Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Oct 17, 2007 16:27:10 GMT -5
Once Skyfire has landed, and opened the door out, Cannonball looks around outside, looking over the place he has arrived. Nothin' really standing out to him on first glance. Well. Nothing other than the fact that they're in a large crater...
He starts out of Skyfire, before glancing back in at Hook. He doesn't really care for him from their first encounters, but it would be beneficial to his existane if he is actually 'nice' to him. "Oy, 'Ook, ye need a 'and with any o' that?" he calls back into the shuttle.
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Post by Hook on Oct 17, 2007 20:08:57 GMT -5
Twitch.
"Aitch-oh-oh-kay," Hook mutters. He's finally finished the last of the actual work on the mining worm and is now just checking every system and sub-system for flaws.
"As a matter of fact, I do," he answer, raising his voice. "We need to get- not-Midnight out of Skyfire's hold so that Skyfire has full freedom of movement back, and I can bring not-Midnight online once more."
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 17, 2007 21:03:38 GMT -5
"That would be appreciated, as would a top off--or at least some refreshment, I'm not sure you have enough to top me off if fuel is at all short--and some help cleaning all the mud out of my hold."
Skyfire considers for a moment.
"If he's not Midnight," the large white spaceship asks, "who is he?"
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Oct 17, 2007 21:45:02 GMT -5
Oh, right, the green bugger had beef with how Cannonball talked. The pirate takes a smug look. "Ah, mah apologies, Huh-ook...s'jus' th' way ah am." he replies, shrugging as he steps back in.
Glancing over the array of parts and junk scattered about, Cannonball then transforms, back of his vehicle mode facing hook, the hatch opening. "Ah s'pose ah kin carry more in th' back thar than I could in-hand."
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Post by Hook on Oct 17, 2007 22:09:24 GMT -5
"That depends on him, doesn't it?" Hook says quietly in response to Skyfire's question. Then he hears Cannonball's latest attempt to pronounce his name.
Well, it's better than nothing. Really.
...
He's going to rewire Cannonball's vocalizer to sound like he's from California.
Hook folds his arms. "That scrap can wait, Cannonball. We need to get the mining worm out as soon as possible."
He sidles over to a wrapped bundle and picks it up. "Help me set up this block-and-tackle rig, and I'll call it acceptable."
---
Assuming Cannonball goes along with it, Hellbender can be out of Skyfire's hold next round.
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 17, 2007 22:35:57 GMT -5
While Hook and Cannonball (sounds like a pirate RPG, doesn't it?) work on getting the mining worm Formerly Known as Midnight out of his hold, Skyfire resumes consideration of his current situation. What is Starscream doing now? They still had a great deal of catching up to do...
In lieu of further information to analyse, Skyfire returns to his earlier project of analysing the transportation infrastructure of the vanished civilization. He steadily maps visible road networks and probably navigable waterways (if it's wide and has cities built on it, it's navigable). It occurs to him that with the orbital platforms beaming power to the ground, an orbital survey of their output just might identify active receiving stations... though the automated defenses might interfere with getting a good directional map of the power beams. Still, if energy was an issue, it would probably be worth the risk.
He needed a better idea of what the world's functional architectures looked like. Right now, it was hard to tell a shopping mall from a factory from an amusement park from orbit. Wharfs, however, looked the same almost everywhere, and it was easy to guess that the large buildings nearby were warehouses. But what was that maze-like structure there? And what was that large tower with the walled enclosure? What were those fields of shallow white domes? How about those silver fields he was unable to resolve in sufficient detail to even guess what it was?
So many mysteries to investigate...
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Oct 18, 2007 13:21:20 GMT -5
"Block n' tackle, eh? Ah kin 'annle that. S'rookie stuff, m'lad" Cannonball answers, transforming once more to robot mode. It was rookie stuff, after all. All sailors worth their salt knew about them and how to do 'em. Walking over, Cannonball deploys his claw attachment for his gun-arm so that he'll have a semblance of a proper second hand to work with. "Jus' point me where t' rig it up."
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Post by Hook on Oct 18, 2007 13:33:35 GMT -5
The look Hook gives Cannonball is... curious. One might see a lessening of the disrespect he has for the pirate. It's hard for someone to be all bad if they know how to use equipment properly, is it?
"Very good," is all Hook has to say before he begins directing Cannonball to place the rig. Once that is done, he transforms to crane-mode and goes back to directing Cannonball in how to work his line through the block-and-tackle and around the mining worm.
As soon as that is done, it's all just a matter of exerting the necessary force to drag the mining worm into the fading evening light.
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 18, 2007 15:13:23 GMT -5
As soon as Hook finishes putting away his tools and clears the last of the parts and himself out of Skyfire, Skyfire transforms.
"Well." He looks down at Hook and Cannonball. "Thank you for the assistance, Cannonball. Congratulations on making it out of enemy territory in one piece! What exactly happened, anyway?"
As for the mech formerly known as Midnight, Skyfire strongly suspects he'll have to provide his own locomotion from here on out. "Hook, will you be needing my assistance any longer? And who do I talk to about refueling and getting a hose-down for my cargo bay?"
