"WHITE OUT"

[(C)Copyright 1999 by the author, David Bringen. Permission is granted to
reproduce part or all of this document, providing that no changes are made to
the text, and that the author is attributed.]

["Sonic the Hedgehog", "Mobius", and "Dr Robotnik", along with all depictions
and likenesses, are copyrighted by the Sega Corporation. "Sonic the Hedgehog",
"Princess Sally", "Bunnie Rabbot", "Rotor", and all character and place names
used in this story (with the exception of "Dragonhelm" and "Kom Dai"), along
with all depictions and likenesses, are copyrighted by DiC Productions, under
license from the Sega Corporation.]

[Author's note: I wrote this story in 1994, and five years later, while
cleaning up an old directory, ran across an undeleted copy of it. The story is
set in the continuity of the cartoon series "Sonic the Hedgehog" that
originally aired Saturday mornings on ABC television from 1991 to 1992. This
particular story could take place during or shortly after events from the
second season. It has no connection to the continuity now depicted in the
Archie comic book of the same title.]

The lone figure appeared through the blowing snow and eternal glare as if from
nowhere, a dark blotch, struggling against the wind. The figure stopped. The
wind calmed for a moment. The curtain of snow parted, revealing the figure
standing before some pole-like metal fixture. After a moment the swirling white
clouds rose up, swallowing the scene. The figure reappeared again, only for a
moment, to disappear into a hole that opened and closed like an eye winking.

Sonic and the others flinched as Rotor hurried through the door, wind and snow
struggling to rush in behind him. He closed the heavy door. Slamming it.

Rotor hurried to the center of the room, pulled off his gloves and blew on his
flipper-like fingers. "Reading's about the same." He was panting. "Minus thirty
three. Wind at about seventy knots." He blew again and tucked his hands under
his armpits.

"Thought you loved this kind of weather."

"I'm too thin for this, Sonic. You guys keep putting me on diets. Don't have
enough of a fat layer to stay out for too long. Besides, my folks are from the
south pole. Sally, did you --"

"Yes, Rotor. I'm writing it down now."

Rotor glanced at Sonic, who shook his head warningly. "Okee dokee." He gulped
in and blew out another breath of warm air. "I wonder why the people who
designed this place didn't build a double entrance?" He waddled over to the
stove and muscled Bunnie out of her position. "C'mon. You're already warm. Give
a guy a chance."

"It's these metal limbs," Bunnie said. "Fast as I warm up, they let the heat
right back out again."

"I know. I should have finished that insulating covering for you before we
left. Sorry."

"Not blamin' you, Sugar. Just a little frustrated that every time I try to go
out, my joints keep freezin' up ... literally. You all should have brought
somebody else on this trip."

"Yeah, right." Sonic snorted. "Who? Antoine?"

"Well, now, maybe Dulcy. That ol' dragon's fire breath would come in handy up
here."

Sally sounded tired. And not happy. "She's not a mature dragon, Bunnie. Her
wings still ice over in this climate without another dragon to aid her. You
were the best choice. I just didn't realize at the time that your robot arm and
legs --"

"Now don't start beating yourself up, Sally-girl. I swear, if the sun rose in
the West tomorrow morning, you'd think it was purely your fault."

"None of us is built for this kind of weather. Nobody is. We must have been
nuts to agree to come here." Sonic came over to the princess. "Sal. I hate to
do this to you, but --"

"I know, Sonic. It's been eighteen hours. And I agree, we can't stay here
forever."

"I know you want to meet up with these Kom Dai --"

"I don't know if we do or not. All I know is that both Ari and Lupe remember
hearing about them, and my father had them on his list."

"With a question mark."

"Nobody knows anything about them."

"And Nicole ..."

"Time-locked file."

"Gee, how did I guess that."

Rotor looked over his shoulder at them. "I thought the King only put time-locks
on files he didn't want you to see until you come of age?"

Sally shrugged. "Who knows."

"Well, if he did --"

"If he did, so what? Who knows what my father thought was 'sensitive
information'? Something about the Kom Dai? Something about Mobius' history? Or
something in our family history he wanted to keep private? Something about
Mobian politics that Daddy happened to mentioned in passing, so he locked the
file? You can't say."

Rotor turned back to the stove. "Just a thought. Sorry, Sally."

Bunnie bunched in back alongside Rotor. "Give a girl a little space here, will
you, hon?"

Sally put a hand to her forehead. "And without Nicole here, I couldn't check on
the files if I wanted to."

Rotor spoke without turning his head. "The dragons specifically said that you
weren't to bring her along. Anyway, with us up here, Nicole belongs back in
Knothole, helping Antoine and Uncle Chuck keep things running."

"Well, until the Kom Dai decide to show themselves, all we can do is wait."

"You already said it, Sal. Can't wait forever."

"Maybe this is a test, Sonic. Of our patience, or of our commitment."

"Commitment, I got. Patience -- sorry. Let's just name a day and a time, Sal.
If these wannabes haven't dropped in to say hello by then -- we're history.
Their loss."

Sally slowly stepped off one full circuit of the main room, her arms crossed.
Finally she sighed. "All right. Twenty four hours."

Rotor turned and waddled back towards them. "In the meantime, we're getting
some great meteorological readings."

Sonic yawned and patted his open mouth.

"Sure, you're bored. But there's so much about Mobius' environment we're only
starting to learn. Information like this --"

"Makes a great sleeping pill. Sorry, Rot', I know you and Uncle Chuck thrive on
that sort of stuff. But this hedgehog needs action. Mind if I go out to check
the perimeter?"

