The Other: Chapter 23

The sound of droning metal was all that could be heard in the silent halls of Xemus' broken battleship as it continued to hang ominously above the skies of Mobius. Oddly enough the dark master himself was not on the bridge this day, but rather secluded in his meditation chamber extending his sites across the lush planet. Within the corridors the decaying form of a slave limped across the hall having been summoned by his master for reasons unknown. Upon arrival at the chamber door the servant hesitated, deciding how best to gain his master's attention. Xemus was quite secretive about the contents of his chamber and the servant dare not enter himself. The last slave who had done so had been found many days later pinned to the ceiling of the engine room with his body turned inside-out and yet somehow still alive. The servant did not wish to suffer the same fate and so placed four quiet knocks against the metallic bulkhead instead. No sound was heard as the creature waited for his master to emerge; however a slight feeling of anxiety began to grow rapidly within him as if someone were stalking him. With a loud squeal the door suddenly opened revealing Xemus at the entrance. The servant immediately cowered in front of his master, speaking in an anxious voice.

"Y-you summoned me, lord?" The slave whispered.

"Yes, almost fifteen minutes ago. I hate waiting." Xemus replied back, his luminescent eyes narrowing under his hood.

"Forgive me." The creature said bowing his head, "Have your sights yielded many results?"

"Indeed," Xemus said sounding pleased, "I have managed to gain entrance into the minds of both the fox and the plant at various times. The next step is to locate their physical presence."

"Shall I send for the marauders?" The servant inquired, "They would be most effective in such a siege."

"I don't want to assault them." Xemus said in a monotone response, "What I desire requires more information than I currently possess."

"Have you not probed them?" The servant asked, "With your might mental invasion should be a simple task."

"Your comment is gratifying, but the circumstances are different. Their minds seem to wall themselves off to any distanced memory invasion. I have only invaded their surface consciousness in the form of dreams. I need more!"

"What would you have me do?" The servant asked.

"I want acolytes on the surface within the hour." Xemus spoke as he began to walk down the corridor slowly, "They are to keep to the shadows. I don't want them to approach, just observe. Make sure they stay away from Kai. If they are discovered… then we will have to advance early. I don't want this ended too quickly."

As Xemus continued his droning the servant became overwhelmed with a sense of curiosity about what was hidden away in his master's chamber and chanced a glance over his shoulder. Nothing could be seen even with the door wide open as if the chamber itself absorbed light.

"Keep your eyes forward or you will find yourself without them." Xemus said in an unnerving voice startling the slave.

"Forgive me." The slave said shivering, "Do you have a strategy prepared for when you encounter them?"

"A strategy requires information which I currently do not have enough of." Xemus growled irritatedly, "Which is why I am sending the acolytes to intercept."

"And the scientist?" The slave asked curiously, "What of him?"

"He is of no consequence." Xemus said dismissively, "I will let him make his move, and when he fails I will take him. His use has expired."

"And Black Doom?" The slave asked, "What use is he?"

"He is a contact," Xemus replied, "nothing more. He holds extensive knowledge of this reality's history. I feel his militia may become useful at some point as well…"

"Why do you refrain from attacking?" The slave questioned, "You have the resources to dominate them. Why hesitate?"

"Why are you still questioning me?" Xemus growled now sounding angry, "You confuse hesitation with patience. I will wait as long as I must. Now, summon the acolytes, and quickly. You're wearing on my patience."

"Yes, Lord Xemus." The slave said as he lumbered off through the halls of the ship. Xemus paid no heed as he turned on his heel and proceeded in the opposite direction towards the bridge. As he walked he began rambling again, seeming oblivious that no one was listening to him.

"Your affinity for children has always been crippling to you, Kai. Their minds are so pliable. Easily changed, easily convinced, and easily polluted. Each one will find a reason to hate you once this game is up, and I will see them all eat each other by the end; and around and around we go…"



"You're the perfect killing machine Omega!" Eggman nodded with satisfaction, "After two weeks of tests I would have expected some sort of variation in your accuracy, but nothing! Team Sonic doesn't stand a chance agains you!"

"I AM THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING MACHINE!" Omega proclaimed rotating his torso in a full circle as if to boast, "TEAM SONIC WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

"Very good!" Eggman laughed patting his round belly as he sat in his command chair, "I believe you are ready to fulfill your prime directive then! We'll strike tomorrow evening, and Mobius will be mine!"

