HAPPY HOLIDAYS, my lovelies.
The next chapter will be up in a few days, since I now have a break from work and time to write. Hopefully. Being the eldest child in the house, though, there's a lot of things I just know I have to concentrate on, so meh.
Well, let's get this over with. You read story, I pray it doesn't suck too much, we both wait for next chapter which should be up before/on Christmas.
Hopefully, you all got this. I made some slight changes to my charts, and I'll soon be adding in a distance chart, but until then, a quick review:
Body parts (all approximate, and the anatomical chart I use for my stories):
Hands = Servos
Arms = Support Servos
Legs = Stabilizing Servos
Tongue = Glossa
Feet = Landing Pads
Shoulders and Knees = Shoulderpads and kneepads, respectively
Eyes = Optics
Fingers = Digits
Hips = Pistons
Lips = Lip Components
Mouth = Vocal Receptor
Teeth = Denta
Ears = Audio Receptor
Neck = Chassis Pillar
Torso/Chest = Chassis
Body = Frame/Shell
Brain = Processor
Sections of brain = Lobes
And time (all approximate, and the chronological chart I use for my stories):
Any time less than a second = Microklik
Second = Nanoklik
Minute = Klik
8.3 Minutes = Breem
Hour = Cycle
6 Hours = Joor
Day (both day and night) = Solar Cycle
Week = Decacycle
Month = Orbital Cycle
6 Months/Half a Stellar Cycle = Orn
Year = Stellar Cycle
83 Years = Vorn
Approx. 100 years = Megacycle
Hope this helps.
Let me know what you really think of this chapter, considering the format I used for it.
And I fixed the intro thing so that it looks pretty! Huzzah!
Disclaimer: Transformers: Animated is not mine. Neither are the characters. Bah, humbug.
No one ever said it was easy.
No one ever said it would be this hard.
We're not asking you to assassinate him or anything.
Wrong choice of words, Lancer.
What? It's true, isn't it? We're only asking you to find anything to prove that he's dirty.
Slaggit, Lancer, there's nothing to prove. You hear me?
Did…did MOONRACER just swear?
She's capable of swearing, you idiot, and also capable of shooting something important off if you don't shut up.
Yeah. Calm down, sweetspark.
Only Chromia gets to call me that!
Why are you getting so upset about it?
Over the 'sweetspark' comment?
Over what we're asking of you.
You're kidding, right? My best friend? One of 'those' bots?
No one is immune to corruption in this war. Especially high-seated bots like him.
Drift, you told me-you told all of us-that your rich bot-hating solar cycles are over.
I never said that.
Look, Moonracer, we're not asking you to call him out on it.
Shouldn't I? Maybe I should. Maybe then you'd believe me.
It's not you we're worried about.
Not him. Not Perceptor. I know some of his colleagues; they would be those sort of bots. If drafting, and immoral experiments, and testing and using bots against their wills would give us the upper servo in this war, those bots would do it. But not Perceptor. No.
Wait, Moonracer. Before you finish that, what makes you think I hate him based on his income? I don't hate bots based on how many credits they have lining their accounts, or what kind of high-grade they can afford to sip, or how high their fancy towers are, or-
-Drift, you're doing it again.
…..Sorry, Lancer.
He's got a point, Moonie. What gives?
I know what many of you are probably thinking. Perceptor is fairly well off compared to some bots. A place to recharge. Energon whenever he needs it. Mass resources at his disposal. A large, safe place to work and rest. And his intelligence. No bot ever forgets about that.
Despite how conservative of his resources he is, and how often he recharges, much less consumes, some of can only focus on the one thing he seems to have that we don't: power. He's a higher-up bot, answering to the Council sometimes, rich enough to support himself for the rest of his orns.
Except he's never taken advantage of it.
He isn't arrogant, or boastful.
He will talk to bots like you and me if the subject of conversation is interesting enough.
And he always ensures that resources used in the Guild are responsibly sourced.