"Again?"

Bunnie turned their way. "Sugar-hog, ever since we got here you have been more
nervous than a three-legged cat at a dog convention. What's gotten into your
feed, anyway?"

"I don't know, guys. All I know is I feel like I'll go crazy if I don't do
something. I can't stand still up here."

"Well, you could check on the --"

By the time Sally had begun Sonic was already through the door. He was a
hundred yards away from the compound when he finally heard the slam of the door
he had swung shut behind him.

The air cut through him like a knife of ice. The sun glinted off the crusted
snow, stinging his eyes. For now, the wind had died down, leaving the frozen
landscape in utter silence. Sonic's feet hummed in that silence. His
extraordinary sneakers gave him traction on the hostile surface, leaving behind
a thin track of melted ice as he sliced his way across the ground.

He stopped at the edge of the grounds. For no reason that Rotor could offer,
there was a sharply defined border between the outpost and the arctic desert
beyond. The snow inside the perimeter was sunken and packed. The snow outside
blew dry and loose, strewn in rolling drifts like sand dunes. Sonic turned back
to face the weather station itself, a makeshift building of white clapboard and
siding, so frail and alone in the frigid midday sunlight.

The wind was picking up again. The air was so cold Sonic had to fight to suck
it into his lungs. Once he would started running, the energy that coursed
through his body would protect him again. He picked a direction and started to
rev up.

The ground shook and stopped. It happened so fast that Sonic wasn't even sure
it had happened. He looked quickly at the station. It didn't seem to be
damaged. No one was running out into the snow.

The ground thumped again under his feet. Sonic jumped back and circled around
the spot. He couldn't see anything unusual. Some effect of the extreme cold? He
became aware of a soft, high-pitched whistle. Wind? No -- more like a dog
whistle, or maybe --

The snow on the ground where he had been standing suddenly exploded upward into
the air. Startled, Sonic fell back. The snow shot up like a powdery water
spout, then gently rained back down, like white ash. Sonic stepped forward
gingerly and looked down.

The ground at his feet was ice, clear to a depth of several feet. That, Sonic
knew, wasn't natural. For a single block of clear ice like this, you would have
to start with pure water, and let it freeze all at once. He caught a glimpse of
something, a flash, deep down. A diffuse patch of greenish color, almost
fluorescent. Now there was another sound, a dull rumbling noise growing beneath
his feet. Again Sonic heard the whistling threat.

Sonic turned and raced out over the tundra. A moment later another bang sounded
behind him. He took half a second to cover another thousand or so yards, then
turned to look back.

Another "fireball" of snow had stopped rising and was now starting to shower
down. Sonic could make out his companions, dark dots in the distance, in front
of the weather station. They must have come out in response to the
disturbances.

Sonic paused to catch his breath. Suddenly, he was exhausted. Whatever had been
keeping him on the move the last few hours must have finally worn off. The cold
was digging into him. He was far out on the arctic cap, far from the outpost.
Suddenly he was alone, cold, and tired. And scared. What had just happened?

Sonic's toes were starting to ache from the cold. He picked up his feet and
forced himself to start back. As he cleared the tundra and neared the outpost,
he felt his spirits returning, and felt the cold disappear. That was better. He
whipped around his friends and shot into the station, braking to a stop in
front of a laboratory bench. He leaned back against a pile of white lab coats
sitting there. He waited, grinning, as the others filed back in. Bunnie,
bringing up the rear, closed the door behind her. Slamming it.

Sally glared at him. "Sonic! What were you doing out there?"

Sonic stopped smiling and regarded her. "It was nothing I did. What'd you guys
hear?"

Rotor walked up to the bench Sonic was standing beside. "Like two loud rifle
shots. At first I thought it was tremors."

"Can you get earthquakes at the north pole?"

"I honestly don't know. But Bunnie happened to be looking out the window at the
time, and saw a couple flashes of light."

Sonic looked at Bunnie. "What color?"

"Color? I don't know. Blue, I think. No, wait. Green."

Sonic nodded. "Green was what I saw."

"Anyway, Bunnie started out to see what was going on. That's when we caught
sight of you running, and saw that snowspout go up."

"Snowspout?"

"Whatever you want to call it. The snow went up straight into the air, then
rained back down."

Sonic nodded again. "Folks, my word of honor. I was just minding my own
business when things outside went crazy."

"Was there anything else?"

"A sound. Kind of like a dog whistle."

"Dog whistle. Hm."

"Oh, why couldn't I have brought Nicole along!"

"May not need her, Sally. There's seismographic equipment in the labs here.
Maybe I can get them operating again."

"Maybe whoever it was who lived here abandoned this place during an
earthquake."

"I don't think so, Sonic. That would have destroyed the station, too. And this
building's built pretty solid, even if the decor leaves something to be
desired."

"You still don't think it's funny; we've got a deserted outpost here, fully
stocked, everything in place, but no people around."

"Oh, it's odd, but I don't see any big mystery here."

Sonic shook his head. "Yeah, well, I can't shake this feeling that we've walked
into the middle of 'Tales from the Crypt'."

Sally folded her arms again. "We sent out a general message, letting everyone
know that we wanted to meet with the Kom Dai. Word finally came back from
Dragonhelm. The Kom Dai were willing to meet us, at a place and time of their
chosing, and the dragons would take us there."

"And this is the place. An abandoned weather station. We don't even know whose
it was."

