Chapter 9. Propaganda.

As soon as the black hedgehog left, Sonic, without any transition, suddenly felt that he was afraid.

It was the irrational fear of a caged creature: a primal, instinctive horror that required an immediate escape in search of freedom and a way out. The situation was complicated by the fact that the hero couldn’t forget about the tragedy that was happening outside the ship even for a second, and this knowledge scraped and howled as a wounded beast inside him, forcing to act — immediately, before it was too late, until the last lines of defense weren’t broken...

As long as everyone, he desperately hoped, was still alive.

Sonic broke down and rushed around the room. What were the chances that by the time the plan (in which nothing depended on him) was completed the planet wouldn’t be left in ruins? That after two weeks they would still have something to save? That nothing would go awry, wouldn’t break at the most crucial moment, wouldn’t turn along another path, created by a wrong decision or phrase?

Having no control over the situation, the hero could only nervously, in short dashes, explore his, albeit spacious and comfortable, but still prison. Yesterday he didn’t have the time or energy for it, and right now sitting in one place and reading as (generously!) Shadow had suggested — seemed completely impossible.

A table, a sofa, a strange metal rectangle between them, about a meter wide just above the floor level, a small corner table unnoticed before, now empty, but with circular traces of some dishes, a door locked with an electronic lock of the control panel on the wall, a low cabinet by the bed, the bed itself... the bed... the bed...

Sonic stumbled about a cleaner bot suddenly caught under his feet, about which he completely forgot, and kicked it away from himself purely by reflex. The small silvery mech hit the foot of the bed, spun around and silently disappeared into the darkness under the furniture, leaving the blue hedgehog hissing angrily with pain in his bruised toes.

"Yeah, kicking with bare feet was not a good idea," the hero cursed to himself and stopped in the middle of the room. No, he won’t achieve anything that way. Perhaps the plan to distract himself with reading was not so bad: it would help him both calm down and get information. And then... who knows — maybe it would become clear what to do next?

Having made at least some decision, Sonic nodded to himself, sweepingly grabbed the tablet from the table and fell onto the sofa. Having fiddled with an unusual tech a little, the hedgehog finally found the power button and plunged into the strange information world of an alien civilization.

The first thing that Sonic found out: "Amateria" was the name of the ship. It was indicated on the welcome screen of the tablet, proudly announcing that he was aboard one of the most modern flagships of the Empire, capable of coping with the colonization ("Capture," the hero mentally corrected) of most planets.

It was indeed surprising how true was the very idea, which at first seemed crazy, about “cleaning up” the planet for new inhabitants. 

Sonic couldn’t find the name of the Empire itself. But he noticed a strange symbol: six colored rhombus-shaped figures in a gray circle. The diamonds were the familiar vibrant colors of the Chaos Emeralds, with three — red, green, and blue — bigger in size and seemed to dominate the rest three. Together with yellow, turquoise and purple, they made up a schematic semblance of a spectrum.

The hero scratched his head thoughtfully. Well, the Empire’s preoccupation with colors was evident.

The main screen lit up with the image of the same symbol on the background and a dozen of icons of some documents and applications neatly sorted into columns. Having opened several of them and frankly didn’t understand anything in the accumulation of graphs, schemes and purely technical words ("Tails would love that..."), Sonic finally found something resembling a database. The search engine obligingly offered to use itself, which the hero did, first of all typing in "Master Blue". As much as he already learned about Colors he still didn’t understand this particular term.

In response, he received a long list of either the titles of the articles or their brief descriptions and, not really reading it, randomly picked the first result. It took him to a very extravagant place. The hero stared dumbfounded at the colorful banner at the top of the page: a slender female hedgehog of saturated sapphire color frivolously winked from the screen, predatory sticking the tip of her tongue between her brightly oiled lips. In her hands she held a whip and was wearing only long black gloves and stockings with high and pointed heels.

"All kinds of services from our Masters!" said the greeting inscription.

Sonic swallowed nervously and pressed the X in the corner, closing the page. It looked like the results at the top of the list were literal.

