'Why did I think my friends and I were going to just up and change the world and be back in time for dinner? Why do children do anything they do? I was so insulated, so naïve, that I had no idea how the real world worked. That's precisely why, I think, I set out to do what I did. Children really do have the power to change the world, because they think they can. The world hasn't taught them to be powerless yet.'
~Memoirs: Sally Alicia Acorn
The Mobian Chronicles Book I Chapter IV:‘Clues and Conspiracies’
Far across the city, a gathering of figures less concerned with the intrigues of criminals and political dealings were coming together. Princess Sally Acorn sat on the steps of the Forum Gardens, consulting her computer and waiting for her friends to arrive. She’d managed to find Sonic, and sent him to gather everyone else; whether he was reliable enough to do so was the question on her mind as she waited.
One by one, they came together. Sonic was the first to arrive, skidding to a screeching stop at the top of the steps and waving. “Hey! I did it! Everyone said they’re on the way, even Antoine!” The short blue hedgehog took a seat on the marble steps beside his friend, tapping his sneaker-covered feet idly. “What’s with the outfit? Come to think of it, what are we doin’ anyway? I’m missing lunch for this!”
“I’ll explain once everyone is here, Sonic.” Sally had shed her regal dress and tiara for a more practical set of blue boots, blue vest, and a gray backpack for the sake of their adventure. “I’m sorry to keep you from your lunch, but this is very important.”
“Oui!” The piercing accent of Antoine D’Coolette preceded him as he descended the stairs, dressed in his finest blue jacket. Like most nobles, he wore a full set of clothes as a status symbol, though today he was noticeably missing his pants. “I would be liking to know, as well, why we are here. I will be in so much troo-ble when my father finds out I am missing my violin lesson, but there ees no troo-ble too great to keep me from aiding you, my highness!”
“Oh, brother...” Sonic rolled his eyes out of reflex. He’d barely understood a word, but that didn’t stop his usual reaction to Antoine.
“Thank you, Antoine.” Sally tried, as she often had to, to make up for Sonic’s lack of manners; this time, though, she couldn’t help but stifle a giggle. “But, um, where are your pants?”
“Ah!” The young coyote’s eyes lit up in indignation as he pointed a finger at his blue-furred rival. “He should be the one you are to be asking! This, this, ah… fuel of a hedgehog, he drags me from my home before I am even dressing properly, weethout words one, and tells me I am to be meeting you here for some sort of… adventois.”
“Ah know how ya feel, sugah.” The equally thick accent of the other female member of their circle of friends announced the arrival of Bunnie Rabbot, clad in only a purple leotard. “Sugah-hog here grabbed me on mah way from ballet class, ‘fore ah could even dress proper.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes and shook her head, placing her hands on her hips. “Ah’m gonna miss mah grammar lessons!”
“Wait for me!” Rotor Walrus half-ran, half-fell down the steps, arms full of gadgets, tools and papers. He strained to catch his breath as he presented the princess with everything he’d collected. “Ah, hah… I-I came as soon as I got your message! Haahhhh… am I too late?”
“Wait… Rotor?” Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Sally didn’t send me after you…”
“I called him with Nicole, and told him everything while you were getting everyone else.” Sally explained, motioning to her belt-holstered computer.
“Do you mind to be telling us?” Antoine complained. “The, how you say… wool on our eyes ees in the dark.”
Sonic snickered in the back of the group. “That’s NOT ‘how you say’.”
“Oh man…” Rotor continued to try to catch his breath as he explained, “Oh, man, its bad! Haaahh… Real bad! There’s a… hah… oh, you do it!” He fell back and lay on the steps, panting.
Sally bowed her head slightly, the reality of what she was getting them into beginning to dawn on her. “I overheard my father in a meeting with General Katzenov. They were talking about one of the members of the council secretly working for the Overlanders. They don’t know who, and it’s ruining my father to worry about it so.”
“But ah don’ understand, Sally-girl,” their yellow rabbit friend drawled, “The council’s supposed to be on our side. Why would one of them be workin’ for the bad guys?”
“I don’t know, Bunnie.” Sally shook her head slowly. But that’s why I called you all here. I need your help to find this traitor so we can expose them. If they’re not stopped, there’s no telling what kind of damage will be done. We might lose the war because of them. I might be putting us all in danger…”
“Danjour? Ha!” Antoine dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand and a snort. “Nonsense! The D’Coolettes leeve for danjour! I am to be laughing upon the face of it!”
Sonic pinched his nose shut and repeated the coyotes’ words in the same snooty manner. “Hah! You leave for danger all right!”
