Smokescreen looked around him, worried. The tension in this gathering started so thick you could cut it. Along with almost every former Autobot on the planet stood in this flat plain near the Temple of Primus, Optimus Prime included, he stood to discuss how to protest to the Lord Protector's latest maneuver regarding population. They left their youngest in the hands of their older siblings or trusted neutrals, because they wanted no Decepticon to know where they gathered.

Optimus Prime stood in the middle of the circle. "I am going to state the obvious first. Our offspring are budded with the programming to both bud and sire. Thus, we thought that the problems arising from the smaller ratio of carriers to sires would ease as our younglings became old enough to bud. At this time, the oldest of our offspring have become old enough to activate their breeding programming, and in two out of the twenty oldest of them has the carrier programming been activated."

Silverbolt stood with the group of carriers partnered with Seekers and other fliers. "Does anyone know why?" A murmur rose from the crowd, as everyone wanted an answer to that question.

"We have guesses, but no answers," Optimus told him heavily.

Smokescreen, standing behind Optimus, felt he knew why, and he wondered how many others guessed.

After listening to the priest of Primus explain the carrier's problems on Cybertron, Smokescreen went to Bluestreak for mentoring. Like the other mentors, Bluestreak acted to protect his fellow Autobot from the worst of the Seekers and introduce him to compatible partners. Smokescreen learned why when he attended one party without a fellow carrier to protect him; it took all his charming manipulation and an embarrassing call for help to Bluestreak to get him out. Bluestreak ranted at Flightspeed for almost a joor. Then he refused to talk to him at all for the rest of the orn until Flightspeed brought him a container of expensive energon goodies and promised to let Bluestreak handle Smokescreen's contacts. Smokescreen found the interaction entertaining.

That did not change his attitude toward the Seekers. He sent a politely worded request to transfer to a government apartment of his own in the administrative section should one become available. As Smokescreen worked in the administrative section that oversaw business licensing and oversight, he knew he had the right to one, and he knew one was vacant. He told Bluestreak of his decision and why.

Bluestreak surprised him. "Optimus Prime thought you would want that, and said if you make the request, I'm to make you an appointment with him." He gave the date and time. "Just one word of warning. I know you've gotten messages from Swindle. Primus took away the taint of Unicron from the Decepticons, but there were plenty of mechs on both sides who were just plain greedy and mean without any help from the Unmaker. So be careful with Swindle. He's got connections in a lot of gray areas we know of and I'd bet my last credit he's into some we can't find that are a lot darker."

Talking to Blades later, Smokescreen said, "I felt like a glitchmouse at the turbofox convention at that party. Dealing with Swindle is easier. He's greedy but he's more honest about his intentions than they are. "

He meant it. Better than most Autobots, he understood the grey areas businesses often deal with. He knew that there were some matters much easier to deal with in the shadows, and he felt comfortable there. Optimus Prime proved that he understood such matters as well.

"Megatron," he told Smokescreen bluntly, "says he is charged by Primus to protect me- which he is- and that I am needed to run the administration- which I am. We both know that he was and is doing an excellent job of this rebuilding. He accepts my guidance when I give it." He vented. "However, his need to control everything in his existence did not go away when he was purified. So, while he listens to me, he tries to limit my knowledge of outside events so that my guidance is limited. As a result, I must often rely on others for information. I understand that Swindle has been in contact."

Smokescreen nodded. Thus far, he met Swindle three times, always in the company of several others. The former Combaticon engaged in pleasant conversation without being pushy, but small gifts appeared on Smokescreen's desk afterward, like boxes of energon goodies, cubes of flavored high grade, and a lovely puzzle with transparent shapes; the frame it fit into once solved lit from behind and made the colors glow beautifully.

He and Swindle shared a history. They shared a berth and a few scams, but while Smokescreen would cheat, he drew the line at physical violence. When he had his stash made, he backed out and went legit, parting ways with Swindle at the time. If there was something Swindle drew the line at, Smokescreen had yet to find it-he sold pieces of his own gestaltmates, for Primus' sake!

