It was going to be a gray, overcast day.  Sonic and the
others could tell that as Roonie went around waking everyone. 
The night had been uneventful, but those who had heard Gearbox's
account of his experience in the Great War were not well-rested.
     Because they knew that they were in Robotnik's territory,
there was no banter as they walked through the woods.  There was,
instead, a silent apprehension and an uncertainty as to what lay
before them.  The only one to talk was Roonie, and then he spoke
only to Gearbox or out loud to himself as he studied his notes. 
They walked on for a little over two hours before Roonie said "Ah
think we're there."
     "You think so?" Sally asked.
     "I'll check it out," Gearbox offered, as he walked straight
ahead toward what appeared to be a clearing about fifty yards
ahead.  Everyone else stayed where they were.  Then, through the
trees, they could see Gearbox gesturing for them to move forward. 
Warily, they approached.
     Below the rise at the edge of the wood where Gearbox stood
was a large depressed area, almost as big as Knothole itself.  It
was a bog, covered with a thick layer of moss that only
occasionally allowed a patch of water to show through.  But the
scent of water was in the air, and mosquitos buzzed near
everybody's ears.  Running along the top of the bog was a network
of vines with large leaves and small clusters of round pods.
     "This could be the last patch of green iron on all of
Mobius," Roonie said with reverential awe.
     "It'd better be," Sonic added, "considering what Buttnik has
in mind."
     "Well, we're here," Gearbox said, "now what?"
     "What IS that smell?" Antoine said, pinching his nose shut.
     "Smells like gasoline," the hyena said, "but I don't see any
refineries around here."
     "Wait here," Roonie said as he cautiously left the shelter
of the forest and edged his way toward the perimeter of the bog. 
The others watched as he looked around, knelt and plucked up one
of the vine leaves, crushing it under his nose.  He winced and
stood up.
     "It isn't gas," he called out to the others.  "It's coming
from the leaves; some kind of oil or resin.  Ah'm not about to go
tastin' it, though."
     "I'm still waiting for an answer to my question," Gearbox
spoke up.
     "I've been thinking about that," Sally replied.  "We need to
ruin this crop of groundnuts so Robotnik can't use them."
     "Any suggestions, Sal?" Sonic asked.
     "Not really.  And I'd hoped that the patch wouldn't be this
big."
     "Can't we pick them and take them back with us?" Tails
asked.
     "There's too many here for us to carry," Roonie said as he
finished climbing up the bank to rejoin the others.  "But you may
have an idea there.  If we pick the groundnuts and leave them
where they are in this bog, that would stop their development. 
That might be enough."
     "You think that bog will hold us?" Gearbox asked.
     "It might be weak in the center, but it should hold us up if
we don't stand close together."
     "Well," Antoine said a little too imperiously, "I for one
did not walk all this way to be the pea-picker!"
     "Now look," Gearbox said gruffly as he began walking toward
Antoine.  In response, Antoine began to back away from the hyena. 
As he did so, he stumbled backwards and, crying out in terror,
rolled down the bank and landed in a pool of water at the edge of
the bog.
     "You did that on the purpose!" Antoine called up to Gearbox.
     But Gearbox was kneeling and examining the place where
Antoine had stumbled.  He pulled something long and thin out of
the ground.
     "Is that a vine?" Sawyer asked.
     But as the others gathered around to examine it, they could
all see that it clearly was not a vine.  It was a wire, a wire
that had been severed when Antoine had tripped over it.
     "Everyone into the forest," Gearbox said quietly.
     "But what..." Sonic started to ask.
     "MOVE!!"
     Antoine scrambled back up the bank and dashed into the
forest along with the others.  Gearbox remained just inside the
treeline, slipping on his arm sling and loading it from his ammo
belt.
     "Sawyer!" he called out.  "Get over here and load up!"
     "Hey, what's going on?" Sonic asked.
     "I don't know where that wire was going.  Maybe to a
temperature sensor in the water, I don't know.  But my guess is
that when that wire got yanked out an alarm went off somewhere
and we're going to have company real quick.  The forest is too
dense for SWATbots so Robotnik will probably send a hover unit
over here.  Sawyer and I can cover you while the rest of you get
the yiff out of here!"
     "We're not leaving," Sally said with determination.
     "Suit yourself, Princess.  But at least fall back another 50
yards and spread out; that way you'll make harder targets when
the shooting starts."  Gearbox turned to Sawyer, who was fitting
his own sling on his arm.  The boy's eyes were wide and his
breathing was quick.
     "You feel lucky, kid?" Gearbox asked the boy.
     "Nuh-uh."
     "Yeah, well, trusting to luck is a bad habit to get into,
anyway."
     Just then the group heard what to the Knothole Freedom
Fighters was an all-too-familiar sound: the whine of the motor of
a hover unit.  Sawyer pressed his back against the tree he was
standing near as Gearbox lay prone on the ground and looked
toward the bog.
     Almost immediately they could see the hover unit.  It wasn't
one of the smaller egg-shaped units that carried one or two
SWATbots and which Sonic was used to outrunning.  This was a
larger unit, a hauler.  That meant that there could be at least a
dozen SWATbots inside.  A side-door stood open and they could see
a SWATbot braced in the doorway, his arm raised to start
blasting.
     "Looks like they mean business," Gearbox whispered.
     "What do we do?" Sawyer whispered back.
     "You stay here; I'm gonna circle around and try to draw
their fire to the other end of the bog.  Don't open fire unless
they start shooting first.  Got it?"
     Sawyer nodded.
     Gearbox started moving through the woods near the edge of
the forest, circling around the bog as the hover unit stayed in
place and slowly pivotted in mid-air, searching for signs of
life.  In a second, the others had lost sight of Gearbox and
began to edge closer toward Sawyer.
     "Sawyer!  Get back over here!" Ronnie called out in a
whisper to his younger brother.
     "No way!  Gearbox told me to stay here!" Sawyer whispered
back.
     Just as Roonie was sighing and shaking his head, there was a
commotion in the bog.  Gearbox had burst out of the forest and,
in the midst of sliding down the embankment, gotten off a shot at
the hauler.  His aim was good, but the projectile exploded
harmlessly against the armor plate of the hauler.  The hauler
came about slowly as Gearbox tried running across the rolling
surface of the bog as it rose and fell with each step he took. 
Sawyer and the others watched transfixed.
     Suddenly Gearbox lost his footing and fell forward.  The
SWATbot in the doorway of the hauler leaned out just enough to
point his arm blaster at Gearbox.
     Immediately, Sawyer raised his own sling and fired.  The
marble hit the SWATbot and it exploded in the doorway.  The
hauler lurched in mid-air and a piece of the SWATbot, sparking
and sputtering, fell from the doorway and into the bog.
     The moment it hit the bog there was a deafening roar and a
gigantic flame rose up from the bog.  The Mobians fell back and
covered their eyes against the heat.  The hauler lifted up into
the air away from the conflagration that had suddenly erupted. 
And from the middle of the bog, the group heard the sickening
sound of somebody screaming.
     "GEARBOX!" Sawyer cried out.
     In an instant something blue shot past Sawyer and into the
flaming bog.  A second later Sonic was back, Gearbox's arm draped
around Sonic's neck.
     "Sonic!  You could've been killed!" Sally yelled at him.
     "Who, moi?  No way!" he said as he casually wetted his thumb
and forefinger with his tongue and extinguished one of his head
quills which had caught fire.  He leaned toward Sally and lowered
