ryslig inbox

[evilgrows]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, DR. ROBOTNIK. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 905.77.247.37 *** DOCTORROBOTNIK has joined 905.77.247.37 <DOCTORROBOTNIK> You've reached Doctor Robotnik. Leave only one message, and I'll get back to you if I find it necessary.

Comments

<DoctorRobotnik>

[evilgrows]

That's a natural symptom of being here. Elaborate.

<BlueBlur69>

[endlesspastability]

more not right than uusal

i havnt been rigth since those emps but something is gonna happen

<DoctorRobotnik>

[evilgrows]

Normally I'd call that something akin to paranoia, but it IS getting close to the middle of the month, when something stupid usually happens. Maybe you're acclimating to the eccentricities of the local calendar.

Any specifics you can give beyond general malaise and a sense of impending doom?

<BlueBlur69>

[endlesspastability]

at least its somewhat predictable ???

idk what gonna happen but impedning doom about covers it




can i come to the lab

<DoctorRobotnik>

[evilgrows]

You know it has to be bad when you're asking to come over. Fine. I'm not currently in the middle of anything that can't be interrupted.

Maybe something got knocked out of whack.

<BlueBlur69>

[endlesspastability]

wll i am turning into a robot

and you are a robot expert

if i were turnin into something animal like i wiudl probably go to the hopsital

or a vet i guess???

<DoctorRobotnik>

[evilgrows]

I can't even argue with that.

Try not to malfunction before you get here.

<BlueBlur69> --> action

[endlesspastability]

[he arrives!! and sends a message]

here

[evilgrows]

[It's not much later that he opens the door to let him in. Time to usher him towards the lab for a series of exciting tests.]

Anything explode along the way?

[endlesspastability]

[Sonic always looks like death warmed over when he comes to the lab and today is no exception. His skin is pale and sweaty, and his torso looks a little bloated, or perhaps swollen. He's actually got a duffle bag over his shoulder -- he doesn't know how long this is gonna take, but he's not gonna get stuck without a fresh change of clothes ever again]

Nothing exploded... [he steps inside, changing the conformation of his feet from running to walking by folding up the blades] Yet.

[evilgrows]

You look terrible, [he says conversationally as he wastes no time in heading towards their destination. When your "patient" looks like he's about to either blow up or do something else that's potentially destructive, you don't want to waste a second in figuring out how to troubleshoot it.]

Any newly developed symptoms? I'm suspecting your body's preparing to make one final push based on all available data. Definitely need to get that on tape.

[endlesspastability]

Gee, thanks, bugbreath. [he steps inside and in the artificial light, he looks even worse off - waxy and almost corpse-like.] Ugh. Whatever. Just don't post it on the internet.

[he speaks as they make their way up to the lab] Skin feels gross. I'm hot and cold at the same time... Tingly. My chest hurts. Nnnhnngh. I thought I was gonna be done with this after nothing happened during the fog earlier in the month...

[evilgrows]

Like I'd allow other people to see my important research before I do anything with it. That's my scoop.

[Once they get to the lab, he's already got a number of machines ready in various sizes and shapes in addition to whatever else he's been working on. He's prepared to catch some very important information. As he talks, he picks up and moves different tools, fiddles with settings on one machine or another, and generally just multitasks.]

Rule one: never suspect it's over. Some people get it all instantly, others get it all dragged out. Looks like you have at least one more mess prepared. Sitting or standing?

[endlesspastability]

How about you don't post it, like... ever. Please.

[his agony is enough. He doesn't need other people to see it!!

Sonic grumbles when he gets to the lab and sets his bag down away from the machines and equipment]

Lucky, lucky me. Sitting. Please for the love of puppies, I want to sit.

[evilgrows]

I could just let you go through your latest issue in a ditch somewhere. Be more grateful.

[He flits over to a wheeled stool and pushes it in Sonic's direction, then points towards something large, complicated, and unwieldy.]

Here you go. Now scoot on over to that machine on your right and we'll get started.

[endlesspastability]

Callin' your bluff, Bugnik -- you'd never let a chance like this slip by.

[He takes a seat on the stool, scoots, and just... goes ahead and takes off his shirt because he knows that's probably next. He balls it up and throws it at his bag by the door. With more skin visible, it looks even worse. Parts look devitalized, and the sections that abut his existing mechanical parts are very inflamed. The contour of his ribs are gone, and there's a pit covered by a thin layer of skin in the center of his chest where his sternum should be -- it's the only part of his chest that still rises and falls when he breathes. Breaths which are much more infrequent than normal. In fact, he can go minutes without taking one.

The last hurrah of his organic vestiges.]

[evilgrows]

I didn't say I would. Just that I could.

[Specifics are important. No point in spending too much time arguing semantics, though, when there's so much else that needs to be done. It isn't too long after Sonic sits down that Robotnik gets busy scanning, taking pictures, and doing as many possible readings as his various devices can manage, all arms busy with something. This is important information and it needs to be documented.]

Ohohoho. It's like you're just barely clinging to the whole flesh-and-bone thing. Organic life tries to hold on, but can't stop evolution. Wonderful.

[...Okay, he's mostly talking to himself, but he's definitely doing it out loud.]

[endlesspastability]

[Sonic doesn't have any more snarky comments. Instead, he just rests against the machine he's closest to and closes his eyes. His breathing gets even slower. Sometimes five, ten minutes pass between shallow breaths and he looks like he might actually be dead.