Beachcomber, that means no energon trees or sentient organics are offlined. Or killed. Whatever. Drift, that means no offline shells. Chromia, that means no unwilling subjects dying, or becoming ill or insane. All of you, that means don't lump in Percy with the bad bots, just because he's got a processor like the majority of them.
HE WORKS WITH THEM. He's under the same pressure to find some damn miracle cure, or superweapon, or whatever doohickey it'll take to end this fragging war-
-Chromia-
-He's as much of a bot as all of us are. He is capable of slipping up.
-This I know. But where's the proof that one slip-up of his is costing the lives of many?
You…you never saw the video feeds?
…what video feeds?
Just as it sounds. You've never seen what we've caught visually.
No. I haven't.
You want to see?
Chromia, is that wise?
Moonie here is a smart bot. She won't believe words alone, just like me. Greenlight-
-hold on, Greenlight?
Yes, Greenlight.
Wait…..what?
It's-it's a long story-
-She went undercover as an experimental subject for war experiments of the Guild Scientius. What she managed to record using her holographic optics is NOT something she could've fabricated with mere use of her processor, believe me.
Let me see.
Moonracer-
-Let her, Drift. Let her.
Trust me, Moonracer. There are some things you are better off not knowing.
Let me, all of you. I want to see the feeds for myself.
You won't like what you're going to see. C'mon, Green, bring it here.
Okay, I know none of you are listening to me, but I have a really bad feeling about all of this-
-hush up, swordsbot. We're watching something here.
Oh, no.
…what…what is that…wha-oh, Primus…Primus, what is that…..and what are they going to do to him-OH, PRIMUS, WHY?!-what is this?!-why…..how…oh, no….what are they putting in her chassis…and why are they tying those two bots together…PRIMUS!...oh….oh,no….oh, please, Primus, no…
…..fraggit, I can't watch.
What, the video feeds?
This. All this. Why are we all here watching her expression? Why are we all here while it's only her that needs to see this?
We're not. We are making sure she knows the truth.
You are messed up, Chromia. You, forcing your apprentice to watch what looks like her best friend, sticking scapels and other sharp objects into other bots, being splattered with energon in the faceplates, looking possessed and empty.
She's a grown femme. She can leave if she wishes.
When all of us watched this, no bot wanted to leave. First Aid. Beachcomber. Even Jazz. What would they say if they saw what you made Greenlight do? You're gonna pay for all this one solar cycle, Chromia.
Drift, please. I never made Greenlight reveal the holographic video feeds. Never made Moonracer say she wanted to watch them. Never made any of you say you want to watch them.
You manipulated all of those bots. What would Elita-1 think of all this?
She would've done something about it. Got some members of the League to investigate him. She would definitely-
-NNNNNNNNOOOOOOO!
….uh-oh.
Somebot contact First Aid or Firestar. We need either of them to-
-no.
What?
I said no. I don't need medical attention right now.
What do you mean?
I SAID I DON'T NEED ANY FRAGGING MEDICAL ATTENTION RIGHT NOW!
Cancel the calls, everyone.
I….I need space. Please, please, I need space. I-I can't-
-Moonracer, no one wanted to find out this way. We didn't want you to find out this way.
How-how was this possible?
Easy. The bots that are above Perceptor, bots that are supposed to keep him in line, are just as corrupt as he is.
My best friend is not corrupt! He…was coerced to, I'm sure!
Who would coerce him to do any of this? It's like you said. He's protected. Any bot that had reason to make him perform immoral experiments couldn't get within a five vob radius of him without getting in some serious trouble.
He wasn't that bot. He wasn't. He…never. Never could be that bot.
Moonracer-
-I've got this. Look, Moonie, honestly: we could all be that bot. The bot that's willing to lay down morals and the lives of other bots to win a war that's damaged mechs and femmes in so many ways. Because we feel that if we don't, the war will continue, and more bots will offline for causes neither side seems to remember after so long.
