The Temporal Syndrome: Part 1

From: Shawn Wolski <n5una_at_MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 02:42:39 -0600

Sonic the Hedgehog "The Temporal Syndrome": Part 1
by Shawn Wolski

The author will accept questions and comments via E-mail at the
following address:
n5una_at_mail.utexas.edu

Sonic the Hedgehog and other associated characters are based on
the creations of Service and Games (Sega), Archie Comic
Publications, and the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons (Saturday
morning issue) created by DIC and Sega of America. Bookshire
Draftwood and Cmdr. Packbell are the exclusive creations of
David Pistone (rotor_at_primenet.com).

This work is protected under various copyright laws. The author
grants his permission for free distribution, under the premise
that the work retains its original format. No other utilization
of the following work, monetary or otherwise, is permitted.


Historian's Note:

The events on Mobius take place a short time before Robotnik
developed Project Doomsday.



500 million years ago, on the planet Cassandra, a planet far
from Mobius....

        It was near dawn in Pandora City, capital of the continent
Vulpecula in Cassandra's NW hemisphere. The light from the star
Arcania gradually rose above the horizon with a yellow-red
glare, casting it's color over the city like a thick blanket.
For the fox citizens that lived in the city and the rest of the
continent, it nearly time to go inside, away from the light that
they would otherwise be enjoying. They knew that darkness was
their sole sanctuary now, for the ozone layer over Cassandra had
nearly been depleted. The continent Vulpecula and the other
continent in the NE hemisphere, Vulpes Prime, had been at war
for over 30 years.
        Operation Merger, the unofficial name of the war, was one to
annihilate all prejudice between the Reds (red foxes on
Vulpecula) and the Grays (gray foxes on Vulpes Prime). The
intended ultimate result was to end the prejudice by destroying
the other race. The basic philosophy was: no other race, no
hate-crimes. Operation Merger started out in a rather primitive
fashion (compared to the technology that was available at the
time) with chemical weapons that wrecked havoc on the
atmosphere's ozone layer and caused global chaos. Nearly all
the arable land on Cassandra was lost to Arcania's increased
radiation input to the planet's biosphere, leaving the people to
starve and the biologists mad at work to find ways to alter the
food crops for adaptation to the UV and IR rays. About ten
years after the beginning of Operation Merger, the two
superpowers agreed to use only advanced technology in the war,
attempting to prevent any further losses. But not even the
energy weapons could stop the chemical plague in the atmosphere.
 Work had begun in the 12th year of the war to revitalize the
ozone layer, but to this day the procedures used had only been a
partial success.
        However, today was not only a day of retreat to the sheltered
coves. It was also a day of hope and expectancy. For this day
was one that would go down in history for the Reds and the
Grays. The two superpowers agreed to end the war and start
working out their social differences in more peaceful ways.
Prime Vixen Vala Andros of the Reds and Ambassador Falina Wren
of the Grays agreed to begin the major series of peace talks
after taking care of some unfinished business.
        The unfinished business in their minds was the removal of the
ultimate weapon and the technical data required to construct and
maintain it from Cassandra. The device would then be sent by an
automatic probe into Arcania. The Red and Gray superpowers
worked together to remove this devastating monster from
Cassandra: the Reds supplied the weapon and technological data
(it was their design), and the Grays supplied the ion drive
system for the probe. To insure that the probe arrived to the
star, an auxiliary dimensional warp drive was installed by the
Reds. After the procedure was complete, the peace talks would
begin.
        Vala stood naked by the East Sector window, in her executive
habitation room of the Prime Lineage Home, located in the center
of Pandora City. She scanned slowly over the visible areas that
she could see of Pandora City. There wasn't much to see at this
hour of the day, since it was right before dawn and her windows
had the mandatory UV/IR filtering tint sheets on the window
interiors and exteriors, but the Prime Vixen saw enough to set
the mood for her day. The eastern area of the city was nearly
halfway destroyed, since the major military technological
factories and bases were located there. Reports indicated that
the attacks on those installations were conducted by a large
baryon particle weapons satellite from space. It was a small
comfort that the weapons array was not aimed at any of the
civilian provinces. So far.
        'This war has been such a waste for both of our peoples,' Vala
thought to herself. 'It will take decades, maybe centuries at
least, to rebuild what we have both lost. But it will be done.'
 She put more determination into that last thought than she ever
thought she had under the circumstances, but it didn't hurt to
be hopeful in these trying times. She was startled from the
universe of her thoughts to those of the physical universe by a
soft whistle. It was from one of her personal communications
panels on the wall. She walked over to it, noticing the video
display showed her faithful Prime Family Aide, Marcus Devrom.
Vala was about to press the "Return Access" key; however, after
taking stock of the situation she was currently in, she pressed
the "Audio TX Only" key. It wasn't exactly good form to present
yourself to your aides when you weren't arrayed with the proper
attire.
        "Yes, Marcus. What is it?" Vala tried to say in a calm,
composed voice, but failed at the attempt. She knew that Marcus
would understand the reason she decided not to acknowledge him
with a video transmission from her node; it wasn't the first
time.
        Marcus, however, spoke with a calm voice and a straight face
that belied his humor in the situation. "Prime Vixen Vala, I
have received a message from Ambassador Falina Wren's aide. The
Ambassador wishes to speak to you about Operation Excommunicate
and about the preliminary plans for the peace conference."
        "Very well, then. Send a message to Ambassador Wren's aide
that I will be ready to discuss the matters in about fifteen
minutes." Vala managed to regain her composure that time.
        "Yes, Your Honor."
        The video imager blacked out a second later. Vala let out a
