9: The Vortex
"Depth Charge! You'll never believe it!" Blackarachnia panted, once she found him.
"You're right; I probably won't," said Depth Charge grumpily, but she could tell that he was happy to see her.
Blackarachnia stopped jumping around. She realized she was glad to see him too.
"The way you females are, I thought you would be angry at me, still," the ray-bot said. "Look, I'm sorry I lied."
"That's okay," Blackarachnia smiled, "because it wasn't a lie. Silverbolt is alive!"
Depth Charge looked at her in surprise. Wasn't it a little too soon to be joking about something like that? Blackarachnia stared back at him, and there was no joke in her eyes.
"Oh no, you're serious?" Depth Charge exclaimed. "Blackarachnia, I was relieved to see you alive today; but it's almost better to be dead than to lose your mind!"
"Lose my mind!?" Blackarachnia repeated, growing furious. "But it's true!"
"Stop it!" Depth Charge snapped. "I said I was sorry for lying, so stop making me feel guilty! Blackarachnia, it's impossible! Silverbolt died. You were there yourself, and so was I, Optimus, and Cheetor. We helped you drag him into the cave, where he went offline. We saw his spark go out of his body!"
"So?! Rhinox got Optimus' spark back," Blackarachnia said. "Maybe somebody got Silverbolt's! I'm telling you, he's alive. He's coming here in a minute, and you're gonna meet him. Then you'll see." She started running into the woods.
Depth Charge suddenly caught her by the hands and stopped her. To her surprise, he didn't let go. "Are you crazy?" he asked, deadly serious.
Blackarachnia's face fell. "Maybe I am. It doesn't make sense, does it? Maybe—maybe—I was dreaming."
"You're lucky," said Depth Charge. "After Omicron I didn't have wonderful reveries. I had nightmares. I still have 'em." He caught Blackarachnia's surprised expression, and looked away awkwardly. "You're the first person I've ever told. Well, that won't make them stop, I'm sure. I suffer everyday. …But that's obvious."
"Not really," Blackarachnia replied. "Most people think you're mean and cold rather than constantly in pain. Of course," Blackarachnia added quickly, "I don't think of you that way. I just have to be able to get into someone's character, and then I can understand them. Silverbolt taught me that. You really want friends, don't you?"
Depth Charge shook his head. "No. Anyone I befriend dies on me."
"You haven't tried, have you? Not since Omicron?" Blackarachnia pressed. "Maybe you should try again. It's actually pretty rare that one of us Beast Warriors die; we always have friends close by to protect us."
"And with Silverbolt gone, you need protecting," Depth Charge said in a low voice.
"Do not!" Blackarachnia objected hastily. "What I need is to be left alone by all bots of both factions."
"Make ya a deal," Depth Charge said. "Let me keep check'n in on you, so long as you're out here away from base, and I'll try and be less closed-minded towards the maximals."
"Why?" Blackarachnia asked, puzzled.
Depth Charge half-smiled: an expression of exasperation and yet amusement. "Are you really gonna make me say it?" he asked. "I—I don't want you to…when I saw you earlier…well…it'd kill me if something were to hurt you…again. Like you said, if you can get into character, you understand another person's feelings."
Blackarachnia was no less shocked at what Depth Charge was saying than at what she was thinking. This was just what she needed: a friend that understood her, that understood what she was going through. She found herself still holding his hands and leaning on him. She rested her head against his chest.
Depth Charge put his arms loosely around her. He was shaking, his mind flashing scenes of what might happen, now that he had allowed himself to grow close to anyone. Rampage would find out, somehow. Then he would kill Blackarachnia. Slowly, painfully.
"Stop shaking," Blackarachnia said.
"Why?" Depth Charge asked gruffly.
"You make me nervous."
"Am I really that scary?"
Blackarachnia smiled. Looking over Depth Charge's shoulder, she spotted something in the bushes. Knight. Blackarachnia stared at the wolf. He was real. He wasn't a dream!
Blackarachnia suddenly realized what this might look like to Knight—what was she doing?! She broke away from Depth Charge, but it was too late. Knight was running off into the distance, looking heartbroken.
****************************************
Meanwhile, Cheetor was in his quarters, asleep in his bed with a smile on his face. Yes, he was smiling despite the ever-present unfairness of the world, as he would put it. Though Cheetor now looked a thousand times more mature than he first did when he came to this planet, the little smile he smiled was a child's. The Transmetal 2 cat was deep in a heavenly dream.
Actually, it was more of a memory than a dream. He remembered being in a beautiful deciduous forest, with golden sunlight filtering through between the leafy roof, and there was Air-razor. She was beautiful, calm, and serene, the great falcon of the forest, and Cheetor's female hero. Air-razor was like a mother, or a big sister, or even a teacher to Cheetor. Then Tigatron appeared, having walked on his stealthy cat paws into the gorgeous clearing. He transformed into robot mode, snuck up behind Air-razor, and gently put his arms around her. She turned to kiss him.
And there was Cheetor himself, watching from the bushes, a child weary of trying to prove his worth who had strayed into the blissful clearing to spy on his best two friends and role-models.