Robotnik will have a lot of waiting to do, because Sonic just falls asleep for about an hour. At least he'll have front row seats when the show does start]

[evilgrows]

[Okay, whatever's happening is taking its sweet old time, but at least it gives Robotnik a chance to make sure everything's set up just precisely for the main event. Everything can be calibrated and ready to go at a moment's notice.

He just needs that moment to happen.

It's clear Sonic's still functioning based on the readouts even if he's barely breathing, so he doesn't have to be too concerned about his potential survivability. Just watch and wait and record.]

Let's see what shows up...

[endlesspastability]

[there is something resembling a heartbeat at least! It seems that even fully mechanized, his body can't give up the concept of a central pump and seat of the soul.

After all, it has to keep that hydraulic fluid pressurized somehow.

Regardless, after an hour and some change of rest, Sonic suddenly starts awake]

I DIDN'T EAT THE MARBLES.

[blink. Oh. Right. Lab. He must have fallen asleep. But why is he awake now?

He notices a tingling sensation around his hips.... and as he stares down at the skin just above his pants, he notices the skin is starting to... liquefy?

It doesn't hurt, which is a nice change. But it IS a very strange sensation]

Yo, look at this.

[the liquefying skin takes on a shiny silver hue, like quicksilver. And it starts creeping up like an amoeba, changing the decaying skin into liquid metal as it goes]

That's... different. [he touches the silver liquid and it moves around his finger as if repelled by a magnet. It's then that a message appears on one of the machines with a visual readout attached to Sonic, accompanied by a robotic voice;

"RECONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS. INTERFERENCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED"]

........... Oh.

[evilgrows]

[Sonic waking up is enough to startle Robotnik, since he'd shifted his focus to some of the readouts rather than staring directly at him, but he shakes the mild surprise off and turns to look at him.]

Ah, you're conscious. I was wondering how soon you'd wake up. Did you know your breathing's been slowing down to a rate near death? Isn't that interesting?

[He's certainly talking about it like it's the most fascinating thing in the world and not even a little bit horrifying. And, of course, the first thing he says when he sees what's happening to Sonic's skin is:]

I need a sample of that material.

[Like, immediately. Who knows what he could do with a substance that turns organic tissue to metal. If he studies a sample, reverse engineers it, then manufactures more of it... ah, the possibilities. He moves to grab a small container he can put it in, but before he can bring it over, the voice sounds.]

...Huh. Looks like it's sensitive.

[endlesspastability]

No. It's not interesting. It's kind of terrifying actually!!

[but what's happening to his hips and now his abdomen is ALSO terrifying... but he can't take his eyes away. As the metal creeps upwards, a few inches behind it starts, for lack of a better word, solidifying. Bright shiny blue metal to create a pelvic girdle, then into the rubbery cables at his midsection that make up the flexible parts of his body.

He makes a face and looks at Robotnik and his little vial. Sorry, doc, but no zombot virus for you today, it seems]

I wouldn't touch it if I were you. I'm not sure what will happen, but when I think about it, I feel an impending sense of extreme and infinite doom. Besides, the robot voice said not to.

[and indeed, if Robotnik does push his luck, he'll get a warning zap, like a cattle prod, from the liquid itself]

[evilgrows]

You don't accomplish anything by listening to the naysayers, robot voice or otherwise.

[So, of course he leans over and tries to get some of the liquid into the vial. Unsurprisingly, he's promptly zapped, and immediately pulls his hand away with a loud shout and then a sneer.]

It's not like I'm trying to stop it. Ugh. [He throws a pair of hands up.] Whatever. It was worth a try.

[Maybe studying the readouts later will provide enough information to try and recreate it. He shakes the zapped hand off and works with the other ones for the time being.]

How's it feeling, other than the doom?

[endlesspastability]

[The screen flashes red and the same voice speaks in a monotone that is nevertheless quite threatening;

"ATTENTION. Future attempts at disrupting the process will incur voltage and amperage increase of 500 fold."]

Oh. That sounds bad.

[And as if to answer, the robotic voice responds. "AFFIRMATIVE"]

[Sonic makes a face and points to the monitor] Well, you heard the man. ... Who is that anyway? Did you make an AI or something? [Sonic has not yet figured out that the robotic voice is actually his.]

Mmmm... it feels... weird. Like. I can't describe it. Suffocating, a little? But I'm not panicking. Hot, but cold. Tingly, for sure! Sort of-- HHRRK--!

[He doubles over as the metal line reaches the depression in his chest, sinking down and revealing a hole straight through his chest. But not just any hole -- it seems to be the intake of a jet engine, and his back pushes out to contain the mechanisms, forming fin-shaped spines on either side of the jet's output as well. Sonic puts his hand to his chest, gasping]

O...ok.... N-now it hurts...!

[evilgrows]

I've done some rudimentary AI work here, but that definitely isn't it. That one's got nothing to do with me.

[So, logically, if anything AI-related has shown up spontaneously, it'd only make sense if it has something to do with Sonic. Despite the obvious implications of that, he still turns to the monitor to grumble about things for a second.]

I'm not trying to disrupt, the process, I'm trying to study it!

[He turns back towards Sonic, a finger tapping on his chin.]

Interestingly enough, a while back an acquaintance of mine spent a month as a machine, and I did have to work with his programming at first to keep it from overriding his personality, so that particular voice might very well be a part of yours. I--

[He's about to say something else, but it's a little hard to when he can see that something's going on with Sonic's chest. He'd noticed something in there when doing his original scans, of course, so seeing the change makes perfect sense. He's definitely way too cheerful about this one.]

Oh, there we go! I was wondering when that thing was going to come out.