The Diego Diaries: Collection (dd8 222)
=0=The big building on a dead planet in a nebula
They stood in the big entry that led into a room that encompassed the entire building it seemed. It was dark, then it wasn't. In some forgotten manner, the lights came on but they didn't fill the room. They just illuminated containers all over the huge space.
The mechs stared at the first one which was filled with a murky liquid. It was dark and appeared lumpen.
"I don't like the look of that," Raptor said. "What is it, Ratchet?"
Ratchet who was scanning glanced at Raptor. "Its a specimen container, sort of like an aquarium. Something in that container died in it a long time ago."
They stared at it, then others. All around the room were ruined containers with specimens inside. Some of them were obvious bones and others had reduced in their particular circumstances to sludge, a large number of which had turned to hard looking lumpen stains. Some tanks were broken and the contents mostly dark stains on the floor.
"This is a nightmare. Someone's zoo got caught up in the disaster and this appears to be what's left," Sun said as he glanced around. "I have a bad feeling about our guys."
"We need to find them. Do you have any Cybertronian signatures, Ratchet?" Blackjack asked.
Ratchet scanned, then pointed to the back. "There. I get familiar signatures back there."
They glanced at huge doors in the back of the vast room, then began to run that way. It took a long time and the view was horrendous as imploded tanks and intact tanks filled with dead forms lined the route. They reached the doors, then halted.
Sun glanced at Ratchet. "Anyway into that you can tell?"
"Speak 'friend' and enter?" Ratchet asked as he lay a meter on the door. Snickers greeted that remark as he measured the door. Stepping back, he glanced at the others. "We're going to have to blow the hinges."
"Fortunately, I always come prepared," Jack said as he unsubbed a number of small explosive devices. "Help me put them on the hinges," he said as he tossed a couple to his brother. With impeccable aim, they threw the magnetized disks up to the top hinge where they stuck, then mined the bottom one.
Sun glanced at everyone. "Get the frag way back. I've set them to blow the door our way." A mob of big mechs ran for it, stopping halfway back down their original trail. Sun coded a meter, then pressed the button. If there had been atmosphere, the explosion would have resounded but it didn't so it was mostly a show with a dust cloud resulting.
The huge metal hinges buckled, then ripped lose. One hung in tatters while the other two disintegrated. The huge doors weren't as thick as they seemed but they flew out and landed on a number of the exhibits crushing them to dust. A lot of that flew up, held, then began to slowly drift.
"Well done, General," Perceptor said as they began to jog back to the door. Stepping over glass, globular detritus and a lot of metal, they reached the door.
Perceptor began to scan as they peered inside. A light was flickering in the back showing a weird level of eeriness but it was evident to the scientists among them that this was a specimen prep room. They entered to follow Percy.
There was no sound narrative to the adventure which added to the spookiness of the place. No one had been here in eons of time, no one had finished their work and the place was covered in layers of dust and broken glass. A wall of terrariums, none of them used had fallen from their shelves in some unknown cataclysm and had shattered everywhere. It was slow going to a room in the back with a door ajar.
"We need to go there. The signals are getting larger," Percy said as they hurried along, half of them itching to have guns in their hands even as they knew it wouldn't be needed.
Probably.
The door allowed them to enter where they waited the all clear from Percy. He glanced at a light that was still operational nearby. A console was attached to it. He walked to it, studied it, then pressed a button. A screen flickered, then an alien appeared on it. Humanoid in appearance but not in a way hard to measure, he looked distressed. He spoke something, then a lurching caused him to fall forward toward the console. As he did he died. The entry ended.
"Well, we know how he ended. Why did he end?" Blackjack asked.
Perceptor worked furiously, then pressed a button again. The figure and his last words appeared. This time they could understand him.
"The last specimen is loose. He's so dangerous. I told them not to keep him but they didn't-" That's where it ended.
It was silent, then Perceptor turned to the group. "I can conjecture a hypothesis that might cover what we just saw. It would appear that this facility collects specimens by remote means, the light beam in all probability, and showcases them here. I would speculate that they grabbed something that struck back."
"What would be big and bad enough to extinguish an entire planet?" Sun asked.
"I am not clear but I will speculate that the creature they captured not only got away but it did so far from here. I speculate as well that this planet has been untethered from its host star for about five hundred million years," Percy concluded.
They stared at him, then the room.
"We find our people, get them back, then blow up this building. No one should live like this. They've captured their last specimen," Raptor said. "This has an automatic capture array, correct?"
Perceptor nodded.
"You and Ratchet figure this out, tell us where to place the shot and we'll look for our guys. If we need you to get them out or sort the titans, we'll call," Raptor said as he began to walk further into the dark room. As he did an automatic light came on.
He froze to see a number of boxes sitting on a table that appeared to be a combination of a bridge at one end with a conveyor belt that delivered things captured onto a long metallic table.
The group stared at them, then Ratchet and Perceptor walked forward to scan them. It took a moment, then Ratchet glanced at the group. "Those boxes have our guys. That container there, it has the energy signatures of our titans. We better figure that part out carefully. We screw this up and our boys could be harmed."
"Then do it, Ratchet. Do you need more help?" Raptor asked.
"We're not sure," Perceptor said as they walked toward the device.
