by Birgit Staebler
A dark sooty rain fell heavily from the sky and covered the landscape. There was no water in the tiny drops, only volcanic ash and debris. A constant bass rumble shook the earth around him and Dinobot shot nervous glances at the giant mountain.
The day was far from pleasant.
Overhead, just a glimmer of what would normally have been the afternoon sun appeared for a brief moment, only to be swallowed by lead colored clouds. The area was known to be a seismic zone with lots of volcanic activity and Dinobot growled lowly to himself. He could have chosen a better time to come down here and check on the perimeter. Then again, Optimus could have chosen a better time as well. The Maximal leader had decided that watching the land movement in this specific quadrant was important and since there were energon deposits here, maybe even vital for their own survival. If the deposits blew, the seismic forces might rip apart the tectonic plate the Axalon was sitting on.
Rhinox had made this startling discovery only a few weeks ago and as if on cue, two weeks later the volcano had started to wake up. It belched gray clouds into the sky and obscured the sight. Steam and sometimes ash particles filled the air. AirRazor, who had been sent here to keep and eye on things, had had great difficulties staying airborne. Hot updrafts, microbursts, ash and toxic gases made it quite impossible to be close to the mountain. The small dust particles clung to everything, clotting feathers, fur and especially the optics hidden behind the organic eye cover; and the microbursts and hot updrafts could shake a flyer so badly that she might lose direction and plummet into the volcano or the mountain side. So Dinobot had been chosen to patrol here. Optimus had made it quite clear that he was not to go anywhere near the volcano, but Dinobot had soon discovered a fascination with this untamed spectacle of nature. Watching the giant mountain suddenly evoked a feeling of being small and unimportant compared to this giant of power. For Dinobot, this was a new feeling and a strange one; one he was following. So he stood on an outcropping of rock and stared at the sloping walls of the mountain, reaching into the cloudy sky. If Rhinox was right, the magma would blow soon and with it half the mountain. Hopefully the energon wouldn't be ignited through it.
A low rumble passed through the ground and upset his balance, snapping Dinobot out of his thoughts. He glanced at the mountain again and decided to get to safer grounds, especially since he was due to report in. As he reached ground level he sent a short message to the Axalon and then continued his patrol. The ground shook slightly again and he growled softly. Better leave the area soon. It was getting unstable here. Dinobot was just about to leave when an earth-quake hit for real. It wasn't strong, but it was strong enough to throw him to the ground. He heard the sound of crumbling rock and steam rose up around his prone form in large clouds. The ground sagged and triggered an instinctive transformation. His hands dug into the stone as the ground suddenly fell away beneath him and his legs dangled over a new chasm. Dinobot's servos groaned and he tried to get his footing. The continuing quakes didn't make it much easier.
Finally everything quieted down. Dinobot managed to pull himself up and sat there for a second, his energon level high from the experience of sudden fear. He looked around and through the steam and settling dust discovered how profoundly the landscape had changed. The outcropping he had stood on several minutes ago was gone; a chasm was in front of him and part of the mountainside had caved in, opening a hole into the darkness inside. Dinobot was about to dismiss the cave when he suddenly discovered an eerie, pulsing light from inside.
Quite eerie.
He rose to his feet and called his weapons from subspace, then approached the cave. The cave was in fact a rather narrow tunnel, just high enough that he could walk comfortably, and pitch-black dark except for the eerie light. Dinobot felt something crawl over his skin and a tiny alarm went off inside him. He frowned. This didn't really feel like an energon overload, but he still transformed, knowing fully well that a stasis lock was not to be preferred over his beast form. Walking ever deeper into the tunnel he wondered what this was. It looked artificial enough, but it was still just a tunnel. Maybe the quake had opened an overhead hole and the light was diffused and recolored through steam from the magma flowing beneath this whole area.
But greenish blue?
Dinobot shook his head. This was strange and even stranger was the fact that there was no heat. If there was magma beneath him, wouldn't it be warmer here?
Then again, he was no scientist and the planet had proven to be quite unusual in its behavior.
He continued and after some time the light increased. He grew even more careful and then stepped into a large cave. Dinobot stared. He couldn't do anything else. The cave was about five times his height and seemed to stretch endlessly, an effect made possible by the smooth black walls. They curved slightly, glistening in the artificial light and were like mirrors. But not the cave was what gave Dinobot a sudden bad feeling. It was the .... thing. It was clearly of alien origin: a triangle, carved into the wall, colored in blue and green as it shone brightly. Runes covered the immediate area around it and as he looked at them, they seemed to twist and move. Dinobot was unable to get a clear picture of them.
And he didn't really want to.
The former Predacon felt a low rumble deep in his chest. He didn't like this. He wasn't easily spooked, but this came close to giving him the creeps. It looked innocent enough but something here was terribly wrong. Dinobot stepped back from the artifact.
It started to glow more.
He stopped.
It still glowed brighter than before.
He started his retreat again.
This time it didn't just glow, it pulsed!
Dinobot came to a quick decision and made a run for it.
He never got anywhere.
Light encased him, coming out of seemingly nowhere. It trapped him, froze him, giving him no chance to either scream or voice his protest in any other form. He was lifted up and felt himself shift and transform against his will.
And then the pain came.
It engulfed him, drowned out every other sensation and bathed him in agony.
Dinobot's scream echoed in the emptiness and the light pulsed coldly.
* * *
:: Specimen acquired ::
:: Examination preparation ::
:: Remove core consciousness ::
:: Send in probes ::
* * *
Rhinox was in science heaven. His screens were alive with
various data strings, running down with a speed that gave even him slight
problems if he wanted to follow the read-outs. Several weeks ago he had
stumbled over the tiny seismic quakes shaking the tectonic plate they sat
on. The quakes had come in barely perceptible waves and only extremely
good sensor equipment had registered them. The epi-center was in the mountain
area beyond their position and Rhinox had been immediately curious as to
what had caused them. Setting out with most of their geo-therm and movement
sensors, he and Cheetor had spent about three days in the area, and in
the end they had covered it with their sensor equipment to the hilt. Tilt
meters, geo-therm sensors, seismic meters -- everything Rhinox had been
able to find in the cargo holds of the Axalon. As an exploration vessel,
the ship held tons of valuable equipment and now he could use it. The mountain
was wired.
Back at the base he had plugged in the hardware and had
started to monitor the area. The seismographs were active and recording
every microquake. Much to his surprise, there were energon deposits deep
inside the planet's crust here, deeper than usual. And they sat in what
could only be described as a pattern. The energon seemed to be less volatile
and he had spent two days only studying the crystals from afar, having
this tickling feeling of wanting to go out and dig some up. But with the
increasing seismic activities, it might be deadly. Cheetor had offered
to 'cat in and nick it', but Optimus Primal had ordered him to stay put
and 'listen to him for once'. So Cheetor had stayed.
Rhinox had a whole data base full of read-outs now and
had begun evaluation. It produced more unusual data. The scientist had
known from the start that the Axalon sat on the same plate as the mountains
and that, as this was a rather young planet, the crust moved. The movements
were not constant and none of them registered except on their equipment,
but they existed. Through the seismic activity, Rhinox knew that the movements
had increased, but they had not had the effects he might have predicted.
From all the data he had, magma was boiling just beneath the surface of
the mountain, likely to erupt, though that was not a definite. Sometimes
volcanoes bubbled and belched but never blew. Normally he'd be happy and
content as a scientist to have so much sensors planted and the chance to
witness further activity, but in this case, with the energon buried there,
it might be catastrophic -- and he had no idea how to stop it. There was
no way they could seal this volcano. And even if they could, he'd never
do it. This was a force of nature, untamed and ready to break if tempted.
Sealing off the only exit way it had to break free only meant it would
look for another opening. And this might be even worse.
Anyway, Rhinox knew he had to watch closely. It might
prove to be vital for them. And he had to take a closer look at the strangely
enough still very stable energon crystal growth. With all the heat and
activity around it, he had expected it to blow soon, but it hadn't. The
readings hadn't changed and the crystals still existed. It was the most
fascinating discovery yet. If this was stable energon ...... the possibilities
were incalculable......
Suddenly Sentinel gave a soft hum, pulling him out of
his thoughts. Rhinox glanced at the map detailing their explored territory
and frowned. Something ....no, someone! .... was missing and he had gone
missing in just the area he didn't like to have anyone going missing in.
With a grunt he rose from his chair and checked the read-outs. Everything
was correct. Sentinel was working flawlessly. Then something else registered:
seismic activity. Quite a lot of it in short waves, strong enough to inflict
damage but not strong enough to indicate a blow yet. He ran another check
and shook his head.
"Oh no," he muttered.
Rhinox set out to contact his leader.
*
Optimus Primal was in his quarters, the terminal connected
to the main computer of the Axalon, logging files. Normally he hated it
because it was a stupid and monotonous work, but after the hectic and frantic
days lately, it was a welcome difference. He was an explorer -- and if
required a soldier, though more or less a reluctant one -- and he had been
employed as an explorer, so logging work should be in his blood. He smiled
slightly. Well, he'd rather type up a scientific report any day ......
which reminded him he had to do that as well. Completing his last entry
he set the computer on 'process and store' and left the room as it shut
down. There was a ton more work to do as a commander here and his team
was not exactly what he had thought he would get. Sometimes he wished he
had chosen another profession, had not taken the Axalon's command, but
then, in those rare moments when something incredible happened, he was
glad fate had brought him here.
"Optimus, we have a problem."
Then again, maybe not, he decided with a wry smile.
"What is it, Rhinox?" he wanted to know.
"Dinobot's signal disappeared," the large Maximal rumbled.
"He was in the volcanic area and I picked up severe seismic disturbances.
Afterwards, the signal was present for a short moment, then it disappeared."
Optimus frowned, already on his way to the command center.
"Energon disturbance?"
"Not likely. The energon deposit is closer to the mountain
and Dinobot was rather far away and outside the seismic center." Rhinox
sounded slightly worried.
"Hm," Optimus muttered thoughtfully. He stepped onto
the bridge and Rhinox called up the map, gesturing at it. He studied the
screen where Dinobot's last position was marked, then the current readings,
which only spoke of volcanic activity. "Predacons?"
"None sighted. They've been quiet lately."
"Which means they might be up to something." Optimus
sighed, hating this. "Okay, who is closest?"
The Axalon's main computer processed the question. "Rattrap
and Rogue," it then said.
"All right, get me in contact with those two. We'll let
them check it out."
* * *
:: Specimen prepared ::
:: Begin examination ::
:: Access memory circuits ::
* * *
Scorponok, despite being called dense and stupid by almost
every Predacon stranded here -- and in addition to that also by every Maximal
-- had a rather brilliant scientific mind. The problem was, it was hidden
by a personality likely to get nervous spells and revert to blurted sentences
and insecure mutters. Scorponok was a scientist as well as a warrior, and
he had developed some interesting and ingenious devices, one of them the
CyberBee. But mostly he stood in the shadow of Tarantulas and, since she
had joined them, also BlackArachnia. Somehow he didn't mind. It kept Megatron's
focus away from his work, though Scorponok sometimes had the distinct feeling
that Megatron knew more about what was going on in and around the Predacon
ship than anybody thought. The Predacon leader had surprised them enough
lately to give Scorponok room for thought. Of course, Megatron was their
leader and he knew a lot of the small intrigues here, as well as scientific
projects, but some of the knowledge he had displayed had been fearsome.
