The Experiment Part 1

From: David M. Pistone <rotor_at_PrimeNet.Com>
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 12:39:29 -0700 (MST)

Greetings All!

I know its been awhile since I posted, but I'm back!

For those of you who have been screaming at me for a new story (I forgive
you :>) here is part 1 of "The Experiment". A story loosly based on one
of my favorite video games, "Burn: Cycle" for the CD-i system.

Opinions are always welcomed. Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What happens when you cross a lawyer with a godfather?"
"You get an offer you can't understand!"

--David Pistone's distinguished collection of dumb lawyer jokes

David M. Pistone -- rotor_at_primenet.com __ __ ____ ___ ___ ____
ftp.primenet.com/users/r/rotor /__)/__) / / / / /_ /\ / /_ /
http://www.primenet.com/~rotor / / \ / / / / /__ / \/ /___ /
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 12:31:59 -0700
From: rotor_at_usr2.primenet.com


Sonic the Hedgehog: The Experiment
by David Pistone

The author of this work will accept questions and comments at the
following addresses:
rotor_at_primenet.com bookshire_at_aol.com

This work is protected under copyright law. THe author grants his
permission for free, unedited, unaltared distribution of this work. Any
and all other uses of this work including the sale of it for money, is
strictly prohibited.

based on characters created by Service and Games (SEGA),Inc. and on
characters created by Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

Story:
        A lone shuttle flew through the night skies. On board, Packbell
sat in the pilots seat with a grim expression on his face. He had been
called back to Robotropolis to perform one of the lowest services anybody
could be asked to perform, new prisoner orientation. Normally, when a
large group of rebels were captured, they were officially charged with
treason against Robotnik, found guilty and sentenced to the robotizizer
after an agonizingly long stay in the holding cells. Normally, a
Swat-bot was assigned to give the orientation, but, for some reason,
Packbell had been selected for this duty. As a First Class Commander,
prisoner orientation was listed under his job duties, but he was rarely
assigned it because both he and Robotnik knew there were better things
Packbell could be doing with his time.
        Packbell sighed as he set the shuttle down in a landing bay.
Stopping by his quarters to grab his dress cloak, he headed to the
prisoner orientation chamber.
        The chamber was massive. It had fifty rows of benches facing a
raised podium. Behind the podium was a large screen on which could be
displayed the many terrible robotization and interrigation recordings
that were always made.
        Packbell stood behind the podium and waited patiently. Soon,
Swat-bots began escorting rebel freedom fighters into the room. It was
the typical scene that Packbell was so used to. Some silent, some
crying, some glaring at him in defiance, families holding to one
another. How pathetic, thought Packbell. Soon, the entire group was
sitting in front of him. He began to speak from the script that sat in
his memory.
        "As a Commander in the Robotropolis Central Command, it is my
duty to inform you that you have all been charged with treason against
the Emporor of Mobius, Ivo Robotnik."
        At those words, some leaped up and began shouting words of
defiance. Packbell rarely listened to such nonsense. The Swat-bots
quickly silenced them by shooting warning shots over the heads of the
crowd. When the crowd quieted down, he continued.
        "Haveing been so charged, you have been tried based on an
evaluation of your general behavior, and have, consequently been found
guilty. You are therefore sentenced to the robotizizer after intense
interrigation, and a stay in our holding cells until such time as we need
more worker-bots."
        At this some began trembling in fear, while some still haven't
recovered from the shock of what was happening. Suddenly, a raccoon who
had apparently snapped from the stress, jumped up and made a desprate run
for the door. Before anybody could react, Packbell pulled a laser rifle
and shot three blasts, each of which slammed into the prisoner, throwing
him against the wall where he collapsed in a lifeless heap. The
prisoners stared in shock and terror at Packbell, who was still holding the
smoking rifle.
        "Anyone else feel like dying tonight?" he asked, placing the
rifle back under the podium "if so, please feel free to make a run for
any of the exits provided. While you're here, there's one thing you need
to understand. I care nothing for your futile little lives, and I have
no reservations about relieving you of each and every one of them."
        He turned to the Swat-bots.
        "Take them away," he ordered.
        As the Swat-bots began to excort the prisoners from the room,
Packbell suddenly had an idea.
        "Wait!" he yelled. The Swat-bots stopped where they were.
        In a single sweep of the room, he analized each prisoner
individualy. After make delibrate calculations, he arrived at a conclusion.
        "Take the twenty prisoners in the back row to my experiment
holding cells," he ordered.
        "Acknowleged," responded the bots.
        Packbell was getting tired of experimenting on worker-bots. Some
live subjects might just provide some better results. He doubted that
any of the prisoners would survive the proccess, but then, that was their
problem. Packbell left the prison block and headed for the Scientific
Research Building.

