"A Fracture in Time" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen
email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca
200 feet south of the Sewage Gutters, Cybertron, 2 hours later
[self-repair cycle complete. Reinitialize primary systems]
With a start Nightshade was thrown back into consciousness and found herself only marginally in better condition than what she had been when she had begun repairs. The only real improvement on the previous situation was the fact that she could now see clearly and for the most part didn't shake like leaf whenever she tried to move. Aside from that though she was still a fitting recruit for the nearest scrap heap and might just wind up there unless she got really lucky in the next couple of hours. After watching the last of the status reports fly by her field of vision she decided to make a visual estimation of the damage to see what exactly she had to work with. Slowly and with extreme caution she rolled over onto her back, taking special care not to jostle anything or add to the damage she had already sustained. However as she sat up and looked at herself she sincerely doubted that she could be in any worse shape than she already was in right at that moment.
Man I look like scrap! she thought to herself with a little bit of morbid humor in her words.
For the most part she was completely black now, almost all the armor and outer covering that remained had been turned pitch black by the intense heat she had been forced to endure. The worst of it though had to be her left arm and her right leg since the former was reduced to a barely functioning metal skeleton of it's former self and the latter was gone completely from the knee down. The rest of the noticeable injuries were merely a few holes in her armor and more than a few melted wires of which half were barely doing their jobs at the moment. Still she supposed that it could have been a slaggin' helluva lot worse and at least she stood a small chance of making it out of this alive. After all, the others had been a lot more experienced and they hadn't made it at all. She froze as the realization of her predicament came back to her and she couldn't help but look at the situation in a far more depressing light then she had before. She was alone. It was the one unalterable fact that dominated her thoughts and caused her spark to lose a bit of its glittering glow. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Blurr, Blaster and Jazz were now all gone, cast into the abyss of death with virtually no hope of ever returning from their fate. She still could not believe what had happened, how the others had been consumed by the blast of the thermite grenade and how Jazz had sacrificed himself to make sure that she would survive. Why had he done it? He was the leader for cryin' out loud! It was his job to make sure that the mission succeeded no matter what it took and no matter who he had to sacrifice! Why did he even try to save her? She was only a lowly lieutenant who had only six years of experience to her name and had done nothing but shined him on past missions together.
Heh, maybe I should just slag myself now and ask him why he did it when I meet him on the other side. she thought to herself as she brought one of her particle blasters out from subspace and looked at it as one might look at one oddity or another.
Now that would be a waste of a perfectly good femme Nightshade. came a voice jokingly inside her head.
She dropped her blaster in shock as she looked around quickly for the source of the voice, unsure of what she had heard or whether or not it was real. She could see no one else in the immediate range of her optics but unfortunately they could be hiding behind some debris with blasters drawn. Normally when this was the case she would simply flick on her sensors and scan the area for the energy signature of the 'bot in question but that was impossible at the moment since only her passive perimeter sensors were functional. Still there was one possibility which seemed far more likely and that was the chance that she was indeed hearing things and would probably be seeing soon images of Alpha Trion reaching for her. The old 'bot had been something of a religious figure among the Autobots that had come to Earth and many of them claimed to have actually seen him when they had come close to going offline for good. She of course didn't really believe in such things and attributed these sightings simply to a breakdown in the Autobot's data track processing unit. For her the only thing waiting for her on the other side was the cold nothingness of oblivion where all things simply ceased to be. After all if such a place as the matrix really did exist she doubted that things would have turned out as bad as they did back in the future that she had come from.
Just because you don't see the hand of God doesn't mean it isn't there girl! said the voice again in a tone of voice that reminded her of a human priest taking to a child.
She hated that tone of voice and made that clear when she yelled "What the slaggin' hell do you know about God?! Who are you!!??!"
C'mon Nightshade, don't tell me you've forgotten about your knight in melted armor already! the voice said in amusement which had a familiar ring to it.
"Jazz!?!" Nightshade exclaimed in disbelief as she began whipping her head around a little too hard and could feel a few neck servos whir in protest.
The one and only femme bot! Jazz replied sarcastically in a way that left no doubt in her mind that where ever he was a smile was on his face.
"Where are you? I'll come to get you right away!" she declared as she looked around for something to help her walk better.
No need to rush. I don't think I'll be going anywhere. Jazz replied in a slightly somber tone that seemed wrong for the usually laid back transformer.