"Well... whoever the people here were, we have some clues from what they left
behind. They were pretty much human in size and shape. I don't recognize the
writing in the journals we've found, although it looks a little like the
syllabary the Wolf Pack uses. Maybe Lupe's people could read it. Or Nicole
could translate." Sally made a face. "We'll take a sample back with us."

"Pretty much human." Rotor was scratching his chin. "You know..."

"What?"

"Just a thought, Sonic. Let me work on it. Meanwhile I'll go fiddle with those
seismographs." He waddled off, humming to himself. Sonic and Sally exchanged
looks and shrugs.

"I wish I could share Rotor's sanguine attitude toward this place."

"I hate it, Sal. The place looks like it was just suddenly abandoned, like the
people up here were stand around one moment, and then the next -- poof!"

"You heard Rotor's explanation. When their assignment wound up, they left in
such a hurry that they just left all their supplies behind."

"You buy that?"

"Or they were going to come back and pick up later, and never got around to it.
Or they left everything on purpose, for the next crew scheduled to work up
here."

Sonic hugged himself. "Well, I guess I can believe they'd ditch this place
tood' sweet. If I had half an excuse I'd be off like a rocket myself."

Sally rolled her eyes. "When has not having an excuse ever held you back."

Sonic flattened his palm on his chest. "'Squeeze me? I am a paradigm of caution
and patience."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'paragon'."

"Paragon, paradigm, pair o' deuces. All I'm saying is --"

Bunnie, huddled over the stove, shook her head without turning around. It was
the same old same old. The two of them might as well have been married already.
Their "discussion" went on another quarter of an hour, dancing around half a
dozen topics, with neither party yielding an inch. Bunnie revised her opinion.
The marriage wouldn't last six weeks.  Not until those two oversized egos
learned how to have a dialogue ... Then she heard Rotor coming back into the
room, and turned around.

"No tremors." Rotor was walking back up the quarrelsome pair. He looked over
his shoulder at the lab room he had just left. "Man, it's spooky."

Sonic looked perplexed. "No tremors is spooky?"

"No, no. I mean the lab..." He turned back to them. "Anyway. All I had to do
was power up the displays. The detectors have been on all along -- probably
been going since the crew up here left. No signs of earthquakes in the general
area."

"What about locally?"

"Locally, Sally, there were a couple of signatures -- two small peaks, which
I'm guessing are what Sonic saw and what we heard outside. And some sort of low-
level ... well, almost an audio frequency hum."

"Like what?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say, like machinery running."

Sonic was waving Sally quiet. "Back up, back up. What's spooky?"

"Oh ... I don't know." Rotor looked uncomfortable. "Just the idea that ... the
equipment has been running all this time. The batteries should have run out
long ago, but they're still fully charged. It hadn't really struck me before,
but ... now it does feel like this place was abandoned suddenly, like the
people inside were caught off guard by something."

Sally held her hands up. "But you said everything looked fine to you!"

"When we first got here, yes. But now that I've used their equipment ... And
there's the rooms with all the personal effects still in them, all the unused
supplies we've found --"

"And _you_ said that they were probably so eager to get out of here --"

"I know what I said, Sally. Now I'm not so sure. I don't think they abandoned
this place. I think something got them out before they were prepared."

"Oh, peachy." Bunnie wrapped her arms around herself.

"Look, Rot' -- there's no sign of any kind of trouble. Nothing's broken,
nothing's smashed up, no blood stains or mangled bodies anywhere --"

"Sonic, don't."

Rotor shrugged. "Maybe they had to bail and never got a chance to get back
in."

Sonic grunted. "Alive."

"Stop it, you two! You are giving me the willies."

"Sorry, Bunnie. But there's something weird going on here."

Sally drew herself up. "So we all take extra precautions and be alert for
anything out of the ordinary."

"Sal. You suppose ..."

Sally waited silenty for Sonic to finish.

"... you know. That this whole thing is some sort of a setup."

"You mean a trap."

"Maybe."

"No. I can't see the Kom Dai doing that."

"You can't."

"No. From what we do know of them, they are extremely secretive and suspicious.
I can't picture them steering us to one of their own buildings to sit and wait;
it would be too much of an invasion of their privacy."

"So this isn't one of their main shopping malls. Doesn't mean it can't be a
trap."

"Sonic, the Kom Dai used the dragons to get a message to us. Whatever they're
like, you think they'd be foolish enough to use the dragons as their dupes?
Dragons do not take kindly to being deceived."

"Well now, you know, Sally-girl, something you said a little while ago makes me
wonder."

"What, Bunnie?"

"I think you said that maybe our waiting here all this time was some sort of
test of our patience and commitment."

"Oh. Yes."

"Just suppose now that this really is a test. Only not the kind of test you
were thinking about."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe these Kom Dai fellers do know something about this ol' haunted house ...
and are waiting to see how we all are going to handle it."

Sally stared off into space for a few moments, then roused herself, shaking her
head. "Between you, Sonic and Rotor, I'm not going to be able to sleep for the
next week."

Rotor grunted. "You're an insomniac. You never sleep anyway."

Sonic rested his fists on his hips. "Look, guys, we stay on our toes, we give
these Kom Dai dweebs another twenty four hours to show up --"

"Twenty three".

"_Fine_. Twenty _three_ hours, and then we're outta here. And Sal's right. If
any of us sees anything weird or out of place, we hold a pow-wow on the spot to
re-think. Agreed?"