        Sir Charles Hedgehog was widely know among the resistance for his
logical attitude and somber manner when it came to getting a job done.
What was not well known was that a part of him always craved living life
on the edge, and playing the part of a Freedom Fighter spy deep inside
Robotropolis was about as close to the edge as one could get without
falling over completely. Not that he took the job lightly, he was always
very serious about it, because if he were ever found out, he'd be
interrogated and either reprogrammed or sent to the scrap pile.
        Having finished his duty cycle, he quietly slipped away from the
other worker-bots and went to the his hideout to continue with a few
things he had to do. First, however, he sat down in front of his
computer and tapped into the section were Commanders post their daily
progress reports to see if anything remotely important had happened.
        As he scrolled down the list, everything appeared to be pretty
much the same, that is, until he got to Packbell's entry:

REPORT #:548722226-457B
DESIGNATION: PACKBELL
RANK: COMMANDER

SUMMARY REPORT FOR: 3-14-35

1900HRS -- SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED 165 REBELS LOCATED IN GREAT JUNGLE

2100HRS -- PRISONERS PROCCESSED FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCEDURES

NO OTHER ACTIVITY

END REPORT
AUTHORIZATION: 458-5874412-55

        This is ridiculous, thought Chuck, if this keeps up, Sally won't have
any freedom fighters left to contact even if she does find her father's
list.
        He connected to the prison block records to check on the status
of the new prisoners. Some could be rescued if they were being held in
the right areas. Looking over the reports, he noticed something unusual.
The number of new prisoners proccessed was 145. Chuck stopped and
thought a moment. Packbell had reported a score of 165, so someone was
off by twenty.
        The more he thought, the more Chuck began to worry. This was the
tenth discrepancy in the records regarding prisoners and worker-bots in
the last four months, and, in every error, Packbell had somehow been
involved.
        Chuck realized that something was going on, and he was beginning
to think that not even Robotnik might know. Calling a messenger bird to
him, Chuck dispatched a message to the Great Forest.

        Deep in the Great Forest, in Knothole Village, the freedom
fighters slept soundly. The small bird flew, unnoticed, down past
various huts until it came to rest in the window of the hut belonging to
Princess Sally. Sally lay in bed next to the window in a sound sleep.
The bird began chirping rather loudly until Sally groggily woke up to see
what the problem was.
        Going to the window, she took the note from the bird and read it
as the bird flew away.

To Knothole Freedom Fighters,

Prisoners have been disappearing en route between their orientation and
the prison block. Suspect Packbell is taking them to an unknown location
for some purpose. Request any ideas on what to do.

Respond ASAP

        Sally looked at the clock on the wall. No matter how serious
such a problem was, no one was going to have good, suggestive ideas at
this hour. Folding the note and placing it on her nightstand, Sally went
back to bed and would handle it first thing in the morning.

