Author's Note: Just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews and visits. Enjoy!

"It appears that the parietal gimbals are damaged," Ratchet's deep voice sounded through the satellite linked laptop perched on a picnic table. "That would explain the disorientation."

"A-yup," Using a high-powered head lamp, Davies visually confirmed what the scans had told them. He grinned and directed his next comment to Sideswipe. "Betcha it's playing merry hell with your gyroscope."

"Let me smack you in the head so you can experience it for yourself." The trip back had not been fun for Sideswipe. He had managed to hoist himself into Ironhide's bed, with his arms and legs spilling over the sides. The bouncing and rocking along the potholed fire road hadn't helped the vertigo he was experiencing. He had cycled down his optics, but that had done little to ease the discomfort. And, of course, Ironhide had not been sympathetic. He had kept up an unending, threat-filled lecture through the entire ten minute ride back to the cabin.

Sideswipe now sat in front in the visitor center's parking lot as Davies and Epps, both clad in specially made protective gear, climbed over his frame and assessed his injuries.

Will stood with Allison and Ben, watching in the pre-dawn light as they worked, sipping on a cup of strong black coffee the ranger had thought to make. Allison had dug up a box of granola bars she had kept in her car. Will reflected that he had had worse breakfasts and at least was having a better morning than Sideswipe.

"How's the gyroscope itself?" Ratchet inquired.

"Fine," Davies was elbow deep in Sideswipe's helm. "If that beastie had hit a little harder, we'd have a problem. Good thing Sides has a hard head."

"Frag you." It was rare for Sideswipe to lose a verbal sparring match, especially to a crack as weak as the one Davies had just thrown out. Further proof of just how much he was hurting.

"Go easy on him, Davies." Lennox admonished the Brit before calling Epps's attention. "What about his com?"

"No problem," Epps replied. "Loose connection. I can have it fixed in an hour."

Epps began climbing down and Sideswipe groaned. "You're going for the laser welder, aren't you?"

"Yup."

'"I hate that thing."

"Davies," Ratchet's tone was sharp. "Be careful when you reorient the housing. If you damage it-"

"I got it, Doc Bot." Davies's voice echoed a bit as he went back to work. "He'll be walking in circles."

Ratchet exvented, snorting at the man before yielding to Optimus Prime. The tall bot looked at each of them in turn, his deep gaze studying each of them. "Is everyone else all right?"

"We're fine." Will assured him. "A little tired and a lot confused, but fine."

The screen of the laptop was split and in the frame beside the Autobot leader was General Morshower at NEST command. The older man's face was serious as he leaned on the console. "What have we got, Colonel?"

"At approximately 0300 hours, we were engaged by three separate assailants." Will told him, speaking clearly. "We defended ourselves and drove the attackers back. Sideswipe pursued, but was unable to track them."

"And the nature of the assailants?"

"Unclear at this time, sir." Will hated to tell his commander that, but it was the truth. "I was able to observe one of the attackers. From what I could see, it had an exoskeleton comparable to that of a Cybertronian. It also appeared to have six legs."

"Like a bug?" Ben asked, looking confused,

"That was the comparison that sprung to mind."

"What of the scanners?" Optimus asked, his gravelly voice rolling over the link.

"Energon scanners still came up with nothing." Sideswipe winced as Davies tweaked something in his helm. "Neither did my biosensors."

"So whatever they are don't run on energon." Morshower's gaze redirected. He was looking to the link where Optimus's visage was displayed for him. "Are there Cybertronians who don't run on energon?"

Ratchet answered from behind the Autobot commander. "As far as we know, all Cybertronians convert energies into energon before consuming it as fuel. Rarely, as necessity dictates they are capable of consuming raw energy to support life systems."

"So what's out there is not Cybertronian." Morshower reasoned out, looking back to Lennox.

"With all due respect, sir," Will came back, undeterred by his commanding officer's stony glare, "I've seen a lot of Cybertronians and a lot of Cybertronians in battle. This looked and fought like 'em."

"And as a Cybertronian," Ironhide's voice entered the conversation from where he stood behind the humans, "I can verify that what we fought moved like us. Different, but still similar."

