For Sally Alicia Acorn, waking up in strange places after blacking out was fast becoming a common thing; a streak she'd be happy to break, if only she could. There was a loud thunderstorm outside; she could hear the sheeting rain breaking against the outside wall of the room she was in, and heard the loud peals of thunder as they came cracking down. For a moment, she imagined that her captivity was nothing but a dream; that she was somehow laying in her bed in Knothole, and listening to a summer storm as she relaxed and dozed late in the summer morning. She took a breath, counted to three, and wished with all her heart.
Only a fantasy. The drab gray ceiling that she saw upon opening her eyes was the reality that faced her. Trapped in Robotropolis, unwilling subject in an experiment that would likely make her a monster; her jailer was an enigmatic young man whose motive shifted back and forth between friendly and threatening without warning. He was there with her; Sally saw him, back turned, looking through the wide plastic window at the terrible storm outside. The flashes of lightning lit up the window, and she could see the reflection of his face. His eyes lost their unnatural glow in the flashes of bright ambiance that lit the room, and during each bright instant, she could see his eyes on his reflected face as they truly were; his white irises darting side to side, taking in the glory and terror of the storm with childlike innocence and awe.
There was something inexplicably comforting to Sally in seeing Nine's eyes behind their usual glow. Something about it made him feel less alien, more Mobian. He was Mobian, of course, or at least close enough; she'd realized that already, but hadn't been able to accept it until then. She could see him reasoning, and thinking, through the movement of his eyes, and that gave her hope for her future in his hands. Nine was not some mindless, soulless, organic automaton following a program. He was as capable of thought as she was, and she could reason with him, if only she could understand how he thought, and how to speak to him in his own way.
She'd seen that he was capable of thinking for himself, he'd reached conclusions based on things she had done or said. More than thought, he was actually able to be actively thoughtful, as evidenced by the makeshift bed she lay on; an assemblage of scrap cloth, gathered and shaped into something comfortable enough to sleep on. It was far from the standard bare floor accommodations she'd had when she'd spent the night in a Robotropolis cell before. Her motions made the makeshift bed rustle faintly, and she saw Nine's keen ears twitch, picking up the barely audible noise over the raging storm outside.
The green furred fox turned to face her, and greeted her in his usual emotionless manner. “Good morning, Ten. Were you able to rest well?”
“I did, thank you, but could you call me 'Sally', instead, please?” The 'Ten' thing had to go, she had no intention of becoming a number, and the further she could distance herself from the idea, the better off her state of mind would be.
“I do not understand. Your designation is Ten, not 'Sally'.”
Sally pondered a way around his frustrating, stony logic. “Well... is there any harm in calling me 'Sally'?”
Nine thought about it a moment, slowly shaking his head. “I do not understand your reasoning, but I do not see how calling you by a different designation will interfere with the experiment. I will call you Sally.”
“Thank you, Nine. Would you like me to call you something else, too?” Sally sat up, smiling at him. At least she'd gotten somewhere with him.
“I do not know. What would you call me?” Nine tilted his head, uncomprehending.
“Um...” Sally rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Well, I guess I'll just keep calling you Nine, but like the word, not the number. How's that?”
“I do not understand,” Nine shook his head slowly. “but I will comply. My designation is Nine, but you may call me Nine the word, not Nine the number.”
“Well, numbers are okay for designations, but you should have a name, too, and words make better names than numbers.” She smiled at him again.
“Interesting. Are you ready to resume the experiment today?”
Sally's smile faded. Time to stall some more. “Uh, not just yet, Nine. I need to eat something first. Could you go and get some food and water for me?”
“I have already done so. I assumed that you might need food and water after sleep.” Nine gestured to a metal drum beside the makeshift bed. A handful of dried fruits, some strips of dried meat, and a beaker full of clean-looking water rested atop it. “Food storage has an abundance of preserved food. I was unable to locate a suitable vessel for your drinking water, so I used a sterile flask. Is that acceptable?”
The sight of the glass vessel full of water, measured out exactingly to one of the marking lines was amusing an a way, and Sally smiled a little again.”Yes, that's fine. It's a very... 'Nine' sort of solution. Thank you.” She ate and drank as slowly as she possibly could, but ultimately, her time ran out and she was forced to concede. “All right... I'm done.”
“Very well.” Nine straightened his relaxed posture and nodded, offering his hand. “Shall I escort you to the lab, now?”
With no other choice, Sally had to concede, and she let him lead her back in to the lab. The heavy storms told her at least that she was high up in the building, the sound of the rain was loud above her as it played against the roof. The ferocity of the thunderstorm was almost enough to make her glad she'd been captured; at least she was warm and dry in the building and not still huddled in the dark under a wet slab of rubble in the rain. She had to think positive if she was going to get through this ordeal with her wits, and possibly, her identity.