Rotor pulled himself erect and put his hands behind his back. "Now then,
Bunnie. I have a little present for you."

"Well, I am touched, Sugar. Where is it?"

"Got it right here." He went around behind one of the benches and started
rummaging. "It was Sally who gave me the idea ... where'd I put ... oh, yeah
... and when she said ... wait, here they are ... so I thought --"

He stood up, his arms loaded with packages, loose rags, and a roll of what
looked like plastic food wrap. "Here we are!"

"Hm. Intriguing, I must admit. What is it?"

Rotor dropped the load, reached down, and pulled up one package, beaming.
"Panty hose!"

Bunnie watched him. "Panty hose."

"There must have been a couple of females stationed up here, of different
sizes, and that means we have several different sizes of panty hose to work
with, all of them for humans, so they're bigger than the size you take."

"I see. Now, Rotor, honey, you wouldn't be letting us in on some little private
fetish of yours, would you?"

"What? Oh, no, no. See?" He ripped one package apart and held up the pantyhose
between both hands. "We just put these on you --"

"Excuse me. 'We'? "

Sally was chuckling. "Better make that Bunnie and me, Rotor."

"Oh. Fine. Whatever." Rotor dropped the package and glared. "Look, I just tried
to come up with a solution to Bunnie's problem with the cold up here. But if
that's too much --"

"No, no, no, Rotor. That's great. Bunnie and I are just teasing you."

"We are?"

Sally elbowed Bunnie. "Yes. We are. Isn't Rotor's idea great?"

Bunnie looked bewildered. "Help me out here, Sally."

Sally was laughing. "Multilayer clothing. We use a pair of hose to pack some
towels and rags around your legs, then another layer over that, and so on,
until you can't move. Actually I think it's a brilliant idea."

Bunnie picked up some of the dry goods Rotor had dropped. "It'll never be
fashionable."

Sally took one package and started to tear it open. "Come on, Bunnie. At least
it will give us something to do." She waved dismissal to the others. "You two.
Go do boy stuff. Go look for dead bugs or something."

Sonic hooked his arm under Rotor's and started to turn him away. "Come,
Algernon. I have observed that when those of the female persuasion surrender
themselves to this particular state, it becomes futile for us to hope to engage
them in any civilized conversation. Let us retire to the library, where we will
bide our time until this peculiar affliction has run its present course."

As they left the room, Rotor looked at Sonic admiringly. "You know, you do a
great Oscar Wilde when you put your mind to it."

"Put a sock in it."

It took about an hour and a half of trial and error before Sally and Bunnie
found a combination of layers that could insulate her metal limbs without
hampering her mobility. For a final wrap, they used some of the Mylar film
Rotor had scrounged. The other three went outside to watch as Bunnie tried out
her new look out under the arctic sun. Sonic made one reference to a "Bunnie
burrito". Bunnie chased him twice around the compound before he surrendered and
retracted his words.

"You guys ..."

Sonic looked back. Rotor was kneeling on the ice, holding his palm down flat on
the ground. Sonic dashed over by him as Sally and Bunnie began walking.

The walrus stood, and held up his hand, palm out, to show them.

"Rotor?"

"It's wet."

Sonic was left bewildered. "Say what?"

"Wet."

"Rotor ... it's made of water. Of course it's going to be wet."

"No, Sally-girl." Bunnie was bending over, looking down. "That's not what he
means."

"It's wet, Sally. Liquid. _Melting_."

Sonic stared. "Melting? I thought it was seventy below out here --"

"Thirty below. That's the ambient air temperature. But I'm telling you, Sonic.
This ground has warmed up almost to the freezing point. Maybe past it."

Sonic moved closer. "Well ... the ice melts where I've been running ..."

Rotor shook his head. "Since when do you leave six-foot circular footprints?"

Bunnie was nodding. "And it's spreading. I can see it while I watch."

The bang came without warning, off to their left. Rotor yelped and started;
Bunnie and Sally jumped into defensive stances. Sonic started to turn, but
something caught his eye. "Weird. Definitely weird. Oh yeah."

The others turned back to find Sonic still staring at the ice patch. Sally
gasped.

The snow thrown up by the bang was slowly drifting down now over the spreading
circle of melted ice. And as it fell, they could see faint sparkles of green,
where the fine flakes were caught in an shaft of emerald light rising from the
center of the circle.

Sonic cleared his throat. "Guys. Just a thought. Like, maybe start falling
back? ..."

As a group, the four stepped back. Below them, they could hear a new sound -- a
dull hollow roar, half like metal shearing and half like tree limbs snapping.

"Something is down there." The moment he said it, Sonic knew how feeble it
sounded. But no one retorted. They were all staring, dumbfounded, at the ground
just in front of the weather station. It didn't seem possible, but there was no
mistaking what they were seeing. The ice was bulging upward.

"Down there, my Aunt Minnie's rhubarb," Bunnie muttered. "It is on its way up --
 and I mean _now_."

The frozen ground howled like a beast in pain as ice and snow began to split
apart. Then the crack of shattered ice was drowned out by a new sound, the
thunder of massive engines. The four Freedom Fighters stumbled further back.

It arose from the deep with slow grace, lazily dipping from side to side as if
to shake off its sleepy burden. The sunlight glittered off its metal form. Up
it rose, until it floated overhead, dripping, sparkling, its engines aroar. Its
girth spanned the entire area of the outpost. Its height was easily two
stories. Beneath it, the weather station flew apart like a toothpick model,
wood, metal and equipment scattering. The cyclonic winds below the unearthly
object pulled the snow and debris into a whirlwind of dust and splinters.

