"Sister I miss you. Entwined, you and I: our souls speak from across the miles. Intertwined, you and I. Our blood flows from the same inside. Half of me breathes in you. Thoughts of love remain true ."

The Nixons

"I see you standing in the alleys and the hallways. Wait a second, you're gone now. I run to touch you but you vanish through the doorway. And oh how hard it is to live without you. I love everything about you. Now I know you're really gone, but my imagination is so strong. That I see you coming into view and your face is telling me that you: Oh yeah oh, want to be by my side. Oh yeah oh, now it's finally time. -Wait a second-Mirage, that's all you are to me. Mirage, something I only see."

Tommy James and the Shondells

Mirage pleaded with Optimus. "They have had her buried down there for so long I've forgotten what she looks like! Can I just take Lyra out on patrol with me; maybe show her the new Autobot City site?"

Optimus looked up from his e-mail. Reports were the same: no new Decepticon activity. This unnerved him more than usual. Why weren't they coming for Starscream? Why wasn't he trying to leave? Where was Nightbird? The Aerialbots' pursuit ended when their objective disappeared right before their eyes. There was no trace of her. Optimus had boosted security to a near anxiety-attack level, telling EVERYONE to be on the alert no matter where they were. Things were getting stuffy in the ark. All Autobots worked overtime. Optimus had reinforced this by doubling patrol teams, rearranging shifts, and minimizing leisure time, promising a BIG party when this was all over. Whenever that was. He tried to think of anything to keep the Autobots from stagnating. Mirage's proposal screamed 'security breach' but the fewer whiney Autobots lingering in the ark the better. (They weren't the only ones feeling tense.)

"Go ahead. Take a few others, too." He turned back to his e-mails. Jazz's report was disquieting, expressing concern over the cliques that were forming the longer the females stayed on earth. Some hostilities had become overt-

"Sure. Powerglide and Moonracer want to come." He should have been thinking of Sideswipe and Andromeda, but Moonracer had already voiced a desire to see the site.

"Proceed. Watch out for any Decepticon activity."

"Thank you, sir." Mirage raced into the lab. "Hi guys," he greeted. "Where's Oasis?"

Perceptor looked up from the blaster he was working on. "She was here a moment ago..." he glanced at Skyfire. The white mech looked up from the equation he was working on the databoard.

"You are right. Where is she?" The lab was large but relatively uncluttered. There was no place to hide, so obviously she was not there.

Mirage sensed her walking into the room, and turning his head, he saw her appear over by a table. She picked up two beakers.

"Oasis?" She jumped. Her face reflected the blunder. "Where were you?"

"I had to take a walk," she mumbled guiltily. "Sometimes this place is stuffy."

He decided to not worry about it. "Guess what! Prime gave me permission to take you to the new Autobot City site in Oregon."

"Really?" Her odd behavior melted away in their mutual delight.

"You, me, Powerglide, Moonracer, and Nova got permission to go. It'll be a blast!"

Lyra tried to hide the disappointment of having to go with an incongruous group. "When do we leave?"

"Nova's shift ends at four. We're meeting outside of the ark." He left to tell the others. "See you then!"

Perceptor smiled. "That will be lovely. Oregon is a beautiful state."

Lovely? "Can you do without me here?" she asked sweetly.

"No. You'll have a mountain of work to do when you return." Grapple put in. "I'll pile it in this corner for you. Until then, we'll try to survive." He did have a sense of humor, he just disguised it pretty well. Lyra supposed the more time you spent with him the more you detected the dryness of it.

"Thanks!" She was relieved they had bought her lame excuse to go see Starscream. These excursions were costing her dearly.

Mirage, Nova and Moonracer were speeding up the highway as fast as they could go. Lyra and Powerglide flew low above them. This place they called 'Oregon' vastly differed from the desert the ark was in. Colder. Humidity covered them like smoke. Mountains huddled together for warmth. Muted greens and blues and grays everywhere she looked. Huge pine trees loomed over them to block out the semi-translucent sunlight. Perceptor labeled it 'Lovely.' Lyra called it dark.

"Lyra, watch this!" Powerglide was not one to hold grudges. He assumed her blowup was caused because she was under a lot of stress. He'd respectfully left her alone since, assuming he had upset her somehow and didn't want to repeat it. Powerglide loved outings, especially when he now had a friend there to share the fun of flying with him. Besides, he couldn't help showing off. He sped up to the bridge above the highway and looped over it, barely grazing the concrete before he passed under it.

"Holy smoke!" she radioed.

"Try it!"

The next overpass she attempted. Her loop was not as tight as his, but not bad. Mirage sped up and called something to his sister.

"No way!"

"It'll be fun!" Her brother was in rare form, excited from Optimus' announcement that the females might take a few volunteers back to Cybertron with them. He wanted to be the first to volunteer.

Lyra consented to his request, and Mirage gunned his motor. A ramp was left on the highway by construction workers on their break. He hit the ramp full force, letting out an urbane "Yeee-haaa!" Lyra swooped down as he transformed and let him land on top of her, feet first, arms out, looking like he was surfing. They flew for a few moments like this, neither saying anything but both grinning, until Mirage was aware of her lifting him higher into the sky and protested. Lyra tried not to giggle. He would be safely deposited on the highway soon enough. They were laughing, while he exclaimed that the precipitation would make her a lousy pilot and he feared his for his life over thirty meters. She argued that the sky was cloudy but not rainy, but gently lowered him down to earth anyway. As he waited for his friends to catch up he asked her what she thought of Oregon. SH elide and said it was nice. Her sensors smelled pine trees, animals, car exhaust...and something else that at first she could not identify. Then it hit her, like her first day on earth.

