The next day, Pluto was strolling around the ARK by herself. She had visited Maria in her quarters, and they had fun watching some old movies from earth. Maria told Pluto that she had never been to earth before, and she would like to know what life down there would be like.
This morning, the professor had made some tests on her body, the rest of the day, she had free to explore. And there was much to see on the ARK.
Professor Gerald just told her to stay clear of the lower levels. It would be too dangerous there, as there were hazardous security corridors, constructed in case some intruders would infiltrate the ARK.
Most of the scientists and their families already knew Pluto and waved at her every time she passed them. The soldiers stayed as grumpy as ever, but Pluto didn't plan on becoming their friend anyway.
When she was walking down another corridor, she suddenly heard a noise from a nearby storage room. It sounded like several boxes had been tipped over.
When she entered the room, she could see some little boy struggling to get out of the collapsed boxes. Lucky for him, they were all empty.
Pluto smiled. "Well, you must be Chester. I heard a lot about you from Maria. I'm Pluto!"
The boy threw the last box away and stood up. He stared into Pluto's face. "I know about you," he said with a grim look on his face. "My father told me all about the mad professor's plans. You're one of the freaks he created in his lab, right?"
Pluto gulped. "Um, that's not quite true..."
"I heard you have to eat little animals to survive," the boy continued. "How many squirrels have you killed today?"
"I think your father has a slight misinterpretation of the professor's work," Pluto said while frowning. "I assure you, I am no freak, and so aren't my brothers."
"My father is always right," the boy shouted. "He is the commander of the GUN forces, you know? So don't try to fool me."
Pluto looked firmly into the boy's eyes. 'Strange,' she thought. 'They are different colored.'
"Listen, Chester... I'm no freak, got it? I'm just a nice hedgehog that wants to go to lunch in peace, so don't bother me with the phantasms of your father, okay?"
"Lunch?" Chester mumbled. "Some juicy rabbits, I guess..."
Suddenly, Maria turned around the corner. "Pluto, have you seen...? Oh, there he is! Chester, you ran away again. You know you have to do your homework."
"Tell this freak to get away from me," Chester yelled. "She wanted to eat me."
Maria sighed. "Chester, please. Go to your room. We'll talk about that later."
The boy threw Pluto one final glance and left.
"I'm sorry about this," Maria said. "His father doesn't like what my grandfather is working on and thinks of him as a madman. I, on the other hand, think my grandfather is brilliant."
"Professor Gerald is brilliant," Pluto agreed. "Only most of the people don't seem to understand him. Why doesn't Chester's father imprison the professor if he thinks he is such a threat for the national safety?"
"Commander Charles Barrel may be the leader of the GUN troops, but he gets his orders from the president of the United Nations. So he has no choice but to listen to the president's orders. But I bet all those troops are here just to report to Barrel as soon as something happens..."
She shook her head. "But never mind. I wanted to show you something. Come with me!" And she took Pluto by the hand and led her towards the ARK's observatory.
----
Maria shoved Pluto towards the telescope. "Here, watch!"
Pluto peered through the telescope and saw outer space. "I can't see anything..."
"Wait, let me adjust the telescope's angle..." The view panned a little to the left... and now Pluto could see it. A giant comet, made from some black rock, surrounded by a crimson comet's tail.
"A comet..." Pluto murmured while moving away from the telescope.
Maria nodded. "Yes, the Black Comet! He's approaching Earth every 50 years, and tonight, he will pass the Earth at a very close distance. Amazing, isn't it?"
Pluto shook her head. Something about that comet... gave her the creeps. But she couldn't explain what it meant.
Maria looked at her with a worried face. "Is something wrong?"
Pluto smiled. "No, everything's fine. Come, the professor gave me some money... I'll buy you a sundae at the cafeteria."
Maria beamed. "Great!"
----
Professor Gerald was sitting at the window of his research facility and sighed. He was able to bring life to Pluto, but regarding Shadow... he seemed to have reached a dead end. He knew what was necessary to enrich Shadow's body with the intended power, but... it didn't quite work. What he needed, was some kind of catalyst...
"Do not worry, human! Everything will work out just fine."
Gerald was startled. In alarm, he looked around the room. Except from Shadow's floating form inside the tank, the room was empty. "Who's there?" Gerald shouted.
Then, a floating silhouette appeared inside the laboratory. It was translucent and resembled nothing the professor had seen before. It was vaguely humanoid and had long, horn-like protrusions on his head. It's skin was a deep black, and its three eyes stared at him with a gleaming red. It wore some kind of robe, decorated with various unknown symbols and chains.
"Do not be afraid, human," the apparition exclaimed. "I mean you no harm. I am Black Doom, leader of the extraterrestrial race known as the Black Arms. Our home is the Black Comet." He gestured towards the window, where Gerald could see the faint red sparkling of the comet's tail.
He gulped nervously. It didn't happen every day that you were being visited by an alien. "My name is... Professor Gerald Robotnik. Why... why are you here?"
"I could listen to your thoughts of distress, professor," the alien continued in its eery voice. "And I think I can offer you a bargain that both of us are going to profit from."
"What kind of... bargain?"
Black Doom turned towards the container where the form of Shadow was sleeping. "I see you're planning to create something that you call the... Ultimate Life Form. But you have some problems of adjusting his DNA for your benefits."
Professor Gerald considered denying it, but he suspected that creature would be able to read his thoughts like an open book. "That's... correct," he said. "I tried everything to acclimatize his body fluids to my serum, but to no avail. It's just no use..." He sighed.
"Fret not, Gerald," Black Doom said. "For I offer you something that can help you reach your goal." He held up a small vial containing a crimson liquid. "A sample... of my blood!"
"Your... blood?"
"Indeed," the alien nodded. "Our race has most intriguing abilities, and I'm the superior ruler of them all. You'll see that if my blood gets injected into this creature, it will truly become the Ultimate Life Form of your planet."
Gerald was amazed. If that was true, then he would be able to finish his research. His dream would come true. "And what is my part of the bargain?" he asked.
Black Doom lowered his face. "You need to bring me... the seven Chaos Emeralds!"
----
Chester angrily walked down the corridors. How could Maria, the only person that was important to him next to his family, take sides with that freak? His father was right: The professor was a mad scientist.
He hit the metal walls in anger and walked past a door, when he heard a strange voice. It seemed to come out of the professor's laboratory. Quickly, he went to the door and looked through the glass panel.
Inside that room... he could see the three monsters that would haunt his dreams from now on: The mad scientist himself, a horrible black monster that was talking to the professor, and inside that tube...
...a hedgehog as black as the night. Floating inside that green liquid, bearing those crimson stripes, it was the most horrifying sight the little boy ever saw in his entire life.
He let out a small yell of terror and fled down the corridor.
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:33)
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