The four stood there, their parkas flapping in the backwash. Sally's voice was
barely audible, but Sonic could hear her distinctly. "Oh my gosh ..."

Rotor found his voice. "It's a 'bot! It's a big, ugly, flying 'bot!"

"Yeah. A 'hyper-bot'. "

It was all angles and planes, flat grey metal surfaces joined by black seams
into a roughly cylindrical body. The top center rose up just a little, the two
planes at its front flattened, giving the impression of eyes in a skull-like
head. Four green lights flickered like other wordly beacons. On each side, the
body seemed to fold forward into cubic projections that protruded slightly
forward from the main body. The projections were capped with glowing green
gridwork.

"Look at it," Rotor said. " It's got to weigh tons! That's why the ground shows
a sharp border all around the station. It must regularly project enough heat to
melt the snow above it."

"Doesn't look like any 'bot Dr Robotnik has ever sent up against us."

"Robotics didn't originate on Mobius, Bunnie." Sally sounded remote. "And
Robotnik wasn't the first Mobian to experiment with robotics."

"Well ... now we know what happened to the folks up here."

"No we don't," Rotor said. "But I'll bet this beauty has been sitting guard
over this place ever since." He made a face. "Under this place."

"Well, whatever this cowboy wants, it can't --"

Bunnie suddenly stopped. Sonic looked over at her. "Bunnie?"

She was looking around her, craning her neck. "Where the heck is that coming
from?"

"Where's what coming from?"

"That sound."

Sonic listened, and slowly became aware of a familiar high pitched whistle.

Suddenly Rotor jumped. "_Move!_  _Run!_  _And__keep__moving!_"

"Rotor--?"

"__Don't___give__it__a__stationary__target_ !"

Sonic had already hoisted the walrus and was racing to one side. Out of the
corner of his eye he saw Sally and Bunnie scrambling.

Moments later, there was loud clap, and the ground where they had been standing
shot up in a straight column into the sky, as if yanked up by a typhoon. A
second later, snow and splintered ice rained down from above.

Sonic spun about, Rotor in his arms, and looked at the hollow crater where they
had just been standing. "Not cool," he muttered.

"Sonic! Put me down! I've got an idea. Go after that thing. Try to keep it
busy. Stay moving!"

"My kinda plan, bud." Sonic let the walrus down and began a zig-zag run at the
gleaming monster.

"Yo! Hyper-butt! Blue alert! Incomin' hedgehog!"

He jerked and pulled himself to one side just as red flashes appeared somewhere
on the war machine's face. He barely avoided the rocket-like shells, which hit
the ground where he had been standing less than a second before. The shells
burst, and only years of experience helped Sonic keep his balance as he ducked
and wove his way.

He spun and leapt upward, and landed on top of the machine. The robot
immediately began dipping and twisting, as if trying to dislodge Sonic. Sonic
went down flat and grasped tightly along whatever handholds he could find,
making his way toward the crown. Moments later, he began to feel a tingling,
and his spines began to stand up on end. "Aha. Your basic bug zapper." Sonic
jumped to his feet, then leapt straight up as high as he could manage. Below,
he heard the crackling buzz of an electric charge passing over the robot's
surface. Sonic landed on his sneakers, which insulated him as the charge
dissipated. "Nice try, Liquid-wrench breath."

The machine spun suddenly at a ninety degree angle, now facing the remains of
the weather station. Sonic could see Sally and Bunnie standing guard over
Rotor, on his knees, frantically assembling something in the snow. It had a
dream-like quality; they seemd to be moving in stop motion animation. Beneath
him, he heard a slow whine building up inside the massive robot.

"Not today, my man." Sonic was on the ground in a flash, and lapping the
airborne monstrosity at whirlwind speeds. The robot began to bob and wobble,
and drifted from its heading. It fired more rounds, which flew harmlessly up
into the Northern sky.

Sonic became aware of Sally shouting behind him, and turned. He forced himself
to hold still and listen.

"Sonic! We have a plan! But you've got to get clear of that thing, or you'll be
hurt!"

"Not a chance, Sal gal."

"Sonic, it runs on Mobian energy, the same way you do. Rotor's got a way to
poison it. But keep away!"

Sonic saw the platter-shaped object in Rotor's hand. "What are you going to
do?"

"We've got that covered. Just stay out of the way. Please, Sonic!"

Sonic began moving backward. The massive robot had finally righted itself. It
swung about, and began locking onto the trio in front of him. Sonic bit his
lip. He'd give them one more second, then --

It took less than that. Bunnie grabbed Rotor's makeshift device and suddenly
shot forward, her robotic legs telescoping beneath her, her robot arm
telescoping outward, the device clamped tight in its pincer grip. Her parka
ripped apart and flew off into the snow. The clothing in which they had packed
her robot limbs tore apart, the colorful shreds scattering in all directions.
Sonic could hear the metal clank as Bunnie planted the disc on the bottom of
the machine. Instantly, she was pulling back.

Sonic started forward, and Sally immediately turned around and waved him back.
"No, Sonic! Wait. I know you hate this, but you've got to stay clear."

Sonic stood there, his foot tapping. "Fine. While you're waiting to be nuked,
maybe you could tell me what you're all up to."

