Incomplete: Part I
The frigid wind stung his frame like an energon whip, but Skyfire did not mind; the far north offered him a solace that the busy corridors of the Ark could seldom provide. The polar ice that had cradled him safely in stasis for countless vorns welcomed him home like an old friend. He accepted its gelid embrace, allowing himself to forget about everything —the war in which he was forced through circumstance to fight, the mistrust and isolation that came with his unsavory past choices in friends — absorbing himself in the one comforting constant that remained despite all the recent turmoil in his life: his love of science.
"Skyfire, have you obtained the core samples?" Perceptor's soft voice filled his comm, breaking the silence —and the illusion of peace —as surely as if his critical alarms had been set off. "Wheeljack is becoming quite impatient, and I fear his boredom may have catastrophic consequences."
"Yes, I have them." He carefully loaded the long cylinders of ice he had drilled from the permafrost into the waiting cryo-bin. "I am on my way back now."
He subspaced the refrigerated case before routing power to his rockets to take off. He was about to fire his boosters when a distant glow caught his optic. It was not unlike the sun at dawn, a soft golden light just barely peeking across the stark white tundra. Yet it was late September, and according to his research, the sun would not touch the Arctic Circle for another six months. He could still feel the energon coursing through his pedes, willing him into the air, but his natural curiosity won out and he set off to investigate the eerie golden light.
He walked for nearly a megacycle, all the while wondering whether he was hallucinating, or perhaps seeing a mirage. Flight was out of the question, lest the light turn out to be of Decepticon origin. Skyfire was not weak, by any means, but he was not a warrior and he was alone.
He had nearly managed to convince himself he was seeing a mirage, was halfway into his pre-flight checks, when he came upon the source of the light. It —or rather, he —was sitting on a massive protrusion of ice, watching Skyfire approach with astonishing disinterest.
The mech was of Seeker build, and he was glowing. Skyfire reached for his blaster and waited for the Seeker, doubtless a Decepticon, to make a move. The mech just continued to stare passively from his seat, his frame flickering with eldritch fire.
"H-hello?" Skyfire called, feeling foolish as he thumbed the trigger of his weapon. "Do you… require assistance?"
"I believe it is you who 'requires assistance'." His spoke with a deep, placid voice that caught Skyfire off guard. The shuttle was quite used to Seekers being high-pitched and screechy. "You have strayed far from the light."
"Excuse me, but what light?" he asked, puzzled. If this was some form of Decepticon trickery, they were clearly off their game.
"The original light," the Seeker stood, approaching him. Skyfire, now on high alert, made no further effort to hide the blaster in his hand. "That which has no beginning, and no end. Unicron the Destroyer will return from the dark of the moon to slam closed the doors of mercy, denying the wicked entry to the halls of compassion. He will drag them down into the fiery core, where they will be trapped in the slag pits forever. The righteous will laugh at their calamity, and Unicron will show no pity; from their high towers, they will celebrate as the acrid smoke of burnt circuitry rises up forever. "
Skyfire, raising his blaster, backed away slowly. The golden mech followed, unperturbed by the online weapon pointed right between his optics.
"You must cast off the darkness, or you will be condemned to the eternal darkness of the pit. The Creator will again receive your spark, if you cease your wicked ways. Receive him, and you will be counted among those who are worthy to stand before him; to dance with him among the ashes as the nefarious masses burn!"
The golden mech stopped just short of Skyfire, who could feel the intense heat radiating off of the other's frame. His vents slowed, seeming to come to himself. Struggling to regain normal ventilation patterns, he whispered: "Come back to the light, creation of Primus."
"Oh." Anything the Seeker said would have surprised Skyfire. Decepticons were supposed to shoot, not stand around and talk. Yet this was the last thing he would ever have expected to come from the Seeker's derma. Skyfire, acutely aware of the fact that he had not been to a temple since he was a sparkling, shifted uncomfortably. "Um... who are you?"
"I am Sunstorm, oracle of Primus."
"You are not a Decepticon?" Skyfire eyed the Decepticon sigils, clearly visible on Sunstorm's golden wings.