It took Nightshade a few moments but finally she managed to find a length of tritanium pipe that had been dislodged in the blast. Using it as a makeshift replacement for her right leg she leaned heavily on it and forced herself to stand up more or less straight. Now that she had put some weight on it she was able to see better what condition her left leg was actually in and how far she was likely to get on it. It wasn't pretty but it seemed to be able to hold enough of her weight without wobbling much so long as she kept the bulk of it on the pipe. Despite this fragile appendage she was pleased with the repairs her nanobots had managed to do with so little to work with and so much to do before their jobs were done. This did not mean that she could avoid breaking into a med-bay once she had Jazz got to Iacon but at least they would be able to get to Iacon in the first place. Looking around she tried to find where the explosion had thrown him so she could get there and lend him a hand. From the way he had been talking he was probably pinned down under some wreckage and couldn't move which was why he needed her to come to the rescue instead of the other way around.
Where are you Jazz? she thought to herself as her visual search seemed to be in vain.
O-over h-here! F-follow the bouncing l-light ball! Jazz replied in a way that made her think that whatever he was going to do required quite bit of effort.
Then something happened that was almost more than she could handle as well as something that she would remember for the rest of her existence. All at once her optics seemed to become enhanced by an unusual light, a white light that was like nothing she had ever seen before in all her years in the resistance. For a few moments it blinded her and she could see nothing else, but then it seemed to streak out from her eyes a converge a few feet in front of her to form a nimbus of light. She was in awe of the sight, so much so that it caught her completely off guard when it suddenly shot off in the direction of the sewage gutters. Shaking herself back to reality she hobbled after it as fast as she could without ruining her one functional leg. As the ball of light reaching the edge of the gutter it seemed to hover there for a moment before dropping like a rock over the right side of the edge. It took her a few moments to catch up with it but when she did she feverantly wished she had never even asked the question that had brought her to that spot.
Do I r-really look that b-bad? Jazz's voice asked once more inside her head.
Looking down into the gutter it was easy to guess why Jazz was talking to her telepathically rather than using the usual com-link or his voice synthesizer. His entire body from the chest down was completely gone and only his right arm seemed even minimally functional though that was merely a guess since it wasn't moving. As for what was above the chest it was a mess of torn armor, scorch marks and exposed wiring that made him look like he definitely belonged on the scrap heap. That however wasn't what shocked her the most though, it was the face that she was sure was going to give her nightmares for weeks. All the face plating that had given him an even remotely human looking face had been peeled away and what was left was a montage of wires and metal frames that reminded her of a human skeleton. It scared her almost to the point where she had to look away but she knew that would only hurt Jazz even more than he was already. Slowly and carefully she lowered herself down into the gutter with him, she wasn't sure exactly why but she wanted to be there for him in what looked like his last hours. A part of her stridently opposed that idea, demanded that she pick him up and get him to a med facility in Iacon before it was too late but her cold and logical side told her that it was already too late.
Kneeling down next to him she asked furiously "Why'd you do it Jazz?! You had a mission to carry out!!"
I-I did it b-because I was never supposed to be the one to carry out the mission in the first place. Jazz replied as the strain on the effort seemed to be decreasing.
"What!? What do you mean by that!?!?!" she demanded, almost grabbing him by his one remaining arm to give him a good shake.
Look Nightshade, I don't have a whole lot of time left so I'm just gonna lay it all out for you , Jazz replied in a solemn tone reserved for confessions, Project Gateway was started a lot longer than you had been led to believe, almost to the day that Ironhide became the leader of the Autobots. Within three years of it's conception the gateway had been fully completed and ready for its first test drive with it's first team of volunteers ready and waiting. After a little fine tuning to increase accuracy and stability we had a working time portal that could take a team back and hopefully change the past.
Unfortunately things didn't turn out that way. , Jazz explained with about as much emotion as a toaster, The tech boys expected that the change in the timeline would be instantaneous, that we would vanish the instant the team stepped through the portal. When that didn't happen every scientist involved was given the task of finding out what went wrong. They didn't get their answer until Kup scanned the historical data tracks and found reports than indicated that the team had been destroyed just a little ways into the mission by a Decepticon patrol.
