Second Zoo Arrival

[Omega Supreme]

Omega Supreme is pleased to note that the Micromaster did indeed get out of the way but he seems shy of getting any closer. He watches Long Haul wander off into the zoo wistfully. He tries to reassure himself that it can't be that hard to look for energy. Then again, didn't the whole modern war come about due to the search for energy?

He really does not need to be thinking about these things. Trying to distract himself, Omega Supreme suggests, "Vantage: low. Climbing: permissible."

Holi can do a better job of standing watch if he's up on top of Omega Supreme's rocket tower, can't he?

So Omega Supreme certainly doesn't have personal space issues. Honestly, he's used to people wandering around inside of him.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron chuckles and waves a hand. He excuses, "Just checking. There's all this new-fangled technology booting about, after all."

He looks over at what Kup is looking at and asks, hoping for the best but expecting the worst, "Can you read it? I'm hoping to maybe find a center of politics and get into the governmental reports. See if there's any record of what caused this peculiar vacancy. We haven't seen any trace of the inhabitants. Where they might have gone or what drove them away."

Emirate Xaaron squints, considering the dragon. Knowing that he'll kick himself for it later, he offers, "If that thing is just going to get in the way now, I can hold it for you."

[Kup]

Kup shakes his head. "I'm afraid not," he answers before looking up at Xaaron. "But I recognize the characters." He puts his hands on his hips and looks around at the zoo. "The architecture, the characters, the animals all from the same general region... I'm pretty sure I've been here." Then he looked down at the Emirate and grinned faintly, self-consciously. "Heh. Well, the 'here' in my own reality, anyway. But if this planet isn't Gillanan III, I'm a Dycentiam Swamp Sprite!"

Not the best, no, but still better than they had!

[Long Haul]

Long Haul jumps, then looks at Xaaron for a long moment. He's asking to take care of the dragon? Well, all right! That's certainly an improvement! He nods and hands the leash over. "Erm, sure. That'll probably be a big help." Then he opens up a panel along the side of the cage and removes from his kit what basically amounts to a fancy, high tech multi-meter.

"Yeah, this is the power line. I..." he trails off, then hmms, examining where the cables run. Then he kneels, and rubs his hand over the edge of the walkway. It's raised a bit, compared with the rest of the walkway. "They run 'em along the edges here." Then he wraps on the rounded, raised ledge. It clangs. "See? Hollow"

[Holi]

But Holi doesn't know Omega's used to all that transport business. Why, it'd be like if Galaxy Shuttle Base had a robot mode! Or… something like that.

He says nothing to Omega Supreme's offer, at least not right away. He wants to be sure he heard correctly. But that's silly; his receptors are tuned up, so of course he must have heard correctly. It's pretty unexpected, though. It isn't every day someone just invites you to climb all over him.

"Oh! Alright then!" the little blue bot replies once he finishes his little chat with himself. He makes his way over to the Guardian's rocket tower and peers up… and up a little more. It's almost just like looking up at Galaxy Shuttle! Well, it certainly seems about as tall, anyway. "Er – sorry," Holi murmurs in preemptive apology, just in case he accidentally does something that could improbably cause the much larger Autobot any pain. He then begins the slightly awkward climb to the top.

It's a loooooong way up.

[Omega Supreme]

Why yes, he did make that offer! Omega Supreme's just like a jungle gym for Micromasters.

Had Omega Supreme came out later in the toyline, he likely would have been billed as a Micromaster base and come with a bunch of Micromasters in his box. Instead, he's the Constructicons' sworn nemesis.

He shows utter indifference to Holi climbing him. Omega Supreme barely feels the touch of the tiny, light robot. Usually, it takes a missile or worse to get his attention, and those only tickle. He cannot offer Holi any help with the climb. He can only sit still.

The situation in the zoo looks tame enough so far, from what he can see of it.

[Emirate Xaaron]

"You do not appear to be a Swamp Sprite," Emirate Xaaron deadpans. "So we may as well act as if this is Gillanan III. I take it that there are more of these?"

He radios to all the Autobots, //Good news. Kup knows where we are. This planet is Gillanan III.//

Emirate Xaaron takes the leash from Long Haul and looks at the dragon suspiciously. Maybe it is related to that 'Dezaras' fellow, after all, which reminds him, "We need to start cataloguing enemies. Several realities have met here, and we need to be prepared to faces from any and all of them. Also important events, like that Hate Plague of yours, so that we can better benchmark what people can be expected to know and not know."

[Kup]

"Yeah. System's got six planets, but only two of them have any native life forms," Kup answered casually. He looked up and down the lane to see which way seemed to have more working cages, then silently tried to catch Long Haul's attention and pointed in that direction.

"Gillanan III, this one, an organic world. All the native life on Gillanan IV's mechanized, though." If Transformers were either created by Quintessons or Primus, who knows where all the other mechanical lifeforms that keep popping up in their various universes comes from! Evolved from naturally occuring gears and levers, maybe?

"And yeah, that's a good idea. It'll also be handy if we ever get to where we're sending folks home." Kup ain't playing that, "The time stream must be preserved at all costs!" scrap.

