Chapter 7: Impossible
They repeated the tests. Several times. But the results were always the same. Eleonor turned off the datapad she was using, and placed both hands on her desk. She couldn't believe the results. This couldn't be happening.
"The results are not going to change, Eleonor." Starscream said, with a slightly aggravated sigh. He lowered one servo next to the young woman, offering her a lift. She seated on the open palm with a troubled expression. He left her over his work table, so that they could look at each other more comfortably. "Now, tell me what troubles you." He commanded. He had never seen his human behaving like that. Eleonor usually behaved very professionally in the lab, and she always tried kept her emotions in check. Something should be very wrong to have unsettled her in such way.
She sighed in defeat and her shoulders slumped a little.
"It is going to be a little long to explain." She warned, looking back at the seeker. He replied taking a seat in a cybertronian-sized chair and stared at her with a look that said 'I have literally all the time in the Universe.'
"Speak." He ordered. The woman was in silence for some seconds, thinking about where to start.
"Do you know what are Earth's life forms composed of?" She finally asked.
"Of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons and their derivatives." He efficiently recalled. He was not new in organic chemistry.
"Correct. And those carbon-based compounds can be classified in four categories. Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids." Starscream nodded, he knew that too. His human had started her explanation from a very low level. "All four of them are indispensable. But if I must emphasize the importance of any of them, they would be nucleic acids and proteins."
"If memory serves right, nucleic acids form deoxyribonucleic acids."
"Among others, yes. We call it DNA for short. DNA defines what and who we are. The DNA sequence is unique for each organism and species. Do you know how it works?" She asked.
"I have the basic knowledge." He replied.
"The DNA molecules are instructions. Instructions for how to correctly assemble proteins. And proteins do, literally, everything. From constituting structures to catalyzing chemical reactions. Everything. That is why both of them are extremely important." She explained. The seeker nodded in understanding.
"Go on."
"Proteins are made of smaller sub-units. They are called amino acids. There only exist twenty different types of amino acids. The chosen amino acids and their order in the sequence, determine the protein and its function. And there are infinite combinations."
"So, the DNA instructions actually determine the amino acid sequence of the proteins." Starscream concluded.
Eleonor nodded, satisfied with the seeker's conclusion. That part of the explanation was clear. Now, it was time to move on to another subject.
"Good. Keep all that in mind. Now I must speak about other things." She continued. "Do you have any idea of how the earliest Earth's life forms could have evolved? Or how life could have started?" She asked.
"I honestly have no idea." He admitted.
"Good. No human knows it for sure either." She concurred, making Starscream blink his optics a little surprised. "But a scientist called Stanley Miller designed a experiment in 1950. He recreated what was supposed to be the early Earth's atmosphere, rich in ammonia, methane and hydrogen. And he exposed it to an energy source in form of electrical discharges, like the ones that could be produced in electrical storms. And he let it work for a long time."
"And what happened?" Starscream asked, intrigued by the odd experiment. Eleonor made a dramatic pause.
"Some amino acids and other organic molecules had formed after some time." She stated.
"So, that proved that it was possible for life to develop from inorganic molecules in suitable conditions." He concluded.
"Correct. It seemed very plausible." She agreed. "However, this cannot be corroborated at one hundred per cent, because life developed many millions of years ago, and the exact conditions cannot be recreated. But like I said, it is a very plausible theory."
"I agree. What else?"
"In 2008, the analysis of a meteorite revealed the presence of some biologically relevant molecules, such as nucleic acids. This provided evidence for another theory that had been a little ignored until then." She paused. "That life could have arrived from outside earth. Maybe not the living organisms, but instead the raw basic organic molecules, constituting the 'seeds' for the earliest life forms."
"Also plausible." He agreed. "Where is all this leading us?" He asked, narrowing his optics.
"To a question I must ask you." She said with resolve. Starscream leaned closer. "You are very good with maths. Assuming that the development of life here on this planet and on Earth are independent events, could you calculate the probabilities of all the twenty amino acids been exactly the same?" Starscream was in silence for some seconds, his optics dimmed.
"They are infinitesimal."
"And if the development of life in the two planets were not independent events?" She asked again.
"They would be quite higher."
"That's what I thought." She sighed, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. Starscream froze in place, realizing what his human was trying to say.
"Are you implying that... these life forms here are biologically the same as the ones present in Earth?" He asked.
