Black Desert Arrival Thread

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron's jaw does drop, stretching those silver bars that cover his mouth. He opens and closes his mouth several times. He takes a moment to sort himself out and explains, "It does. If you have no Primus, then the divergence goes back before the dawn of Cybertron. Primus was the first soul to inhabit Cybertron, and He created the original generation of Transformers." He doesn't say this in the tone of a zealot or like a mechanism telling an old story. Xaaron says this like it is a demonstrable fact.

He thinks back to his days at the Academy, which were very long ago indeed. Xaaron remembers how some of the professors in exploration came back with tales of aliens who did not know of Primus and refused to acknowledge his divinity. He feels as if he ought to treat this Perceptor and Long Haul that way, for all that they look familiar. Emirate Xaaron rephrases, "The people of my Cybertron worship Primus as a god. However, it is verifiable that He is an intelligence of vast power. For example, He teleported all the Autobots and Decepticons from Earth and even others in scattered areas of space to Cybertron."

Primus will forgive him. Emirate Xaaron cannot do Primus's work if people think he's a loon and do not allow him to even try.

Uneasy, he notes, "It is extremely peculiar that my timeline would develop a near-identical Perceptor and a... similar Long Haul, if the divergence between timelines was initiated before recorded time even started. I wonder what other common ground there might be." He thinks of one of the most obvious figures that he knows. "Do you have an Optimus Prime? Mac truck in silver, blue, and red?"

[Long Haul]

Long Haul doesn't answer the question, primarily because it doesn't seem to be directed towards him, but mostly because he's never heard of anyone fitting Xaaron's description. And here you have one of the more annoying factors attendant in his job: all too often in the eyes of others when one becomes a transport, they cease to be a person.

Or maybe his cargo just views him as too stupid to bother with. Eh, that attitude isn't surprising. He's simple, sure, but people forget that simple doesn't mean stupid.

The maybe-future-not-yet-Constructicon rolls forward, trying to listen to the conversation between the two in his truck bed, although from time to time faint grumbles can be heard, complaints about heat or strange green stuff and stranger skies and all anybody, even complete strangers, want out of him.

[Perceptor]

Perceptor would be quite surprised, and rather embarrassed if Long Haul were to express a concern about feeling left out of this discussion. As far as the scientist is concerned, all three of them have valuable input, and all three had been contributing. Although it seems, from the admittedly limited examples listed thus far, that he and Long Haul may potentially come from more similar realities, and perhaps even the same reality, albeit from different points along the timeline, it cannot be assumed. Perceptor waits a moment for Long Haul's input, a flicker of a frown when the silence seems to stretch between them.

He clears his vocalizer softly, before replying to Xaaron, "We did. Immediately prior to Unicron's attack on Cybertron, the Decepticon warlord, Megatron led an assault on Autobot City, our established base on Earth. During the battle, Megatron and Optimus Prime were both mortally wounded."

"As for Primus and the creation of the Transformers... In my reality, we were created by the Quintessons, initially as a... a product line of military hardware - the Decepticons - and consumer goods - the Autobots. Cybertron was a factory world, initially run by the Quintessons until their 'products' had developed sufficiently to produce themselves. The Quintessons had clearly never intended for the Cybertronian race to be born, nor for their 'products' to develop to a point where they revolted to take their freedom. Even this history was lost for many eons until, while attempting to flee back to Cybertron to fight Unicron, several Autobots stumbled upon the world of Quintessa, and apparently rekindled the Quintessons' anger at having lost control of Cybertron and their creations. They are... bitter enemies."

Perceptor looks down, glancing towards Long Haul's cab for lack of a better place to address their third travel mate.

"Long Haul? What of where you come from? Does Optimus Prime exist?" he asks, curbing the reflex to add, "yet," to that question. "Does any of this sound at all familiar?"

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron would have been happy for Long Haul to answer his question, honestly. He is not averse to gathering as much information on a subject as possible, so that he may make intelligent decisions. Why put out a poll and then rule out half the respondents? Emirate Xaaron does, however, have the problem of how to engage the dump truck in the conversation. Where does he even keep his optics in this mode, anyway? Car Transformers sometimes seems to have them in their headlights or windshields, and flinging his body over the front of the dump truck to wave at a headlight would seem to be a rather inelegant, risky proposition.

He listens along to Perceptor's relay of events, not finding much comprehension. Xaaron shakes his head and says, "None of that rings any bells with me. We have a Megatron," unfortunately, "and he is a silver gun of Terran make. But the events you describe? Never happened. My Optimus Prime did die, under other circumstances, but he has been revived." He inquires, "What do these Quintessons look like? I do not believe I have ever heard of them or that there was ever any record of such creatures in our databases. Perhaps they do not exist in my timeline."

Xaaron wouldn't know it, but they do. They just won't show up in his universe for over a decade and only in a split timeline that Xaaron himself would never have lived to see. Darn split timelines. They're almost as bad as split ends.

Back to the topic of attempting to engage Long Haul in conversation with more than mere grumbling, he inquires, "Who are the prominent figures of your time, Long Haul?"

