The crimson ambience of a nearby red sun poured over the moderately-sized Starwing-class cruiser from the planet Cybertron. The bright orange glow of its four rectangular thrusters began to dim until the colour faded to black. The cruiser halted its progress through the blackness of empty space, just in time to dodge an incoming chunk of charred rock. Ahead, there were even more; an endless sea of asteroids drifting peacefully through the void.
Inside the Starwing, at the rear of the ship, was the spacious cargo bay. Dozens of identical square crates were evenly placed along the brushed steel side walls. A single sliding door built into the rear wall presented access to the rest of the cruiser's interior rooms. On the very centre of the cargo bay's wide metal floor, taking up most of the remaining space, sat a single shuttle.
The shuttle was pearl-white, apart from a jet-black belly. It had two thin, triangular wings that spread out from the bottom of the shuttle, as well as a single fin protruding from the top of the rear fuselage. The cockpit was shielded from view by four tinted orange windows. The shuttle had three cylindrical engines positioned at the rear of the rectangular fuselage.
Though there was no one inside, a sudden static resonated throughout the shuttle and cargo bay. It lasted for a few seconds before giving way to a powerful, stoic male voice, "Raker, this is Falcon. Do you copy?"
"Loud and clear, Falcon," replied another, more cheerful-sounding male voice. It came from inside the shuttle's empty cockpit.
"We have come across an asteroid field, and seeing as you're the only one of us who can go outside unassisted…we need you to investigate." Falcon explained slowly. He drew the last section out, as if it pained him to say the words.
"Hang on; you're asking for my help? Will this be going on record?" Raker asked mockingly.
"No." Falcon said bluntly. "Now, if you would please focus for longer than one millicycle, so I can give you your orders."
"I better not be going through the field, Falcon. You know the odds," reminded Raker, though his voice had an unmistakeably defiant tone.
"3720 to 1. You will be pleased to know that I am not asking that of you. Instead, you will be landing on a nearby organic moon. The native population will no doubt have an idea of what brought about these asteroids." Falcon continued. "Bring Supersonic along with you too."
"Explore a new world and take my best friend along for the ride? Where do I sign?" Raker exclaimed, delighted.
"Excellent." Falcon answered, pleased. "I will send Supersonic down now. Falcon out."
Another momentary burst of static followed Falcon's exit, then everything became completely silent. The slight hum of a spinning component broke the silence first; it was soon joined by the hiss of a moving piston. Then, almost instantaneously, the entire shuttle split into hundreds of separate pieces. The pieces rearranged themselves by sliding, folding, extending and turning, until they began to resemble a humanoid robot. Recognisable pieces of the shuttle were visible all over the robot's body; for example, two of the cockpit windows were visible on each shoulder. The trio of engines remained largely unchanged on the back of the robot. The robot's head was shaped like a ball, with a tinted black visor covering its face. The robot was forced to kneel, for it was too tall to stand in the cargo bay, despite the bay being the largest room in the cruiser.
As the last pieces of the shuttle locked into place as a robot, the door at the back of the cargo bay slid open quietly. From the other side, another robotic humanoid emerged. The second robot was shorter than the shuttle, so it was able to stand up perfectly straight. It was predominantly black, save for a few blood-red stripes along its chest and shoulders. Its head was tall and narrow, with bright purple optics. The robot's entire body was polished to the point that it reflected the dim white light from the cargo bay's ceiling lamps, almost like a mirror.
The second robot approached the shuttle robot and extended its four-fingered right hand. The shuttle took it in its own hand and shook it politely.
"Good to see you, old friend." The second robot said in a sophisticated male voice, a wide grin on his face.
"Right back at you, Supersonic." The shuttle robot replied; it was Raker. "Ready for an adventure?"
"Always!" Supersonic agreed, then frantically wiped a piece of dust off of his shoulder. "Wait, will there be…dirt on the moon?"
"We won't know until we check it out, so let's not waste any more time." Raker said, abruptly serious. "Open the doors and I'll go get set."
Supersonic nodded and returned to the door, where the small, square control panel for the cargo bay doors was placed. He pushed a red, circular button that took up a quarter of the control panel. A loud noise filled the cargo bay and the button flashed bright red as the entire rear wall split in half and swung back into the cruiser.
Outside, the eternal emptiness of space beckoned to Raker, who had begun to move towards the edge of the cargo bay. Countless stars, like beacons of pure energy, called out to him, inviting him to explore their systems. At that moment, however, the only star that mattered to Raker was the one directly ahead. It was a vast ball of pluming crimson flame, many dozens of times larger than the scattered planets that orbited it. Of particular interest to Raker was a small moon to his left. It stood out like a glowing emerald gem in the depths of a pitch-black cavern. Swirls of white criss-crossed over the moon's green, organic surface.
"That has to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen." Raker muttered to himself. He crossed his arms and stood motionless for several seconds, silently observing the mystical world that awaited him. When Supersonic joined him, he said, "This is going to be the first time I've ever had the chance to explore uncharted territory, Supersonic."
"Your dream." Supersonic remembered. He put his hand on Raker's shoulder, which was quite the feat considering his friend's height. "I'm very glad for you, Raker, you deserve this!"