Lancer-
-I'm sorry, Moonracer. I am. But trust me. My cousin doesn't-couldn't-lie about something like this.
What-what did Chromia say when she found out? Even if she hadn't just left, she wouldn't be in the mood to answer if I asked.
She said she wanted his offline shell mounted on her wall.
NO.
…..she means it, doesn't she? She'd do it if she had enough motivation to?
Not if I give her reason not to. You'll see. You'll all see. Perceptor is not that bot I just saw, cutting open screaming bots and desecrating offline shells and helping to create chemical warfare explosives. He isn't. I'll find the truth. And I'll straighten this whole thing out.
Moonracer-
-Stop.
No one said it would be easy.
Well, no one ever said it would be this hard.
Questions of Science, Science and Progress
or
A story of the thoughts of a mysterious scribe, pseudonyms, playing guardian/matchmaker, the secret of many, an inconvenient revelation, an aftermath, and a small silver of hope.
{Three megacycles after the return of Chromia Major and her team to Cybertron }
[The Guild Scientius]
Category: Personal Projects [CONFIDENTIAL]
Project: PENUMBRA
File Type: Personal Logs
Subjects: CONFIDENTIAL
Course of Study: DISTANT OBSERVATION and light EXPERIMENTATION
Reason(s): CONFIDENTIAL
Head of Project: Fisitron
Description: Please contact Head of Project for more information. Further information will not be disclosed within confines of file.
Entry #1 - Fisitron:
This is the first of what I hope will be many, many entries. But not too many. At least, I'm just hoping PENUMBRA ends well.
It's been fifteen solar cycles since Subject Alpha had his surgery. He has fully recovered and is speaking as if the vocal synthesizer thing was all a joke.
An extremely sick, twisted-as-the-Pit, joke.
It has also been three megacycles since Subject Kappa and the crew of her ship returned to Cybertron safe and sound. And I hope they'll be here to stay.
Because that means I'll be able to study Subject Beta and her interactions with Subject Alpha.
The pseudonyms are, naturally, to protect identities. Also to help distinguish them in the mess that is my writing. What, you thought I'd be really good after only ten thousand stellar cycles of writing?
Please.
Anyway, Subject Alpha hasn't mistreated Subject Beta in any way. Not since an incident that prompted Alpha to 'toss' Beta out of his workspace.
Alpha has no memory of Beta, despite her remembering him enough to call him by a moniker only his closest friends can refer to him as.
She returned to him after, to apologize for her actions. It was a solar cycle before Alpha underwent surgery. He seemed hesitant, but as she was sincere, he accepted her apologies. Then, strangely enough, he apologized for his unintentionally rough treatment of her, stating that he could've handled the situation better but didn't, and wanted to know how he could make it up to her.
When I overheard this, I wanted to cheer. But couldn't.
Anyway…..
While Alpha was in surgery, and then recovery, he left me in charge of teaching Beta how things worked in our workplace, which from now on will be referred to as the 'Citadel'. Of course, Beta has very good memory, so there was no need to give a rundown on how things went down down here.
Oh, no. I'm going to be smacked by some sort of grammar correcting teaching unit in the near future for that.
So I do the whole 'any questions/comments/concerns I should know about?' thing, and while Subject Beta asked me many questions that solar cycle, the first question she asked me was an unexpected one.
She asked what I knew of the antiwar group known simply as the 'Visor League.'
Official Cybertronian records say that they were a terrorist group, though, since they've apparently separated after the Great War between the Factions, no one has been able to find out whether or not their war crimes were actually their doing, or simply the work of several intelligent Decepticon spies.
Recently, the one known as Longarm Prime was discovered to be the Decepticon spy Shockwave in disguise, secretly feeding his true faction information on us for more than a thousand stellar cycles. Members of the Visor League may very well have been victims of circumstance. While it is not considered treason to think so, I wouldn't tell any bot of Fortress Maximus anything in the aforementioned paragraph.