"Ow!" Sideswipe exclaimed. Will winced with sympathy. "I second that."

"It sounds like we need more information on these things." Morshower finally said. "Any chance of finding them?"

"We managed to pull the thermal imagers out of the cabin." Will replied. "But there are thousands of square miles to hide in."

"What about tracking them?" Allison was leaning on the rail to the porch now watching the conversation.

"Young lady," Morshower's voice was impatient, "We already discussed that. The energon sensors aren't picking up any signals from them."

"No . . . sir." Allison added quickly, clearly unnerved by the man staring her down through the laptop screen. "I mean actually reading the signs and . . . tracking them."

"You mean, like, old-school?" Epps had come back with the laser welder. "Going 'Davy Crockett'?"

"I guess." Allison replied, swallowing hard before speaking, "Look, if it will help, I can give it a try."

"I don't want to involve civilians any more than we already have." Morshower replied, looking doubtful that such a thing could be done at all. "Maybe we should send in some air surveillance. Unmanned drones. We might get lucky."

"We'd have to get very lucky, sir. The tree cover is pretty thick." Will put in. He didn't want to involve civilians, either, but from where he was standing, options were low. "I'll take Ironhide with me. It will be his priority to keep Ms. Brody safe."

The mech snorted, but didn't say anything.

Morshower sighed heavily. "If it looks dangerous at all out there, you turn tail and run."

"Don't have to tell me twice, sir." Allison muttered, moving away to collect her pack again.

Morshower looked back at Will. "I'm putting the 366th at Home Mountain Air Force Base on alert. But I'm not sending them out there until we know more about the nature of the targets. We'll start contacting local authorities to fill them in so they can start taking appropriate action."

"We'll work on retrieving some intel, sir." Will replied. "As soon as we have more information, we'll be in touch."

"Optimus," Morshower redirected his focus. "I suppose you'll want a ride stateside?"

"It would be appreciated, General Morshower," the bot replied graciously. "We will provide assistance to determine the nature of this threat."

"Who's coming?" Will asked.

"Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Mirage, and myself." Optimus replied. "If you obtain more information, please have it relayed as quickly as possible."

"You got it."

And with that, each of the commanders signed off. For now, Will was pretty much on his own. Even if Morshower threw everything he had at procuring transport for the 'bots, it was still going to take them at least 18 hours to get on the ground anywhere near their current position. And, as Morshower had said, no more military personnel could be deployed and risked until they had some idea of what they were dealing with.

Epps was still on the ground when Will approached the pile of gear they had organized near the base of the steps. "All right, so what didn't get destroyed?"

"We recovered all of the extra ammo." Epps removed a thick glove to pass him some magazines for his M4. "And one of the digital imagers."

Will stowed the small, handheld device into a pocket. Epps watched him before speaking again. "You want some back up?"

"Nah," Will replied, settling the strap of his weapon comfortably across his body. "This is recon. Just get Sideswipe back to operational again."

"You got it, Boss." Epps made a twisting motion near his ear. "Check your com. You need me, call."

"I'll do that."

Epps gave him a nod before turning back to Sideswipe and Davies. Will turned to look up at Ironhide. "Ready to go hiking?"

The black mech hefted air through his vents as he turned and crossed to where Allison was crouched looking at the ground. "This better not be a waste of time, woman."

"Your faith is inspiring." Allison's eyes never left the ground.

"He's got a point." Will walked over to her and looked down. All he could see were the confused scraping and trampings from the previous night's skirmish. "I know I backed you over there with the General, but we do not have time for you to pretend to know what you're doing."

Allison looked up. "I know, this is weird. Look, Colonel, I just want to find out what these things are and get them outta here. If you've gotta better idea, I'm all ears."

The trouble was, he didn't.

After a few minutes, she started off, heading back towards the path Sideswipe had left the night before. With a shrug of her shoulders, she adjusted the pack on her back and buckled it over her hips again. With a look up at Ironhide, Will followed her curious about what provisions she saw fit to bring along. "What's in the pack?"

"First aid kit," Allison answered distractedly. "Water, food. Probably a collar from one of the wolves I finished tracking last week."