Currently Scorponok was monitoring a volcano not far
away from them. He had looked into the matter of the active mountain of
magma because the Predacon base sat on a volcano as well, though this one
was stable and unlikely to go up. There was magma beneath them but no pressure
had built up. Still, if the mountain not far away blew, it might result
in shockwaves of pressure racing along the magma bed and hit their base.
Not good.
Not good at all.
So he had started monitoring.
Scorponok had also discovered that there was increased
Maximal activity around the volcanic area. Apparently they were watching
nature's spectacle as well. The scientist in Scorponok understood, but
the warrior was growing extremely itchy.
Then the first bigger quakes hit. He watched them wreck
havoc and logged down their strength and intervals, frowning as he saw
how frequent they now came. He finally convinced Waspinator to do some
over-head scouting and to his startlement found energon in the area. A
lot of it. Deposited oddly and strangely stable. Things were getting highly
intriguing from there on and he almost forgot everything else, cooped up
in his lab and buried in data. He ignored everyone else's comments and
simply kept on working. Maximal presence increased in the area, but they
never got too close to the volcano and only seemed to check on it from
afar, never venturing anywhere else. They didn't even try to dig up the
energon crystals, mainly because they were probably unsafe to unearth with
all the seismic activity.
The last Maximal presence Scorponok registered was Dinobot.
He ignored the presence, as most of the times, but then a rather large
quake turned everything upside down -- including the Maximal. The signature
disappeared, which let Scorponok frown, especially when it also didn't
turn up again. Had Dinobot been buried? Killed? Or had he retreated and
Scorponok had not seen it? Not likely, he decided. If Dinobot had been
buried, the scanners should show it because even if he was under tons of
rock, the signature would be a beacon. Or had he been killed? Unlikely
as well. The signature would not have been cut off so abruptly if the seismic
waves had squashed him. It would have faded. And there were no magma streams
anywhere close to the surface.
Puzzling about this effect and also the still incredibly
stable energon, he didn't hear the approach of a large, purple-colored
saurian.
"Found something?" a pleasant voice whispered.
Scorponok gave a gasp of startled surprise and nearly
dropped his data disk. "Megatron!"
The t-rex grinned a bit.
"I ....I .... the volcano went up a scale concerning
activity," he then stuttered-
Megatron grinned more. "And the Maximals were foolish
enough to be in the vicinity, yesss."
Scorponok wondered how the Predacon leader had been able
to distinguish that from simply looking at the readings. He nodded. "Dinobot
was in the area. His signal is gone."
Megatron's eyes gleamed. "The traitor, yesss. So he was
killed?" It sounded like a hypothetical question to Scorponok. Still, he
shook his head.
"No, I don't think so. He ... simply disappeared." He
made a vague gesture.
Megatron now studied the screen. Disappeared," he muttered
to himself. "Fascinating, yesss. And so much stable energon in the area.
I think this calls for a closer examination, don't you think, Scorponok?"
The cold, reptilian eyes fixed on the scientist and he
nodded automatically.
"Who is closest?"
Scorponok logged into the area control computer. "Terrorsaur
and Waspinator."
"Send them in."
"Yes, Megatron."
* * *
Rattrap was in a rather good mood today and he relished
the feeling of being out on patrol and not cooped up inside he Axalon --
with Dinobot. Though his relationship with the former Predacon had changed
profoundly in the time they had been on the same team, he was reluctant
to let his guard down completely concerning him. He wouldn't even confess
openly to anyone -- including himself -- that he considered Dinobot something
akin to a friend. He winced inside at the word. Oh, what had become of
him.
His eyes fell on his companion for this patrol and he
decided to forget about Dinobot and enjoy the view. His current team mate
was a reddish brown fox with white paws and almost black ears and tail
tip. Her name was Rogue and she was the latest addition to their small
band of Maximals. Rattrap had yet to decide where to put her. Rogue was
a medic and her warrior skills were mediocre, though she had some mean
moves, as he had found out when he had challenged her to a training session.
Much to Dinobot's amusement as well. He snorted slightly. The only positive
thing he had been able to gain from this was to find out how Dinobot evaded
Rogue. He wasn't afraid of her, he simply ... tried not to be where she
was. Rattrap had to grin when he thought about the possibilities .....
Suddenly the intercom beeped and Rogue opened a channel.
There were disturbances, but the voice of Optimus Prime was audible.
"Rattrap, Rogue, change your heading to Dinobot's latest
coordinates," the Maximal leader ordered.
"Why, he got trouble?" Rattrap asked, sounding a bit
sarcastic.
"Could be. We lost his signal."
"Oooohh, Dinobrain got lost! Maybe we should wait a bit
more so he stays lost!"
Rogue shot him an amused look. Rattrap hated to recall
her words concerning his and Dinobot's relationship. She hinted at things
he didn't like to even ponder for a second.
"Will do, Optimus," she affirmed.
"Be careful. It might be Pred activity, though we haven't
picked any up yet," Optimus warned them.
"Yeah, right, okay," Rattrap muttered.
Rogue cut the channel and shot him another of her amused
looks. "Well?" she asked.
He snorted. "Whatcha waiting for, Foxlady? An invitation?"
With that he scurried off.
Rogue shook her head with a chuckle and followed him.
* * *
He was alone.
Around him was nothing.
Then something stirred the nothingness.
"What are you?" Dinobot demanded.
He floated. The other presence was close by but he couldn't
see it.
"Where am I? What did you do to me?"
Still no answer.
But a feather light touch.
Something flickered over him.
First it tickled, then it burned slightly, and then the
pain hit again.
-- Light ... flashing --
-- Pain .... injury .... madness --
There was a flare and he was suddenly flung forward.
Pain lanced through him and he cringed away.
Hot, white light.
A force equaling a nuclear explosion hit.
Dinobot screamed in agony as his molecules seemed to
be torn apart.
Then everything went dark.
* * *
:: Specimen resisting ::
:: Increase energy flow ::
:: Shields breaking ::
* * *
Rogue wrinkled her nose as she looked at the landscape
around her. Everything looked devastated and covered in black soot. The
ash rain had stopped a bit but there was enough ash in the air to make
for poor sight and hard to breathe air. Above them, the mountain belched
continuously, the plumes of smoke rising into the sky. It was already late
in the afternoon and though the sun should still be visible, it wasn't.
"Huuuh, boy!" Rattrap muttered. "What a nice scenario."
Rogue transformed into her bipedal robot mode and activated
her scanners. She had quite sophisticated scanners, which were originally
medical ones. But they were very good for field work as well.
"No sign," she said. "But I'm getting some strange readings
from over there." She pointed at a dark, narrow entry into the mountain
side.
"Goody," Rattrap sighed. "I just love strange readings
and dark caves."
Rogue walked over and looked into the black mouth of
the cave. She didn't like it either but she was also curious. "Let's take
a look."
Rattrap groaned. Rogue was as bad as Optimus when it
came to explorations!
They entered the cave and Rattrap switched on infra-red
to get a better impression. He didn't like what he saw. The tunnel was
long and narrow and winding its way deep into the mountain. After what
seemed to be an eternity the tunnel stretched out and became wider....finally
ending up in a giant cave. Both Maximals stood there for a second, then
Rogue gasped faintly. As if on this cue, the cave filled with light, a
greenish blue light that was throbbing slowly, pulsing....
"Holy...." Rattrap exclaimed, mouth agape.
Carved into the center of one of the cave's walls was
a strange relic, emitting the throbbing light ..... and spread-eagled in
front of it was --
"Dinobot!"
* * *
......
Mist rose around him from the ground.
Darkness reigned and only dim a light -- a greenish
blue light -- illuminated the night, spreading an eerie glow, barely enough
to see by. Sounds disturbed the night, strange sounds of nothing he had
ever hear. Dinobot had no idea where he was and somehow everything seemed
to be dull, without life, though still dangerous and lethal. He moved carefully
through the mist.
"So we meet again," a voice suddenly whispered and he
whirled around, weapon in hand.
In front of him stood a slender, red and green colored
female of ghastly construction. She looked like a mismatch between a crab
and a spider.
"FireWalker," he exclaimed.
It couldn't be.
The female approached him, smiling broadly, her bug-eyes
alight, her mouth showing rows of sharp teeth. For a moment he was too
baffled to react at all. FireWalker used that. She attacked.
But instead of aiming for the head or the chest, as he
might have expected, she aimed for the legs, kicking hard. He felt her
foot connect with his leg and a burning pain shot through his body. Then
he heard the splintering of armor when not only his shin protection but
also his supports broke. His leg couldn't carry the weight of his body
any longer and he fell to the ground. He was puzzled by this all.
FireWalker was dead!
He had killed her!
And she had never been strong enough to even dent his
armor!
And why was a mere bruise to his leg enough topple him?
Footsteps echoed through the bewildering landscape of
nightmare and reality. Through the colored veils drifting around his optics
Dinobot recognized Optimus Primal -- somehow blurred and out of focus.
Why was it so hard for him to concentrate? Dinobot tried to warn him, but
somehow he couldn't speak. His voice box was frozen.
Dinobot's memory was sketchy concerning what happened
then. He thought he could see Optimus' body get hit by hundreds of kicks
and blows the Maximal leader couldn't avoid. And that he was pushed --
more thrown -- against a wall by the female Predacon. Dinobot tried to
rise, to rush to the side of his leader and help him, but he couldn't.
Your leader, a voice whispered.
She kills him and you can't do anything about it.
Failure.
Dinobot cried in denial. Driven by the need to help Optimus
he started to crawl forward. His left hand brushed over a familiar object
lying on the ground. It was more of a reflex that made him close his hand
around a gun.
And suddenly he looked into the sightless eyes of Optimus
Primal. The body was shattered and torn apart, mutilated.
"Optimus...." he whispered.
He had failed.
Again.
After he had failed to protect Optimus several times
before .... this time it had cost him his life.
Failure! Failure! Failure! the voice chanted.
He died because of you. You are worthless!
Nooooooooooooo!
.....
* * *
"We lost them."
Optimus stared at Rhinox in disbelief. "What?" he exclaimed.
"Their signals have disappeared, just like Dinobot's."
The Maximal leader leaned over Rhinox' shoulder and studied
the screen. "Any explanation? Seismic activities? Energon? Predacons?"
Rhinox shook his head. "Neither of it. As far as I can
determine, they walked into the mountain and suddenly the signals were
gone."
"Into the mountain?" Cheetor piped up. "A cave?"