With this knowledge the top brass decided to change the outline of the mission in the hopes of ensuring that the Decepticon patrol did not discover the strike team. Once the changes were in place they sent a second team through the portal but once again nothing happened to the timeline and they were still the same as they were beforehand. For the next few years they went through this over and over again hoping that with each change in the mission profile they would finally succeed in their mission.
Jazz seemed to take a moment to catch his breath but she knew for a fact that it was energon he was beginning to run low on rather than air. She started to lean forward to try and help him but he shook his head as much as he could and stopped her. It was clear that he was determined to finish his explanation before he would allow her to do anything at all.
Nothing did change though, every team that was sent through the portal was eventually destroyed at some point during the first phase of the mission. , Jazz said as he continued to explain matters to her, For a long while they couldn't figure out why the teams were making such poor progress and morale started to take a plunge. Then something strange happened while a technician was scanning through the historical data tracks and it changed the situation for the better. He began to see ghost images on some of the view visuals that were included in the various reports but the images were of team members that had not yet been sent.
At first it was thought that it was just the technician's imagination but eventually after careful study it was determined that the extended use of the gateway was having a curious effect on the base itself. Slowly but surely sensors were showing that the base was sliding out of temporal synch with the rest of the world around it, that it was fading into subspace. Thus it was theorized that due to this change in temporal state the base and all the systems contained therein were merging with the space/time continuum but at a rate so slow it was barely noticeable. While at first worried by the sudden turn of events they eventually saw this as a godsend from the matrix itself because now they could literally see the consequences of their actions ahead of time. From there they believed that it was only a matter of time before they could plan out the mission to perfection with just the right agents doing just the right thing.
However matters didn't prove to be as simple as that. , Jazz stated as he continued his monologue of the past, Even with the time necessary to get everything completely perfect the scans of the past showed that the team would get no further than about where Megatron ambushed us earlier.
"If the higher ups knew that this wasn't going to work then why did they bother to send us at all?!" Nightshade asked as she momentarily thought of her friends who had died in vain to ensure that she went on a mission that was doomed from the beginning.
The difference this time was that up until six months ago they had been considering only Autobots for the team and leaving people like you and Angelfire out of the running. , replied Jazz as he continued his explanation, It was thought that the mission would be more likely to succeed if the operatives that were sent there had some actual knowledge of the area and the time period itself. Heh, in a way your assignment to the team was something of an accident. Apparently when the list of names was sent to the technician in charge of temporal projections your name was accidentally included in someone else's place.
"What!?" Nightshade exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and resentment.
Hahahahaha! That was basically what Dr. Chase thought when he read the results of the temporal scan but even he couldn't argue with the results. declared Jazz with a bit of mirth in his voice.
"What results?!" demanded Nightshade as she tried to keep up with the story despite all the unusual twists and turns that showed up.
The readings themselves were a complete mess, almost indecipherable, but that was what was so encouraging. , Jazz replied with amusement clearly remaining in his mind, In all other cases the results were completely straight forward, either the team made it so far or didn't, but in your case there was no clear answer. It was the first real spot of sunshine they had seen for a long while but the big bots in charge wanted a more definite answer given the nature of the mission so the testing continued as usual. Nothing changed though, the teams drafted for the mission still did not manage to get any closer to Iacon before they were scrapped by Megatron. So they had no choice but to go with the team that looked the most promising but that gave no guarantee that it would succeed.
"Great! Not only am I sent on a mission that is quite possibly doomed from the beginning but I'm only on the mission because I screw up someone's calculations!" Nightshade declared sharply with a frown as she mentally pictured having a few strong words with the top brass even though she knew that it was impossible.
Hey, how do you think I felt when they gave me the 411 on the mission!? , Jazz stated with an equally wounded voice, The fact of the matter is that our team stood the best chance and that's why Ironhide and the others chose us for this mission.
"Then why didn't you order Blurr and the others to come with us?! They didn't have to stay behind and get slagged by the 'Cons!" demanded Nightshade as she struggled to understand the thinking of her superiors.
Because the council determined that trying to get the entire team through the mission would be near impossible. With so many 'Con's coming after us they believed the most they could hope for was for two people to get away while the rest stayed behind., replied Jazz with fatigue beginning to creep into his voice, The only decision that had to be made was who those two bots would be and why. In the end it came to the two of us, you for the chaos factor created by your presence and me because of my familiarity with the planet itself.
