Disclaimer: Transformers are copyright to Hasbro/Takara. The characters within are mine.
Life in a cabin far up in the Norwegian mountains, quite some distance from any populated areas, was rather quiet. Almost too quiet at times. After weeks of living with no other company than a pair of dogs. With only a cellphone that could hardly get a signal half of the time for communication with the outside world.
Still Anette had decided, she was lucky that she had friends who had let her use the place till autumn at least. Beat being back in Oslo after she had lost the apartment at least. Up in the mountains she could forget about her own stupidity for a while at least. Getting that overly big loan, and then 'forgetting' to pay the bills.
Couldn't blame anyone but herself though.
It was kind of nice though, having the opportunity to go for long walks whenever she wanted to. Great for her health, even if she had to put up with a pair of idiot dogs who seemed to have made it into their lives purpose to run as far and fast as they could. Collapsing into panting heaps that she nearly had to carry back to the cabin.
"Dumb dog," Anette muttered with a grin. Then, reaching down, she gave Suzie's head a light pat. Sneezing, the boxer turned her head to join Fant in staring at some bird flitting about nearby. Though obviously tempted to chase after it, the mutt remained where he was. It was starting to rain heavily, and even the dogs weren't that interested in leaving their makeshift shelter.
It was starting to get dark though, so they would probably have to go whether they wanted to or not. The less Anette had to navigate her way back to the cabin in darkness, the better. She had learned from experience that there way plenty of rocks, roots and other things to stumble over in the dark. Though she had been lucky so far, however uncomfortable, bruises were far preferable over broken bones.
As she sat there though, temporarily lost in her own thoughts, it took some time before Anette became aware of the distant rumbling. But soon it grew too loud to ignore, and she found herself standing up, looking about for its source.
Her first thought was that it might be thunder, or a passenger plane flying over the area. That happened several times a day after all. Still, it sounded rather different, growing in volume as well. Something that caused both dogs to move about, slightly nervous.
Without warning, something burst through the clouds, lighting up the dark underside. And a moment later, it was joined by a second, both plummeting towards the ground at a shallow angle. Big, surrounded by fire, "meteors" was the first thought that came to Anette's mind.
Then they both impacted with the ground, perhaps a kilometer or so away. Hard to say up in the mountains though, and when it was starting to get as dark as it did.
Not certain if she dared believe her eyes, Anette stared. Then, talking quietly to the dogs in an attempt to calm them, she slowly walked out into the rain. And with the fires left by the meteors as something of a beacon, she started out towards the impact site.
It didn't take long at all before Anette started to regret her curiosity. Despite of her rain gear, she was just about soaked to her skin, after stumbling over something and taking a plunge into a marshy puddle of water. Having a pair of unhappy dogs who seemed bent on tripping her, wasn't exactly helping either.
So after covering perhaps half of the distance, which took her nearly half an hour, she came to a stop. And sighing, she looked towards the impact site. There was still hint of flames over there, though the rain had put out most of it.
"Fine!" she muttered at another whine from one of the dogs. In the dark, she wasn't sure about which one. "C'mon you wimps, we're going back to the cabin. And stop milling around my feet, will you?!"
Of-course, the idea of going back to a warm cabin was tempting. Being in a bad mood however, she needed someone to put the blame on, so it could just as well be the dogs. Whistling to get their attention, she managed a slight grin. At least they didn't care as long as they were fed and treated well.
Even if it was a bit annoying, giving up, there was always the opportunity to return to the place tomorrow. A cup of something hot to drink, and some food, seemed awfully tempting now.
Tired, and concentrating more on getting back home, she didn't really notice anything around her. Not through the sound of the rain at least. So it wasn't until she just about walked into the dogs, who had come to a sudden stop, that she realized that something wasn't right. The low growling from both of the canines didn't help either.
Looking up, she suddenly felt her eyes widen in a feeling of quickly growing anxiousness and surprise.
At first, all she saw was a pair of almost painfully bright points of blue light. Then, within the next few moments, she began to realize that they belonged to a large, angular shape. Rather difficult to see against the dark terrain. Even worse, it was moving, oddly mechanic sounds coming from it. That was followed by a burst of what sounded almost like electronic noise. Shifting, it slowly sat down on its..knees?
Another series of noise reached Anette's ears, though this time it seemed to be addressed to a slightly smaller form moving up towards them. The reply from the smaller one, was short, sounding rather sharper to her ears. Were they actually talking to each other?
Staring, Anette felt frozen, momentarily unable to move though most of her senses shouted that she ought to retreat. The dogs however, suffered from nothing like that, barking like mad at the two creatures from some distance behind.
8888
Falling from the thick cover of clouds above, the rain caused a slight static in the vision of the two autobots standing by the crater left by the atmospheric entry form of one of them. Nothing that prevented either of them to scan their surroundings for as far as they could see however. Mountainous, the undulating terrain was fairly empty, the only life there being mostly ground-hugging plants and a few small animals.
