Have I been blind
Have I been lost
Inside myself and
My own mind
Hypnotized
Mesmerized
By what my eyes have found?
- 'Carnival' by Natalie Merchant
*****
PROLOGUE
A lone figure sat upon the edge of the cliff, overlooking the landscape below. At first glance you could tell he was not of this world, and yet somehow you felt he belonged here. That he was part of all that happened on this planet.
There he sat, teetering on the edge, his legs dangling over into the vast nothingness. But he was not afraid. He had so little fear to show why waste it on something as petty as falling? The sweet summer wind whispered through his snowy hair as he sat there and thought.
His mischievous blue eyes were fixed upon some small object below. He studied it for a moment, there was a sudden twinkle in those eyes.
"I think," he said to no one in particular, "things are a little too quiet around here."
A childish grin spread across his face. "Perhaps I should stir things up at bit?"
The mysterious figure stood up, the twinkle in his eyes was now a soft blue glow. "The sisters had their turn, and now it's mine...."
*****
"Well?" Rattrap tapped his foot impatiently.
"Still nothing," Rhinox sighed. "The computer isn't picking up a single stasis pod."
"Oh man!" Rattrap slumped down in his chair. "The long range scanners ain't doing squat! How in the Inferno are we suppose to find all them pods?"
"Don't know." Rhinox shook his head. "It was only by chance we've managed to find the pods we did."
"And don't think I don't appreciate it," smirked Mad Jackel from across the room.
Rattrap glared at her. "A lotta help your being! We're doing all the work while you sit over there playin' video games or something!"
"Actually I was designing a new program for my computer," said the female a bit defensively. "I'd be more than happy to help you guys if ya asked me."
"Well I don't want your help now!" growled the rat.
"Geez, somebody's suddenly a grump today."
"Fine, I'm in a bad mood OK?!"
"No duh! I'm just trying to figure out why. Things don't seem any worse then they usually are." She smiled, "in fact we're two up on the Preds right now, look on the bright side!"
"Oh great optimism, that's just what I need right now," grumbled Rattrap. "Ya know your starting to sound like Sliverbolt."
"Now that's a scary thought."
Rhinox rolled his eyes. "I wish you two would knock it off, your giving me a headache."
"Forget it, I'm oughta here! If anyone needs me I'll be watching videos in my room." And with that Rattrap stormed out of the command center.
Mad Jackel walked over to Rhinox. "What's with him?"
Rhinox looked after his departing friend. "He's just frustrated."
"Either that or he woke up on the wrong side of the recharge bed."
"Huh?"
"It's an old earth joke I heard, I think I screwed it up though."
"Oh." Rhinox turned back to his computer. "Well I seem to be short an assistant, mind giving me a hand?"
"Sure," she sat down next to him, "so what exactly are we doing anyway?"
"Trying to locate our lost stasis pods."
Mad Jackel sighed. "I got a feeling this is gonna take awhile...."
*****
Normally when a stasis pod comes out of orbit and lands it will automatically begin the replication process. However, if an outside force alters this mechanism it might not happen that way, and a quantum surge would probably do that. So the stasis pods scattered around the planet would not likely begin their replication unless disturbed. And for one particular pod, hidden deep within the outback far from either base, today was that day.
For today a furry brown and gray animal with fearsome jaws decided to come sniffing around for food. It's bright blue eyes suddenly stopped upon the pod. It growled but, the pod did not respond. Bristling it's tail, the creature approached it and tried to claim on top of it. Then, just by accident, it's paw hit the right panel and....
[Replication process initiated. Begin DNA scan] beeped the computer.
The animal backed away from the pod growling.
[Scanning for compatible life forms]
The DNA scanner emerged for the pod, sending a wave of blue light over the creature.
[Compatible life form found. Beginning replication process.]
The furry animal had gotten enough of this strange object and got out of there as fast as it's legs would carry it.
[Replication process complete] beeped the computer at last.
