Chapter 2: Screaming at the Stars

Autobot Outpost Omega One; Arcee

"So, you mean to tell me that the kids were sucked up by that Space Bridge!" Fowler was angry. We had been forced to explain the situation to him after he hadn't seen the kids for a week. Behind him, Mrs Darby was crying her eyes out. Just looking at her made my heart sink; I had failed Jack, which in turn meant that I had failed her. However, instead of the anger I expected, she only cried, even at her home. In a way, her tears hurt more than any words, weapons or anger ever could.

"Agent Fowler, I have been trying to triangulate their location since they disappeared. Trust me. However, the vortex was unstable, which has caused many possible variables to consider." Ratchet explained. He had barely recharged since the kids had left. Sure, he often wished loudly for peace and quiet, but he was very upset now that his wish had been granted.

"What am I supposed to tell the Pentagon when they catch wind of this? How do we even know that the kids are still alive?" That last sentence caused June to sob harder, and Fowler instantly regretted his words. He walked over to the upset women, and gave her a shoulder to cry on. Unluckily for him, he had also given her a stomach to punch, and June Darby had plenty of strength from working at the hospital.

"I do have some good news, though." Ratchet said, not looking away from the monitors. He caught our attention, but didn't wait for any of us to respond. "The kids definitely got out of the vortex. The bad news is that I can't pinpoint any specific location for their exit. The vortex was fluctuating too much, and milliseconds throw off the location by galaxies." June calmed down slightly, before sobbing harder again. Fowler leaned against her for a moment, before turning to Ratchet. "Could they have survived this long?" Ratchet didn't answer straight away. "If I am correct, then the kids landed in oxygen-rich environments." Ratchet typed at the monitor some more. We just stood around the room, not sure what to do.

A light on the monitor turned on, gaining Ratchet's attention. "A bridge was briefly opened to the desert near the Grand Canyon, and someone has lit a distress beacon there." Optimus nodded, and turned to Bulkhead and Bumblebee. "The two of you should go and investigate. Arcee and I will stay here, in case Ratchet gets any more leads." The three of us nodded, before the two forlorn guardians walked through the Ground Bridge. The rest of us stared at the monitors for a few minutes, trying desperately to work out where the kids had gone.

"Guys, we need a Ground Bridge here. We have a... hostage." Bulkhead called, distracting us from our lack of progress. "I'm opening one at your coordinates." Ratchet replied curtly, before returning his attention to the monitor. I stayed with him, while Optimus waited for the two mechs to come out of the bridge. I didn't turn to face them when I heard metal being dragged on the floor, or the bridge power down. I did turn, however, when I heard the all-too familiar sound of a cry of pain, one that I had heard several times, but had never forgotten.

The mech was thrown to the ground, and even Ratchet pulled himself away from the monitors to surround him. The mech rotated, wincing slightly when a spark flew out of its frame. He looked like slag. His entire frame was covered in rust. Water was dripping from various places on him. He fell on his back after trying to sit up, and the five of us powered up our blasters. Optimus was the first to break our silence. "Start talking now, Starscream."

Forest Planet; Miko

When I entered the exchange student program, I went to the 'entertainment capital of the world', AKA Jasper, Nevada. Obviously the pamphlet lied. However, I would have taken ten Jaspers compared to this planet. Everything was green, and moist, and made a crunching noise when you moved near it. The only things I could really bear with were the large red flowers popping up in the foliage, and the large vines, which provided a great way to climb through the greenery.

Water had been easy to find. Despite what my teachers and my host parents thought, I actually did pay attention in class. Occasionally... The giant, various coloured fruits I came across filled me quickly, although they left just as quickly too. They hadn't killed me yet, so I figured they were safe to eat. What I wouldn't give for my guitar, a steak, Bulkhead, and something non-plant to walk on...

I was trekking through the forest, looking for some form of civilisation. I figured that, where there was life, there might be a way off of the planet. From what Ratchet and Wheeljack have mentioned several times, Earth was the least developed species they had ever met. Sure, some of them didn't go into space, but they were more than capable to.

I travelled by day. It wasn't because I was afraid of the dark, but, rather, what was in the dark. The noises I could hear at night weren't exactly a normal ambience, unless growling is on par for this planet. So far, I was starting to agree with that fact. At night, every noise in the forest was amplified. During the day, it was humid, bright, and everything was green. My choice was made simply by the fact that night here more or less coincided with Earth nights.

I sighed, wiping the sweat off my forehead again. My clothes were ripped in places, and I had lost a shoe somewhere along the line. I sat against the base of one of the mammoth trees, and rested for a moment. The forest seemed to be getting hotter, denser, and greener. Dejectedly, I slapped the tree, hoping it might solve all my problems and take me home. It didn't, but it had been worth a try.

The sun rose higher into the air, and I shied away to a mass of vines nearby. The things were oddly stringy, and several threads were tighter than my guitar's strings. A thought popped into my head, and I grabbed the vine as well as I could. I plucked the threads with my one hand, and sounds were formed. It wasn't the same as my guitar, but any noise that reminded me at home was welcome here.