So, I told Beta. And, as if she read my processor, told me what she knew: that some members of the Visor League blamed the scientists of the Citadel for conducting their knowledge into the war. One of these bots was Alpha.
I could see where she was going with this. She wondered if they had done anything to make him look corrupt, including allegations of illegal means of collecting subjects, morally questionable experiments, and chemical warfare.
No, I assured her. The Visor League, for Primus' sake, was an antiwar group. Wouldn't making scientists look bad be…..well…..screwed-up and unnecessary, not to mention warmongering? Power-hungry? Anti-antiwar? And I thought that only some, and not all of them, detested scientists.
I, personally, thought it was just a bunch of Decepticons envious of his intelligence, out to make him look awful so they looked like the good bots in the war in comparison. They did kidnap Alpha sometime before the War went in full swing, and he was rescued with a gaping, energon-stained cavity in the middle of his head, and some serious psychological trauma after.
At least he didn't give the psychologist as much trouble as he does doctors.
Beta went back to asking me questions, and I answered them to the best of my ability.
Of course, the subject of Alpha's memory loss came up again, and she asked me what I knew of that.
Nothing more than what I had learned from his partner, who shall from now on be known as Sigma. I learned from Sigma that Alpha attempted erasing his emotive processes through an amygdalous deletion-type device, but something went horribly wrong and, in addition to emotive processes being lost, so were several crucial memories.
The only reason I remember all that, as if it had happened this past orbital cycle, was because of something Sigma had given me a few solar cycles after that incident landed Alpha in the hospital.
I have reason to believe it was a disk of some sort. A data slug, more specifically, and filled with information. If the large size was anything to go by. Sigma told me it was extremely important, especially for Alpha, and that I must do everything not to lose it or, worse, break it.
Well, aren't I slagged.
It wasn't my fault. Honest.
About two orbital cycles ago, Decepticons attacked and left me to offline, raided my workspace, and vandalized it so badly, most of my time now is dedicated to piecing everything back together.
Including the disk.
Thank Primus, it wasn't destroyed, broken beyond repair. But the data slug laid in pieces when it was given to me. Thankfully, the pieces fell in an empty fissure in my workshop floor, and that piece of the floor was cut out, placed in a clear box, and given to me by a now retired police officer when I came back online in the hospital. Most of the time I was there, time not spent recharging, was spent piecing the slug together.
I haven't updated any of my Wrecker-related writing because I had recently been discharged from the hospital. So far, friends of mine and Sigma's helped to fix my workshop, including my new friend Hunter, who may also be adding some of her own entries into this log. We shall see.
What I've managed to repair of the slug now rests in a titanium-plated safe, in another safe, behind one of my Wreckers posters.
Which one?
Not telling.
It's weird, but I get this strange feeling I must fix that slug as soon as I can. I wonder why Sigma wanted me to protect it so. He…..actually got angry when he found out what had happened.
It's a terrifying sight, watching him become angry. If you knew who he really was, he is one of the nicest, funniest, smartest, most patient mechs I know. It's like watching a bot you admire get shot in the head, pardon the grisly image: if it ever happens, it haunts you for the rest of your solar cycles no matter what you do to get it out of your processor. He doesn't even yell. His voice stays real quiet, but it freezes your energon if you're on the receiving end of his anger.
But I knew why he was angry. That slug was important to him and his partner, who's already taken so many hits psychologically and emotionally. I assured him that it could be repaired, and he asked to have it back as soon as it was repaired.
Bots shouldn't do stuff like that. Get all upset and secretive over something. Then other bots will want to know what the deal is.
Like me. Primus, now I can't stop trying to imagine what's in that data slug. Important codes? Maps and/or charts? Decepticons or Autobots assumed offline, but actually alive? The suspense is eating at my processor like Cosmic Rust.
I think my stay in the hospital has made me a bit loopy.
Ah, my friend Hunter is reading over my shoulderplate right now. She hasn't been here all that long-four orbital cycles at most-but she's caught on to reading Cybertronian quick. She's had some help from Beta, and I'm grateful for that.