He froze as the metal cyclops coughed and sputtered. For a second it went
silent, then suddenly the air was filled with a metal scream. The screech
stopped. The green lights on the creature's face plates went out. And with no
warning or ceremony, it fell to the ground. The thunderous impact rattled the
snow and ice beneath them.

"Whoa. So okay. I'm impressed. Talk to me."

Sally, Rotor and Bunnie began walking over to him. For the first time in days,
Sally was finally wearing her smug know-it-all grin. "Rotor figured it out. The
reason you've been so antsy ever since we've arrived. The hyper-bot's power
base."

"What? It pulls the same energy as the power rings do?"

Sally blinked. "You knew that?"

"No. But that's what you're talking about, right?"

"Um. Yes."

Rotor stopped in front of him, adopting his lecturing pose. "Uncle Chuck's
power ring generator absorbs Mobian energy, and bottles it in a toroid-shaped
standing wave, made of overlapping gauge fields. The fields are masked to
interact with your genetic code, so that --"

Sonic wagged a finger. "Por favor. English, s'il vous plais. No sprechen das
nuclear physics."

Rotor tried again. "The robot was using a quantum tunneling platform to pull
Mobian energy and channel it towards its own collection grid. Your nervous
system was resonating to the same input."

Sonic was shaking his head sadly. "Rotor, old bean, I see your lips moving, but
all I'm aware of is the tips of my sneaks freezing."

"Better get used to it," Sally retorted. "You've lost your edge for a while,
mister. What Rotor's trying to tell you is that he figured a way to feed an
extra signal into the Mobian energy source our temperamental friend was tapping
into. That poisoned it enough to kill the 'hyper-bot'. It also means that
you'll hurt yourself, too, if you try to play superhero while Rotor's signal
generator is still running."

"Which is for how long?"

"Until we decide what to do about that metal nightmare."

"Oh, it just gets better and better. We're stranded at the North Pole, no
shelter, no Kom Dai, no dragon rescue squad, no Hedgehog Extraordinaire, the
temperature is thirty below zero--"

"And dropping."

"-- _and__dropping_, thank you _so__much!__ -- we're twenty five million light-
years from home, and now you and Fish Sticks Boy here want to play mad
scientist with a homicidal alien war-bot. Is it just me, Bunnie, or is there
something wrong with this picture?"

Sonic looked over at Bunnie, and suddenly rushed to her side. He held out his
hands to steady her. "Hey. Hey, Bunnie. You still with us?"

"Oh. Guess so." She looked at Sonic with vacant eyes. "Just so tired..."

Sally and Rotor closed in. Sally was shaking her head. "Hypothermia. All her
body heat is draining out. Those robot legs act like heat vanes."

Rotor stepped forward and shucked off his parka. "Here, Bunnie. I can get by
for a while without this."

"There were some lined lab coats back in the weather station. Give me five
nanoseconds to search for --."

"No, Sonic. It's not safe yet. We have to figure out what we're going to do
about that thing, then disengage the nullifier, then take care of Bunnie."

"This is bogus, man. I can't stand still here and watch you guys freeze to
death --"

A rumble, as of something settling, rolled out of the fallen behemoth. Then a
crackling rattle. Rotor suddenly turned from Bunnie and towards the metal
leviathen, frowning. "Now what?"

"C'mon, Rot' --"

Rotor spun back around. "_Sonic!__Get__us__out__of__here!_"

"But you just said I shouldn't --"

"_That__thing's__gonna__blow! _Now!_"

In an instant Sonic scooped Sally up into his arms, while Rotor threw himself
around Sonic's shoulders and Bunnie hooked her robot arm around Sonic's waist.
Sonic revved up and launched himself. The immediate shock to his system almost
knocked him sensesless. If he hadn't been carrying his friends, he might have
given in. With Sally in his arms, though, he ignored the pain and drove himself
onward. And as he distanced himself from the outpost and the war machine, the
waves of sickness passed, and instead the familiar energy flooded his small
frame. He gulped in the cold, pure air and poured it on. Two hundred ... four
... eight hundred yards ... half a mile, a mile and a half --

Sally, looking over Sonic's shoulder, suddenly cried out. "It's going up," she
shrieked.

And the world disappeared in a flash of light.

Instantly blinded, Sonic stopped and let Sally fall, giving Rotor and Bunnie a
chance to disentangle themselves. He dropped down on top of Sally. "_Get__down_
--"

The shockwave hit. The ground seemed to heave up under him as the percussion
slammed him down. He heard Sally's breath being crushed out from her. Then he
was bouncing over the snow, tumbling helplessly tip over tail for what seemed
like hours. But when he lay still again, and could open his eyes, he knew only
seconds had passed.

Sonic waited until his eyesight returned, then stood up. And immediately almost
passed out. He hunkered back down, resting his hands on his bent knees, his
head down, and waited for the dizziness and nausea to pass. Then he stood
upright.

Rotor was sitting upright on the ground, using his wrist to mop blood from
under his nose. Bunnie was already hovering over Sally, coaxing the princess to
come around.

"You guys okay?"

Rotor sniffed. "Please define 'okay' in the present context."

Sonic smiled grimly. "You're okay." He zipped over to Bunnie's side. "Sal?
..."

"Winded, and a li'l dizzy. She'll be fine, Sonic."

"And you?"

"Oh, I'll live. Grandma Lapin raised some tough old cottontails." She smiled at
Sonic and showed off Rotor's parka. "I'll be okay now. Really."

Sonic nodded, and left them.

