Out of Time
Chapter 3
Optimus had gathered the Autobots together in the main control room, the human children stood right up against the railings to watch as the events unfolded in front of them, concern for their friend was at the top of the agenda for all of them.
"It is of vital importance that we recover the artefact as quickly as we can as every second that Michael is potentially stuck with Megatron, the closer he comes to perishing" Optimus said.
"Unfortunately we no way of getting a fix on the Decepticon warship" Ratchet explained "Though I am trying anything and everything I can do to locate it. I stumbled on it before, so it is possible I could do again"
"But how long would that take?" Elita demanded "Michael doesn't have the time to wait for you to stumble upon their location" She was seething at the doctor. She felt helpless and that made her mad. She needed to do something and hearing 'ifs' and 'maybes' was something she was not going to accept.
"Hang on, there is something else we can consider instead" Jack started "Why try going to them when they can come to you?"
His message didn't get through as the blank faces stated.
"I mean try getting on their warship using their own ground bridge"
"And how are we suppose to do that?" Arcee asked her partner.
"Give them a reason to use their ground bridge"
"Yeah, like blowing the scrap out of stuff" Miko added.
All optics and eyes looked up at the prime as he spoke "Although planning a direct assault on the Decepticons is very risky, we are very limited on our options. We must locate an area of Decepticon operations and strike at it as quickly as we can and rescue Michael as his time might be running out. So for that, everyone will be out on patrols searching for anything that will be useful to achieve our aims. Speed is of the element here" He spoke to the team "Ratchet, get to work on finding anything, no matter how insignificant and dispatch the team accordingly. Now I must go and inform the admiral what has happened" He informed the medic as he retired to one of the corridors leading away into the base.
Michael leaned on the bonnet of a parked car, another old one he noted. This one he didn't know what it was but it looked like a poorly made British Leyland car that could possibly be heavily damaged by his bare hands alone. He was struggling to breathe, the shock of it all had effected him badly. The mental equivalent of being hit really hard by a heavyweight boxer in the stomach.
"What is it?" The human form of Megatron asked as he leaned down to look at Michael's face.
"It's ninety-eighty-six" Michael said simply, his voice weak and crackled from the shock.
"What?" Megatron asked, not understanding the implications of what Michael said.
Michael pushed himself back up right and took a deep breath and exhaled slowly "I'm saying we are twenty-six years back in the past. Two-thousand and twelve minus one-thousand-nine-hundred and eighty-six equals twenty-six. Twenty-six years. We are back in a time where I wasn't even born yet. I'm born six years from now. Get it? We are back in time"
"How is that possible?"
Michael grabbed Megatron by the jacket lapels and swapped positions and slamming Megatron onto the car bonnet which bent and warped under the weight.
"More like how the hell do we get back? Tell me how?" Michael shouted, the desperation evident in his voice.
"I don't know. Clearly it had something to do with what you found in that mine. If you hadn't thrown it then this wouldn't have happened" Megatron spat.
Michael desperation for answers was replaced for utter contempt for the man he held down as he pulled the man up and head-butted him, letting him drop to the floor and began to kick him on the ground. Megatron found himself being kicked in the front of his head forcing the back of it to smash into the car, he was getting concussion but through the throbbing pain in his head he was able to grab Michael's boot and throw Michael off balance and send him tumbling to the ground.
Megatron wearily climbed back to his feet to receive a powerful blow to the head. His hands clasped over his head and staggered to one side and fell over. Michael came to make another possible fatal blow but Megatron used his feet to trip up Michael and climbed on top of Michael the two men wrestled each other on the uneven pavement. They grab, punched and scratched at each other till both were out of energy. Then laid on the pavement breathing hard, cuts and bruises all over each other.
Megatron was the first to get up. He looked at Michael on the floor looking back at him then looked up and down the street. It was all strange for him. He had no idea about anything of the world. He knew if he was to find a way of getting back, he would need Michael as much as he despised him. So he made a decision that he didn't like and put his hand out to Michael.
Michael looked at his hand and could see the conflict within Megatron and knew he had just taken a very hard decision. Michael grabbed his hand and Megatron pulled him up to his feet.
"So what do we do now?" Megatron asked.
"First tell me about that artefact. What do you know of it?"
"Nothing. I am not aware of anything that could have caused this"
"Okay" Michael said and thought about what they needed to do next. He stepped away from Megatron for a moment.
"Well you can answer this for me. Were the Decepticons on Earth during this point in time?"
"No"
"Well it's safe to say the same for the Autobots. They have never mentioned being here for that long"
"Why do you need to know that?"
Michael turned around to look at Megatron "Well whatever it was that send us here is most likely still there back in the future. And I believe however it got us here, it could take us back. But-"
"we do not have it" Megatron finished the sentence.
"Right. But somehow we need to let whoever has it know where and when we are. If it can send us back twenty-six years by accident, then I can imagine it can be made to send us forward in time if used properly"
"But how do we do that? We both just said that Decepticons and Autobots are not around"
Michael again turned around and walked a few steps away to think.
"How?" Megatron asked again.
"There is a way" Michael quietly said "though you are not going to like it"
"What is it?"
Michael didn't answer and started to walk away down the street. Megatron hurried after him asking again for an answer but Michael didn't reply and just carried on walking.
Megatron pulled at Michael's shoulder and spun him round "Look, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to force it out of you?"
"There is a way of contacting the Autobots"
"How?"