Igniting thrusters that nearly all Cybertronians possessed but a surprising number never used, then rose to the top of the impossibly big table and walked toward one of the boxes.
Scanning it, Ratchet rapped on it. "Anyone home?"
:Ratchet? That you?: Hercy's voice could be heard to say.
"The one and only," Ratchet said as he watched Percy work on a panel attached to the giant boxes, pressing over-sized keys once more.
It hissed, then a slotted door slid open. Sitting inside was a number of mechs. With surprise and evident relief, they stepped out and peered downward. Waving at Raptor and the others, they watched Perceptor work on a panel that was attached to the container with the energy signals of the titans.
Working more, Perceptor glanced at Raptor. "That second box has the shuttle. They were in one by themselves. How the device separated them is fascinating and beyond my ability to explain with such little data. Indeed, fascinating."
"If you say so, Percy," Raptor said with a grin.
Percy smirked slightly as he continued. He glanced up at the boxes. "I have contact with Metroplex," Perceptor said as he tapped on a device in his servo. "Metroplex, this is Perceptor. Are you and the others alright?"
There was silence, then the elegant voice of Metroplex could be heard. "We are here. Where, I am not clear. We have to get out of here and go back to our formats."
"This isn't going to be too hard," Perceptor said. "This container is designed to hold them. Its utilitarian and useful, but nothing else. I have to reverse the process to send them back. This container is designed to make energy transfers as simple as possible. I'm rather impressed with their tech."
"Their tech killed them," Ratchet said. "We better hurry. It might decide to grab something else and we'd have to let it out. Remember what happened the last time they did?"
"You have a point," Percy said as he worked on a code panel allowing it to reverse and tell him what to do. It wasn't simple but it wasn't complex either. It was a working device that did its job and nothing more, rather like a can opener or a broom. "There. Metroplex, I'm going to release you now. Are you prepared to return? You and the others? You aren't impaired are you?"
"No," Caminus could be heard to say.
"Okay. Here we go," Percy said as he tapped in the last code.
Lights flashed on the panel, then a hiss could be heard.
Percy scanned it, then glanced at the others. "No one is in there now." He tapped a code in for Camber. "Perceptor to Camber. Please report the safe return of our missing titans."
There was silence a moment, then the report came. "Everyone has pinged receipt, Commander. All of them are back and report their good health."
It was like a balloon deflating, the relief they felt as they began to climb downward. When they were on the floor gathered together it was then that they noticed the box still contained the shuttle. Next to it was another. Tapping it, a frightened face peered out, the face of one of the scientists. "Hello?" he asked around his fear.
After a moment of checking and inspecting, the kids and other civilians along with the soldiers who flew the shuttle climbed out and joined the group. Everyone turned to Hercy.
"How tall were these fraggers?" Hercy asked as he stared upward. "They put our fragging shuttles in a box and set it on a table."
"Tall enough to get themselves extincted," Sun said. "What about putting a bridge just inside those boxes and flying the fraggers out?"
"Go ahead. I dare ya," Blackjack said with a smirk.
"Bad thing to do, infant," Jack said as he and his brother began to climb back upward.
"Go with them. Neither of them can drive," Blackjack said to the others including a pensive slightly shaken Bezel.
"Bezel."
He glanced back at Ratchet. "Come with me. I might need help."
Bezel glanced at the others, then walked back to Ratchet. As he did Blackjack was explaining things to the Trigger that was running their operation. It would take a few moments but the intricate maneuver would be accomplished, taking with them the scientists and their crew as well.
The group on the floor stared at the light inside the box that signaled a bridge, then watched through the slotted door as a shuttle flew forward inside to disappear. When it disappeared so did the light. It was a tight and beautiful operation to watch.
Miler of Praxus was a genius.
Blackjack turned to Ratchet and Perceptor. "Anything here that might be salvageable or is this a dead end for everything?"
"I scanned everywhere including these few rooms but there's nothing that registers as alive," Perceptor said. "Odd to see an organic taller than us. This is a strange perception, seeing normal things too big for even us."
"Well, we have to blow this place. That signal could still grab others and we can't allow it ethically," Blackjack said.
It was a long creepy walk back to their shuttle and a gratefully taken ride back to space. By the time they reached Camber, Prowl had already lined up the shot. Waiting for them were the titans who'd been taken away by the big scan.
"Hurry up," Ratchet said. "If it took them once it'll take them again."
Prowl turned to Fire Control. "Devcon, fire at will."
Dev nodded, then conversed with the automated system that ran the torpedo system.
Camber was plugged in and his words echoed as drones put two torpedoes into the tubes forward of the hangar deck. They were powerful and fast but not the giant killers that he carried. These were specially designed slim lines that could dot an 'I' and not muss anything else around it. Confirmation was given, then Devcon launched them.
A very slight shudder notified them that the bombs were away. They flashed out and headed toward the planet just as fast as the optic could follow. And just as fast, they hit their targets. A burst of light followed by a rumbling of the planet and the disintegration of the plaza holding all the building indicated a direct hit.
Studying the console nearby, Perceptor turned toward Prime who sat nearby watching silently. "Score," he said quietly.
=0=TBC 8-2-2021 :D:D:D edited finally and fixed 8-10-2021