Junk Planet; Rafael

The drone had moved through the war zone with ease. After several terrifying minutes of being held in the hands of the drone, he had found a bunker of some sort, and the two of us had holed up in it. It felt like ages since I had seen Earth, and everything here seemed to be made of junk metal, or sheets of recycled metal. I figured that that wasn't the case, though, since the drone occasionally brought me some food to eat and water to drink after he went out. He'd leave me in a makeshift cage, which was really just an old Energon cube, whenever he went out, which was quite often, and sometimes he wouldn't take me out when he returned.

Now was one of those moments. I just sat in the cube, staring at the walls or ceiling, and listening to the constant gunshots and explosions that littered the air. There was no pause in the fights, and I often how the two sides constantly thought without some form of recharge or sleep. Ratchet had often berated Arcee or Optimus for not recharging enough, so surely these bots had to do it as well. Unless there were enough for them to take shifts.

The gunfire approached the area my bunker was in, and I was suddenly scared for my life. The roof of the bunker didn't look like it would hold out very well if it was hit too hard. I stared at the entrance of the bunker, hoping that the drone would come, sense the danger of the area, and take me away from here. It might be a Decepticon, but at least I was still alive. An explosion rocked the ground, and something fell from the ceiling and clattered to the floor.

The gunshots suddenly sounded as if they were right by me, and I heard something large fall to the ground outside, near the entrance. I turned, and saw the offline frame of the drone that had been caring for me. Energon pooled around it, and some of it started flowing into the bunker. There were several more gunshots, and I heard footsteps of some kind, large and powerful, walking up to the entrance.

"I've never seen a drone like this before. The Decepticons must be doing upgrades." A voice said. I was suddenly very grateful that I could understand Cybertronian, even if it was only the basics. I heard metal hit metal, and the drone's frame shook slightly. The gunfire continued, but I heard a very mechanical laughter. The Con led us right to his bunker. We should kill the troops inside and take their supplies." A second, familiar voice said. I couldn't quite place where I had heard it from before. There were more footsteps, but they didn't enter the bunker.

An explosion shook the bunker again, and the roof started caving in. Small pieces of metal fell into the cube, and I was only saved from injury by a large sheet that covered the top. Another explosion shook the ground, and the metal around me rattled. Out of instinct and an urge for survival, I screamed for help, but the sound was lost in the gunfire.

The mechs outside walked to where the bunker had been. "That should take care of them. This one here was carrying supplies, so I don't think they had any in there." The first voice said. "Don't you think that it's odd that the Decepticons needed organic food, and water, for their supplies?" The familiar voice asked. I heard a grunt. I screamed again, this time even louder. "Well, either way, he doesn't need it now." The first voice laughed, but the second remained silent for a moment. "Did you hear that? It sounded like something screamed from in there. Do you think that the drone had an organic hostage or something?" There was a pause, where only gunfire could be heard. "Slag, you're right. My scanners pick up organic life in there. Slag, we fragged this one up. We'll have to dig it out now..." There was shuffling above me, and then the metal started to shake.

Cybertron; Jack

Cybertron while it's populated is quite beautiful. The colours, the lights, there's no way to compare it to Earth. I suddenly understood why Arcee had been so upset the last time we had come here. The destroyed Cybertron was nowhere near as majestic as this place. I didn't admire the majesty for long, though, because I had to dodge Cybertronians of various shapes and sizes as they continued with their lives, none the wiser of my presence on the floor. Out of a desire for safety, I had run to the walls of the buildings, and had climbed through a small crack when I found one.

That was how I had gotten here; in the walls of what I assumed was a Cybertronian apartment building. The mech that was in the apartment closest to me lived alone, but what glimpses of him I saw through cracks in the walls told me one thing: this guy was as big as Optimus. His eyes glowed blue, but I had seen various colours, such as white and yellow, on the streets below. I briefly wondered if the war had affected the Cybertronians living here, or if they were in a war-free zone.

I was starving, and my stomach kept reminding me of that little fact. There was water leaking from some of the pipes near where I slept, a place where I could watch when the mech left and entered his apartment, but the walls didn't have anything in them that I could eat. I had tried to placate my hunger with more water, but it hadn't work too well.

Eventually, my desire for food became overwhelming, and I walked to the crack in the wall. The mech had left already, and he was usually gone for a few hours. I figured that would give me enough time to try and find some food. I squeezed through the tight hole in the metal, and landed with a thud on the other side.

Rubbing my backside, I looked around at my surroundings. Everything was metal, and gigantic, sort of like I had expected Cybertron to be like before the war. The ceiling had flat panels that lit up the room, but there was a lamp-like thing on what I figured was a desk to my right. There was a kitchen-type area to my left, and I figured that that would be where I might find some food. I wandered over there, checking the door every now and then for the mech.