        Packbell walked into a chamber deep in his research center. In
the center was a long table with shackles on it. Above it, hanging from
the ceiling was a semi-circular piece of metal which appeared to have
laser scanners attached to it, which could be moved up and down the
length of the table. At one end of the room was a large display screen,
and at the other end was a large set of controls facing the table.
        Packbell went behind the controls and sat down. Pressing his
hand to a sensor on the panel, he powered the system. For a few moments,
he sat listening as the machine quietly sucked power from the Central
Power Core to serve his secret, twisted purposes.
        Suddenly, the door to the room opened and two Swat-bots entered,
escorting a frightened looking badger who they promptly strapped down to
the table.
        "Greetings, citizen," said Packbell in a voice so friendly, it
would fool all but the most cautious "You might as well stop struggling,
you can't leave."
        The badger calmed after awhile and simply glared at Packbell.
        "Now, don't be like that," continued Packbell, still speaking as
though he were the badger's comrade "Just because you've been found
guilty of treason doesn't mean that we can't be friends. In fact, you
should feel honored that you're here instead of back in the prison
block. You see, you have been chosen to take part in an experiment that
will change the way people think of computers and robotics forever.
First, however, I despise having to call you 'prisoner' so why don't you
introduce yourself."
        After glaring at Packbell for a moment, the badger responded.
        "My name's Hugo," he said.
        "Hugo? Pleased to meet you, I'm Packbell, but you already know
that," said Packbell, smiling.
        "Now then," Packbell continued "Let's get down to business. All
you have to do for this experiment is to lie perfectly still."
        Packbell pushed a few buttons on the panel, as the laser scanners
began glowing.
        "Oh, by the way," said Packbell "Good Luck."
        The laser scanners came on and shot down onto the badger. The
scanners moved down the length of the subject, examining each and every
inch of him.
        "Preliminary suject analysis complete," the computer reported.
        "Proceed to phase two, neural pathway analysis," ordered Packbell.
        The lasers changed color as they moved up towards the badger's
head and stopped. They began an intense scan of the badger's brain.
        "Analysis complete."
        "Begin Upload Processing analysis."
        The lasers again scanned the badger.
        "Analysis complete"
        Packbell pushed a few more buttons on the panel.
        "Begin full upload procedure."
        The lasers changed color to red and concentrated all their energy
on the badger's mind. On the screen at the far end of the room, was
displayed a 3-D wire frame model of the badger and an imense amount of
unreadable information. All seemed to be going well for the Commander
and he felt a slight tinge of joy at a possible success. Suddenly, the
information on the screen changed.
        "WARNING! NEURAL IMBALANCE DETECTED."
        "What!!" exclaimed Packbell, he joy turning to shock.
        "WARNING! NEURAL PATHWAY COLAPSE POSSIBLE."
        "Shut down the experiment!" screamed Packbell above the noise of
the alarms that had sounded as he began frantically pushing buttons on
the panel. The badger's body began jerking about violently.
        "WARNING! NEURAL SYNAPSE COLLAPSE IN PROGRESS"
        "WARNING! SUBJECT VITAL SIGNS FAILING."
        Packbell managed to shut off the system. Walking over the badger
on the table, he glared at the still slightly twitching body. After
standing there for what seemed like an eternity, he turned and went to
the comm. panel.
        "Send some bots in here to dispose of the body, and bring me
another subject in one hour," he ordered.
        Turning off the panel, he walked back to the system controls.
        "I'm going to get this experiment right if I have to kill every
Mobian on the face of the planet!!!" he declared, and began going through
the program for the thousanth time looking for bugs.

        The next morning, the freedom fighters met in the war room to
discuss Uncle Chuck's latest message.
        "The idea that Packbell is kidnapping prisoners for his own
twisted purposes is a frightening thought," Sally was saying "We've got
to find out what he's doing with them. any ideas?"
        "Just the obvious one, Sal," responded Sonic "Jam to Robotropolis
and find out."
        "Sonic, you know we can't go running to Robotropolis without a
solid plan. We don't even know exactly what we're looking for," Sally said.
        She turned to Bookshire.
        "Have you had any luck locating info on this, Bookshire?" she asked.
        "Not much," he admitted "Packbell has always suspected that
someone's been sneaking into the Core so he code-locks all his personal
files. I'm examining other areas to see if he forgot something, but
it'll take time."
        "Well, until we have a better idea of what's happening, there's
not much we can do," said Sally "Bookshire will continue work on on the
computer system, but it might be a good idea to send one or two of us to
Robotropolis to follow Packbell and see what he's up to."

        Later, deep in Robotropolis, Bunnie and Sonic, both having
volunteered to follow Packbell, arrived outside the main Command Center.
After avoiding the guards, they managed to sneak inside through the
ventelation system. After taking many turns and searching many rooms,
the team lucked out when they found Packbell. He was in the main control
room with Robotnik.
        "You still haven't answered my question," Robotnik was saying to
Snively "Why are there prisoners missing from my holding cells!"
        "I really don't know sir," responded Snivelly weakly.
        "Don't give us that!" said Packbell "Do you have any idea how
hard its been for me to capture these tratiors lately. I've gone through
a lot of trouble to get them and you lose them!"
        Snively glared at Packbell. He knew that Packbell was at fault,
but, with all the trust Robotnik had invested in his finest creation, he
would never believe it.
        "I'll keep looking into it sir," Snively said rather lamely.
        "You do that," said Robotnik "If you don't find out what happened
to them, I'll give you to Packbell for target practice!"
        "Yes sir," said Snively, as he turned and left.
        "Why do you keep him around, sir?" asked Packbell.
        "You know, sometimes I honestly don't know," responded Robotnik.
        "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do," said Packbell.
        "Of course," replies Robotnik.

        Packbell, walked from the room and out onto the side walk. As he
walked down the deserted street, Sonic and Bunnie followed close behind.
They followed him to a small building. AS he entered, Sonic and Bunnie
stopped outside.
        "Okay," said Sonic "I'm going to folow him in. You stay out here
in case he comes back."
        "You got it suger-hog," said Bunnie. She crouched in a dark
corner of the street as Sonic went into the old building.
        Sonic crept down the corridor. He looked around, but saw no sign
of Packbell. He contiued down the corridor, certain that he'd catch up
to Packbell eventually.