"Petty differences of faction mean nothing in the eyes of The Creator." Sunstorm seemed slightly insulted, as he raised his wings with a sharp flick. "I entered this existence in a Decepticon vessel, but my spark, like all things, belongs to Primus."
"Are you alone?" Skyfire had yet to see another living spark; if this were a trap, the Decepticons would have sprung it by now.
"I am never alone." Sunstorm gave a serene smile, his previous irritation vaporizing like sublimation off of the ice. "Primus is with me, always."
"You are alone!" Skyfire's optics scanned across the frigid wasteland. He appreciated the momentary solace the ice could bring, but to live there alone, forever… He had lived such an existence once, and would never wish it on another. Especially this deluded Decepticon, who was clearly not in the right mind to look after himself. It could still be a trap, but Skyfire simply could not bring himself to leave the Seeker there to offline. "You are coming back with me, and I won't take no for an answer."
"No." It was both the most simple, and the most frustrating, response he had received from the Seeker yet.
"Sunstorm," he locked optics with the Seeker —even his optics were bright gold —shuddering at what he was about to say, but it had to be done. "Would you please come with me? I would like to learn more about Primus."
"Certainly, lost creation." Sunstorm cycled his thrusters, alleviating Skyfire's doubts that he was not flight-capable. "Lead the way."
"So… uh, there is plenty of energon here." Skyfire placed all the cubes he had in subspace on the floor. It was quite a lot, considering both his size and his tendency to get sent on long-range missions. "I am sorry I cannot provide more suitable accommodations."
Skyfire moved about the cavern, wiping away the cobwebs woven between the stalactites with his hand and moving the driftwood and other manner of flotsam and jetsam from the sandy floor. Sunstorm ignored him, and his futile attempts at making the cave more comfortable, his face a mask of utter nonchalance as he stared out through the mouth of at the placid sea.
"I will be close, though." He smiled at Sunstorm. "So if you need anything, just comm me." He databurst the other his private frequency.
"Primus provides all that I require." Sunstorm scoffed at Skyfire's small offering of energon.
"You don't refuel?" Skyfire almost laughed; Primus or no Primus, basic life functions required energon. It was almost a miracle of Primus that this mech had survived as long as he had with his current mindset.
"No."
In response to Skyfire's disbelieving look, the golden Seeker merely stepped out of the cave mouth, into the light of the sun —and went nova.
"What are you?" Skyfire shrunk back into the darkness of the cavern, shielding his optics from the blinding light.
"I am Sunstorm, oracle of Primus." He smirked a little then, enjoying the look of awe on Skyfire's faceplates; the Seeker's smug expression looked all too familiar.
"You remind me of someone I knew before the war." Skyfire began shakily, as Sunstorm stepped back into the cave with a longing sigh. His glow had dimmed to that of a dying fire, though his optics seemed brighter.
"It has been a long time since I have felt the touch of Primus' hand." Sunstorm dimmed his optics, leaving Skyfire to shift uncomfortably in the small space, as he savored… something. "I expect I resemble quite a few mechs, seeing as I am of Seeker build."
So he had been listening.
"Yes, you are probably right." His processor must have been playing tricks on him. There were many Seekers produced during the Golden Age; any resemblance this mech had to Starscream was purely coincidental. "I must go now. I have core samples that I need to deliver."
He left without another word, making sure to take off in the opposite direction of the Ark. Coincidence or not, he felt as though he'd seen a ghost.
He returned the next day to find the golden Seeker sunning himself outside his shoreline cave. It was difficult to look directly at him, and —feeling rather foolish —Skyfire lowered the solar visor he used for space travel.
"Greetings, lost creation." Sunstorm turned to him. "Have you come to seek the truth?"
Skyfire had no intentions of returning to the temple, but he wished to learn more about this mech. If Sunstorm's religion was such a large part of his identity, then it would surely be beneficial to hear him out.
"Yes, I am." Skyfire lay back on his forearms, watching as Sunstorm selected a long, pointed piece of driftwood to use as a stylus.
"In the beginning, there was nothing." He carefully drew a circular glyph into the sand. "Then, miraculously, the first light —Primus —was born out of the darkness."
