes through the 
protective aluminum shell and into the machinery. The contraption went 
dead, and as Mecha fought to free himself, Serena plowed into Packbell.
						* * *
	Sonic snapped awake. He snapped upright, rubbing his eyes and trying 
to think clearly. His mind was full of haze; his thoughts jumbled. But as 
he sat there his brain re-oriented itself and he remembered falling asleep. 
" 'Rena, what hap--'Rena? Where are you?" He stood up and looked around, but 
she was nowhere in sight. " 'Rena!" he shouted, then noticed a big group 
of robots coming toward him through the trees. He turned to Tails and Slasher. 
"Wake up, guys!" he called, shaking them. "Serena's gone, and we've got 
company!"
						* * *
	Packbell threw his little attacker off with a powerful swing of his 
arm. She landed on her feet in a half-crouch, eyes flaming, looking like a 
caged wildcat. The android had half a notion as to what her next move would 
be, so when she spindashed he ducked behind the wrecked machine. Serena 
slammed into it sideways, knocking Metal Sonic loose. "Get her!" Packbell 
called hoarsely. "She's gone mad!" Mecha scrambled to his feet and jumped 
at her, but Serena side-stepped his lunge and tripped him with a well-placed 
foot. She ducked in time to avoid a heavy blow from Packbell and spindashed 
again. This time she hit him squarely, and they tumbled to the floor with a 
thud.
						* * *
	Outside, the SWAT-bots sent to capture the others were having serious 
trouble. Tails and Slasher were blowing them away with their blasters, and 
HyperSonic was attacking in his own high-speed way. After a few minutes the 
robots had fallen, and the group had a chance to get their bearings. 
"Where's Serena?" Slasher asked, head count coming up one short.
	"I donno; she was gone when I got up."
	"Then you can bet she's been captured. Let's go!"
	Tails swung up on Slasher's back as the raptor began her smooth, 
gliding run. Sonic took one step and was gone, shooting over the ground 
like a bright comet.
						* * *
	Packbell and Serena were battling it out on the floor in kind of 
a wrestling match. Mecha was looking on, stunner ready, but he couldn't 
fire for fear of hitting Packbell.
	Serena's young body was charged with adrenaline, and she was uncommonly 
strong. She didn't seem to feel her opponent's blows;  didn't even try to 
block them. Her blows were light and fast, aimed always at the android's 
face and head. Packbell knew Sonic had told her how to disable him, and 
finally succeeded in throwing her off. A hard kick in the stomach sent her 
skidding across the floor and into the far wall where she slumped over, the 
breath gone from her lungs. "Shoot her, shoot her!" Packbell yelled at Metal 
Sonic.
						* * *
	Sonic arrived at the front entrance and found it locked. With his 
super strength he yanked the doorknob, ripping the hinges loose. The door 
fell forward, and Sonic kicked it aside and entered. He was greeted with 
blaster fire from three angles. The lasers bounced off his chest and hit 
the walls with an explosion of sparks. Sonic leaped forward and recklessly 
tackled the three SWAT-bots, felling them like dead trees. Then he paused 
and listened. In the sudden quiet he could hear yells, thumps and crashes 
coming from the rear of the building. "I'll bet that's where 'Rena is," 
he muttered, and took off in that direction.
						* * *
	Mecha fired. The stunner shot a weak blue blast that knocked Serena 
over on her side, but didn't effect her in the least. The blue robot furiously 
pounded the butt of the pistol in the palm of his metal hand. "Arrgh! The 
power cells are going dead!" He suddenly froze and stared at the door. 
"Sssonic," he hissed. He leaped forward, grabbed up Serena and backed into 
a corner of the room.
	Hyper Sonic hit the door running. It swung open and slammed into the 
wall as Sonic stood there, his glowing body casting a good deal of light 
into the dimly-lit room. He took in the room's condition at a glance; it 
was a mess. There was a machine in the middle that had four large holes 
dented in it, and rising to his feet from behind it was Packbell. His usually 
immaculate clothing was wrinkled and mussed, his hair tousled. He was 
panting slightly. "Packbell!" Sonic exclaimed in surprise. "What are you 
doing here? Where's Serena?"