"Then why did you sacrifice yourself for me? Wouldn't someone with knowledge of the time and place have a better chance of succeeding than someone who has only seen Cybertron in data tracs before now?" she asked in a tone that absolutely demanded a straight answer.
Strategically you're right, I would have been the most logical one to survive to ensure the mission's success but the truth of the matter is , Jazz replied with what could have been seen as a mournful look on his face, I didn't want survive….I wanted to die here.
Shocked almost beyond words Nighthsade could only say "Why?"
Nightshade I've been fightin' this war for centuries, I've seen a lot of friends die right before my eyes. Some I might've been able to save and others I couldn't do a thing about. , Jazz replied in a confessional tone, The only thing that kept me going was the spark of hope inside of me that told me there was still a chance that everything would turn out all right. That spark has been gone a long while now, ever since we lost the Ark to the Decepticons. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm tired femme, I want to rest now.
Nightshade could only look at her former commander with shock and more than a little disbelief. Ever since she had first joined the war Autobots had always seemed to calm and casual about their war with the Decepticons, it wasn't something they liked but it was something they had come to accept. More often then she would like to admit it had been the Autobots who had motivated her to continue on fighting when for a moment she just felt like laying down and letting the end come. To find one of their best, a 'bot that she had always admired and respected, ready to just fade away to join the matrix was something that was almost more than she could handle. The worst part of it was that there was nothing she could do about it, he was dying and all she could do was just sit there and watch. Unfortunately there was one matter that she had to settle with him before she could let him go, on answer that she had to wring out of him even if she had to do it with her own two hands.
"How will I complete the mission without you? Given the kind of luck we've had so far I'm bound to run into Autobots eventually and they're going to want answers." she said as she explained her dilemma to him.
Just tell them the truth. Always worked for me. Jazz replied briefly in a lower voice than before.
"Yeah Right!! In case you've forgotten I'm an anomaly here, they're not gonna believe some femme just because she says she's telling the truth!" , Night exclaimed sarcastically as she gave him her best 'Yeah-and-I've-got-a-bridge-to-sell-you' look even though he couldn't see her, "They're probably gonna lock me up as a spy or send me back to Megatron as scrap metal!"
Don't w-worry. The big 'bots came up with a plan for that too. Jazz replied with moderate effort.
Reaching up with his only remaining arm he shakily wave his hand twice over the charred Autobot insignia on his chest before letting it drop back down to his side. Suddenly the scarlet insignia began to glow a bright red, as bright as any set of optics she had ever seen, before his upper chest plate began to open up. From within came a ethereal white light that seemed to stretch out into the sky, as if it wanted to join the other stars that shined above. It wasn't until the chest plate had finished opening that she saw the source of the white light and almost fell over right then and there. She was in awe, few transformers had ever actually seen this object and even fewer were close enough to touch it with own fingers. It was reveled only when the it's bearer was close to death and was required to pass it on to one who was worthy enough. She looked at Jazz's face in the hopes that h would give some sign as to what he was trying to say but he seemed to content to simply lay there and wait for her reaction.
"I-I-is that the…creation matrix?" she asked barely above a whisper.
Yes, it is. It is the symbol of leadership for the Autobots. , Jazz answered in her head with a voice barely louder than her own, There was only one ever made. If nothing else that you say will convince the Autobots that you are trustworthy this will.
The logic of the decision was perfectly clear to her but that didn't stop her from being overwhelmed by what Jazz was proposing at this very moment. The creation matrix was like the holy grail was to the humans, an object of extreme importance that was only bestowed on the most worthy individuals at a time when its previous owner could no longer keep it. The question that kept flying around in her mind was 'am I worthy enough?' and the answer that kept on appearing was a resounding NO. After all she was just a lowly lieutenant with only a few years of experience under her chassis and absolutely no right to receive a gift of such high value. What could Jazz have been thinking!? Now more than ever she was sure that her commander had made a mistake by saving her from the wall of flame that had led him to his death. He should be the one to continue on with the mission rather than her. She didn't care that he was tired from all the fighting or that he didn't want to be reminded of the way things were once upon a time on Cybertron. All that mattered to her was try and come up with some kind of good reason why she should decline accepting the creation matrix without getting into some big argument with her friend.
"Jazz, I can't take this from you." , she stated as she tried to organize her thoughts, "There's no way that my systems are designed to handle something that powerful and I don't even have the proper chest interface for it."
