Week Two

Setting/Environment must drive plot

Characters: Constructicons

Castles in the Sky

I stare out over the city. My city. It is beautiful, if I do say so myself. My greatest creation to date. I smile a little in quiet pride, and watch it come to life.

The slanting light reflects and refracts between the sculpted planes of blue, green, and purple Praxxus Crystal, coloring the very atmosphere with tints of mingled color. No single facet has been left to chance; I planned each and every plane. Each structure functions in harmony with the others to create a stunning whole. Small, bright diodes flash and flare, highlighting the finials on some of the tallest buildings; their scintillating sparkle is dazzling to the optic. Long lines of neon run from base to crest of other shorter edifices, accentuating the ever-changing geometric dance of profile, contour, and outline.

I suppose that this place looks best from the surrounding plain, rising as it does out at the edge of the Sea of Rust to signal that there is yet some unspoiled beauty in this world. But I like to view it from above, as I am doing now; to witness how my meticulous calculations have achieved such orderly beauty. I made the buildings to seem as if they have grown out of the rusted plain, risen over eons as the crystal expanded upwards. But the flow of traffic and commerce is never impeded, thanks to my painstaking grid system. Roads and throughways twine through the tall clear structures like tendrils of light itself, so that travel itself becomes a joy. I look forward to living here.

"You know, Scrapper," says a voice, interrupting my reverie, "You really ought to move that skyscraper at A4/6Y a nanometer or two to the left."

I gape. "You can't be serious."

"Yes," Hook insists. "It has to be done. It's throwing off the whole design. I'm astonished that you didn't see it sooner. I would never have left such a glaring flaw this late in the construction phase."

I want to swear, but I mute my vocalizer. I count to 10, and slow my circ-fans. "Surely the slight problems with alignment is not worth moving an entire building a few nanometers?" I ask, though I know he will ignore the question.

"You'll hate yourself every time you look at it, if you don't," he replies over his shoulder, already heading out the door. "Do it, or you'll wish you had!"

The door slides shut. I stare at the city. My City.

Then I sigh, reach out a careful finger and thumb, pick up the tiny, fragile building, and move it precisely 2.749 nanometers to the left.

And the worst of it is, he's right. It does look better this way.

I open a channel and signal to my teams. "All right, you bots. Final modifications are complete. The project is a go. Meet at your assigned coordinates in 7.05 breems to begin construction.

I give one last glance at the tiny model before I leave. And I smile. It really will be the most beautiful city in all Cybertron. Once we get it built.