"The same? No. Similar? Yes." She replied. Their levels of organization are different, the metabolic routes are different, their structures are different... but they all share a molecule that is eerily similar to DNA that also has instructions for organizing amino acids into proteins. And these amino acids, all twenty of them are exactly the same as the ones present in Earth!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "It's like if you constructed two different buildings with the same bricks... It makes no sense at all..." She sighed. The seeker was thoughtful for a while.
"What conclusions can you draw of all this?"
"Life here and on Earth are related somehow. But Earth is so, so far away from here, that it is highly unlikely that a meteor from here or from Earth arrived at the opposite planet, carrying the primordial molecules."
Starscream was in silence for several minutes, running different scenarios in his processors, their implications and consequences.
"Are you thinking the same than me?" He asked after a while.
"Probably. But I don't want to say it." She sighed. "I need more data to be sure before daring to say it."
"Date references."
"Yes." She said, seating cross-legged on the table. She had been running tests almost the whole day, not even pausing for lunch. She was too worried to care for that, and now the tiredness was catching up with her. "I'm exhausted..." She admitted, holding her temples between her hands.
Starscream looked down at her with concern. The young woman was very hard-working, almost a workaholic, and she never slacked or complained about his duties. For her to admit that she was exhausted of working was extremely rare. But it was understandable after that unsettling discovery and it's implications...
...That life on Earth could had been deliberately put there by someone.
Eleonor let herself drop unceremoniously onto the bed. Starscream had brought her to her quarters so that she could rest for a while.
"Everything is so... strange. It doesn't make any sense. But I am sure that it must exist a logical explanation for this mystery." She sighed, closing her eyes, trying to put her thoughts in order. "Though I fear that the explanation could be even more unsettling..."
"Hush you and get some recharge." He commanded, a little harshly. She immediately stopped her rambling. Leaning again on the bed, and closing her eyes, she tried to push the theories and hypothesis to the back of her mind. But if was futile.
"I can't..." She sighed. Starscream suppressed a growl and dropped into his jet form.
"Come here." He ordered, this time softer, opening his cabin and producing a step-ladder.
Eleonor tilted her head questioningly, but complied. Climbing easily, she took seat and nearly yelped in surprise when it folded down slowly to a an almost horizontal position. And discovered that it was actually very comfortable. She let out a sigh very slowly and closed her eyes. She could hear the faint humming of the seeker's own inner workings, reminding her that she was inside a living being. A surprisingly comfortable one, she should admit.
"Is it really that important?" Asked the seeker unusually softly, his voice coming from nowhere in particular inside the cabin. "I mean, nothing is going to change, regardless of you finding out the origin of life in Earth or not. The sun will continue to rise everyday over the horizon, plants will continue to grow and animals to be born. And every night will arrive. Everything will continue its natural course." He reassured.
"... I know... It's just... that I've never thought that this option was even possible." She sighed. "Of course life on Earth has evolved from primordial organic molecules, increasing its complexity over millions of years, under the rules of natural selection. That's a fact." She paused. "But the idea that it could be someone behind it's origin... it just seems wrong to me." She paused again for some seconds. "I don't believe in any sort of... god-like-being controlling my destiny." She admitted, almost chocking on the word 'god'. It sounded like an insult for her strict scientific convictions.
Starscream pondered her words for a while, and realized the problem. A moral conflict.
"Well, whoever sowed the seeds of life on Earth (if someone actually did it, we still have no proof), does not has to be also controlling your destiny or anyone else's." He suggested. "If someone did brought to Earth those primordial molecules, it would have certainly been someone much more powerful than a human, indeed. But not necessarily a god-like-being. Don't you think?"
Eleonor chewed on his words for a while. And she had to agree with them. She had looked at things from the point of view of human capabilities, but taking other beings into account, she found it more plausible. Cybertronians, for instance. And who knew who other intelligent beings capable of such feats were out there in the Universe.
"I suppose you are right." She admitted, letting out a long sigh. She noticed then that the lighting of the room had been dimming slowly during their conversation, and they were now in a pleasant darkness. Sharing his troubled thoughts with the seeker had also been very helpful, and she felt now a little relieved. Perhaps cybertronians and humans were not so different after all, and all she needed was to share her worries with someone else. She felt the stress leaving her, and she relaxed slowly on the comfortable seat. "Thank you for listening, Starscream. And I am sorry for behaving so... improperly."
"It's understandable. Don't worry any longer." He replied.
"I think I'm at peace now. I'd better go back to my bed before I fall asleep here." She said, straightening up.
