Okay. This is the first. Hopefully there will be more. All disclaimers apply. **** ["New Hymn" James Taylor] We open to see Snively the Great sitting in Robotnik's console in Robotropolis, plotting the destruction of the Freedom Fighters... [Source of all we hope or dread Sheepdog, jackal, rattler, swan] Abruptly, the door bursts open and a horde of roboticized Mobians comes clanking in, bloodlust in their glowing red eyes. Snively screams a command and points to the door, but they don't obey him. He tries again, and still, they keep coming. He turns and runs... [We hunt your face and long to trust That your hid mouth will say again:] To run into another horde, coming the other way. He drops to his knees and sobs as the robots close in... ["Let there be light!"] With a scream of terror, he wakes up. In the Imperial bedchamber. In a cold sweat. [A clear new day...] The murky light from the grime-covered window makes a few odd patterns on his face, as his chest rises and falls unnaturally rapidly. It was just a dream... [But when we thirst in this dry night] He goes to the closet to get his "Great Lord Snively" getup, throws it on a bit half-heartedly, and takes a look in the mirror... and gasps. [We drink from hot wells, Poisoned with the blood of children] Staring back at him, over his shoulders, are hundreds upon thousands of roboticized Mobians, dripping with blood, eyes glowing red, reaching toward him. He screams and spins around... but no one is there. [And when we strain to hear a steady homing beam] He walks down the hall to the command center, trembling a bit, and opens the door, looking carefully around the place to make sure his dream doesn't become real. [Our ears are balked by stifled moans And howls of desolation from the throats of sisters, brothers...] Relieved that no one is there, he turns to have a look at the monitors, and gasps. All of them are showing roboticizations... even though there have been no new ones. He takes a good look at the figures inside the chambers, and gasps... Uncle Julian couldn't have raided his hometown... [Wild men... clawing at the gates for bread...] A roster appears on screen, and Snively smiles. All his old friends are safe. Uncle Julian kept his promise. But, one by one, the pictures on the screen vanish, to be replaced with robot faces. Snively lets out a scream of rage and smashes one of the bank of monitors, and they all go dead. They were never on to begin with... and Snively shudders and collapses. [Even our own feeble hands Aim to seize the crown you wear] He lies there, on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Abruptly, his tears stop, and he gets up, resolve in his eyes. [And work our private havoc through The known and unknown lands of space] He walks over to the main computer and calls up Robotnik's files. All the factories he's built, all the weapons, all the schematics, all the evil plans... everything is now occupying the large central screen. [Absolute in flame beyond us Seed and source of Dark and Day] And, one by one, the files disappear as Snively clicks away at the keyboard. When they are all gone, Snively reaches over to a slot and grabs the CD-style disc which has just emerged. He slips it into the folds of his cloak. [Maker whom we beg to be...] Cut to a shot of the Imperial bedchamber. There is a backpack on the bed, into which Snively throws a blaster and a few changes of clothes... not uniforms, the clothes he wore under Robotnik. [Our mother, father, comrade, mate...] Snively pulls a photograph from the bottom drawer of the bureau... and the camera zooms in to reveal a well-weathered picture, creased and folded. We can make out Snively's face, and the faces which were on the bank of monitors earlier... it's a group shot of some kind. A tear splashes onto the photo. [Til our few atoms blow to dust] Cut to a shot of the Robotropolis hangar. A solitary hover unit takes off, and blasts through the open doors. They slowly close. [Or form again in wiser lives] Snively's Imperial uniform flutters slowly to the hangar floor, settling in a rather inelegant heap. [Or find your face and hear our name] Cut to a shot of a hover unit, slashing through the brush of the Great Forest. [In your calm voice the end of night] Cut to inside the hover unit's cabin. Snively's there, dressed in his old clothes. "Auto Pilot" is flashing on the console, and he's rooting through the backpack, trying to find something. [If dark may end...] He finds it. A picture of him and his Uncle Julian, in the uniform of the Ministry of War. He tears it in two, looking sadly at the half with Uncle Julian before crumpling it up and tossing it aside. [Wellspring gold of Dark and Day...] Cut to a shot of Knothole village. A hover unit comes flying from the forest and settles down in the square, kicking up a cloud of dust. The Freedom Fighters gather around it, and Sally glances at Rotor, who shrugs and shakes his head. [Be here...] The unit's reflective canopy hisses open, and a collective gasp comes from the assembled crowd as Snively steps out onto the ground. Sonic starts to say something, but Sally places a hand on his shoulder, and he looks at her quizzically. [Be now...] Snively walks to Sally, and drops to one knee before her, head bowed low. After a moment, his head slowly lifts. His eyes are wet with tears. Fade to black. **** Comments and criticism are welcome. And encouraged. --Glazius Falconar, Scripter and Seeker of Knowledge in All Dimensions (Powered by the mind of Paul Arezina)