"Possible. The area is constantly changing because of
the activity of the volcano close by. My instruments show a rise in the
pressure under the rock and it's only a matter of time till it blows for
real." Rhinox gestured at the monitor and Optimus nodded, recognizing the
pattern.
"If it's a cave, why won't the signal penetrate?" he
then asked.
"I wish I knew, Optimus," Rhinox sighed. "I have no explanation
for it. The energon deposits are stable -- too stable for my liking --
and I've yet to register anything out of the ordinary."
"I'm going there," Optimus decided.
"Optimus, no!" Rhinox immediately interrupted. "It's
getting dark and the area is dangerous!"
"One more reason to go now."
The Maximal leader walked over to the exit elevator.
"Let me come along!" Cheetor called after him.
"No, you stay here. Put AirRazor on stand-by in case
I run into trouble!" he ordered.
"Optimus, I object....!"
"Objection noted, Rhinox. Keep in touch." With that Optimus
lowered the elevator and a few seconds later they heard the tell-tale roar
of his thrusters.
Rhinox shook his head with a low rumble.
"And they say I'm impulsive," Cheetor muttered.
He looked up and smiled wryly. "Well, better do what
Optimus said. Get AirRazor on the com and tell her to stand by."
"Will do."
Rhinox leaned back in his chair as Cheetor went over
to the com console to contact their other flyer. His eyes were drawn once
again to the area in question. Something bothered him about it all. His
instruments told him exactly what was going on. The tilt meters registered
every movement the mountain made and it had moved quite a lot lately. The
angle of the ground had changed and the laser receptors monitored the size
of the mountain. The movement of magma inside was considerable and at a
temperature of two thousand degrees it was nothing to feel lightly about.
Swarms of microquakes erupted from under the belching behemoth and the
deformations of the earth's crust meant that the magma was just below the
surface -- ready to erupt. Most of the quakes coming in lately though had
registered as stronger.
And still the energon didn't react.
Rhinox rumbled something and punched up more data. The
energon deposits sat outside the volcano and close to where all signals
had disappeared. They were not radiating strong enough to interrupt their
sensor equipment like this and though the crystals were concentrated in
one spot they had yet to do anything else. Rhinox had studied the energon
on the planet. It was likely to react volatile to heat, extreme quakes
or explosions near by. All of that was happening here, but the energon
ignored it.
"What is going on here?" he sighed.
Cheetor came back from his short conversation with AirRazor,
looking at the various read-outs. He had no idea about seismographs, tilt
meters, strain gauges and all that technical stuff. He only knew that something
weird was going on and that he didn't like it. Optimus was broadcasting
a strong signal as he rushed toward the area in question. Somehow Cheetor
had a queasy feeling about this all.
"Could it be the aliens?" he asked quietly.
Rhinox looked at him, optics hooded. "I hope not."
* * *
:: New specimens detected ::
:: Scanning ::
* * *
Rogue had seen a lot in her time as a medic in the war,
though she had mostly done psychosis and trauma consultation field work.
But what she now saw was by far the worst. Dinobot hung limply in what
seemed to be an energy field coming from the relic in the wall, his optics
dark and unresponsive. He was in his robot form and every piece of artificial
skin he had had was missing. The 'blood', the nourishment for the skin,
smeared his metal skin and some of it had pooled on the ground below. The
'bones' were missing as well, leaving him in his normal appearance without
the beast alterations. But whoever or whatever had done this, had not stopped
there. The raptor ribcage had been torn off so violently that it had left
deep marks in the silver blue skin, opening circuits and disconnecting
them.
Rattrap made a small, choking noise. He was staring at
his fellow Maximal in horror and undisguised fear.
"We have to get him down from there," Rogue decided,
voice calm and level, and approached the unconscious Dinobot, ignoring
the relic --for now.
"Wow, Red, wait!" Rattrap called and held her back. "You
have no idea whatsoever what this thing is! What if it catches you as well?"
She smiled faintly. "Then you have to get help."
The small Maximal shook his head. "No way, lady, this
is a two-bot gig. We're in together, we leave together."
Rogue looked at the imprisoned Dinobot who had not moved
or even twitched yet. "I won't leave him here."
"Neither will I," Rattrap told her seriously, "but gettin'
caught yerself won't help."
Rogue nodded and freed herself from Rattrap's grip, slowly
walking over to the ornamented wall. The runes on the wall seemed to slither
out of proportion, never staying the same so she might read them. And amid
them all was the relic. A triangle, she saw, with what had to be an eye
in the middle. The eye had been carved with incredible attention to detail,
looking almost real, almost like it might blink every minute and stare
at her. Rogue tore her eyes away from it.
"Have you ever seen something similar before?" she asked.
Rattrap gave the wall an uneasy look. "Yeah, in a
way. Stripes found this floatin' island with a weird tower. Had some runes
an' markings all over the place as well, but none looked like these wrigglers."
"And the eye?"
Rattrap nodded. "And the eye symbol as well. Wasn't a
pleasant experience. These things are dangerous and I hate to be so close
to one!" He shuddered theatrically.
The female Maximal nodded. She felt the same though this
was her first encounter with the mysterious aliens' technology. Her optics
were drawn to Dinobot, still hanging there, and she bit her lip.
"We should contact Optimus," she decided.
"No go, sister. Already tried. Disturbances here are
incredible." Rattrap shook his head. "Though the energon levels are bearable."
Rogue had noticed that as well. Her systems were not
suffering from slow overload and she had wondered why. It seemed that this
cave was shielded.
Suddenly the light pulsed strongly and a shudder passed
through Dinobot. The other two Maximals flinched, moving instinctively
away from the field. Dinobot's body was wracked by tremors and then he
suddenly and unceremoniously crashed to the ground. Rattrap was stunned
for a moment, just standing there with his weapon in hand, but Rogue let
her medic's instincts take over. She rushed to the freed robot's side and
switched on her scanners. The readings were far from pleasant.
"Great Cybertron," she muttered.
Rattrap approached cautiously, keeping an eye on the
relic, which had shut down as it seemed, though the weird light stayed.
"How is he?" he wanted to know.
"Not good," the fox muttered, "not good at all. He lost
all his skin fluids along with the skin, his transformation circuits have
been completely mangled, 80% of his power cells are destroyed and his blocking
chip is gone."
Rattrap stared at her, then at Dinobot, who lay on the
sandy cave floor, unresponsive -- like dead. And the way he looked, he
was almost dead. Rattrap felt something inside of him twist. He and Dinobot
were at each other's throat constantly and for Rattrap it was always great
fun. It was also a way to pass boring days or to take his mind off things,
especially that they were effectively trapped on this weird world. He knew
Dinobot enjoyed the verbal fights as well or he wouldn't still participate
as 'peacefully' as he did. The former Predacon was a skilled warrior, a
fighting machine, and if he wanted to, he could turn Rattrap's insides
out, and he had had ample opportunity to do it in the past. He had never
acted though.
And now he was dying.
Rattrap shivered a bit. As much as he liked to announce
how he hated Dinobot's guts, he didn't want to see him die here -- like
this.
"We have to get him back to the Axalon," Rogue went on.
"The CR chamber is his only chance. I'll try and stabilize him, but it
won't hold forever."
"How do you want to get the big dinosaur back to the
ship?" Rattrap asked, sounding incredulous.
Rogue was taller than him -- about Optimus Primal's height
-- but even between the two of them they couldn't pull Dinobot back. It
would take days!
"Get help," the medic said, already setting to work.
He stared at her. "And leave ya here?"
"Yes."
"No way, Red, you are not staying in here with this....thing!"
"Rattrap, it's his only chance," she said reasonably.
"We can't contact the base, we can't move him and we have very little time
to get him to a CR chamber. Do you want to stay here and baby-sit or do
you want to be the one running for help?"
Rattrap looked at the mutilated, bloodied form and shuddered.
She was right he knew; he didn't have the necessary medical expertise.
And he didn't want to be cooped up in here any longer than necessary, but
he also hated to think of what might happen to her -- in the same cave
with this alien weapon. It could do what it had done to Dinobot to her
......
"All right," he finally grumbled.
Rogue smiled. "Thank you."
He sheathed his weapon. "Just be careful."
"You know I will."
With that he left, feeling very uneasy about it all.
* * *
Terrorsaur looked glumly down, studying the ground rushing
past beneath him with infrared vision. There was nothing down there. Everything
was dead, the trees withered and gray, the grass brittle. No wild life
was visible anywhere. Terrorsaur's stomach gave a growl and he sighed.
Either he had to recharge or hunt. He preferred hunting but there was nothing
here; nothing at all. And to top it all, it was dark. The afternoon sun,
which should have been low in the sky, was missing. Volcanic ash hung in
the air and obscured everything, leaving it in twilight. The ash clung
to his wing membranes and he knew he needed a few rounds in the CR chamber
to get the skin repaired.
Something buzzed at his side and he wearily looked at
his team partner. Waspinator looked curiously at everything, like a big
child, though it was dangerous to underestimate the slightly deranged flyer.
He was a dangerous fighter, but the craziness was a constant partner of
Waspinator and it sometimes drove Terrorsaur crazy as well.
"Wazzpinator see no Maximalzzz," the large wasp now said.
Terrorsaur gave a low mutter. He didn't either. He wondered
what they were doing here. Scorponok had told them that Megatron wanted
a patrol here, looking for Maximal activity, but all the activity he had
seen had come from the vulcano not far ahead. Terrorsaur hated the vulcano.
Coming to close upset his balance because of the sudden hot air bursts
and the toxic gases ate at his skin.
"There are probably none here!" he spat. "Megatron sent
us on a wild goose chase."
Waspinator flew erratically around him, humming to himself.
Suddenly he exclaimed, "Maxiiiimal!"
Terrorsaur looked down and his eyes narrowed. Yes, there
was something down there and as he zoomed in he identified the moving furry
being as a rat. A large rat. A smile passed over Terrorsaur's lips.
Rattrap.
Alone.
"I'll take care of the rat," he told Waspinator, "you
check out the vicinity! He wasn't here alone, I'm sure of that!"
Waspinator nodded eagerly and soared off, aiming for
the area Rattrap had emerged from.
* * *
Optimus had put his thrusters on full power and was racing
through the dusk as fast as he possibly could. His scanners were on full,
infrared vision on, and his mind was busy contemplating what might be going
on. Signals didn't just disappear like that. Something had happened to
Dinobot and now it had happened to Rogue and Rattrap as well.
The aliens?
The thought came up unbidden and he shivered. He had
had his encounters with the mysterious aliens who had apparently claimed
this planet as their own, changing it to their plans. First there had been
the probe, then the floating island. Both had been dangerous and nearly
lethal, though the probe had not done anything to his Maximals. It had
simply taken him apart, scanned him and then released him when Rhinox had
triggered it. Optimus still wondered whether it had really reacted to Rhinox'
device or simply decided it was time to give its victim back freedom. They
might never find out. The island had been full of opportunity but it had
been destroyed.