Raker looked down at him, "I couldn't have dreamed of a better partner to share it with. But enough sappy remarks, we have a job to do!"
Supersonic laughed and took his hand off Raker. The larger robot took a tentative step off of the safety of the cargo bay floor and out into empty space. The pressurisation inside the cruiser was the same as the surrounding environment, so Raker felt no different as he floated away from the cruiser. He turned around to make sure Supersonic was close behind; to his amusement, he saw that Supersonic was clutching the edge of the cargo bay and sticking his leg out, then pulling it back in, then sticking it back out again, over and over.
"You don't have to worry about drifting off, Supersonic! We both know you're too fast for that!" Raker called out with a chuckle.
"True, but I've never been in a vacuum before! Let us move to the moon, quickly!" Supersonic yelled back warily.
Raker agreed, so both robots shifted themselves so that they faced the moon. The engines on Raker's back switched on; all of them gleamed a blinding orange as the entire engine assembly swung down to face Raker's feet. He leant forward sharply, doing a full front flip before steadying himself so that the tops of his round shoulders were pointing directly at the moon. Supersonic performed a similar manoeuvre as the soles of his feet slid away to reveal bright purple thrusters.
As one, Raker and Supersonic activated the full power of their respective propulsion devices. They flew towards the moon, accelerating to incredible speeds. It was not long before they found themselves caught in the moon's gravitational field, which only served to increase their velocity even further. A blanket of puffy white clouds obscured their view of the moon's surface. Raker's entire body looked as if it were on fire as his descent became more and more like free-falling, but despite this, he felt no pain whatsoever. To his right, Supersonic was also turning into a living inferno, but the heat seemed to be affecting him more than it did Raker.
Finally, the robots broke the cloud cover. To their great surprise, and pain, they had fallen straight into a dense jungle, with trees that grew to right below the clouds. This meant that Raker and Supersonic had no time to dodge or slow down, so they both tumbled helplessly into the tough trunks and damp leaves of a tight clump of jungle trees. The wood splintered beneath them, offering little cushioning.
The impact with the ground was hard, fast and painful for both robots. Their crash landing had cleared a large section of the jungle; fallen trees and mushy undergrowth mixed with the leaves littered the soft, muddy earth. Raker groaned loudly as he stood up and stretched his back joints. Several metres ahead of him was Supersonic, who had already risen from the ground. The other robot was jumping around, swatting the air and himself as if we were covered in insects. Raker rushed over the moment he felt his back components click back into place.
"It's all over me! No no no no no!" Supersonic cried as he continued to writhe about. "Get it off! GET IT OFF!"
"Supersonic, it's okay. The dirt can't hurt you!" Raker promised, barely suppressing a laugh. "Get yourself together, man! We need to figure out where we are!"
As Supersonic finally halted his screams and composed himself, a cold voice hissed from the nearby, untouched jungle, "Where ye are? Why, ye only need to ask and such answers can come quickly!"
Both Raker and Supersonic jumped considerably. They recovered from the fright, withdrawing their weapons. Supersonic pulled a long, thin assault rifle off of his back; Raker transformed his right forearm into a narrow particle beam. They held their firearms up, scanning the trees with sharp gazes.
"Show yourself!" Supersonic demanded fiercely.
"If ye insist…" replied the reluctant voice.
From behind a particularly thick trunk, another robot revealed himself. It was tall, lanky and its faded brown armour was quite tattered. Its shoulders were on an angle from one another, as were its wide, white optics. Round objects resembling wheels were prominent in its ankles and thighs. A strange green symbol, bordered by two cutlasses, stood out on the centre of its chest. The robot's jaw twisted into a toothless grin as it took a rusted sword from a scabbard on its hip. It approached Raker fearlessly, smiling even wider. Raker backed up slightly, disgusted, but kept his arm raised.
"Oh, ye be hurting my feelings!" The robot said in a hushed tone. It raised an eyebrow and pointed its sword directly at Raker's face. "I just want to talk, is all. Come and have a talk with good ol' Axer, boy. Ye have nothing to fear. Yet."
The robot, Axer, kept moving towards Raker, ignoring the laser directed at him. All was quiet except for the crunch of the plants beneath Axer's feet and the wailing squeaks of his knees. A third noise reached Raker's audio sensors, coming from the jungle. It was a dull moan that grew in volume. Something else was on its way.
"Get back!" Raker commanded, jabbing forward with his arm.
Axer eyed it uncomfortably for a moment, then he redirected his attention to the trees behind Raker. Curious, Raker took a peek with his peripheral vision. His optics widened and his jaw dropped as the horrifying sight reached his sensors.
From the gaps between the jungle trees, at least a dozen more robots were emerging. They all looked identical: stocky and pale red, with generic features and empty eye-sockets. Each robot held a twisted dagger in one hand and a small pistol in the other. Raker instinctively turned to face the incoming hoard, but in doing so he gave Axer the opening he was looking for. Axer lunged at Raker's head, bringing his free hand onto the other robot's skull. Raker collapsed and fell swiftly into unconsciousness.