He turned out to be right, since a dozen more headlines were full of advertising slogans, and only at the bottom of the first search page the right article was found, which the hedgehog could finally calmly read without the risk of burning with shame. Everything turned out to be quite simple — depending on the percentage of "chromaticity", the aliens divided themselves into three groups: the border between the already familiar Grays and Chromes passed at thirty percent, and those who were lucky enough to win the genetic lottery with more than eighty could use the "Master" prefix to their color.

At the same time, the article warned not to confuse Masters and some "Primes". Here the hero's understanding failed a little, because, in addition to the obvious difference — the absence of markings near the eyes, — the list of conditions for becoming a Prime was extensive: 70% color, knowledge of genetics, something called "full chromium rights"... What Sonic learned for sure — it was better not to mess with the Primes, since they had complete freedom in choosing a partner for that notorious "reproduction". Moreover, the consent of the second party was not even required, since it was believed that the Primes, grounded in knowledge of the colors, thus honor less privileged citizens. 

Putting two and two together, the hero logically put the arrogant lilac hedgehog to this category. Captain of a warship, Commander in rank, Prime in status... no wonder this Aidan behaved like that. At the same time, his words about Shadow's secretary and the threat to get rid of her while she would be busy with the child, became clear...

Was he really going to — even without her consent — just do it..?

...Gods, they were all insane here.

Hope remained only for the apparently oppressed Grays. A new query in the database gave out not so much information about those: a meager list of already known facts, dry articles about the (deplorable) chances of the appearance of Chromes in such families, and, suddenly, a children's fairy tale, which was supposed to be learned by all citizens almost by heart:

Once upon a time there was a little hedgehog.

He was all gray from head to toe. Even his eyes were gray. And so he was very sad.

"Why am I Gray and you are not?" he asked other hedgehogs, which were colored.

“Because we have the Color,” they answered.

"Where can I find mine?"

"Silly, the Color is received from birth, you can't just find it," everyone laughed.

But the little gray hedgehog did not believe them. It could not be that someone did not have a Color at all. What if he just had lost it? And now the Color was laying and waiting for him somewhere very close.

So the gray hedgehog went for a journey to look for his Color...

The story continued on in a rather corny fashion: the little gray hedgehog quickly found his Color and returned to the surprised relatives. The ending left an unclear feeling of understatement and some kind of strange morality. Like, "You are nobody without a Color, but if you try, you can find it." Something was wrong with this tale, but Sonic still knew too little about the Empire's society to understand — what exactly?

The rest of the articles were so obsessively brainwashed with new variations of "Why is it prestigious to be a Chrome and the Grays are just rubbish," that soon the hero couldn't resist and closed the database. But before he had time to select some other application, at the top of the screen, blocking the view for a second, a message popped up:

"Richie, I'm bored. Get your ass here."

...whose sender was clear even without looking at the name.

Cursing, Sonic turned off the screen and threw the tablet away from himself in disgust.

He had read enough for today.

*** 

Sonic met Shadow (who returned a couple of hours later) lying on the sofa with his hands thrown under his head. The black hedgehog looked inquiringly at the tablet left on the table and turned his gaze to the seemingly napping hero.

"Close all messengers," a completely awake blue hedgehog dispelled his doubts. "I’m not eager to be aware of your pastime with the Commander." 

Shadow turned almost noticeably pale. But he was able to control himself and asked calmly enough to not arouse suspicion in the hero, "What have you read?"

“I don’t have the habit of reading private messages,” Sonic reassured him. “But he was very persistent, so I just turned off the tablet."

With visible relief, the black hedgehog took the tech from the table and typed the required command with a few touches.

"Done," he threw the tablet into the hands of the hero, who caught it without looking. "But there is one more thing to discuss."

Sonic opened one eye and asked in displeasure, "What?"

“Clar isn't my only visitor.” Shadow folded his arms across his chest. "And since you are a prisoner for everyone else, you’ll have to fit that role."

The blue hedgehog frowned and squinted at him with both eyes. "Just try to touch me, and I will tear off your…" he made an ominous pause, "Nose."

