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Post by Perceptor on Jan 12, 2008 14:19:32 GMT -5
OOC: takes place after Establishing the Party and after those individuals have left.
Perceptor tightens one last connection in the newly installed, upgraded fabricator and stands back to double check his handi-work. The older, first model, he's already moved down to his workshop, having returned here to Repair with the newer, more durable and efficient model that he'd been working on over the last few days. Far less prone to unexpected breakages and with a wider range of capabilities, he hopes, hence its installation in Repair, a far greater priority right now than his own use of piecing together basic parts for use in the various other projects he is building - datapads, fuel converters, fuel research, energy alternatives, defensive weaponry... There is quite the wide range of items occupying his time and attention of late. Perceptor, for all that he must often be reminded to rest, recharge, and refuel, could not be happier with his activities. Even if it is somewhat... disheartening to be no closer to answers yet than when he'd first awoken sprawled on hot black sands. Sand... Had he remembered to ask Rodimus to ask the scouting and mapping party to keep their optics open for a good supply of high silicate sand for use in component manufacture? Oh dear... And raw metals would be very useful, too. Zircon for tensile ceramics, and precious metal deposits for delicate componentry... So many things he's lacking here that would be so useful in continuing work on the portal device. He should have requested to go with them, except that would have required losing adequate laboratory facilities to work in. He should radio one of them to double check if he'd asked for those things. Perhaps Swer- No, nevermind. Better to ask Rodimus, or perhaps ask Kup to ask Rodimus for him, than to irritate the temperamental racer with another unwanted radio contact. Best to save that privilege for later when it might be far more necessary. Besides, it occurs to him suddenly that he has yet to have given anyone a status report on his progress. On his very activities, actually! He keeps meaning to, and yet, always manages to get distracted before he gets it accomplished. Well, everyone's quarters are one floor down. Perhaps Kup can assist him in tracking down Xaaron and Rodimus for that- Perhaps Kup can assist him in weeding out what needs to be brought to Xaaron and Rodimus's attention, and in an expedient, efficient manner that will not provide an irritation or an imposition to their day. With that in mind, Perceptor makes his way down the ramp to knock on Kup's door. "Kup? Are you present and available?" he calls politely through the door.
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Post by Kup on Jan 12, 2008 14:34:06 GMT -5
Perceptor isn't the only one with a habit of writing on any available surface, as the form of Kup's 'notepad' should make obvious. Right now, he's checking said 'notepad' against a graph on his wall, a simple thing in rough Cybertronian script that matches the neater reality chart he's recently added to the database, minus the long-winded explanations. Right now, he's frowning, and tapping the soft rock he uses to write with against the metal wall above his berth. When Perceptor knocks, he shouts, "Yeah! Come on in, Perceptor! I'll only be a moment." He puts a mark by the name 'Mirage' on the table, then a matching one by the name 'Airazor,' and another identical one to that beneath the table. He scrawls in Cybertronian, "Only conflict is Unicron. Most of us didn't know about Unicron at Mirage's pull-point, either." Then, he turns and hops off the bed, subspacing his rock. If Perceptor has entered by now, he greets him with, "All right, I'm ready." If Perceptor doesn't enter when Kup invites him, he instead opens the door and says the same thing.
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Swerve-3
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Post by Swerve-3 on Jan 12, 2008 16:49:41 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Back in Perceptor's Lab…
At first, the only hint that something may be amiss in the lab is a faint buzz in the air, the sort that would make an organic's hair stand on end and tease at a Transformer's sensors with faint static feathers. It builds slowly until, with a crack and a groan, machinery not yet meant for proper function sputters to life, wires crackling, circuits humming. The arched frame of the contraption standing half-finished in the rear corner shivers under unseen weight, electric current skipping through wiring and across gaps where panels remain detached as it churns into operation.
Another moment or two passes in dissonance and flickering light before the space within the archway darkens to flat black and the air grows heavy and still. Paler shadows move within the gloom, slowly resolving to dim forms of colour before a red forearm mounted with dull chrome pipes breaks the surface. The rest of Swerve follows at a wary advance, posture very clearly defensive, optics sweeping the area. The arm not raised to guard remains extended behind him as he pauses, not yet fully emerged from the portal, and a frown darkens his face for a split-second. At first, the realisation that this is still Perceptor's lab is disheartening. Some escape!