"He travelled the vast emptiness, his light emanating a long, low frequency —a song of loneliness. It was this song that created the stars; imitations of other sparks, to keep him company." Sunstorm drew another glyph: two circles, intertwined together, similar to the human symbol for infinity. "They were poor imitations; their frequencies static, they were unable to join him in song. So Primus bud another spark, and so Unicron came into being."
"Their sparks pulsed in harmony —the first bond —and their song created the universe, and at its center, Cybertron." He drew another glyph, one that Skyfire recognized; it was the ancient symbol for their home planet. Wanting to show that he had been listening, he reached out and drew the last stroke with his index finger. It was rough, nothing like the graceful symbols that flowed from the Seeker's slender hand, but it made Sunstorm smile.
"Yes." Sunstorm wiped his hand across the sand, erasing the glyphs to make room for more. All but Skyfire's sloppy one, which he left alone. With a clean slate, he drew another symbol, one that greatly resembled the modern glyph for 'war,' or 'conflict.' "They existed in harmony for a very long time, until their greatest creations —we Cybertronians —started to deviate from their commands. As our civilization became older, our knowledge grew, and with that knowledge came greed, prejudice and strife."
Skyfire started as a drop of rain fell onto Sunstorm's plating with a loud sizzle. He looked up at the sky and was surprised to see dark clouds rolling in on the horizon. Sunstorm had paused his narrative, watching with Skyfire as an ominous flash lit up the distant sky.
"Unicron entreated to his lover, Primus, that we were evil, and needed to be destroyed. Primus disagreed. He believed that we were just lost creations, misunderstood, and that we would eventually find our way back to the light." Sunstorm glanced up at Skyfire; his golden optics were so intense that Skyfire was forced to look away. "Ignoring his creator-lover's wishes, Unicron took the matter from our moon, and fashioned a gigantic frame for himself. With it, he attacked Cybertron."
"Before he could deliver the killing shot, Primus wrapped his very being around our planet, absorbing the blow. Weakened and offlining, he formed the planet around himself, falling into stasis cradled by our planet's core."
Sunstorm drew a few final strokes into the sand, before dropping the piece of driftwood he held in his hand with a sigh. It was not a glyph, but rather an image: Cybertron and its moon.
"Unicron, devastated by the loss of his lover, drew into himself and has thus remained for eons; the moon, watching over Cybertron, the resting place of Primus." He gave an ominous smile, eerily joyful. "Someday, he will emerge again from the dark of the moon to extinguish the sparks of the wicked. We must prepare."
Sunstorm, story finished, was oddly peaceful as he lay down next to Skyfire. Soon the rain began to fall in earnest and Sunstorm, now a dull gold in the absence of the sun, was surrounded by a cloud of steam, as the droplets vaporized upon impact with his frame.
"Let's go inside." Skyfire retreated into the cave, slightly unnerved by the display. Sunstorm followed taking a seat against a wall deep inside the cavern. Skyfire sat near the mouth, watching the golden Seeker. He lit up the dark space much like a night light, but they were not sparklings and there were no monsters to scare away.
Skyfire's natural curiosity gradually overcame reason. He reached out to brush his hand against the very edges of the Seeker's flickering aura. He could feel barest hint of something unnatural beneath his palm, something powerful. Sunstorm eyed him warily as he ventured forward. His hand hovered right above Sunstorm's plating, wincing delicately as his paint began to bubble and peel away. One brave finger ventured forward…
Sunstorm threw himself backwards against the cave wall.
"No!" he shrieked. "You mustn't touch me!"
Skyfire snapped his hand back, holding it against his chassis as he eyed the golden Seeker, shocked into silence.
"I am an oracle of Primus," Sunstorm's expression of outrage faded, softening into a look of melancholy. "No one may touch me, or they will be burned by the wrath of Unicron, defending what is his." In explanation, Sunstorm's aura flared, and he sank his hand into the solid rock wall behind him as if it were made of the agar Skyfire used to culture organic bacteria back at the Ark.
"I am no expert in the matter," Skyfire began gently, his posture relaxing, "but from what you have told me, Primus is a merciful god. Unicron or no, I doubt he'd allow one of his creations to be condemned to a life of such isolation."