Emirate Xaaron finds himself wishing that Long Haul had better suspension. The jarring jolts are not kind to his antiquated circuits.

[Long Haul]

Cut the dump truck some slack! He's not built for supply transport, not troops!

"Optimus Prime? Hnh. Nope... nope... can't say I've heard that name, really. Megatron, I hearda him, yeah. Like I said, in my time the Decepticons are causing problems again, and Megatron's pretty much always the name of the one I hear's behind that.

"As for this 'Quintesson' stuff... that's the first time I've heard the name, but back when I was built there were still a fair number of folks runnin' around what remembered we were built as 'product.' Back when I was a factory fresh, I even remember a couple of old coots who wouldn't wear any kinda faction symbol at all. They called it a 'slave brand.' Totally different reason from why the younger folks don't wear 'em today."

There is another bump, and, from the looks of things, in perhaps an hour or so the ride will get significantly worse as Long Haul will have to begin to contend with scrublands. "Prominent figures?" he asks Xaaron. "I don't keep up much with politics, Xaaron. Prolly should, since some of our commission work's for some pretty powerful folks, but Scrapper or Hook handle most of the face time with them folks. Mostly Scrapper, 'cos Hook's a jerk an' is as likely to piss someone off as make a sale, but y'know, sometimes there's a high falootin muck-a-muck what thinks a guy who insults you must know his stuff - and, y'know, Hook does, but that's besides the point."

Long Haul pauses as he tries to think. "There's a fellow who lives in Iahex, s'posed to have been a big leader type and veteran of both of the wars, now mostly tries to keep to hisself. Name's Alpha Trion, but don't ask me where you might be able to find him; even if I did know, would seem kinda rude to tell. And, uhm, don't know if this is the kinda information you're lookin' for, but the only Guardian robot... Guardian robots, the old coots said those guys was used to keep us in line back in the old days, but then we went and reprogrammed 'em for defense and stuff... the only Guardian robot what became self aware lives in and guards our best work!" There's more than a hint of pride in his voice as Long Haul he says this last bit. In fact, his voice is near-to-bursting with it. "S'name's Omega Supreme! He can transform, too! Not like them not-livin' Guardians! Our crew, we helped to modify him for that ourselves, 'cos, y'know, we can do more than just build stuff!"

[Perceptor]

"That... seems to fit with the historical references of my continuum," Perceptor replies.

The irony is that Long Haul isn't aware just how correct he is; the Constructicons can do far more than "build stuff." They also happen to be experts at demolishing it.

"The Quintessons are a varied race, however the greatest portion of them seem to consist of a single, bulbous body slightly larger than half my size, adorned with five faces. Their mobility is achieved via the use of a beam of energy, and they have several long, very thin tentacles with which they manipulate objects," Perceptor explains to Xaaron.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron is increasingly aware that he's the odd man out here. He murmurs, "I know of no Alpha Trion. Omega Supreme is just a normal Autobot." He pauses. "Well, not really. A wordy, kill-happy Autobot. An excellent soldier. But not one given sapience under odd circumstances."

He listens closely to Perceptor's description of the Quintessons and commits it to memory. He assures, "When I get back, I will be certain to warn my people of these Quintessons, on the off chance that they may exist and be a threat." When, not if. If has no place here. If he cannot return, such plans are worthless. He winces. "It's so peculiar... there are so many similarities that they make the differences all the more vexing." He thinks on other prominent figures. "Did your world suffer the warlords Trannis and Straxus?"

To be polite, he comments to Long Haul, "Your many skills may come in useful here. I have never been off Cybertron, but I gather that fuel and materials tend to be issues off-world."

[Long Haul]

*Rumble-rumble-jarring-bump-rumble.*

"Kill happy?!" Long Haul exclaims, shocked. "Not ol' Omega! The wordy bit I'll agree with, though." A brief pause as he considers Xaaron's questions. "Strackus and Trannies? Never heard of 'em."

Then he snorts. "Hah! Just figures. 'Hey, Long Haul, once yer done carrying us over to that green stuff ahead, we needa see about gettin' you to carry other stuff, like materials and fuel an' stuff!' I gotta warn you, I can assemble stuff all right followin' a plan, but I ain't the one to go to for fine processing." The fact that these other two seem so very familiar with his capabilities is a bit unnerving and more than a little surreal, so his repeated reminders of just what he's capable and not capable of serve, if nothing else, to reinforce reality in his own mind.

That, and he tends to repeat himself a lot, anyway.

[Perceptor]

Perceptor nods at Xaaron's words. "Do. They are not to be trusted. The more tempting their offer, the less so."

"We appreciate your versatility and willingness to assist us, Long Haul," he adds to the green mech.

"Many of my most recent duties involved attempting to formulate alternative fuel sources for Cybertron. I have several potential designs already stored within my databanks which might be converted to use here, provided we are able to locate the proper raw materials. Perhaps the biomass ahead might conceal something useful to utilize in such an endeavor."

Because, really? The alternative really wasn't to be considered.