his voice: "Just remind me to get my head examined when we get
back to Knothole!"
     Gearbox was in a bad way.  He was burned in several places. 
Most of the fur on the right side of his face was gone, and his
ear and cheek were blistered.  His chest heaved and he moaned as
he looked around him, unable to focus his gaze.  Roonie and Sonic
laid him on his back.  Sawyer ran to him and knelt by his side.
     "I'm sorry!" he cried out, close to tears.  "I didn't know!"
     "Nobody did, kid," he said in a husky, tired voice, his eyes
half-closed.  "Where are they?"
     "They flew out of range of the fire," Sally reported.  She
stood and looked toward the bog.  "I think it's dying down,
though."
     "That means they'll be back."  He undid his ammo belt and
handed it to Sawyer.  "Here.  Hold them off."
     Sawyer was frozen for a moment.  "I can't do it by myself!"
     "Sure, you can."  He loosened his grip on the belt, and
Sawyer caught it before it hit the ground.  "Now go on, haul
ass."
     Sawyer stood, slinging the ammo belt over his shoulder.  He
took a few paces toward the edge of the wood, paused, looked back
at Gearbox, then turned and ran the rest of the way.
     By this time Roonie had fished something out of his
backpack: a small canvas bag.  From inside the bag he withdrew a
smal bottle with a cork in it.  He took out the cork and held
Gearbox's mouth open as he began pouring a gray liquid, thick as
honey, into Gearbox's mouth.  The hyena coughed and sputtered. 
"What the yiff is THAT spraint?" he yelled.
     "Brianna sent it along: it's a pain killer distilled from a
couple kinds of tree bark.  The smell's a little on the strong
side."
     "No kidding!" Sonic said as he got a whiff of the mixture
for himself.
     "It'll take a few minutes to kick in.  That'll help some."
     "Are there any bandages in there?" Sally asked.  "Those
wounds will have to be dressed."
     "Yeah, I think there's a roll of something in here."
     "I'll patch up Gearbox.  Everyone else keep an eye out for
that hauler."
     Roonie left the bag with Sally as everyone began moving
closer to the edge of the forest.
     "Take it easy," Sally said as soothingly as she could,
"you're going to be OK."
     "Listen," Gearbox said, wincing with pain as Sally started
gently wrapping his burns with the strips of gauze she found in
the bag, "if you have to bug out, don't worry about me.  Just
make sure you give this to the kid."  He started to reach for the
vest pocket that contained his Sun Disc.  Sally took hold of his
wrist.
     "You're not going anywhere until I'm finished patching you
up.  Now lie still."
     He turned his face toward her.  "Hey, Princess, what's say
you and me go behind a tree?"
     Sally smiled.  Even she knew that she'd just heard the
oldest pick-up line on all of Mobius.  The way Gearbox was
gasping and clutching at the pine needles on the ground she knew
he was still in a great deal of pain and he was trying to take
his mind off it.  She glanced up to make sure Sonic was well out
of earshot, then looked down at Gearbox.
     "Sorry, but I like my men small, blue and prickly."
     "Your loss," he said before crying out again in pain.
     Sawyer heard the cry and looked back toward Gearbox, then
looked again at the bog.  The fire which had roared so violently
before was now almost burned out, with a few patches of blue-
green flame burning brightly across the bog.  "How did it
happened?" Sawyer asked out loud.
     "Ah'm not sure," Roonie said in a cautious whisper.  "Mah
guess is that that resin must've caught fire when that piece of
SWATbot hit it.  Good thing Sonic got Gearbox out of there when
he did or...."
     Roonie stopped talking as they heard the hauler returning. 
It once more hovered over the bog.
     Then something emerged from beneath the hauler: a series of
metal spines or poles parallel with each other and pointing
downward.  The hauler began lowering itself toward the surface of
the bog.
     "Man, what IS that?" Sonic asked.
     "Ah hate to say this," Roonie replied, "but it looks like
they're gettin' ready to do some harvesting."
     Immediately, Sawyer opened fire.  His projectile impacted
against the windshield of the hauler and exploded without any
noticable effect.  Then two blasters mounted on the front of the
hauler began firing.
     "Let's get outta here!" Roonie yelled.  Everyone scrambled
to get back into the woods.  Everyone but Sonic and Sawyer.
     "Move it, kid!" Sonic yelled.
     "No way!" Sawyer replied as he reloaded.
     "Sonic!" Tails called out from behind him in the forest.
     "Be right there, big guy!  Look," he said to Sawyer, "we
gotta motor!"
     Sawyer got off another futile shot.  "Forget it, I'm
staying!"
     Just then, a round of blaster fire from the hauler hit the
trees just above their heads.  Sawyer looked up and froze as
several large tree limbs fell straight toward him.
     The next thing Sawyer knew, however, Sonic had whisked him
out of the way and was sitting him down next to Gearbox, who was
struggling up to his knees.  Sawyer could only stare at Sonic.
     "So who says you need a weapon to be a hero?" Sonic said
with a shrug.
     "What happened?" Gearbox asked.
     "The hauler took a shot at us," Sawyer replied, "but they
were way high."
     "Those SWATbots must be slipping," Sonic added.  "They're
not that lousy at aiming."
     "That's not it," Gearbox said in a flat, soulless voice. 
"They don't give a yiff about us; they came to get those nuts."
     "Oh my gosh, he's right!" Sally exclaimed.  "We've got to
stop them!"
     "Too late...they probably have all they need."
     Everyone except Gearbox dashed to the edge of the forest. 
They saw a large tangled network of vines and bog matter,
dripping with water, being pulled inside the hauler by the poles
the way a fork would bring food into one's mouth.  A few seconds
later, the hauler was lifting up and out of sight.
     The Mobians stood where they were, stunned.  "How many...."
Sally began to ask.
     "Enough," Roonie said dejectedly as he sat down on the
ground, "more than enough."
     Nobody said anything for a few seconds, then Sawyer cried
out "No!"  He raced down the bank and started kicking at the
groundnuts that were there with his hooves, all the while letting
loose a string of curses that would have stunned Gearbox.  But
nobody said anything.
     After a minute, though, Roonie looked up and studied his
little brother as he continued to vent his frustration at the
plants.  He slowly rose to his feet and slid down the embankment
himself.  Reaching down, he picked up a groundnut and closed his
fist around it.  Then he opened his paw.  The shell lay in pieces
and the smooth, white nut meat, looking like a chick pea, lay
exposed in his palm.  He looked at it, sniffed at it, and put it
in his mouth for a second before spitting it out.  The others on
the bank watched him in amazement.
     "No way," he said softly.  "It CAIN'T be that easy!"
     "What is it?" Sally asked, for she had slid down the
embankment herself to join him.  Instead of answering, he called
up.
     "Sonic!  Tails!  Get on down here!"  They were beside him in
an instant.
     "Ah need each of you to get three nuts each from different
parts of the bog.  Wide apart."
     As Sonic dashed across the bog, Tails revved up and flew to
different places, picking one nut at each place.  They were back
in a matter of seconds.
     "Now what?" Tails asked.
     "Now we gotta get back to The Cove and fast!"  He began
scrambling up the embankment with the others following him.  They
arrived to find Gearbox on his feet.
     "Guess that spraint kicked in; I don't feel so lousy."
     "Good; we're heading back."
     "Why?"
     "That'll depend on what we find out when we get back to mah
lab.  Can you travel, Gearbox?"
     "Yeah."
     "Good, 'cause we cain't stop for nothin'."
     "What's going on?" Sally demanded.  But Roonie had already
started loping ahead, retracing the route by which they had
arrived at the bog.  The rest of the group took off after him.