"The space bridge is here!" she cried as Nova and company pulled up.

"What?" Powerglide demanded, staying in his alternate mode.

"When it warps Decepticons over from Cybertron, it burns carbon. I can smell it!"

"Why would they put the space bridge in the middle of a place with inconstant weather?" Moonracer challenged.

Mirage held his arms out. Lyra allowed him to climb aboard and she ascended deaf to the protests of Nova and Moonracer.

"She's doing it for attention," Moonracer snorted. "Powerglide, do you smell carbon?"

"No, but I wasn't created for spyin'." He transformed and bade the ladies to do the same. "You know, we're on the wrong side of this mountain to see the base site. We can walk over to get a better look." The mountain was not too high. To stay with the group Powerglide climbed with them, listening to the gossip.

"I broke up with Sunstreaker."

"No! Why?" gasped Moonracer.

"He told me another femme kissed him."

"That glitch!"

"No, I don't blame her. I mean, who can resist him?" she smiled at that. She never really liked him that much anyway; he was just somebody to talk to while Moonracer was making out with Powerglide. He was trying to take the credit for all of the digging and mudslinging she had worked on even before he REMEMBERED Lyra was here. "What upset me was that he's taken a pet project of mine as his own personal...I don't know, quest, and he won't rest until-" She stumbled over a rock. "Ouch!"

"Are you all right?" Moonracer asked, concerned. Nothing looked torn.

"Sorry, I was more surprised than hurt." Nova stood up. As they started up the hill, the sound of jets flying low overhead shook the air hard enough to cause them to duck.

"Decepticons!" cried Powerglide. He radioed Mirage. "Mirage! Come in!"

"Mirage here. We found out what the Decepticons are up to." He sounded weak.

"Are you OK there, buddy?"

"I got shot. Lyra and I separated, and the Seekers are out to find us. Lay low until it's safe."

Nova looked at Moonracer, panicked. "If they get us, they will kill us!"

"All we have to do is lay low." Powerglide explained. "Decepticons are not that great as scouts, unless it's one of Soundwave's tapes." He gestured to a particularly thick patch of pine trees. "Get in there. Luckily you're not that obvious." Powerglide picked up soil from the recent rainstorm and covered his bright-red paint. Nova and Moonracer helped. Under the dense growth and fading sun, Nova could barely make out the shapes ahead of her. Nature made a great deal of noise, until it got too dark to see; then it was silent. Nova saw nothing as she crouched in the mud, heard nothing, wondered where her friends were. The suspense was killing her. She did not even dare whisper their names.

A low-flying jet cruised above them. The engine made a great deal of noise. It sounded like more than one. Nova heard shots.

Powerglide groaned as he hit the ground. Moonracer gasped.

"Don't move!" she called to Nova as the green and yellow female made a break for it. She had to divert them from Moonracer! Transforming, she raced down the mountain, bouncing on the rocks that had tripped her earlier, breaking her front axle. Laser shots rang out around her as she tried to dodge them. She flew off of a smoother rock that jutted out over the hill, soaring as Mirage did. Turning as she went, she transformed again to do what she did best.

Nova's primary function was the ability to rapid-fire shoot her opponent to conflagration. It burned a lot of energon, but was worth the exertion. She opened fire on a confused Thundercracker the minute her metal back collided with the open highway ten meters below her takeoff point.

"What the-" Thundercracker had no time to say anything else. He was being scalded. "Look out, Skywarp!" he cried before he crash-landed.

"Too late!" She yelled at him, blasting the purple Seeker to Kingdom Come. The jet fell.

"Nova?" A voice from nowhere caused her to reposition her weapon while turning to aim behind her.

"Don't shoot!" Mirage materialized in front of her gun. Nova relaxed. "Where are Powerglide and Moonracer?"

"Up the mountain. Powerglide's been shot."

Mirage sighed. "I radioed Prime. He's sending Skyfire to pick us up." His arm was leaking. Nova stood up, motioning for him to sit on the highway and rest. He shook his head. "We have to get the others and move again, before the Coneheads get us. Oasis is trying to distract them until we get away."

Nova pulled Mirage up the mountainside. "What happened out there?"

We were over the site and Oasis wanted to get a closer look. Out of nowhere, someone started firing at us. She moved, but not fast enough. I got this," he motioned his shoulder. "We both disappeared, and she dropped me so I could get away. From my spot I was right by the biggest post for a spacebridge I have ever seen since-"

"Since the day the Decepti-goons tried to bring Cybertron into earth's orbit?" Powerglide was limping down the hill on Moonracer's shoulder. Nova hurried up to help her.

"Exactly." He looked at his flying friend. "What happened?"

"Some stray ricochets got my foot."

"Ouch."

"How did they come over here? No one can see us, it's night, we were in the underbrush, and Powerglide's covered in mud!" Moonracer's brow furrowed.

"I don't know," Mirage said, listening in the distance.

"I'll bet Lyra knows." Nova supposed.

"Shh! Get down again!" They scattered.

The Coneheads roared their way past them. They were blasting the blue jet ahead of them. Silence followed. Mirage refused to move. Silence continued. Another noise, a jet different from the other Decepticons roared overhead, stopping when a transforming noise replaced it.

"You may turn off your homing beacon, Mirage," murmured Skyfire. "The Decepticons are gone."

"Where did they go?" Nova asked as the carrier jet led them to a more open area."

"Last I saw, they were chasing Lyra southwards."

"Is she OK?" asked Mirage.

"She'll be fine," Moonracer assured him as they climbed into Skyfire. "We'll all be fine, as soon as we get out of here."