Tigatron turned and shook his head, spying Cheetor among the bushes. "Nice try, little cat. You need more practice, to stalk the master stalker."
Cheetor transformed to robot mode. "Affirmative, big cat!" he exclaimed. "So what are you two doing?"
Air-razor, in a silent and explorative mood, turned falcon and took to the sky.
Cheetor gave a puzzled look at Tigatron, who was watching the falcon's retreating shape with affectionate eyes. "Hey, what's up, Tigatron?" he asked, folding his arms in a childish manner. "I mean, I know you two like each other and stuff, but why are you getting all mushy?"
Tigatron didn't answer until Air-razor's shape was completely out of site, and then he sighed. "Sorry, what was that?"
Cheetor repeated what he had just said with a touch of impatience.
"You're looking for strength, Cheetor," said Tigatron. "We all are, in a way. You strive to prove to the others that you are strong. Well, let me tell you this: that there is great strength in inter-bound sparks. Where there is care for a fellow being, where there is love, there is strength."
Cheetor laughed in his dream, but he awoke to misery. Tigatron had told him that love equals strength, but it wasn't true. Cheetor was close friends with Tigatron and Air-razor, but they disappeared, and Cheetor didn't feel strong.
Still, he dreamed by night and wished by day that he could see his friends again.
Cheetor walked over to Rhinox, who was sitting glumly at the computers. "Man, I'm so slagging bored without Blackarachnia and Silverbolt. Oh well, Depth Charge is here, and Rattrap can argue with him till he drops dead. That's always fun."
"Just dandy," said Rhinox unenthusiastically.
"Where's Optimus?" asked Cheetor.
"Gone to test the predacon computers. He took Depth Charge with him, actually. He'll be back soon."
No sooner had the rhino-bot finished talking than Optimus walked in. "It's affirmative," he said. "The predacons got their energy signature readers destroyed. Whoever destroyed ours destroyed theirs. And in case you're wondering, Depth Charge isn't with me; he wanted to go X-hunting. Rhinox, have you discovered anything?"
"What Depth Charge told us about the plateau is true," Rhinox answered automatically. "The gravity is extremely disoriented there. When gravity is messed up, other things get messed up too—like time and space."
"Yes," Optimus realized. "Before he was killed on Omicron, a professor Black-Comet was arrested for experimenting with gravitational disturbances. His documents say that the time/space tremors can cause a vortex to form."
"Whoa, whoa, a vortex?!" Cheetor exclaimed. "You mean, like the one that made us first crash on this planet?"
"Sort of," said Rhinox. "But that was a wormhole, a steady door through time. With the wormhole, its effects are certifiable, but the alleged Plateau Vortex is unpredictable. I think it has a source: that is, someone or something like the aliens is controlling the vortex. It is obvious Megatron is guessing just like we are, or else he wouldn't be out on the plateau himself. For all we know, Megatron could be behind it!" Rhinox paused to catch his breath.
"Anyway," he went on, "I also looked at the parts of the computers that were destroyed by our mysterious visitor. Our computers can pick up no maximal signatures, but each of our energy DNA codes are still encrypted in the computer's data tracks. Each of us, except Silverbolt."
"Now what does that tell you?" Optimus pondered.
"Eeh-aaah!" Suddenly Rattrap was flung into the room, landing on his back on the floor with a clang.
"Stay outa my way, mouse," Depth Charge said, walking into the room. He turned to Optimus with a look devoid of his usual coolness. It was a desperate, almost pleading, but threatening expression. "I need help," he said.
"Depth Charge, we're busy at this moment," Optimus replied smugly.
"Yeah, you're never around to help us, so why should we help you, fish-breath?" Rattrap snapped. "On the other hand, maybe if you was to say please or somethin'—"
"Please!" Depth Charge shouted angrily. "It's about Blackarachnia!"
"Tell us where she is!" Cheetor demanded, suddenly interested.
"That's just the slag'n thing: I don't know." Depth charge looked frantic. "She's gone crazy. She thinks Silverbolt is alive. I was with her, and then—"
"You were with her?" Cheetor exclaimed. "I knew it! You did know where she was; even after you said you couldn't find her yesterday."
"I couldn't find her yesterday," Depth Charge retorted with a threatening look in his eyes. "But I found her today. She took off running with some disfigured wolf. I sure hope it wasn't the thing that nearly scrapped her earlier. I caught up with them; we were right beside the plateau, in some rocks. Then they just disappeared: Blackarachnia and the wolf."
"The Vortex," Rhinox whispered.
"It happened about three cycles ago," Depth Charge explained.
"Why didn't you come to us sooner?!" Cheetor bellowed.
"Would have," said Depth Charge, "but something got up behind me and knocked me out cold."
"That would be whoever controls the Vortex," Rhinox thought aloud.
"Let's go investigate the plateau," Optimus ordered. "Cheetor, Depth Charge, you come with me. Rattrap, you'll guard the base from any predacons. Rhinox—"
"Yeah, I know," Rhinox interrupted. "I stay at the computers."
Optimus could not hold back a smile. "Why, Rhinox, how did you guess?"