	"Sonic!" Serena cried from the corner of the room. Sonic turned, 
then froze, his eyes locked on Metal Sonic. 
	"Mecha!" 
	Metal Sonic was standing with his metal legs braced and one metal 
arm pinning both of hers to her sides, but the other was pressed to her 
throat, the sharp edge ready to kill her at a moment's notice. "Hello, 
rival," Mecha said coolly. "Don't move, or your sister dies."
	"Sister?" Sonic and Serena exclaimed at the same time.
	"Don't give me that," the robot snapped. "You know very well who she 
is."
	There was silence a few seconds. "What do you want?" Sonic asked at 
last. "Need you ask?" Mecha replied. "Hand over the time stones." Sonic 
hesitated, trying to come up with a bright idea, but he couldn't seem to 
think with Serena's helpless gaze fixed on him. "Let her go first," he 
snarled. "No," the robot answered, "for you would grab her and escape. 
Give me the time stones first." Sonic considered it. There was nowhere for 
Mecha to go, and there would be a split second before he killed his prisoner 
in which Sonic could act.
	"All right," Sonic answered smoothly. "My friends have it." He pulled 
out his ever-present radio, flipped to channel blue and said, "Slasher, 
Tails, this is Sonic. Come into the outpost; I've taken care of all the 
SWATs. Come to the back room, and come _slowly_. Over and out." He clicked 
it off. "I don't carry the time stone--my friends are afraid I'd lose it."
	"You only have one?" Metal Sonic questioned guardedly.
	"Yes, the one I got from outpost three."
	"Who took out station two?" It sounded as if Mecha really wanted to 
know. Sonic acted surprised. "There's a station two? Bummer, we missed one! 
We'll have to go back!" He snapped his fingers. Mecha said drily, "It has 
already been raided and it's stone stolen. Funny, but the generator looked 
like it had been attacked with a wrecking ball; much as did outpost three."
	Sonic didn't answer him, for Slasher and Tails walked through the 
door, saw Packbell, Mecha and Serena and stopped dead. "Tails," Sonic said 
without turning, "give me the green time stone, the _only one we have_." 
Tails caught his drift and replied, "Are you sure? We only have that one."
	"Just give it to me."
	Tails reached into the little bag that hung around his neck and slowly 
pulled out the green gem. Wordlessly he handed it to Sonic, who became 
normal before taking it. He fondled it in his hands, as if reluctant to 
give it up. "Hand it over, hedgehog," Mecha demanded impatiently. Sonic 
tossed it to him. The robot caught it and dropped it into a holding compartment 
on his side without a word. "Give me the other one," he growled. "I can see 
through your foolish ploy; give me the red one as well."
	Sonic shook his head. "No, I told you we don't have it."
	"Then your sister dies," Mecha smiled. 
	Sonic crouched. "So much as touch her and I'll destroy you."
	"Perhaps," Mecha replied, "but I can be rebuilt, and her condition will 
be irreversible." Mecha seemed to be thinking. "It seems we are at an 
impasse. I will not give up my hostage, and you will not give up the 
stone. I am not foolish enough to kill her, though, she is far too valuable 
to exterminate so quickly." The robot stared at Sonic. "Perhaps you would 
respond to a different form of persuasion."
	"What does that mean?" Sonic asked cautiously, glancing all around 
the room as if expecting sudden attack.
	"Look, hedgehog, and behold my weapon!"
	Metal Sonic swung Serena away from before him, exposing the opening 
in his belly his high-speed engines required to suck in air. The opening 
was not dark as it usually was, but contained a bright blue glow.
	Sonic didn't seem impressed. "The blue chaos emerald. So?"