“Enough, Sonic! This is serious!” Sally stood up and paced back and forth in front of her friends. “If this person is working for the Overlanders, then there’s no telling how far they’ll go to keep that secret. They might try to kill us if they know we’re on to them.
“Keel us? Ha!” Antoine dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand and a snort. The snort caught in his throat and he choked slightly when the reality hit him. “Eeeh… wait, as in… dead? Ahhhaah… I am just now remembering something I have to do! Oh! Is that my father calling for me? So sorry, must be going!” Sonic caught him by the back of his jacket as he rose and the coyote slumped back down, trembling slightly. “Ehehe… I mean, that ees to say, I will protect you, Your Majesty!”
“Ah’m not afraid of getting in to trouble if it’s for you, Sally-girl, but ah feel like he has a point an' all. Ah mean, we're just kids, this is a bit outta mah league. Isn't this a job for… say, the Royal Guard?”
“Normally it would be, Bunnie.” Sally explained, “But my father doesn’t want to use them because he can’t afford to let the traitor know anyone is on to him. And besides, no one will suspect us. We’re just kids. Please, guys.” She held out her hand, palm down in the traditional togetherness gesture of her friends. “If not for my father, then for me?”
Sonic placed his hand on top of hers. “You know I will, Sal. I can keep us safe.” Rotor and Bunnie quickly followed suit.
“You can count on me, Sally”
“Ah still say it's dangerous, but if it's this important, we've all gotta do our part.”
“Antoine?” A chorus of voices called for their less enthusiastic friend to join.
“Eeheh… erm… I am, how you say…”
“Antoine!”
The coyote timidly reached out and put his finger on top of the stack of hands. “Okay, yes! Eheh... I am een it, but my heart is to be having not.”
“Thank you, Antoine.” Sally paused, trying to parse his statement. “I… think. Thank you all. For better or worse, we’ll get to the bottom of this. We’re all in this together!”
--- --- ---
Far from the jubilant cheer of five children, on the sparsely-traveled outskirts of the city, another party was to begin the very same search. Inside a large, armored Overlander transport that had been converted to a home of sorts, Kurtis and Rebecca Prower tended to their equipment; and to Kurtis’ concussion.
“Enough! All right already.” Kurtis pulled the ice pack off his head and discarded it on the floor. “Thing’s just giving me a worse headache, give me some herbs to chew on and it’ll be fine.”
“I’ll see what we have left, but you really should be using the ice on the back of your neck, not your forehead, Kurtis.”
“My forehead is what hurts! The blast broke a plank of wood over it and I-” Kurtis was cut off by the sudden activation of a communications monitor on a nearby wall of the transport. A shadowy figure, features obscured by the darkness of the room he broadcast from, greeted them.
“Mr. and Mrs. Prower, I presume?”
Kurtis turned his chair to face the screen and eyed the figure with suspicion. “Who, hang on a sec! Who wants to know? How’d you get this frequency?”
The figure on the monitor struck a match, and lit a cigarette; the light of the flickering flame illuminated dark glasses and orange-and-black striped fur for the briefest of instants. “I am the reason you are in the comfort of your base of operations, and not a prison cell. I’m calling you on behalf of someone very important.”
“You’re the person who had us let off?” Rebecca looked up at the monitor, straining to make out features in the dark. “Who are you working on behalf of?”
“As I said, someone very important. He has tasked me with dealing with a problem that vexes him greatly. I want to hire the two of you to fix this problem.” The dark figure spoke in an indeterminate accent, and his voice was electronically altered, but his words were careful and slow.
“Tough luck, then. I’m on a job already, and it’s personal.” Kurtis reached for the controls. “Try someone else.”
“I suppose I shouldn't expect gratitude from a bounty hunter.” The shadowed figure took a puff of his cigarette.
Kurtis scoffed. “Gratitude doesn't keep us in our lifestyle. Mobium does.”
“I have an unlimited amount of financial resources to bring to bear. You may name your price upon completion.”
Rebecca and Kurtis shared a glance at one another, deliberating without words. She was the first to speak. “Who’s the target?”
“That is up to you to find out.” Another long, thoughtful exhalation of smoke obscured the figure. “A member of the Mobian Scientific Council is guilty of selling military secrets to our enemies. I want you to find out who it is. Due to my own position, I cannot be involved. I have never spoken to you, and will disavow any knowledge of this conversation. You’ll not be bailed out again should you make a mistake.”
Kurtis nodded slowly. “Okay, pal you’ve got me interested now. You want this person dead, or alive?”
“Dead. No witnesses. This is a highly sensitive matter, Mr. Prower. You get your money when I read the headline.” He exhaled a large puff of smoke that obscured the camera with inky haze before the transmission ended.