Shadow exhaled and rubbed the muzzle near his nose in annoyance. “I’m tired of repeating that I’m not going to do anything with you. You just need to take the place where the prisoner is supposed to be," he pointed to the metal rectangle between the sofa and the table that Sonic had noticed earlier. "The bracelets would magnet to the panel automatically."

"And only you can free me, how convenient," the hero grinned with distinct sarcasm.

Shadow didn’t have time to answer his taunt, as the call for access to the cabin interrupted their conversation again.

‘Why are there so many visitors?!’

The black hedgehog took out his smaller copy of the tablet, but didn't accept the request immediately — he remained standing, frowning in thoughtful uncertainty. When his silence dragged on, Sonic cautiously raised himself up and sat down, ready to jump off his seat at any moment.

"Who's that?" the hero asked in alarm, no longer expecting anything good from the unknown visitor.

“Courier,” Shadow replied indifferently. Then he shook himself, coming to some conclusion, and pointed to the panel, "Sit down."

Sonic bristled by a pure reflex and growled, “I don’t think so.”

The black hedgehog gave him a depressing look. "Have you forgotten what I warned about?" he reminded the prisoner of their previous conversation. “The longer he waits, the more suspicious it looks. Just play along, it won't last long.” And then he suddenly added, "I promise."

Sonic snorted, expressing his doubt. For another second, he gazed at his rival, but nevertheless got up, deliberately slowly reached the right place and sat down, demonstratively raising his hands so that they were level with the strip of metal. The bracelets, with a slight clunk, were magnetized to the panel, and the hero barely perceptibly winced when they disturbed the not completely healed scratches on his wrists. It probably would be better to actually use an ointment…

After assessing his position and finding it satisfactory, Shadow tapped the screen, opening the door. It moved aside with a familiar rustling...

...and Sonic noisily sucked in air in shock and jerked uncontrollably to the side, again ripping off the fur and skin from his wrists.

Jerald.

The sight of a white hedgehog, from the memories of the meeting with which the hero almost successfully fenced off along with all the nightmare experienced yesterday, immediately excited the nerves, sending an impulse to an immediate attack. If Sonic had not been chained, he would have attacked the offender, this time not doubting that he would be able to cope with him.

It looked like this was exactly what Shadow expected of him. Because as soon as the hero jerked a second time, now — in an attempt to free himself, the black hedgehog looked at him sternly, calming with a glance. It was difficult to restrain himself from expressing his annoyance in response, but Sonic remembered about the possible consequences of breaking their disguise and fell silent. He would remember this to his rival later.

Meanwhile, the second lieutenant, not paying any attention to their glances, walked quickly inside and in fury threw some kind of box on the table. “What the fuck were you doing for so long?” he barked, grinning viciously.

“None of your business,” Shadow said.

Jerald immediately threw a suspicious glance at the prisoner, to which Sonic responded with a furious squint. The white hedgehog just snorted contemptuously and turned his attention back to Shadow. “I'm not your damn secretary,” he continued to vent his venomous dislike at his opponent. "Where the hell is she?"

The black hedgehog left his question hanging in the air. Pulling the package closer to himself, he opened it and peered inside. His face immediately twisted in visible disgust, and, hastily slamming the box shut as if it were full of rattlesnakes, Shadow went with it to the dresser against the far wall. The package disappeared into the bowels of the upper drawer, and the black hedgehog turned and looked at the second lieutenant with a showy look, as if he was surprised that he was still here.

“Working,” Shadow replied in a tone like he’d done a favor. “Unlike, as I see it, you. Get out, I'm busy."

"What, with the pathetic attempts to crack this pest?" Jerald snorted again, pointing at the blue hedgehog. "To hell with your methods, smartass — they never worked. Let me just-"

With these words, he moved towards the prisoner, and Sonic involuntarily recoiled, pressing himself into the wall...

No no no no no..!

...but Shadow almost instantly appeared near and stood in the way of the white hedgehog. "In your dreams," he stopped the hero's personal nightmare with a glance and, screwing up his eyes, repeated, "Get out." 