She didn't seem interesting in talking much after that and Will was content to let her focus on what she was doing. For a time, she stuck to the path they had followed the night before. Ironhide slowed them up considerably. The trees were closer and the big alien had to stoop and push his frame between a few of them. Will heard something that sounded like a curse word as bark fell on him and he heard metal scraping.

The morning mists hung heavy around them, condensing on the human's clothes and giving them a chill. Ironhide moved in a haze of his own, delicate fog as the cooler air hit his armor, warmed by the vital systems running beneath it. The mech was unperturbed as he cracked through the forest, following the humans as closely as he could.

When the trees opened a bit, Will could see the blue haze hanging in the gaps between the mountains. Around them, the woods seemed to be awakening as the first hesitant twitter of birds caught his ear. The sun was climbing higher, blinding them slightly as it peeked over ridges and from behind thick stands of trees.

They made it to the power lines in about twenty minutes. Allison moved under them again to the exact spot she had taken Will to the night before. He felt his irritation grow. This was ridiculous. In the morning light, Will would have no problem following this trail on his own. The problem was, this was Sideswipe's trail and not the trail of their targets. He wasn't kidding when he said he didn't have time to waste and he was in no mood to support the woman's 'hero complex'.

Allison had just disappeared into the tree line and Will was about to call out to her to knock off the charade. Then, he caught sight of her back-tracking her steps and moving in a path to parallel the power lines. "This is where Sideswipe lost it."

Will moved forward with Ironhide, who also seemed less than convinced. The mech put a knee to the ground to peer at Allison through the brush, his tone doubtful and warning. "What do you mean?"

She pointed at the ground. "The one he was chasing backtracked here. It headed off to the northeast. Was it hurt?"

Ironhide narrowed his optics. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh," Allison was crouching again. "Back rear leg. It's barely touching the ground. The gait is uneven and it looks like it's having a hard time moving through here."

Looking down at Will, the mech's optics flared a bit. "That would be the one I tried to restrain."

"I'm surprised the thing outran Sideswipe as long as it did." Allison's voice held a little bit of appreciation. "It led him on just long enough and then headed off in a different direction."

From the look on his faceplates, it was clear that Ironhide finally believed that Allison had at least some semblance of what she was talking about. And that was good enough for Will. "All right. Which way?"

"Heading northeast, at least for now."

The woman stood for a moment, looking in the direction she had indicated with no small amount of concern. "This thing is weird. It's big. But whatever it is, it seems to be perfectly suited for its environment."

"How?" Will asked.

"This is hard, tracking it like this." Allison flat-out confessed. "And it shouldn't be, but it just seems to glide over the ground. There's barely disturbance in the dirt or in the needles. Without the injury to the appendage, I don't think it would leave marks on the ground at all. From your description, I thought tracking them would be a lot easier."

The woman shifted her weight back and forth, sighing gently and looking out amongst the tress. Will cocked his head to study her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, though her tone suggested she wasn't quite sure. "It's just . . . weird. I've never been uncomfortable in the woods . . . until now."

With a hesitant smile, Allison started up the slope, stopping to look at the ground. Hefting his gun, Will started after her with Ironhide shaking the ground under their feet. With each step, he was feeling the forest close in more around them, cutting them off from the outside world.

It was interesting to watch. For close to an hour, they fell into a pattern. Allison would stoop and look at the ground, move among the trees and retrace her steps before laying the next course, her brow furrowed as though trying to figure out a puzzle. When she paused, Will would take the opportunity to look around. Ironhide's sensors, he knew, were set to their most sensitive, the mech keeping a close watch on the two humans as they all made their way through the ever-darkening woods.

Ironhide spoke after a while. "Do you see evidence of the other two creatures yet?"

"No, just this one." Allison answered, distractedly. "I've been looking, but I'm not coming up with anything."

The trail seemed to wind around a bit, taking them further up the mountain. Though her movements were cautious, they were sure. Will watched her walk carefully around in a circle before crouching to look at a disturbance in the bed of pine needles.

"Where did you learn to do this?"

"What? Tracking animals?"

"Yeah."

