A Debt to Repay Chapter 2, a transformers fanfic

A Debt to Repay.

Chapter Two.

"Now, Sam," Starscream said, "I need you to eat something, so I will take you back to your friend, you can both consume sustenance, but after that, I'll need you to change into this," he said, showing him what was obviously a space suit, but considerably less bulky than he was used to seeing.

"This has a built in system that should deal with the messier side of being organic for a few days," Starscream assured him. "It will keep you oxygenated, and help keep an appropriate, and at most times, even comfortable, temperature to allow you to function."

"Thank you, but where are we going that I'll need it?" Sam asked.

"Why, to Cybertron, of course," Starscream said. "You and I will go together to the Well of All Sparks, as far as any others have gotten to and then returned, and we'll assess what we might possibly do to try and re-awaken it," Starscream said.

"Seriously?" Sam asked.

"Yes, seriously," Starscream replied. "You encouraged me to look into the myths about the Well, and that's what gave me the idea. Whether or not the AllSpark came from Cybertron or not, the planet, and specifically the Well, was pinpointed as the original origin point of Cybertronian life. Thus it seems to be the best place to explore, and find out if it can be re-awoken or not. You yourself suggested I look to our myths, and combined with our creation myths, that's the place to start."

"You said people avoid it as it's seen as a direct conduit to someone you called Primus?" Sam asked.

"The creator figure who is said to dwell at the centre of our world, yes," Starscream said.

"It's a conduit to God?" Sam yelped. "I don't wanna risk pissing off a god!" Starscream chuckled.

"We're not looking to "piss him off" as you so eloquently put it, just get his attention, Sam, and ask him if he'll help restore our world to something we can work with," Starscream soothed. "If he could do that, it could lead to the restoration of our world, which you, once again, suggested, and a lasting peace," Starscream said.

"For the Autobots as well as the Decepticons?" Sam asked. "And without warring on humanity?" Sam asked.

"Peace for Autobots, Decepticons, and non aligned persons," Starscream said. "It's likely we'd be too busy with Cybertron, looking for tapped Energon and rebuilding our world to bother with your mudball of a planet, but I will seek to have your planet's safety written into the rules and conditions required for peace."

"Then I guess we do have a deal, Starscream," Sam said. "But remember, as one of my friends, Miles must be allowed to return home unharmed."

"As long as you uphold your end of the bargain and come with me, I don't see that being a problem. In fact, this friendship will serve to show if humans and Cybertronians - or maybe in light of your own situation, if humans and Decepticons - can indeed live in a harmonious and mutually beneficial manner. Thundercracker has already agreed to give Miles flights in return for being washed and polished, which is promising." Sam nodded.

"When are we going?" he asked.

"When you have eaten, and then suited up," Starscream told him. "We'll Spacebridge to Cybertron, as we have set up a remote link with the one working Spacebridge we know of, and then set it for Groundbridge use and Groundbridge to close by the Well. There will be some walking, but as our gravity is lighter than yours, and I will give you an air catching cloak, it shouldn't be too much of an effort."

Starscream took Sam back to where Miles sat, and two large pizzas were brought in by Thundercracker a moment or two later. Sam and Miles ate them, chatting about video games and school, and filled up on crisps, sweets, water, and soda. Sam did take the opportunity to let the food and drink go down and to use the restroom before saying goodbye to Miles, and going back to the lab with Starscream.

He put on the soft, skin tight inner layer of the suit, sorting out where the plumbing went, then pulling on and plugging in lines where necessary in the outer layer, which was no bulkier than a sweatshirt and thick Jeans. The built in footwear and gloves were similarly thin but felt sturdy enough to do the job.

"You won't need to put the helmet on until Cybertron," Starscream said. "When you get in, stow it in my cockpit and just swap it for the plane helmet and oxygen mask when we land. Put these in the knee space as well, and put it on when we land." He handed Sam a backpack made of four light and slender cylinders stuck together and attached to webbing for the chest and waist, a far cry from the bulky backpacks of Earthbound space agencies. "Each cylinder contains about 26 hours worth of oxygen, so about a day, give or take," Starscream said. "You can get the amount left up on your heads up display in your helmet by saying 'Oxygen level,' and dismiss it by telling it to dismiss."

"What's this?" Sam asked, touching a moulded concave space over his chest.

"Emergency oxygen direct to your helmet, in case of the very rare risk that something catches and tears or punctures your suit," Starscream said. He gave Sam a lozenge-shaped bottle that fitted the concave depression, and pointed out the thin tube leading from it. "That would plug into your helmet, the cylinder clips onto the front of your suit. You will attach that before exiting my cockpit, so you have air while you attach your oxygen tube backpack. Detaching it from the helmet and clipping it to the side there stops the oxygen , so detach it once you're out. It's contains enough oxygen for 6 hours, which should be enough time for me to reach you with a repair kit if you do sustain a suit breach."

"Okay," Sam said nervously.

"There are other things we need by the Spacebridge that we'll pick up there," Starscream told him. He flipped into jet form after tapping a button that rolled up a rolling door, and Sam swung the helmet and cylinders in carefully and climbed in himself. He put on the harness and put on the oxygen mask and helmet, and then Starscream taxied out of the room, took off, and pointed his nose to the sky.

