'Computers are infallible. They cannot make a mistake; if they are ever incorrect, it is because we feed them incorrect data. If they are ever at fault, that fault lies in the person who programmed them. They do not know jealousy or greed. They cannot hate. They will not inflict purposeful harm. In our constant quest to improve upon their artificial intelligence, our quest to make computers more like us, ask yourself this... If improving upon artificial intelligence means making it more like a Mobian, is it really computers that need to improve... or is it us?'
~Professor Arthur Calus
The Mobian Chronicles
Book I
Chapter II: ‘Nicole’
Far above the commotion caused by the mysterious prophet and his dark portents, the world was a much more peaceful place. Hundreds of feet above the Forum Gardens, on the railed observation deck of Castle Acorn’s clock tower, the young Sonic Maurice Hedgehog watched the proceedings far below in blissful ignorance. “Hey, Rosie?” The young blue hedgehog leaned dangerously over the rails, pointing down to the rising smoke in the forum below. “What was that big puff of smoke just now?”
Sonic’s teacher Rosie was an elderly tree squirrel who had served as the Royal Matron to the Acorn dynasty children for several generations. Her main duty was the care and upbringing of members of the royal family due to the busy, dangerous, and often far-flung work of the nobility. Because Sir Charles was technically a knight and a royal adviser, his nephew-turned-foster-son Sonic had also found his way into her daily care. The graying squirrel reached out and pulled the young hedgehog back off of his dangerous perch with an agitated sigh before she looked down at the commotion. “I would say…” Her soft voice was punctuated by the faint fatigue of old age, “…that was probably one of Professor Calus’ inventions breaking down again. Must have been quite a show, even the guards are out of their posts.”
Rosie’s other special charge was the daughter of the king himself, oldest child of two at the age of seven, Princess Sally Alicia Acorn was next in line for the throne, provided she lost her own overly adventurous side in time. “I like the professor!” The little ground squirrel grinned; leaning over the rails herself to see what was going on, “And all his inventions! Even if they don’t always work.”
“Ugh, when’s class start already?” Sonic complained, his nasal voice only adding to the irritation. “And what kind of game are the grown-ups playin’ down there anyway? Looks boring.”
“They’re not playing a game, stupid!” Sally shook her head at him, pointing down to the forums as she started to explain. “They’re having a meeting! It’s-”
Her matron cut her of with a glare and one of countless manners corrections. “Sally! Do not use that sort of language with your friends! It’s unbecoming of a princess, and you should apologize to him.”
Realizing his friend was now on the spot, Sonic made faces at her from safely behind Rosie as he waited for the apology.
“I’m… sorry, Sonic. I don’t think… He’s making that face!” Sally complained, folding her arms and turning away from him with all the haughty imperiousness of a young princess. “It’s messing me up, Rosie!”
“For over fifty years I've taken care of children, and not a single gray hair, until…” Rosie’s voice trailed off into silence before she said anything she could regret. “Well… It looks like the council is packing up for the day. Let’s head down to the forums and get ready for today’s lessons.”
“I’ll race ya, Sally!” Sonic suddenly vaulted of the lofty tower’s railing, free-falling without fear or care.
“No, Sonic! Don't…” Rosie again fell silent. It was futile to argue when the young hedgehog was already out of earshot. “...why does he always have to do that?”
Mobian children developed much faster than Overlanders did; their larger skulls housed larger brains. By age ten, Mobians were fairly mature and mentally developed, and as he swiftly approached age eight Sonic was already too adventurous and willful to control. With an overdeveloped desire for excitement and adventure, the hedgehog boy was constantly at odds with his guardians about what he should do. Running was one of the only things that he knew he was good at, and so wherever he could, he ran.
Sonic had no fear of his fall from the tower; he had in fact thrown himself from it on many occasions, always without permission. The blue hedgehog boy grabbed the underside of the rail and put a twist to his fall, letting his feet make contact with the side of the tower. Thanks to the special friction-altering heels and tips of his shoes and gloves, he clung by his feet to the wall, crouching against it in a sprinting position. Sliding down it slowly, the morning sun met the corner of his eye as he looked back over his shoulder to the sky, partly hidden by the balcony directly above him. With the morning's light to his back, Sonic burst into a full sprint, defying gravity further as he ran across the vertical face of the clock tower, spiraling down the circular structure at breakneck speeds, a faint trail of smoke rising along his wake as the friction pads in the red tips of his shoes burned the stone at his feet. He leaped from the base of the tower and rolled to a spiraling stop at the bottom doors of the elevator, where he sat and enjoyed the scenery of the winding path down to the Forum Gardens until his friend and their teacher made it down a minute later. “Beat ya!” He proclaimed his victory as if they’d ever had a chance, or had even intended to participate.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that, Sonic.” Rosie scolded him with the same futile routine she had used for as long as they had known one another. The princess, on the other hand, was content simply to stick her tongue out at him from out of their mentor’s sight as they walked past him towards the forum.