Allison snickered a little bit. "My grandfather is an old Cherokee Medicine Man."

"Really?" Will said with a certain amount of incredulity.

Allison snorted. "No. He's a little old retired insurance salesman who lives in Boca."

Will smirked. "So, seriously. Where?"

"I interned at a nature center as an undergrad. The naturalist there taught me." Allison continued to climb. "It comes in handy. Collars get lost or they malfunction. It's nice to have a low-tech option to fall back on when Murphy is out to get you."

"Ahh, Murphy."

"Oh, so you've met him."

"We're acquainted."

"I'll bet." Allison looked back at Ironhide significantly to catch up with Ironhide. "Seems like in your situation, good ole Murphy is probably around every corner.

"You have no idea."

"Who is this Murphy, Will?" Ironhide finally asked as he trudged along behind the humans. "Do you require protection?"

"There is no protection from Murphy's Law, 'Hide." Will told him.

"Murphy's Law?" The mech asked in a questioning tone.

Allison grinned at Will for a moment before saying quite clearly. "Murphy's Law states: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

"And usually at the worst possible moment." Will added.

"Speaking of which." Allison stopped, slowly sobering again. "I think I have an idea of where this thing might be heading."

"Where?"

Will noticed a change in their guide. While she had been distracted from her nervousness by the task of tracking their quarry, it seemed to have returned now. She was looking towards the north, her eyes flicking back and forth. "It looks like it's headed to the bluff."

"So let's go." Ironhide stepped forward and over them, heading in the direction Allison had indicated.

The look on her face made Will stop. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She answered too quickly. "Just . . . making a connection."

"Which is?"

"None of Ben's staff likes to go up there." Allison replied, "One of his interpretive rangers is really into geology, and even he won't venture out here."

"Let me guess: old legends about spirits and ghosts-"

"No." Allison cut him off, her tone quiet. "I've been up here a couple of times . . . . it's just . . .unnatural."

And with a sense of foreboding, Allison walked off.

Within a half an hour, Will found himself looking up at a wall of sheer rock and admitting that Allison had a point. This bluff jutted out from the mountain, almost bowl-like, a good hundred feet over Ironhide's head. It looked almost like a giant hand had molded the boulders like clay, pushing up from the base. It seemed to defy gravity. And Will was the first to admit that he was no geologist, even he felt that the rock formation seemed ungainly and forced, like an ugly growth that stuck out from the face of the otherwise pristine mountain.

And there was this feeling. A vibe, for want of a better word. A distinct feeling of something being slightly off. He felt his guard go up. They had to proceed with caution.

Allison had paced the base of the bluff as far as she could. The face of the rock formation dropped off suddenly to the river below about fifty yards from where they now stood. After scouring for any clue as to where the creature could have gone Allison was now standing in front of Ironhide, looking up at the rocks. "It went up."

"Up?"

"Straight up." Allison confirmed.

Will looked up. For something the size of these creatures, it was impossible to think that they had been able to make the climb. The gray rock went almost vertically from where they all now stood. Will was a little doubtful, but Allison had seemed to be making all the right calls up to this point.

The bluff was a natural fortress. He would bet even money that their guests from the night before had probably retreated to some sort of den nestled in the rocky bowl above them. Even if he was wrong, and found nothing, he was still going to have to clear the area. It was just too likely a spot to walk casually by.

He could pick out a path among the rocks that would take him up to the lip of the bluff. With a minimal amount of scrambling, he could reach the top in a matter of minutes. There was just one problem . . .

"'Hide, you're going to have to wait here with Allison."

The mech snorted. "You are not going up there alone."

"It's recon." Will insisted. "I'll be fine. But if you try to haul your metal carcass up there, you'll make too much noise."

Will knew that Ironhide saw his point, but as usual, he was going to be disagreeable anyway. "I will not wait here."

"You're here to watch Allison." Will replied, checking his weapon and pulling out the digital imager. "And she is most definitely staying here."

The woman was looking back and forth between the two of them, making the smart decision to not add her two-cent worth.

"You can't go up there without back up."

"Patch into the wireless link-up on the data recorder. That way you can see what I'm seeing." Will had already started up the rocks. "My com is on. If I need you, I'll yell."

