Chapter 6
Arrival

Bubmblebee worked the controls of the ship as Stripes watched Cybertron come into view outside the window. They had just arrived. Stripes was in awe as he looked at the planet. It was like a giant metal jewel. As they got closer, he could see parts of its surface; canyons of metal, deserts of rust, and many other things he was having trouble wrapping his mind around.
"its good to be home." Bulkhead said, as Salvation landed at a small spaceport in the sea of rust, Stripes transfixed by the landscape. It was a flat plain of dust-covered, aged metal and concrete roads, with various spires and buildings in places. Cybertron's sun shone brightly through the clear sky, making the metal's scratchy, tarnished finish shine.
"Wow..." Stripes wispered when they touched down. "its beautiful..."
Smokescreen gave him a strange look, but Knockout knew what he was referring to. "Yes, it does have its own kind of transfixed beauty, doesn't it?" He said, walking straight up next to Stripes, whom had to resist the urge to inch away.
"Well, we'd better move out to our base at Ieacon." Bumblebee said, going to the airlock. "It'll be about an hour's drive."
"Good thing we can pick up radio stations from earth thanks to the comm satellites." Bulkhead laughed. That made Stripes smile. He liked music. At least he still could listen in.
They exited the ship to the sparsely populated docking port. Only a handful of refugees had returned so far. They walked down to the main road, dust blowing by in the breeze.
"This is the road to Iacon..." Arcee sighed. "I still can't believe that no one has driven these highways in eons..."
"Eons?" Stripes looked at the road carefully. They looked nearly new.
"Yep." Arcee said. Stripes then got a mischievous look in his optics. The need for speed that could never be quenched on Earth...
"Well then, allow me to give it a trial run! Race you there!" Stripes ran forward, transformed, and peeled out, hitting sixty in seconds as Bulkhead yelled at him to wait up. Stripes then tuned to his favorite euro hits station, playing music in a fast, catchy beat. The landscape blurred by, Stripes hitting speeds he could only could have imagined when he was on Earth! His tires kicked up a lot of dust as he went through a banked curve.
Bumblebee and Arcee were quick to catch up, but even they seemed to be having trouble matching Stripes' speed. Was he going that fast? He started to wonder. He poured on more speed, the thrill pulsing through his circuits as he left both of them in kicked-up dust. He didn't have a speedometer in front of him, but he could tell he was going more than two-hundred MPH, which was the fastest he'd been able to hit on the Utah salt flats on Earth! He'd never gone this fast in his entire life!
The city appeared on the horizon after just a few minutes, but Stripes didn't pay much attention as he approached. He was going so fast! The feeling of freedom flowed though his circuits like quicksilver. It seemed that at any moment, he might pass into another dimension... A dimension only reached through speed...
He tapped his brakes, slowing himself just in time as he approached an exit ramp to the city of Ieacon. He then went into a drift, yelling as loud as his vocalizer would allow. This was incredible! He could get used to this, and was liking it already! He drove though the city's streets, drifting through each corner and intersection. Shortly, he got to the city's center, and power slid to a stop.
"Sweet! I win!" He yelled as he transformed, jumping up into the air with glee. "Ha ha! I bet I set a record!" He turned off his radio, and looked around. The city was empty! He then got the creeps, not just because the city was so empty and quiet.
He was having deja-vu. As if he had been here before. Then, it hit him, as he gazed upon the center tower.
This was the same city he saw in his dream!