Objets d'Ark

The walls of the bridge of the Ark wore eyes, three pairs of intense, hungry eyes that have been on guard for millions of years. Watching and waiting for intruders that might dare to undo what had been done so long ago. Eyes now that follow the movements of two humans as they gingerly step between broken robots and red-hot igneous rock.

“Even the crease of my backside is sweating in here, Jen!” David called, standing on top of Soundwave’s chest.

“I can’t believe you’re thinking about your ass when we’ve just made the most important discovery in the history of everything.”

David smiled. “I’ll say! This even overshadows the discovery of the Axalon. I think I recognise this one from Wroblewski’s translations.” He slid his foot over the Decepticon insignia. “Soundwave, I think.”

Jennifer stood at the main controls of Teletraan-1, using her ORB to scan for something useful. Anything useful. “You know, you never believe something until you actually see it for yourself.”

She jumped off the control panel onto the floor, her landing echoed across the vast room into the darkness. “I mean, really. A race of giant alien robots existing millions of year before even we evolved.”

“Yep, it’s a mindquake, alright,” laughed David. “Think what this means to human science, to religion. To everything!”

“The gases in here are already giving me a headache,” Jennifer replied. “I don’t want to make it worse by thinking of the ontology of it all.”

“Agreed. It’s probably not too good for our health to stay in here, so let’s just see if there’s anything useful we can salvage.”

“This whole spaceship is useful!”

David hugged his new weapon tightly. “I was kinda hoping one of these big guys would be alive, so I can test out the Cryotek cannon.”

“You and your toys,” sighed Jennifer. “I thought we established that it worked when you fired it at the car stereo!”

“It’s not a toy!” said David somewhat indignantly.

“David, you spend hours upon hours in your workshops tinkering away. And when you’re not doing that, you’re at those bloody tomatoes. No wonder you’re so socially inept!”

“Not so inept that I couldn’t get you to wrap your legs around my back on the odd occasion.”

Jennifer glared at him. David had played this card far too many times. “Reminding me that we used to have sex doesn’t mean that you win the argument.”

David pointed his cannon at her. “I’d win no problem if you were composed of circuitry and computer chips.”

“Well, I’m not,” said Jennifer, resting her hands on her hips. “I’m all woman.”

David heard a sudden noise behind him and swung around, pointing his weapon into the darkness. “Did you hear that?” he whispered.

“Hear what?”

“I think there’s something in here.”

“Nonsense! Look at this place, these robots have been dead for years.”

Jennifer and David slowed their breathing and glanced around. David shone his flashlight through the volcanic gas, and Jennifer switched her ORB to infrared. Nothing. It was just a noise; David’s over active imagination.

“You’ve got some imagination, mister,” said Jennifer. “Now let’s get moving, my chest is starting to tighten from the gas.”

David jumped down from Soundwave’s chest and made his way cautiously towards the command chair. The three sets of eyes blinked and stealthily moved from their position, making their way towards the humans.

“You really think I’m socially inept?” David asked.

Jennifer paused and turned to him. “Well, a little, I guess, not really, oh I don’t know. It’s just you rich kids get everything bought for you. A busy or absent parent thinks he can replace love with material objects.”

“My father didn’t build a multi-million pound empire by reading me bedtime stories,” David said defensively.

“Yes, and that’s my point. You can’t be one of the richest men in the country and a good father. Sacrifices need to be made, and it’s a fine line.”

“You didn’t know him, Jen. I did. Don’t dish out a character assassination on the poor guy when he’s not even alive to defend himself.”

Jennifer squeezed the bridge of her nose. “Yes, yes. I’m sorry, I was only oh my god I heard something that time!”

An inhuman growl pierced through the shadows, and the three sets of eyes blinked in sequence.

“Jesus!” David cried. “What the hell are they?”

Jennifer ran to David and grabbed his arm. “Quickly before they surround us!”

Then came three growls, each with a separate pitch and overlapping one another. The hairs on David’s neck stood on end and he panicked. “What do we do now?”

“Use your cannon!”

“But it won’t—“

“Do you really think something organic survived in a spacecraft for millions of years, and the biggest volcanic eruption known to man? They’ve got to be Transformers.”

David swung his Cryotek cannon up and fired its blue-white beam into the shadows. It hit the furthest wall of the chamber with a crackle.

“I can’t see them, Jen! Use your ORB.”

“I’m scanning… there! To your left.”

David fired again, but missed. “Damn! They’re moving to fast.”

“Okay, new strategy,” shouted Jennifer. “Let’s get the bloody hell out of here!”

The two humans reoriented themselves with the way they came in and ran for their lives. David held his weapon tightly and sprinted to the door, jumping over giant limbs as he went. Jennifer followed closely behind him. He could hear her wheezing as the volcanic gases poisoned her lungs. His lungs burned too.

Enraged footsteps galloped behind them, getting louder with each second. The metallic growling grated at Jennifer’s eardrums and she wanted to scream. If only she could, every breath was like a rusty nail scratching at her lungs.

“Faster!” she gasped.

The pair scurried through the main doors to the Ark, now crushed by the recent eruption. David spotted a shaft of sunlight coming through their entrance tunnel. “Not much further!” he cried.

Jennifer suddenly noticed an unnerving silence. “David, wait!” she shouted. “I think they’ve gone.”

David stopped running and violently bent forwards, grabbing his knees, desperately trying to catch his breath. “Maybe they can’t leave the spacecraft.”

“Maybe,” wheezed Jennifer.

David put his arm around Jennifer’s shoulder and gave her some support. “But let’s not test that theory. Come on.”

Jennifer glanced behind her. “I can’t see them.”

“That’s a good thing.”

There was a sudden growl in front of them. (“Or maybe not,” said David.) In full view was a malformed, half-metallic, half-organic, three-headed dog. Oil dripped from its fangs and its three sets of eyes glared menacingly.

“Shoot it for god’s sake!” screamed Jennifer.

David fired six times in quick succession. Luckily the fifth time hit the creature; the sixth was just for good measure. The dog fell to the ground with a whimper as chip flashes sparked across its exostructure.

“I’m happy with that result,” smiled David as he stroked his Cryotek cannon. He quickly grabbed Jennifer’s hand and pulled her through the tunnel.

Out in the open, David and Jennifer took rejuvenating breaths of fresh air, then collapsed in exhaustion.

“What a rush!” laughed David.

“You say that now,” exhaled Jennifer, “but you were bricking it in there!”

David got to his feet and helped Jennifer up. “Come on, let’s get in the car and get away from here.”

When they got to the car there was a priority alert waiting for them from Don Lavelle. David played it back: “We’ve got reports of a group of Transformers battling it out in San Miguel. It’s a long shot, but Ultra Magnus might be one of them. Get there as soon as you can, we must make contact with him.”

Jennifer strapped herself in and started the ignition. David tossed his weapon into the backseat and buckled up too. “Straight from the frying pan into the fire,” he said.