"I told you-"

"I heard you." Will replied, through his com. "Stay put. That's an order."

There was a threat through the com, but the mech obeyed. Beside him, Allison watched Will scrabble up the rocks, holding up a hand to shield her eyes.

Will vaulted up a pile of rocks and left the pair behind him. Quickly, but quietly, he picked his way up the mountain side, placing each foot carefully as he went. About halfway up, he started gripping with his hands and pulling himself up. Small rocks and pebbles gave way beneath his feet as he continued to climb. With a quick look back over his shoulder, he could see Ironhide and Allison, now far below him. The mech's optics were narrowed as he watched him like a hawk.

Slowly, and using all of his muscle strength, Will edged himself up and over the top of the bluff. Ignoring the rocks digging into his ribs, he crawled across the hard ground and gently eased his head over the top to look down into the bowl.

There they were. Across from him, taking shelter beneath the overhang, were two of the creatures. Metal bodies gleamed in the strengthening sunlight. Will watched them with an experienced eye, noting the fluid, but still mechanical motions of their bodies. Whatever they were, they definitely were of a Cybertronian heritage.

Will kept himself flat to the ground as he took them both in, gently easing the digital recorder up to begin taking footage.

His estimate of their size had been right. They were just slightly taller than a low-profile vehicle. The one closest to him was laid out on its keel, three of its six appendages splayed around it. The nearest comparison Will could make was that it was a grasshopper. Its body was long and sleek, covered in dark brown plating that was hard to see against the shade of the rocks. The rear appendages were more strongly made than the others. If the creature was anything like an organic grasshopper, Will guessed that the plates hid an immensely intricate and powerful hydraulic system capable of catapulting the bot great distances.

The ground was littered with limbs and tree branches. Will focused in on the remains, noting the sawdust heaped in piles all around. He saw nothing of the larger bodies of the conifers, though.

The other creature seemed to be repairing the plating and housing of his counterpart. It was a beetle-like creature. From what he could tell, it was the one that had taken on Epps and Davies at the cabin the night before. The high-domed carapace was iridescent green while the underparts were a dull black. Menacing, pincer-like mandibles jutted out from its face, just beneath the facetted, compound eyes. As Will watched, the mandibles closed around something on the other creature he couldn't see. There was the sound of metal popping as the grasshopper writhed in the dirt.

" 'Hide, are you seeing this?" Will whispered into his com.

"Affirmative." Ironhide replied, "Any sign of the third creature?"

"Negative." Will came back. "Keep your eyes open for him."

"Are you taking thermal images as well?"

"Copy that." Will flicked the control for the device and watched as the image switched to cool blues and grays, with the creatures showing up as muted yellows and oranges. Will frowned. "That's weird."

"Cybertronians usually flare red in thermal images." Ironhide saw it too. "They're systems must be functioning at a reduced capacity."

Even still, when the beetle reared back, Will could see the deeper orange that indicated a functioning spark-chamber was heating the plates that protected it. Though they seemed to defy some of the tests and indicators, it was clear that they were dealing with a creature that at least shared some lineage with Cybertronians.

Standing and stretching, the grasshopper gingerly tested its newly-repaired appendage before moving forward and pulling a sizeable tree limb towards itself. Will watched in fascination as the mandible crushed into the bark, ripping the wood. There was a soft whirring as the mouthparts worked, grinding the wood up sending it into the creature's components. They were eating organic material.

"Keep your guard up, Hide." Will reminded him. "We're still missing one."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when the clicking started again. The beetle was tapping its mandible together, sending a deep metallic ping off of the walls of the bluff. The grasshopper clearly responded, rising from the ground to follow the beetle.

"Something's going on up here."

But the insects were not headed for him. As easily as climbing a set of stairs, they moved up the rim opposite him, cautiously. " 'Hide, take Allison and move out."

Ironhide didn't respond. From his perch high atop the bluff, Will caught the sound of metal on metal and the surprised grunt. Allison's voice, high-pitched and panicked reached his ears as she yelled the mech's name.