Speaking of recent events involving Hunter…she was there with me when my friend Gamma, a medic, and Phi, a friend of Beta and the-I suppose-the lieutentant of Kappa, found the voice box of Alpha. The voice box was left in a jar, containing a note.
However harmless the note sounded, whoever 'The Metallurgist' is remains a threat to Alpha's life. He/She wants to find out why Alpha has hurt someone important to him/her, and gave us the voice box in exchange for information to be left with a prison guard that works at Trypticon.
I wasn't protoformed last solar cycle. The Metallurgist got Alpha's voice box in the first place….somehow, and gave it back to us in a similar mysterious manner. He/She knows where Alpha works, probably where he recharges, and, judging by the note, hates him.
Who needs Decepticons when we've got crazy bots like these?
I told Gamma. She thought I was out of my processor.
So I told Hunter. Which I should have done first. She believes me, at least.
I am worried for Alpha's safety, but with Beta hanging around him now, and with me and Sigma, I believe he's in good servos.
As of right now, Beta had gone to ask him for a job in the Citadel. He did the whole background-check-and-references thing with her and found she had worked in the Citadel before. Neither of us revealed why he didn't remember such information, considering he was involved in every aspect of the Citadel's work.
He informed us that her hire into the Citadel would have to wait.
Why? As far as I knew, everything on her end was good.
And then I smacked myself between my optics when I recalled possible reasons.
Kappa, and her entire team, including Phi and Beta, were labeled as AWOL, deserters of war, regarded on nearly the same level as treason. If Beta still had 'AWOL' on her records, which she probably does, the head of the Citadel (read: Subject Alpha) would not look favorably upon that. It would affect the decision to accept or reject her, and I worry that such information will affect more than just her credits.
And then it got tenser, if that wasn't possible before. She blurted out her thoughts on why she wasn't accepted right away, asking if their first interaction, especially the part where she accidently slapped him, was the reason he may not hire her.
I almost wanted to scream, or….do something; that was NOT something you mention or even think about if you're looking for a job, and I did NOT know about the slapping thing 'til now.
Alpha does not like being touched by strangers, and I'm sure anyone striking him across the faceplates will, to put it lightly, not be liked very much by him.
I saw the dilating of his optics, even from where I watched. The way his entire frame hitched, the way he clenched the datapad. I wondered if she saw it as well.
Quick as a shuttering of an optic, he was calm and composed once more, and he assured her that the 'incident' was not a factor in deciding the hire.
I hope so. I'm, honestly, just glad that they're getting along now. It's always good as energon to see.
I feel I should mention: the solar cycle Beta had been interviewed, she had to leave early. Being Kappa's apprentice for a very, VERY long time, she is at Kappa's beck and call. Well, not really, but since her mentor is like a creator to her, Kappa's business takes priority over a lot of things.
She gently patted Alpha's servo, bidding him goodbye, and Alpha tilted his head curiously at her.
To any bot, it's just a head tilt. But a head tilt to the right (at least Sigma told me) means he's curious about something. VERY curious. Interested, even.
He responded after a slight pause, and she raced out to wherever she was going. Normally, he'd just go back to whatever he's working on and not give such an incident a second thought.
This time, though, his head still stayed in that curious tilt. He shook himself out of it after a few nanokliks, shook his head furiously, and returned to his work as if nothing had happened.
Now I'm curious to find out what had passed in his processor.
And how do I know this?
I've observed them quietly, from afar, as usual. They cannot know of PENUMBRA. Not yet, anyway. It is too soon.
Hunter won't go away. Even now, she nosily reads what I'm typing and makes snarky comments on it. Stop, Hunter, stop.
Wait.
She just asked me why I even care.
Really? I care about all of my colleagues, equally and to the best of my ability. Yes, even the ones that drive me up the nearest wall. When someone is happy, we're all happy, and when one of our own is saddened, we all sympathize. It's kind of strange, really. You work with these bots all your life, none of them being related to you in any way, yet you'd give the last charge of your spark for them.