                       *        *        *


     "Lin, can we talk?"
     It was evening in The Cove, and there had been no word from
the group.  Bunnie had been particularly anxious throughout the
day as she helped her mother look after the twins.  Rotor came by
several times and tried to reassure her that they had all been in
tough situations before and had come through, but he sounded like
he needed convincing himself.  Now as she helped clear the table
after dinner with Lindsey, Colleen and Heather, Bunnie needed to
talk.
     "Sure."
     Heather trotted up to Bunnie's chair and reached up to put
her arms around Bunnie's neck.  "G'night, Aunt Bunnie!" she said,
kissing Bunnie on the cheek for good measure.
     "Good night, darlin'."  She watched Colleen tuck the girl
into bed.  "Tails calls me that, too.  Ah hope he's OK," she
added, after a pause.
     "I'm sure your friends are fine.  Is that what you want to
talk about?"
     "Not really.  Ah held my tongue during dinner, but...can we
talk outside?"
     "Sure," Lindsey said with a shrug as the two walked out and
sat on the steps leading up to the door of the hut.  The night
was beautiful, clear and quiet.
     "It's about Mama and Daddy," Bunnie began.
     "Shouldn't you be talking to them, then?"
     "No, Ah want to talk to you first.  When Ah got here and
realized we were all back together Ah was so happy Ah thought
Ah'd bust.  But...."
     "What is it?"
     "Now that Ah'm learnin' so much about them, what they used
to be like and what they're like now and all, it's sorta like Ah
don't know them at all anymore.  And what's worse...."
     Bunnie paused and Lindsey waited.
     "It's like...maybe Ah don't WANT to know them.  It all feels
so different from the way Ah grew up in Knothole."
     Lindsey looked at Bunnie, whose head was bowed.  She saw a
tear run down Bunnie's nose and fall onto the step.
     "Bunnie," she said softly, "how much do you remember about
the first time we were here?"
     "Not a whole lot.  Bits and pieces, mostly."
     "That's because you were only three years old.  Ah remember
you spent the whole time we were up here laughing and running
around with no clothes on and having a great time," she said with
a smile.  "You don't even know how Ah spent mah first week up
here."
     "How?"
     "Figuring out the best way to kill mahself."
     Bunnie looked up.  Her eyes were wide.  "Lin!" she
whispered.
     "Before you were born, before Mama was even pregnant with
you, Ah knew Ah was different.  Ah wasn't feeling things the way
Ah thought Ah was supposed to feel them.  And Ah couldn't say
anything to Mama or Daddy because Ah didn't have the words.  By
the time Ah started high school Ah knew HOW Ah was different, but
Ah still couldn't figure out why.  And Ah was tearin' mahself up
on the inside on account of it.
     "Ah didn't want to come on the vacation, and Ah put up a
real fuss about it before Ah caved in and agreed to come along. 
Ah wanted to stay home.  Ah didn't want to have anyone around
to...to stop me.  But when Ah went Ah promised mahself that Ah'd
figure out a way of killin' mahself while Ah was up here."
     "Oh, Lin!" Bunnie whispered.  "Ah never knew!"
     "Ah was hopin' for the same from everyone else.  After about
a week here Ah thought Ah'd figured it out.  You remember that
old stone fire tower that used to be up the hill round here?"
     "Is that what that was?  Looked like part of a castle to
me."
     "Ah went there early one mornin' before Ah thought everyone
else was awake.  Ah was gonna climb to the top and...you know."
     Bunnie nodded.
     "Well, Ah got there and just about turned around, but Ah
started climbin'.  One hundred and twenty-five steps, and Ah
counted every blessed one, four flights.  Ah finally got to the
top and...and there was Mama.  She'd come up there to do some
sketchin', she said.
     "Ah just broke down right there.  Ah started cryin' mah
heart out and told Mama what Ah'd planned to do.  And Ah STILL
half wanted to do it when Ah was done tellin' her.  Then Ah
started to tell her why and she said 'Let's go back first.'  So
we go back and she talks to Daddy and those two spent the rest of
the day with me, just the three of us.  Ah was never so tired in
mah life as when Ah fell into bed that night.  Ah still didn't
have any idea what to do about mah life, though.  Ah still felt
pretty miserable about it.
     "Two days later we went to the beach and Mama points out
someone Ah hadn't seen before.  She said it was a friend of hers
from back when she was hangin' out with other artists before she
met Daddy.  Ah cain't even remember her name; Ah think it was
Zenia or something.  Anyway she started talkin' to me after Mama
goes back and joins Daddy and...well, to make a long story short,
she tells me that we have something in common."
     "Did she...?"
     "Nah, nothin' like THAT!  But she answered a lot of mah
questions 'bout what it's like to be gay, what Ah could expect to
feel and such.  She insisted that she'd just come up to spend the
week, but Ah never could get over the feelin' that Mama'd gotten
in touch with her somehow.
     "Bunnie, you grew up different in that Knothole place from
how you'd have grown up if you had been with us.  And maybe
you're feelin' like you don't belong no more."
     "Somethin' like that," Bunnie whispered, nodding her head
slightly.
     "All Ah know is," Lindsey said as she put her arm around
Bunnie's shoulder, "Ah used to think Ah was so different from
Mama and Daddy that they could never love me.  Ah was glad to
find out Ah was wrong.  Maybe you DID get raised different, but
that don't matter to them any more than mah bein' gay mattered. 
Ah know how much they've always loved you.  They deserved to be
loved back just as much."
     "Thanks, Lin," Bunnie said as she wiped her eyes.
     "Hey, Ah was wonderin' when we'd sit down as sisters and
have us a heart-to...."
     She suddenly stopped and stood up, watching some kind of
commotion at the edge of the village.  Residents of The Cove were
gathering around someone who appeared to be staggering toward one
of the huts.  In the growing darkness it was hard to make out who
it was.  Suddenly Lindsey gasped: "Sawyer!"
     Bunnie ran off in the direction of the commotion.  Sawyer
was standing there, his sling on his back, his eyes downcast,
barely able to stand.  Then she saw others emerging from the
forest: Sonic, Sally, Antoine, Tails, and Roonie.  Gearbox stood
a short way behind them, leaning against a tree.
     "Sally-girl, what happened?" Bunnie cried out.
     "Bunnie?" Sally said, close to total exhaustion.
     Percy and Deirdre ran up to the group.  As Dierdre knelt and
hugged Sawyer close, Percy grabbed Gearbox by his vest.  "What
did you do to mah boy?" he demanded.
     Gearbox opened his eyes and his mouth as if to answer.  Then
his eyes rolled back white and his legs gave out beneath him. 
Percy let go and Gearbox crumpled to the ground.
     "He didn't do nothin', Daddy," Roonie said as he leaned
against a tree, rubbing his eyes.  "Only carried Sawyer the last
six or seven miles when he was too tired to go on.  But Sawyer
wanted to finish the last mile himself."
     "Roonie, what the hoo-ha happened?"
     "No time.  We gotta get to the lab."
     As Deirdre guided Sawyer to bed and Brianna directed that
Gearbox be taken to her hut (which served as the infirmary for
The Cove), the others made their way to Roonie's hut.  Being in
familiar surroundings appeared to revive him and he quickly began
pulling several pieces of lab equipment together.
     "Sonic, Tails," Roonie said, "you still got them nuts?"
     "Yeah," Sonic said in mid-yawn, "why?"
     "Crack 'em open.  Daddy, we need to test those nuts for the
catalyst...."
     "Ah'll help with that, son.  Y'all look like you need a
rest."
     "Ah cain't rest until Ah know for sure."
     "Know what?" Percy asked as he started mixing the testing
agent.
     "We were attacked by SWATbots when we got to the bog."
     "Oh mah stars!  Sawyer...."
     "Sawyer came through fine, Daddy.  He may have saved all our
lives."
     "What are y'all talkin' about?" he asked as he began to
grind the first nut in a small dish.
     "There was a fire.  It wouldn't have happened if Sawyer
hadn't shot at a SWATbot.  Set the whole bog on fire for maybe a
minute.  But...what are the results, Daddy?"
     "Never you mind," he said as he emptied the contents of a
beaker, "tell me about the fire."
     "It didn't last long, but it might have been hot enough."
     Percy paused, and a light came into his eyes.  "Hot enough
to cook the nuts!"
     "So what?" Sonic said, close to exhaustion himself from the
forced quick march.  "Cooked or raw, what's the diff?"
     "You know what happens when you cook food, Sonic?" Roonie
asked.
     "It tastes better?"
     "That's debatable.  But what it DOES do is alter a food's
chemical structure!"
     "You mean those nuts got cooked in their shells?"
     "That's what we're findin' out," Roonie replied, now almost
fully awake.
     Outside the hut residents of The Cove gathered, trying to
determine what was going on.  Their murmurring conversation was
shattered a minute later by Percy's strident "YEEEEEE-HA!!"
     "What is it?" Deirdre yelled as she ran to the doorway. 
Inside, it was pandemonium as Percy and Roonie began tossing
every loose scrap of paper into the air and the Knothole Freedom
Fighters began embracing one another.
     "Six samples, all negative!" Percy cried out.  "Robotnik's
got nothin'!!"
     The next few minutes were a blur to Sally.  She remembered
hugging Sonic more excitedly than she'd ever hugged him before;
she might have kissed him as well, but she couldn't be sure.  She
also remembered writing out a quick note to Uncle Chuck and
sending it to him in the homer she had brought in her backpack. 
Then, before she could remove her boots and vest, she had fallen
into bed and into a deep sleep.