	"Your insolence angers me, Son--Son--hedgehog. I will now depart and, 
as they say, hold your sister for ransom. The ransom is, of course, the 
other time stone. I will give you seven days to find my location, then I
 will kill my prisoner." Mecha held Serena against him and powered up, 
using the emerald. "Sonic!" Serena cried. "Don't let him take me! He'll 
kill me!"
	Sonic knew the power of the chaos emeralds, and it was healthier 
not to interfere with an active one. But he wasn't going to just stand 
by and watch his enemy depart. He rubbed one hand across his emerald belt 
to become hyper, then dove at Mecha, hoping to grab the emerald and/or his 
sister before it was too late.
	Metal Sonic was glowing a cold blue by now. Usually teleporting was 
instanious, but he had to charge more when carrying a prisoner. As Sonic 
leaped at him, Mecha lashed out with one metal foot. Invincible steel met 
invincible flesh with a crash and Sonic hit the floor, stunned. "Fool!" 
Metal Sonic laughed, and charging complete, he teleported, fading into 
thin air like a mist. Sonic grabbed at him, but his hands encountered only 
empty space. Mecha and Serena were gone, he knew not where. "No!" he cried 
despairingly. He stared at the spot they had been, then turned and wildly 
looked around. Slasher and Tails were still standing there, looking very 
helpless. He also saw Packbell slipping out the door behind them. 
	"Hey, don't let him go! Get him!"
	The three of them charged after the escaping android. Slasher got to 
him first and attacked with all four feet and a ferocious raptor scream. She 
got him down and held him until Sonic got there. Sonic was furious. 
"Packbell," he said, standing over him, "I feel like I've done this before. 
Where did Mecha go?"
	"To tell would be cheating," Packbell smirked.
	"It's only seven days to search the whole planet, Packbell. It's not 
fair, and I don't intend to let my little sister be murdered. Where are 
they?"
	Packbell looked away smugly. "I told you, I'm not telling." 	
	Sonic bent down and placed both hands on the android's chest. The 
energy flowing from the super emeralds coursed downward into Packbell's 
body and straight to his robotic power core. Sonic stared into Packbell's
 contorted face, teeth bared and eyes narrowed. "I'll short circuit you, 
jerk, and we'll disassemble you and scatter your parts through the woods.
 _Tell me where Mecha took Serena!_"
	Packbell thrashed and struggled, but Slasher had his arms and Tails 
had his legs. "Let me go!"
	"Tell me first!"
	"No! No! No! I'll never tell you!"
	Sonic removed one hand from the android's chest and gripped his belt 
with it. His glow intensified, and the whirling energy stars got faster 
and brighter. Packbell yelled, "Stop it! It hurts!"
	"Tell me!" 
	"No!
	"TELL ME!"
	"NO!"
	"TELL ME, YOU STUPID, CUSSED ROBOT!"
	"NO! I'LL NEVER TELL YOU A THING!"
	The two were screaming.
	"You know," Slasher interrupted, tired of the noise, "we _can_ make 
you tell. When you finally break down, we can plug you into a computer 
and drain your memory banks. We CAN make you talk, like it our not." She 
was bluffing, sure, but it scared their prisoner.
	"Arrgghh! All right, they went back to Robotropolis."
	"Liar!" Sonic shouted.
	"They did, honest!"
	"Right," Sonic snorted, "how honest have you ever been, Packbell?"
	The android named several other places, and each time Sonic saw 
through him. The longer Sonic continued to shock him, the weaker Packbell 
became. His voice was slurred as he whimpered, "I can't take it anymore. 
Metal Sonic went to outpost five. He figured you'd never look for him 
there."
	"Is that right?" Sonic's tone said he was still skeptical.
	"It's the truth, I tell you!" Packbell screamed. "Stop, please! I'm 
shutting down. . . ." The android's voice faded away, his eyes closed and 
he collapsed to the floor, to all appearances, dead. He wasn't, of course; 
simply off-line for the second time in three weeks.