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Post by Spinister on Oct 18, 2007 15:56:24 GMT -5
When did Spinister get here? Does it really matter? Probably not. He wanders out from behind one of the bigger ridges in the crater, one that is easily big enough to obscure him, and offers, "Skyfire? I'm Spinister. I can take you over for some fuel. Your friend Starscream is having me interview everyone so I can make up a report of everyone's backgrounds and abilities."
He looks to the others and adds, "Feel free to come along. I'll have to get you sometime. Lump sum works for me."
Overall, his stance and what expression he does possess are neutral. Spinister tends to be a fairly cold person.
Hook might notice that some damage shows on Spinister's back, mostly hidden away behind his tailboom. Considering his transform, he must have been shot in the underbelly in helicopter mode.
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Oct 18, 2007 16:22:20 GMT -5
After the removal of the worm and Midnight's parts, Cannonball looks up at the Air Guardian while replacing his grabby-claw. "Big lad, ain't'cha..." he mumbles to himself. Not as big as Tidal Wave or Omega Supreme, but still - bigger than Cannonball. At the congratulations, he gives a smug nod. "Aye, thank ye, boyo. Wot all 'appened be a long story...perhaps after a 'ave me a chat with Starscream, ah kin tell ye an' anyone else 'o wants t' 'ear." Cannonball then grins! "I do fancy meself a fine spinner o' yarns, after all."
At Spinister's arrival and offer of energon, Cannonball follows. "Sounds good t' me, gettin' a mite low meself."
Hold on a second - Those colors strike a chord in Cannonball's memorybanks! "...oy, waitaminute, you look familiar."
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Post by Hook on Oct 18, 2007 20:45:59 GMT -5
The sun is below the horizon now, but if this day is like the days before it, the golden evening light will last for some time yet. The days have been getting longer, too, Hook has noticed. This hemisphere is tilting towards the sun.
"Spinister should be able to help you find what you're looking for," Hook says absently as he approaches the coils of the mining worm. It lies still, dormant, silvery length curled up on itself in a spiral. The boring heads lay along the ground, and Hook approaches the area just behind the point where the intakes smooth seamlessly into the body.
A circuit probe drops into his hand, positioned in the precise angle at which to strike, and stabbed home.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 18, 2007 21:55:14 GMT -5
Midnight came back online, his first awareness that of power surging through him in the darkness. Strange sensations tingled through his circuits: odd aches, sharp nips of pain, jangly sensors, an inexplicable restlessness and heaviness. Nothing felt right. The not-rightness ranged from a little bit off to totally wrong--and why couldn't he see?
He remembered what he thought Hook was going to do--put his brain component in the big ugly worm robot, but if he'd done that, why wasn't he aware and in control? Was he just in a box somewhere? Either way, he had no wings. He wasn't Midnight anymore; Midnight was a heavy jet.
His diagnostics didn't make any sense; they were all scrambled, registering things that he didn't have or complaining about incomprehensible codes and signals. What was going on here--
"ALL RIGHT, IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU NEED MY HELP FOR NOW!"
Gaah, who just shouted in his audial?? He who was once Midnight frantically dialed down the senstivity of his audials, and one diagnostic turned green and blinked out as his metaprocessor adjusted to the alien protocol. He flailed, trying to turn toward the speaker, trying to straighten twisted non-existant limbs, trying to see--
The mining worm's forebody lifted off the ground and swung hard about, missing Hook only because the latter leaped skyward.1. The tail and rearbody uncoiled and writhed like the death-throes of a decapitated snake. Others may not have been so prepared as Hook...
// Hook! WHY CAN'T I SEE? //
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 18, 2007 22:04:48 GMT -5
Skyfire had just turned toward Hook and said, "All right, if you don't think you need my help for now," in his mild voice when the worm came to raging life.
He lunged backward, away from the still-quiescent boring heads, stumbled on the slope of the crater and fell backwards onto his upper cabin. It took him only a moment to sit back up and flip himself back on his feet by partially transforming, flipping around, and reverting to robot mode again.
"Whoa, easy there," he says to the mining worm. "We're your friends, just calm down."
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Post by Spinister on Oct 18, 2007 22:28:29 GMT -5
Spinister replies simply to Cannonball, "I should." They were both at the power plant battle!
He curiously watches Hook stab the worm with a logic probe. Spinister hasn't been filled in on the deal here. Speaking of filling in, he doesn't want Hook angry at him. If Spinister doesn't tell Hook what he learned, Hook will have a right to be mad at Spinister. He radios Hook, //You didn't hear it from me, but Starscream just gave Shockwave your job. Figured you deserve to know.//
Because Spinister is concerned with doing the right thing by Hook, he isn't quite at the top of his game, and the worm's tail smacks him clear off his face and into a crater wall. One of his helicopter blades shatters. They're always pretty fragile, and now he's going to have to get that fixed. Rubbing his bent chevron, Spinister orders, "Calm that thing down. Now."
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