Sunstorm let out a low keen; it was an unexpectedly pathetic noise from such a proud, composed mech. Skyfire reached out to embrace him, stopping just short as he felt the intense heat radiating off the other. Sunstorm's glare was no less intense, as his bright gold optics darkened to an angry gamboge.
""You are correct, this was not the work of The Creator." His voice was as ominous as the thunder brewing outside. "I do not wish to speak any further. If you know what is good for you, you will respect my wishes."
Skyfire opened his mouth, an apology on his derma, but thought better of it when he saw the other's furious expression. He turned away from Sunstorm to face the cave mouth, watching the storm ravage the coastline. There was a deafening crack as lightening struck the beach not far from the cave.
"Skyfire to Ark Command." He opened his comm link.
"Ark Command," a cheery voice answered.
"Hello, Jazz." Skyfire laughed despite the fact he could feel the golden Seeker's optics burning a hole through his back. "I must ask: what could you have possibly done, as an officer, to earn late-shift monitor duty?"
"Ah," Jazz's cheeky grin carried across the comm. "Prowler ain' so happy with me right now. So, what's up, fly boy?"
Skyfire smirked at Jazz's transparent diversionary tactic, allowing the subject to change; no doubt he'd hear about his antics later.
"Local atmospheric conditions are unstable. I have been forced to ground for the night."
"Tha' sucks slag." Jazz empathized. "Jus' take cover and report back in the mornin'."
"I will. I expect conditions will have improved by then." Or so he hoped. He wasn't sure he could stand another day with the obviously unhinged Seeker.
"Good luck, fly boy. Ark out."
Skyfire leaned up against the wall of the cave, drawing his legs to his chassis and using his knees as a pillow. He took one last discreet look at Sunstorm —less angry now, staring at the floor of the cave in thought —before offlining his optics. His proximity sensors still registered the Decepticon less than two mechanometers away, but he was not concerned; Sunstorm seemed to be more interesting in fighting his own monsters than fighting the shuttle. Disabling the notification, he allowed his systems to fall into recharge.
Skyfire awoke to an empty cave, though he quickly ascertained Sunstorm's location; the light coming from just outside was much too bright for early morning.
He found the Seeker crouched down, examining something imbedded in the sand. He looked up as he heard the crunch of Skyfire's pedes against the white beach.
"What is this?" He asked, unexpectedly.
Skyfire dropped to his knees next to him, leaning in to take a closer look. It was a piece of glass.
"It is called a fulgurite." He began to brush the sand away from the glass, careful not to break the delicate formation. Sunstorm moved to help, but backed off as his golden hands came dangerously close to Skyfire's. "You recall the thunderstorm that we had last night?"
"The what?"
"Oh." He forgot that Sunstorm was probably not familiar with human terminology. "The electric anomaly?" The Seeker nodded.
"Unicron was angry last night." He looked disturbed for a moment. "He will someday purify this universe with fire. He will destroy the corrupt, the wicked… the abominable." Sunstorm burst into pitfire, and Skyfire was thankful that he had forgotten to raise his visor. "He will…"
"A fulgurite," he began loudly, and Sunstorm's aura dimmed, his optics regaining focus, "is created when lightning strikes and fuses silica. The most spectacular examples occur when lightning strikes quartzose sand." He extracted the hollow tube of glass from the beach. After checking that Sunstorm's aura had returned to normal — it would not do for the Seeker to simply melt the glass — he set it in the sand next to him. The other gingerly picked it up, rolling it in his hands.
"The lightening," Skyfire continued, "strikes the sand at a minimum temperature of 1,800 degrees Celsius. The current then travels down through the sand, fusing the particles together in a matter of less than three astroseconds. Once the silica has cooled, you get a fulgurite."
"It looks like the sculptures outside The Stellar Galleries."
"In Iacon?" Skyfire asked in surprise. "You have been to Iacon? Not many Seekers venture that far north." Ironically, the installation Sunstorm was referring to, Air Currents in Flight, was created by a Seeker, but very few of his kind were able to cross the southern border to see it. It had been a favorite of Starscream's.