	Sonic stood up and de-charged himself. "I guess we're off to outpost 
five, then. How far is it, Slasher?" The big raptor let go Packbell's arms 
and stood up. She pulled out the map and measured. "About a hundred sixty 
miles to the south of us." She looked at Sonic and Tails and grinned. "If 
Knuckles and the others have done their job, five is the last one. Speaking 
of which, we need to get the stone from here."
	They had the place all to themselves. With no fear of reinforcements, 
they took the liberty of exploring it from top to bottom and figuring out 
how the generator worked. It opened in the way you'd expect with a solid 
shell--the outer hull screwed down into the ground, and the machinery in 
the center lifted five feet into the air on a platform. Sonic stood at it's 
control console and fooled with it distractedly, his mind on other things, 
opening and closing it from inside. Then he flipped through the various screens, 
skimming through the incomprehensible data. One screen caught his attention. 
It was a chart on how well the continuum was being maintained. The graph showed 
a relatively level line near the top for three fourths of it, then zig-zagged 
toward the bottom of the chart. Interested, Sonic dug deeper into the different 
outposts and their performances. "Hey Slasher, Tails, come an' look at this!"
	They had been messing with other things in the control room, but now 
walked over and looked over his shoulder. "Lookit this," Sonic exclaimed. 
"We took out station two and three, right? Look at six!" His friends stared 
at the radar map. "Is--is it still there?" Tails asked. 
	"Gosh!" Slasher exclaimed, "it's gone! It's been totally leveled!" She 
reached around Sonic and hit a few buttons. It brought up a satellite view of 
the base and they all stared at it. After a few minutes of stunned silence, 
Sonic said, "Well, we could safely say Knuckles led a successful attack against 
that one. Look at seven, too; the one on the island." It was the same, except 
it was still on fire.
	"Well," Tails commented, "six down, one to go. Let's snag this`n's 
time stone and head for outpost five. I can't stand the thought of poor 
Serena in the clutches of Metal Sonic."  
	"Yeah." At the thought of his enemy Sonic's face hardened. "If he harms 
one hair on her head he's gonna regret it, bigtime." He turned on his heel 
and strode out of the building. Slasher and Tails followed and found him 
unscrewing the big lens to get at the stone. It was orange. He tossed it to 
Tails, who put it in the bag. Then they headed beck to where they had landed.
	It was nearly morning by this time, and a chilly dew covered 
everything. They retrieved their packs, then eyed Serena's with sorrow. 
Sonic shouldered it without a word and asked Slasher how soon they could 
get to outpost five. The big raptor looked up at the sky, then at Sonic 
and Tails, gauging their weight against the time and distance. "Normally 
it would take two to three hours," she replied thoughtfully, "but I am 
weary from my last flight. I can reach it by noon if I push myself, but 
I will be so tired I won't be able to stand up." She looked at Sonic. 
"Your call." Sonic considered. He had a feeling he would need his friend's 
strength and abilities, but he was intensely worried about Serena. "Do 
what looks best to you, Slash," Sonic said to her at last. "I'm gonna need 
your help." Slasher bobbed her head, then crouched and let them climb on 
her back. She bowed low, her hindlegs winding up like springs, wings opened 
slightly. Then she sprang into the sky. She had a feeling she had a long 
hard flight ahead of her, but she set her teeth, ready for the challenge. 
This flight was to rescue one of her friends, and she would give everything 
she had to get Serena free.
______________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 23
		A MechWarrior battle
______________________________________________________________________  
	The other group of Freedom Fighters knew nothing of what had happened 
on the mainland to their friends. Their night had passed quietly, the only 
interruption being when Knuckles sat up and hissed to the  loudly snoring 
Roter, "What was that? Did you hear that weird sound just now?" Roter lay 
awake for hours, listening, and the others slept soundly.
	That morning, as their distant friends set out on a rescue mission, 
the group climbed into their mechs and set out once more for the more 
accessable west side.
