ESCAPE 4

Was it because of the wounds or the mental stress of it all, or - quite possible as well - due to twisted time-space in this dimensional abnormality, but Soundwave stayed offline for four solar cycles - unprecedentedly long for a recharge.

Laserbeak didn't trust herself to fly around while he was offline. Instead, the drone settled to watch atop a rock overshadowing Soundwave's improvised berth. Not that there had been anything to watch out for. Distant and distorted human signals were all she was getting from the air. In this forsaken place rust seemed to be their biggest foe.

When Soundwave finally onlined and stirred, Laserbeak pinged him cheerfully. She was glad to have company at last.

/Anything to report?/ - her response was negative but Soundwave expected that much. In case of any abnormality, she would trigger an emergency recharge interruption sequence. The spy assessed the repairs that his nanos completed while he was out and found it satisfactory. It cost him about forty percent of his self-repair capacity but it was worth it. There was no use in sparing nanos in favor of possible injuries in the future while he had been leaking here and now.

He restored energon circulation in his repaired leg and rose. The rebuilt joint was tender but it held him. Laserbeak watched him shift his weight, testing his systems and pinged him impatiently.

Soundwave transmitted her his speculations:

/Math aside, the most probable cause of the explosion is the loop itself. I still think a bridge would do the trick, but the alignment was wrong/

Laserbeak pinged him with encouragement

/It is impossible to break it from the inside. We need to open a bridge from the outside. Come/ The drone attached herself to his armor and Soundwave started walking, sharing his thoughts as he went.

/We don't know what happened to Nemesis and how to reach it, the ship's groundbridge is unavailable. Earth is not cyberforming, that makes a valid assumption that Shockwave is not controlling the Omega lock anymore. Autobots must have seized control over the ship.../ anger rose, and Soundwave de-prioritized emotions to continue

/Current Nemesis location - unknown. Means to uncover it - absent./

Laserbeak shuddered and Soundwave petted her wings to calm the drone down.

/  However, the space bridge on the orbit has no onsite controls. It is unknown if the autobots seized control of that facility, but if they control the ship, they also control the spacebridge, whether aware of it or not. It is also unknown if the 'bots are still lurking around the Harbinger. Potentially, we have four bridges within operating distance. Two with Nemesis gone. Autobots are only eight, they can't control them all. And after MECH, it would be extremely stupid for them to let humans anywhere near this technology./

He stopped and stood still for several clicks. Laserbeak didn't disturb him, knowing well that this meant her host was compiling some complex code. The moment Soundwave stirred again, the link between them was filled with code. /Patch up your decoder. Lock onto agent Fowler's cellphone and those of the kids. We need to know bots dispositions. And the outcome of the battle. And whether Shockwave is still functioning./

Laserbeak pinged him with query and underlying delight at having something to do.

/Yes, Starscream, too. Anything. And GPS them, even if it makes no sense/

Soundwave stopped at the edge of the crater and looked down. Megatron was as lifeless as before. The spy carefully walked down the slope and sat a couple of dozens feet away from his late master.

/We set camp here/

Laserbeak pinged him back with negative figures of comfort.

/We sat camp here. I need Megatron./ Soundwave said and then added /I need him for one thing he always did best and still can do for me.../

Not waiting for Laserbeak to flood him with her nagging curiosity - like he knew she would, he explained: /He gives me purpose. Motivation. Determination. Inspiration./

Laserbeak pinged him back with understanding.

Before turning all his attention to 3G signals, Soundwave whispered "To the pits of hell and back, if needed" - the vow he gave tohis leader when Megatron branded him with the decepticon symbol what now seemed to be an eternity ago. Looked like the time was now, and "back" was needed indeed.

Clicks had passed and turned to orns and then cycles. Little by little, a short message here, a slip of word there and the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were slowly coming together.

Outside this silent hell the human planet was bustling with life, with light and sound, unaware how close this world had come to its annihilation. Those who did know were too elated to maintain their former guerilla lifestyle. Humans had paperwork to file. Paperwork was stored in databanks. Databanks were hidden behind firewalls. Soundwave had always found human firewalls adorable - so naive. So fragile!

Less than a week after agent Fowler had filed his top classified, ad hoc report on autobots' utter and complete victory, it's content unfolded on Soundwave's visor.