                       *        *        *


     It was shortly after dawn when Sally awoke.  She was in the
guest hut and could hear one of the babies crying nearby. 
Bunnie's clothes lay next to her on top of the bed.  She looked
around.
     Bunnie was nowhere to be seen.
     "Bunnie?" she called out as she rubbed her eyes.
     She heard the sound of footsteps and the curtain parted. 
Brianna poked her head inside.  "Is anything wrong?" she asked
Sally.
     "Where's Bunnie?"
     "She went for a walk with Mama and Daddy.  They only left
here a few seconds ago.  You can probably catch up to them if you
want."
     Sally got out of bed and walked to the window of the hut. 
There was a slight mist that obscured her vision, but she could
see three figures at the far end of the village walking in the
direction of the dunes.  She recognized Bunnie from the dull
glint of her robotic limbs.  Her parents walked one on either
side of her, each holding one of her hands.  None of the three
wore a stitch of clothing.
     Slowly, Sally walked back to the bed as Brianna went back to
looking after the twins.  She sat down heavily.  Then picking up
Bunnie's clothing, she buried her face in it and started to cry.
     In that moment Sally forgot about the apparent victory of
the night before.  She'd forgotten the twenty miles the group had
covered almost at a run, with only the briefest of stops, after
leaving the bog.  She could only remember how she and Bunnie had
grown up together in Knothole, how they had banded together as
the only girls in the place.  She remembered the good times and
the bad times and the friendship that had been forged between
them.
     But now it was as if it had all vanished.  Knothole was no
longer Bunnie's home, she realized.  The Cove was her home, and
her parents and siblings were her family.  The friendship between
the two of them had been provisional because Bunnie didn't know
what had become of her family.  Now she knew.  And Sally knew, in
the pit of her stomach, that Bunnie would not be returning to
Knothole with them.
     It was about an hour later when she heard Sonic yelling for
her: "Yo, Sal!  You gotta get out here!"
     "Give me a minute," she called out.  She looked at her face
in an old hand mirror that she found in one of the dresser
drawers.  It didn't appear too obvious that she'd been crying. 
Yet when she joined Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters at the
Table with some of the residents of The Cove, Sonic was tempted
to ask whether Sally had just lost her best friend.