[Long Haul]

When Kup points the working cages out to him, Long Haul nods. "Ah, arright. Yeah, looks like it." He gets up and, without looking back to the others, starts trotting down the walkway. With the location of the runs in mind and the information basic observation can get him, tracing the actual path of working power cables back to their source should be simple enough, even if he has to open up the occasional segment of metal-sidewalk to verify.

He leaves the heavy talking to Kup and Xaaron; he's got immediate work to keep himself busy.

[Holi]

Giving a bunch of active young Micromasters their very own jungle gym is probably not the best of ideas. They'd wear themselves out and nothing would ever get done, and worse yet, you'd have to find someone to keep an eye on them so they don't get themselves into trouble. Just think of the babysitting fees!

As Holi learns once his ascent is finished, much to his delight and awe, it's a little strange to look down at everything. Strange, but fun. It takes a few minutes before he can stop staring in fascination at the world from his new vantage point and even then, he can't quite settle on where to stand or which way to face. There's something to see in every direction, even if that something is just the far-off horizon; he moves from one side of the platform to another and back again, trying to take it all in. It's all unfamiliar and different and it's easy to forget for a moment how worried he should feel when he's way up here. And to think, Omega Supreme gets to see things like this all the time. Holi can't fathom why the massive Autobot seems so downcast, but if he knew the truth, he'd probably find it hard to smile, too.

Finally, Holi reminds himself he's up here to perform his duty, and that's exactly what he'll do… even if it might be a little more fun to keep watching the birds and the clouds. He heaves a small sigh and picks himself a spot on the far side of the platform; he figures he can look out, since he can move more readily (although having a patrol tank sure seems handy), and Omega Supreme can monitor the zoo. It makes perfect sense! Why, Omega's probably watching the zoo already, anyway. So Holi tweaks his receptors a bit – it's windier up here than he thought, and he can't have the sound interfering with the audio – and resumes his watch like the good little soldier he is.

"I sure hope everyone is alright," he says wistfully before going silent. Does Omega Supreme have anyone for whom he worries? Maybe Holi could ask him sometime.

[Omega Supreme]

See, this is the great thing about using Omega Supreme as a jungle gym. He’s both jungle gym and baby-sitter in one, and if there’s any rough-housing or anyone acts up, Omega Supreme wouldn’t need to say much to get everyone to calm down, which is good thing, because he never says very much.

His tank slowly loops around the track. He’s hungry enough that he should probably stay still, but habit is a hard master to deny.

Omega Supreme supposes that he should reply to Holi. Saying nothing would be rude, to say the least, but he has trouble deciding what to say. Words are hard to extract from him, like blood from a stone, but he manages, “Safety: important.”

He sounds like one of those stupid public service ads! No wonder he tries not to say much.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Just wait until a Vector Prime or the Vok show up. Then they’ll see how Kup feels about preservation of the time stream!

“We’ll need to compile whole databases. Important events, important people, important places…” Emirate Xaaron notes. It’s a momentous task, and currently, he has but a datapad to offer to the task. “When all is said and done, I am the history of my Cybertron, so I can fill in there.”

Keeping the dragon reigned in, he follows after Long Haul, glancing back along the way they came. Idly, Emirate Xaaron asks, “Did this dragon-thing come from Gillanan IV, then?”

[Kup]

Kup'll feel the same way about the preservation of the time stream, dammit! The good mech that does nothing to prevent an evil deed is as guilty as the evil mech that does it, no matter when the deed is done!

Kup follows along with the other two, still reasoning that he's probably the most combat-capable. He looks about him constantly as he walks, with all the apparent air of concern of a tourist checking out the local curiosities. Xaaron's optics are probably discerning enough to determine that Kup is, in fact, in a state of high alert that's so practiced it's become casual. Long Haul would have no clue.

The veteran does take his optics off the scenery long enough to cast Xaaron a glance when he calls himself the history of his Cybertron. What is this guy, Vector Sigma? But he doesn't actually say anything until the smaller robot asks his question. "Yeah, I think so," Kup nods. "Of course, the ones I saw were a lot bigger." His hands spread to imply something very, very large. Say, large enough to grab a Xaaron-sized mechanoid and go flying off with it.

Then, Kup goes back to looking around. "Of course, erm, the Gillanan I remembered had a lot more people on it."

[Long Haul]

The zoo, it should be noted, butts up against the river. Rivers provide pleasant walkways for patrons, after all. Plus, parts of the river can be redirected to travel through the zoo, to improve the scenery, to flow through special caged areas for interesting native species, and... what's this? It seems to be flowing underneath a building that Long Haul, following the path of the power cables, is heading towards.

The Constructibot stops up short, then his blue band brightens. "Ah-HA!" he declares, pointing. "Think I..." then his hand lowers and his band dims. "Dammit! Those doors're too small for me!"

[Holi]

"It is," Holi agrees with Omega on the matter of safety after a delay to listen in on the Autobot frequency chatter. Everyone back on Micro, and on Earth, and here, too; their safety matters to him. It sounds like it matters to Omega Supreme, too.

Even if his comrade can't feel it, Holi pats the nearest likely surface in what he hopes is a reassuring gesture.

"We'll keep them safe," he says determinedly. He may be just one Micromaster, but he's the captain of the Rescue Patrol. He'll do whatever it takes to make good on that vow.