"Swindle was one of the first to begin a business. He initiated the program where a company can offer products or service instead of working as assigned, which is working well for everyone involved. Thus far, Swindle remains within the law in his dealings." He paused. "To my knowledge and to Megatron's. Megatron trusts him no more than I do."

Smokescreen had no trouble believing that. "What do you wish of me, my Prime?"

"If you choose," Optimus emphasized the 'choose' carefully, "to deal with Swindle, any interesting information can be passed on to Bluestreak or to this drop box." Smokescreen accepted the information. "I am not saying not to report to the Enforcers if necessary, but more to the point, I need to know if certain rules and restrictions need to be tightened. I believe you understand me."

Smokescreen understood. Optimus did not want to hear of petty crimes; that was the job of the Enforcers. He wanted to know of rules being bent with certain officials being persuaded to look the other way. Corruption and manipulation of rules tore Cybertron apart and started the Great War. While some amount of influence peddling was inevitable, Optimus wanted to make it clear that such matters were not acceptable in this new society.

Smokescreen moved into his new quarters soon after. Within two orns, he found a datapad with an invitation on his desk to one of the more expensive entertainment centers in the downtown area. He sent an acceptance back for the evening before his free orn, reflecting that Swindle was wasting no time.

He walked into the place and worked hard to hide how impressed he felt. Soft, old music played; tasteful artwork decorated the walls; and the booths lay in a manner where no one could look in without being seen by the patrons. He spoke to the attendant, who asked him to wait as he made a com. Soon after, Swindle walked up. Smokescreen felt the anticipation in his former lover's field as he gestured for Smokescreen to follow him.

They walked to the back of the building. "Is this business or pleasure?" Smokescreen asked.

"A little of both, I hope," Swindle said smoothly. He opened a door and stood back. Smokescreen stepped into a large room and gazed around as Swindle came in and shut the door behind him. It was a studio apartment, furnished with the best that credits could buy at this time on Cybertron. Smokescreen took in the comfortable berth, the elaborate energon dispenser, the table set with glowing cubes that smelled delicious and the tasty treats delicately laid on a platter on the table.

If Swindle wanted to impress his former lover, he succeeded. "I'm flattered," Smokescreen said, turning to look at a smirking Swindle. "So, knowing you, let me cut to the chase. What do you want with me?" He made no attempt to smile. "Just for the record, if I wanted to be a little kept partner with nothing to do but bud sparklings and work some kind of mindless desk job, I'd have let Megatron shove me at Skywarp. " Skywarp was the mentor Megatron chose for Smokescreen before Optimus Prime intervened and set up partnered Autobot mentors instead.

"Good," Swindle said. "If I wanted that, I could pick from a dozen neutral or Decepticons carriers." He gestured to the table. "I've got mid-grade and high grade here. Share a cube and a snack with me and tell me what you did on Earth after the war." For about a joor they sipped and talked about what happened on Earth and Cybertron. Swindle nodded in approval when Smokescreen talked about the business they started up, how their expertise in their various areas brought in enough to keep them comfortable. "The problem was supplies," he said, and savored a sip from his energon. "What we have everywhere here, they just didn't have."

Swindle nodded. Then he talked about going through the purification. "I was third from the gestalt to go through," he said. "What it did, it took away some of the meanness, I think. Not much else. " He shrugged. "Not like Vortex. He fell apart. They said he was glitched, and they managed to fix it. He wanted to be a medic, can you believe that? They talked him into Enforcer work instead." Smokescreen nodded. He remembered how shocked he was about Vortex. "We first got here, Bruticus did the heavy clearing. Then when they found better ways to do that, they shoved me into administration."

"You working for the government," Smokescreen said in disbelief.

"My mech, just how many in the Decepticon army knew anything about how to handle civilian administration? I did a good job, too. Then the neutrals started working so the shifts got shorter. Mechs had time to do some work on the side." His field got smug. "We were starving for little luxuries. I mean, you almost never found anything that was any good. The neutrals cleaned it all out a long time ago. But with more time, some mechs started making things from bits and pieces, or they'd figure out a way to fix something. The credit system started, and some mechs came to me for advice." He leaned forward. "I started to get in some credits as a consultant on the side." Smokescreen felt smug pride in his field. "And I think you can figure out that once I had some spare credits, I knew what to do with them."