He couldn't let them gang up on Ironhide. Feeling his blood racing, Will stood up and drew a bead on the beetle. He took aim at the joint between the neck and the head, hoping the specially made rounds in the magazine would pierce the hide of the great beast.

The shots fired in a short burst of staccato. A couple pinged off of the armor, but the last of the series clipped one of the sensitive nodes or wires between the plates. The creature hissed and redirected itself, coming for Will instead.

His heart pounded in his ears as he ran back down the way he had come up, slinging himself down the side of the mountain with reckless abandon. Above him, he heard the rocks scrape as the creature came after him, snapping its powerful jaws in an attempt to grab him.

Will fell a couple of feet to get away, landing on a ledge about ten feet below him. The beetle let its bulk slide after him, clearly intent on taking Will for a lethal ride down the cliff face. Out of the corner of his eye, Will caught sight of a bare hand hold and leapt for it. The sharp rocks cut into his hand, but he managed to keep his grip, turning his face away as the creature's metal exoskeleton squealed on the rock as it fell to the base of the bluff.

Ironhide was directly beneath him. As Will began to climb down over top of the bot, he could see the third creature, who had obviously got the drop on them, climbing Ironhide and trying to pin him to the ground. It had a long snout, under which Will could make out rows of teeth that seemed to move like buzzsaws that were coming dangerously close to the energon lines pulsing through Ironhide's neck struts. It too, had a carapace, but the dome was much shallower than the beetle. Unlike the others, this one was jet black, stem to stern.

Ironhide grunted, trying to bring his cannons to bear, but the grasshopper grabbed him at the last second, pulling the mouth of the enormous gun away from the weevil. With a savage yell, the mech rammed his helm back, knocking the grasshopper in the head.

As soon as the weevil-creature had attacked, Ironhide had obviously swooped up Allison and dumped her on an overhang above his head, effectively getting her from underfoot. She was lying flat on her stomach, covering her head when Will dropped down beside her. She gave a startled yelp as he knelt down near her shoulder, taking aim at the creature hanging from Ironhide's shoulder struts.

The shots caught the creature just where the abdominal plating met its back armor. It squealed and flew around, lashing against the mountainside blindly in its pain. Taking advantage, Ironhide grabbed for its body, trying to push it away to get a clear shot with one of his cannons.

All of the sudden the bulbous, horrid eyes of the beetle rose in front of Will, blocking his view of Ironhide. The faceted surface reflected his image back at him as the creature hissed through its vents and lunged. Will pushed Allison up and back, shouldering his weapon and firing all at the same time.

It seemed to have learned, though and rolled away. The shot missed, but the creature lost its grip on the rocks and slid down the mountain about twenty feet. It did not climb back up, instead slamming the front of its carapace against the side of the cliff.

"Whoa!" Will shouted involuntarily as the rocks crumbled beneath them, sliding down the mountain towards the creature.

Will grabbed Allison's arm and hauled her up, pushing her further up the mountain. The woman got the idea quickly, hurling herself back to the stable path and taking cover behind the rocks.

Ironhide's war-cry caught his attention and Will ducked as the weevil-like beast slammed hard into the rocks. There was a squeal and the mech pinned the grasshopper to the ground on its back plates, the legs flailing wildly as the thing writhed in his grasp. With his free hand, Ironhide reached for the nearest of the legs, trying to get a grip.

He wasn't quite fast enough. The powerful hindleg of the beast caught Ironhide in the chestplates, sending the mech flying. The other two metal insects had found their feet again and were turning away, clearly intent on fleeing into the woods. Ironhide was proving too much of an opponent for them now that he had the upper-hand.

And then it happened. The exoskeleton of the beetle flicked up with a smooth motion, transforming and converting to cupped wings. Beneath them, a second membranous material that was nearly transparent, began to beat rapidly, sending dirt and grit onto Will's eyes. Beside him, Allison put up an arm to protect her face.

The force of the wind it created was incredible and Will was only peripherally aware that the grasshopper and the weevil had deployed similar apparatus. It was so powerful, he could barely stand. All at once, Allison's words from the day before struck him. It was like something just flew in here . . . .