[Emirate Xaaron]

You know, Long Haul is really under no compulsion to listen to Emirate Xaaron. He didn't *have* to transport Perceptor and Xaaron to what looks safer than the desert, although the action is greatly appreciated. He doesn't *have* to help look for fuel and materials, either. But it would be a good idea, and Xaaron hopes that he complies.

"That is how offers usually go, I find." Emirate Xaaron chuckles and points out brightly, "See? No worries when it comes to plans. Perceptor will have us well in hand. I will certainly do what I can in the gathering of fuel and supplies. When we do pursue that task, I will submit myself to your better judgement in that area, Long Haul."

Yes, Emirate Xaaron has just volunteered himself to be Long Haul's loading and unloading wench and general go-for. He probably doesn't know what he's getting himself into, but he does believe that it would be better than sitting around and being useless. The gesture also serves as a show of faith that he sincerely wishes to advance the good of the group.

[Long Haul]

"Good, 'cos I can't get myself loaded, an' if there's anything you don't want broken, I need help" the Transporter cuts himself off as he crashes right through a smaller outcropping of rocks - he's not intentionally finding the bumpiest road possible, he's just not bothering to go around anything he thinks won't harm him, "with that, too."

He grunts. "I know it ain't been fun back there, but it's only gonna get worse. Ground's gettin' a bit softer packed, and there's this funny... stuff up ahead."

[Perceptor]

Perceptor doesn't point out that his plans will only be useful if they can find the appropriate raw materials and tools. Unlike an engineer or medic, he isn't in the habit of carrying a full kit of tools with him. Some limited tools can be improvised, and he can perform a few tasks with his scope and a light beam on a tight focus, but that's not what his design specifications were intended for.

They will find a way. The alternative isn't worth contemplating. Besides, if he can modify a child's toy rocket into a functional starship, they can find a way to produce useable fuel and energy in such a solar-rich environment.

"You will have assistance from both of us, Long Haul. Mutual cooperation is the only way to increase the probability of survival and return to our various realities and times."

Perceptor shifts, peering ahead at the terrain ahead. Black desert seems to give way to a transitional band of scrub savannah, and, beyond that, something in a much more vibrant green.

"What you see ahead is likely to be organic vegetation. Although it is possible that the alteration of terrain and pigmentation is geologic in nature, cursory evaluation of distance scans matches any number of carbon based photosynthetic life forms which I have encountered previously. Admittedly, we are still some distance, and a more thorough evaluation of the materials ahead will be required to determine the true nature of the potential life forms, however, I can cautiously theorize that you will have little to fear from the majority of the 'stuff' which you observe ahead."

"I appreciate the warning about the terrain, however. Without your assistance, I would still be quite some distance behind our current position; transport in less than ideal comfort is well worth the trade of not being left behind," Perceptor observes wryly. "Thank you. Perhaps as we draw nearer the boundary between the distant biospheres, we might stop briefly to allow me to study the vegetation? I would prefer to have an idea of the type of growth we will contact before inadvertently blundering into a creature with a penchant for ingesting mechanical life forms."

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron just sets his jaw, taking the 'grin and bear it' approach to all the bumps. He didn't need those subsystems, anyway. He murmurs, "Organic life. Never seen much of it. Just visitors from other worlds in the old days." He thinks back and muses, "What did that old xenobiology professor have to say... oh, yes. It's not just the creatures. Some plants are metallivorous."

He considers the suggestion to stop and look at the plants. Offhand, he wants to say 'no'. There could still be Decepticons out there. They need to find safety first, whatever counts as 'safety' here. However, he is in no position to dictate terms. A bit uneasily, he acquiesces, "If we do stop to study the plants, I suggest that we stick together."

[Long Haul]

Long Haul falls silent for a moment, mostly so he can work out what Perceptor just said. Wow! Even the worst of his build-mates (that would be Hook, by the by) aren't generally that bad! Finally he grunts out, "So there're organic plants about, huh?" Wait, what? Does Cybertron have plants? Well, they have retrorats and turbofoxes, so why not? "Sounds pretty messy."

Bump-thud. "This place could do with a good pavin'. Days like this, I really start appreciatin' Bonecrusher's philosophy. Anyways, we should be coming up on that stuff soon." Like, oh, the next post? "An' don't worry. I don't plan on doin' any more wanderin' than I needa. I'm the one spendin' alla the fuel, y'know!"

[Perceptor]

"I have spent the last two decades on Earth, as well as other planets and systems," Perceptor explains. "And I will not need to go far. A moment of stability to focus, and, perhaps, a few samples are all I require for the time being. Provided that the," he pauses there to study the snearing slash of deeper green, "forest is not populated by metallivourous organisms, the growth will provided us all cover that... I will confess, I would feel much better in."

Perceptor grips the side of Long Haul's bed firmly as the going does, indeed, get much rougher.

"What is Bonecrusher's philosophy?" he asks politely as the lime-green mech maneuvers his way through thickening scrub. "And this would be a good location to stop for those samples, please?"