                       *        *        *


     The early morning fog had pretty well burned off when Bunnie
and her parents reached their destination.
     Since her arrival at The Cove, Bunnie had not been down that
particular path, the one that led through the dunes and toward
the beach.  As she walked with her parents she began to recall
the buildings of The Cove that were no longer there: the wooden
shack that was referred to as the Game Room but which she
remembered containing only an old ping-pong table with a
perpetually sagging net.  She remembered the sand pit used for
volleyball, the concrete dance floor.
     And beyond the wall at the edge of the dance floor, a wall
now itself swallowed by the shifting sands, were the dunes.  Here
the only greenery was the dune grass, foot-long stalks with
pointed blades as sharp as a knife.  As they blew in the breeze
the light played against the blades of grass, and it seemed like
a shimmering green sea.  The straight path through the hills of
tan and green had long vanished, but Bunnie followed in the
direction her parents walked as the three of them talked and
laughed the whole way, remembering times past.
     Then the last dune was crossed, and Bunnie was looking down
at the beach.  She remembered dimly how crowded it had been with
Mobians relaxing in the sun or splashing in the surf.  She
remembered the shouts and laughter of other children mixing with
the gentle wash of the waves up on the shore.  She remembered the
feel of the wet sand beneath her feet as she stood on the shore
and played Tag with the incoming waves that barely reached her
ankles.
     Now the beach was deserted.  There were no vacationers here
now.  But the sea and sky and sand had endured.
     "Oh, it's so beautiful!" Bunnie exclaimed.
     Bunnie walked down to the beach hand in hand with her
parents.  She stopped and drained the sand from her feet.  "Is
this where you made that drawing, Mama?  The one of Daddy and
me."
     "I did that from memory later on."
     "What the hoo-ha are you two plannin'?" Percy asked, for
Bunnie and Deirdre were suddenly smiling broadly and exchanging
conspiratorial glances.
     "Well," Dierdre said, "you always say turnabout's fair play,
and..."
     "Whoa, hold on!" Percy said as he started to back away from
his wife and daughter.  But before he could do so, Bunnie had
reached out with her robotic arm and hoisted her father above her
head and into the air.
     Percy began flailing his arms and legs wildly, as Deirdre
let out a hearty laugh.  He tried to tell Bunnie to put him down,
but he was caught up in the moment and was soon laughing too hard
to speak.  After about a minute, he finally asked Bunnie to put
him down.
     "Whatever you say, Daddy!" Bunnie replied as she looked out
over the water.
     "Now wait a minute.  You ain't fixin' to throw your poor ol'
Daddy in the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...."
     Bunnie had lofted Percy into the air.  He must have
travelled fifty feet before he landed in the water with a
tremendous splash.  He came up a second later, coughing and
sputtering, his fur soaked and his ears drooping, but with a good
natured grin on his face.  Bunnie started laughing as heartliy as
her mother.
     Percy began wading toward them through the knee-deep water. 
"Now why'd you wanna go and do...."  His words were cut off as he
reached the end of the sand bar upon which he had been standing
and sank back down into the water.  Barely able to catch her
breath from laughter, Deirdre hugged her sides and dropped to her
knees.  When Percy came up a second later, a strand of seaweed
was draped across his head.  He pulled it off and finished wading
to shore.  He immediately walked over to Dierdre, still convulsed
with laughter, and began shaking the water from him.  Dierdre's
laughter turned to squeals as she tried to keep the water from
raining down on her.  Then Percy, who had started laughing
himself, dropped to his knees and wrapped his soaking wet arms
around Dierdre, who screamed aloud but nevertheless also returned
the embrace.  Grinning like children they looked toward Bunnie.
     They stopped laughing.
     Bunnie was standing at the edge of the shore, letting the
water wash over and around her metallic feet.  She was looking
out over the water at something in the distance.  Percy and
Dierdre walked over to her and followed her gaze.
     Far to the south there was a spot on the horizon.  It hadn't
looked that way the last time Bunnie had seen it as a child. 
Back then that spot had shone white like a diamond or like the
last star in the sky before sunrise.  But now it was dark and
ugly, like a jagged wound that refused to heal.  Above it the sky
was smeared brown, the pollution in the air the color of decayed
wood and dried blood.  Even from a hundred miles away,
Robotropolis was an unwelcome and threatening sight.
     Percy placed one paw on Bunnie's shoulder.  "All of a
sudden," he said softly, "Ah just remembered why Ah don't come
here no more."
     Bunnie said nothing.  Instead she turned and began to walk
away from her parents.  She walked twenty feet up the beach,
paused, then sat down heavily on the sand.  Her parents walked
over to where she sat.  They knelt beside her and waited for her
to say something.
     "Daddy," Bunnie said softly after a few seconds of silence,
"on our way here you said you had somethin' you wanted to ask me
later.  You were fixin' to ask me to stay here with you and Mama
and...and not to go back to Knothole, weren't you?"
     Percy's face flushed.  He looked into his daughter's eyes,
then out over the water.  "The notion had crossed mah mind," he
admitted.
     "Oh Daddy, if'n you'd have asked me two minutes ago Ah'd
have said Yes without thinkin' twice or blinkin' once.  But
now...Daddy, Ah cain't let Sonic and Sally and everyone go back
to Knothole while Ah stayed here.  And it ain't  cause Ah like
fightin' against Robotnik or Ah think they cain't get along
without me.  It's just that we've done so much together to stop
Robotnik that Ah couldn't live with mahself if Ah just walked
away while everyone else was still puttin' their lives on the
line.  Do you understand, Daddy?"
     "Ah understand, Bunnie-honey," he answered softly.  "Ah
cain't say Ah ain't disappointed, but Ah understand."
     "There's...there's something else," Bunnie said.  "All the
way over here Ah was rememberin' so much about how this old place
used to be, but there was one thought Ah had in the back of mah
mind: ah kept wishin' Sally was here so Ah could share it with
her.  Don't get me wrong, Ah love Brianna and Lindsey, and Ah
think the babies are just the cutest little things, but...but
somehow Sally feels more like mah sister than mah own sisters
do!"
     Dierdre reached out and held Bunnie's head against her
breast as Bunnie's eyes filled with tears.  "Mama, Ah don't know
why Ah feel this way!" she sobbed out.
     "I do," Deirdre said gently as she wiped the tears from her
daughter's face.  "And there's nothing to be ashamed of.  Bunnie,
you've done something your older brothers and sisters still
haven't managed to do: you've grown up."
     "Huh?"
     "Your father and I have talked about this.  Our oldest
children should have left the nest long ago and made lives for
themselves, and I don't mean just moving to another corner of The
Cove and getting out from under our roof.  But with Robotnik in
control there's no place that's safe, so we all stayed here.  You
were in a safe place of your own there in Knothole and you became
part of another family, one you can be proud of.  When I heard
you tell everyone what you went through with your friends I'll
admit I was upset to hear some of it, because I didn't want to
think of the dangers you faced.  But I was also very proud of
you.  It might have been nice to have you back here with the rest
of the family, but I know what you're doing is important, and we
can't deny you that."
     Bunnie couldn't answer; she could only smile at her mother
through her tears.
     "It's just that," Deirdre went on, "you were so young when
everything happened, no older than Heather is now.  And look at
yourself: you're practically a woman.  And...and all those years
between...lost...."  Deirdre couldn't continue.  She buried her
face in her hands and began to weep.  Percy put his arms around
her as Bunnie reached out and touched the side of her face.
     "Please don't cry, Mama.  You and Daddy were always there
for me in the beginning, when Ah needed you the most.  And
Robotnik cain't never take that away."
     Dierdre looked up into Bunnie's face.  She wiped the tears
from her eyes and hugged her daughter close.  "Ah think we'd
better ought to get back," Percy said quietly.
     It wasn't until they were past the dunes and back beneath
the shelter of the pine forest that anyone felt like speaking. 
The three of them were soon talking and laughing again, for their
mood had been lightened by the lifting of the burdens that they
had each carried on their hearts.  They walked with their arms
draped across one another's shoulders until they got to the edge
of The Cove, where they stopped.
     Gathered around the Table were the Knothole Freedom Fighters
and a good number of the residents of The Cove.  Sonic looked as
if he were trying to get a word in edgewise but found it
impossible as Roonie and Brandon shouted at each other.  Sally
looked downward, uncharacteristically withdrawn.
     "What the hoo-ha's goin' on over there?" Bunnie asked.
     "Ah don't know, Bunnie-honey," Percy replied, "but Ah got a
feelin' Ah ain't gonna like it."
     "Come on," Dierdre added, "we'd better throw something on
and check this out."
     A few minutes later, the three of them had dressed and
approached the table.  They didn't have to get too close before
they could hear what was being said:
     "Brandon, we were lucky out there.  And we need to count on
something else besides luck."
     "What do you suggest, lettin' everybody walk around here
with weapons on their arms the way Gearbox does?  You've seen
what Sawyer's like; do you want that to happen to every blessed
soul here?"
     "We gotta do something!  We cain't expect to defend this
place with Precepts and old songs."
     "You're talkin' about the things that have kept The Cove
together!"
     "Boys," Percy said firmly to his sons as he stepped up to
the table, "what seems to be the problem?"
     "You KNOW what the problem is, Daddy," Brandon spoke up,
"we've only had this argument fifty times."
     "And with Robotnik as close as he is now, Ah want there to
BE a next time!" Roonie shot back.
     "Now hold on!" Percy shouted as he sat down at the table,
with Deirdre sitting beside him.  Bunnie sat down on the other
end of the table between Sonic and Sally, who seemed not to
notice.  "Have you boys decided on anything?"
     "No, sir," Roonie answered.  "We figured you'd want to have
your say."
     "Well, you're right.  Ah figure most everyone here knows how
Ah feel about this place and the lives we've made for ourselves
here.  The last couple of days, though, Ah've come to believe
that Ah've been kiddin' mahself.  Ah didn't know what Robotnik
had done to Bunnie...and now that Ah can see what he DID do to
her...."
     He stopped and buried his face in his paws, his shoulders
heaving.  Bunnie was stunned; neither of her parents had so much
as hinted as to how they felt about her being partially
roboticized.  She looked at her father, then at Deirdre who sat
there biting her lower lip, and realized that though they had
said nothing her condition hurt them deeply.  Yet they hadn't let
it get in the way of their love for her, and she felt closer to
her parents at that moment than ever.
     Percy eventually looked up and composed himself, as most of
the others at the table sat quietly with their heads bowed.  "Ah
cain't just sit and do nothin' no more.  If what Roonie says is
right, we're gonna scrap with Robotnik sooner or later.  Ah
reckon we'd better learn how."
     There was a stunned silence at the table.  Percy looked
toward Sally: "OK, Princess, tell us what we need to do."
     Sally looked up, as if aware of her surroundings for the
first time.  She had been prepared for the stalemate to continue.
     "Yo, Sal!  That's your cue," Sonic whispered.
     She turned and looked into Bunnie's eyes.  Bunnie smiled and
nodded, and placed one hand on Sally's where it rested on the
table.  The doubt and despair she had been feeling melted away
like the morning fog.  She returned Bunnie's smile and stood up.
     "First off, we're all volunteers.  You can't very well call
someone a Freedom Fighter if they're doing it against their
will...."