“But I can do it! No one else can, so why shouldn't I?” He shouted after them.
“Having the ability to do something does not always mean you should do it, young man.” The raspy voice of Doctor Kintobor admonished him as the obese Overlander passed by the group on his way to the lab he shared with Sonic's uncle. “Ah! You’re Sonic, aren’t you? Jules’ boy. I haven't seen you since you were a baby. Charles has told me so much about you. Tell me, boy, what do you want to be when you grow up? Perhaps a scientist, like your uncle, or your parents?” Dr. Kintobor was famously fond of the race that saved his life, and, unlike most of his species, had a somewhat friendly, if not a little dry and scientific personality. He folded his arms and looked down at the young hedgehog, hoping to inspire the boy to expand beyond his limited thoughts.
“You knew my parents?” This got Sonic's attention instantly. In his carefree world, he'd never really considered his parents had been part of the larger world outside, or that other people might know more about them.
“Oh, yes.” The Overlander nodded his bald head, his large mustache bobbing slightly. “I knew them for several years, though that wasn't nearly long enough to fully appreciate their shared genius. Your parents were truly brilliant, just like your esteemed uncle. They did more for the city every day than I could hope to do in my entire time here.”
That much was familiar to Sonic, his uncle had told him as much many times. Sir Charles didn't like to talk about Sonic's parents, so this was a rare chance to learn more about them from someone else who knew. “...do you know about what happened to my mom and dad? Uncle Chuck doesn't like to talk about it.”
Julian was silent for a few moments, the red glow of his cybernetic eyes downcast. “...I would imagine not. It's likely very hard for him to talk about that, but, I suppose you have every right to be told. The accident was a terrible tragedy. I don't think a day goes by that Charles and I don't think about it. Jules, Charles and I were all close friends, and we collaborated on a project.; a very high-speed transport vehicle. It wasn't even a council project, just... just a hobby between us, something to work on in what little free time we had together. It was all your father's idea; Jules was something of a thrill-seeker at heart. I suppose he had no motivation for it beyond wanting to experience the speed of the thing, but the day we were going to speed test the prototype, he insisted on being the pilot. We had a test pilot already prepared, but your father wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Charles and I tried to convince him to let the thing have more testing before any one of us piloted it. But, Jules was an excellent pilot, and it was a good day... in the end, he got his way, as he often did. Your father had a very forceful personality.”
“Did it work?”
“Oh, yes!” Kintobor nodded his head forcefully. “It took off perfectly. It accelerated quickly, it even seemed like it handled very well. It broke the land speed record, then it broke the sound barrier. It was the fastest thing I'd ever seen, the fastest thing in the world. I still remember Jules' laughter and excitement over our headsets as we watched him go. 'We did it Charles! We did it, Julian! It will change the world!', he said. We all laughed, we were all so excited. And then, something just went... wrong.” He sighed, heavily. “Some part of the fuselage failed, somewhere, and the whole thing broke apart at top speed. I doubt your father even knew anything had gone wrong, it happened so fast.”
Sonic had barely known his father, and try as he might, could only ever vaguely remember him. He knew that his father was someone very important, and that he'd died. Hearing the circumstances of his death and what he'd meant to other people was giving him an emotional connection to his father that hadn't been there before.
“Your father...” Kintobor continued, “was a great man. It was a truly terrible thing, that accident. I believe you weren't even a year old; you must remember nothing of it, or him. But when he died, I lost a friend, Charles lost his brother, and Mobius lost a hero in a time where it needs heroes most. But poor Bernadette, she lost a husband. They loved each other very much, and when he died... she was never the same. Her health took a terrible downturn and she passed just four months later. They were... a pair, Jules and Bernadette, and one couldn't exist without the other. That was when Charles adopted you, and I believe that was the last time I saw you until today. But I shouldn't talk about that, any more. You have class to go to and I need to get to my work. I wish you well, my boy.” He turned slowly and walked away, leaving the hedgehog boy to collect his new thoughts.
