Chapter 4 — Of Minerals and Dying Stars
Starscream stood on the edge of the cliff, drenched in the morning's first light as he scanned the icy terrain of the North Pole. It was a wasteland, a place where no Velocitronian would have any reason to pass through. There were no roads—just the endless stretch of snow and an unguarded space bridge suspended on twin columns a hundred and fifty feet above ground.
His gaze slowly shifted to where the sound of thunder rolled and ripped through the sky in deafening crackles. Thundercracker, he thought, as he watched the jet soared over the mountains.
Upon locating Starscream, the bot shifted back to his burly self and landed heavily onto the snow-laden ground. "What are you doing here, scientist?" asked Thundercracker. "You know your presence is needed at the meeting. Commander Sentinel Prime has ordered me to escort you back to the city."
Despite noticing the aggravated look on the soldier's face, Starscream remained nonchalant. "I'm sure Skyfire is taking care of business on my behalf," he replied, before turning away to continue scanning his surroundings.
"Are you listening to me? I said Commander Sentinel Prime—"
"To the Pit with Sentinel!" Starscream's voice bellowed suddenly, sending echoes throughout the vastness. "I have made myself clear to the Council of my intention to embark on this journey alone. Yet they insisted I let some inexperienced rock collector tag along."
"You haven't travelled in fifty meta-cycles," said Thundercracker. "What makes you think you can make it alone out there?"
Starscream narrowed his optics. "Who are you to question my competence, soldier? I have spent vorns planning for this journey and am well-prepared."
"You can't leave this planet yet," insisted Thundercracker. "Until I unlock the access codes to the trans-dimensional portals, you will remain grounded. I suggest you come with me to apologise to the Prime for your insolence."
"Insolence?" The scientist's slender frame shook with mirth. "I am Starscream," he reminded the soldier, "scientist and Seeker of the universe. Why should I explain myself to a corrupt politician who knows nothing about space travel?" He approached closer, poking Thundercracker in the chest as he said, "And I certainly will not be taking orders from an ignorant brute like—"
The high-pitched whir of an energy weapon powering up caused Starscream to take a step back in trepidation. "—you?" His optics grew wide at the sight of Thundercracker aiming his blaster directly at him. Starscream dropped to his knees.
"Keep crossing the line, scientist," warned the soldier, his red optics glowering in suppressed rage. "And I'll make sure you leave this planet with gaping holes in your wings."
"B-but isn't hurting another flier against your code of honour?" Starscream asked in a wavering tone of voice.
A wry smile crept over Thundercracker's face. "I'll gladly make an exception for pretentious, arrogant slaggers like you."
Starscream chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Thundercracker watched in confusion as the scientist slowly lifted his head to face the barrel of his blaster.
"Are you telling me, as a winged warrior, you have never felt superior to your comrades who are incapable of flight?"
The soldier glared at him but gave no answer.
"I take it by your silence that you do," said Starscream. "And you have every right to feel that way."
Thundercracker lowered his weapon and the scientist rose to his pedes, his confidence regained. He began circling the soldier. "Since the emergence of our kind, those grounded types have looked up to us with pure envy and resentment. They would do anything to subjugate us. And that is why I find it absolutely necessary to constantly remind them of our greatness." Starscream stopped to lean closer. "If you let them have their way," he said, his voice dropping to a low tone and their faces almost touching, "you'll soon be struggling to keep your freedom to fly."
They stood in the glare of the sun. One waited impatiently while the other contemplated his words.
Starscream looked to the skies. If he were to make this journey without Skyfire, he would have to leave soon.
"Activate the space bridges, soldier."
.
.
Velocitron's aerial space bridge was an interconnection to five other portals, each serving as an annex to their respective worlds—except for the central bridge that was left underutilised since the High Council imposed a travel restriction to the eastern quadrant a vorn ago.
Previously, Starscream and his now-deceased expedition partner, Hybrid, had launched a swarm of miniature probes to scout foreign territories beyond the Solus Galaxy. And among a hundred thousand probes that were released into space, only three had survived.
There was no denying this could be the expedition he would never return from. Aside from the series of co-ordinates Starscream had obtained from surviving probes, his knowledge of what lay beyond the eastern quadrant remained vague. But even so, amid the uncertainty, was a mission to be accomplished and Starscream could no longer endure the thought of losing out on the opportunity of claiming uncharted worlds aplenty.
Even after a fifty meta-cycle hiatus, Starscream's competitive streak showed no signs of waning. He had always been the fervent, unapologetic and adamant one. With Hybrid gone, their past efforts would be his rightful inheritance, a promise yet to be fulfilled in honour of a sacred bond they once shared as seekers of the universe.