Slowly the hatch opened. Out stepped four huge paws, a powerful jaw, a bushy tail, and a pair of bright blue eyes. The new Maximal looked around him for a moment, then disappeared into the underbrush, leaving the pod behind.
*****
Not far away the same process was happening to another pod. This one stuck in the mud at the at the edge of a quiet river.
[Replication process complete] beeped its computer.
The hatch opened and out stepped...nothing?
Then, first one, then two massive claws grabbed onto the side of the pod. The creature inside began to pull himself out, but unfortunately he slipped and fell head first into the mud.
"Well this is just great," grumbled the new Maximal shacking off the mud. "Five seconds out of the pod and I'm covered with dirt! Geez, what else can possibly go wrong...Ahhhhhhhhh!"
He backed up as he caught his reflection in the metallic surface of the stasis pod. He stared at the spiny redish-brown animal that looked back at him.
"I had to ask...." He rolled his liquid brown eyes. "Well, no need to put this off any longer. Spinestrike MAXIMIZE!"
The small creature suddenly changed into a medium sized, crimson red robot. Spinestrike looked himself over and was relieved to see a pair of normal hands had replaced his claws. Then he knelt down next to the pod, fiddling with the computer.
"Let's see what I can find out about this beast form." He pushed a few buttons and the small screen filled up with data. "Ok, DNA scanned from an echidna, also known as the spiny anteater. Zoological group mammals, subgroup monotremes, blah blah blah, diet consists mostly of termites, ants, and other small insects, blah blah blah, has no natural enemies...hmmmm...that's good at least. Guess that's enough info, I don't need the whole 411 on this thing." He turned off the computer.
*Not too bad of a beast form,* Spinestrike thought to himself. *At least my name already fits*
*****
"Why can't anyone around here carry out a simple order?!" Megatron slammed his fist into the arm of his command chair, leaving a large dent.
"Well...eh...findin'' lost stasis pods ain't exactly a simple order," said Quickstrike, not really thinking.
"Shut up!"
All the assembled Predacons turned to their leader, a little worried about what he would say next.
Megatron leaned back in his chair tapping his fingers against the arm. "Right now the Maximals have two more warriors then we do. All I want is to recover a few stasis pods and even out, if not tip the balance of power in our favor. Is that clear?"
"Quite clear my Queen!" Inferno saluted.
"At least someone around here knows how to take orders." He sighed, "but stop referring to me as 'queen'."
"Yes my Queen!"
The Predacon commander growled. "Listen, here is what I want done! Waspinator, Buzz Saw, and Sting Blade will remain at base. Quickstrike will search for pods in the west, and Inferno the east. BlackArachnia?"
"Yes my leech.....I mean leis?" The spider quickly corrected herself hoping Megatron hadn't caught the insult.
"You and Tarantulas will search the south. Now go." None of the Predacons moved. "NOW!!"
Everyone scrambled out of the command center.
BlackArachnia followed Tarantulas down one of the hallways. She waited till they were out of earshot of Megatron, then started grumbling.
"I can't believe someone of my talents is being sent on some stupid scavenger hunt! It's so degrading," she growled. "I don't see why Megajerk can't just have Waspinator do this job!"
Tarantulas stopped before one of the doorways. "Because, the last time Waspinator looked for stasis pods, we ended up with those two nitwits!" He pointed into the room.
BlackArachnia looked in and saw Sting Blade and Buzz Saw playing a video game. "Oh"
"Besides if we do find any pods we might be able to adjust them to OUR purposes," chucked the male spider.
"Always scheming aren't you?"
"Well, I have nothing better to do with my free time." He looked over his female companion, "unless of course...."
BlackArachnia stopped him before he could say anything else. "Right now, we have more important things to do!"
Both spiders converted to beast mode and hurried away from their base.
*****
Back at the Maximal base, Rattrap was sulking in his room when someone knocked on his door.
"Yeah, yeah, come in."
The door opened and in walked Livewire (and considering his room resembled a land fill this was no easy task). Rattrap stood up straight, he couldn't remember the last time there had been a female in his quarters.
