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Post by Long Haul on May 28, 2007 10:26:33 GMT -5
Long Haul grunts before his engines start up, and he begins rolling forward. "Then you should keep an eye out for what it's calling," he suggests. While said bluntly, there's a reason he asks this of Xaaron: his ability to look around is more limited in this form, and he has to concentrate on the road.
The ride here is much smoother than it was in the desert, but that's because they have proper roads to travel on. Long Haul appears to be navigating the strange city in his search for the source of the noise fairly well, however. But then, he may not know cities, but he knows cities, and he got a good view from the rooftop. Still, at least once he's forced to back up and retrace his path.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 28, 2007 10:41:19 GMT -5
"Very good," Emirate Xaaron replies, sounding encouraging, "That's an excellent way to start thinking." Not that he wouldn't be watching, anyway. He shuffles his own position around to cover the rear field of view, Long Haul's blind spot, mirrors aside. His old optics can only cover so much field of view, so he might as well make it the field that Long Haul cannot see as well.
Emirate Xaaron adds 'roads' to his list of things for which he is thankful. They make rides so much more comfortable. He watches along, trying to remember that the path that they take and any important details about the city. They sky seems fairly clear, just avians and insectoids darting through his field of view now and then. The keening does seem to be getting louder.
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Post by Long Haul on May 28, 2007 12:10:57 GMT -5
Long Haul finishes back-tracking and gets back to right-tracking. The path, however, isn't too bad; as the transport had predicted, it was mostly main roads they had to deal with. Eventually, he drives up to the bottom of a large building with a large interior, one with several alien, immobile vehicles within. A parking garage? At this point, the noise seems to come not from ahead, but up.
"Hnh. Maybe we oughta walk the rest of the way up?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 28, 2007 20:24:36 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron steps down from Long Haul and considers the garage. He notes, "The ceilings aren't very high. We'd have to crawl, but ah..."
He paces around it. The concrete is cracked and crumbling in some places, but he finds an out wall that looks sturdy enough. He clambers up on top of it and looks up at the next level. Tensing, he jumps and grabs on to the next level. Looking down, just one level up, he decides that trying to climb-jump up the side of a parking garage is really something more suited to Springer. He looks back up. Four floors to go. He could still crawl.
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Post by Long Haul on May 28, 2007 20:41:30 GMT -5
Long Haul is shorter than a lot of Transformers, but taller than Emirate Xaaron. On the one hand, trying to grab onto floor that are about half his height would seem difficult... but on the other hand, he has a lifetime's experience at climbing up and down half-finished structures.
The dump truck transforms, shuffling everything in his back into subspace, and watches Xaaron. He examines the building, his wheels turning absently as he thinks. He reaches forward and grasps it, testing its strength, and then he grunts, not entirely pleased. He mutters softly, then apparently decides it's "good enough," and begins climbing after the other.
He quickly overtakes the Emirate, and when he does, he automatically reaches for the other, intending to sling him over his shoulder and carry him the rest of the way. Would be faster, after all.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 28, 2007 21:11:32 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron is just about to call this whole climbing idea a bad idea when he finds himself slung over Long Haul's shoulder like some damsel and a great ape. He sighs but doesn't protest, rather quickly grasping the idea here. He does wish that he could be more useful here. Still, he does seem to be the only one here with a mind for long-term military strategy. There was his niche in his own universe, and it seems to be his niche here. He murmurs, "Thank you."
And if Long Haul drops him, Xaaron will box his audios. As much as he may deny it, he's a tank, and a drop from even the top off the roof isn't going to do all that much to him.
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Post by Long Haul on May 28, 2007 21:21:48 GMT -5
If there's one thing Long Haul knows, it's carrying! He doesn't respond to Xaaron's thanks, although there is a brief moment of the shoulder the Autobot is resting on that may be a shrug. Instead, he just focuses on climbing.
Just as they would be about to clamber over the top, Long Haul pauses and hangs on. Without turning his head to look at the other, he murmurs, "I'm gonna just climb on up there, unless you have a better idea. If you do, better let me know now."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 28, 2007 21:30:40 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron pauses to think and whispers, "We'll both be sitting ducks, awkward from the climbing, if there is anything dangerous up there. Now, unless I have drastically missed my mark, my armour is better than yours by a long shot. I'll climb up over you. If there's nothing immediately dangerous, I'll call you up. If something is dangerous, well... get ready to scrape me off the pavement."
Without waiting for Long Haul to agree, Emirate Xaaron moves, scrambling up over the edge. As sensible as the plan may be, he expects Long Haul to disagree based on some cock-eyed notion of the older machine 'stealing all the adventure'.
And?
Well, there is neither screaming nor Emirate Xaaron being flung off the roof. Sounding hesitant, he calls, "I... I think you can come up."
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Post by Long Haul on May 28, 2007 21:39:32 GMT -5
Long Haul's armor isn't that bad! Okay, he's no tank... nor even a Bonecrusher... but still!
Long Haul bobs his head and answers, "Arright." And it's a good thing he agrees, because Xaaron went ahead and did it anyway! He waits, and hears neither screaming nor flinging Xaarons. Instead, he hears hesitant Xaarons.