“Do you think he’s legit, Kurtis?”
The fox chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “Yeah, he’s a big-time government guy for sure. There’s no reason someone would want a random council member assassinated, especially if we’re supposed to find evidence of wrongdoing. If he was using us, he’d have named a name instead.”
“That’s not what worries me.” Rebecca shook her head and sat down to clean her sidearm. “When we’re done, will he pay us, or kill us?”
“I get the feeling he’s not someone we get to say ‘no’ to. I think we just basically got drafted to do this, like it or not.” Kurtis rubbed the bridge of his muzzle and stretched. “We know Vince is in the city too. If we’re lucky, we’ll take one of them down on the way to the other. We’re just gonna have to play this one by ear.”
--- --- ---
“We’ve been looking for an hour!” Sonic tapped his foot on the polished floor of the Forum Gardens impatiently. “Are you sure there’s anything here, Sally?”
“There must be!” The princess opened another podium and began searching it. “This is the last place where all the councilors were together. If they left any kind of clue behind, it should be somewhere around here.”
“She’s right, Sonic.” Rotor paced circles around the area, trying to come up with other places to search as he talked. “If we’re trying to single out one person, then we have to at least find something to start with. You know; something to bring them into suspect. Otherwise we’ll never narrow it down.”
“Okay, fine, like what?” The blue hedgehog kicked a rock that had found its way into the forum, sending it skidding away. “What’s a clue supposed to look like, anyway?” A slip of paper that had been lying beside a potted plant was suddenly disturbed by the rock, sending it rustling and floating through the air as it caught a gust of summer breeze.
“Like that!” Sally, farthest from the paper, pointed to it urgently. “Get that paper, quick, before it blows away!”
“Oui, my princess!” Antoine chased after the blowing paper, making futile grabs and lunges as it darted ahead of him. Finally, he caught it in one hand, holding it up in triumph. “Ha!”
“Ha!” Sonic rushed past him in a flash, snatching the paper from his hand and delivering it to Sally before the coyote could protest. “Here ya go, Sal! What’s it say?”
“Hmmm.” Her expression became puzzled as she looked at the paper. “I… don’t understand. What is this?”
“Here, lemme see!” Sonic took the paper from her and puzzled over it, turning it this way and that as he only became more confused. “These are just a bunch of letters and stuff, but they’re put together all weird.”
“Those would be called words, you fuel hedgehog.” Antoine snatched the paper from his rival’s hands, looking over it himself. “Ah yes, theese ees… uhhh... ummm...” He passed the paper on to Rotor. “What ees theese?”
“It’s a code! … I think.” The walrus boy tried to make more sense of it, but ultimately, he too was left scratching his head. “I wish I could tell what it said, though, it might be a clue.”
“This is interestin’ and all,” Bunnie Rabbot, mostly silent for the duration of the search up until then, pointed out the dark brown stain on the edge of the code sheet. “But ah do believe that’s a blood stain, there.”
This revelation came as a great shock to all of the children, most noticeably Antoine, who turned pale and flattened his ears at the prospect of blood, implied danger, and all things related.
“Nicole.” Sally was struck with an idea, unfolding her computer and pointing it at the document. It stood to reason that the computers small camera let it ‘see’ whatever it was pointing at. “Can you understand what this says?”
“Analyzing…” The small computer’s soft, emotionless voice rose up from the singular speaker. “Professor Calus programmed me with knowledge of most standard encryption techniques, but this one is not in my records. I am unable to decipher any information of relevance. I will continue my efforts in the background as more information becomes available.”
“Well… there goes my idea.” The princess slipped the computer back into her vest pocket. “If someone dropped this by mistake, then it’s suspicious. If someone left it here for someone else, then it’s even more suspicious. I’m almost sure this will put us in the right direction if we figure it out.” She took the paper and wandered to the steps of the forum, sitting down and folding it up to put in her pocket. Finally, she accepted the exasperating truth of their problem. “We’re going to have to get an adult’s help if we’re going to get any further, but we can’t just show this to anybody. I say we put it up to vote. Who can we trust to help us?”
“I say my Uncle Chuck!” Sonic was quickest to submit an idea. “He’s smart, and if he can’t figure it out, then he’ll give it to the king, and he… oh…”
“Yeah.” Sally nodded as her friend realized the problem of secrecy. “We can’t let daddy find out about this. He’d be furious. I am not about to get grounded again, like last time. That means no Sir Charles, and no General Katzenov or daddy.” She paused, in thought. “Come to think of it, no Professor Calus either.”