Optimus had lead a team to where the main part of the
island had crashed and they had explored the debris. Strangely enough,
there had been no trace of the alien tower. Optimus didn't believe it had
been completely obliterated and he also didn't think that the Predacons
had been there before them, but where was the debris? They had never found
an answer.
Had something else popped up now?
And if yes, was is as dangerous as the island or as neutral
as the probe?
Optimus shoved those thoughts aside and checked his position.
He'd be in the target area soon. He just hoped he wasn't too late.
* * *
He was alone again.
The nothingness around him flowed past, but suddenly
there was a light. It was greenish blue and it made him shudder in memory.
It was the same eerie light from the cave. The one with the relic.
Fear lanced through him.
"Who are you?" he shouted.
No answer. Just the feather-light touch again. Something
was with him here and he hated it. The touch was light but possessive ....
inquiring ... curious .... able to inflict pain and agony. It had put him
through a hell of pain the time he had been here, assaulting him with nightmarish
settings.... Why?
Dinobot gasped in surprise as an icy fist seemed to slam
into his chest, wrenching his insides out. The fist spread into tentacles,
invading his mind, tearing it apart.
"What do you want?" he screamed in pain.
Searching.
Questioning,
He groaned.
Molecules being ripped apart.
The former Predacon gasped again and his optics flickered
badly.
Digging deeper.
Into his mind.
"No," he moaned in protest.
Whispers surrounded him and the entity dug even deeper,
removing every layer of protection around his memory banks and extracting
all the information it needed. Events from his past rushed by, some lingering
longer and confronting him with things long shoved into dark corners of
his mind.
He fell into darkness again, but it was far from oblivion.
It was memories and pain.
* * *
It was dark outside. Rattrap briefly looked up into the
sky. It was pitch black and he had no idea whether it was normal darkness
or simply the volcanic ash. He shivered. Close by the mountain rumbled
and quakes shook the ground. Rattrap stopped.
"Whooo, fun," he muttered.
Close by, the ground cracked a bit and steam hissed out
of the fissure. Rattrap decided to get the hell out of here now! He had
to get in contact with Optimus and for that he had to get away from the
cave with the relic. Thinking about the relic brought back the sharp reminder
that Rogue and Dinobot were alone with that thing, and it had already skinned
Dinobot alive! He didn't want to imagine what else the former Predacon
had been put through as well.
Rattrap ran down the side of the rock face and then made
for a distance, all the time trying to get an open channel. Without luck.
He cursed under his breath and kept on trying.
Suddenly there was a whoosh of air.
"Terrorsaur, terrorize!"
"Oh, no," the small Maximal muttered. "Just what I needed."
* * *
Low rumbles could be heard and it was most likely the
still bubbling and belching volcano. Magma boiled beneath the surface not
far away and Rogue's sensitive equipment was registering every tiny shockwave.
The carbon dioxide levels around her were rising and though she didn't
need oxygen to function, her organic skin did and it might die of oxygen
deprivation if she stayed here too long. It wasn't a life threatening condition
if her skin died -- it could be replaced -- but if she ventured outside
the cave, which apparently protected them, she'd short out soon. The volcano
was far enough away that she wouldn't get hit by the outbreak -- and it
would happen soon -- but the whole area was seismic and she didn't want
to be here when it finally happened. She turned down her sensitivity and
concentrated on her patient. She had done what she could to stabilize Dinobot
for now, but he needed more help soon -- and if Rattrap didn't get back
with help and the necessary equipment, she had to improvise. Having some
time to inspect the cave now, she looked around.
The cave was several times the size of the Axalon's main
cargo deck and also several times its height. The walls appeared very smooth
and completely black. Rogue touched one of the walls and almost flinched
back. The walls were warm! She pressed her palm against the wall and activated
her sensors. She took readings and puzzled about them. She'd have to evaluate
them later, though this first reading told her more than she wanted to
know. The walls were not warmed by the magma streams in the area and there
was no heat source as such. They were simply warm.
Rogue went over to the wall with the runes and tried
to fix one of them. It was impossible. They evaded every scan she had,
so she concentrated on the relic. She took readings of its size, noted
the fine details and also registered how the glow had dimmed. The eye stared
back at her, unblinking, dead but still looking so alive. She shivered.
The medic studied the whole cave, and took minute scan
it all again. Then she returned to Dinobot's side, checking him. He was
getting worse. She and Dinobot had never been friends, but she felt with
every patient she had and it wrenched her fuel pump to see him like this.
Thinking about it, Dinobot had evaded her from day one and he had never
been anything but outright hostile had they been on a team. Rattrap had
jovially told her that 'that is just old Chopperface', but she knew there
was more behind it than she being new and he being a Predacon. She had
no prejudice concerning Predacons and he knew of her work.
And maybe that was the problem.
Rogue had encountered a lot of prejudice concerning her
profession in the past and everyone who didn't know what a trained psychologist
really did thought she was constantly examining people. She wasn't. If
she would, she'd suffer from an overload soon. All the others treated her
normally, each in his or her own way, but Dinobot couldn't get used to
her.
Damn, she thought darkly as the levels sank further.
She'd have to do an emergency surgery to restore the severely damaged power
cells.
Rogue sighed deeply. It would be tricky and it would
involve transplanting parts from her own body. Very tricky. And if Rattrap
didn't get here soon, she'd have to do it.
Very soon.
* * *
:: Specimen scanned ::
:: Filing scans ::
:: End examination ::
* * *
Cold eyes regarded him. Scanners took apart his body.
His mind was raped of its knowledge.
Still searching.
Ever deeper.
Dinobot tried to shut them all out, but there was no
way he could evade the questioning tentacles, the curious eyes who were
so cold and still kind of compassionate.
"Who are you?"
The scanning continued.
He got a glimpse of something vast and alien and it made
him shudder.
Then his mind seemed to explode.
And suddenly the scans stopped.
He whimpered and collapsed, curling into a ball. He was
in pain, his mind open and vulnerable, his memories open to whoever claimed
them.
"Why?" he whispered.
There was no answer.
* * *
Rattrap sat behind a boulder, cursing softly to himself,
sometimes losing a shot in the general direction of Terrorsaur, who was
pounding his cover with laser fire. Rock shrapnel sprayed over him and
the wicked laughter of his attacker floated through the dusk. Another tremor
shook the ground and Rattrap clenched his teeth. Not far away from him,
the volcano belched and Rattrap had the distinct impression he should get
out of here soon!
"Come out and fight, Maximal coward!" Terrorsaur screamed
and pelted the rock.
"Coward, huh?" Rattrap aimed and gave off three shots,
which came close to scorching Terrorsaur's wing and one even hit his shoulder.
The Predacon flyer was thrown back a bit but found his
balance again too soon. Rattrap ran for a new cover, laser blasts following
him. Another tremor passed through the ground and he stumbled. Steam shot
out of a newly opened fissure and obscured his vision, simultaneously also
hiding him from Terrorsaur. The Predacon swooped in lower to acquire his
target. Rattrap landed a good blast, but Terrorsaur was not so easy to
get rid off. His next shot, this time one of his missiles, hit the Maximal
in the chest and slammed him back against the rock wall. Rattrap gave an
'ouff' and slipped down the wall onto the ground. His chest circuits hurt
and the skin was badly scorched.
"Time to end this game," Terrorsaur said in satisfaction.
"Quite right," another voice said behind him.
Terrorsaur whirled around and received a blow full in
the chest by Optimus Primal. He was thrown back and crashed down.
Optimus walked over to where Rattrap was trying to get
to his feet. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, fine." Rattrap leaned against the boulder
and dusted himself off, wincing a bit. The missile had hurt him quite a
bit.
"But not much longer," a pleasant voice said.
Optimus turned and his energon pump did a little jump.
"Megatron!" he whispered.
The large t-rex smiled amiably. Inferno and BlackArachnia
were with him, both now transforming and pointing their weapons at them.
"Tell me we have back-up," Rattrap hissed.
Optimus gave him a rueful smile and the smaller Maximal
stared.
"That's just prime!" he moaned.
* * *
Rogue removed the power cell, gingerly holding it between
thumb and forefinger, then closed the open connection in her own body.
Her systems kicked back in and then came up with a failure -- well,
several of them. She ignored it all and then shut down her diagnostics
for the time being. She knew what was missing and/or malfunctioning. She
didn't need to be reminded. Closing her chest cover she smoothed her fur
and then proceeded to continue her operation on Dinobot. She carefully
cleaned and restored broken circuits and wires, then implanted the power
cell. Dinobot's systems went on-line and started running, though it was
a low-power operation. His last twenty percent were almost not enough to
boot the power cell and get it operational as it should be. Then the readings
climbed and he went to twenty-five then thirty percent. Rogue ran a complete
medical check on him and sighed. Not much better than before. He needed
more than one donated cell, but at least he now had a better chance of
survival.
The medic sat back and looked at her patient. He looked
dreadful and she decided she'd at least start cleaning him up a bit. It
gave her something to do and take her mind off the eye on the wall. She
hated to be in this cave -- alone. As she began the clean-up she continued
to check the energon levels on Dinobot.
Tentacles reaching out for him, penetrating his body.
Searching.
Pain.
Digging deeper.
Removing all protection.
Vulnerable.
All over his body......
Dinobot's arm jerked up and grabbed her hand, almost crushing
it. She yelped in surprise and jumped back, though his hold on her made
a retreat impossible.
Keep away!
Leave me alone.
So weak......
Can't fight.
Resist!
Dinobot's hand went limp and a shudder went through him.
A moan could be heard, very faint, almost non-existent.
"Dinobot?" Rogue asked.
His optics flickered, then flared once in bright red
and an emotion she recognized as pain, then dulled considerably. A rasping
noise passed his lips.
So much pain.
Maddening.
The presence was all around him.
Scanning.
"Dinobot, it's Rogue."
A familiar voice.
Help me?
Maybe a trick!
Don't trust!
He gave a moan of denial and suddenly jerked up. Rogue
was knocked over, stunned by the explosion of movement. She got to her
feet. Dinobot was flinching away from her, his optics reflecting a terror
than terrified her as well. Then they turned the green of a charging laser
and she yelled in surprise as he missed her by an inch.
"Dinobot! No, stop!"
Kill the enemy!
No more power.
So weak.
Grasping tentacles.
Darkness rolling toward him.
He choked out a cry and scrambled away. She had never
seen such absolute, deeply rooted fear. He didn't see her, Rogue realized,
he lived in a nightmare. And then Dinobot went limp again, breaking down
with a moan, twitching, his circuits strained and the power cells dangerously
low again. Rogue ran over to him, scanners on full. Dinobot had curled
up and flinched at her touch -- as if it hurt him. She registered increased
cranial unit activity, to a point where she was afraid he'd short circuit
himself. He was indeed locked in a nightmare -- one repeating itself over
and over again.
"It's okay," she soothed. "I'm here."
