Unearthed

Speedbreaker turned from the mirror to Tow-Line, admiring the repairs. “Stop me if you’ve heard this before – but, damn I’m gorgeous!”

“Yes, yes,” Tow-Line said dismissively, “everyone loves a sleek, red sports car.”

“So how are the others?”

“Mach Alert is up next, his injuries were not as severe as yours. It was a quick solder-and-remould job for Wildride, but he’s in one of his moods again. Gone to his quarters. Can’t say I blame him, I mean it was your first ever battle after all. You never expect it to go so badly on your first time.”

“What about Big Red?”

“Pitstop is about to start work now. Fire Convoy insisted we work on you three first.”

Speedbreaker laughed. “Maybe something of Ultra Magnus has rubbed off on him.”

“I doubt it somehow!” Tow-Line reached into a drawer. “What flavour Energon Snack would you like for being such a good patient?”

“Ooh, selenium please!”

“There you go,” said Tow-Line as he ushered Speedbreaker out of his room. “And maybe you want to think about getting some practice in the Virtual Combat Theatre.”

As Speedbreaker left the room, Tow-Line was about to turn his attention to Mach Alert when his personal communicator blip-blipped.

“Tow-Line, I need to talk to you about Fire Convoy right away. Meet me in my private quarters in three cycles. Pitstop, out.”

The Autobot Build Team was responsible for much of Cybertron’s contemporary architecture since the exile of the Decepticons. They were the elite of Autobot society until the day Wedge, the youngest member, asked if instead of a statue of Star Saber, they could build one of Optimus Prime. They next they knew, they were aboard the Brave Maximus with nothing to do. Until now.

“My sensors are telling me the rock is only a couple of metres thick, so easy up on the digging,” Heavyload reported.

“Never mind that,” countered Dredge. “The humans in there won’t have much time left before they run out of air.”

“Pah!” said Hightower. “They can suffocate for all I care. Our mission is to get Megatron, not waste time digging up these flesh creatures.”

“If I didn’t know he was back at base getting repaired, I’d say Fire Convoy had his arm up your disposal duct!”

“That’s rich, Wedge,” growled Hightower, “coming from someone who hasn’t stopped talking about Ultra Magnus.”

“Well he makes a change from a leader who hates just about everything going.”

Dredge was in vehicle mode and began boring into the rock with his shovel. “You guys can argue over which leader you like the best, but I have some humans to free.”

“And Ultra Magnus!” said Wedge, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Kiss-ass,” Hightower said.

Heavyload reversed towards Dredge, ready to collect the excavated rocks. Whatever expletive Wedge was using to describe Hightower’s feelings towards Fire Convoy were drowned out by the revving of his engine.

Pitstop’s quarters were sparse. He was a simple creature of little habit. The only focal point in the room was a model of the Brave Maximus he’d been working on since his assignment to the Defence Force. It was only one-third complete, but it kept his hands busy when he wasn’t working on his fellow Autobots.

“So, what is so clandestine that we have to talk about it in here?” asked Tow-Line.

“You remember what state Fire Convoy was in when the Bullet Team brought him in, right?”

“Yip. Megatron beat him about as if he was a Minicon. Is he going to be okay? There’s nothing seriously wrong is there?”

“That’s my point,” said Pitstop quietly as he leaned into Tow-Line. “By the time I’d finished with Wildride, and checked in on Fire Convoy, he’d….”

“He’d what?”

“He’d been repaired.”

“By whom?” Tow-Line paused. “You don’t mean spontaneous regeneration?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“But that phenomenon is only found in—"

“Don’t even say it!” whispered Pitstop.

Tow-Line mused for a second or two. “Well that would explain why he would always return from missions without even a scratch.”

“Yeah. Say, do you think he knows?”

“I doubt it. Considering his attitude.”

Pitstop clenched his jaw shut and narrowed his optics. “All that brainwashing from Star Saber? This is just a sick joke!”

Tow-Line put an arm on his comrade’s shoulder. “He’s a got a lot to answer for, that’s for sure.”

“I just hope we succeed with this mission and that the Vok follow through with their promise.”

Ultra Magnus stood tall and proud, picking at a few blisters on his armour caused by the pyroclastic attack from the San Miguel volcano. He was surrounded by his Cadets and around sixty humans including Jennifer and David, all healthy and accounted for. Except Crosswise, who was not happy that a 15 year old girl had thrown up over his internal upholstery.

The humans, though severely shell-shocked, thanked the Autobots for saving them and slowly wandered away, hoping their homes had survived the eruption.

“Er, Ultra Magnus?” David called nervously.

Ultra Magnus looked at the man, bemused. He knelt down. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, we know a lot about you Transformers,” said David. “And we have a particular interest in you.”

Jennifer stepped up to David’s side. “You see, we have records and files from the future that document a cataclysmic event on our planet.” She walked right up to Magnus’ left foot. “Your name is in those files, as someone who journeyed to Earth to save us.”

Ultra Magnus scooped up Jennifer and David in his left hand and brought them up to his face. “I think we have much to talk about. Would you accompany us back to our base? You’ll be our most welcome guests.”

“We’d love to!” Jennifer smiled.

David was speechless, and Jennifer glanced down to notice that he had just wet himself.

“Speak to me, Ultra Magnus.” Fire Convoy’s stern voice echoed through Magnus’s cab as he and his Cadets sped along the highway along the coast of El Salvador.

“We’re heading to the rendez-vu point to be picked up by the Bullet Team.”

“Change of plan, Magnus. We’re all going to meet you there, Megatron won’t know what hit him this time.”

“Megatron’s long gone.”

“What? Weren’t you tracking him?”

“No. We had a couple of tonnes of molten lava to deal with.”

“Useless!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Maybe I would have been more useful just lying on my back and letting Megatron pistol-whip my pistons.”

Fire Convoy growled at Magnus’ sarcasm.

“Anyway,” continued Magnus, “I have a couple of human passengers with me who I want to bring back to base.”

“I don’t want any of those flesh creatures in my base!”

“You might want to listen to what they have to say. It would seem they’ve been expecting us.”

“It grates my gears having to listen to what you have to say, let alone anyone else.”

“I will maintain responsibility of them, they won’t get in your way. I just want us to have one meeting to together, that’s all I ask.”

There was silence as Fire Convoy made his decision. “Very well. You have yet to make a bad call of judgement since we got to this planet. But I’m not happy about this at all.”