His most basic mushroom machine started off the day, raising the shutters of his rotted mushroom palace and letting the eerie red light of this world’s sun once again assault his eyeballs. He’d been up all night again. There was no escape from this fungi-infested place but into his own mind.

“X squared times the hypotenuse of Y squared, divided by the absolute value of Z to the third power . . . ,” Robotnik mumbled as the room filled with warm light. His eyes were bloodshot and unblinking. “Equals ZY squared!”

“See, Agent Stone?” He whipped around and taunted the rock—his only companion. “Told ya I could solve cold fusion in my sleep! Now rise and shine! Another dawn breaks on our celestial purgatory.”

-Chapter 2