"Am I not comfortable enough?" He asked. Eleonor blinked at the unexpected question.
"...Of course you are. But I don't wish to bother you any longer."
"You don't bother me. Just go and sleep already."
Eleonor stared dumbfounded at dashboard for some seconds, and leaned again on the comfortable seat, murmuring a quick 'thank you' and smiling faintly.
Starscream monitored her vitals as she fell asleep. Her heart-beat slowing down and her breath stabilizing to a steady rhythm. Well, one problem solved. There were still surely more to come, but they could deal with them another day. For now, they both had earned themselves a good rest. Powering down his systems, he also fell into recharge. One of the last things his sensors registered were the light caresses of Eleonor's hand as she unconsciously traced the seat's outlines, already in dreams. His engines started to purr softly and he didn't even try to stop them. He didn't care at the moment, and no one else was there to laugh at him.
Eleonor stretched and then snuggled against the seat, slowly coming out of her dreams. She felt wonderful. She had rested all the time she needed and now was waking up by herself, without any phone-alarm startling her out of sleep. Starscream had let her sleep in his cabin. She was used to be around him, to work with him in the lab, even to seat on his servos. But been inside of him without the excuse of travelling somewhere was different. It felt intimate. And inexplicably comfortable. She could feel his reassuring presence around her, and she found it also oddly soothing.
"Hmmm..." She murmured, opening her eyes. And gasped briefly as she took in her surroundings. It was true, not a dream. She was sleeping inside him. The memories of the last events suddenly flooded her mind. And now she felt kind of stupid. Like a small girl that had sought the reassuring company of her parents to help her sleep after a bad nightmare. Oh, she felt so silly at that moment.
"Good morning." The seeker whispered calmly. But it was of no use, because she nearly jumped out of the seat.
"Starscream, Sir! I am so sorry!" She exclaimed.
"Do you always wake up so jumpy? What happens? Why are you sorry?" He asked, unsettled.
"For sleeping here." She clarified and had the grace of blushing.
"For the love of Primus!" He exclaimed. "The very Unicron could be eating the Universe and you still would be worried about bothering me!"
Eleonor froze, and remembered that it had been Starscream himself who had literally ordered her to sleep right there. She started to giggle. And then to laugh.
"Then I'm sorry for startling you. I tend to wake up without remembering how or where I fell asleep, and I wasn't expecting to be here." She apologized. Starscream just chuckled in amusement.
"Get out and prepare yourself. We have many things to do today." He commanded, back to business.
"Yes, Sir!" She cheered, and climbed out of the cabin, almost tripping on the last steps, to the seeker's amusement.
"Well, I must attend to another matters." He announced as he transformed back to mech form and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a while."
"I take it that Megatron is going to be happy." Thundercracker mentioned as he absently typed something in a datapad.
"He'll better be. I'm working hard to find those supplies we need." Replied Starscream, overseeing the mining drones that were been unloaded from the cargo spaceship that his brother had brought.
"We all are working hard to reconstruct Cybertron. Not only you, Star." Thundercracker pointed out. The other seeker smirked at the nick-name. He only used it when no one was around. Unlike Skywarp, who disrespectfully called him 'Screamer' whenever he wanted. "Although I must admit, that your new attitude towards our Leader still surprises me."
"Hmpf." He huffed, a little annoyed. "Let's say... that for once I don't have anything to complain about his plans. And our objectives are the same. Pits. I may be mean and cruel, but not stupid, and extinguishing our race was not in my plans. Besides, Cybertron is our only home. We must restore it. Megatron is right in doing this."
"Yeah, since The Fallen was destroyed, and Megatron regained his sanity, all our plans had been successful and everything is slowly going back to normal. I almost feel pity for the Autobots." Thundercracker agreed.
Starscream froze in place and his wings stiffened as he remembered the evil ancient prime.
"The Fallen..." He murmured, lost in his thoughts for a moment. The blue seeker looked back at him questioningly, having noticed the change in attitude of his brother.
"Are you OK?" He asked.
"Yes... I was just recalling that last battle on Earth, when Prime killed The Fallen." He replied easily. "He actually did us a favor."
"I agree." Thundercracker answered. Although he still was not utterly convinced. Starscream was still thinking about something, he could almost feel it thought their trine bond, despite of the firewalls. "And how is little Eleonor?" He asked, changing the subject. "Is she making herself useful? You are not making her work like a slave, are you? If it comes to my audio receptors that you mistreat her in any way..."