It didn't register with him. He was under too deep. Finally
he quieted down nevertheless, though he didn't relax. Rogue sat back and
sighed, shaking her head. Her optics were drawn over to the relic. What
had this thing done to Dinobot? And how could she undo it?
* * *
AirRazor had closed in on the target area, still on stand-by,
looking for any suspicious movements. All she saw right now was the threatening
cone of the volcano in the distance and thinking back to a few days ago
when she had flown reconnaissance for Rhinox around it, she shivered a
bit. Battling an enemy like the Predacons was one thing, but going up against
the untamed forces of nature was something completely different. Dinobot
had gone missing inside the seismic area and Rattrap and Rogue had disappeared
as well. Now Optimus was on is way to investigate and AirRazor had to agree
with Rhinox that he should not have gone alone. But that was just Optimus.
She smiled a bit.
Suddenly something caught her eye. She zoomed in on the
quadrant and gasped. "Predacons!"
AirRazor counted three of the enemy closing in fast on
where Optimus was headed as well and she tried to get in contact with the
Maximal leader. To her utter dismay, the line was blocked. She hailed the
Axalon and immediately got Rhinox on the com. Strange.....
"We got trouble here," she told him. "I can't raise Optimus
and three Preds are closing in on him."
She almost felt Rhinox suppressed curse. "Cheetor is
on his way. Watch them, but don't engage actively!"
AirRazor affirmed and continued watching. But things
soon got hot and she had no other choice.
She engaged.
* * *
Waspinator had scanned the area where Rattrap had come
from, evading the steaming cracks and the volcano as such, but it was getting
more and more difficult to see anything from up in the air. Ash particles
blocked his view and he finally decided to land. Transforming, he touched
down. His scanners were working overtime and he looked nervously at the
mountain just in front of him, glowing and steaming in the approaching
darkness. He didn't like the volcano. It was too volatile right now and
when he looked closely, he could see glowing fissures in the ground. Magma
was coming to the surface.
The flyer looked for any traces of Maximals. There were
no visible tracks, but a gut feeling told him something was strange here.
He had walked for a time, evading cracks and wishing the tremors would
stop when he discovered the cave. An eerie light glowed in the cave's mouth.
"Uuuhh, Wazzzpinator no like," he muttered.
But he had his orders: search for Maximals and maybe
the others were in there where the light was. He approached the cave, nervously
clicking his mandibles. Above him, the volcano continued to send dark clouds
into the night sky, obscuring the stars, and the quakes strengthened.
* * *
Terrorsaur had crashed down close to where Waspinator had walked into the cave and it was pure coincidence that he saw the narrow entrance as well. Intrigued by the strange light he approached. Several earthquakes gave him a hard time though. The ground split beneath him and he was enveloped in steam erupting from beneath. Terrorsaur coughed and stumbled, then launched himself into the air and flew over to the entrance.
* * *
Both sides were locked in battle and Optimus ducked quickly
as Megatron's blast chopped off a piece of the rocky shelter and sprayed
it on him.
"We are getting nowhere like this!" he growled angrily.
Rattrap had relayed to him in brief words what had happened,
how they had found the cave, discovered Dinobot and how Rogue had decided
Rattrap should get help while she tended to Dinobot. Optimus had winced
at the description of the wounds and the relic, adding one and one and
coming up an a dangerous artifact in a cave where Rogue was trapped with
Dinobot. Well, not exactly trapped, but he also knew she wouldn't leave
him. Her medic's instincts were too strong. She had once nearly been shot
up while trying to save Cheetor, who had been injured so badly he would
not have made it back if not for her help. She would stay and tend to Dinobot
-- whatever the cost.
Optimus sighed and fired at Megatron, who lost two of
his missile at his position in turn. Optimus flung himself down as the
rock shelter was nearly pulverized and then pounded the Predacon with some
of his own fire, driving him back.
"Man!" Rattrap cried as he dove for cover as well. "I've
had enough of this!"
Inferno laughed madly.
Optimus was too busy with Megatron to help. AirRazor
swooped down and attacked Inferno, and between the two of them, they
finally had the advantage and pounded Inferno. The large Predacon fought
back with his flame thrower and gun, but in the end he was blown back by
a combined shot, breaking down and staying down. Rattrap grinned in triumph.
Further away, Cheetor had engaged BlackArachnia and had
found out that the spider was not so easily defeated. A stray bullet from
her machine gun legs had even punctured his skin and he was experiencing
difficulties concerning the movement of his right arm.
"Time to say goody-bye, pussy cat!" BlackArachnia chuckled.
Cheetor growled and attacked despite his weakness. She
greeted him with a kick in the chest and he flew back. Another kick to
his head let him stagger and a third kick brought him down on his knees.
"Well, well, well," she said and walked over to the dazed
Maximal, "what have we here?"
Another kick. Cheetor keeled over, groaning a bit. BlackArachnia
grabbed him by the throat and hauled him to his feet. She smiled triumphantly
as he glared back.
"Bye, bye, kitty cat! -- ouff!"
Cheetor dropped as she released him and he coughed, crawling
away, his left hand hurting. The armor around her stomach area was hard
and even though he had channeled all energy into the muscle-cables of his
left arm, it had not really cracked, but his blow had severely dented it
-- as well as jarred his arm. BlackArachnia stumbled, one claw grabbing
her bruised stomach.
"You'll pay for this!" she hissed.
"Not today, sister!"
AirRazor's darts hit the female Predacon and she gave
a furious scream as she fell forward. Sparks erupted from her punctured
back. AirRazor landed beside Cheetor, who staggered to his feet, looking
dazed and severely bruised himself.
"You all right?" she asked.
"I will be," he managed.
At that moment the ground shook again and Cheetor almost
fell against AirRazor. The volcano belched and grumbled and more fissure
popped up, steam clouding their vision.
"I don't like this!" AirRazor breathed.
"Huh. Guess who else?" Cheetor muttered.
His optics were drawn to the cone. Magma was bubbling
beneath the thin crust and when it blew.... He shuddered. More tremors
passed through the ground, one stronger than the other.
"Time to bail out!" Cheetor called.
"We have to get to Rogue and Dinobot!" AirRazor told
him. "They are in a cave somewhere! Optimus and Rattrap are occupying Megatron.
We have to get to them."
"You got it! But how?"
AirRazor transformed and hovered above him. "Rattrap
knows where the cave is. You give Optimus a hand, Rattrap and I can get
the others."
"Roger that." Cheetor transformed and headed over to
where Megatron was giving the other two Maximals a hard time. He radioed
Rattrap and told him they'd switch places. Optimus only nodded in agreement
as Rattrap shot him a questioning look.
"Go!" he told the smaller Maximal.
Rattrap nodded, transformed and ran off. Cheetor joined
Optimus and together they tried to keep Megatron occupied long enough for
Rogue and Dinobot to get out of the cave and to safety.
Around them, the landscape was rattled and shaken by
the ever-strengthening quakes.
* * *
The winding and narrow tunnel finally ended in a giant,
black cave, filled with the wavering and eerie light that had accompanied
him through the tunnel for the whole time. Waspinator slowed down, weapon
ready -- and froze.
"Fox-bot!" Waspinator stared at the slender, dark red
Maximal standing protectively in front of a severely damaged Dinobot.
Dinobot was no threat at all. His body was torn and mutilated,
his skin missing, part of his circuits underneath the metal skin visible.
But then there was Rogue. He was stopped dead in his tracks, body and mind,
only able to continue staring at her. He couldn't do anything else for
a full two seconds. Then his stinger gun fell to his side.
"You here?" he whispered.
Rogue looked at him warily, something that hurt him a
bit. "Are you alone?"
He nodded. "Terrorsaur hunting for other Maximal. Waspinator
look for more Maximalzzz."
"You found more."
He hesitated. "Yezzz," he finally said.
"You have to either shoot me or lie to Terrorsaur. You
know he'll come here anyway to check on what you tell him."
Waspinator looked terrified of those decisions. "Waspinator
not want to hurt Fox-bot. Fox-bot friend."
Rogue smiled gently. "Yes, we are friends, but you are
also a Predacon, Waspinator. If you don't kill me, they will eventually
find out about our friendship. It will have terrible consequences for you."
"Reprogram," he muttered.
"If you are lucky."
The flyer flinched. "Not kill you," he then decided.
Rogue walked slowly over to him and touched his forearm.
He looked into her understanding green optics.
"You are my friend, Waspinator," she said carefully.
"We've known each other since the war and we've always been on different
sides. If you act against your faction's rules, it will get you killed.
I'd hate to see that."
"Not kill!"
"It might be your only chance."
Waspinator gave a soft moan. He was torn between his
Predacon oath as a warrior and a deep friendship to the one he was now
facing. He would have sooner shot at Megatron than at her, but if he didn't
act now, everything might be lost. The other Predacons would find out about
his lingering friendly feelings toward a Maximal and kill Rogue and then
maybe him. He buzzed in emotional turmoil.
Rogue walked back to her wounded friend, kneeling down
and checking him for life signs. Postponing his decision, Waspinator followed
her and studied Dinobot's wounds. He frowned as he once again noted the
missing skin. There were no skin pieces lying anywhere in the dark, strange
cave and he wondered what had happened.
Then his optics fell on the rune-covered wall -- and
widened. His mind flashed violently back to the floating island and how
he had barely come out of the experience alive.
The tower.
The strange energies.
Pain.
Someone touched his arm and shook him gently. He looked
at Rogue.
"What's wrong?"
"Bad plazzze," he buzzed.
She looked at the symbols. "I know. It did that to Dinobot,"
she nodded at the wounds, "and I have the strangest feelings being here."
"Bad," he repeated.
"Have you seen anything like this before?"
He nodded.
Rogue tilted her head. "Can you tell me about it?"
Waspinator shot her a pained look. He hated to remember
the island.
"Please?"
And he told her. Slowly, interrupted by agitated buzzing
and pacing. Rogue watched him, noted his body language and the fear audible
in his voice, then studied the symbols. They still swirled, but they were
a bit less vague now. A weapon. A defense system. A mystery. This strange
relic was all in one, as it seemed. It had nearly killed Dinobot, but it
also kept them safe from energon overload, and she had yet to discover
the true nature of it.
"Not like," Waspinator muttered, pulling her out of her
thoughts.
"Me neither, my friend. It's dangerous, but it also keeps
my patient alive for now. It is responsible for his current condition but
also protects his body from energon damage. I'd like nothing more than
to get out of here, but I won't leave him."
Waspinator shot her an unreadable look. "Sometimes friendship
dangerouzzz," he then said slowly.
She answered the strange look with one of her own, smiling
a bit. "But most of the time it's worth it."
And then Terrorsaur stepped out of the tunnel and into
the relic cave.
Waspinator made his decision in a split second. He had
to keep Rogue safe. He had to keep their secret. He had to make sure he
wouldn't be scrapped by Megatron because if the Predacon leader ever found
out about this very special relationship, he'd simply tear him apart --
or worse: reprogram him. And Waspinator knew he could not ever betray
the Predacons and turn over to the Maximals. He was a Predacon. Rogue was
a Maximal. They were enemies here, even though they were friends.