"I was created in Iacon. I have never been to the gallery, but I have seen it through many optics." Skyfire was thoroughly confused, but one look at Sunstorm told him that it would be unwise to press the Seeker. He returned his gaze to the fulgurite.
"The sculptures outside of the gallery were created by zapping synthetic silica with a generated electrical current. Its direction was manipulated by the artist, Silverblade… I think, to create the abstract shapes. The installation is gorgeous, but I prefer this rough piece of fulgurite. Its formation was never influenced by mech-kind and shows the branching path of lightening." Skyfire smiled. "It is the closest you will ever come to holding lightening in your hand!"
"Somehow I doubt that." Sunstorm's answering smile was wry. He rose to his pedes, indicating the spot where he had been kneeling when he lost lucidity. Instead of sand, there was a solid sheet of glass.
"Primus…"
"Not Primus," Sunstorm corrected darkly.
"Then who?" Skyfire decided to try his chances.
"Shockwave." Sunstorm sat back down on a fresh patch of sand, inadvertently moving himself closer to Skyfire. The heat was intense, but he was finally getting answers from the golden Seeker, so he ignored his discomfort. "I left Primus' domain, only to enter this existence in a shell of the Decepticon scientist's creation."
"Shockwave created you?" Skyfire was floored, so he blurted the first thing that came to his processor. "So you are a sparkling!"
"My frame is young," Sunstorm glared, "but I am no sparkling. Through the intervention of Primus, I was imbued with the wisdom of Vector Sigma. I was granted knowledge beyond my years, and with it I smite the evil and try to bring the well-meaning lost back to the light."
"Vector Sigma?" If what this mech said was true, his processor should not have been functioning. The archives of the supercomputer simply held too much data for one mech. No wonder he was barely lucid.
"Yes." Sunstorm leaned backwards, resting his weight on his forearms as he looked up at the clear sky. "It is difficult to do the work of Primus when I am capable of inflicting such harm. I do not believe my modifications were the will of The Creator; I see Unicron's hand in everything Shockwave has done, though it has aided me in dispatching the irredeemable." He frowned. "It is a burdensome gift."
"What exactly are your modifications?"
"You already know I do not take energon as other Cybertronians."
"You absorb energy from sunlight." Skyfire stated. His observations of the Seeker had told him as much. "But how?"
"In place of a fuel pump, I have been fitted with a solar-powered fusion reactor."
"So your heat, the flames… that is radiation?" Skyfire willed himself not to move away from the Seeker, despite the image of his melted, smoking frame haunting his processor. He already knew he could not touch the other without being burned, but the danger seemed real now that he had a concrete reason to be afraid. The wrath of Unicron did not frighten him, but a nuclear meltdown most certainly did.
"Yes. My frame has been coated with electrum and reinforced to deal with the stresses. Yours has not." Sunstorm's wistful gaze left the sky, to settle, resigned, on Skyfire's face. "You are afraid."
Skyfire bowed his helm, afraid of what he may have seen in those golden optics. His attention was immediately drawn to Sunstorm's glass, which reflected the colors of a new day as the sun climbed higher into the sky.
"I fear electrical storms." Skyfire kept his focus firmly affixed on the glass. "Cumulonimbus clouds hide downdrafts that could crush a flyer against the ground in an astrosecond. And then there is the lightening… one hit and your circuits are fried, and your memory files may be corrupted." He sighed. "I knew the location of the cave because I used to come here. Some nights, I would take shelter inside and watch the thunderstorms over the sea until morning." He reached out to touch the smooth surface of the glass, aware of Sunstorm following his every move. "It may have been dangerous, but I could never stop watching."
He gathered up his nerve and looked up at Sunstorm, but the other was staring blankly at the glass mirror, his optics dimmed in thought.
"I need to go," Skyfire said, when it was clear the other had no intention of breaking whatever spell the glass held on him. "If I do not return soon, they will send someone out looking."
A slight, dazed nod from Sunstorm was all the acknowledgement he received before he fired his boosters, and in a flurry of sand, left the Seeker to his thoughts.