"Invest," Smokescreen said.

"Yep. I helped the Constructicons make a deal with the administration that their company would do so much work per vorn as their contribution to the rebuilding based on how many workers they had, and then they could work for individual mechs building private homes. Then I set up Onslaught's company for the clearing."

"Bet it hurt when he lost Brawl," Smokescreen commented, nibbling appreciatively at the last energon goodie. He could not afford any kind of sweets often, and he was wary of accepting them from his Seeker suitors- with the way they tended to back each other up, they might take advantage of him and then say he just got overcharged. Both he and Swindle knew that if Swindle tried to take advantage of him, all Smokescreen needed to do was complain to the Seekers, and Swindle would regret knowing his name within a very short period of time.

"That damned glitch. Brawl was born loud and obnoxious and not even Primus could change him," Swindle said in disgust. "I don't care if Cliffjumper had it coming. You don't hit a carrying mech. You don't threaten a carrying mech." Smokescreen stopped chewing and looked at Swindle in shock for a few astroseconds as Swindle went on, "I acted as a consultant for those starting small businesses, and instead of asking for a fee that most didn't have, I asked for a percentage for the first two vorns, in goods or services or credits. I cleaned up, completely legit."

Smokescreen put the rest of his energon goodie down and looked around the room, then back at Swindle. "So you're telling me that all of your credits, all this," he waved at the incredible display, "is from investments." They both looked at the display, Swindle with satisfaction and Smokescreen with assessment.

"I got a lot of goods to start with," Swindle admitted modestly. He leaned forward. "But I'm a full partner in Skywarp's spa, and in Mixmaster's drink company. There's plenty of credits to make around here, but a mech can only do so much, and I've still got to put in my contribution." He paused, looking at Smokescreen.

Smokescreen leaned back and finished the energon goodie. "Okay. I'll admit I'm impressed. You've cleaned up, legit. He picked up and finished his mid-grade, glad that he avoided the high-grade. He was pretty sure what was coming next from the hot look and the lust that flared in Swindle's field. Remembering their temporary but intense affair, he let matters progress to the berth and a heated, intense, and satisfying interface. He thanked Swindle sincerely for a wonderful evening.

Then he headed for the Temple of Primus and let his processor churn as he drove. He did take the precaution of contacting Hot Spot first, so someone would knew where he was going. Hot Spot just acknowledged and said to be careful.

Swindle spoke of carrying mechs almost reverently. When Swindle spoke about how stupid Brawl was to threaten, much less strike, a carrying mech, he shocked Smokescreen-not with his words, but the tone and the change in his field when he said them. He could see Swindle saying that meaning that Brawl should have known that such an action would trigger a reaction from other mechs. Instead, Swindle sounded completely sincere- that carrying mechs were too important, too precious, to even threaten. That chilled him, and for the first time he saw more deeply into the problem. He sat that thought aside and regained his interested expression before Swindle noticed his reaction. He expected Swindle to try to impress him; he expected Swindle to brag about his cleverness; he expected Swindle to take him to berth. He knew that soon Swindle would propose a partnership, and he would accept.

As dispassionately as he could, he looked at the situation on Cybertron. So far, all former Autobots were carriers. Even the Temple priests identified carriers in their number, with the priesthood as a whole acting as their cohort. In all, Autobots composed about one tenth of the population. If he remembered correctly, about one in ten neutrals and one in twenty Decepticons were able to carry. It came to a little less than one carrier to every four non-carriers in Kaon now. He had no idea how Iacon was handling the situation, but no Autobot in Kaon was going to find out anytime soon.

Budding took a lot out of a mech. At this point, most carriers had between two or six offspring, spaced out, depending on how well they were able to handle budding. Silverbolt had six. The current understanding was that all the offspring would be able to carry, easing the situation. The oldest younglings would be able to breed in about five or six vorns.

