Cream was feeling very scared.

The young rabbit's mother had been kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, and though they had said not to, she had followed Sonic and Tails as they went to try and rescue Vanilla. The other two hadn't even noticed her as she managed to get into the base, and through blind luck and the distraction caused by the blue hedgehog and twin-tailed fox, she and Cheese had found their way deep inside without any problems except disliking the alarm sirens.

Until now. She'd found a huge metal box, with pipes and wires running out of it. There was a small door with an even smaller glass window on it attached to this box. No alarms were going off here, and apart from Cheese, only Cream was in here. Nervously, she approached the window and looked inside.

"Mom!" She cried out, but her mother was asleep.

Lying on a metal table inside the strange cell, the mother rabbit didn't stir even as her daughter pounded on the glass. Cream then looked around the room, trying to find some way to open it. There was a small handle on the door, and she tried to yank it open. However, it was locked.

She saw a control room, and ran up the stairs. Inside, there were all sorts of screens with strange numbers and symbols on them, but there was also a control panel. There were a huge array of buttons, a speaker, a small camera lens, but she noticed one button was marked "release". Naturally, she pressed it.

"Invalid command: Release requires following process: Activate main power, User Identification, Run Main Program. Specimen can then be released." An electronic voice commanded from the control panel.

'Do I wait for Sonic and Tails? They'll be mad I came though! And I don't even know if my Mom is okay!' The rabbit fretted.  

"Okay... What do I do?" Cream asked herself.

"Invalid voice command. For user help, state "User Help" clearly into the microphone." The speaker said again.

"...User help?"

"Invalid voice command. For user help, state "User Help" clearly into the microphone." The speaker repeated, unable to hear her. Cream leaned in closer and repeated herself also.

"Main power activation is carried out via the red button on the left of the console. User Identification instructions will be provided at the relevant stage. Main Program activation can commence via the green button in the centre console."

'Wow, Eggman can't be that smart after all, he's got to have his computers give him instructions a kid can understand!' Cream thought to herself as she activated the main power.

"Hang on, Mom, this won't take long."

"Power Activated. Please enter user ID, or press the blue button to register a new user."

Cream pressed the blue button.

"Please place finger on the white panel. Remove gloves, and press fingerprint into panel." The machine instructed, and a white panel lit up. Cream did so, and squealed as a small needle quickly jabbed her. She yanked it away and began sucking on her sore finger reflexively.

"DNA and fingerprint sample confirmed. Please place eyes in front of camera." The panel ordered.

'What if it jabs something into my eyes?' Cream worried, but shook her head.

'No, I have to help Mom!' She resolved.

She leaned down, then paused.

'What if this is the wrong thing to do? Maybe I'd be better waiting for Tails or someone...'

Suddenly, the alarms in this room went off. Cream yelped and looked around for anything coming.

"I have to do this now!" She said to herself, looking into the camera.

"Eye data confirmed. Enter user name via keypad."

Cream typed her name in quickly.

"Awaiting commands, Crem." The panel announced. Cream stared at the speaker.

"Uh... Can I retype my name?" She asked.

"Invalid voice command. For user help, state "User Help" clearly into the microphone."

Cream ignored this and remembered the instructions. The green button, then the release button would work.

"Program activating. Stand by." The panel said. At that, the box began to rumble, with some of the screens around Cream in the control room changing the pictures displayed.

She looked at them more closely. On one, there was an icon of a shape. A shape like a person. It was labelled "Subject X01" and had a status bar. This bar was red and rising from four percent and going up.

Cream suddenly realised what the box was, and what she had really done.

"Cancel! Stop it!" She screamed, hitting all the buttons.

"Invalid voice command. For user help, state "User Help" clearly into the microphone. Invalid panel commands. No commands can be entered during program execution."

"User help! User help!"

""Invalid voice command. Vocal volume is too high. Please lower voice."

"User help!" She sobbed, but the machine before her registered another error.

She looked at the screen. Twenty-Five percent.

"Please stop, I didn't want to make it do this!"  

She pressed the release button repeatedly.

"Invalid command, subject can only be released once main program has completed." The panel said in response to every press.

"I don't want you to do whatever it is you're doing!"

The computer repeated the voice command error.

Forty percent.

Cream rushed away from the non-responsive computer, heading down to the glass panel. She looked inside, and saw nothing: Only smoke and a bright glow.  She yanked the handle again fruitlessly.

'Please be okay Mom, this is just one of Eggman's stupid machines that never works!' Cream lied to herself as she ran back to the control room, where again, the computer yielded no results until it simply said:

"Program complete. Press Release button."

Cream whacked that hated button and rushed down. The door opened, and smoke drifted out.

"...Mom?" Cream asked hesitantly. She then froze in horror as a steel shape emerged.

"Master created unit V4N1LL4-X01 for domestic applications. How may this unit serve you?"

Clanking forth, encased in steel and circuits, it was no longer her mother.