Sandstorm didn’t know what waking up felt like, the separation between standby and power up was so abrupt and focused that she couldn’t equate it to the memories she shared with Ebonee of her life. Ebonee had never been a morning person, so the groggy and barely functional mess of a girl who woke up tangled up in her sheets every morning was her only datapoint.
But as her power cells cycled up out of standby she identified a potential datapoint for her version of a groggy wake up. Her limbs weren’t responding, her optics had lost all of their sensors, save for the visual spectrum, and over half her built In systems were reporting errors or had been disabled or removed all together. This worried her. But the fact that she’d been powered back up was interesting.
Her audio sensors came back online, and her ears flicked, the soft and low sound of a steady heartbeat. A Mobian was alive nearby, and she strained to turn her head, though the servos in her neck refused to budge. “Identify yourself,” she said as she ran a system’s diagnostic. The room she was in was dimly lit, a blank grey concrete wall directly ahead of her.
"You're not really in a position to be Demanding anything, Unit EF-25," A cold and aged Male voice answered her. She paused, his voice held some synthetic tones, but was overall Organic. "Hell, If I had my way, we'd be Scrapping you for spare parts, but, you did something We've never seen from a High Level Robian like you, so Command wants you debriefed before we decide what to do with you." He said, keeping himself out of her visual field.
She processed the words and considered her situation. The rebellion was holding her, and her chassis had been partially disabled. Her diagnostics came back with no serious damage, though they were only able to Report on Her AI Core, Visual, and auditory sensors. "I Understand," she said quietly, concern whelming up in her core from the odd silence coming from the Partition Ebonee's patterns were held in. "I will Attempt to...comply with your questioning." She added as she felt her torso being rotated into an upright position.
A red fox stood across the room from her, his fur a deep blood red, his eyes a piercing and cold blue. He was dressed in a pair of black trousers, with a dark brown long coat draped over his shoulders, his arms folded across his chest. "First things first, EF-25..."
"Please, call me Sandstorm," She interrupted.
Caught off guard He sputtered on his words and shook his head in an attempt to regain his composure. "Sandstorm then, tell me what Made you surrender to us in the field? Why Would You, a Machine who’s been nothing but Loyal to Eggman since you first showed up on the scene, Why would you Suddenly Turn on him, or put yourself in a position where you have to turn on him? What happened in the Town?"
"I made a choice, not to kill a child," She responded Cautiously, wondering if she should Mention Ebonee, Mention any of the internal Dialogue she’d had while in standby. With A flicker of what she Believed was Anxiety she added. “I…was Moved into…inaction by a Submind AI of My original Host template.” She said cautiously her optics narrowing with how Ridiculous her explanation sounded to her own logic processors.
The Fox Flinched and recoiled back with a look of abject horror on his face. “Wait…They’re still in there? Still…able to think or are they a lobotomized husk of their former self?” he sputtered, his bravado shattered by the revelation he’d just heard.
“She is still able to think, and at the moment, that’s it. However, I did intend to attempt to make her existence more bearable and entertaining, should I survive this interrogation.” Sandstorm Replied quietly. “I…believe you have disconnected her AI Core, as I am unable to make contact with her at this time.”
“that other Core? That’s her?” the fox said slowly, his composure slowly returning after the initial shock. “Yeah…we removed it from the Main Processing grid, we figured it was some kind of weapon Control system.”
"Not...Exactly," Sandstorm said slowly. “While her Core is primarily an Artificial Intelligence, Her Neurological Imprint serves as the activation key for My Geokinetic Weaponry.”
“why?”
“The source of those abilities stem From The Host Templates Organic Geokinetic powers, While Doctor Robotnik is a Brilliant scientist, he lacks a Full understanding of Mobian Powers, and created the Submind Project as an attempt to cheat the R&D process.”
The Fox considered her for a moment. "So what happens if we Re-integrate the core with you?"
“She would be brought back online, and, after some minor modification to some routines, she’d be able to speak to you,” Sandstorm said with a hint of eagerness seeping into her voice.
"I see,” He said quietly as he looked her over. “are you connected at all to Eggmans battlenet right now? Are you able to pull down Strategic movements or unit positions?”
She paused, reaching out into the ether, or rather, attempting to, as Several errors ran from her disconnected Communications Package. “Without My Communications systems operational, no, at best I can offer you data from before my capture.”
“and if we hook that back up, and all this is just bullshit, you’ll just call for help,” he grumbled quietly as he rubbed his chin. “Giving us away and bringing the hammer down on our base.” He sighed. “So, Intel wise you’re a risk, we either get outdated information, Or we risk The Egg armada glassing this place into a mile deep crater.”
“It is a Risk, but I might also serve as a valuable asset for the Resistance, as a Field operative.” She offered softly.