He raised the stinger weapon again and pulled the
trigger.
Something inside him twisted in absolute and core deep
pain as Rogue was thrown back and connected hard with the wall behind her.
Circuits sparked and then she collapsed, the shoulder wound leaking fluids.
Waspinator looked at her and had he had a more open facial
structure, he would have stared at what he had done with anguished optics.
But, thankfully, he hadn't.
"More Maximals?" Terrorsaur asked in glee. His optics
fell on the dying Dinobot and the now damaged Rogue. "Not much longer as
it seems!"
Waspinator felt like tearing him apart. "Maximalzzz dead,"
he reported dutifully.
Terrorsaur went over to Dinobot and kicked him. He large
Maximal didn't respond. Then the ground shook hard and both nearly lost
their balance.
"Let's report back to Megatron," Terrorsaur decided with
glee. "This is definitely good news. Two down and only a few more battered
ones to go."
Waspinator followed him as he left the cave, shooting
pained looks back at Rogue. Around him, the cave walls were cracking and
the light wavered. Rock dust drizzled down on the prone form.
What had he done?
* * *
Rhinox took part in what was happening, though only from
his position in front of the computer monitors. But they told him enough....maybe
too much for his liking. The seismometers were going haywire and data scrolled
down the screens.
"Oh, no," he muttered to himself. "Harmonic tremors .....
eruption tremors.... The magma's moving..."
He keyed in several command and brought up a three-D
projection of the volcano. Angry red lines crossed through the cone, but
the worst was a rising level of magma in its middle. His sensors registered
high steam pressure which was not vented through small belches but kept
on building.
And then an alarm went off.
"Slag!" Rhinox exclaimed.
More alarms sounded.
The energon was suddenly going unstable!
He punched the com console to open a line but it was
impossible. Static greeted him. Rhinox stared helplessly at his read-outs.
Everything had just gone critical and there was no way to warn Optimus....
* * *
:: Energon overload ::
:: Save data ::
:: Begin shut down procedures ::
* * *
The ground shook hard and rock pillars collapsed. Optimus
was thrown to the ground. Megatron had his own difficulties and seemed
to realize that this area was slowly turning into a danger zone.
"Predacons, retreat!" he shouted as a cascade of rocks
rushed down the mountain side, some of the large boulders nearly hitting
him.
"I think he got a really good idea there!" Cheetor gasped,
half-kneeling on the ground.
Optimus looked at the volcano's cone. A dark gray plume
boiled up out of it into the sky. No more venting steam, he realized. This
mountain was now blowing ash and toxic gases in heaps and the eruption
was not much further away. He tried to contact AirRazor or Rattrap, but
the interferences or whatever made it impossible.
And then something blew in the distance. Optimus flinched
and stared at the fiery display, recognizing it.
"Energon!" he whispered.
"It's going up!" Cheetor exclaimed. "But it was so stable!"
"Not any longer!" Optimus shouted over another explosion.
"We have to find the others and bail out!"
The earthquakes were now coming hard on top of each other
and the world turned mad.
* * *
Terrorsaur had instantly taken to the sky, fighting off
volcanic ash and battling hot updrafts, closely followed by Waspinator.
Neither of the two Predacons saw the two Maximals racing toward the cave's
enteric. AirRazor was the first inside, mainly because she was not hampered
by strong quakes upsetting her balance, then Rattrap jumped the last obstacle
and raced after her. The eerie light in the tunnel was almost gone and
the quakes shook everything so hard that the walls were slowly moving in
on each other. Rattrap cursed. He burst into the cave chamber and was greeted
by a nightmarish situation.
Rogue was kneeling on the ground, her body covered in
fine rock dust, one shoulder badly charred. She was trying to protect Dinobot,
who had moved from his last position, as Rattrap saw, and now lay half
curled up. The cave showed large cracks along the smooth walls and the
ceiling. The relic had stopped glowing and the light emanated from everywhere
else. The runes had also stopped moving, but now they looked even more
frightening than before. All over the place rock pillars thrust up from
the floor, all the same smooth black as the whole cave, and it was only
a matter of time until one came too close to the injured Dinobot -- and
maybe even through him.
AirRazor was already at Rogue's side, taking in the complicated
situation. The cave echoed with the loud quakes and the cracking of stone.
"We gotta move!" Rattrap yelled.
An explosion could be heard and he winced. He knew that
sound. He had been too close to it once and there were some things you
never forgot.
"The energon deposits are blowing!"
Rogue looked alarmed, then her optics darted over to
her patient. "We can't move him out of the cave! He'd short out!"
"He'll be rather squashed if we don't!" Rattrap shot
back. "It's either stasis lock, which you can cure, or Dino-Pancake, which
is rather permanent! Now move it, Red!"
Rogue got to her feet and Rattrap briefly wondered about
her burned shoulder. It looked suspiciously like a stinger had hit her.....
Well, he had time to ask her about it later. For now he would be happy
to see them all out of here, though he doubted there was a better situation
outside now.
Between the three of them, they managed to get Dinobot
into the tunnel and proceeded down the tight corridor of rock toward the
exit. The stone around them groaned and Rattrap had the distinct impression
of the walls moving in. Wait a moment! They were moving in.
The four Maximals burst out of the cave into hell on
earth. Behind them the cave's tunnel kept narrowing considerably and finally
crumbled. Dust exploded out of the cave's mouth.
Atop the mountain, a dome had been building. Pressure
was rising and the strain was incredible, deforming the rock, pushing magma
up. Now the rock dome was reaching a critical point, the pressure it was
under too much for it.
A fissure opened.
A bright spray of magma erupted from the mountain, opening
the fissure even more and first a fountain, then a constant stream of lava
exploded, lighting up the night. It flowed toward the rim of the crater,
constantly getting more, until it overflowed the rim. Running down the
side of the mountain, ever-growing in size and mass, it looked like a fiery
river. A river of molten rock.
Optimus saw his team and ran over, coughing and trying
to get his optics to penetrate the toxic air, polluted by ash and small
debris. The three Maximals had difficulties staying on their feet, just
like and Cheetor, and they had to support Dinobot as well.
"Let's go!" he yelled over the roar of the volcano and
the grounding of rock.
Earthquakes were simply flowing now and then the mountain
spewed up the first jet of red hot lava.
Optimus grabbed Dinobot and slung him over one shoulder,
ignoring the devastating condition his friend was in.
"Fly him out of here!" Rogue yelled over the sizzle of
steaming lava. "He has to go to a CR chamber fast!"
Optimus knew it was the only way. He nodded and ignited
his thrusters, taking off into the night sky, illuminated by the glowing
lava.
"AirRazor, take Rattrap!" Rogue suddenly ordered.
"Hey, wait a second!" Rattrap interrupted. "Since when
are you the boss around here?"
Another quake shook them hard and the mountain belched
dangerously.
"Since we are about to get flooded by lava!" she called.
"Now move! Cheetor and I are fast enough to run out of here!"
Rattrap was sure that was true about Cheetor, but he
wasn't so sure about Rogue.
"Move!"
With that Rogue transformed and darted through the ever-changing
landscape. Before Rattrap could protest more, AirRazor grabbed him with
her talons and lifted him up into the air, her wings beating furiously.
Cheetor was already racing after Rogue.
Suddenly one of the energon deposits went up between
them. Cheetor was flung aside and connected hard with a rock. He got to
his feet, shaking his head and looking around.
"Rogue?" he yelled.
No answer. Where his path out of here had been was only
a crater, glowing with the remnants of energon crystals.
"Rogue!"
The mountain growled and he flinched. He had to move
now! Searching out a new path he continued his flight, fearing the worst
had happened to his fellow Maximal.
Behind him, the mountain was beginning to erupt in earnest.
The entire floor of the volcano crater had become a shuddering, ever-rising
dome, the pressure beneath it still rising. Superheated steam and
bluish clouds of sulfuric acid and fluorine vented through the fissure
with a violence rarely seen in nature. This volcano would blow big and
it would blow now. Fountains of red hot lava burst constantly from the
volcano, running, pooling together, building up.....
The temperature on the outside of the mountain had risen
constantly, evaporating every drop of water and burning the dry, dead grass
still clutching to small parts of it.
A big earthquake hit. One of the worst and most destructive.
It flung Cheetor forward and he stumbled, barely able to catch his footing.
He kept on running, panting heavily, his speed faster than he had ever
been. His life was depending on it. He finally had enough distance between
him and the volcano to stop, gasping hard, completely out of breath. Even
if he had wanted to, he couldn't move another foot. He looked at the dome
and then gaped.
The distant dome seemed to blur, to go out of focus.
Then the whole northern slope began to slide, as if in slow motion. It
opened the mountain to the prying eye and revealed its guts. From behind
the slope a gigantic eruption ripped out of the volcano. Super-heated,
steam-charged magma burst forth with an incalculable energy, pushed by
the tremendous upwelling pressure beneath. It expanded in nanosecond and
then it went super-nova. Cheetor could only stare as the mountain went
up in an ungodly roar, splattering all over the place. A black ash cloud
rose several miles into the sky. Bolts of strange-colored lightning streaked
through the night sky.
And Cheetor was witness to it all. The mega-explosion
was something he knew he would never forget. It was a spectacle of nature......
and it might have cost one of their team her life.
"Rogue...." he whispered.
* * *
:: Overload warning ::
:: Shields down ::
:: Energon ... non-existent ::
Inside the cave, the relic blew, shattering into millions
of fragments. The light died abruptly, then the cave collapsed onto itself.
Lava welled up through the cracks and flooded the cave.
The relic ceased to exist.
* * *
Inside the Axalon, Rhinox felt the shockwaves of the quakes.
Everything around him was shaking, trembling ..... something crashed and
splintered. Rhinox held on to his chair, trying to keep himself from getting
flung out of it as the shockwaves grew stronger. The Axalon groaned and
so did Rhinox. If this grew even worse.... he didn't want to think about
it.
The monitors displayed data from the sensors in the volcano
area, but some were already experiencing trouble. Then the first one died
completely. Rhinox knew where it was positioned and he moaned. Several
more went, obliterated by the forces of natures.
And then the volcano blew.
The resulting shockwave dislocated Rhinox from the chair
onto the floor and he lay there, waiting for the quakes to stop. The Axalon
shook and groaned, sliding slightly to one side but didn't topple.
Finally everything quieted down and he was at his station
in a flash, trying to call up data. All his probes in the mountain were
destroyed, but what they had relayed before going was interesting enough.
Rhinox ignored the data flow for now and concentrated on checking the tectonic
plate. It had shifted, but not as badly as he would have predicted. Still,
it had shifted and he would have to have a close eye on it. He then did
a check on the Axalon and was greeted by several strain alarms. Some parts
would need closer checks and repairs.
Rhinox sighed silently. This had gone by better than
expected. Now he only had to wait and see how the others had fared. He
hoped everyone had come out of this hell alive.