"Of course I treat her right!" He almost screeched in offense. "Jeez... how overprotective... she's my pet, not yours..."
"She's a good friend. Not a pet. And you can be very mean sometimes and I know that she would rarely complain about anything." Thundercracker pointed out, giving his brother a look. The beige seeker chuckled darkly, rubbing his servos together, and feeling his spark-less decepticon warrior's ego grow.
"She is fine. And yes, she is making herself useful... Actually..." He paused for some dramatic seconds. "Thanks to her researches, I was able to improve the base's scanners to better pick up the mineral deposits. In fact, before that improvement, the scans revealed almost nothing. And now, here we are." He gestured with both servos to the drones. "Unloading mining drones and ready to begin with the gathering of the much needed supplies." He admitted.
"Wow. Why doesn't that surprise me?" The blue seeker smirked. "Two more like her, and soon we will be ruling the whole Universe."
"There are no more like h-" Starscream started to reply absently but cut himself before finishing the sentence, shaking his helm. Thundercracker beamed.
"Aha! I knew it. She's more than a pet after all." He teased.
"Don't start behaving like Skywarp." Retorted the beige seeker, glaring daggers at his brother, but the blue seeker seemed immune to them.
"Whatever." He replied, back to his formal attitude with a dismissive wave of his servo. "Anyway, where is she? I'd like to say hello before I leave again for Cybertron.
"Private quarters number three." He sighed, pointing to the corridor.
Eleonor had had a much needed breakfast, a good shower and was now finishing dressing up. Her mind was back again thinking about the unsettling discoveries of the previous day, and taking mental notes about the data she needed to gather to prove some hypothesis.
She heard a knock at the door.
"Come in!" She called, without looking to the entrance. The distinctive 'swoosh' of the door been opened could be heard. She was finishing to tie up her boots. "I'm almost done, Starscr-" She cut herself mid-sentence as she looked up and saw the blue seeker standing by the door-frame with an innocent look.
"Greetings, Little Miss." He smiled.
"Thundercracker!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
"Starscream needed some equipment. I brought it. I'll be leaving in a while, but I wanted to come by and say hello first." He explained, and crouched to offer her a servo.
"Thank you, I appreciate it." She replied, and approached the blue seeker. "How is everyone on Cybertron?" She asked back, as Thundercracker lifted her.
"Same old. Shockwave been efficient, Soundwave been precise, Skywarp been a pain in the aft, etc. The usual. And you?"
"A little troubled, to be honest." She sighed.
"Is my grouchy brother been too severe with you?"
"Wh-no, no. Nothing like that." She chuckled. "It's about the new things I am discovering studying this planet. It's long to explain. If I manage to put all the pieces of the puzzle together I'll tell you, don't worry."
"Hmm. Fine." He hummed, still a little suspicious. Something was troubling his brother and his human, there was no doubt about that. "But take it easy."
"I will." She promised. Thundercracker nodded and headed for the cargo bay.
Starscream was overseeing the last drones when Thundercracker and Eleonor arrived to the cargo bay.
"Woah, who are all those guys?" The young woman asked, looking in awe at the drones, that were standing in perfect formation. They looked like sturdy and heavy robots with drillers in their servos. They were similar in size to a medium-sized cybertronian like Bumblebee or Barricade. The blue seeker chuckled softly.
"They are not guys. They are drones. Non-sentient machines with basic programming. With no conscience or spark." Thundercracker explained.
"Oh. Would they step on me?"
"They should avoid any obstacle in their way, but I wouldn't mill around them if I were you." Starscream intervened. "They will help us to gather the minerals. Now I only need to divide them in several teams and assign each of them their designated mining coordinates."
"Incredible." Eleonor nodded, still amazed by the technological superiority of cybertronians. "And here I thought that robotic-aided assembly lines back on Earth were cool."
"Oh, please. That's prehistoric." The beige seeker chuckled.
"Of course. Everything is prehistoric compared to cybertronian technology." Sighed Eleonor.
"Well, I'm leaving now, or I'll be out of the schedule." The blue seeker intervened, leaving the human in Starscream's servos.
"Take care, Thundercracker." Eleonor waved.
"You too. And Starscream..." He called, making his brother look back at him questioningly. "...Treat her properly." The beige seeker just groaned and face-palmed.
[Three days later.]