A-already taken care o-of femme. , Jazz replied with more effort in his words then there ought to be, Open up your chest plate and take a l-look for yourself.
Stunned at what he was implying she reached up with her right hand and deactivated the locking mechanism that kept her insides from spilling out every time she was hit hard by enemy fire. Much like the Jazz's insignia hers glowed a bright red before slowly opening up to reveal the surprise that was waiting for her inside. Her jaw servos must have failed completely because her jaw dropped almost all the way to the ground when she saw the almost oval interface before her with her spark pulsing deep within. Rachet must have done this back at Phoenix HQ when he was modifying her systems for travel on Cybertron and vaguely she could remember a moment when he had taken her offline for the more extensive upgrades. For a brief moment she felt extremely violated, that the Autobot surgeon had done this without her knowledge or permission and not said a word about it afterwards! The fortunately her logic circuits came back online and she admitted that if the red and white transformer had informed her ahead of time she probably would have said no and blown the whole mission. She still didn't like it and the fact that Jazz was now expecting her to put this covert alteration to use made her even more reluctant towards accepting the creation matrix.
I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind when you signed on for this mission Nightshade but the top brass wouldn't have even told you about it if they didn't think you had the right stuff. , Jazz declared in a beseeching manner, Please femme, you have the hopes and dreams of hundreds of living beings riding on this mission!
"B-but what if I screw up!?" Nightshade asked, taken aback by the almost pleading tone in her friend's voice.
You won't fail femme 'bot. , Jazz replied as he sent feelings of confidence and pride through to her, I-I've never told you this before Nightshade but I've always been proud to have you under my command. With all the stunts you pulled and the near misses you managed to walk away from I kinda felt like I was back in the good ol' days when me and my Autopals could afford to think of things other than war.
This mission just seemed to be one surprise after another and Nightshade was beginning to wonder if things were gonna get any more interesting before they calmed down. The thought that her Commander Jazz was actually proud of her was almost more than her CPU could handle right at that particular moment. At the same time though it filled her with a certain stability, a patch of solid terra firma that up until now had been completely absent on this mission. With that foundation to hold onto she was able to fully realize what fate was demanding of her and what everyone she had ever known had faith that she would be able to accomplish. With this a newfound swell of confidence and determination solidified in her spark leaving absolutely no doubt in her mind that she would succeed in her mission no matter what the cost. If she had to walk through the fires of the Inferno she would succeed, if she had to face down an entire Decepticon fleet she would succeed and if it was necessary for her to become the next host of the creation matrix then so be it!
"I hereby accept the mission commander." , Nightshade declared in a crisp military style tone of voice, "I will not let you and the others down!"
I-I-I know y-you won't f-femme. Jazz said as it was clear he was mere moments away from his final moment.
Almost automatically at the conclusion of his words the interface in his chest beeped and the creation matrix rose from it's housing until it was it was just barely resting at the top. Reaching out with her arms Nightshade could almost feel a chill rush through her body as she began to truly accept what was about to happen in just a few moments. For a moment a rush of uncertainty flew around her mind and second thoughts seemed to drown out any form of rational or coherent thought that was present. It was only momentary as the feelings of determination that had made up her mind before banished those thoughts from her mind leaving only the importance of the mission. Taking up the matrix in both hands she just looked at it for a moment, looked at the collection of light that flew around in the middle, almost swearing that for a brief moment that the light had glowed extra bright just for her. Deciding to get it over with before anything else could happen she immediately brought it up to the interface and pushed it inwards. Small grasping arms grabbed it the moment it came within a millimeter of the interface and guided it the rest of the way in without her help. She was almost disappointed when nothing happened and wondered where was the flashy light and surge of knowledge that an event like this was supposed to invoke.
She would later remark that some 'bots should be careful what they wish for.
In the exact moment when the energy of the matrix and her spark came into contact she felt like she was going to explode from the inside out. All at once her mind was overwhelmed with images and information that she knew could in no way belong to her since it consisted of several unflattering comments about her methods. It was like no other experience that she had endured in her entire life and was in awe of what was happening to her, all the changes that she could feel taking place. It wasn't just her mind that was being remade, she could also feel areas of her body begin to reform themselves and be enhanced past what she had possessed before. This however she was only aware of peripherally amid the maelstrom of memories that flew about her mind as it reorganized itself to accommodate the new bits of data now present therein. For a moment she was afraid that Rachet back at HQ had miscalculated something because she felt as though she was going to fly apart at the seams at any moment. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the disorientation brought about by the incorporation of the matrix into her body vanished and in it's place was a sense of new strength and confidence. However as she looked down at her physical form she could see that those qualities were only in her mind as she still looked fit for the nearest scrap heap.