With the exception of three larger lifeforms. One clearly bipedal, the other two moving about on four legs, the occasional burst of speed suggesting that they were considerably faster than the first.
"Their size suggest that they may be among the more advanced lifeforms on this planet. Judging from physiology though, I'm guessing that the bipedal one might be of the race behind the cities we noticed on approach."
Tilting his head slightly, blinking as a bit too much water accumulated around his optics, Stream glanced over at his companion. It had been on her insistence that they landed here, in such remote area. Well away from any of the signs of civilization that the sensors of their small ship had been able to detect.
Despite of that though, they seemed to have ended up in proximity of what was possibly the dominant race of the planet. Hard to say though, whether a lifeform was fully sapient or not by just scanning from a distance though. Nor had the message from Optimus Prime contained much detailed information about the locals of this world.
"Intelligent or not, they are coming this way. Noticed our descent, no doubt," Firedrake said. Shifting slightly, she was clearly making a bit of an effort to hold back her annoyance at the turn things had taken. Arm canon starting to deploy before it folded back into her arm with a series of loud clicks.
"Too far away to see us yet though, I believe. Not that I'm an expert on these lifeforms exactly, but it doesn't seem like that from their movements." Curiosity building, Stream continued watching the natives for a few more minutes. Then he started forwards, a sigh from Firedrake making it clear that she had been expecting just that.
It didn't take long before she moved up beside him however, muttering something that he didn't quite catch. "Just a quick look, just like every damned time you spot something that catches your interest. Rocks and green growing things, fine, but higher lifeforms does have a tendency to be jumpy. At least none of them seems to be armed this time."
Communicating a pulse of humor, Stream made his way across the ground as quietly as he could. The uneven terrain being far less of a problem to him than the much smaller native.
"That was once, over a century ago. Allowed to make mistakes, aren't I?"
"Certainly, the next time something tries to gnaw your arm off, I'll remember that. Scientists..," Firedrake muttered.
"How was I to know that they could combine into a larger lifeform like that?" A sound not unlike a chuckle came from Stream as he continued moving towards the trio of natives. In weather such as this, in particular, it seemed like their optics and other sensors weren't particularly keen. At least they kept acting as they hadn't noticed his approach.
For a while, he simply observed them, as the three lifeforms continued their advance towards the craters. The bipedal one wasn't the most surefooted either, once taking a tumble that made Stream wince. Still, he listened attentively to the sounds made by each of them. Linking up to the planetary computer network, he was also able to determine that the biped's species had to be the dominant native one.
At least her vocalizations seemed to match up with the language most commonly used in the local network. Shortly after however, the biped..or human, came to a stop. Talking to the canines accompanying her, she uttered the decision to head back to her dwelling.
Still, though the human changed course slightly, it was obvious that she would pass very closely to Stream's current location. Remaining where he was, the mech watched, ignoring Firedrake's obviously growing impatience. Though she didn't say anything, they had traveled in each other's company long enough for him to tell it from her movements.
"Those two canines are going to notice you shortly, we ought to go," she finally said. "Letting a human see us is likely to make things unnecessarily complicated."
Stream tilted his head slightly, but remained in place. "Until we can get in contact with Optimus though, having a local helping us may prove useful," he said. Just then the growling of the two canines reached his audio receptors, making it clear that they had finally noticed him.
"I'll make an attempt at least," he added a moment later. Slowly sitting down, hoping to appear less imposing, he turned his attention back to the human. Firedrake's reply of; "you're going to scare the slag out of it", reaching him shortly after.
Though the data on these humans was still rather incomplete, the connection being rather unreliable, its first reaction wasn't particularly promising. Widening eyes, the way its body suddenly stiffened, seemed to be indicating wariness, perhaps even fear. On the other hand, the canines quickly retreated for a distance, their sharp vocalizations echoing outwards.
Accessing the data available on what he was quite sure was the local language, Stream spent a few moments analyzing it closely. Well, hopefully he had it right...
"I apologize for scaring you, showing up like this. None of us intends you any harm," he began. Pausing, he then moved back a few steps, hoping that giving the human a bit more room might help her calm down. Though, the human's next action, of bending down to pick up a rock, didn't seem too promising. But at least she didn't throw it, yet.
"Look, this probably came rather suddenly on you, I completely understand that you may not feel like trusting us. If you can give us some of your time to listen though, I'll try to explain."
Muttering something under her breath, Firedrake moved to stand beside him. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Our designations, names, are Firedrake and Stream. Looking for others of our kind, who are supposed to be somewhere on this planet. Stream here, insisted that we asked for your aid," she said.
The human's mouth opened, then closed again, before she finally managed to say anything. "Ah...you can talk? You would like me to help you?"
Stream nodded, hoping that Firedrake's more direct way of handling things wouldn't traumatize the human. "While we have managed to learn something of you and your culture through what you call the Internet. There is an advantage in having a human around to advice us, something of a guide."