sigh of partial relief. Trying to stay as confident and
commanding as possible isn't always easy under potentially
embarrassing conditions. Not one to permanently harp on these
subject matters, Vala put the incident out of her mind and set
about making herself more acceptable for public view. The
transmission would be broadcast on every conceivable
communications frequency available on Cassandra, both audio and
video. Vala walked over to her wardrobe, searching for
something that would be "ambassadorial", giving her people and
the Grays a feeling of power and reassurance. Let's see: the
black, red, green, violet, or do I need new clothes? Good,
found the right dress. Blue brings out my eye color. And,
ouch! is hair cantankerous at times like these when you really
have to look your best. Where are those medals? Under the bed,
yes. Now for the.....did I forget anything? No. The fifteen
minutes past faster than Vala had anticipated, but she was
prepared to speak to all the Cassandrans a few seconds before
one of her communications panels gave the long-awaited signal.
        Marcus was visible again. "Your Honor, Ambassador Falina Wren
is now waiting for your reply."
        Vala pressed the "Return Access" key and said in her best Prime
Vixen voice, "Reroute her transmission to this panel."
        Ambassador Falina Wren appeared on the video display about two
seconds later. "Greetings, Prime Vixen Vala Andros."
        The Prime Vixen displayed her obligatory (but well-intended)
respect toward her counterpart. "Greetings Ambassador Falina
Wren. I look forward to initiating the main peace conference
with you."
        "As do I with you, Prime Vixen. I have received a notice from
Operation Excommunicate Coordinate Operations Corps that the
weapon has been loaded onto the probe, and it's now in
geosynchronous orbit. Are you prepared to commence your phase
of the operation?" Falina looked at Vala expectantly.
        "I am prepared to do so," Vala decreed confidently. "Begin
Phase Two of Operation Excommunicate."
        Phase Two involved the probe's ion drive prestart and ignition.
 Both ambassadors and their constituents watched their
vidscreens with an intensity tangible enough to be cut with a
phased neutron beam. About three seconds later, a brief
discharge came from the drive exhaust. The ion propulsion
system slowly accumulated the required energy to displace itself
from its orbital position with Cassandra. Five long minutes
later, the probe had sufficient thrust to exit orbital space and
cross into interplanetary space in order to arrive at its
destination. The planetary and orbital support crews made
exacting checks on the heading of the probe, for the fate of
Cassandra hinged on the fate of the probe. The crews were
apparently in unanimous agreement that the probe was on course,
for it kept moving in the same direction, unaltered by external
command protocols. A collective sigh of relief spread
throughout the Cassandran population. This was the first
cooperative effort between the Reds and Grays for over 30 years,
and they have nearly accomplished a common goal.
        "Well, Prime Vixen," said Falina, "up to now the operation has
been a success. I think it's time to start considering what
terms we should discuss."
        "I agree," Vala voiced with determination. "First of all, I
wish to-" Vala broke off her statement in midsentence, eyeing
the vidscreen with nervous and frightened intensity.
        And with good reason. For on the video displays accross
Cassandra, the probe's ion drive disengaged without
authorization from the support crews. Three seconds later, the
dimensional warp nacelles had a more intense field of blue light
around them. They flashed for a millisecond. The probe was off
course, heading out of the solar system as fast as its dimension
warp propulsion system could take it. On Cassandra and its
artificial satellites, jaws dropped with shock as the event took
place. Shock was soon replaced by anger from the Grays.
        Falina displayed her anger, as well as the collective anger of
her constituents, toward Vala. "Vala! Did you think that you
could insult my intelligence for so long?! How would I know
that you were sending a long-range automatic probe to your
military space outposts?! You have dishonored me, Vala! Just
as you have dishonored yourself and your aristocratic people!"
        Vala tried to get a few words in, to soothe Falina and explain
how it was all a mistake. However, the communications channel
closed before anything could be said. Vala took a last look at
the city with a dreadful resolve. For she knew what would take
place in the next few seconds, and no power in the universe
could prevent it. The ultimate reprisal had begun.
        Vala could almost hear the military satellites repositioning
their weapons at major cities and other sites on Cassandra.
Phased neutron beams flashed through the vacuum of space to the
biosphere of the planet. All the molecules in the cities and
surrounding areas were broken, their bonding shattered from
exposure to the intense neutron bombardment. There was no time
for any last words or thoughts; only time for destruction
throughout Cassandra. In the exchange, a satellite
malfunctioned, and increased its weapons power. The phaser
plowed through the crust, mantle, and finally the core. This
disrupted the core's stability, sending massive quakes through
the planet. The instability increased until the core
fragmented, sending hot metallic shrapnel through the overlying
layers. What was a planet became a collection of planetesimals.
 Cassandra and its inhabitants were destroyed.
        Unknown to the Cassandrans, the accident on the probe was
caused by a disrupted power transfer from the ion drive system.
Apparently, the construction crews underestimated the amount of
shielding required for the power transfer conduits. One of the
ion drive conduits was too close to the warp drive power control
system. When the conduit broke its shielding and arced, the
warp power system received an unintended power influx. The
information came too late for the Cassandrans. They were
extinct long before the cause was recovered from a place far
away, in both space and time.


TO BE CONTINUED.....


________________________________________________________________
Shawn Wolski, N5UNA
MultiTasking Sega Advocate, Amateur Radio Operator, the
Granite Eater, Furry Fan, and UTARC News Prime Editor.

This .sig is so dynamic that even I have trouble keeping up
with it.

n5una_at_mail.utexas.edu
_______________________________________________________________


Received on Wed Feb 22 1995 - 03:45:02 PST