The drones could handle their duties by themselves, so Starscream had now plenty of free time. And he was using it to help to unveil the mystery they were dealing with. Right now, they were trying to determine the approximate age of the planet. To do so, they needed to collect some samples of rocks around the emerged landmasses, and date them using radiometric dating.
"This is odd." Starscream suddenly said, pausing from his work and tapping his chin-plates thoughtfully.
"What is odd?" Eleonor asked.
The seeker pressed some buttons on his terminal, and the screen displayed a map of the whole planet, where all the landmasses and islands could be seen.
"Like Earth, this planet still has tectonic activity." He stated. "As you already know, that could be a problem when it comes to dating the rocks, because the oceans floors are continuously been renewed. Because of that, we have to take the rock samples from the emerged landmasses. And in this planet, they are scarce."
"Yes." Eleonor nodded.
"That is why we have also focused on the bigger landmasses. They tend to be more stable over time and survive longer the tectonic dynamics." Eleonor nodded again. "All our tests set this planet's age approximately between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years old, translating it to your time-scale." He made a pause. "But this big island over here..." He pointed to said island on the map. "... Gives older readings. I have repeated them, but they are right. That point of the planet's crust is older than the rest. I have made different scans of the area, and I've found another thing." He paused again. "The materials in that tectonic plate are also less dense."
"That would explain it's older readings. Been less dense, it would have persisted longer through the process of subduction." She recalled. "How much older are we talking about?"
"... The readings say that it might be between 4.2 and 4.4 billion years old." He replied. Eleonor was thoughtful for some seconds.
"Earth is 4.570 billion years old." She stated.
"Suspiciously close?"
"Indeed." She added, and fell in silence for a while, thinking about the new bit of information.
"So, we have a new piece of the puzzle, but we still don't know where to place it." Concluded the seeker. Eleonor nodded.
"This is bigger than me." She sighed. "But I'm decided to unveil this mystery." She continued thinking for some minutes. "The first evidence of life on Earth date from 3.8 billion years ago. Here, I still don't know. And it's not like we can go fossil-hunting."
"Summarizing, both planets took form around the same epoch. And somehow, they were sowed with the same primordial molecules." He said, also deep in thought.
It seemed that they had arrived to a dead end. They remained in silence for a while, when a small beeping in the main terminal caught their attention. Eleonor looked up at the seeker questioningly.
"An incoming transmission." He stated, as he pressed a key in the controls. The map vanished and it was replaced by the video feed of the call. "Lord Megatron." The seeker saluted. "To what do we owe the honor?" He asked, trying his best not to sound ironic.
"Just checking on how are your researches and gathering of supplies going." The Decepticon Leader replied, with a bored expression.
"I send a report everyday with the status of our stockpile." The seeker said, with a suspicious look. "What is the true motive, Megatron?" He almost demanded.
"What? Do I need excuses to check how is doing my dear Second in Command?" Megatron smirked teasingly. Starscream gave him a stern look, that only made his Leader's grin grow wider. "No need to be so jumpy. I just wanted to thank you for your efforts. And for the... gift you brought me." He chuckled. Megatron seemed to be in a good mood.
"Gift?" The seeker's expression changed to dumbfounded. "What gift?"
"The book, you idiot." The Decepticon leader retorted, a little annoyed. "I found it very suitable."
Eleonor flinched slightly from his spot on the floor of the lab, and hided partially behind a desk.
"I didn't bring you any book, you senile fool!" Starscream replied, loosing his patience. Megatron rose an optic ridge, ignoring the insult but focusing on more important matters.
"Then who...?" Megatron murmured with a suspicious look. His Second in Command narrowed his optics to a thin line and suddenly froze, his optics widening again as realization hit him.
"...Eleonor. Come here." He ordered, without raising his tone or looking away from the screen. The young woman complied and approached, coming out of her hideout. "Do you know something about this?" He asked, offering her a servo to climb, and deposited his human over the desk, so that Megatron could see both of them.
"Uh... yes, Sir." She replied hesitantly. Starscream motioned with a servo for her to go on. "...It was me." Megatron gave her an amused look.
"You brought Lord Megatron a present. Without telling me. And somehow you managed to give it to him without anyone else noticing? Someone else must had undoubtedly helped you." He stated. "There are just so many wrong things in that." He shook his helm. Eleonor cringed.
"Soundwave!" The Decepticon Leader exclaimed, as realization hit him. "I'm sure. I found the digital book in one of my datapads. No one else has access to them besides Soundwave and me." Eleonor nodded, and kept her gaze low with embarrassment. "You trick my Third in Command and fool my Second. Only to give me a present." Megatron was more amused than annoyed, and his smirk was permanent on his face-plates. "It seems that you are worthy of been a Decepticon after all."