Sam felt brief alarm, were they going to fly all the way to Cybertron? Then he remembered Starscream had mentioned a Spacebridge, just before the turquoise vortex appeared in the sky. Sam heard Starscream's thrusters roar as he accelerated towards it, felt the G forces press him into the seat, heard the roaring of the Spacebridge drown out all other sounds as he scrunched his eyes shut against the brightness, then the noise and light cut out. They were through.

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The Police in Tranquility were inundated with UFO sightings, and for once Miles was unaware of the local flap, enjoying finding out how to polish a Seeker. Mikaela and the Autobots saw it too, and they knew what it meant. Bumblebee reported having seen a Starscream launching from the vicinity of where they suspected the Decepticon Base, and he'd managed a quick scan, confirming the presence of a human on board, before he'd accelerated and flown through the funnel of a Spacebridge that was open for less than a minute. Mikaela hoped she'd see Sam again, unharmed, and the Autobots also hoped they'd get their human friend back unharmed, but found themselves wondering what Starscream had in mind.

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Sam opened his eyes, finding himself back in the ruined landscape with heavy red clouds he remembered from his last visit to Cybertron, and saw they were close to the metal ring that generated the Spacebridge. It's centre was still glowing with the turquoise light, but then it fell silent and winked out. Sam blinked as afterimages still danced in front of his eyes. Starscream said "Okay, it's time to get out, Sam."

Sam stood, took a deep breath, removed the oxygen mask and flight helmet, and put on his spacesuit helmet, which had a light mounted above the face plate, then swung on the backpack of oxygen tubes, and connected the backpack to the suit. He felt the pressure in the suit increase slightly, and carefully slid down Starscream's side. He stepped back, allowing Starscream to transform. The Seeker did so, then handed him what felt like a thick blanket.

"I had this designed for you by the doctor, it has straps for your legs and arms upper and lower. It will help you catch our air so you can glide and move faster, and you can use it for additional warmth if the ambient temperature drops below the suit's functionality."

It took Sam some time to work it out, but it was a neck to floor length cape with shoulder clasps, which indeed had upper and lower leg and arm loops, and was a bit like a wing suit, but with no restriction of his movement. He wondered if the heavy material was Earthly, or some Cybertronian fabric analogue. He put it on while Starscream recalibrated the Spacebridge.

"Now, I will carry you through the Groundbridge, but then you're pretty much on your own. I'll start slow to let you get used to using the cape, but once you get used to it you might actually enjoy it, you'll get some idea of what you miss out on, having been designed to walk instead of fly, although I will be walking."

Starscream picked Sam up rather inelegantly, wrapping the cloak about him, and activated the Groundbridge, which was a less turbulent and loud version of the Spacebridge, and Starscream walked through with Sam. At the end, he put Sam down as the Groundbridge flickered out. He pointed ahead into the murky darkness. "We're heading that way. To use the wing cloak, leap forwards as if running and jumping, and spread your limbs.

It took Sam a few minutes but once he got the hang of it, he had to admit it was fun. Cybertron's gravity didn't seem as heavy as Earth's, and with the cloak, one of his strides matched one of Starscream's, although the Seeker set a pace that meant Sam had no time to reflect on what they were doing. Sam saw a darker smudge on the horizon, and as they approached it, Sam saw it was the edges of a funnel that stretched deep into the ground. Starscream found a broken column nearby, and secured the end of a thin but very long coil of wire that he took from somewhere Sam didn't see.

"This looks steep and it is, but it levels off a bit further down. I will carry you down that far," Starscream said. He picked Sam up and dropped down, inverting and firing bursts on his thrusters to stop them dropping too fast, paying out the thin wire behind them. "This will hopefully aid communication, sometimes transmissions from different parts of the Well have been said to be spotty to nonexistent," Starscream explained. He put Sam down as the round tube they were in ran almost level but slightly downwards, and they began walking. Sam found his head mounted light gave him about three foot of visibility ahead of them.

There were uninterrupted during their trek, during which Starscream spliced new coils of wire to the end of the one behind them twice, but they stopped when the tube they were walking down suddenly pointed down at a much steeper angle. Starscream secured the wire to the wall with some kind of glue, and threw the rest of the coil down the yawning passageway. Sam heard it slithering down for a long time after the Seeker had thrown it.

"This is where all previous communication and expeditions that people returned from got to. Beyond here, we do not know what to expect. Nobody who went past this point has returned. Whether that is because they were unable to, or whether something else happened, is unknown."

"Maybe it's too far and too steep for people to climb back up?" Sam asked, wrapping his cloak about him shivering in the slight breeze. A breeze that had only just started up.

"Hey, there's a slight wind coming from down there!" Sam said.

"That breeze has been noticed by others who got this far but we don't know what causes it, Sam, but to reply to your suggestion that people couldn't climb back up? Seekers have gone down and also not returned, although what broken transmissions have gotten through suggest more of the same tunnel, with something involving light at the end, although no description has ever gotten further. This wire will serve as an aerial, so hopefully communication between us will be possible." Starscream gave Sam a hand held device. "It's like your walkie talkies. It's preset to our frequency, press the button on the side to communicate." Sam pocketed it.

"So we'll be splitting up here? Sam asked. "This is so we can talk while we're separated? You're going down there?" Sam asked.

"No, Sam, you are!" Starscream said, a flick of his hand knocking Sam's feet out from under him, and propelling him feet-first into the steep void.