“But Sally-girl,” Bunnie interjected, “he’s the big mathemawhoosit, why not him? He must do this stuff all the time.”
“Because, Bunnie, If he made Nicole, and she can’t figure it out, why would he? There’s that, and the professor is… well, he’s a nice man, and I’m sure he’s not the bad guy, but he’s just not the most reliable person in the world…”
“Well he was gonna be mah vote, so ah give up.” Bunnie passed the proverbial torch to the next member of the group with a shrug. “How ‘bout you, Rote?”
“I say we take it to Dr. Faustian!” Rotor enthusiastically explained his unexpected choice. “He lets me watch him build things sometimes, and he says I have a good mechanical mind. He’s really smart, and I just know he wouldn’t tell on us if we asked him not to. I know he’d be able to figure the code out in no time! Let’s see if he’ll help us!”
There was a general consensus among sonic and the others after Rotor’s glowing review of the Minister of Engineering, but one member had yet to submit any offering.
“What do you think we should do, Antoine?”
“Ehhh…” The coyote took the front of his shirt and wrung it in his hands. “I am thinking that maybe we should be putting this paper back where we found it and go home! It’s after time for lunch, and I am hungry… We could all go home and my mother will make us the nicest tea and cakes, so this is a good idea, yes?” He laughed nervously, making a slight pleading gesture with his hands.
“This is a good idea, no.” Sonic shook his head at the cowering coyote. “I’m starting to think Sal’s right, Antoine. That paper may really be important, so let’s go talk to the Doc and find out what it says. I’m votin’ yes for Faustian.”
“I agree.” Sally stood up, nodding.
“He gets mah vote too.”
Antoine sighed heavily, defeated again. “Oui... I am voting to go see heem, then.”
Rotor beamed at being the most important member of the group for once. “All right! Just… let me and Sally do the talking when we get there, okay?
The workshop of Dr. Reinhardt Faustian was a place of order and meticulous cleanliness. The young engineer had skipped lunch, as he always did, to continue to work on his metal soldiers; a project that he felt certain would help to cement his future. He sat quietly at his workbench, turning a stripped-down shoulder joint every which way in his hands as he studied it through an array of special goggle lenses. “Why…?” He whispered to himself, lost in the puzzle of his latest setback. “Why do you continue to fail…?”
“Still working on the buckling issue, huh doc?” Dylan Donovan Drake, Faustian’s assistant, was a teenager to his Draconian race; meaning he towered twice the size of other Mobians. The Draconians were a strong, winged race of reptiles that had been pressed into service as soldiers. Dylan, like many young people of the day, had come to the city for the education that could not be found anywhere else; that, and to escape from the war. “You want me to go get you some lunch? You need to eat.”
“Nein,” Faustian pressed a button on his goggles, paying no mind to the boy that stood twice his height. The color of his lenses changed and he studied the bent shoulder joint in a new spectrum. “Not hungry, too busy. Ugh, what is wrong with ze joints? Ze shoulder pins just dislocate as soon as zey bear any real weight. Wait a minute, what kind of screw is zis?” He pointed to an offending component of the joint.
“Standard industrial, I think.” Dylan tried to recall. “Should be.”
“Problem solved.” Faustian snorted derisively, tossing the defective part into a bin at his side for recycling. “It’s not ze pins falling out, it’s ze screws failing to hold on! One arm assembly weighs twenty-five pounds, when it goes to lift a hundred pounds of gear, industrial screws will naturally fail. Ze screws we're using are made for more delicate pieces! Put more of our alloy screws on order, boy.”
Dylan had become used to one-sided conversation with his mentor. He’d thought about asking after the slightly bloodied bandage on the fox’s hand, but didn’t want to endure another earful of common sense and meaninglessness. “Sure thing, boss. Is that all you need me for? I was kind of hoping you might let me take off early today…”
“Hm.” Dr. Faustian smiled to himself. “Got a date with some know-nothing girl you’ve managed to dupe, eh?”
“Uhhh, Something… kind of like that.” Dylan blushed and scratched the back of his crested head embarrassedly.
“Ja.” Faustian dismissed him with a wave of his hand, never looking away from his work. “Ja, Dylan. Zat’s fine, go on.”
“Thanks Doc. I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.” Dylan had barely made it out the door before he’d run into the children, just arrived to see Faustian. “Oh, hey Rotor! Haven’t seen you here lately.”
The purple walrus was a regular in and around the workshop, going so far as to sneak in sometimes when he wasn’t always welcome, always to see the latest mechanical wonders being made. To him, Dylan was one of the perpetually cool ‘older kids’ to be looked up to and envied. “Hi Dylan! You’re leaving the shop kinda early, huh?”