	The crater of the volcano was shaped like a bowl, sloping down in the 
center to about fifty feet below sea level. It was grown over with the lush 
jungle vegetation, and criss-crossed with countless muddy streams. The 
robots had a hard time getting through and were forced to go very slowly to 
avoid entanglement. As they blazed a trail through the woods, everyone 
scanned for any sort of building. They had gone quite a ways before Sally 
spotted it. "Yes!" she squealed, "I've got it! To the west, nav point Delta." 
Almost at once everyone located it. "I'm getting readings on a big underground 
shelter," Roter said excitedly. "This has gotta be it."  "Raight," came Bunnie's 
voice. "I'm on the far side`a it. Why don't y'all circle around thataway, and 
we'll surround this here base."
	Carefully they moved into position, coming from the north and west so as 
not to catch each other in the crossfire. They all parked as soon as the base 
came into sight. "All right," Knuckles ordered, "try to find the generator. I 
want to locate it before blasting the base." Everyone was quiet for a moment, 
eyes on the scanner screen. And then they all spoke a simultaneous, "Oh-no!"
	The generator was built into the roof of the building. They couldn't get 
the crystal out without shooting the generator, and the noise would alert the 
robots inside. They couldn't destroy the building, either, without losing the 
stone, too.
	They were all quiet, studying the situation. "Anybody got any ideas?" 
Sally asked after a minute. Roter and Bunnie responded with no, but Knuckles 
took his time about answering. "Yeess," I think I might," he said slowly, 
eyes locked on the building. "What?" everybody wanted to know. 
	"I think this mech is tall enough for me to glide to the roof," he said. 
"If I took a pistol, I could blast open the machine and get the stone out 
without alerting any robots. Then I could glide back as far as I could, jump 
in my mech and we could head out. Sound workable?" 
	His companions considered it, and although it sounded rather dangerous, 
it seemed as if it might work. "All right, I'll go in," Knux said. "I'm taking 
my portable radio with me so you can tell me if my cover is blown. I'm going--" 
he grabbed his radio, "--going--" grabbed his blaster, "--gone!"
	He lowered the ground lift so he could get back in the mech again, then 
clambered out on top of the cockpit. From there he again analyzed his position. 
He slung his radio and blaster over his shoulder, stretched his arms out 
in front of him, and jumped off the mech. His friends stared as, defying 
gravity, he glided through the air toward the low-lying building. "How does 
he do that?" Roter muttered to no one in particular.
	Knuckles landed lightly on the flat roof of the outpost and made his 
way over to the domed surface of the generator. The metal was hot to the 
touch, but he put this down to sitting in the hot sun all morning. Carefully 
he climbed up on top of the metal contraption and stared down at the smooth, 
featureless lens. It's whole surface was lit from within by a deep red glow. 
"Red time stone," he thought. "I wonder how thick this glass is?" he reached 
down and touched the glass--and was thrown off the machine as if he'd touched 
a ten thousand volt wire. "Gosh," he thought as he picked himself up, "that 
thing's kinda charged." He climbed up on top again, wondering vaguely what 
would happen when he touched the crystal itself. He drew his blaster and 
hesitantly touched it to the lens. The weapon vibrated but other than that 
nothing happened. He pulled the trigger. The blast chipped the glass a little, 
but otherwise didn't harm it. He moved the gun down, pointed it at the place 
where the glass met the armor and fired again. The glass cracked a bit. Knux 
fired again and again, slowly moving all the way around the lens. When he 
had nearly reached his starting point the lens shattered into a jillion pieces, 
revealing the biggest time stone he had ever seen. It was twice as large as 
the one they had already retrieved, and was the color of blood.
	Knux set his teeth, reached down and touched the stone. Nothing happened. 
Relieved, he unfastened the clamp that held it and pulled it out. It was heavy, 
he noticed. He held it above his head for two seconds, letting his friends see 
he had it, then tucked it into and empty ammo pouch on his blaster strap. 
Mission accomplished. He walked to the edge of the roof and glided off the 
edge.