Smokescreen knew that he must have some kind of protector, and in fact he believed the only one he could tolerate was Swindle. At the same time, he knew that Silverbolt and almost all the neutral or Decepticons filed contracts with their cohorts or partners at the Temple of Primus. He wanted to look them over before he started haggling terms with Swindle.

Carriers could hold responsible positions. Bluestreak held one of the highest administrative offices as the Prime's assistant; Silverbolt ran the sparkling centers that cared for and taught the offspring until they reached the ability to apprentice for training and became younglings; and Hoist headed medical administration with First Aid as one of the senior grade medics. In fact, carriers held about half of the higher level administrative posts- the ones with no danger or physical demands that might threaten their ability to carry and bud a sparkling to term safely.

Smokescreen wanted more. He wanted a full partnership, as good or better than Silverbolt's. He observed Silverbolt and Starscream. Despite the Air Commanders manipulative ways, Silverbolt held his own most of the time. Smokescreen admired his stubborn grit, considering Starscream's advantage in experience and ruthlessness. If that young flier could manage to keep Starscream somewhat in check, Smokescreen should be able to deal with Swindle.

Before their first sparkling was a vorn old, Smokescreen started to worry what would happen if the relief they hoped for from the younglings failed to materialize. He heard the discussions between sires and unattached mechs, saw how some older mechs watched the younglings with assessing looks. He noticed that sires like Starscream and others made discreet arrangements for their younglings to meet and partner with the strongest mechs available.

But the younglings, while not showing the cruelty or violence of their elders, tended to show behavior more like their sires than their creators. He was disappointed, but not surprised, when the usual Decepticon ratio of carriers to sires seemed to apply to the younglings.

Optimus Prime addressed the crowd again, bringing Smokescreen back to the present.

"As all of us know, many of our partners have begun to encourage us to interface and carry for each other. I have discovered the reasons behind those proposals." Lord Megatron proposed that the Autobot carriers bud children by each other, to be raised as potential carriers with education in separate schools emphasizing support work and training in child care and household management. "As he is not making this a matter of policy at this time, I am unable to stop him. I have discussed this matter with him, but to no effect."

Murmurs ran between the creators. As they talked to each other, Smokescreen noticed a mist started to rise behind him. He looked around, and saw that while little of it seemed to be in the center, there was a steady progression coming in from the outside. He sniffed, but there was no odd smell. He lifted his voice. "Isn't that trying to bet on long odds? What's to say that offspring of two Autobots would be more likely to be carriers than offspring a Decepticons sired?"

First Aid spoke up. "That's a good point. We know that the programming is not the issue. We know it's there. We do not know why it isn't being activated, because only the Oracle and the priests of Primus can answer that, and either they don't know or they aren't saying."

"But our partners want to raise the sparklings we bud each other as carriers," Silverbolt pointed out. "They seem to think that if younglings are raised and trained to care for the young as their first priority, then they will more readily activate their carrier programming once they mature."

That idea percolated through the group as understanding dawned. Groove said, "We all know how bad it is for the Decepticons carriers until they form a cohort. Think of how vulnerable our sparklings would be!"

Silverbolt said, "In other words, if we go along with this and bud these sparklings, we'll need our partners to protect them, and since these aren't their offspring, they stand in perfect position to dictate terms." His tone sounded grim. Then again, who would understand manipulation better than Starscream's partner?

Streetwise spoke up. "It looks like there's a simple enough solution," he pointed out, "if none of us have sparked to each other yet." No one had, wary of the result.

"Exactly," Optimus said. "Megatron is not going to stop in his quest to increase our population as quickly as he can. If anyone can find alternate suggestions, please discuss them quietly and bring them to my attention- what is this stuff?"

The mist seemed to rush through the plain, engulfing them all.

Smokescreen stumbled around in the dense fog. He knew something was wrong, but that did not matter. Nothing mattered except his fear of being alone and lost, and his need find another chassis to meet with his. His spark throbbed with heat and need, a deep craving that the fear fueled.

He searched frantically, but in the dense colorless nothingness around him he got only noise.

Until he stumbled into a dark shape in the fog, whose hands and field clutched at him with the same desperation.