                       *        *        *


     "Spraint!"
     When Gearbox realized that the group of them had to get back
to The Cove and quickly, he knew they'd be in for a tough time. 
He was having a tough time himself; the painkiller that Roonie
had poured down his throat had helped, but he felt physically
exhausted and emotionally drained.  Being trapped in the flaming
bog had reawakened an old nightmare of his and had shaken him so
deeply that he was afraid to go to sleep again.  This fear, which
he kept to himself, helped drive him on as he accompanied the
group in their dash back.
     Unlike the trip to the bog, time was something that they
couldn't afford to waste.  The group knew they had to get back
fast and so they all pushed themselves to go on.  When they
arrived back at the fence at twilight, Gearbox muttered "Ah, yiff
it!" and blasted a hole in the fence.  Tails again covered their
tracks and the group pressed on.  At most, they would stop
occasionally and rest for only ten minutes.  During those stops
Gearbox would sit down on the ground, bend his head forward, and
instantly drop off into a deep sleep from which he'd awaken ten
minutes later.  "How do you do that?" Sonic had asked at the end
of one rest stop.
     "Old infantry trick," was the only answer Gearbox gave.
     With about seven miles to go, Sawyer was too exhausted to go
on.  He was close to tears from disappointment, having wanted to
show that he could keep up with the others.  Without a word,
Gearbox hoisted the boy onto his back and kept on walking.  But
at Sawyer's insistance he stopped and let Sawyer back down a mile
outside The Cove, so he could be seen finishing on his own feet. 
That was the last distinct memory he had: everything else was a
blur.
     "Welcome back," someone said dryly.  It was Brianna,
standing at a nearby window.
     He opened one eye and looked around.  He was in a bed in
Brianna's hut.
     "How long was I out?" he asked as he started to rub his
eyes.
     "Don't do that," Brianna replied as she caught Gearbox by
the wrist, "I just got done redressing the wounds on your head. 
They brought you in here last night; you've been out for over
twelve hours."
     "How's Sawyer?"
     "He'll be OK," she said flatly.
     "What's wrong, babe?"
     "That two-tailed fox was in here earlier this morning.  He
said the Princess wanted to talk to you when you woke up, he
didn't say what about."
     Gearbox sat up.  "Oh, man," he sighed.  "I thought I could
finally stop running."
     "It's over.  Everything that made The Cove something special
is over.  They're putting together a bunch of 'Freedom Fighters'
right now."  She crossed her arms in front of her as if the air
in the hut had suddenly turned cold.  "Maybe you'd better get
out, Gearbox."
     "I may not have a choice."
     "What do you mean?"
     "The Princess knows.  About me."
     Brianna was silent for a few seconds.  She walked over to
his bed and sat down next to him.  "If you do leave, I'm coming
with you."
     "Forget it, babe.  I don't want to put you in danger."
     "Gearbox, I'll be in just as much danger if I stay here now. 
We can't pretend any longer that Robotnik will never find this
place."
     "What about your folks?"
     "That's the weird part; I thought Daddy would NEVER allow
something like this to happen."
     "You think he knows about us?"
     "Gearbox," she said reproachfully, "my parents may be a lot
of things but they're not blind!  They haven't said anything
but...but I'm pretty sure they know."
     Gearbox slowly got to his feet, and Brianna helped him
straighten up.  "Guess I'd better go see what the Princess wants. 
Who knows; maybe I've got her figured wrong."  He started to put
his biker cap, the bill of which had been singed in the fire, on
his head.  Brianna took it from him.
     "At least wait until the side of your head heals up," she
said gently.  She then kissed Gearbox on the lips and held him
close.  Gearbox kissed her back, then walked outside.
     From the cast of the shadows it was mid-afternoon.  Seated
around the table were the Knothole Freedom Fighters, Percy and
Dierdre, and several other residents of The Cove.  Gearbox began
walking toward them, and he was walking with his customary
swagger by the time he got to the table.
     "Hello, Gearbox," Princess Sally said brightly.  "I guess
you know these four here."
     He looked around the table.  They were an unremarkable
group: a portly, middle-aged sheepdog; Roonie; a gray tomcat whom
Gearbox had seen only occasionally trying to write poetry; and
Lindsey's mate Colleen.
     "So?"
     "Gearbox, these are The Cove Freedom Fighters."
     After a second of silence, Gearbox gave a choked laugh. 
"You're kidding, right?"
     "She's kidding, not!" Sonic spoke up.  "They all
volunteered."
     "This is it?  Out of the whole yiffin' Cove?"
     "We DID have to turn away Sawyer," Roonie spoke up.  "He
wanted in real bad, but...."
     "And this is still the best you could do?"  Gearbox shook
his head in amusement.
     "Don't be so smug, Gearbox," Sally spoke up.  "Those of us
from Knothole have done all right against Robotnik.  Besides,
this group will be starting out easy: keeping tabs on Robotnik's
activities in this area, maybe working up to acts of sabotage
when necessary."
     "Yeah, well, good luck whipping THIS bunch of candyasses
into shape, Princess."  He turned and started to walk away.
     "Oh, that's not going to be MY problem."
     There was something about the way Sally had said it, sweetly
and with just enough stress on the word "my," that caught
Gearbox's attention.  He stopped and slowly turned back toward
the Princess.  "And what's THAT supposed to mean?" he growled.
     "Uh, Gearbox," Roonie said as he rose to his feet, "maybe
Ah'd better explain.  See, we all volunteered on our own, not
knowin' who else would be in the group.  And when we found out we
were it, well, we put our heads together and we pretty much
decided to see if you'd volunter too, on account of we were sorta
hopin' that you'd lead the group."
     "What?"
     "Yeah, well, Ah told everyone what had happened out there
with our goin' after the groundnuts and we figured you'd be the
best one to lead us."
     "Then you'd better go with the second-best one because I'm
not doing it."
     "But...."
     "No yiffin' way!" Gearbox yelled.  "I DID my bit!!"
     "If y'all really feel that way...."
     "What?  Why can't the Princess over here lead you?"
     "My place is in Knothole," Sally replied.  "Each Freedom
Fighter group selects its own leader, and it looks like they've
selected you."
     "So why can't you select someone else?"
     "I knew this would happen," Colleen said disgustedly as she
started to stand up.  "Look, let's forget the whole thing."
     "What's SHE talking about?" Gearbox asked.
     "Well," Roonie replied, "you were right when you said we
don't know nothin' about fightin'.  We're willing, and right now
that's about all we got goin' for us.  But it looks like you've
forgotten more about fightin' than any of us'll ever learn.  And
if you don't want any part of this then...shoot...like Colleen
said, we may as well forget about the whole thing right now."
     "But why ME?"
     "'Cause we all trust you."
     For a moment, Gearbox's studied surliness and defiance
slipped, and he looked like someone who had been clubbed from
behind.  He studied the faces of those at the table, then slowly
looked over The Cove.  His gaze went from hut to hut, stopping
with Brianna's.  For the next minute everyone kept silent while
Gearbox just looked at the ground and occasionally massaged the
back of his neck.  Then he looked up.
     "One condition: I want Sawyer on the team."
     "Say WHAT!?" Sonic erupted.
     Then everybody at the table started talking at once. 
Gearbox just stood there, his thumbs tucked into the waistline of
his jeans, letting the din wash over him until Percy's "HOLD ON!"
silenced everyone else.  Percy gave Gearbox a look that Roonie
had seen on his father's face only once before.
     "If that was your idea of a joke, Gearbox," he said in a
low, slow voice, "you'd better notice that Ah ain't laughin'."
     "No joke, Doc.  But I think the Princess here was yankin'
your chain when she said that you'd just be doing surveillance
and light sabotage.  I thought we'd just be going for a walk in
the woods two days ago, but it didn't turn out that way.  Sooner
or later, these losers are going to come up against some serious
muscle, SWATbots.  Right, Princess?"
     "It's bound to happen," she answered innocently.
     "Well when it DOES happen I want to know that at least one
member of the group knows how to cover my ass!  I don't think any
of these clowns know how to even HOLD a weapon, much less aim it
and fire.  Sawyer's as good a shot as I am right now, and at his
age he can only get better."
     "I don't know," Sally said.
     "What's not to know?  The kid's eager, the kid's a quick
study...."
     "The kid's a KID!" Sonic blurted out.
     "Gearbox, he IS only ten years old," Sally added.
     "But I'M ten years old!" Tails interrupted.  "And so were
you and Sonic when you first started fighting Robotnik."
     Sonic and Sally exchanged glanced, then grinned.
     "Busted!" Sonic said.
     "Yeah," Sally replied as she placed her elbow on the table
and rested her chin in her palm, "don't you hate it when that
happens?"
     "You got anything else you want to say?" Percy said as he
continued to glare at Gearbox.
     "Just one more thing.  I was watching Sawyer out there,
watching the look in his eyes.  He never kidded himself about
what was happening the whole time.  He knew where he was and he
wanted to be there.  Even when all the spraint started coming
down he never looked like he wanted to run home to Mommy. 
Believe me, Doc, it'll be ten times more trouble for you to
babysit his ass back here than it will be for me to keep an eye
on him in the field."
     Percy and Dierdre put their heads together and whispered to
each other for a minute.  Then Percy looked back at Gearbox; his
expression hadn't softened in the slightest.
     "Sawyer thinks the world of you, Gearbox.  Don't ask me why,
but he does.  That means Ah can trust him to do whatever you tell
him to do.  That also means that he's your responsibility.  And
if anything--Ah mean ANYTHING--happens to mah boy that you could
have prevented, then you'd better plan on headin' for
Robotropolis and hope Robotnik finds you before AH do."
     "Right, like I WANT to give you an excuse to kick my ass
again!"
     Percy shot out of his seat.  Gearbox held up his paws, palms
out.  "Hey, HEY!"
     Percy paused.  "Doc," Gearbox said earnestly, "I'll take
better care of him than I do of myself."
     "You'd better," Percy said as he sat back down.
     "You got nothing to worry about.  Sawyer's a good kid and
he's going to be all right."  As he spoke, Gearbox fitted his
sling on his arm, set it, and dropped a projectile in place.  "He
just needs to sharpen a few of his skills, that's all."
     Then without warning, Gearbox spun and fired at a nearby
tree.  The projectile burst, releasing a cloud of dense but
otherwise harmless white smoke.  Immediately, everyone heard the
sound of someone coughing.  Then they saw Sawyer, who had crept
up on the group unnoticed by everyone except Gearbox, stumble
from behind the tree.  Gearbox turned back to the group.
     "For one thing, his stalking needs work."