Sonic walked the distance back to the blast site. In all the time he had spent
near the pole, the world had never seemed so cold or silent as it did then. The
crunch of the snow under his sneakers sounded unnaturally loud. Each ten feet
was a lifetime's journey. No matter how close he got to the site, the remaining
distance seemed to double.

At last Sonic stepped up onto a small clump of ice and granite rock, and looked
out over the aftermath directly in front of him. He shivered. "Oh, man." There
was nothing. The ground was a litter of snow and grey pebbles. He could make
out what was left of the weather station at the center of the blast site. It
was flat, flat as the polar land all around them.

Nothing of the warlord robot had survived. Not one metal shaving. "A bad
attitude, right to the end ..." Sonic shivered again, and not just from the
cold. Whatever it was, whatever its purpose, it had had no right to be on
Mobius. He turned and started back to his friends.

As he moved along, his body began to feel more natural. The shock and numbness
of the explosion were wearing off. And with that blast, evidently, Rotor's
improvised doohickey had shut down, too. Sonic could feel the planet's power
flowing back into him. He took a few tentative trots, tried a dash, then a
longer run. He slowed back to a walk to monitor himself. Breathing normal ...
no pain ... well, not much ... couple of bruises on his back and hips, but no
bones broken. _All__systems__reporting__"go"_, _Cap'n_. Sonic braced himself,
took in a deep breath, then launched himself across the frozen plane.
_Comin'__home_, _Sally_ ...

Several hundred yards before he reached the others, he pulled himself up short.
Sally and her companions were not alone. There were six new figures, man-
shaped, standing before them. They seemed to be talking. For once, Sonic
regretted his blue coloring. He was too visible against the snow. He needed
cover. Sonic thought for a moment, then shot back towards the ruins of the
station.

He knew there was a pair somewhere, but everything was a shambles. He had to
dig through the wood and metal panels, down into the pit the blast had formed,
to get to the station's surviving rubble. It took him forever, almost fifteen
seconds, to find them. As he carefully lifted them out, he spotted something
else a few feet away. He grinned. Well, why not? He picked up the extra items.
And he came across one of the lab coats he had wanted for Bunnie. Snow white.
Instant camoflauge. _Hedgehog_, _your__are__sizzling_. He wrapped himself in
the coat and started out again.

He sped back, keeping low, trying to use what snow drifts he could as cover.
Finally he was no more than a football field away, crouching behind a foot-high
drift. Ahead of him, Sally and the others were talking to the newcomers.

Sonic took out the binoculars he had salvaged. He glanced up at the angle of
the sun. Well, it couldn't be helped. He would have to try to keep the
binoculars angled down, and hope that if there was a reflection from the
lenses, the people below would be too busy to notice.

Through the binoculars, he saw Sally standing erect, pulled up to her full
regal height, slim and elegant. Sonic, who knew her almost as well as Bunnie
did, could read her body language. _Good__sirs_, _whoever__you__be_,
_I__pray__ye_, _tread__softly_. _The__lady__is__mad__as__a__hornet_,
_and__out__for__blood_. _Mess__up_,
_and__you__gentlemen__are__just__so__much__lo__mein.

But the newcomers were slowly advancing, one step every minute or so, and the
three smaller figures slowly and reluctantly falling back. Sonic lowered the
binoculars and studied the terrain. Yes... that spot just on the other side of
the crowd scene. He looked back through the glasses. And the humans were armed,
with rifles. Rifles with wooden stocks. How obliging. _I__thank__ye_,
_good__sirs_. _You're__ gonna__make__this__a__piece_.

Staying still as long as he had, Sonic could feel the cold flooding his marrow.
He forced in a couple of frigid breaths, planned his moves, then rose up. He
stripped off the white coat and tied it around his waist. Then he started his
legs going. In an instant the cold was gone, and Mobius' vital energy awoke
within his cells. He shot across the snow-packed, sunlit ground.

Bunnie was the first to notice. Sally saw Bunnie react and start to turn. At
the same moment she also spotted the Kom Dai leader starting to turn. By then
the familiar blue streak had arrived, whisked around them all, and an instant
later was gone. Sally hid a grin. At least Sonic was on the job. Sally prayed
that she could make use of whatever stunt he was about to pull.

An eyeblink later, and he was fifty feet away. He was standing over a blazing
bonfire, a tepee frame of flaming poles. She could already smell the woody
smoke. Wait a minute. Poles? Sally glanced at the Kom Dai, who were staring at
their empty hands in shock. Their rifles. Sally rolled her eyes. Smart, Sonic;
but did you have the sense to strip the bullets ouf of them before setting them
on fire? Then she noticed what Sonic was doing, and gave in to laughter.

Sonic had a frankfurter on the end of a fork, and was roasting it over his
makeshift bonfire, whistling cheerfully.

He looked over at them all, and waved. "C'mon, you guys! We're gonna make
s'mores later and tell ghost stories."

Sonic watched the scene out of the corner of his eye. Bunnie and Rotor were
already walking over to him, shaking their heads. Sally was moving slowly in
his direction as well, but keeping the strangers in eyesight. The men in grey
parkas stared at one another for a few seconds, then turned and started towards
Sonic.

As Bunnie and Rotor reached him, Sonic reached down with his free hand to strip
the lab coat from around his waist and to hand it to Bunnie. Bunnie returned
the parka to Rotor, and gratefully pulled the ankle-length garment around her
shivering form. Sonic spoke softly and quickly. "Those the Kom Dai goombas we
been waitin' on?"