After searching the floor for several minutes, with no luck, I decided to climb up the counters and see if I could find anything up there. Even if I couldn't find food up there, at least I could get a nice vantage point of the room. I grabbed a hold of the metal, thankful for the spikes that seemed common in Cybertronian architecture.

The countertop was barren. I had searched for nearly an hour, but I couldn't see food on the counter, or anywhere in the room. All I had found was an Energon cube that was half-empty, haphazardly stacked with several other cubes. I sat by the edge of the countertops, dangling my feet over the edge. There was no food in the room, and I couldn't get to any of the others. The mech didn't speak English, and I didn't speak Cybertronian, so I couldn't ask for food. I stared at my feet for a while, letting the gravity of the situation set in.

I was disrupted from my thoughts by a loud clanging noise. I turned my head to see the mech that lived here, holding several pieces of metal that Arcee had once called data pads. The noise had been the sound of them toppling over and falling off his desk. He was picking them up already, but I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it. After so many days alone, anything was funny. Yesterday, I had laughed at the sound of the water dripping from the pipes.

I covered my mouth with my hand when the mech stopped picking up the data pads, and turned in my direction. Now I was in for it. Staring at me with his deep blue eyes, he walked in my direction, slowly and silently. Despite the colour of his eyes, I couldn't help but feel a little bit afraid. After all, he was huge in comparison to me. He stopped when he was a few metres away from me, and he lowered his head to my level. He tilted his head in curiosity, but, for some strange reason, I felt perfectly safe.

Autobot Base Omega One; Arcee

"Where are Miko, Rafael, and Jack?" Bulkhead had his fist right by Starscream's face, and it didn't take a genius to know what the Wrecker wanted. He had been the less verbally upset by Miko's disappearance, but he constantly played her music when he thought no one was looking. I couldn't really blame him; I often drove past the KO Burger just so that I could be 'with' Jack.

Starscream just cackled slightly. "I haven't seen them since the Space Bridge sent me to that stupid water planet!" He yelled, and he moved his head as Bulkhead pounded it down. Optimus sighed. "The Space Bridge was unstable, but it would have thrown you all into the same place, would it not?" Ratchet asked, and I was about to call him a mad bot, before I realised what he was doing.

He was using Starscream's ego and scientist background against him.

There was another mad cackle. "Shows what you know! The Space Bridge threw me to some science-devoid water planet. Those stupid creatures worshipped me, but they were idiots! I eventually got so mad at them that I stole resources from them and built a Space Bridge of my own! It took me a quite a few tries before I got the settings right, but I'm finally away from those stupid beings!" I smiled. If he worked it out once, then he could do it again.

"Of course, it took me years to get the Energon to make so many errors!" He added, and my spark stopped for a moment. What did he mean by years? He had been gone for a week. Optimus said this out loud, and Starscream's head shot up. "Of course, that must have been the variable that I kept mixing up! I should have known it..." He started muttering nonsense, but he had our interest. "What are you going on about?" Ratchet asked. He missed the kids; I was certain of that much. Starscream grinned, and started laughing.

"You mean to tell me that you haven't worked it out yet!" He laughed louder. I pointed my blasters at him. "Start talking." I said calmly. Bumblebee beeped in agreement. Looking at us, Starscream turned serious again.

"I suppose it might not be obvious to you at first. Quite frankly, I hate to say this, but you'll never find the kids." Bumblebee shot a warning blast right next to the seeker, and his face looked almost as angry as when Megatron had possessed him. He beeped for him to explain. The rest of us nodded in agreement, our blasters remaining trained on his spark region.

"Very well, if you insist that I explain, then I will." He paused for a moment. "That was quite an explosion you caused with the Space Bridge, by the way. The whole thing collapsed on us." Ratchet gasped in understanding, and ran to the monitor. He said nothing as he typed away furiously. The rest of us turned back to Starscream. "Go on." Optimus was not going to take any more procrastination. "Surely your medic has worked it out by now." He said, gesturing to Ratchet.

We turned to him, and he faced us, the monitor behind him performing a statistical analysis. "Before I joined Optimus' team directly, I worked with a group of Autobots that protected a star system with plenty of resources. The one planet was entirely waterlogged. The species itself was quite advanced, despite not being able to live in air-based environments. Despite their technological advancements, though, they revered a god-like being, who, when he left, gave them the gift of inter-stellar travel. They had a functional Space Bridge, which, may I remind you, was pretty advanced outside of Cybertron's labs."

"What does that have to do with us now, Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked. Starscream laughed for a moment, while Ratchet sighed. "Their deity bore a strange resemblance to Starscream, in his Earth form." We gasped. Earth had been discovered long after Ratchet joined Prime. I was a bit lost, and I wasn't the only one. "What does that mean?" Bumblebee asked, and I was grateful that he did. Ratchet sighed again.

"It means that we must ignore where the kids are, and must first find out when."

Chapter 2 of my story, for those who want to read on. As I said before, I don't have permanent internet at home, so no frequent or regular update promises, and I apologize for the mistakes you may find. My spell check found nothing, but things tend to slip through some how. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are appreciated, and advice will be cherished!