Chapter Seven
?That?s got to be the lamest name I?ve ever heard for the coolest robot I?ve ever seen.? Bloo commented.
Frankie frowned at him for a moment, before turning her attention back to Optimus Prime. ?Ignore him. It?s a pleasure?I guess.?
?So how?re you guys speaking perfect English?? Mac inquired.
?We have assimilated Earth?s languages through your planetary information assembly. Your ?World Wide Web,? as it is called.?
Sean was shaking his head slowly in wonderment. ?You are aliens. Uh, are you ?biological? creatures, too??
?No,? the robot informed him quietly. ?We are independently cognitive mechanical entities from a very distant world?a suitably simple comprehensible identifier for you might be
Cybertron. Similarly, you could also think of us as autonomous robotic organisms.?
Mac was murmuring to himself. ?Autonomous robots?
Autobots.?
Enormous lenses focused on him. ?Just as there are no apposite translations for where we originate or what we are, there are none for our individual nomenclatures.?
Bloo was absolutely lost in the dark. ?Come again??
?He means their names.? Mac told him.
An immense arm indicated the semicircle of other machines. ?For convenience in communication we have selected namings from your vocabulary to approximate a combination of our localized camouflaged shapes as well as our particular temperaments. Though by your definition we are no more than ?machines,? we do possess individual characteristics and personalities as well as abilities and skills. For example?? The arm lowered to center on the robot that had morphed from an exotic sports car. ?My first lieutenant:
Jazz.?
The car?s high-powered speakers responded agreeably. ?What up, peeps!?
Optimus Prime indicated the thickset bipedal form that had transformed from the black pickup. ?Our weapons specialist:
Ironhide.?
The robot peered down at his gleaming black shape. ?This exoskeleton appears suitable for battle.?
Finally, Optimus Prime singled out the mechanoid that had morphed from an emergency vehicle. ?Our medical officer:
Ratchet.?
The robot thus identified looked down upon the earthlings. ?I am pleased to report that, by your species? customary but inadequate standards, you each are in an excellent state of health.?
The great mechanical arm of Optimus Prime gestured one last time at the imposing semicircle of machines, singling out a by-now-familiar yellow-and-black shape. ?You already know
Bumblebee, guardian of Frances Foster.?
Frankie frowned. ?Bumblebee? Guardian??
?If the rest of you can talk, why can?t he?? Wilt asked.
It was the medical mechanoid who replied. ?His vocal-processing symbology was destroyed on the battlefields of Tyger Pax. Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to restore it.?
Frankie nodded before asking, ?Why are you here? Out of all the planets in our solar system, why come to our world??
Optimus Prime?s voice grew solemn. ?We have come in search of what I will categorize for you as the Energon Cube. This unimaginably ancient entity is the container of a supreme power that imbues us with the gift of?for you I will call it simply ?spark?. This designation is an oversimplification an order of magnitude and significance far beyond your ability to comprehend. We are here in search of it, because we must find the Cube before Megatron.?
?Who?or what?is a Megatron?? Sean asked.
?We were once brothers, in the sense that you understand the term. But Megatron lost his way. It was no longer enough for him to control himself. He became obsessed with the idea of controlling everything. He turned those he could dominate against those he could not. Instead of builders, they became destroyers. For their betrayal of everything that our kind had always stood for, those who turned now bear the name
Decepticons.?
From his eyes a three-dimensional image appeared in the clear night air: a view of an incredible battle taking place on an alien world composed of metal and other non-organic compounds. As the view shifted, the earthlings were exposed to scenes of flaming craters, destruction on an unimaginable scale, mile upon mile of total devastation. The surface was littered with limbs and heads and other pieces of lifeless machines. And everywhere there was fire, and smoke, and death. The sight was enough to terrify Eduardo, leaving Alissa to calm him down with a gentle rub over his furry back.
The view shifted again to show a ship descending. Its physical appearance was like nothing the group from
Foster?s had ever seen. In the process of touching down, it
transformed. Though seen only from behind, the immense outline managed to convey an aura of overpowering menace. Standing over a crippled Autobot, it reached down and plunged a fist into the other?s metal chest. Steely fingers yanked back out a handful of flickering energy. The pulse of energy rapidly faded to nothingness, as did the light in the lenses of the robot lay dying on the ground.
?For eons,? Optimus continued, ?our world was locked in the stalemate that resulted from Megatron?s actions. The endless combat all but exhausted our resources and nearly extinguished our kind. Those few who survived finally decided the only way to put an end to it was to flee.? A deafening bellow emerged from the figure identified as Megatron as the final image faded.
Ironhide supplied further enlightenment. ?Only the Cube can reanimate our face, allowing us to repopulate our world. That is why Megatron desires it. He will at last obtain the power he has always sought over the future of our kind.?
Once more, Optimus Prime took up the account. ?In the course of eons of fighting, the Cube was flung out into space. I and my companions as well as Megatron and his ilk have been searching for it ever since. We have finally succeeded in tracing its present position to your planet.? The group from
Foster?s exchanged a look as the mechanoid continued. ?When it crashed here it transmitted a signal that took long to reach our world. Megatron was the first to follow it here, pursuing it immediately after it was cast out of Cybertron. His arrival was imperfect and on a part of your world suitable for delaying him. He succumbed to ever-shifting ice.?
Frankie?s eyes widened with recognition?her dream?it was true.
?Unfortunately, Samantha Foster?s discovery and subsequent physical encounter triggered a tiny part of Megatron?s hitherto dormant internal configuration.? Ratchet stated. ?The resultant luminal reaction left a coded physical imprint on her portable prosthetic lenses.?
?Her glasses? The map to this Cube is imprinted on her glasses?? Frankie remarked.
?The Cube still resides on your world,? Jazz said. ?But we can no longer detect its signal. It has been?blocked by something.?
?If we find it, we will return it to our homeworld.? Ratchet mentioned.
?If the Decepticons reach it first,? Optimus added, ?they will use it to rebuild their armies. They will begin this process by transforming Earth?s machines. Once that is accomplished, there will of course no longer be any reason or need for your world to continue to provide support and sustenance to irrelevant carbonoids. Megatron will see to it that these wasteful life-forms are extinguished.?
?Excuse me?? Frankie murmured uncertainly.
?Plants. Animals. You.?
A significant silence ensued. It was only broken when Mac eventually looked over to Frankie.
?
Please tell me you have those glasses??
END OF CHAPTER SEVEN