Sideswipe stumbled into something in the middle of the orb. Since he could not see where he was going, he moved around it, then stepped off a small stair and fell back into the lab. He stood up and looked back. The orb had vanished.

"Sideswipe!" a chorus of voices called to at him from around the room.

He looked around but he could not see who it was as his optics adjusted to the changing lighting conditions. The voices came over to him and jovially patted him on the shoulders and back.

"We did it!" someone happily exclaimed. Sideswipe recognized Perceptor's voice.

"You're back!" he heard Wheeljack say.

Slowly, the engineer and scientist came into focus. He looked between them and then a third figure in the room came into view behind them. It was Sunstreaker, a huge grin on his faceplate.

"Sunny!" Sideswipe cried with relief and pushed away the other two Autobots.

The grin on Sunstreaker's faceplate melted into an expression of relief. Then, as his red brother approached, he reverted to his usual scowl.

"You slagger," Sunstreaker chided Sideswipe. "If I ever had any notions that you aren't as stupid as you look… this proved that you really are dumb."

"C'mon bro'!" Sideswipe appealed, and grinned widely. "Say you're happy to see me. I know you are." Sideswipe could not resist the opportunity to rib his twin. He went up to Sunstreaker with his arms outstretched, but the yellow warrior backed away with an expression of utter distaste on his faceplate.

"Don't touch me," Sunstreaker warned his brother. "You're already too close. That garish, red glow of yours is reflecting off my gorgeous, yellow patina and ruining it."

"Give your brother a big hug," he laughed and grabbed Sunstreaker with both arms. The two of them wrestled. Sideswipe tried to hang on, while Sunstreaker struggled to get away. After a moment, Sunstreaker stopped resisting and Sideswipe let him go. They looked at one another without saying anything, but knew the relief that the other was feeling. They were together again.

Sideswipe turned to face Wheeljack and Perceptor. They were beaming. Their elated expressions settled any doubts. This was the same reality that he had departed earlier that day.

"I have to ask," Wheeljack began, "where were you all the time you were gone?"

Sideswipe shook his head. "None of you are going to believe this, but that space bridge of yours sent me to a twisted alternate reality." He looked at Perceptor. "You said it was a parallel universe."

Perceptor was taken aback. "I did?" The scientist pondered over the idea. "That truly is beyond all of my calculations," he added.

"Yeah," Sideswipe continued, with a tone of disbelief. "That's what you said there, too."

"So tell us," Wheeljack persisted, "what was it like?"

"I was dead. So was Prime, Ratchet and a bunch of the others. Megatron had won and everyone was fleeing the Earth," he said quietly. "And Grimlock was trying to take over from Prowl."

"That sounds more like a bad dream," Wheeljack reflected.

Sideswipe flinched at the comment, reminded of the dream he awoke from that morning. He just looked at Sunstreaker and smiled.

"You're crazy," Sunstreaker responded. "Prowl? Bro', that is totally wing nuts."

"I'm not so sure, Sunstreaker," Perceptor responded. "We already know that other pockets of space exist. That is why we have our subspace compartments. And it is conceivable that other threads of reality exist within the universe. There is a lot we don't know. But," he continued, "I would have to double-check the calculations to verify this hypothesis."

Sideswipe rolled his optics.

Wheeljack chuckled. "For all we know, there could be an alternate reality where the Autobots are evil and the Decepticons are good," he added.

"Or," Perceptor said with a half-smile, "a world where we Transformers exist only in the imaginations of human beings – and they make toys in our likeness."

"Now that is crazy," Sideswipe stated, as he pointed at Perceptor.