No wonder they hadn't found three sets of tracks. The other two had obviously cleared the cabin the night before and flown off. The third, wounded by Ironhide, had limped its way back. It was obviously fully functional now.

Will held up his own hand, looking for Ironhide. The mech was just picking himself up off of the ground and would never be able to get to the beasts before they took off. If they made it into the air, it would be next to impossible to find them again.

All at once, a wild thought hit him. He flipped around to face Allison, yelling above the turmoil. "Do you have one of those tracking collars?"

"What?"

"Do you have one?"

Allison quickly ripped the bag from her back and reached in. She fumbled for a second before yanking out the leather collar with the tracking housing attached to it.

Will grabbed it from her and took off. He knew if he thought about it too much, he'd realize how crazy it was. Pushing himself up from the rocks, he jumped up and raced down the ridgeline. The weevil was the closest to him. Timing would be everything . . .

Will put everything he had into the jump just as the creature took off, throwing himself off of the very end of the cliff. The crook of his elbow caught around the strut of the creature's back leg. Quickly, Will swung his legs up and wrapped them around the top part of the metal appendage. Hanging on with his arm, he quickly undid the collar. The strut attached to the leg was about twice the width of his arm. It would be a tight fit.

Using his legs for support, Will flipped the bulk of the collar over the strut that connected the top part of the weevil's leg to its body. Cursing, he fumbled with the bolts that apparently required a special tool to fasten. The leather slipped and slid as he fussed with them, tightening them the best he could with a thumb and forefinger as he dangled, being buffeted by the powerful wings of the flying insect robot. The force was so hard it nearly took his breath away. Finally, it seemed snug and he was satisfied that it would remain in place.

He slipped down the leg a bit and it was then that Colonel William Lennox realized that he had well and truly outsmarted himself. In the few seconds it had taken to attach the collar, the insects had climbed at least fifty feet in the air, well above the tree line. They weren't moving at jet speeds, but they weren't making bad time either, intent on gaining altitude and putting distance between themselves and one very irate Weapons Specialist.

All at once, the leg began to buck as Will tried desperately to hold on. There was a hissing and Will guessed that the weevil had just noticed that he was catching a ride on its leg. He pulled his torso up, locking his arms and legs in the vain hope that he wouldn't be dislodged. With another hiss, the creature barrel-rolled and flung its back legs out like a kicking horse.

Will's grip broke. There was the horrible feeling of complete disorientation as he spun through the air. He was falling down now as gravity snapped him in its fist. He could see the trees getting closer and closed his eyes, waiting for the branches to knock the wind out of him right before the sickeningly painful and probably lethal contact with the ground. Closing his eyes, he braced for the impact.

"Gotcha!" He was abruptly moving sideways and down now as something warm and familiar wrapped around his entire body. He opened his eyes but it was still dark. Will was still falling, but nestled and padded in living metal. He was jarred as his cocoon collided with the earth and his world spun over twice, with much snapping and cracking of wood, before a loud thump sounded beneath him. The darkness cleared and Will found himself on his back blinking as he looked up into a cloudless blue sky.

He was lying in the palm of Ironhide's outstretched servo. The mech was flat on his back as well, heaving through his vents to cool his battle hot systems. Obviously, the bot had jumped up to catch him and rolled across the ground with the effort of his attempt.

Together, they lay there, and in Will's case just enjoyed being alive and uninjured. The simple feeling of breath entering and leaving his lungs was a joy. Seriously, had the sky always been that shade of brilliant and beautiful blue?

Finally, Ironhide lulled his helm to the side to glare at Will. "You cause me a lot of trouble, Human."

Will chuckled through his panting. "Hey, 'Hide?"

"Yes?"

"Nice catch."

"Colonel!" Allison's yell caused Will to sit up and Ironhide to pick his helm up to look. The woman was leaping over downed trees and sliding down the hill. With a burst of speed, she raced down the path Ironhide had left, sliding to a stop beside Ironhide's fingers. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Will assured her as he stood up. Muscles protested a little, but when he considered the alternative, he didn't mind so much. A quick glance at the horizon yielded no sign of the insect bots. No big deal now, though. With that collar, he would be able to find them in a matter of minutes, no matter where they went in the world.