Sonic had thought about his parents a lot but had known so little of them. He knew their names, vaguely who they were, but when pressed for details, his uncle had always changed the subject. To learn of what they meant to other people, what they did and how they died; it made them become 'real' in his mind. He'd entered a conversation with an innocent question and left it missing two people he'd never known.
Sonic wandered into the forum just in time to see the other students making their way to Rosie’s class. As the Royal Matron, Rosie was responsible for many other children of the nobility, not just Sonic and Sally. There were also a number of war orphans there, wards of the state and so placed under her care. One such boy went by the name Rotor. A year older than Sonic and Sally, Rotor Walrus was exactly the species his family name implied. Already gifted with a budding aptitude for mechanical problems and engineering, he idolized the Scientific Council, and aspired to serve on it when he was older. He was usually part of Sonic and the princess’ circle of friends, and was easygoing enough to participate in either of the two's very different ideas of fun.
A less capable tag-along member of Sonic’s circle was a young noble named Antoine D’Coolette, the child of important coyote nobility from far off-lands. He spent much of his time with Sonic, despite the fact that the hedgehog boy made fun of his thick accent and cowardly nature, mostly because he had burgeoning romantic interest in the princess, who was almost always with him. Though he was more likely to run screaming at the first sign of trouble, the young coyote was beginning to learn the value of being dependable and trustworthy. His aspiration was, ironically, to become a knight; brave and strong, the exact opposite of the meek and cowardly boy he seemed committed to be.
“Good morning, children.” Rosie smiled to her students, still filing into the Forum Gardens from around the city. “The council was running late again, I’m afraid. I’ll be a little while getting the class set up if you’d like to play until then.”
Sally had found her way into her father’s podium and needed no further incentive to role-play her future position, flicking the microphone on and hoisting herself up to reach the transmitter. “I hereby call this meeting to order! Take your positions, everyone. Professor Rotor, have you anything to report?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Rotor commandeered a podium of his own and delivered a mock report, clearing his throat before he began in his best scientific voice. “My research has led to the early development of a machine that will do homework for us on its own. Simply put the work in and it will come out finished by the next day!”
“Very good!” Princess Sally applauded at her playmate’s inventiveness. “Keep me informed on the details as soon as possible! Sir D’Coolette, how is the war with the Overlanders progressing?”
For a moment, Rosie paused in preparing the class, a wave of sadness passing through her. She hadn’t thought about it before then, but to the children the war was an endless and ever-present concept. None of them had any idea what ‘peace’ really even meant, or why it was important. For that matter, neither did she; her grandparents would have been children when the war began. No one on either side was old enough to remember the first battle of a war that had become so integrated into their societies that it seemed impossible to imagine life without it looming over them.
Antoine climbed up to a podium and fiddled with the controls until his voice was broadcasting. “Ze war ees going splendidly, my queen!” His grating voice and thick accent were only magnified by the microphone he rambled into. “My troops are… how do you say? Back-pushing ze Overlanders on all fronts! You can expect a full surrender in as leetle as a week!”
“Yeah, from you, maybe!” Sonic had snuck into a podium of his own for the sole purpose of heckling the coyote, a bit of good-natured antagonism helping rid his mind of troubles.
“Ugh!” Princess Sally shut off his microphone remotely at her console and chastised him. “If you’re not gonna play, Sonic, then don’t interrupt! Thank you for your positive report, Sir D’Coolette; you are truly the bravest knight in the kingdom.”
Rosie opened the door of the princess’ commandeered podium quietly, smiling to her and beckoning her outside with a wave of her hand. “I’m sorry to cut your game short, Sally, but it seems you have a visitor.”
Professor Arthur Calus, Minister of Mathematics and the princess’ occasional tutor had returned to the Forum Garden while the children were playing. Upon leaving the podium, the princess found him standing beside Rosie, a smile upon his face and a package in his arms. “Ah, there you are! I, err… I’m very pleased to see you following in your father’s footsteps so cheerfully.” The bespectacled squirrel blushed and stuttered as he so often did when speaking.
“Thank you, Professor!” Sally curtsied in her bright blue dress and smiled up at him. “It’s nice to see you! Are you going to stay and help with the lessons today?”