No… no, wait. Something's off. Everything looks right overall, as far as Swerve remembers. Everything that should be here is here: shelving, workbenches, the energon distiller, the fabricator. But something is different. Aside from the quiet. It simply seems… lighter, somehow.
"Sir?" he murmurs, looking back expectantly. It seems safe enough at the moment.
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Emirate Xaaron-3
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Ate you alive since you were a child/That's when the monster first appeared in you
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Post by Emirate Xaaron-3 on Jan 12, 2008 17:54:33 GMT -5
It takes all of Emirate Xaaron's meager strength not to break down screaming at the transit. He's been through all sorts of strange, cruel, and unusual things, but they’ve grown familiar to him. This was difference, and the unknown puts the fear back in him. However, breaking down screaming in Perceptor's lab will likely only ensure that he continues screaming for the rest of his liable to be short life.
"You made it!" Emirate Xaaron exclaims, louder than he intended to. He's sincerely happy to see that Swerve made it. Perhaps Swerve will turn colours someday and prove to be as rotten as any of them, but the Velocitronian seems to be something that Emirate Xaaron thought never existed: a genuinely good man. Some part of Emirate Xaaron expects this to turn out to be a lie, and if it does, the betrayal will hurt all the more because he allowed himself to trust that something might be true, something that he knows is a terrible idea.
Speaking of pleasant facades, he glances around the laboratory warily. Just because there are no straps on the laboratory table doesn't mean this preceptor is any improvement over their own. He might prefer to drug or to cut locomotive circuits. There is any number of ways to immobilise, many of them unpleasant. His paranoia kicks in, and he drops his voice to a whisper, "Check for security cameras."
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Post by Perceptor on Jan 12, 2008 18:54:55 GMT -5
Meanwhile, back in the base...
Perceptor does, indeed, enter when bidden to, watching Kup finish up his notations with a curious air. Such notations might assist him in his work on determining a cause for their presence here. Or at least potentially assist in his work developing the theoretical matrix behind their circumstance, which would assist with the calculations regarding the eventual wormhole stability...
He must remember to ask for a copy of this data later.
"My apologies for the interruption, Kup, however I had been installing the improved fabricator I had constructed for Repair, and realized that I had not provided you or Xaaron or Rodimus with a status report on the progress of my work," he explains, motioning out the door with one arm. "Perhaps you would have time for me to rectify that now?"
And help translate it into something easily digestible for the others, as well, goes without saying.
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Post by Kup on Jan 12, 2008 19:10:27 GMT -5
Oh, boy. So Kup gets to listen to an evening of egghead technobabble so the bosses don't have to. But still, Kup's been meaning to check out Perceptor's lab, and the viability of keeping it secure in its current location. He shrugs and heads out his door. "Well all right, then."
The veteran looks back at Perceptor. "No reason to walk it, though." He transforms. Yes, right there in the hallway. What, you think a base built out of a parking garage and intended, primarily, for people who can turn into land-based vehicles isn't going to include hallways large enough to drive through?
"If you want to hop in, you can explain on the way."
OOC: Leaving it up to Perceptor whether he climbs in the back as a robot or transforms to get in the front. Perceptor is free to mention me driving off in his post once he's climbed aboard, though.
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Swerve-3
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Post by Swerve-3 on Jan 12, 2008 20:13:40 GMT -5
Back at the Lab again…
It's a wry sort of smile Swerve gives Emirate Xaaron at the elder Autobot's exultation, a grim edge to the otherwise pleasant expression.
"That I did," he says almost drolly, giving his leader the once-over to ensure there's at least no obvious injury from their impromptu trip. Emirate Xaaron looks shaken – understandably so, given the unfortunate circumstances – but otherwise unharmed. "Good to see you made it through safely, sir," he continues with genuine relief. Not only would Swerve be upset were Emirate Xaaron injured, they can keep moving even if the elder is merely shaken; injuries would take time to stop and tend. Time they might not have.
At his leader's prompt, Swerve nods acknowledgement and turns his attention back to their surroundings and steps carefully off the platform. He periodically glances back toward Emirate Xaaron as he moves briskly around the lab, starting with the gateway machine itself – strangely, it looks only half-finished – then moving outward to scour the shelves – since when does Perceptor simply leave things… well, set like this? – and check every workbench, the berth area, the equipment and even the walls are looked over before he starts back toward the corner. If Emirate Xaaron has stepped away from the gap-ridden arch, it has probably deactivated and will garner a curious look from Swerve.