"Rear Admiral Baines"
Megatron remembered the name. He remembered that conversation he had with the Rear Admiral which ended with a cruise missile slamming into his warship "You know this Rear Admiral?"
"Sure I do. He's my godfather"
Megatron had no idea what that meant but he could guess it meant they were close. He decided not to ask for full details and got straight to the point "So how are you going to contact the Autobots then?"
"We pass on the message to him to hold, then twenty-six years later he passes the message onto the Autobots. Simple really"
"Why can't you just send a message to the Autobots directly for them to pick up later. You know where their base is" Megatron said.
Michael knew where that was headed and made a fist with his right "Don't even try that. I am never telling you where there base is. I'm not even going to tell you where it isn't"
Michael relaxed his hand seeing that his threat was understood and continued to walk down the street.
"So what do we do now?" Megatron asked again.
"We need to head to Cardiff. We aren't going to get anywhere up in the valley's. Besides I believe Baines was around in Cardiff at this time. If not then he is on deployment somewhere. But we have a more pressing issue"
"Which is?"
"We don't have the correct money. We can't take a train or a bus or buy food for that matter"
"What do you mean, correct money. I may not fully understand your planet but I do understand the economics of it. As far as I'm aware you should have the correct currency on you"
"Your right, however the money I have doesn't exist at the moment. All my notes are wrong. Every few years they slowly change notes when too many fakes are around. So the notes in my wallet are not valid. Basically we have no money, no paperwork of any kind and that means we can't do anything or go anywhere"
"So what's your plan?"
Michael stopped and surveyed the street looking at the cars. Till he saw something that he liked. He slipped between two cars and crossed the street and walked two car lengths along the other pavement and stopped to admire.
"By the red dragon, what are chances of finding one of these?" Michael asked to himself staring a metallic grey Ford Capri MKIII.
Megatron looked at the car in question and had no opinion of it. As far as he was concerned, it only reminded him of the Autobots. Only soft-sparked fools would choose a ground based vehicle mode.
"That's how we are getting to Cardiff. But first a basic rule to car theft. If you can, take the keys. You know why?"
Megatron shook his head.
"Well you don't want to smash the windows because well that kind of obvious. Hot wiring is just as stupid. It messes up the electrics and you might as well have a flashing neon sign to the police saying 'this is stolen'. So if you can, take the keys"
Michael walked around the Capri and looked through the windows for any clue about its owner. He saw papers strewn out on the back seat. And then on the second page the address was partially covered. But the house number was visible. 'That was silly' Michael thought to himself. He checked the nearest front door in the line of old terrace houses. The car was parked outside the house of the owner, that was if the street was right.
Michael searched the narrow street once more, up and down. Ten houses down there was a skip set between parked cars.
"Wait here" Michael instructed and quickly jogged the distance to the skip.
It was full of rubbish and rubble. Like someone had taken a home and everything in it, dismantle it and put it in the skip to be taken away.
Michael had a good idea of what he was looking for and there was plenty of it. He reached in and carefully pulled out a wire hanger. There was also wooden and plastic ones, but he wanted the metal one. He walked back over to the car and the house it was parked at as he unwound the twist below the hook then he straightened the whole thing out but left the hook on the end.
He raised it to show Megatron as he walked past him and towards the door.
"You see the thing about most people is that they normally do the same as everyone else, therefore they can be very predicable" Michael spoke as he knelt down so he was eye level with the letter box in the door. It was a cheap no thrills grey metal thing with two flaps one on the outside and one on the inside. Michael lifted the outside flap and stuck his fingers through to open the second flap and peered through the letter box into the hall of the house.
He looked to both sides and there it was to the left, the key rack where all the keys were hung in good order. He slid the wire through half way then carefully with the fingers still holding the flaps open, he made a bend in the wire so it would reach the key rack.
He inserted more wire till he could tap the keys with it. With slow and careful precision he got the hook into the key ring for the car keys and lifted it off the key rack. Then just as slowly and carefully he pulled the wire back out of the letterbox and when the key was about to pass through he gripped them with his fingers to ensure they didn't slip off the wire causing noise.
He showed the keys to Megatron with a sly grin "See what I mean?"
The two stepped over to the car, Michael stepped around the front to the over side, inserted the key into the door lock and unlocked the car.
"Get in" He said and the two got in the car with Michael throwing the wire onto the back seat. He had to adjust the seat back as whoever drove it normally were not his height. Megatron had to do the same.
Michael inserted the key into the ignition and fire up the engine which surprised him by being very quiet. He put his seatbelt on and put the gearbox into first. He looked to his left and saw that Megatron was just sat there.
"Put your seatbelt on"
Megatron made a face that said 'huh?'
Michael pulled at his to show it "Cluck click every trip"
Megatron reached back and then put his seatbelt on till it looked like how Michael had his.
"Right, let's go"
Michael released the hand brake and slowly eased the car out of the space and drove it down the road towards the main road out of the town and back to the A470.
Michael switch the radio on and there was a cassette tape already inserted and the player automatically started to play the tape.
"Wow, haven't seen cassettes in years" Michael couldn't help but say out loud. But then it started to play and the music didn't agree with Michael's taste.
"What's the problem?" Megatron asked, not understanding anything about the music.
"Brian Ferry. Can't stand him. Though I think we should take his advice"
"What advice?"
"That we should stick together"
Megatron was confused right up till he heard the line in the track. Michael laughed loud "We might be stuck together, but I'll be damned if we are going to remain all serious and uptight about it all the time. We're stuck together, we should at least be civil about it"