	He was twenty feet from the outpost and ten feet from the ground when 
a searing pain ripped into his back, between his shoulderblades. He jerked 
with the sudden pain and lost his glide. As he tumbled to the ground, the 
sound of laser blasts echoed in his ears. He automatically rolled under a bush 
and lay still, breathing heavily and trying to make sense of what had happened. 
"I've been shot," his mind screamed. "Shot in the back with a laser." In the 
back of his mind he was surprised it didn't hurt more. He gingerly felt his 
back with one hand. To his relief, it wasn't very deep at all--more like a 
shallow, bloody gnash. "It grazed me," he thought.
	Knux grabbed his radio and clicked it on. The first thing he heard was 
Sally's voice yelling, "--get out of there! Knuckles, can you hear me? Three 
U-SWATs are coming to get you! Run! Get to your mech!" He turned it off and 
grabbed his rifle. He pulled himself to his knees, aware of the blood trickling 
down his back and the dull, throbbing pain. He waited until he eyeballed the 
robots and let them have it. Then he leaped to his feet and fled to his mech.
	 As he buckled himself into the pilot seat, he could hear his friends 
over the intercom. 
	"Is he all right?"
	"I think so. He made it to his mech."
	"Are you sure? I could almost swear he was shot down!"
	"Knuckles, are you okay?"
	He snatched up the radio. "Yeah, I'm fine. It only grazed me. Now lets 
take out this mess of robots and get out of here! I'm bleeding."
	What followed was like a scene from 'Mechwarrior 2.' All four mechs 
attacked the outpost at the same time. But no matter how much they blasted, 
the SWAT-bots and and Ultra SWAT-bots kept pouring out of the base like a 
swarm of insects. The robots were attacking as soon as they emerged, some 
ducking behind the building for cover, others scrambling into the woods. The 
weapons they carried were heavier than any portable blaster the Freedom Fighters 
had ever seen.
	"Move out!" Knuckles shouted suddenly. "I'm gonna use PPCs and wipe out 
these jerks!" The others scattered as he locked on target. "Weapon loading, 
please wait," the computer said. Knuckles did, setting his cross-hairs on the 
side of the building. "Weapon ready in seven, six, five--" The robots had 
stopped moving around and all was still. "--three, two--" Then the biggest 
robot Knuckles had ever seen stepped out of the complex, whirled around and 
faced his mech. It was over eight feet tall and looked like a mech, itself. 
One of it's arms was a huge, built-in cannon of some sort. Smoothly the robot 
raised it's gun, aiming at Knuckles. "--one. Weapon ready." 
	Knux squeezed the trigger and felt the robot jerk backward as the 
brilliant blue bolt streaked through the air and hit the building with a 
terrific explosion. Green and yellow flames burst out of the blast like 
liquid, consuming everything they touched. The outpost, needless to say, 
was toast.
	As it's destroyer watched the flames with satisfaction, he saw a dark 
shape appear, outlined against the flames. His mouth dropped open as he saw 
the gigantic robot stride out of the carnage like Terminator, red-hot but 
unhurt. It was then the indicator light began to flash in the control panel. 
"Warning, enemy has established lock," the computer said calmly. "Warning, 
enemy has established lock. Warning--" In his mind, he heard Robotnik's 
voice from his days of testing. "Watch out; when the computer says that, 
you'd better run or fight, or that'll be the last thing you'll ever hear."
	Suddenly panicky, he drew a bead on the robot and fired with machine 
gun. The bullets hit and bounced off. He fired again and again, but nothing 
seemed to hurt it. It kept coming. Unnerved and desperate, Knux opened the 
throttle to run. He turned right, broadside for the moment to his enemy. He 
glanced out the side window in time to see the robot again raise it's gun.