"I was not expecting this." Starscream shook his helm in disapproval. Eleonor flinched and looked up at both of them, her expression filled with worry and shame.
"I am sorry! I just wanted to make you an anonymous present, so that you didn't feel...offended by receiving something from a human... I am sorry, Lord Megatron. And I am sorry, Starscream, Sir. I must had told you..." She was on the verge of tears by now.
Megatron couldn't hold it any longer, and burst in laughter unexpectedly, Starscream following him as he covered his vocalizer with a servo, trying to muffle his giggles. Eleonor stopped dead and blinked in disbelief.
"This is by far too amusing to be good." Megatron managed to say, once he had regained his composure.
"I agree." The Second in Command smirked, looking down to his human, that looked still a bit worried.
"Aren't you... upset with me?" She asked very softly.
"Of course not. We were just picking on you." He chuckled, and blinked an optic.
"Well, mystery solved. Now, I have other matters to attend to." Megatron said, still smirking. "Among them, I'm rethinking my choice for Second in Command. Humans are not so bad after all."
"Hey!" Starscream screeched. Megatron was laughing darkly again as he cut the connection. Eleonor smiled a little, realizing that Megatron had almost complimented her and that indeed, he had liked the book. The seeker looked back at her and offered a servo, lifting her to optic level. "Sorry for that." He smirked playfully.
"Don't worry. I'll survive." She replied. After all, she couldn't be mad at the seeker, specially when he was giving her that disarming naughty smirk of his. "Someday, I'll get my revenge. And I'm telling Thundercracker. He told you to treat me properly." She threatened.
"Properly. Not sweetly." He chuckled. "I'm still an evil Decepticon inside. I assure you, this is my best behaviour." He smiled, and surprisingly he managed to look innocent. How the fearsome seeker managed to look innocent like a puppy was still a mystery, but Eleonor couldn't hold it any longer, and also started to giggle. "Anyway, back to my theories. You can read minds! Even Megatron's!" He accused her.
"Aww, come on. He is always reading reports on his datapad, even when he is in the rec. room. He likes to read. And I thought of bringing him something more interesting." She replied, with a knowing smile.
"Sure... And what book did you bring him? I'm curious."
" 'A Game of Thrones'. It's the first book of a series. I should bring the rest of them. They are very interesting."
"Hmm. I should read them someday then." He replied, tapping his chin-plates thoughtfully.
At that moment, another beeping coming from the main terminal took their attention.
"Who is calling now?" Eleonor asked. The seeker frowned, looking at the screen.
"A distress signal. From one of the drones. They don't usually send any signal unless they are damaged, or find anything unusual, out of their programming." He replied seriously.
"Is it grave?" She asked, starting to feel worried. Starscream had turned very serious.
"A broken driller. It seems that they found something too hard. And there are not many things that can be harder than that drillers." He frowned. "I'm telling that group to stop." He said, quickly typing commands on the terminal.
"Where?"
"Do you remember that piece of land, older than the rest?" He turned to look at her.
"Oh, my..." She murmured, eyes wide in shock.
"Well, it seems that we are no longer in a dead end. More pieces for the puzzle." He concluded.
[A/N]1: In response to Sharta, I intend to keep it friendly, as hard as it is for me. That one-shot you read was just a poor excuse for me to write some smut, and it is completely out of the story. *sigh* Sometimes I like to think that Eleonor might have a little crush with Starscream, but she doesn't dare to say anything. It would do no good for any of them. Human life span is so short... I would like to tell you more, but if you don't have a ff-account I can't send you private messages! v_vU
[A/N]2: Sorry for the little 'biology class' at the begining of this chapter, but it was necessary to understand why Eleonor was so unsettled. I tried to keep it as simple as possible.
[A/N]3: And sorry if you don't know very well how the 'radiometric dating' or the 'tectonic dynamics' work. Explaining them would have been reaaaally long and tedious. If you wish to know more, I'll suggest you to look it up on the wikipedia. I know this chapter had a lot of science stuff, but I can't help it. As odd as it may sound... I'm a biologist in real life ^_^U
[A/N]4: BTW, ten points for you if you catch the 'Bicentennial Man' reference that Thundercracker made. And hell yes, 'A Game of Thrones' would be a very good reading for Lord Megatron!