Great. All that knowledge and they couldn't even throw in a free repair job. she thought to herself with mild humor as she returned her attention to her dying friend.
"Don't worry Jazz old friend. Leave everything to me." Nightshade declared solemnly as she watched the glow of his spark begin to fade out of existence.
I… know you will femme 'bot. , Jazz replied in a voice that was barely audible in her mind, 'Til all are one Nightshade…….
"Until all are one my friend." She replied as the last remnants of the once brave warrior's spark disappeared entirely.
Bringing herself completely to her feet she stood as best she could at attention and raised her one good hand in a firm salute as a sign of respect. She would miss him but right now she knew that she had more important things to do than wallow in her own misery over his departure from life. Hoisting herself out of the ditch she brought her navigational array online along with the necessary data tracs concerning this region of Cybertron. It took her only a cycle to figure out where she was and which direction she had to go in to get to Iacon in time to complete the next phase of her mission. She had plenty of time since the launch of the Ark wasn't until tomorrow evening but she knew she would need every second she could get to get aboard without being seen. Putting the bent piece of pipe underneath her right arm she began to hobble towards her destination with the certain knowledge that she would get there 'come hell or high water' as human at Phoenix cell once said.
2 and a half hours later, Somewhere on Cybertron
One of these d-days I'm gonna h-have to w-watch what I t-think. , Nightshade thought to herself as she forced her servos to do as she ordered them to do, Y-you never know w-who might be …listening in.
She had been hobbling along at a snail's pace for over two hours and now remembered one little detail that she had forgotten to consider when she had made her determination to reach Iacon known. When she had initially heard Jazz and gone off to find him she had only half a tank of energon left to her name and a crack on the side of that tank that her systems had only partially sealed up. She had hoped that with the majority of the damage repaired that she would be able to make every drop last since it was just enough to get her inside Iacon City. Unfortunately she had failed to take into account the fact that there might be a few holes on her energon distribution tubes which would cause the energon to leak out out all over her and cut the time she'd remain functional in half. Already she had been forced to take virtually all her other systems offline except for optics, motor control and life support. It was those systems that gave her the best chance of coming out of this mess in one piece but diverting power to those systems had only marginally delayed exhaustion of the energon and she was beginning to feel the drain. Already her movements were becoming sluggish and more than once in the past few minutes she had been forced to shake her head a little bit to get her optics back online. If she had been any other bot she probably would have just sat down and tried to conserve power while sending out a constant distress beacon but given that her mission called for stealth she wasn't about to try it.
C-computor…time until complete energon depletion? she asked mentally since she had taken her voice synthesizer offline.
[Time until complete shutdown eight point zero five cycles.]
Great! A w-whole eight minutes to c-c-contemplate my fate! she thought to herself with a sneer as she continued to trod along in the general direction of Iacon City.
No more than ten minutes later she came to a steep decline that seemed to level out onto what might have once been some kind of street although she couldn't tell for certain with her optics operating at minimum capacity. Trying to be careful she decided to try and slide down the slope on her skidplate since she wasn't stupid enough to think that her one leg would be able to handle taking her down. True it wouldn't be the most dignified position for a resistance soldier but then again there wasn't anyone around to see her so who really gave a slag. She was almost all the way down when the edge of the slope that she stood on gave way causing her to slip and tumble head first down to the street ending with her lying face down on the street. She grimaced for a second as she tried to keep her few remaining systems from flickering offline but it seemed as though this was it, her final moment before the big fade. The thought of her failing in her mission temporarily bolstered her as she tried to use her rage and determination to get to her feet but her limbs wouldn't listen. She wanted to pound the ground in frustration, to scream every curse she knew at the injustice of it all, but all she could do was lay there as the end approached her. Just then a spark of hope seemed to brighten her mind, a vague idea that somehow seemed to give her the strength to hang-on a little while longer. Forcing her circuits to obey her she rerouted power away from motor functions and optics and rechanneled it into the system she needed functional most of all. Then, just as the last of the diverted energy seemed to dwindle she sent the distress call in the form of one single word.
Help.