Nine led her to the table she'd been restrained in the first day and she laid down, this time without restraints. True to his word, Nine made no effort to bind her to the table. In fact, he seemed to apologize when the time came to tether her to a machine, as he tied a strip of tight material to her arm. “It is not my intent to restrain you, Sally, however, I must begin hooking up the injector to your arm, and so you will be temporarily tethered. There will be momentary pain as the needle enters your arm, but this will subside quickly.”
Sally closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could for a way out as she felt the metallic device clasp onto her like a large, heavy armband. She awaited the needle, but was instead met with the low, grinding hum or machinery all around her grinding to a lazy stop. She opened her eyes to darkness, but not the darkness of her regaining consciousness this time.
The lab was black, save for Nine's glowing eyes, which blinked repeatedly in obvious confusion. “It appears that power to all of the machinery has been lost. The experiment cannot continue without the restoration of power.”
Sally breathed a sigh of relief, only to tense again as a small device on the nearby desk crackled to life and the voice of her real captor could be heard. “Nine! Nine, are you in the lab?” Dr. Robotnik's rough voice was ill-suited to the poor reception of the small communicator, and he seemed to cut out momentarily. “-read me? Come in, Nine!”
“Yes, Father. I can hear you. “ Nine reacted with no trace of surprise or emotion, as usual.
“What's your status there?”
“We have lost all power to the lab. The experiment cannot progress any further without restoration of power.”
There was brief silence on Robotnik's end, save for a bitter grumbling. After a moment, he spoke again. “Lightning struck one of the main power relays. I have worker-bots out repairing and replacing the damaged section of the relay, but it will take most of the day to get the main power back on. If you can't make any progress with our experiment, then take her back to her cell, and keep a close watch on her until the power is restored. Do you understand me, Nine?” The bloated dictator addressed his subordinate in a tone more suited to an imbecile than a child, and it made Sally feel inexplicably more angry with the tyrant than she normally would be.
Nine, however, did not care how he was treated, and merely nodded at the air politely. “I understand clearly, and am now ceasing communication to carry out your instructions.” The communication channel closed with an audible click. Nine removed the device from her arm and offered a hand to help the princess back up to her feet. “Please come with me back to your designated holding area, Sally.”
Sally was only too happy to oblige, giving silent thanks to the storm for sparing her a little longer. “Here, let me grab this first.” She snatched Nicole from the desk and put it in her vest pocket casually.
“Why do you require your computer?” Nine tilted his head, his eyes nonetheless lighting her path safely.
“It'll be fun, you'll see!” Sally took him by the hand and, for once, led the way as a plan formed in her mind.
“I do not understand 'fun'.”
“I know you don't, but I'll teach you. Come on!” She tugged her confused jailer along by the arm, deflecting all questions as she took him back to her cell.
Her cell was dim before, but it was completely dark now with the power off and the window covered. Only the faint glow of her companion's eyes lit her way. “Oh, the shutters closed the window when the power went out, I guess.” She hadn't expected it to be so hard to see.
“I will re-open the shutter for you.” Nine stepped past her and placed his hands on the heavy metal panel and dug his claws in at the base for purchase. Though it was far too large and heavy to normally move without the now-powerless machinery hidden inside the wall and ceiling, Nine's strength soon had the dormant mechanisms groaning and creaking against his pushing force. The panel slid up with a metallic whine and he pushed it into the top of the large plastic window, locking it in place manually. “That should fix it for the time being.”
“Wow...” Sally was stunned by the growing intensity of the storm outside, but more stunned by the sudden reminder of Nine's strength. She'd seen him punch the hole in the door the day she'd been captured, but that automatic shutter panel was thick and heavy, a security measure never meant to be moved by any Mobian or even multiple Mobians. He had pushed it up like it was a window pane. He was dangerously strong and probably many more things, but it was so easily forgotten in the shadow of his calm demeanor and controlled actions.
“Sally? You appear stressed again. Is something affecting you adversely?”
“Nothing... no, nothing at all, just sit down with me. I want to show you something.” Sally opened up Nicole and brought up an album of digital pictures she kept on the computer; a reminder when she was alone on missions, or simply lonely. The first one she showed him was a picture of her and her dearest friends in the Freedom Fighters, all posing for a group shot. “Look at this, Nine.”
Nine sat on the makeshift bed with her, shoulder to shoulder, utterly transfixed and fascinated with the image. “Who are they?” He asked with the wonder of a child. He'd never seen anyone but his father and her before, as best he could recall.
“These are my friends in the Knothole Freedom Fighters, Nine.” Sally pointed out each smiling face in the picture. “There's Antoine. He's very polite, like you, and he's very brave, even if he doesn't always know it. That's Bunnie, and... I really wish she was here right now. She'd be able to explain some things to you better than I can. She's smart, but not so much in the technical way you are. Her knowledge comes from the heart, it's a different kind of knowledge.”
Sally sighed a little. She did indeed wish Bunnie were there, of all the people she could wish for. Her simple intuitions on people and feelings would have been a huge help trying to explain to Nine what Sally so urgently had to, yet couldn't find the way. She continued on. “There's Rotor. You'd like him, and I think he'd like to meet you, but he'd ask you a lot of questions. He's very intelligent in the same way you are. Tails is too, he's right there. I'm very proud of Tails, he's... like a son to me, in a lot of ways. I think he's going to grow up to be a very good person, if he hasn't already...”