“Awww,” he frowned slightly, “I-I wish I had time to today, b-but err… you see I’ve been tasked with debugging computer code for Julian and Sir Charles’ big project. It’s very important. Oh, besides, today's lesson is philosophy and culture if I'm not mistaken. Hardly my strong suit!” Calus tucked the package under his shoulder to free his hands so he could clean his glasses on his coat tails, his eyes losing focus as soon as his glasses came off; he was famously myopic without them. “However!” He replaced his glasses atop the bridge of his muzzle and smiled again through buck teeth as he offered the princess the box he had been carrying. “I do have just enough time to give you this! It’s a present from your father and I. He’s very pleased with your grades, and you are my favorite student!”
At her age, the princess was always overjoyed to receive gifts; however she was slightly dubious of anything the professor had any hand in. Nonetheless, she accepted the wrapped box and began carefully opening it, smiling politely to her tutor. “Oh, thank you very much, Professor Calus… but aren’t I your only student, as well?”
“Ah, that’s true, isn’t it?” Professor Calus raised a finger in realization before he put it to rubbing under his chin in contemplation. “Hm. Uhh, well, even if you, you uhh, weren’t my only student, I’m positive you would still be my favorite! Ha ha! Get it? Positive! It’s math humor!” He burst into laughter, but stopped after a moment when his voice cracked and he choked slightly. “Erm, ahem.”
“Yes… well.” Sally raised an eyebrow to him and opened the unwrapped package. Inside was a small, hand-sized blue metallic object, an electronic device of some sort. “Oh my. This looks very pretty, and it’s my favorite color! Thank you, Professor, but… what is it exactly?”
“Why, it’s a computer, Princess!” The brown squirrel clasped his hands together and grinned as if it were an incredibly obvious fact. “Y-your father, uh, he told me you had been taking an interest in them lately, so I took the liberty of finishing an old project of mine that might fit the bill! It flips open right here, see? This is a palmtop computer of my own design, the only one of its kind! Well, uh, for the time being anyway! This one is a gift to you, and if you find it handy, I intend to mass-produce them. She’s waterproof, impact-resistant, and the solar charging system means you never have to change the battery. I thought it would be an excellent learning assistant for you.”
“Oh, that really is very thoughtful!” Princess Sally had recently taken an interest in computers and electronics of all kinds, and as such, her excitement piqued when she realized the magnitude of what she was given. “Thank you very much, Professor, but did you address the computer as ‘she’?”
“Why yes, yes I did,” the professor answered, “because, you see, this computer also has an advanced artificial intelligence program I wrote myself, just for you! Since you are, uhh, well, a girl, I thought you’d want it to be a girl AI as well!” He scratched the back of his head, blushing again and shrugging his shoulders slightly. “She’s quite brilliant, and she’s capable of being an assistant and friend for the rest of your life, if you wish. I designed her with you in mind. She can talk to you, and perform all sorts of functions. I preloaded all sorts of maps, books, and, um, all sorts of other things like that into her memory for you, but she can show you how to add more when you like. Sh-she doesn’t have a real name, yet, sadly. I code-named her ‘Arthura’ because she’s a girl and, well, my name is-”
“Yes, Professor.” Rosie sighed from behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder and gesturing to the other children. “This is very nice of you, but class is starting in just a few minutes.”
“Ah, quite right! T-terribly sorry, Rosie! I really should be going, Sally.”
The princess curtsied to him again and waved. “Goodbye, Professor! Thank you very much for the thoughtful gift! I hope your work today does better than this morning!”
“Hmm?” Professor Calus tilted his head, turning back to face her. “What do you mean?” His confusion broke as it dawned on him what she referenced. “Oh! You mean that little explosion and the smoke? Oh, no, no, no, that… that wasn’t me this time!” He struck a thoughtful pose, pushing up his glasses with a finger before rubbing his muzzle beneath where they rested. “You know, that was very odd, come to think of it. There was a strange man that came before the council today; he was the cause of all the commotion. I… don’t really know what he was on about. Your father spoke to him at length, though! Maybe he can tell you more. Have fun with your lessons, Sally!”
With Professor Calus departed and Rosie taking roll call, the princess was free to explore her present for a few moments. She opened it carefully, addressing it quietly. “Hello? Computer?”
The small display of the palmtop computer blinked on as text scrolled across. Sally could make out some of the words, but most of the computer jargon was beyond her understanding, even interested as she was. “Hello, Princess Sally Acorn. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“You really can talk!” The little ground squirrel was amazed at the potential of her new computer. “Wait… you recognized my voice, too!”
“Yes. I am programmed to respond specifically to your commands.” The computer even had a female voice, though it was somewhat monotone, and lacked emotion.