"Are you crazy?" Allison was visibly shaken up. She was pale and trembling.

"Easy." Will jumped down beside her. "Take a couple of deep breaths."

Nodding, she did as he told her. After a couple of inhalations, her breath came easier and her color came back. "You could have been killed."

Will shrugged, trying to joke and be nonchalant. "Ironhide won't let that happen."

The mech nodded solemnly. "His wife would have me stripped for parts."

Will smiled, but Allison still seemed tense. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, you gotta calm down or you're going to pass out. We need to get moving so I can relay coordinates to General Morshower."

"Colonel," Allison huffed, "I really hate to tell you this after everything you just went through, but I think you may be laboring under a misconception as to how a tracking collar works."

Will felt his stomach drop again. "What do you mean?"

"You want to track them with the GPS software that's compatible with that collar, right?"

"That's the plan."

"You're expecting to get coordinates from it in real-time, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Will replied suspiciously, "All we have to do is access the satellite's database . . ."

He trailed off as she shook her head. Finally, she said softly. "It doesn't work like that."

Will had made the assumption that GPS was GPS and it didn't seem unreasonable. The Army's GPS systems gave real-time data almost anywhere on the planet. Their transmitters were strong enough to cut through hurricanes. It should be the same with the GPS technology Allison used to track wild animals.

Right?

Ironhide had gotten to his feet and was standing over them as Will asked. "So how does it work?"

"The collar records its position via GPS and downloads it to an online database . . . every fifteen minutes."

"Every fifteen . . . ?" Will shook his head. He couldn't believe this. "Every fifteen minutes?"

Allison looked apologetic. "It's almost real-time."

"I can't call in air-strike with coordinates obtained through 'almost real-time'." Will threw up his hands, letting his temper reign. "Those coordinates will be for the collar's position in that particular instant. How do you know it's not still moving?"

"You don't." Allison was getting frustrated. "We're looking for patterns in movement and pack ranges over a period of months or years. We're not interested in knowing where they are every second of every day."

"Well, that's just great." Will spat back. Deep down, he knew it wasn't Allison's fault, but after what he had just gone through to place the tracking device on the creature, he couldn't help but want to loose some of his vexation. "Give me a couple of months and I'll know the migration patterns of giant alien insect bots. 'Course the trail of destruction they leave behind might be a better clue."

"If you had told me what you were going to do before you jumped off the cliff, I could have pointed out the flaws in your plan." Allison yelled back.

"Humans," through their little argument, Ironhide had remained silent. He stood over them now, giving them both a rebuking stare. "Might I suggest we start gathering what information we can from Will's plan?"

The bot was right. Any coordinate was better than no coordinate at all. No sooner had the words left his vocalizer than Ironhide was sliding down into his alt-mode. The doors swung open, Ironhide's way of telling them to get over it and get on with it. Will glanced at Allison and moved forward, climbing up into the cab and behind the steering wheel. "You're right, Hide."

Allison had been right behind him and settled in the passenger seat. The doors slammed and Ironhide's massive tires dug into the forest floor, sending dirt spraying as he took off.

A tense silence hung around all three of them. Allison clutched the door handle as Ironhide wove in and among the trees, heading back for the power line field and the fire trails. She glanced at Will a couple of times before she finally spoke again, "Believe it or not, we aren't totally screwed, here."

"I know that." Will took a deep breath. "We'll get the coordinate, relay it to Morshower and he can order air surveillance."

"I can do you one better." Allison replied. "Every tracking collar is also outfitted with a VHF transmitter. That's so at the end of the study you can trigger the signal, tune the receiver to the right frequency, pick up the signal, locate and tranquilize the animal, and remove the collar."

"Do you have the receiver?" Will asked as Ironhide slid back onto one of the paved fire trails and made for Route 12.

"All of the tracking equipment is back at the visitor's center." Allison assured him.

Will took a deep breath. "I know this is a lot to ask, but can you still help us? Epps can probably figure it out, but it's your equipment."

"Sure." Allison replied. He looked over to see a tight smile on her features. "Whatever it takes."