I guess with almost none of us remembering our creators, we naturally find companionship and a sense of family with one another. And, funnily enough, if it looks like one of our own is falling in love, as many of us possible will make it our business.
Because, logical and statistical as many of us are, consumed by puzzles and numbers and processes, we believe in love, too. Even if we didn't have to, I think we would. Love for family. For friends. For mentors and apprentices. For leaders and followers. For life partners. Love motivates the best of us.
PENUMBRA is a rest from most of my Wreckers-related writing, something I want to keep records of. Strange, to give reason for my writing, but I feel it's the best way to keep myself in the panic.
I will continue to log interactions and other observations of Subjects Alpha and Beta, as well as Subjects Sigma, Gamma, Kappa, and Phi. They are crucial to the social aspects of the two main subjects, and are fascinating subjects in themselves.
We shall see what becomes of the bond between Subjects Alpha and Beta.
Until my next entry.
Fisitron: SIGNING OUT.
I got a chapter done.
I got a chapter done.
After four months, after so long, I got a chapter done.
WOOOOOO. WOOOOOOOOO-
-Wait…uh-oh.
This chapter makes me feel all WHAT.
I-I don't know. How to explain it, I mean.
This chapter feels off to me, somehow.
But, in the past year, I've learned that writer's block is just that: a block. It is simply worries and fears that are so abundant, they build up and cripple you. So, whenever I had the time to, I wrote. I just had to. To keep the story flowing. To keep the plot fresh in my head, since I've gotten an unexpected amount of feedback on it.
Anyway, to my notes!
EVERYONE knows who Fisitron is, yes? If not, let me know. The lovely fans and I will help you out.
And, if you all have followed the story enough, you'll know who's who. Who Subject Alpha is. Who Subject Beta is. And Kappa and Gamma and Sigma, and the like. Even Hunter.
Well, okay, maybe not Hunter.
SPOILER ALERT: She's Verity Carlo, the second organic to ever set landing p-er, foot-on Cybertron. In my version of the Animated universe, she's 19. Her parents used to work for Sumdac until, according to records, some sort of freak factory accident. Her life from then on plays out much like LSOTW Verity.
She finds herself on Cybertron after being in Detroit for a year and, one day, being curious enough to volunteer herself, to Issac Sumdac, to go through the Space Bridge there and test out some of his inventions intended to assist organics to survive on Cybertron.
The pseudonym Hunter comes from the LSOTW character of the same name, a redheaded male who was one of Verity's few friends until something happened to him. It's implied that he died. In the Animated universe, Hunter and Verity are your average geeky friends that play Dungeons and Dragons and get tattoos of alien glyphs and characters. And then Hunter dies…..somehow.
Yep, even the human characters are not safe from me.
When she first meets Ironfist, one of the few bots to be fascinated with her than disgusted, he wants to involve her, and her experiences and thoughts, in his writing somehow. He requests that she take a psuedonym, much like him. After some thought, thinking about the way she lived, hunting and gathering for food and other necessities, the loss of her friend still fresh in her mind, she takes the name Hunter.
I think that's the bulk of it.
OH! And a gift. Because I LOVE giving gifts, especially ones that are free. :)
The first reader to leave a review telling me what song, by what artist or band, inspired the piece (hint: title of chapter), gets a free dedication fiction from me!
-About any character, characters, or pairing
-From any continuity
-No incest, pedophilia, child abuse, or misogyny
-One chapter only. Sorry
-Must allow me to post on DeviantArt, and LiveJournal if the story's about a rare pairing
PM me if you have any questions, or whatnot.
Please let me know what you think of this chapter in the reviews section. Also, let me know what you'd like to see more of. While I can't promise you'll be completely satisfied as time presses on, I take these suggestions very seriously.
Keep yourselves merry and bright (to the best of your ability), lovelies.
~Ylysha