Jerald narrowed his eyes in response and took a threatening step forward. “You’ve got cameras turned off here, right?" he bent almost close to the face of the black hedgehog. "No extra witnesses, no help from Aidan..." and with poorly hidden hatred hinted, "Who knows what might happen."

“The same goes for you,” Shadow threatened. “Only now, lieutenant, I have every right to kick your ass with all my heart. Shall we check?"

The white hedgehog turned red with anger and shouted indignantly, "I beat you up twice! And both times your ass was saved only by chance. So don't play with me, freak."

“I could, but you're not my type,” Shadow grinned haughtily.

Jerald slammed his palm down on the table. "You think you're the smartest here?" he hissed, "You're nothing, just a Gray slut, which he will throw away as soon as he gets bored. And then…" he poked a black hedgehog's chest with his finger, "Then I'll get you."

The crunch of a broken bone was heard at the same moment with a stifled cry as Shadow grabbed the insolent hedgehog by the finger, wringing it into an unnatural position.

“You seem to have forgotten again,” the Ultimate Lifeform growled and twisted the finger harder, pulling an indistinct groan from the white hedgehog’s throat, “that I no longer have to put up with your antics. I would have broken all your bones long ago, but I don’t want to give you such pleasure,” he grimaced with disgust and abruptly released Jerald from his grasp, pushing him away from himself.

The second lieutenant, for some reason blushing even more, puffed furiously, but made no further attempts to approach. He only frowned and, showing his fangs, pressed the injured limb to his chest.

Sonic looked at this with inexplicable satisfaction.

"Get out," Shadow ordered a third time.

And Jerald finally stepped back and left the cabin. He only unrestrainedly hit the wall with his fist at the end. Shadow silently watched him leave.

The door closed, and at the same instant the hands of the blue hedgehog were free. Sonic watched dubiously as his rival walked around the table on the other side and sat down, massaging his temples in annoyance.

"Is he always like this?" the hero decided to give voice, rubbing aching wrists.

“Most of the time,” Shadow said wearily. "The rest is even worse."

"Why did you get here at all?" Sonic exclaimed reasonably. “They’re all crazy!”

"According to the original plan, I wasn't supposed to become the second in command," explained the black hedgehog and leaned back in his chair, throwing his head back. “Just one of the technicians, a mutant who was lucky enough to get on a warship."

"Mutant?" the blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow with a question.

Shadow pointed with one finger at the marks near his eyes. "Gray with color. Such hedgehogs are also called "mutations". Not the most prestigious status, but at least somehow recognized…" he grimaced, "socially useful."

'For reproduction,' Clarissa’s words came back to mind.

But Sonic preferred to cling to the word 'hedgehog'. "So they are hedgehogs? Same as we are?"

“Don't compare me to yourself,” Shadow raised his head and, out of habit, gave him a downward glance. “But yes, they could well be called Mobians. No one would have noticed the difference."

“As they didn't notice themselves,” the hero grunted thoughtfully. “But you’re half alien, aren’t you? Didn't this confuse anyone?"

"All medical reports were ready in advance," the black hedgehog waved away. "It's convenient that innate abilities are also common among them, so there was no need to explain why I am so resilient. For the rest, I try not to arouse suspicion."

Sonic frowned. Whatever he asked, the answer was ready for everything. And this only increased his doubts about the true intentions of the rebels.

"It's really strange that they have foreseen everything…" the blue hedgehog said doubtfully, not really knowing what caused his suspicions.

Shadow snorted in response. "Imagine, unlike you, some don't act impulsively, but with a clear plan instead. Especially if it's a matter of life and death."

The hero jumped to his feet indignantly. "Stop reminding me of this already!" he exploded. "Yes, I'm an idiot, are you happy now? But I'd rather take a risk than trust those who every second thinks how to fuck me!"

Shadow froze and pursed his lips for a moment. “Don’t trust anyone here then,” he dropped gloomily, and before Sonic had time to answer, suddenly asked, “Are you going to have lunch?"

The hero hesitated for a second, knocked out of thought by such a sharp change in topic. "Do they have chili dogs?" he blurted out the first that came to mind.

"No."

"Disgusting service."