Chapter Two
Day 204
It was raining again. It was heavy, but only because of the weight of the dust that had risen up and mixed with the clouds. It reduced the blackened ground into a sludgy muck. It resulted in a stink that really was offensive to the audio-receptors. Astrotrain had remained in the cave for the past four days, but of course occasionally stepped out when he sensed Autobots or unidentified movement. The only Autobot that he saw pass by was Cliffjumper, a rather savage and brutish little mech who essentially worshiped Prime. Astrotrain wondered what he was up to as when he wasn't on the battlefield he was in some pub somewhere over-energising, partying in the rec room or hitting on some femme strumpet. The little bugger didn't seem to pick up on the Decepticon's signal. Soundwave had radioed Astrotrain on day 202 and told him that he could return to base if he wanted so as the barracks were of no real consequence to them as they had discovered a larger base which was much more interesting to their rebel cause. Astrotrain had not been ordered back so he decided to remain for a few more days. He'd found ancient human art works scribed into the rocks of the cave walls and he decided to study them, or at least stare at them with admiration… the crude images devoid of alphabet gave him some inspiration – if only inspiration to try and break the drought of his writer's block.
After committing the images to his memory banks he decided he best return to base, the stink of rotting human carcases mixed with the filthy rain were really starting to bother his olfactory senses. He stepped out of the cave and scanned the area, confident there were no Autobots close enough to detect him when he took off. He transformed and blasted off into the skies. It was ironic in a sad and morbid way, the ash and dust in the atmosphere and skies caused by the Autobot's rampant destruction of human cities was so thick that any Decepticon who flew above the clouds could not be detected by Autobot sensors. Of course, if an Autobot flew above the clouds they too weren't picked up on radar; however there were very few 'bots who had the ability of flight. The Autobots having done this on numerous worlds so the Decepticon scientists and engineers had developed filters which enabled flight through such clouds without damage to their engines and vital systems.