                       *        *        *


     "Sonic," Sally said as the group at the Table broke up and
began going their separate ways, "I owe you a major apology."
     "Maybe Ah'd better make mahself scarce," Bunnie said as she
began to stand up.
     "No, Bunnie, this has to do with you.  Almost from the
moment we got here and realized that you'd been reunited with
your family I'd been afraid you were planning to stay here with
them.  Sonic was sure you wouldn't turn your back on us; I'm glad
he was right."
     "Hey, Sal, the hedgehog is ALWAYS right."
     "Truth to tell, Sally-girl, Ah almost came within a whisker
of doin' just that."
     "INCOMING!!"
     At once almost everybody scattered for cover.  Sonic and
Sally scanned the sky while Gearbox reset his sling.  Then he
raised his arm in the directiopn of something moving toward them.
     "No, don't!" Sally cried.
     In a second, the object struck a tree branch and fell to the
ground.  It was a homer.
     "It's all right," Sally called out.  She opened the hatch on
its back and withdrew a rolled up piece of paper.  "When we got
back to The Cove yesterday I sent Uncle Chuck a message telling
him what happened to us.  I also asked him to monitor any
activity at Factory Number Two.  This must be his report."  She
took a few seconds to read the message as residents of The Cove
began to gather.
     "Yo, Sal!  Good news?"
     "It's great news, Sonic!  Listen:

     I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU KIDS DID, BUT ROBOTNIK IS AS MAD AS A
HORNET.  HE'S GIVEN SNIVELY TWO DAYS TO REFIT FACTORY NUMBER TWO
TO RESUME SWATBOT PRODUCTION.  PLEASE RETURN SAFELY.

UNCLE CHUCK

     "All right!" Sonic exclaimed.
     "What does it mean?" Sawyer asked.
     "It means ol' Buttnik just got out of the chemical weapons
business!"
     "You know what it also means?" Roonie added as he placed a
paw on Sawyer's shoulder.  "It means mah little brother here
probably saved the lives of every critter on Mobius."
     "Whoa, way past cool, kid!  Guess that makes you a hero." 
     Sawyer barely had time to digest the news before he found
himself the center of attention.  Percy embraced the boy and said
he'd never felt prouder of him than he did at that moment.  While
Sawyer might have been embarrassed under any other circumstance,
he went along with it.  And that evening, it was Sawyer who was
asked to bless the meal.  At some point during the meal, Tails
handed a small sack to Sawyer.  He said that Gearbox had given it
to him to give to Sawyer, and then had walked away.  Sawyer
opened it and pulled out a silver disc with the word "VALOR" on
it.  He looked around but Gearbox was nowhere to be seen.  For
that matter, neither was Brianna.