* * *
Rogue was thrown aside by the powerful explosion and when
she tried to get to her feet, the ground beneath her sagged. Her paws scrambled
to get some footing, but there was none. The rock tilted more and she gasped
as she slid down, transforming quickly and ramming her fingers into the
rocky surface. She fought for a hold, sliding further and her sensors detected
magma rising below her. Steam exploded and she coughed, her organic skin
blistering. Rogue looked around and then grabbed for an outcropping, holding
on and swinging her body over. Her servos protested and the heat became
unbearable for her body. An organic being would be already dead, but she
wasn't organic. Her body fluids were boiling instead and her skin was attacked
by the searing heat and the acid gases.
Pulling herself up she tried to reach the rim of the
chasm she was hanging in. Her fingers dug into the ground and pure will
to survive drove her. It was a slow process and the constant quakes didn't
help one bit. Finally she lay half over the rim, feeling the ground beneath
her buck, heard the low growl. Blurred optics fixed on the volcano and
she knew it was near blowing.
She was dead. Whatever she would do now, wherever she
ran, she wouldn't be fast enough to evade the red hot death inside this
behemoth. Still, survival instincts could not be surpressed and she crawled
away from the rim. She transformed into her beast form and tried to run,
but it was impossible. She coughed, her body trembling from over-exertion
and the heat damage it had taken.
A volcanic bomb exploded close to her -- a chunk of semisolid
lava coming out of the crater miles away. The bomb struck and blew up earth
around her like a mortar explosion, the resulting shockwave toppling Rogue,
slamming her forward. She coughed and groaned. Another bomb struck and
she was slammed forward again. Absolute pandemonium reigned around her,
shockwaves rolling down from the mountain, flattening all vegetation still
upright.
Rogue staggered once more, but she was weak and her body
was betraying her. And then something grabbed her from above. She was lifted
off the ground and gained height, carried by her savior. Underneath her
she could see the volcano blowing. She had never seen anything more spectacular,
more beautiful .... more awe-inspiring. Then she looked up, trying to see
who had rescued her and stopped.
"Waspinator?" she coughed.
Waspinator shot away from the volcano, then aimed for
a spot outside the immediate danger zone. He set her down very carefully,
then transformed. Rogue did the same, her skin steaming and flaking. She'd
have to get a session in the CR chamber.
Waspinator was wringing his hands, looking like he wanted
nothing more than to disappear into the ground. Anguished optics stared
at Rogue and though he wasn't easy to read, she had no problems. He was
deeply, deeply disturbed by what he had done.
"Fox-bot okay?" he asked, voice wavering.
She smiled. "Yes, I am okay. No permanent damage done."
"Good. Wazzzpinator not want to hurt Fox-bot," he told
her hurriedly, apologetically.
"I know. You did what was necessary. Because of your
action, I survived."
"Shot you!"
"But you didn't kill me."
Waspinator sighed. "Wazzzpinator hurt you. Hurt friend.
Bad thing."
Before she could say something, Waspinator looked around
in alarm.
"Maxiiimal!" he exclaimed, then transformed and shot
off into the night-sky, which was illuminated by the glowing red of the
lava.
Cheetor jumped out of the darkness, looking badly singed
himself, his fur stained with black.
"You are alive!" he exclaimed.
Rogue smiled tiredly. "Looks like it."
Cheetor smiled happily. "Are you okay?"
"Nothing too bad. A bit of heat damage, singed fur and
bruised skin. Probably the same amount of damage you sustained."
Cheetor shrugged. "No heat damage but enough burned fur
to smell badly." He grinned. "Let's get going. I want to put enough distance
between me and that volcano as possible."
"Gotcha."
Rogue transformed and trotted after him. Behind them
the spectacle continued, though much quieter now. The quakes went down
in strength though the lava flowed in great quantities. Now and then steam
hissed out of fissures in the ground, but no longer as violently as before.
It was over.
* * *
Scorponok breathed a sigh of relief, allowing himself
to relax now, though not completely. Tarantulas picked himself up from
the floor and Scorponok felt a smirk cross over his lips. He wiped it off
quickly and went over to his instruments to check. He breathed a second
sigh of relief when he saw the results. No grave changes to the volcanic
activity beneath them. The shockwaves had changed some superficial features
of the landscape around the Predacon ship, but it had done no bigger damage.
Of course they had to repair some supports, but that were small things.
The sun was already rising when Megatron returned with
a damaged BlackArachnia and Inferno, Terrorsaur complaining about acid
damage and Waspinator buzzing around as always. The Predacon leader was
in a rather foul mood, which had less to do with the fact that the Maximals
had escaped and more with his own volcano damage. They had all made it
out in the nick of time.
But his mood lifted when he heard about the now destroyed
cave and the relic. Both Terrorsaur and Waspinator dutifully gave their
reports.
"Another alien artifact, yesss," Megatron muttered. "Intriguing."
He looked thoughtfully over the bridge. Scorponok recognized
that look and shivered a bit. Megatron knew something the others didn't
and it made him more dangerous than Tarantulas and the other schemers would
ever want to believe. But Scorponok shut up about it. Megatron was his
leader and he would support him, whatever the cost.
* * *
Optimus looked at the CR chamber and wondered when the
tight feeling in his energon pump would pass. Dinobot had made it back.
Stasis lock had set in shortly before they had arrived and he had radioed
Rhinox to prepare the CR chamber fast. He had flown in at nearly top speed
and Rhinox had plugged Dinobot from his grip, getting him into the chamber
and switching it on. They had to get him stabilized before they could repair
any of the deeper damage done to him. He needed the organic skin back and
that would take a while since his nutritious fluids also had be replaced.
AirRazor and Rattrap had returned shortly afterwards
and they had also made radio contact with Cheetor and Rogue, who had come
out of this seismic hell in more or less one piece.
Now, three days later, everything had quieted down in
the volcano area and Rhinox was busy evaluating data. Dinobot had come
out of the CR chamber half an hour earlier and hardly spoken a word. His
face had been a mask and Optimus blamed the near-death experience for the
former Predacon's behavior.
Turning to the science station, Optimus decided to watch
things develop first and then act. Rhinox welcomed his help with the volcano
data and a few minutes later he was deeply engrossed in his data.
*
Rogue had had her severely damaged skin replaced and was
soon back to full operational status. Since Dinobot was still in the CR
chamber at the time, she began to file away what she had seen and felt
in the cave. She did a point-by-point drawing of the relic and tried to
remember how the runes had looked when she had been able to catch a glimpse.
Her files grew and she knew she wanted to compare her own memories to what
was stored in the computer banks about the alien structures.
Two days after the eruption and the events in the cave,
she walked along the perimeter of the seismic area, following a request
from Rhinox. She and Cheetor had installed new sensors, since the old ones
had been obliterated in the lava. They finished setting the new seismographs
and tilt meters and Cheetor headed back.
"I'll have a stroll to stretch my legs," Rogue told him
and he nodded.
"Just be careful. Might be Preds in the area."
She smiled. You might be right, she thought. Aloud she
said, "Don't worry."
And Cheetor headed off.
Now she was alone and she studied the landscape around
her. Everything was covered by slowly cooling lava and the ground was torn
from the earthquakes. The mountain had lost most of its top and the north
slope was completely missing.
Suddenly there was a buzzing noise and she heard the
soft 'thud' of feet touching the ground. Rogue turned and smiled at the
robot standing behind her.
"Hello, Waspinator."
Waspinator looked like he didn't really want to be here,
but just like the many times before when they had met secretly -- to talk
and exchange stories of the past -- he would stay.
"Still talk to Wazzzpinator?" he asked, looking apprehensive.
"Of course I still talk to you!" Rogue told him, shaking
her head a bit. "I told you I understood what you had to do. I even proposed
it. And you saved my life later as well. A second time."
"Could have shot Terrorsaur instead," Waspinator muttered.
"No, you couldn't have," she said firmly. "You cannot
act against your own rules, Waspinator. Terrorsaur is a fellow Predacon."
"Fox-bot is friend. Not Terrorsaur."
She smiled. "And I treasure this friendship, just like
I did back on Cybertron."
Waspinator sighed a bit.
"I wish I could help you," Rogue continued softly. "I
wish we could continue our from where we left off on Cybertron."
The flyer stared at her.
"Back in the medical ward," she added. "I know you said
you remembered me from there. I know you remember more. You recall a lot
from your past and not just main events, but also small things. I know
you also recall what we worked on." She approached him. "I can help you,
Waspinator."
"Waspinator not need help!" the Predacon protested, fear
audible in his voice.
"What are you afraid of? I know what lies beneath this
facade. I know who you were!"
He shook his head violently. "Waspinator not go back.
Not be old person again!"
Rogue looked at the panicky robot and she read all she
needed to know out of his voice and body language. He was frightened of
what sessions with her, specific sessions aimed at trying to heal him,
might reveal.
"Why do you fear the result?" she asked calmly.
Waspinator fidgeted. "No longer past. Waspinator now.
Always will be," he muttered.
"But that's not you."
"Izzzz now!"
Rogue sighed softly, feeling helpless. She knew what
lurked behind the apparently deranged exterior; she had seen the mind of
Waspinator's former self and she had cheered when he had started to battle
the self-induced other personality, the one who kept him safe. The war
had done this to him and she had been glad that he had only covered his
true self with one personality and had not turned either schizophrenic
or into a multi-personality. But then .... too much had happened between
now and then. And he had given in to Waspinator again.
"Okay," she admitted defeat -- for now. Rogue didn't
give up easily. "Will you at least come and meet me again? Just talking.
No psychological evaluation, I promise."
Waspinator nodded. "Waspinator will come," he said earnestly.
She smiled. "Thank you. You better go now before your
friends discover you are gone."
Waspinator made a harrumphing sound, muttering, 'No friends',
but he transformed and flew off anyway.
Rogue transformed herself and trotted off.
* * *
He was running, though he didn't know exactly what from.
Stopping beside a tree he leaned against the rough surface, trying to catch
his breath. The jungle around him was quiet and dark. There was no sound
from animals of any kind. Even the insects were quiet. What was he running
from? And who was chasing him?
He looked around, listening intently and thought he could
hear footsteps somewhere. His mind told him to run, but another voice,
a tiny, little voice, told him to sit tight. The footsteps were help. They
signaled the coming of his friends. He tensed.
No, no! It's the enemy!
And then the bluish green light washed over him.
Pain enveloped him.
He screamed.
Dinobot woke with a start, completely disoriented for
several seconds, panting, his nostrils flaring. He stood in a battle ready
stance, lips pulled back over sharp teeth, constantly growling. Finally
he realized where he was.
His quarters.
In the Axalon.
Safe.
He forced himself to relax and felt his energon level
sink a bit, but he was still shaking.
It had been the nightmare again. Another version of it,
though, but still a nightmare. Since coming out of the CR chamber his mind
had replayed what had happened in the cave, how he had been invaded by
this ...thing...and how it had delved deep into his most private thoughts
of anger, fear, joy and happiness.