Systems ready and running at optimal speed, Starscream let his engines roar as he sped across the central vortex with three navigational orbs, each no larger than the palm of his servo, hovering around him. The faster he went, the faster the spherical devices orbited him in opposite directions, eventually creating a force field to shield him against cosmic radiation and solar winds.
Then finally, he shot out of the vortex, plunging deeper into the interstellar void with an unbridled sense of freedom he hadn't felt since he had kept himself grounded and hidden in the Academy's basement.
Starscream never thought he would relish the smell of space. He would rather be immersed in the acrid scent of ozone and dying stars than in the miasma of asphalt, dirt and burnt tires which he had associated Velocitron and its inhabitants with. Things seemed a lot calmer despite the incessant buzzing of electromagnetic waves and charged particles through his receptors.
His euphoria was short-lived when the sudden strain in his chest interrupted his systems, forcing him to shift back to his natural form. The orbs continued to shield him as he cringed and writhed in inexplicable pain before he finally gave in and his optics flickered out.
A thousand light-years away from home, Starscream was alone in space and drifting unconscious.
.
.
He was slowly resurfacing, his internal processors whirred back online, activating every sensor on high alert. Knock Out was calling and shaking him awake. Yet he couldn't bring himself to utter a word in response. He could see, through the subtle glow within his optics, the engineer's white façade and crimson gaze hovering over him.
The relief in the engineer's voice was evident as he said, "Welcome back to the land of the conscious, my friend," with a half-smile.
Starscream grunted and willed himself to sit up, feeling the remnants of the pain within his chest that had sent him crashing to the floor of his cluttered work space. "For how long was I out?" he asked.
"Not too long," replied Knock Out. "If your little friends hadn't flown into my lab to get me, I wouldn't have known."
Starscream responded with a questioning look, before realising that Knock Out had mistaken the mechanical flying orbs as his companions. "Oh, them," he said while fixing an indifferent gaze at the orbs that were floating curiously around his colleague. "They are hardly sentient, merely devices used to aid space navigation I helped design vorns ago."
"How nifty," replied Knock Out, who seemed mildly amused by one of the flying orbs perching on his taloned finger. "However I don't think you're in any condition to be flying yet."
Starscream was back on his pedes again. "I feel fine," he said, while leaning against the wall. He gestured sternly for the flying orbs to return to their charging docks.
"Oh for how long are you going to keep disregarding your ailments? This isn't the first time I've found you unconscious on the floor," boomed Knock Out's voice. "You're not well, Starscream. I may not be a physician but I'm more than qualified to run a scan on you."
"Your concern is duly appreciated," said Starscream. "But now's not the time. I must get back to my work."
"I've seen cadavers that are in better shape than you."
"For the last time, Knock Out: Leave me—alone."
Knock Out fell silent. He stared at the scientist for as long as he could before making his way out. Starscream watched in surprise as his navigational orbs flew off their docks to join the engineer in his stride.
"Get back here, you indolent runts!" shouted Starscream. "Knock Out!"
"Clearly, none of your friends wants to be around when you're being impossible," echoed Knock Out's voice as he sauntered across the hallway back to his laboratory. The orbs hovered around him. "We shan't be bothering you."
"They are not my—Fine! Stay with him for as long as you want! And don't ever think of coming back! Good riddance!"
Knock Out cringed at the sound of Starscream slamming the door of his work quarters shut. He shook his head in disappointment and began activating the codes on his laboratory's doors, disabling access.
The basement was dark and quiet again, with two of its occupants sulking in their own world at opposite ends.
.
.
Starscream felt protected. Like he was once again caught in Knock Out's embrace outside the lecture hall, or when he succumbed to the comfort of their bodies resting heavily against each other while wasting away on the balcony under the night sky; the way Knock Out glided his servo across with reassuring confidence as he let the laser penetrate his wings, embedding sacred glyphics of wisdom and power in tribute to the ancient seekers of Cybertron.
Fifty meta-cycles had passed since he refused to attend Hybrid's memorial. Forty meta-cycles had passed since he packed his belongings and moved out of the work quarters they shared on the upper floor. And thirty awkward meta-cycles had gone by since Knock Out took him on a tour around his laboratory and became the friend he never wanted.
Starscream had been awake for some time, letting his processor collate the thoughts and emotion he had kept suppressed. His orange optics shone out like two rays in the darkness as he lay perfectly still, unsure if he was alive or in limbo.
"I hope you are feeling comfortable," boomed a familiar voice suddenly from somewhere, startling him.
The lights flickered to life and Starscream noticed he had been magnetised to a seat in the flight deck of a shuttle. On the dashboard, he could see switches falling and rising and meters blinking at a rhythmic pace. To his right, was an empty seat reserved for the captain who was nowhere to be seen.