"Well," Rattrap made his best attempt to be charming, "what a pleasant surprise."
Livewire rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself Ratbreath, I just can to talk."
He slumped back down in his chair, "then maybe I don't wanna talk to ya!"
"Too bad, ya don't got a choice." The firefly sat down next to him, "so what's buggin' ya anyway?"
"Nothing."
Livewire looked him in the eyes. "I ain't leaving till ya tell me what's wrong."
"Fine," grumbled the rat. "I'm just mad cause I'm suppose to help find them stasis pods, and da long range scanners I worked on haven't found zip! So I failed! There I said it, ya happy now?"
"So your just gonna sit here on your butt feeling sorry for yourself, is that it?" asked Livewire sarcastically. "If ya want ta find the pods so badly, why don't ya just go out and look for em?"
"Just go out and look for em, are you crazy?"
"Fine, do what ya want for all I care!" She started to walk out, "but don't come crying to me when we're up to our optics in Predacons!"
The door closed behind the female as she left.
"Hrmf, what does she know?!" Rattrap leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. *Ya can't just go out and find pods,* he
thought to himself, *then again nothing else has worked....*
An idea suddenly came to him. *Hey. That's just crazy enough to work! But I'm gonna need some help. Hmmmm...Rhinox, nah...Sliverbolt, too much of a glory hound...Chopperface, forget that!* He tapped his fingers against his chin.
"I got it, the kid!" He grinned, of course Cheetor couldn't resist the chance to show off, plus he wasn't a tattletale. "Ha, I'll show that smart mouthed firefly!"
Rattrap grabbed some equipment from his storage locker, then headed down the hall to find Cheetor. Watching him from the shadows was a small, slender, red and black robot.
"Reverse psychology, works every time," Livewire smirked to herself. *MJ ain't the only one around here with a few tricks up her sleeve. Of course, none of us actually have sleeves....*
The female shrugged and headed in the other direction.
*****
"Ah, here it is!" Spinestrike finally found the panel in his stasis pod he had been looking for. He tried opening it. "Oh great, it's stuck."
A sudden noise in the bushes caught his attention. When he turned around, there was nothing there.
"Hello?" he asked nervously. "Is someone there?"
The bushes rustled again. Spinestrike stepped back, he was starting to really dislike this place. He decided to change to beast mode. Echidnas have no natural enemies...it was the unnatural ones he was worried about.
He crept toward the bushes slowly, carefully. His gaze was suddenly met by a pair of bright blue eyes. Then, out of the underbrush, sprang a huge Tasmanian devil.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Spinestrike scrambled backward, a little too fast, and stumbled over a rock landing on his spines.
The Tasmanian devil laughed. "Chill, I'm on your side!"
"You're...you're a Maximal?"
"Yep, sorry didn't mean to scare ya."
"I wasn't scared!" Spinestrike growled as he transformed back to bot mode. "Just a little surprised, that's all."
"Oh...." The other Maximal transformed also, into a brown and gray robot, a little taller then his companion. "Name's Snarl by the way."
"Well I'm Spinestrike, and don't forget it!" He began to walk back to his pod.
"Um...how exactly are we gonna get back to the Maximal ship anyhow?"
"Do I look like a homing device to you?" asked the echidna sarcastically.
"Uh....no."
"Well then I don't know."
Spinestrike kneeled down next to the pod and started tugging at the panel he had been working on earlier. Snarl leaned over his shoulder, "what are you doing?"
"Trying to get underneath this stupid panel," he sighed. "You sure ask
a lot of questions!"
"Sorry."
Spinestrike finally managed to rip the panel off and pulled out what looked like a small sliver briefcase. Snarl eyed it with curiosity, "what's that?"
"My surgeon's kit, I'm a medic," replied his companion proudly, placing the case in a compartment underneath the spines on his back. "Now, let's see if we can find the base."
Snarl couldn't think of a better plan, so he followed after the echidna. Both of them wondered how in the world they were going to get home.