Still more now seems worryingly out of place; Swerve has never had much of a head for the elaborate sciences Perceptor employs, but what he sees on the walls is different than what he expects to see. The chemistry station doesn't seem as well-used, there are no restraints fixed to that workbench, the energon distiller doesn't really look like a distiller at all. The clinical sterility is… simply not here.
"Nothing I've found, sir," declares the constable, stopping an arm's length from the edge of the platform and extending one arm. Simply a beckoning motion, palm downward rather than upturned. "Even so, I don't think we should stay here very much longer."
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Emirate Xaaron-3
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Post by Emirate Xaaron-3 on Jan 12, 2008 20:34:42 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron is at his normal level of performance, which is to say 'not fantastic, certainly not enjoyable, but passable'. He has no new injuries, and with fear spiking through his fuel like some addictive new additive, his old pains dull. Emirate Xaaron ghosts close to Swerve, close but not too close. He craves the protection offered but dreads what might come of getting too close. Emirate Xaaron looks back at the unfinished portal but does not spare it a second glance. It's probably worse here than where he just came from, in its own way, but they can't go back there. Looking just wastes time.
He nods fervently, agreeing easily, "Very right. Then let us be gone."
Emirate Xaaron wants out of this condemned lab before he can discover what perversions belong to this particular Perceptor. Already, he notices that there are little offerings of some sort set out, as if for an animal. Emirate Xaaron brings up a hand to rub his temple. This Perceptor is propitiating that devil of a dragon, that junkyard beast as apt to tear out a throat as look at a mech? Lovely. Emirate Xaaron does not wish to know more.
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Post by Perceptor on Jan 12, 2008 20:55:40 GMT -5
Back at the base...
"Ah! Thank you, Kup," Perceptor replies cheerfully, climbing into Kup's bed before the older mechs rumbles away down the ramp.
"Well, as I had stated, I have constructed a more reliable, more versatile fabricator unit to replace the original beta unit produced for Repair. Given the wide variety of mechanisms we already have currently in residence, and the probability of additional individuals of unknown specification arriving in the future, I felt it prudent to improve upon our repair capabilities now, before it became necessary. Particularly now that we have had more of an opportunity to classify components available to us for more efficient use-"
"Ah, in regards to such, could I trouble you to ask Rodimus Prime if I had requested that he ask the exploration teams to mark locations of mineral deposits during their travels? I have need of quality high-silicate sand, zircon, copper, tungst-" Perceptor breaks off abruptly, before he allows himself to rattle off his entire wish list, which is quite lengthy.
"Err... raw materials for the production of delicate circuitry and components. Ahem."
"I am also currently exploring potential fuel alternatives, specifically in regards to supplementing Omega Supreme's fuel requirements..."
This could go on for a while. Poor Kup.
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Post by Kup on Jan 12, 2008 21:23:24 GMT -5
Is Kup driving rather faster than normal through the streets of the Gillanan city? Almost as if fleeing, or perhaps trying to make the trip that much shorter? Surely you jest! Surely Kup, hero of two wars and mentor to two Primes, who has watched Unicron attempt to devour his home world and has faced up to the monster Chaos, who has quite possibly traveled farther and witnessed more than perhaps any other Transformer of his time, would not quail at the prospect of sitting through the entirety of an unedited Perceptor babble-session!
Or maybe so.
In his defense, he is half-listening, at the very least, picking out those words and details that are important and mostly toning out the rest. New fabricator in Repair, got it. Raw material for circuits and components, check. Concentrated fuel for Omega, check. And so forth.
Kup's not nearly as fast as most younger Autobots, nor even as fast as he needs to be, but a hundred miles an hour is plenty fast for these deserted city streets, and it's not very long at all before Perceptor's makeshift lab is in sight and they are closing on the entrance...
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Swerve-3
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Post by Swerve-3 on Jan 12, 2008 22:13:22 GMT -5
Indoors…
Swerve nods. No more dallying; they have to get somewhere at least reasonably safe. Somewhere they can secure themselves and take stock. He's first to the doorway, peering out to check for witnesses or obstacles to their flight… and the very fuel in his lines goes cold at the sight of a familiar pale green pickup truck and its crimson-plated passenger trundling their way. It's fear he feels twisting at his spark, but not for himself. No, he fears for Emirate Xaaron even as he has no time for fear. Not only Perceptor, but Kup as well… he can't reasonably fend off the both of them. Run, then? If Emirate Xaaron is willing to be carried, Swerve will do so without hesitation; he can easily outrun the security chief's acid musket. But can he outrun the scientist's cannon?