        Bunnie waited patiently behind a garbage can for Sonic or
Packbell to emerge.
        Suddenly, without warning, a metalic hand shot out of the
darkness behind her, grabbed her by the back of her neck and lifted her
easily off the ground.
        "Scream and die, rabbit," said a chillingly familiar voice. The
arm turned her around and she found herself face to face with Cmdr.
Packbell.
        "Did you really think you could sneak up on someone with a
proximity detector?" asked Packbell, smiling.
        Without answering, Bunnie drove her robotic foot into Packbell's
chest. The Commander was unmoved.
        "Such is the advantage of dent-proof alloys," continued Packbell
"Now, why don't we go find your friend."
        Keeping Bunnie in a tight grip, he returned to the building.

        Sonic had searched the entire building and found nothing. As he
returned to the entrance, a figure appeared in the doorway.
        "Greetings, hedgehog!" said Packbell "I believe this belongs to you."
        Packbell held Bunnie firmly in his right hand.
        "Let her go, metal head!" ordered Sonic as he prepared to rush
the commander.
        "I wouldn't do that if I were you," remarked Packbell "Your
distance from me is such that you could never get to me in time to
prevent me from breaking this beautiful rabbit's neck. Now, I suggest
you stay where you are unless you believe taking me down is worth your
friend's death."
        Sonic stopped where he was knowing that Packbell was right.
There was no guarantee he could get to Packbell in time to save Bunnie.
        "What do you want?" asked Sonic.
        "Just the two of you," Packbell replied "I've sent a transmission
to my team at the Research Center informing them you are on your way.
You will go there and allow them to escort you to a special cell I made
just for you. If you have any ideas of doubling back, just remember that
all I need is to hear your sonic boom and Bunnie is as good as dead. Now
go."
        Sonic wanted nothing more than to rip into Pakbell and tear him
apart, but his logic finally won out. He moved past Packbell and ran off
towards the center.
        "You're friend appears to be a very reasonable person," Packbel
remarked to Bunnie as they started for the center.
        "You'll never get away with this," said Bunnie defiantly.
        Packbell smiled.
        "Well, well, another satisfied member of the cliche of the month
club," he said.
        In a lightning move, he shifted his grip on her neck, robbing her
of her conciousness. He continued walking towards the Research Center
where his experiment awaited.

        Arriving at the Center, Packbell proceeded directly to the
holding cells where Sonic sat in a cell guarded by ten Swat-bots. Still
keeping the unconcious Bunnie in his grip, he gazed at Sonic through the
force field.
        "What's the deal, Packbell," demanded Sonic "What have you been
doing with these 'extra' prisoners?"
        "That isn't your concern at the moment. However, you'll find out
soon enough," said Packbell "It was a tough decision, but I have decided
that you will be the next subject for my experiment."
        Packbell pushed a button on the wall. Suddenly, Sonic cell was
filled with sleeping gas. Sonic collapsed to the floor. Packbell turned
to one of the bots.
        "Take the hedgehog to the chamber," he ordered.

        As Sonic began to wake, he realized he was strapped tightly to a
long metal table in the middle of a large room. Looking around, he saw
Bunnie in the tight grip of a Swat-bot while Packbell began to power the
machine. Sonic struggled to break free, but something was holding him in
place. Watching him struggle, Packbell grinned.
        "Force fields are wonderful things aren't they," he remarked
"Just relax. I've worked out all the bugs this time so there shouldn't
be any problems. Granted, thats what I thought the last five times I
tried it, but this time I'm sure."
        "Is that what you do with those prisoners?" demanded Bunnie "You
experiment on them?"
        "Of course," answered Packbell, casually "The worker-bots just
weren't delivering the results I had hoped for. They kept having neural
breakdowns and had to be scrapped. Some saved me the trouble by
exploding. Very intersting effects, but they were setbacks just the same."
        "You're insane, Packbell," yelled Sonic.
        "Yeah, and you're fast. Do you think I care?" stated Packbell as
the system powered up.
        THe system indicated it's readiness. Packbell paused for a
moment and gazes at Sonic, lying strapped to the table.
        "See you in infinity," he said, simply. He flipped a switch on
the panel.
        Later, that was the last thing Sonic remembered. . .

TO BE CONTINUED
        


Received on Mon Mar 27 1995 - 14:30:42 PST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Thu Mar 19 2015 - 12:17:02 PDT