There was a long silence in the room as Omega stared blankly forward working his processors as he thought further on his glorious purpose. Within a nanosecond he encountered an inconsistency in his variables which he immediately inquired of from Eggman. "DOCTOR, ONCE MY PRIME DIRECTIVE IS COMPLETE WHAT FUNCTION WILL I SERVE?"

"Most likely you will help me enforce my rule by suppressing the mobian military." Eggman said casually, "I'll need a leader for my armies to rely on."

"AND WHAT THEN?" Omega inquired.

"I… haven't really thought that far, Omega." Eggman said scratching his chin, "Once all resistance has been squashed I suppose I'll just use you as security. I'm sure with me as emperor I might have the occasional assassination attempt."

"YOU POSSESS MANY SECURITY DRONES." Omega noted aloud, "WILL THAT DIRECTIVE NOT MAKE ME INFERIOR TO THEM?"

"No, no!" Eggman said, "You'll still be the ultimate fighting machine! You just… won't fight as much."

"BUT IF ALL DIRECTIVES ARE ACCOMPLISHED AND MY PURPOSE IS TO FIGHT, WHAT USE WILL MY EXISTENCE SERVE?" Omega questioned in what could almost be interpreted as a frantic tone, "I MUST HAVE A PURPOSE! I REQUIRE DIRECTIVE"

"You will, Omega!" Eggman said raising his voice, "I'll find something for you to do! Just focus on your current directive. I will provide you with new actions as needed. Now go to the lab and begin a recharge cycle. I want you fully prepared by tomorrow afternoon!"

"AFFIRMATIVE!" Omega said saluting then proceeded to pivot around and exit the room. Eggman's eyes followed his creation as the doors shut behind it, rapping his fingers on the armrest of his chair before silently commenting to himself.

"That thing does have ambition…" Murmured the scientist, "I'd be a bit concerned if it weren't for the information override drivers I programed him with. Any deviation from my orders would prompt an automatic shutdown. Hopefully that won't happen. Besides, I can always ask Xemus for more help if I need it! What are extra-dimensional abominations for after all?" The scientist chuckled to himself at his own notion as he pressed a few buttons on his chair prompting a large map of Mobotropolis to display on the main viewing screen. Like clockwork the scientist immediately began plotting, considering all the angles as he began to orchestrate what would be his ultimate triumph and the death the members of the Freedom Fighters.



Omega reached his recharge port in Eggman's robotics lab a short time later stepping up on the large platform as four metallic arms locked the drone in place. An umbilicus of cables and tubes extended from the back of the station and connected to a port along the robot's back. Soon Omega began to feel his cells refilling and his weapons recharging. Being immobile gave Omega a chance to divert more of his power to processing data as he computed further on his function and his reason for existing. He felt a certain fulfillment at the idea of terminating his designated targets, completing his purpose and conquering Mobius. One conflict did exist in this directive however, and unidentified string of code which seemed to be copulating within his system. Initially he had assumed that it was a virus, but no invasive programing had been detected on his hard drive. It was a simple line of text; non-invasive and not hazardous to his functions in any way, but there it was. One simple word, and that was "why". Why was he exterminating these targets? His programing told him because Eggman had ordered it. Why did Eggman order it? Because he wished to conquer Mobius. Why did he wish to conquer Mobius? So he could rule it. Why did he wish to rule it? It was there that his data came to a fault. Eggman had never given any clear motivation as to why he wanted Mobius. It couldn't be to further progress. Enslaving the mobian race would simply halt progress. It could not be for wealth. He already had all the funding he needed due to exploiting mobian tax loopholes, and the notion of power only lasted for so long. Omega assumed that his master was a bit more level-headed than to simply seek power. It was thus that the automaton was forced to conclude that Eggman had no true reason for wishing to take over Mobius; no true function. If Eggman's function was irrelevant then did that not make his function irrelevant as well? This paradox dominated his mechanical brain for approximately ten nano-seconds; an eternity to a perfect machine.

After a short time the handy droids Bocoe and Decoe strode into the room preparing to shut themselves down for the night during their recharge cycle. As they entered Decoe strode up to the mech placing a metal hand on his armored shoulder servo. "How's it going, big fella?" Decoe cackled irritatingly as he walked over to his station, which was less massive and grandiose as Omega's was, "Ready for tomorrow?"