“Hmm. You need a name.” Sally thought it over for a moment. “What kind of computer are you?”
“I am a New-Intelligence Computer Organizer: Limited Edition.”
“N.I.C.O.L.E.” The princess spelled it out to herself as she took a seat on the polished stone floor of the forum alongside the other children. “Okay, I’ll call you Nicole!”
“Understood, my name is Nicole.” An empty text field at the top of the screen blinked several times before the name ‘NICOLE’ appeared in broad, capital letters on it.
“All right class.” Rosie had donned her reading glasses and stood before a wheeled blackboard, her lesson notes outlined for the children. “It is time for class to begin. Our subject matter for today is religion, philosophy, and mythology, and how these things influence and relate to one another.”
“Ooh!” Sally's ears perked. This was a topic she didn't know much about and for her, that made it profoundly interesting. “Can you take notes, Nicole?” She whispered, ever studious. Her new computer beeped a quiet affirmative.
“Now,” Rosie began, “I know you've all been taught the basics of accepted Mobian religion already, so what are they?” Several hands in the crowd shot up at once. “How about... Sonic?” Rosie pointed to her famously difficult pupil, adding a quiet 'Please don't make me regret this...' in the privacy of her own mind.
Sonic was a poor student, but loved being the center of attention, so he stood up and confidently answered her. “Good people go to the Harvest when they die, and bad people go to the Hair Oiling!” There was a stifled murmur of laughter among the other students.
“Not...” Rosie winced, trying to find a way to politely correct him. “Not quite.” It's 'Harrowing', not 'Hair Oiling', and being good or bad, while part of the point, is not the only factor. Let's look at our own mythology to better explain this.” The aged teacher turned to the blackboard and began drawing small educational aids.
“Our creation myth claims that in the beginning, long, long ago, our world was visited by a traveler, a being who wandered the stars and built worlds in its wake. We call this entity The Profound Designer. It was this being who created Mobius, and Mobians themselves. For a time, we learned under their tutelage, but something happened and this Profound Designer had to depart, never to return, before Mobians could be completed.' Rosie drew a small diagram of a Mobian, tapping the center of it with her pointer. “Not in body, obviously, but in another way. Some unseen part of us, that part that tells us who we are, that part that makes us... us, was never completed. Some people call them souls, some people call them cores, or spirits, or animus; there are many words to describe this unseen thing that makes up the center of our being. According to the myth, it is because our souls are incomplete that we ourselves are imperfect; why we can hurt each other, why we hurt ourselves, why we don't always understand the world around us and cannot stand completely united behind anything.”
“Rosie?” Sally asked, too wrapped up in the lesson to raise her hand or wait to be called on, “If The Profound Designer wanted to finish us, why did they leave?”
“No one can say.” Rosie ignored the princess' faux pas in the name of education. “The story is very vague on that matter, probably deliberately, being myth. With mythology, as with religion itself, the point isn't necessarily to give an accurate account of history, but to try to explain things that are otherwise impossible to understand. 'Where did we come from?', Why do we exist?'. Someone long ago asked these questions, and, having no way to answer them with any certainty, was left to imagine and wonder. The important thing to understand, is that this myth... this story, while it may or may not be true, it forms the basis for both our faith and our philosophy. It doesn't have to be the truth, it is there to plant an idea, around which new ideas can grow, and an understanding can be built.”
This was a complex idea, that much was plain on the faces of most of the students, but such was the way of life for Mobian schoolchildren, even at a young age; they were challenged to think hard, and grow all the more for it. “So...” Sally tried her best to make sense of her teacher's open-ended explanation, “What it says, isn't as important as what it means. You have to read between the lines, sort of.”
“Exactly!” Rosie nodded with a smile.”The story itself, true or false, doesn't matter as much as the core message it has for us: 'We are incomplete'. That need for completion is what our most commonly held philosophies are based on. Mobians are essentially good, and by doing good, helping other and furthering our understanding of ourselves, we complete our own souls and can travel to The Harvest. Those who do not complete themselves pass instead to The Harrowing, a place not of punishment,, but of great trials, to help those who visit it along on their journey to completion and The Harvest. Of course, not everyone believes these are real places. They may simply be metaphors. Just as many people today don't believe in The Harvester, the mythical being left behind to guide and collect us upon reaching completion.”
“Ah, but mees Rosie, my papa, he says that Overlanders don't have a soul, so what do they do? “Antoine asked, raising his hand and waving it back and forth.