	It fired molten plasma. As each super-heated charge hit the mech, the 
computer began to say, "Critical hit: engine. Critical hit: gyro. Critical 
hit: auto eject. Heat level critical." Knux stared at the control panel in 
horror, a dawning realization beginning to form. If the mech was destroyed, 
without auto eject, he would be killed. "No!" he cried, pounding one hand 
franticly on the controls. "No! This can't be happening!" The awful feeling 
of terror was suddenly replaced by fury. He turned the mech around so 
abruptly it almost fell over. He ran directly at the robot, aware of the 
flames licking across one side of the cockpit, and the growing heat coming 
from that direction.
	"Fine, you got me," he snarled at it, as if it could hear him. "I'm 
good as dead. But if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" He slowed down 
and timed the rise and fall of the mech's feet so one of them would land on 
the robot. "Seventy-five tons should take care of you--" As the mach passed 
over the robot he felt the vehicle sway a little. "Ha! That should leave you 
deeply impressed!" Indeed, the robot was now a flattened metal pancake in 
the bushes.
	Knuckles turned the mech and headed back into the open, one despairing 
eye on the heat gauge. He spoke into the intercom. "Hey guys, the 'bot got 
me," he said to his friends. "My mech is about to blow up; stay away, okay?" 
He could hardly believe he was saying this.
	"What about you?" Roter asked. "Eject!"
	"I can't--auto eject is damaged."
	"So you're just going to die with your robot?"
	"I don't have a choice. I can't get out."
	"Hang on, then; we're coming!"
	"No, stay away! It'll blow your mechs, too!"
	They wouldn't listen, he knew. Knux covered his eyes with his hands 
and leaned his elbows on the control panel, shielding his face from the heat. 
He didn't want to see the flames licking across the windshield. He didn't 
want to see the heat gauge rising into the red levels. Vaguely he wondered if 
it would hurt very much, and what would happen to the Floating Island without 
him. Another thought struck him--he had the last two time stones in his mech. 
Would they be destroyed as well, and what would happen if they did? The 
computer interrupted his thoughts. "Shut-down sequence initiated." A few 
seconds later, "Shutting down." The sounds of the engines quieted as the mech 
went dead. "Any time, now," Knux thought, feeling sick.
	Over the sound of the burning robot around him, he heard the metallic thud 
of another mech approaching his. He was broadside to it. He turned and looked 
out the window, raising one arm to shield his eyes from the intense heat. 
Through the orange flames and blackening glass, he recognized Roter's mech. 
One of it's arms raised and aimed at his mech. He had a split second to see 
a white spray shoot out one of the openings in the end, then the mist 
covered that window and he couldn't see out anymore. There was the hissing 
of the fire being extinguished as the white chemical smothered the burning 
hull.
	His portable radio crackled to life and Roter said, "Don't worry, 
Knux. It's almost out." Knuckles grabbed his radio, relief and gratitude 
flooding through his heart. "How are you doing that?"
	"My robot has a tank of all-purpose fire retardant. I thought you 
knew about it."
	"Yeah. Of course I knew about it--I just forgot. Oh man, thanks a 
million!"
	"No problem. Hey, you're practically leader anyway. Is your mech 
still running?"
	"No, it shut down a couple seconds before you showed up. It'll come 
on again when heat is back in the green range. You know, any other mech 
would have blown up by now."
	"Yep. You're saved by Endo steel." 
	Fifteen minutes later the control panel lit up. The computer went 
through it's regular power up information. "Planet: Mobius. Local 
temperature: seventy-four point two degrees. Local time: One zero three 
PM. All systems nominal." Knuckles grinned as he put on the control helmet 
and grasped the controls. "Boy," came Sally's voice over the intercom, 
"your robot looks pretty beat up. Does it still work?" Knuckles twisted 
the mech's head to the right and looked at hers, a short distance away. 
"You bet it does. Now, lets beat it before re-enforcements arrive."
