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It was a cold day on Svalbard, par for the course for the northernmost island in the world. Polar night had descended on the Arctic Circle and the whole landscape was bathed in scant light from the moon; Stone would have found it beautiful if he wasn’t currently freezing. His boss seemed not to feel it as he put the finishing touches on his latest prototype with only his control gloves to shield his hands from the bitter wind.
“I understand the need for secrecy, but couldn’t they at least have sent us at a time of year when the sun is shining?” Stone wondered aloud, by now comfortable enough to share his thoughts with the doctor.
“The United States government waits for no astronomical movement, Stone,” Robotnik replied as he hopped into the cockpit of the snowmobile-esque machine. “Final checks complete?” Stone nodded, glancing over the exterior of the machine once more for good measure before climbing in beside the doctor. “Damn good way to get rid of me,” Robotnik mused, “sending me to a remote Arctic island to test an unstable prototype in the dark of winter. The polar bears would find me before any search party.”
“You really know how to rattle my nerves, sir,” Stone chuckled nervously. Robotnik flapped a hand dismissively and lowered the windshield over the cockpit.
“You have no nerves left to rattle; I’ve made sure of that.” Stone simply shut his mouth, drawing upon years of experience with the doctor and neglecting to argue the point further. Robotnik turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life beneath them. Stone buckled himself into the safety harness and tried to relax as best as he could.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Robotnik quipped before opening up the throttle and hitting the gas. The machine lurched forward, the treads eagerly ripping up the fresh snow in front of them. They slowed, then picked up the pace again, this time more evenly. “A little touchy!” Robotnik shouted over the noise of the engine. Stone wrote it down on his notepad. They travelled in silence a little ways, just long enough for Stone to start to relax a little and enjoy the scenery speeding by. If he had been paying closer attention, he might have noticed a wicked grin spreading on Robotnik’s face as he steered toward the edge of the plateau they had been driving on. “Time for a little downhill action!”
Before Stone’s stomach even had time to drop they were over the edge, plummeting almost straight down the powdery slope. He grabbed his harness tightly, every muscle clenched. Robotnik’s eyes were electric as he urged the machine downward, although their direction or velocity wasn’t much up to him anymore. They hurtled past a few scraggly pines as Robotnik expertly steered in between them.
“I don’t think you can call me a speed junkie anymore, sir!” Stone shouted over the roar of the wind rushing past them. Robotnik’s grin only deepened and threatened to split the sides of his face. Just as Stone was sure they were about to hit the bottom of the hill at terminal velocity, Robotnik pulled up and applied the brakes to slow their descent just enough to gracefully account for the sharp change in angle. He whipped the craft around in a neat semicircle and brought it to face the cliff they had just sped down.
“On second thought, I might have to keep this one,” Robotnik admitted, breathing a little hard. “If any army grunt drove it like this I might have to kill them.”
“I’m sure they’d kill themselves if they tried to drive it like you,” Stone replied, a little out of breath himself, partly due to the adrenaline, partly due to the way Robotnik’s neatly coiffed hair had blown back from the G-force. He couldn’t help but notice the red mark from where Robotnik had bitten his lip during their descent. “A question though, if I may.” Robotnik cocked an eyebrow. “Can it go uphill again?”
“You’re no fun, agent.”