Starscream took a guess, "Skyfire?"
"So you do know my name," the shuttle replied. "Although, I must say, I am growing rather fond of being referred to as the rock collector."
"How did you find me?"
"Your navigational orbs. They were kind enough to lead me to you." Skyfire deactivated the cloaking feature on the windows of his alt-mode to reveal a panoramic view of infinite space speckled with distant stars.
Those wretched runts. Starscream watched as the orbs hovered around the spacecraft, reinforcing it with a protective shield. A sense of humiliation surged through him. There was no way he was going to remain encapsulated inside the giant bot's alt-form. "This is absurd," said Starscream. "I am the one who should be out there navigating. Release me of this magnetic restraint at once!"
"I am in no need of your guidance," Skyfire said, his voice sounding unwaveringly calm and mellow. "I am taking you back to Velocitron."
Starscream panicked. "You dare!"
"I cannot ignore the fact that your well-being might be at stake. Thundercracker has expedited medical assist to have you examined on-site as soon as we land on the North Pole."
"No. No doctors. There is nothing to be concerned about, really. I am just, uh, deprived..."
"Of what?"
"Of, uh, recharge," Starscream lied. He heaved a sigh to show his feigned weariness. "Yes! I have spent the last several cycles preparing for this journey without a wink of recharge. I admit that it was foolish of me to ignore my need for adequate rest."
"Indeed," said the shuttle. "Besides, we are not scheduled to leave Velocitron until tomorrow. You could have graced Sentinel Prime with your presence at the meeting in Delta and spend the rest of the cycle on optimal recharge in your temporary quarters! I don't know why you were in such a hurry to leave."
Starscream would never tell him the truth. There were however several half-truths to choose from of which he could use to persuade the shuttle to turn back and carry on with their journey. "The space probes," he reasoned. "Vorns ago, I released a swarm of them to locate exoplanets beyond the Solus galaxy. I fear that if they were to spend any more time waiting to be located, these surviving probes would eventually cease to transmit data."
"Hmm." Skyfire did not sound convinced. "Haven't you received the co-ordinates needed to locate these probes?"
"Yes," replied Starscream. "But they are incomplete. Out of thousands, only three are still functioning. These probes share a symbiotic relationship. It's not possible for one probe to survive without the rest. If I don't get the navigational orbs closer to any of these co-ordinates to help boost the signals, we wouldn't be able to retrieve the exact co-ordinates of the other two exoplanets."
There was an unnerving moment of silence before Starscream felt the shuttle change its course toward the first intended co-ordinates.
"I trust your judgement, explorer," said Skyfire. "And since we have a long, long journey ahead of us," he continued, "it is about time we work toward a mutual understanding of our partnership."
The magnetic restraint was finally deactivated. Starscream jolted out of his seat and rolled onto the floor. He stood up immediately with a scowl while rubbing the pain on his limb and shoulder. "Must you be so violent!"
"I truly apologise," said Skyfire. "It has been awhile since I've had to use that on someone."
.
.
Those destined to fly had been created for various reasons: Many ruled the skies as warriors. Some were giants that were built for transportation. But only a few, known as Seekers, possessed the ability to navigate and travel great distances.
Once, it was customary among Seekers to venture out to faraway galaxies in search of their own burial place. Then at the time of death, his spark would merge with a nearby star and secrets of his wanderings would dissipate into the interstellar void, forever untold.
As the last of his kind, Starscream felt the need to honour a forgotten tradition. As the last of his kind, he knew that his body would not be left untouched if he were to stay grounded on Cyberton. He would be destined for laboratories and be taken apart. No. That was not how he had planned to die.
This could be it—with the infinite vastness and Skyfire hovering high up in the sky, casting a protective shadow over him as he lay in contentment on the cold ground.
Starscream watched as the shuttle surveyed the first exoplanet they had succeeded in locating after vorns and vorns of travelling; it was a barren wasteland filled with empty craters, extinct volcanoes and dusty terrains. The perfect resting place for a dying bot.
The virus in his spark. The same virus that had cost Hybrid her life. An incurable threat that seemed to latch onto his very being. He had ventured out because of it but now it seemed to have disappeared. It didn't feel like his spark would rise to unite with the planet's sun anytime soon and it was already setting.
The shuttle began to drift away slowly as it carried on with detecting anomalies and mapping minerals and terrains. Starscream was tempted to tell Skyfire the truth. Vorns spent travelling together had proven him a worthy companion, the kind of bot that could keep secrets that only a Seeker would convey to another Seeker. But there was no one else left. Just Skyfire.
Perhaps he should wait. There were other worlds to explore.
And when it was time, Starscream would not be afraid to say his goodbyes.