He shivered.
No one had heard this part of the story from him. He
had only reported what had happened, coldly, clinically correct .... leaving
out what the relic had done to him. The way Optimus had looked at him and
was still looking, Dinobot knew the Maximal leader suspected something.
Damn him all the way to the Inferno! Optimus just knew him too well! And
when had he grown so transparent anyway? He hated it.....
Rattrap was a constant pain in the diodes and maybe it
was the only normality Dinobot had right now. Whenever he was alone, he
pondered on what had happened, and at night he had nightmares. And it was
growing worse. Shaking his head to clear it he left his quarters, transforming
in the process. He entered the silent bridge of the Axalon and automatically
checked the status board. The damage from the seismic shockwaves been repaired
completely and only a few more circuits and wires needed to be fixed. Everything
was perfectly okay.
Dinobot growled slightly and tried to suppress a shiver.
Nothing was ever perfect. Especially since they had discovered the aliens.
Another tremor shook him.
The aliens.
He clenched his teeth and calmed down by force. He would
get through this. It would pass....
But it didn't. It grew worse. The nightmares were violent
and sometimes he needed a long time to get out of a particular nasty one.
He was afraid of falling asleep now but his beast form demanded it. He
needed rest. So he tried napping, which had no great success either. His
temper grew short and he found himself snapping more than usual at the
others. Optimus was frowning at him with this worried expression and it
irritated Dinobot even more. And then there was Rogue. The new addition
to their team regarded him with those understanding optics -- as if she
waited for him to do something, to act, to talk... but he wouldn't. He
didn't need a psychologist!
Dinobot hissed darkly. The moment he had heard what Rogue
had been before becoming one of the Axalon's crew, he had tried to evade
her. He didn't want a psychological profile done of him and he believed
that Rogue was evaluating everything he did. It was a fixation, a small
part of him argued. She was a team member, she was a medic, and she was
also a warrior, though not a very good one. He sneered. She had some wicked
moves, but in a fight she wouldn't last long. Her fighting style was aimed
to take out an opponent in the first few minutes. The longer the fight
dragged, the more vulnerable she grew.
"Yo, ya dreamin', Lizard Lips?"
Dinobot growled and glared at Rattrap, who sauntered
up beside him. "Unlike others, I know what a patrol means!"
"Uuuhhhh, touchy, aren't we?" The small Maximal chuckled.
"Maybe you should ask Optimus to be put back on the injured list!"
Dinobot hissed again. Unbidden, the nightmarish situation
inside the cave returned. "I'm fine!"
"Yeah. Right. Sure." Rattrap shrugged. "That cave coulda
freaked everyone, y'know."
Dinobot tensed visibly and Rattrap shot him a curious
look. His mind flashed violently back to the bluish green light, the pain,
the digging, inquiring tentacles....
"Hey, Dinobreath, ya still readin' me?"
The voice intruded into the flashback, pulling him out
and into the reality around him. But his mind was still lingering and the
fear translated into a vicious growl.
Rattrap was barely fast enough to evade the sharp, gleaming
teeth and Dinobot's jaw snapped audibly close -- barely an inch away from
Rattrap's neck. The small Maximal was visibly shaken and he stared at the
raptor with apparent shock.
"What the....?"
Dinobot's eyes glowed madly and he saw too much nightmarish
fear reflected in them to think this was just a 'friendly' snap to show
him where the limit was. This was real! Dinobot's head drew back and his
nostril's flared. He was trembling and his front claws clenched. He closed
his eyes and then shook his head, a tremor running through him. When he
opened his eyes again the fear was gone; only confusion remained.
Rattrap was shaking himself. He had had his encounters
with Dinobot but they had all been on a friendly, teasing level, never
for real.
Dinobot stumbled back, looking suddenly shocked, realizing
what he had nearly done. An inch more and Rattrap would have needed some
serious repair to his neck region. Those raptor teeth were sharp and could
puncture skin.
"Dinobot?" Rattrap asked, still confused.
Dinobot turned and walked away, almost running.
*
Optimus Primal knew it would happen and he wasn't really
surprised when he got Rattrap's report. The strain had become too much
and Dinobot had cracked. Rogue, sitting beside him in her fox form shook
her head sadly. He knew she had realized this whole situation and what
would develop out of it sooner than anyone. They had even talked about
it, but like Rogue, Optimus knew there would be nothing won out of forcing
Dinobot to talk.
Now.... now might be a better chance, though there wasn't
even a fifty percent chance he would open up. Something had happened to
him in that cave and what Rogue had witnessed of it, it had hit him hard
and deep. It wasn't the capture or his near death; something had come closer
than that. Rogue had told him about how Dinobot had woken, terrified of
her, unable to get a grip on reality, and how he had broken down again.
Something had invaded his mind. That was at least Rogue's
theory, and from what she had explained and from what he had seen himself,
Optimus knew the conclusion was correct.
They were still trying to work out what this relic might
have been. Rhinox theorized it was a scanner, but for what purposes he
was not sure about. It had scanned Dinobot and it had taken him apart,
but why? And what about the energon deposits? Why had the crystals been
so stable? So many questions and no answers.
Optimus sighed softly.
"It had to happen," Rogue said calmly.
"Oh, and it had to happen to me, yeah, right!" Rattrap
crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Has the big lizard gone bye-bye
now?"
Rogue smiled slightly. "No, he has made a first step
to realize that he needs help."
"By nearly taking a piece out of me?!" Rattrap exclaimed.
She chuckled. "Yes."
The small Maximal muttered something under his breath.
It didn't sound nice. "So what now?" he asked aloud.
"We leave Dinobot alone," Optimus decided. "If we push,
he'll fight back."
Rattrap snorted. "Yeah, I saw that."
Rogue stood and walked over to the elevator. "See you
later."
When she had vanished outside, Optimus returned to his
own work, hoping they were doing the right thing. He trusted in Rogue,
knowing she was the one best qualified for the job. She had an almost instinctive
understanding of each and every one of them and sometimes it unnerved him.
She was easy to talk to, listened without interrupting and was simply there
when he needed someone to vent off his anger. Optimus had never really
noticed his behavior to her -- how he turned to her when he needed someone
to just talk to -- and when he had, he had been surprised.
Optimus had studied Rogue's file in the Axalon's computer
about their crew and had come up with some interesting bits. She was an
experienced psychologist and had a lot of war experience. She had been
there from the start and had always worked in the field and rarely in one
of the hospitals. Her war experience was rather extensive. She wasn't a
warrior, but he had seen that already. Rogue knew a few moves, but she
was clearly not a soldier or had ever trained as one.
And then there were the stranger things. Sometimes, when
he looked into her optics, Optimus thought he saw something ancient there.
Something older than her file told she was. He had tried to dig deeper,
but the Axalon was an exploration vessel, not a flying library. There was
nothing else about her anywhere and Optimus knew he might have to carefully
ask her one day. Until then .... he would keep an eye on Rogue.
* * *
Dinobot returned to the Axalon after sunset. His mind
was still awhirl with what had happened and he knew he would have to apologize
to Rattrap.
Apologize. He sneered. The rat would most likely see
that as a triumph and never let it live him down.
As he walked along the quiet corridors he nearly ran
into Rogue. His mind screamed enemy and his clawed fingers nearly rammed
into the slender form in front of him while his eyes briefly turned the
green of a charging laser. Rogue stumbled back and shot him a surprised
look. She had clearly not heard him, just like he had not seen or heard
her.
"Whoops, sorry," she laughed. "I didn't see you. I was
thinking."
Dinobot forced himself to calm down with an effort and
gave a low growl, his mind flashing wildly again. Her green optics met
his and he tried to shut out the nightmarish pictures, slipping a mask
over his features.
"If I had been an enemy, you would be dead!" he hissed.
The look she threw him made him shiver briefly. She had
nearly been dead even without being the enemy and she knew it.
"But you didn't see an enemy," Rogue said softly. "What
did you see?"
Dinobot's eyes flashed and then pushed past her. He didn't
want to talk. Not now. Not ever. This was his private problem and he had
to deal with it.
By nearly killing your friends?
He hissed.
You snapped at Rattrap and if he hadn't been so fast,
he'd be missing a part of him now.
His hands clenched.
And now you were ready to kill Rogue. Next time it is
Optimus.
The nightmare inside the relic came back. How Optimus
had died....
He trembled.
She can help.
Talk to her.
Dinobot fought down the voice but it grew stronger, more
insisting.
You can trust her. She would never talk about it and
you know it. She is your friend.
She saved your life!
Her stopped and looked down the dark corridor. Rogue
was gone. Yes, she had saved his life by risking her own. Not because she
had stayed in the alien cave with him but because she had donated part
of her own power supply to keep him alive. Dinobot took some involuntary
steps down after her, then stopped again, still fighting it. He didn't
need a shrink! He wasn't crazy!
The former Predacon fought more, but the more he fought,
the faster he lost the fight. Suddenly he was in front of the doors to
her quarters. He hesitated just one more second, then knocked. The doors
opened and Rogue stood in front of him, looking half surprised, half like
she had expected him.
Rattrap stood at the corner of the intersection between
the two corridor and watched Dinobot hesitantly walk into Rogue's quarters.
A smile passed over his lips. Well, this was a first step all right!
Satisfied he transformed and trotted down the corridor.
* * *
More time had gone by since the volcano incident and Rogue
had made some progress with Dinobot, though he still fought talking too
much about his fears and nightmares. At least he had confessed that he
had them and that they were sometimes following him to his waking time.
She listened to him and simply sat with him until he decided it was time
to split and no longer spill his soul. Rogue smiled. Yes, he was making
progress because he actually started to talk by himself now, seeking her
out when he thought no one else was listening or watching. Rogue suspected
that some of the Maximals, mainly Optimus and Rattrap knew.
Looking out over the peaceful land beneath her, Rogue
let her mind drift. She liked this planet, it's untouched nature, but there
was always the alien threat. It had been the first time she had seen an
alien artifact from up close since she had never ventured closer to the
Standing Stones. It had scared her, but it had also made her more curious.
"Yo, Red!" Cheetor stopped beside her and sat down. "What's
shakin'?"
She chuckled. "Nothing much. I'm just having a nice sun
bath and enjoy the view."
"Mind if I join you?"
Rogue shook her head. "No problem."
Cheetor grinned.
His youthful cheerfulness was infectious and she felt
it course through her. But it also showed her how much younger he was,
how much difference there was between them -- not just in mind and profession.
No one knew who she was and she preferred it this way. No one knew her
complete past and her files were all kept somewhere no one could get to
them. What was in the Axalon's computer was nothing but a small fraction
of the truth. She preferred it this way. It made her life so much easier.
Rogue felt the wind ruffle her fur and she stretched,
shoving those thoughts aside. As long as she didn't let something slip,
no one would ever find out about it all. She would be Rogue, just one of
the Maximals ..... for as long as she could.