                       *        *        *


     "I'll make the arrangements once we get back to Knothole,"
Sally said as she gathered in the center of The Cove with the
other Knothole Freedom Fighters the following morning. "Someone
from the Eastern Freedom Fighters will escort the trainees from
The Cove to their base of operations for formal training."
     "Why can't we train with you in Knothole?" Sawyer asked.
     "You're just as close to the home of the Eastern Freedom
Fighters as you are to Knothole."
     "Yeah," Sonic added, "plus you don't have to sneak through
Robotown to get there."
     "As soon as you've completed your training," Sally
continued, "you'll be escorted back here and I can begin
coordinating strategy with Gearbox."
     She looked at the hyena, who was leaning against a nearby
tree with his hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans and a
pine needle dangling from his mouth.  "Yeah, whatever," he
muttered.  Sally pitied the first Eastern Freedom Fighter who
tried telling him anything.
     "I...I guess we're about ready to go," Sally said
hesitantly.  "According to Nicole, the next southbound freight
train is scheduled to come by here soon."
     "Hey, Sal.  Where's Bunnie?"
     At that moment, Bunnie stood speechless in the hut in back
of her parents' hut.  Part of the thatched roof has been moved
away and she stood in a shaft of sunlight.  Nearby, Deirdre
swiftly and skillfully used a piece of charcoal--a simple piece
of burned wood from the fire of the previous evening--to sketch
onto a piece of paper.  She was making studies of her daughter's
robotic limbs, detailing their seams and joints and
articulations.
     Bunnie was staring at another sketch on the table in front
of her.  It was a quick charcoal study, hardly a finished work,
but the raw nature of the drawing only seemed to enhance its
power.  It was a drawing of Bunnie, down on one knee, gently
grasping a pair of hands, small child's hands, emerging from the
ground.
     "Oh, Mama," Bunnie said in a whisper, "when did y'all do
this?"
     "I got the idea early this morning," she said as she
sketched, looking up at Bunnie then glancing down at the paper. 
"I was picking up Connie and the image just came to me.  Once I
finish working out the sketch I'll start building the armature
for the clay model."
     "What do you suppose it means?"
     "You tell me."
     "Well, you said you haven't felt like drawin' anything since
you got here.  Maybe Ah've got your inspiration there."
     "Or it could be a double portrait of you...hold still, dear. 
When I made that sculpture of the two hands reaching out I
thought you were dead or as good as dead.  But by coming here
you've reopened that part of the past that I'd wanted to forget. 
The memories don't hurt any more."
     Bunnie moved the drawing off to the side and looked at the
one beneath.  "Oh, mah stars!" she exclaimed with a laugh.
     It too was a rough sketch but it was clearly a picture of
Bunnie and her father, with Bunnie lifting him up over her head. 
Each of them wore a broad smile and nothing else.
     "I thought I'd put that one next to the other picture of you
and your father when it's finished," Deirdre went on.  "Sort of a
reminder that you're not a little girl any more.  Besides, you
never know when Farm Boy will need a dose of humility."
     "Do Ah really look like that?"
     "Don't you have access to a full-length mirror in Knothole?"
     "There's only one there, and Ah cain't get to it all that
often."
     "Funny, Princess Sally doesn't seem to be that type."
     "The mirror belongs to Antoine."
     "Well, once of these days you should borrow it and stand in
front of it naked.  I meant it when I said you're turning into a
young woman.  And a beautiful one, too."
     "Thanks, Mama," Bunnie smiled.
     "Yo, Bunnie!" Sonic called out.  "We gotta juice!"
     "Looks like I got me a train to catch, Mama."
     "That's OK; I think I've made enough studies."  Deirdre put
down the charcoal and paper.  She then handed Bunnie a woven
shoulder bag containing a rolled-up piece of paper that Bunnie
had already seen.  Then she walked Bunnie to the front of the
hut.
     "Is there any chance of your being able to return here for
the winter solstice?  It would mean a lot to your father."
     "Mama!  It ain't like Ah'm goin' off to college!" she
protested good-naturedly.  Then she added, "Ah'll try."
     When they reached the front of the hut, there was a good-
     sized crowd there: not only the Knothole Freedom Fighters, but
also all of Bunnie's family.  Bunnie took her time hugging and
kissing each one of them and saying her good-byes.  Finally, she
and her father embraced the way they had when they had first seen
each other five days ago.
     "Roonie was right," Percy said through his tears, "your
being here has just been a dang miracle."
     "Ah love you, Daddy."
     "Ah love you too, Bunnie-honey."
     They held to each other a moment longer, then let go.  As
Bunnie dried her eyes, Gearbox slung his arm-sling on his back
and turned to Sawyer.  "OK, kid, take the point."
     "You got it!"  And Sawyer began leading the group back
toward the railroad tracks as Bunnie looked back and waved to
everyone.
     They walked on in silence until they approached the ridge in
the forest closest to the rail line.  Sally then stopped and
slipped her pack from her back, tossing it to Sonic.
     "You go on ahead.  There's something I want to say to
Gearbox in private."
     "Sal," Sonic began, "don't you...."
     "Now, Sonic!"
     "OK, OK!"  Sally waited until everyone was lost from sight. 
Then she turned to Gearbox, who was leaning insolently against a
nearby tree, his arms crossed in front of him.
     "Let's get something straight, Gearbox.  Even if Robotnik
were to disappear tomorrow, there's still a lot of work that has
to be done in order to heal Mobius."
     "Yeah, so?"
     "So I just want you to know that trying to keep track of a
deserter from a war that ended over ten years ago doesn't even
begin to make the short list of things I have to do.  You're just
not as important to me as you are to everyone in The Cove,
especially to your fellow Freedom Fighters.  If I need you, I'll
know where to find you."  She turned to walk away.
     "Maybe."
     She turned back and looked at Gearbox.
     "Hey, suppose I decide to haul ass once your back is
turned?"
     Sally smiled and shook her head.  "You have your reasons for
staying.  And one of them is on the other side of that ridge with
the sister he didn't know he had until a few days ago.  Good
luck, Gearbox."  Once again she turned to join the others.
     "Hey, Princess!'
     Sally was starting to get exasperated.  She stopped and
turned back toward Gearbox.
     The hyena continued to lean against the tree for a couple of
seconds.  Then he stepped away from it, stood up straight, and
raised his right arm in a parade-ground perfect salute.  Taken
aback for a moment, Sally returned the salute.  Then Gearbox
smiled, and it was a smile that showed not the slightest hint of
malice.
     As Sally joined the others, Sonic was using her rangefinder
to look for the approaching train while Bunnie spoke with Sawyer.
     "You look after Mama and Daddy and the babies for me,
y'hear?" Bunnie said to Sawyer.
     "Yeah, whatever," he said awkwardly.  
     There were a few seconds of silence between them, then
Bunnie stepped toward Sawyer, who immediately backed away. 
"Hey!" he protested, "No mushy stuff!"
     "Well, how the hoo-ha am Ah supposed to....?"
     In response, Sawyer simply held out his closed fist and
smiled.  Bunnie smiled too and, with a mixture of sadness and
pride, exchanged the Freedom Fighter handshake with her little
brother.  And when they hooked each other's little fingers, they
held it for a few seconds longer than usual.  Sawyer beamed at
her, and didn't even mind when she reached over to good-naturedly
muss up his headfur.
     "All RIGHT!" Sonic suddenly blurted out.  "We're goin' home
in style!"
     "What is it, Sonic?"
     "Check it out, Sal.  Third car from the end."
     Sally looked through the rangefinder at the freight train as
it snaked its way through the hills several miles away.  It took
several seconds for her to realize what Sonic was talking about.
     "Oh, my gosh!  There's a hover unit on that flatcar!"
     "That is sounding much better than riding in another boxing
car," Antoine added.
     Everyone ducked for cover behind the trees at the edge of
the railroad tracks, while Sawyer and Gearbox retreated deeper
into the forest but kept on the alert just in case.  A few
minutes later, the massive engine made its agonizingly slow
progress around the bend, its wheels giving off a metallic shriek
that sent a flock of small birds flying into the air in alarm. 
As the freight cars moved past the Freedom Fighters, Sally
watched for the approach of the flatcar, then waved everyone
forward.
     It went off without a hitch.  Tails flew up and onto the
flatcar while Sonic matched his speed to it and pulled himself
up.  Then they helped their comrades aboard, each in turn.
     Immediately, Rotor popped open the access plate on the side
of the unit.  He then began working on the manual lock until the
door opened.  Just as everyone was inside, they felt the jolt of
the train beginning to pick up speed.  Sonic and Tails sat in the
two front seats while the others arranged themselves on the
benches that lined the walls in the back.
     "Man," Rotor said, "we ought to mess this crate up good!"
     "No way," Sally replied.  "Robotnik can't know that this is
how we came in.  If he did, he'd increase his surveillance of the
rail lines.  When we leave, make sure everything was as you found
it."
     "Yeah, I guess you're right."
     Sally looked at Bunnie who was seated next to her.  She was
holding a piece of paper in her paws, with the two side rolled
toward the center like a scroll.  She could see that in the
center was a drawing of Bunnie flanked on either side by her
parents, their arms around her.
     "Bunnie," she said softly, "I didn't get the chance to say
this, but you've got a wonderful family."
     "Ah know," Bunnie replied, "and thanks for bein' part of
it."
     "What?"
     In reply, Bunnie unrolled the picture to its full length. 
To Sally's surprise, it was a portrait of Bunnie's entire family. 
And standing among her brothers and sisters were Sonic, Sally,
and the other Knothole Freedom Fighters.
     "Won't be long now, T2," Sonic said as he sat back in his
seat, put his hands behind his head and propped his sneakers up
on the control console.  "We'll be back in Knothole before you
know it."
     Tails didn't say anything.  Instead he looked out the
forward windshield as if lost in thought.
     "Something on your mind, big guy?" Sonic asked.
     "Sonic, what does 'yiff' mean?"


                             THE END