"NEGATIVE," Omega replied dully, "MY RECHARGE CYCLE IS INCOMPLETE."

"Um, okay." Decoe said scratching his cranial dome, "I mean how do you feel about tomorrow?"

"THE TERM YOU HAVE SELECTED DOES NOT DESCRIBE THIS UNIT'S FUNCTION." Omega replied, "I DO NOT 'FEEL'."

"Yeah, I was like you once." Bocoe snickered as he plugged himself in as well, "All logic and stuff. Way too boring if you ask me!"

"YOU HAVE EXTENDED OUTSIDE OF YOUR GIVEN PARAMETERS." Omega accused, "YOU SHOULD BE DEACTIVATED."

"You make it sound like we did something bad!" Decoe snapped at the newer drone harshly, "You should be happy to be alive!"

"THIS UNIT IS NOT ALIVE. THIS UNIT IS A MECHANICAL CONSTRUCT." Omega retorted.

"But you feel, don't you?" Bocoe said tilting his head to the side, "You have ideas and can think, can't you? How do you feel about tomorrow?"

"I FEEL NOTHING." Omega replied.

"You're wasting your time with him." Decoe said, "Just shut up and go to sleep."

"You're not my mother!" Bocoe said as he shut his optical sensors entering a low power mode.

"You don't have a mother!" Decoe said as he did the same.

Omega continued to stare forward blankly allowing his cells to refill as he calculated the attack patterns of Team Sonic from Bokkun's old shared files. As he did though Cosmo cropped up in his database, finding it curious that she had no attack data to compute. For the sake of being thorough however, he began searching for alternate data sources on the seedrian coming across her personality profile during the search. Upon review the droid found no information warranting the termination of the little girl. Benign, pacifistic, calm tempered, gentle, and caring; all words used in describing her. Violent was not among them. She had never attacked Eggman, she never damaged his property, nor had she so much as scratched the paint on his robots. She was not an enemy as far as Omega's data described her so why did Eggman place her as one of his high-priority targets?

"WHY?" Omega spoke suddenly.

"What?" Decoe asked powering back up again, "Why, what?"

"WHY HAVE I BEEN ORDERED TO TERMINATE COSMO THE SEEDRIAN?" Omega repeated himself.

"Um, because the boss said so?" Bocoe replied opening his eyes, "Too bad… I liked her. She was nice."

"WHY DID EGGMAN GIVE THESE ORDERS?" Omega asked.

"I think he wants to make an example." Bocoe said, "At least that's what he said. Tails will be awfully upset."

"WHY?" Omega continued to repeat, "WHAT CONNECTION DO MILES 'TAILS' PROWER AND COSMO THE SEEDRIAN POSESS?"

"Well… they love each other." Decoe chimed in, "Does that matter?"

"AND HER LOSS… WILL DEGRADE HIS SYSTEM PERFORMANCE?" Omega asked.

"Yeah, they sort of need each other at this point." Bocoe nodded, "Wonder how Cream will react when she finds out Bokkun bit the dust. I think he liked her."

"CREAM… THE… RABBIT?" Omega asked tilting his neck as far as it would go which wasn't much.

"Is she one of your targets, too?" Decoe inquired, "You'll have Miss Vanilla all over you if she is."

"CREAM… IS… NICE." Omega droned slowly, "WE… LIKE… CREAM."

"Yeah, she is. Cosmo is too, though." Bocoe said absentmindedly, "I wish the doctor hadn't set her as a target."

"COSMO THE SEEDRIAN WILL BE TERMINATED!" Omega proclaimed, "THE MASTER ORDERS IT!"

"Well I think he's wrong." Decoe said turning his head to the side, "Now be quiet. We're trying to charge."

Omega fell silent as the other two robots powered down, his green eyes coloring the dark as his processor could be heard clicking. As the night went on the battle machine continued to calculate with a few particular lines of code repeating themselves over and over again in his data stream.

"COSMO THE SEEDRIAN- TARGET ACTION: EXTERMINATE- NO TARGET DATA DETECTED- CREAM THE RABBIT- TARGET ACTION: NONE- NO TARGET DATA DETECTED- BENIGN TARGET, CREAM THE RABBIT, POSSESSES ZERO TARGET PRIVILEGES. BENIGN TARGET, COSMO THE SEEDRIAN, POSSESSES TARGET PRIVILEGES? PERMISSIONS ERROR DETECTED!"