“You are his parent?”
“No, not really.” She shook her head. “But sometimes people's real parents aren't there. Or... or sometimes people's parents turn out to be bad people, Nine, and then that person needs someone else to fill that role.”
This gave the stoic Nine visible pause. “I see...”
“And the last person in the picture is Sonic. He's...” Sally searched for the word. “He's very unique. He's also a big jerk sometimes...” She grumbled a little, thinking back to their last stupid argument over nothing. “But he's charming when he wants to be, in his own way. So, those are my friends.”
“What are 'friends', Sally?” Nine raised an eyebrow, folding his hands and resting them in his lap. “I understand that they are your comrades in arms, but you speak of them differently than that.”
Sally smiled, internally. This was the question she had been holding out for. “Friends are people you care about, Nine. They're the people who care about you, too. Friends help each other when they're in trouble. They're just... the special people who care about your feelings, even though they're not your family.”
“Feelings...” Nine stared at the storm again, for a while. “I have talked to someone about this once before. But I cannot remember the conversation, or who I had it with. It is very strange.” He stood, slowly. “I should speak with the central computer about this. Please excuse me for a while, Sally.”
“Of course. Before you go, though, I wanted to ask you something.” Sally smiled at him softly. “Would you like to be friends?”
“You appear to have a significant number of friends already. Why would you require another?”
“Because you don't have any, silly!” Sally shook her head incredulously at the green-furred fox. “So let's be friends, okay?”
“It would be an educational experience, however I am not certain that I can 'care' about your feelings when I do not understand them.” Nine tried to dismiss the idea. But Sally would not let him.
“It's the thought that counts, Nine.”
He considered it again. “Very well, if that is the case, I will endeavor to be your friend.”
“Thank you!” Sally stood up and hugged him, leaning her weight on him so he would hug her back. He stood there dumbfounded instead, so she decided to let him go and avoid confusing him any further. “Listen, Nine. My other friends might try to find me soon. They might try to help me escape. Please, please don't hurt them, okay?”
This, Nine did not hesitate on. “I am tasked with preventing your escape, Sally. If-”
“I know!” She interrupted. “And it's okay. I won't go with them, all right? I'll explain to them, just let me talk to them before you do anything if they show up, okay? As a friend?”
“...Very well. As a friend, I will attempt to avoid harming anyone if at all possible.”
“Thank you, Nine. Here.” She offered him her computer. “Nicole is a friend too. Why don't you borrow her for a little while? She knows all kinds of things, and is full of more pictures. Just remember to return her, okay?”
“Very well.” Nine accepted the computer politely and paused at the door. “I... promise.” A corner of his mouth upturned slightly, and he nodded to her as he closed the door and the automatic lock activated. Had he actually almost smiled at her?
Sally laid back on the bed and watched the storm again, relieved. She didn't want to signal her friends now, even if she could find a way to. Nine had promised, but he'd very nearly killed her when he had confusedly mimicked the punch she threw, back when they'd first met the other day. Her eyes drifted to the top of the window, where the outline of Nine's fingers were indelibly now engraved into the bottom surface of the metal shutter. He was strong enough that he could easily kill, entirely by accident. For her safety, and for the safety of her friends, her only hope of escape would have to be with Nine's permission, and help.
....What kind of moron doesn't supply a laboratory filled with expensive, delicate, useful equipment that could turn a thorn in his side into a threat greater than three Master Chiefs with a simple back-up generator or even redundant power feeds?
Doctor Ivo Kintobor. Technical genius, military imbecile.
....What kind of moron doesn't supply a laboratory filled with expensive, delicate, useful equipment
He motions made the makeshift bed rustle faintly, (I assume its supposed to be her?)
“I will re-open the shutter for you.” Nine stepped past her and placed his hands on the heavy metal panel and dug his claws in at the base for purchase (I'm not sure if the purchase part is a typo. Just never heard of that word being used in that context.)
It seems she is actually reaching out to him a bit. Wonder if he will stay loyal to robotnic if he gets emotions.
Typos found.... He motions made the makeshift bed rustle faintly, (I assume its supposed to be her?
First one corrected, thank you. Purchase is used correctly, however. 'an effective hold or position for applying power in moving or raising a heavy object; leverage.' is an acceptable definition of the word, though not commonly used, if at all, in some parts of the country. Good catch though!
First one corrected, thank you. Purchase is used correctly, however. 'an effective hold or position
So, just read this (and sorry for the delay in doing so, RL is busy)... So, here's the question... Sally is attempting to befriend Nine to escape... But will her feigned friendship turn into the real thing? I'm enjoying this immensely and the psychology behind this story is fascinating. Well done.
So, just read this (and sorry for the delay in doing so, RL is busy)... So, here's the question...