The bright red Draconian boy laughed, stretching his wings. A faint wisp of black smoke escaped his round nostrils. “Oh yeah, I got a date I have to get ready for!”
A faint chorus of ‘eews’ came from the children, until Rotor spoke up. “Well, do you mind if we went inside and talked to Mr. Faustian for a minute? It’s important!”
This thought forced Dylan to hesitate. He knew better than to pester his eccentric boss, but he did like to humor Rotor and his friends. He liked the kid; it was refreshing to know another mechanical mind. “Well… the doc’s in one of his moods; I don’t think he wants visitors, but if it’s really important, I guess you can go on in.” He reached back and swiped his card key through the front door’s reader, which opened for them with a soft creak. “Good luck getting whatever it is you need out of him when he’s like this though.”
Inside, Faustian continued to work on his mechanical shoulder prototype, testing a hastily-improved model with stronger screws. There was a loud clatter from his workbench as the newest attempt broke as well. “Agh! Now ze pin can’t pop out so it's grinding! Zat won't last very long!” He peeled the goggles of his head and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle tiredly. “Zere must be a way to increase ze lifespan of my support pin without making it any larger… It wouldn't fit... It has to be worth ze money. I can brook no argument, no question of mein mechanical soldiers' value when ze time comes...”
“You could spray the pin with something to protect it!” Rotor interjected from behind him, enthusiastically.
“Ah!” Faustian’s massaging hand fell to the table quietly as a smile grew on his usually dour face. “Ze minds of children… such amazing capabilities.” He spun around on his stool to face the little walrus and his friends, face aglow with uncommon exuberance. “We adults over-complicate ze world so, but children can find ze simplest, easiest of solutions. An ablative spray could coat all ze parts and make it so much more cost-effective! Much longer life, much less replacing... Ah, and ze princess is here too, I see! What brings you to mein workshop again, little engineer? I assume Dylan let you in?”
“We need your help with something, if you have time, sir.” Rotor began, “I guess we better start from the beginning. We’re looking for clues to help Sally’s father, the king, on an investigation… we found this coded note,” He unrolled the paper and handed it to the fox, continuing. “We were hoping you could tell us what it said.”
As Faustian took the note with his bandaged hand, Princess Sally felt a sudden twinge, as if something just wasn’t right. She couldn’t put her finger on just what it was though, so she dismissed it.
Faustian laughed a little at the thought, glancing down at the note. “A puzzle, eh? Well, let’s see if I-” his countenance instantly fell and he looked back up at the children. “Yes, very interesting. I’ll take a close look just as soon as I get back from lunch!” He sat the paper on his workbench, obviously a bit agitated. “In ze meantime, why don’t you children look for clues in, oh… Undercity?”
“Undercity!?” Princess Sally stepped to the front of the group, shaking her head. “We aren’t allowed to go there, it’s too dangerous!”
“Nonsense!” Faustian smiled at her. “Dangerous, for clever children like you? Bah! In fact, I heard zere is a… uhh…” He thought for a moment, tapping the underside of his muzzle. “A, uh, a sage! Zat supposedly knows all and sees all! I am sure if you found him, your investigation would be over in no time.”
The little princess’ eyes went wide with misplaced trust. “Wow… really?”
“Of course!” Faustian nodded eagerly. “Ah, but it’s a secret, so you mustn’t tell anyone at all where you are going, or zat I sent you!”
“All right!” Sonic spoke up excitedly, happy for any excuse to explore somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. “Let’s do it, guys!”
When Bunnie and Rotor got on board the idea as well, Sally conceded, heading with them for the door. “Okay, I suppose it can’t hurt to try and find this sage.”
Sonic gave an exuberant thumbs-up. “Don’t worry, doc! Your secret’s safe with us!”
Faustian frowned in private as the door closed, looking back to the table and the note. “Ja… of zat I am very sure, mein little ‘friends’.” He struck a match, tossed the bloodstained code sheet in a wastebasket and lit it aflame. The doctor reached for a small communicator and pressed a button on it, raising it to his ear and waiting for an answer. “It's me... Ja... We have a problem... Nein, I am making it your problem, Captain. We need to meet.”
(You should read the chapter before reading this description! Think of this section as a 'director's commentary' of sorts.)
Kurtis and Rebecca find themselves entangled in the budding plot, and the Sonic, Sally, and their friends must make a fateful decision. Who to trust? Their choice will have consequences and may eventually set up a meeting that will change the world.
(Sonic and co. are the property of SEGA. Thumbnail icon graciously made by