"So what issit?" he asks as he scrambles up and over the side of the building. Then, his optic band flashes.
"It's a... it's a... it's a miniaturized model!"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 28, 2007 21:51:51 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron glances around the roof. It rather resembles a helicopter landing pad. There are scattered carcasses of various pieces of machinery littered around the roof. They look quite mauled, and to a one, they've had their fuel tanks or batteries ripped out. Staying away from the squalling creature, he investigates a desecrated tractor and points out, "The claw marks on these match the marks the dragon made on me."
He then peers down his nose at the small creature and notes, "But that thing is too small by far to have made the marks."
The dragonet seems attracted by the two robots and at first stumble-crawls towards the shinier one, but it pauses, sniffing, and heads in Long Haul's direction instead.
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Post by Long Haul on May 28, 2007 22:21:48 GMT -5
Long Haul's optic band brightens and he backs away from the small, metallic beast that's stumbling in his direction, mewling pitiably. "Hey... wassat... back off, you!" Then he realizes he's backing away from a tiny, harmless looking thing when he already killed a much larger one, and stops moving backwards.
The creature sniffs at Long Haul. It tilts its head, slightly puzzled for a moment. Mother-beast, it remembers, seemed to be much, much larger. But on the other hand, the thing in front of him smells like Mommy*, and smell is much more important than the other sensors. After a moment, the creature makes a decision. This thing smells like mommy. Therefore, it must be mommy!
The little dragonet begins trying to scrabble up the transports legs, mewling, squalling, and chirping expectantly. Long Haul, for his part, starts backing away from the creature again. His optic band flashes as his frantic gaze shoots up, away from the small metal beast and instead towards Xaaron.
"Whadda I do?!" he demands desperately.
* Thanks to the fact that Long Haul has been carrying around pieces of mommy in his truck bed for quite some time!
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 29, 2007 8:13:36 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron takes a few steps away from Long Haul and the dragonet and rubs the back of his head, thinking. The beast doesn't seem to be a threat at the moment, so he has the luxury of time. Why didn't he pay more attention to his xenomechabiology classes? Oh right, he was too busy thinking about his political science classes. Silly Xaaron!
He wracks his memory banks and says slowly, trying to piece together bits of data that are older than Long Haul is, "Remember when Perceptor was talking about trees and forests and how they organise themselves without caretakers? Some species, instead of manufacturing new life in functional, adult form instead create smaller, incompetent copies of themselves that upgrade themselves to full size and competency over a span of time." It's like that old heresy that the Transformers were created by 'naturally occurring gears and pulleys'. Balderdash, that.
"I would need Perceptor to confirm for certain, but I think that is what we are seeing here. In months or years, that thing might become a murderous predator, but for now, I'm not sure if it can even take care of itself. The ruined machinery around us had to have been brought in for it by an adult specimen. Thus, its overall threat level is low. We could scavenge parts off it and the ruined machines, I suppose." Emirate Xaaron shrugs. Yes, he'd kill Bambi, that bootleg.
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Post by Long Haul on May 29, 2007 8:40:29 GMT -5
Long Haul looks at the Emirate, his head tilted in bafflement as he considers the other's words. Start with small, incompetent versions that can't take care of themselves?
"Seems like a scrape-grade poor method of running things, if you ask me," he grunts.
Long Haul looks down at the other creature that was currently scrabbling at him. It did seem pretty weak and harmless. The transport kneels and reaches for the other creature, placing one hand on either side of the head in a gentle but firm grip, Xaaron's recommendation that they scavenge it for parts in mind.
In reaction to the contact, the little dragonet coos happily, and nuzzles against the lime green mech's right arm. Long Haul's jerks slightly in suprise, although he does maintain contact. He does not, however, twist just yet. "Erm... you sure this is the right thing to do just now?" he asks, voice wavering and uncertain.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 29, 2007 10:21:26 GMT -5
“It does, doesn’t it? I suppose that not every species can aspire to Cybertronian efficiency,” Emirate Xaaron replies, shaking his head sadly.
Then when Long Haul hesitates, he looks at Long Haul, honestly baffled. He spread his arms out, pacing around the garage roof, and reminds, “The dragon that we killed was likely this creature’s creator. This specimen was waiting for responses to its calls, and it clearly wasn’t getting any.” He peers at the creature. “I have no idea how many individuals are required to initiate creation in this species, but in some species, only one is required. I would think that a secondary creator would have arrived after such time, if there was one. Without a creator around to watch over it, I doubt that the thing will survive on its own. It would be a waste to let the body corrode away, unused.”
Emirate Xaaron is practical and pragmatic. He is underestimating one thing, however. He is underestimating the power of cute.
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Post by Long Haul on May 29, 2007 10:33:31 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Long Haul is a mechanoid who has so recently lost... everything. One friend who might still care for him is effectively out of reach, perhaps permanently. The one who is in reach... might just reach out and try to snap his neck, just as he's contemplating doing so with this thing.
Long Haul is a mechanoid cut off from his ties. Like the little dragon, the first thing to show him open and unashamed affection in this strange new land.
Long Haul rubs its head, eliciting another coo. "That big one... that big one was pretty damned dangerous, wasn't it?" he asks softly.
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