_______________________________________________________________________
	Chapter 24
		In which Knuckles does something dumb and nearly pays with 
		his life 
_______________________________________________________________________
	The triumphant group fell into cruising formation and headed out 
of the volcano's crater. This time, Knuckles took the lead. He had been 
examining his infrared terrain map and discovered an easier way out. The 
map took away all his excuses for not being able to lead; it was a motion 
map. That is, it showed the location of his mech as a green dot which 
slowly moved through the blue outlines of the map. "Any idiot could follow 
this," he thought to himself. There was a wide path through the mountain 
that opened up on the beach. And following the beach around to the side 
of the island facing the mainland would be no problem.
	Somebody brought up the problem of not having enough jump-jet fuel 
to make it back. Knux assured everyone his mech was carrying a gadget that 
would convert regular mech fuel to jump-jet fuel, so they still had more 
than enough to make it home. Everyone relaxed--until Knuckles did something 
stupid.
	The clear, wide path Knux thought he had found turned out to be a 
narrow pass over the ridge. It had a sheer cliff wall to the left and a 
deep canyon on the right. It was wide enough for one mech at a time to 
walk over it, if the pilot drove slowly and carefully.
	Sally insisted on going first to make sure it was safe. She 
maneuvered her robot over the dangerous hundred feet without a problem, 
and stopped on the far side. "Whoever comes next," she warned over the 
radio, "be careful to hug the wall. The drop is really far, and I don't 
think the edge is very strong, either. Just don't hit the side of the 
cliff."
	Roter went next. He made it over all right, his only scary moment 
being when his mech's left arm brushed the cliff face and rocked him 
toward the drop-off. But he recovered and joined Sally on the far side.
	Bunnie went third. Like Roter, she got a little too close to the 
wall in avoiding the edge of the drop, but she too made it over without 
incident.
	Knuckles was last.
	He walked his mech out on the pass and was half-way over when he 
got curious about how far down the drop really was. He should have went 
all the way across, parked and came back on foot, but he thought he could 
do it in his mech. He turned and walked it very slowly toward the edge. 
"Knux, what are you doing?" Sally asked nervously. 
	"I want to see how far down it goes," he replied calmly. He tilted 
the cockpit downward to look, but he wasn't yet close enough to see over 
the edge.
	His companions held their breaths and they watched the robot take 
one more step to the very lip of the precipice and look down. "Wow," came 
Knuckles's voice over the radio. "It's like, really, really deep. Maybe 
half a mile."
	"Yeah," Bunnie snapped, "now, get away from that there edge before 
you gives me a heart-attack!"
	"Okay, okay," Knuckles replied. "Whassamatter, 'fraid I'm gonna fall?" 
As he spoke he punched the mech into reverse. The mech moved backward, 
away from the edge, and his friends sighed with relief.
	Then Knuckles made his mistake. He mis-judged the distance between 
the edge and his mech. He stopped and turned, intending to continue his 
path across the pass. As the robot turned, it's right foot fell dangerously 
close to the edge.
	The rim of rock was weakened by the mech's weight. As it's foot fell 
there again, the rock crumbled beneath it. Knuckles felt the robot jerk 
toward the edge and begin to fall. A cold dagger of fear shot through his 
heart as he grabbed the controls and struggled for balance. The robot clawed 
at the ground for a second and seemed to steady itself. Knuckles was panting, 
a cold sweat broken out all over his body. That was too close! He could 
hear his friends all talking into their intercoms at the same time, their 
voices frightened, words blurred together. They all seemed to be saying 
the same thing, though--get out of there!  
	He very carefully activated the idling mech and stirred forward, 
his heart thundering in his ears, cold fear of what might happen tingling 
through him.
	Oh, the treachery of it! As his mech moved, it's shifting weight 
crushed what little support the edge had left. The rest of the ledge beneath 
his mech crumbled and caved in, falling into the deep chasm below. As the mech 
tilted sideways, Knuckles was able to look up through the windshield at the 
ground far below, frozen with a sort of fascinated horror. As the mech began 
to topple slowly, every so slowly, over sideways and upside-down, Knuckles 
was aware of the undeniable fact--he was going to die, and his friends 
could not help him this time.

Part 3 completed.