Bunnie replied just as softly. "That they are, Sonic. And as nasty and sneaky a
nest of copperheads as you are likely to step into. If they see they can get
you started, they'll pump you for every bit of information they can. You let
Sally-girl do all the talking."

Before Sonic could respond, Sally and the apparent leader of the Kom Dai
arrived, the other strangers straggling behind. Sonic looked at the newcomers.
Instantly, he did not like them. Human, tall, thin, with sallow skin and
straight dark hair, large brows, long sharp noses, large ears. Something about
them ... he almost jumped when he saw it. Snively. They all looked as if
Snively could have been one of them. But Snively was Robotnik's nephew, not a
Kom Dai.... Wasn't he? ...

The Kom Dai leader stopped before Sonic. "A spectacular performance. I was
impressed."

Sonic offered him the end of his fork. "Weenie?" he asked sweetly.

The man glanced down at it, instantly dismissed it, and looked instead straight
into Sonic's eyes. "Who are you?"

Sally folded her arms. "I thought you had reliable intelligence on our
membership."

"Oh, I think I can guess. You are Sonic?"

"I are."

"Acorn's champion, many say."

"Just a motormouth in red sneakers tryin' to earn an honest day's chili dog."

"I don't believe I've every met any one quite like ... this."

Sally spoke smoothly. "Perhaps you need to get out more."

Sonic winced. _Ouch_. _I__warned__you_.

The Kom Dai glanced at her sharply. Sonic felt a full second of total silence
pass before the newcomer smiled and replied. "Perhaps so. _Princess__Sally_."
He looked at Sonic again. "Are strangers welcome at Knothole?"

Sonic had an answer ready to snap back, but out of the corner of his eye,
caught a glimpse of Bunnie. He covered by plunging the hot dog into his mouth
and chewing.

Sally said, "Anyone who comes in the cause of freedom is welcome."

The Kom Dai smiled at Sonic. "Any old freedom, or just your local brand?"

Sonic swallowed and belched.

Sally said, "We've never had time to play word games. For us, the first trick
of staying free has always been staying alive." She stepped around in front of
the man. "Like here, just today."

"And we have survived these eighty years as well, against dragons, wizards, and
grey beasts. Do you doubt our devotion to freedom?"

"I don't know. I don't think you've shown me your true selves yet."

Sonic held his breath. Again, the Kom Dai just smiled. "But Princess. We all
try to put on our best face for a first date. Don't we?"

Sally couldn't keep from smiling. The Kom Dai leader turned and walked back to
his companions. They talked softly amongst themselves for just seconds. Then
their spokesman turned to face the Freedom Fighters one last time. He spoke
directly to Sally.

"You ... interest us. We never trusted your father. There were shadows in his
court. You bring the promise of a new day to Acorn. We will leave now, and call
the dragons. Within three hours, they should be here to bear you back home.
After that ..." He shrugged. "Perhaps something more." And he favored them with
a smile. "For another day."

The humans turned and left.

Sonic waited with his friends, foot tapping, as the Kom Dai walked out of
sight. Finally Bunnie stepped forward, staring at the now-empty horizon, and
then turned to her friends. "That's it. They're out of range by now."

Sally went limp and shuddered. "Not a very friendly reception."

Bunnie waved it off. "Folks like that get their jollies by being mysterious."

Sonic was looking at them, fists on his hips. " 'Grey beasts' ?"

Sally nodded. "Their name for the creature we fought."

" 'Creature' ? That was a 'bot."

"The Kom Dai seem to think that ... in some way, those things are alive."

"Whoa. Back up a sec. You keep talking in the plural. As in more than one."

"This isn't the first one they've had to deal with, from what they hinted at."

"And they sent us right into its nest, to see if we could survive. That it?"
Sonic knew his temper was starting to show.

"They didn't know for sure that's what was going on here. I'll tell you what
they told us later, Sonic. But they don't know whose outpost this was, any more
than we do. They knew it was abandoned, but didn't know for sure how or why.
And yes, they deliberately led us here to see how we'd deal with this
situation."

"You know, I could really get to hate those guys."

Rotor cleared his throat. "Ladies and Sonic, much as I love basking in the
midday arctic sun, do you think we could cut our vacation short now and start
back for the office a little early?"

"Hallelujah, Brother Walrus." Bunnie shivered. "The sooner we get back to
Knothole, the sooner I can soak these poor ol' rabbit bones in a nice hot
bath."

Sally took the first steps of the long trek back. "The Kom Dai will send word
to Dragonhelm. If I know Dulcy, she'll be part of the team that comes to fetch
us. Let's go back and wait by what's left of the outpost. Maybe we can salvage
enough to build a lean-to. And see if we can get that stove going at least for
a little while. Should be able to scrounge up a little food, too. If Sonic
hasn't eaten it all."

"Moi? Would I do that to my friends? Nah. Let's head back, people."

As they fell four abreast and began their march, Rotor spoke up again.

"You know, guys. That hyper-bot, or whatever you want to call it."

"Yeah, Rot' ."

"The way those Kom Dai talked ... makes me wonder, that's all."

"About what."

"About how big an extended family it left behind."

They fell silent. The wind had died down again. The only sound was the crunch
of the snow under their feet as they made their way along the endless white
plane.

Minutes later their dwindling figures had become dark spots against the midday
glare. Another minute, and the landscape was barren. The wind began to whisper
again, and then there was only the cold powdery snow, threading its way across
the brilliant polar surface.