“Hm, well, General D'Coolette no doubt has very strong feelings about Overlanders, having fought in the war so long now, but regardless, he may be correct by some accounts.” Rosie nodded to her student as she paced back and forth in front of the class. “Overlander religion is a very different thing from ours. We don't understand it completely, due to the war making it difficult to have civil discussion with them on subjects outside of politics. However, we do know that their creation myth parallels our own in some ways. Overlanders believe they were created by a godlike being as well, however, they felt they suffered for it. As long as their god existed, the Overlanders couldn't feel free to make their own decisions and live out their lives according to their own plans. Essentially, having a god prevented their freedom. So, they all rose up as one, and killed their god in combat, somehow. This had a terrible price, however; they believe that by killing their god, they also destroyed their souls. Because of this, Overlanders believe they have no afterlife. They focus more on doing great things in life, making great accomplishments, so that others will remember them after they pass on.”
“But Doctor Kintobor helps other people all the time, right?” Sonic asked, interrupting without raising his hand.
“That's true...” Rosie noted, always forgiving of interruptions when they were intelligent. “However, he also makes a personal legacy for himself by doing so. I understand science is a popular field among Overlanders for that reason. In that way, we are very much alike. It's important to understand that our beliefs aren't better or worse than theirs, just different. They want to do what's best, too, it's just that their ideas of what's best or how to go abut it are sometimes going to differ because of their philosophy.”
“But if we're so much alike, then why do Mobians and Overlanders fight so much?” The blue hedgehog boy caught her off guard with another question, a rare occasion.
“Ah, that's...” Rosie's voice trailed off, lost for a moment in thought. “That's a difficult question to answer, I'm afraid. The Great War has gone on for a very long time, Sonic. There's no one alive among Mobians who is old enough to remember the beginning of it. Sometimes things like this just go on because they've been going on for a long time.” The aged teacher sat down in the chair beside her blackboard, taking on a much more informal posture. “Someday, I think, Mobians and Overlanders will put aside the differences we have and learn to work together.” She spared her students mention of her fears that the Mobian race would not live to see that day. “...and I certainly hope we do.”
Class continued for several hours, with the lesson moving to the discussion of variant Mobian philosophies and how they helped shape the societies that gave rise to them, until at last, Rosie's chronometer beeped to announce the end of class. “Ah, that concludes today's lessons, children. I would like you to spend so of your free time today thinking about what we've discussed; think about the things you feel and do, and try to understand the 'why' of them, all right? That's all for today!”
“Wow, I never thought about any of that before...” Sonic commented to Princess Sally, seated next to him. “It really makes me think, you know?”
“You, think?” the princess quipped, smirking at him. “Rosie really is the best teacher.”
“Yeah!” Sonic nodded his head, quills bobbing. “I mean, I know I'm the coolest already, but, like, why am I so cool? Do I choose to be cool, or am I just cool naturally?” He shrugged, shaking his head at the deepness of his own thoughts.
“Wow.” Sally shook her head as well, for a very different reason. “I can't wait to read your report...” The princess giggled softly and picked her new computer up from her desk, pointing it at her friend. “Oh! Before I forget... Nicole, this is my friend Sonic.”
“Hello, Sonic.” Nicole's digitized voice intoned politely.
“Whoa, that's cool! Sonic smiled at the wondrous device, extending a finger to poke it, not unlike it were some arcane mystery to him. “It can talk?”
“Nicole is a she, Sonic!” Sally exclaimed, halfway between genuine offense and teasing.
“Well, sorry! What all can she do?”
“Lots of things!” The princess enthusiastically explained, “She took my notes for me in class today, see?” She pressed a button and revealed a text transcript of everything from the lessons, which had even been sorted for her convenience. “She's really cool, see?”
“Ahem.” One of the many faceless guards that often dotted the Forum Gardens cleared his throat from behind the princess, looking down at her through his faceless visor. “Your highness, your father will be expecting you shortly, you don't want to be late, do you?”
“Oh...” Sally's ears flattered with a soft sigh. “That's right. I should be going, Sonic.” Her morning schedule was extremely strict, being royalty.
“It's cool.”Sonic nodded, giving her a thumbs up. He was familiar with how controlled her life could be and tried to be understanding about it whenever possible, knowing that she was something of a free spirit like him. “I'll see you this afternoon, okay?”
“Okay.” This elicited a small smile from the princess as she finished packing her things to leave. “Have a good day, Sonic.” She took one last look at the world outside and waved at him as she started on her short journey up the path to the fortress she called home.