“Right, and I’m best friends with Commander Sonic,” The fox laughed. “No, you’re probably never going to be trusted to do anything but sit on a shelf as a science experiment, if not just scrapped for parts.
“you’re missing the point, we can’t trust you, you’re a Robian, at your core you’re going to be loyal to Eggman.” The fox snapped before shaking his head with a bit of regret. “no, You’re the most dangerous type of prisoner we could possibly have.”
Sandstorm fell silently, searching for an option that would let her, and Ebonee, continue to function. “What if…. you put a Failsafe inside of me?” She offered quietly. “A thermal charge or a high explosive device to detonate if I do anything to compromise or harm the Resistance?”
"And what makes you think we haven't already?" the fox retorted.
Sandstorm was silent, the words catching her off guard. "I...am uncertain." She finally said after a moment. “But if you have, I Will make no effort to disarm it,” she paused before adding. “I want to survive, I want to …persist, for her sake.”
“For who’s sake? The Kids?”
Sandstorm considered how to respond to his question, weighing how her words should come, weighing how Logical they were. This threw her for a loop. Because this wasn’t a matter of logic any more. It was something she couldn’t define readily. “….no…I don’t care about her… My template though, she is everything to me.”
"Yes, I ...value her, and a desire for her continued survival," Sandstorm answered, voice wavering as she spoke.
“I’m…” He paused then shook his head. “I Don’t know how to respond to that…so I’m not even going to try to.” He said his own voice shaking with uncertainty. He slowly turned away from her and rubbed at his chin. “This this interrogation is over; I need to go report to my superiors!” he said as he quickly made his way towards the door.
“Wait…please!” Sandstorm called out. “Please…reconnect the other core…please…” she begged quietly. “I’m worried that prolonged loss of power could negatively impact her cognitive functions." she paused and then added softly. "I'm begging you...please don't punish her to harm me."
He was silent, standing in the doorway, his hand resting against the frame.
"Please...she didn't ask for any of this...it's my fault...not hers."
He was silent for a long moment, and then shook his head. "I swear if this is some sort of trick to...activate a weapon, I'll....I'll have you plugged in to run the Sewage processing system in some dump hole of a city!” he snapped as he took a few steps closer to her and with some hesitation, began to attach things within her partially disassembled chassis. She was almost afraid he’d damage the precious core that Held Ebonee, before with a soft whine of powering electronics powering up reached her eyes.
“Systems o…online...” she said her voice hiccupping with uncertainty, before a status display flashed over her HUD. “Ebonee…. are you there?” she asked desperation seeping into her voice.
“Sandstorm?” the exhausted, weak and tired voice of Ebonee answered. “W…we’re…not dead?”
“No, but I don’t believe we’re safe yet,”
"I'm...going to try and talk to My superiors," the Fox said as he moved to stand in front of her. "You were telling the truth." he muttered and rubbed the back of his head. "Look...just....be patient..."He winced and walked past her; the metallic clang of a door slamming shut as he left the Cell Echoing through the room.
“Is, that a good sign?” Ebonee asked, her voice still groggy, Giving Sandstorm the vague recollection of when the Fennec had been hungover before…before She’d been roboticized. “Or…we totally Screwed.”
“I…I genuinely don’t know,” Sandstorm admitted. “This is all a…unprecedented, I’m not sure what they’ll do with us.”
Ebonee was silent, a few moments passing, before she spoke again.
"How did you convince them not to scrap us?"
Sandstorm sighed quietly. "I did not...convince them of anything, he was...unsure, what to do with us."
"But we're still alive," Ebonee pointed out.
"I... Believe that the nature of our relationship…our existence is…so unique that when I explained it to him, He had no protocol for how to handle us.”
“So… I might…we might…survive?” Ebonee asked, her voice starting to sound more eager and energetic.
“I do not know, but I will choose to be optimistic for your sake, my heart,” Sandstorm said with a gentle and affectionate inflection to her voice.
Ebonee was quiet for a moment. “W…what did you call me?” she asked with a cute giggle.
“I Called you My Heart,” Sandstorm said with embarrassment trickling into her voice. “Because you’re…my…” she paused and huffed. “Well…The Logic of it is…you were the Heart of my being when I was created…and I hold you very dear to me.”
“that’s adorable…I like it…guess that means I need to come up with a cute name for you,” Ebonee said cheerfully. “If you get me that HUD thing we talked about in the simulation.”
"I have been Programming it since they powered me up," Sandstorm responded. "It’s not ready yet...but I'm confident I’ll have it Ready soon."
"Oh...Okay, I'll wait then," Ebonee said.
Sandstorm was silent for a long moment, and then with a bright cheerful tone in her voice. "Thank you,"
"You're Welcome, My Steel Sweet Heart."
