Back to Chapter 13

Sonic knocked gently on the door to Uncle Chuck’s laboratory. It had been a few days since he found Doctor Kintobor’s secret laboratory and now Uncle Chuck had invited him to his own decidedly not-secret lab. Sonic opened the door and stepped inside.

“Ah, Sonic, come in, come in!” Uncle Chuck warmly welcomed the young hedgehog.

“Hey, Uncle Chuck,” Sonic greeted his older friend, “I got your message- you wanted to show me something?”

“Oh, you’d better believe it!” Uncle Chuck beamed, “I want to show you… the future!”

“You’ve invented a time machine?!” Sonic exclaimed.

Chuck laughed, “No such look, I’m afraid, I don’t know if that kind of technology exists on this planet! Now, you remember my dream to create a world where the natural world can exist as one with techonology?”

“Your utopia, right?” Sonic remembered, “Hey, Doctor Kintobor said he had a vision of a utopia as well! You guys would probably get on great!”

“We do, my boy,” the corner of Chuck’s mouth turned upwards.

“You mean you’ve met?”

“Let’s just say his laboratory isn’t a secret to everyone. Now, Doctor Kintobor’s brilliant, though I don’t understand chaos energy the way he does. So I’m afraid my inventions won’t be quite up to his Rock machine--”

“The R.O.C.C., you mean,” Sonic chuckled.

“That’s the one! But- while Kintobor looks at the big picture, I’m perhaps more detail-oriented. A world without evil is certainly a dream we can all share. But how does a world without pain sound to you?”

“Without pain?” Sonic tilted his head, “Sorry, Uncle Chuck, somebody already invented paracetamol”

“That’s as maybe, but answer me this: if you tripped over those untied shoelaces of yours and fell off a cliff, would a paracetamol help you if your arm was crushed when you landed?”

“Not the recommended daily dosage,” Sonic admitted.

“I’ve invented something to help people that have suffered permanent physical damage. Deep burns, scars, limbs damaged beyond repair- wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone whose legs were destroyed was given the chance to walk again?”

“That would be great! So, what, you’ve created a, whatchacallit, a prostetnic leg?”

“Prosthetic,” Chuck corrected Sonic, “And I’ve created something so much better than that. Take a look at this!”

Chuck pressed a button on a remote control and a darkened corner of the laboratory lit up, revealing a large machine, glistening in silver. The machine was comprised of two main parts. The first, smaller part was connected to the floor. It was effectively a circular platform with a metallic edge. The upper part of the machine was much larger. There was a matching circular shape directly above the platform which connected to a huge mass of machinery embedded in the ceiling. From this mass trailed a lengthy cable, which connected to a control bank.

Sonic was impressed, “What does it do?”

“Well, I could bore you with the details, or I could show you. What do you think to my flower, by the way?”

Sonic noticed the small potted plant atop the control bank, “Oh, it’s, uh, very nice!”

“Give its petals a touch- gently, mind you. Give it a sniff!” Chuck could barely hold back a grin.

“Okay, but if it squirts water at me I’m going to be mad…” Sonic gently rubbed the petals of the flower, then smelled the bloom, “Smells nice!”

“Anything seem odd about it to you?” Chuck asked.

“It just seems like an ordinary flower to me,” Sonic had to admit.

“Try holding this near to it,” Chuck said, passing Sonic a magnet.

Sonic was baffled but did as he was told. He outstretched the magnet towards the flower… which leaned towards the magnet. Sonic couldn’t believe it. He moved the magnet around a little from side to side and the flower followed.

“Metal,” Chuck smiled, “Well, parts of it”

“You made a metal flower? But it feels totally real to the touch!” Sonic was impressed.

“Synthetic skin that emulates that which it is designed to replicate!” Chuck almost bounced with enthusiasm.

“You’ve lost me,” Sonic held up his hands.

“This morning, this flower was missing almost all of its petals. My machine recreated the missing parts and now it looks as good as new!”

“That’s… that’s amazing! But are metal flowers really the future?” Sonic was confused.

“My boy, if flowers were where it ended, I wouldn’t have called you over. Now watch this…”

Chuck walked over to a small cage in the corner of the lab and opened the door. A tiny Mobini bluebird missing a wing looked up helplessly at Chuck as the hedgehog picked it out of the cage.

“It’s alright, don’t be scared. We’re going to make you better,” Chuck comforted the bird.

“Looks like Flicky if he was tiny,” Sonic noted.

“Where do you think he gets his name from?” Chuck laughed, “This is a Mobini Flicky bird! Now, Sonic, this bird is badly injured. As you can see, the poor thing has lost its left wing. It won’t be able to fly in this state ever again”

“How did that happen?” Sonic asked, feeling sorry for the bluebird.

“See the scarring where the wing would be? Looks like this little one lost it escaping a predator. That’s nature, Sonic. Sometimes the natural world is very cruel. But we can help this little one get back to normal in no time!” Chuck placed the bird on the circular platform, “Now, don’t you worry, little one. You’ll feel right as rain in no time at all!”

Chuck crossed over to the control bank.

“What happens now?” Sonic asked.

“Now…” Chuck breathed deeply, “…we change the world”

Chuck pressed a button on the control bank and the machine whirred into life. A large, hollow metal column extended from the upper circle, descending to the lower one and locking in place. The Flicky had a momentary look of confusion on its face as it disappeared from view.

“Readouts fine… all systems working as intended,” Chuck mumbled to himself, “Final stage activating… now!”

The machine whirred and crackled. Sonic watched with amazement as various monitors on the machine lit up with a brilliant bright blue-green light.

Chuck wiped a droplet of sweat from his forehead. After around thirty seconds of noise, the machine came to a hush. Then the column ascended to the ceiling once more. The Flicky looked fine. It looked better than fine.

It flapped its wings.

Its two wings.

Suddenly, to its delight, the Flicky took off in flight!

“It worked! It worked!” Chuck cheered and laughed, delighted at his success.

“That’s… incredible! That’s amazing! Uncle Chuck, you’re a genius!”

Chuck wiped a tear of joy from his eye as he walked up to the little bird, “And how do you feel, little one?”

The bird chirped delightedly.

“Ha-haaaa!” Chuck cried out with joy, “And, look, Sonic- its wing is fine! You’d never tell it was metal! Feathery to the touch, indistinguishable from the real thing!”

Chuck couldn’t help but cry a little bit more.

“Are you okay?” Sonic smiled, putting an arm around Uncle Chuck’s shoulder.

“Okay? Sonic, this machine is going to revolutionise the world! We’ll be able to heal up people who’ve lost limbs, it might be able to grant sight to those who have been blinded- if I can miniaturise it, I may be able to repair damage to the ear and grant hearing to the deaf! And just imagine the surgical possibilities! Damaged hearts, livers, lungs, broken bones- all fixed and healed in an instant! Sonic, this machine is going to change everything!”

Chuck opened the door to the laboratory, “Come on, little one- back off to your family! They’ll be missing you!”

The Mobini swooped through the door, turned back to Chuck and Sonic for a farewell glance and flew off at speed.

Sonic was wowed, “So what are you going to call this machine, Uncle Chuck?”

Chuck cleared his throat, “The Roboticizer”

Sonic shuddered involuntarily.

“Everything alright?” Chuck laughed.

“Yeah- must be a breeze in the air!”

The two hedgehogs went back inside the lab to discuss the Roboticizer further, not knowing the calamitous fate that awaited that incredible machine.

On to Chapter 15