He'll need a head start for that. Blast it all.
"Sir," he says, forcing steadiness and calm in his voice as he backs away slightly from the doorway, "we need to move quickly. And we may have to run." The implication that it will be an awkward seating arrangement for Emirate Xaaron on the compact car if they're to make any speed is an obvious one and made with his deeply apologetic look, but left unsaid. First thing is first; either Swerve will have to blast them a secondary exit or the two of them need to get out the door and around the backside of the building with all due haste. The former method will most certainly give them away right from the off, and the latter could get them away mostly unnoticed, but it could make them easily spotted. Laying down cover fire in that case wouldn't even be an issue, but the instant he transforms, they're both vulnerable until he can unlock his weapons again.
Stealth and speed, and hope for the best while readying for the worst, then. Swerve always was one for a bit of optimism.
"Let's go, sir, and quickly, please!" he urges Emirate Xaaron, already moving to keep himself between the other two Autobots and his leader as he starts out the door.
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Emirate Xaaron-3
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Post by Emirate Xaaron-3 on Jan 12, 2008 23:59:30 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron is forced into a corner here in more ways than one. He hates the literal feel of touching another Autobot and of being touched. Emirate Xaaron has so many bad memories tied to being touched. He cannot help but think what might happen, what Swerve could do to him if Swerve has to carry him.
What cinches it is not his fragile trust in Swerve. No, Emirate Xaaron simply thinks that anything Swerve can do to him is going to be a lot more mundane than Perceptor or some of the other Autobots. Now, if Swerve throws Emirate Xaaron to the other Autobots, he'll be well and truly baked.
Emirate Xaaron hesitates, and he hates himself for those wasted seconds. Any way he turns, he'll lose. He turns to Swerve.
Emirate Xaaron follows Swerve. Quaking, for he really does not want to hear the answer, Emirate Xaaron has to ask, voice small, "What did you see?" Better to get the answer over with, so he can steel himself for what is to come and start planning how to weasel his way out of what's coming.
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Post by Perceptor on Jan 13, 2008 0:19:08 GMT -5
"...additional energon conversion units such as the unit sent with the scouting party, however I currently lack sufficient quantities of the correct components to manufacture similar compact devices. I have the appropriate pieces for more stationary units, however that does little to aid in further explorati-"
Perceptor breaks off his continued explanation suddenly as he spots someone darting furtively out the door from his workshop, another gilded shadow close behind.
"Was the exploration party altered? I thought that Swerve had been sent along?" he asks Kup, confused. Because that really looks very much like Swerve there.
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Post by Kup on Jan 13, 2008 0:42:09 GMT -5
"What?" Kup asks, startled. "He is, and I'd know! I room with the guy!" And yet, from this distance, Kup can see him, too. And isn't that Emirate Xaaron with him? What're they doing creeping around Perceptor's lab?
Kup had been going pretty fast (for him, anyway) already, but he speeds up, if just a little. This is somewhat strange, sure, but those two are still two of their own, aren't they? As he rumbles forward, he shouts, "Emirate Xaaron! Swerve! What's going on?"
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Swerve-3
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Post by Swerve-3 on Jan 13, 2008 2:19:49 GMT -5
This? This is Swerve grimacing at the sound of that hail. He's careful not to let Emirate Xaaron see the expression, but neither can he turn a false smile on his leader. His face is, instead, very carefully neutral – not quite grim, gamely masking his worry – as he glances over his shoulder. He'll answer even if Emirate Xaaron has already recognised that voice calling after them.
"…A problem, sir," he says quietly in his understated way. He does not push the elder; never something so inconsiderate to his leader. He does, however, make a point of putting his back to Emirate Xaaron so he can face the incoming threat, very clearly attempting to shield the Autobot retreating behind him and picking up his pace. Hopefully, the indirect nudging won't upset Emirate Xaaron too badly. "Please just keep moving." He ponders drawing his weapon and decides against it once more. Better to get away quickly than needlessly draw fire. Nearly the end of the awning and the far side of the building; then he can transform and hopefully coax Emirate Xaaron aboard without much delay. He's hardly built to go off-road, but he'll have to if he wants to use the building for what modest cover it can provide.
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