[ INTRO LOG ]

[robotsatan]

You don't know how you got here. One minute you were walking, sleeping, maybe dead -- then you're here, your feet suddenly carrying you down an empty street. Where's here?

Any Cybertronian would recognize this as their home planet, Cybertron, but it's not a Cybertron they've ever known. It has all the familiar hallmarks, but none of the specifics -- the city isn't one anyone here could identify, and even at a glance it's obvious that no one's set foot on the planet's surface in hundreds of years. The city and its surrounding areas all bear the marks of devastating war, of dust and rust collected over centuries. With no one in sight -- right at first, anyway -- there's plenty to explore. In fact, if you start walking, you'll find that your feet may just carry you in one particular direction.

A) The crater.
On one edge of the city is a massive crater left by some wartime weapon that seems to have taken out a large chunk of the surrounding metropolitan area. At the center of the crater it's broken through the surface of the terrain to reveal what looks like it might be a promising energon deposit. There is some strange but native vegetation growing around the edges, too, that no Cybertronian would be able to identify -- small, metallic, brittle-looking sprouts that bear a curiously organic-looking fruit of some kind that doesn't look like it's intended for consumption by any natives of the planet. In one rocky nook of the crater, light catches on the surface of a pool of water, which seems strangely out of place on Cybertron. On closer inspection, it seems that somehow an underground water source has formed a spring in the crater.

B) The center of the city.
If you follow where your feet seem to want to carry you, you'll find yourself in the middle of the ruined city. It seems that the center of the city was once home to a massive forum, and some of the pillars and structures still stand. At the very center of the forum is a massive, elaborately constructed fountain, although it has now long since run dry of whatever used to fill it. One of the low, inner walls of the forum has a terminal embedded in its surface, although it looks curiously ancient, out of place with the rest of the city, and unlike the rest of the technology still left around, there doesn't seem to be any way to power it on or operate it. There are a few scattered pools of water and a few of the strange metallic plants in the city, too, but they're not quite as plentiful as in the crater.

The planet was obviously once home to a massive network of communication relays, but those have all been long since destroyed. However, with the bits and pieces left behind and a few determined minds, it wouldn't be too hard to build a working, if rudimentary, one...

Comments

[towardspeace]

"I, too, was both a gladiator and a revolutionary, long ago. I suspect you are some... mirror of my own timeline – or I am yours." He frowns. "I spoke to someone not long ago who insisted I looked nothing like who I claimed to be – I wonder if she would recognise you."

[d_17nolonger]

Well, that's actually... the least crazy theory he's heard. At least, since he's been here. Megatronus finally drops any remaining suspicion, turning it into complete curiosity now.

"I see... She? Who?"

[towardspeace]

He shakes his head. "A human – an organic alien. No one I imagine you would have encountered yet."

[d_17nolonger]

Organic alien? Megatronus thinks for a moment, then muses, "... I met a strange creature near a crater that seemed rather hostile towards me. Is that was that thing was? A 'human'?"

[towardspeace]

He raises a non-eyebrow. "It could have been. Describe it for me."

[d_17nolonger]

"It looked very... soft. About..." Megatronus measures out June's rough height between his fingers. "This big, perhaps? Very small. Black, uh. Strand-things on its head."

Very eloquent, Megatronus. A+.

[towardspeace]

He nods consideringly, as if that description was a totally reasonable one. "That sounds like one of them." For all he knows it could be the one he's thinking of, but he doesn't want to know so badly that he's going to press someone who's never seen a human before to describe one in more detail than that.

[d_17nolonger]

"There was another one, even smaller. Very spirited." Megatronus thinks for a moment, grasping his chin in a hand. "But then how would that explain their inhabitance on Cybertron? Granted that this is clearly a different Cybertron..."

[towardspeace]

Megatron shakes his head. "They are not inhabitants – they have come to be here as inexplicably as you and me. And you're right, this isn't your Cybertron, or mine. I don't know if we can assume anything about it."

[d_17nolonger]

Megatronus is quiet for some time while he thinks on this information. "Given that the signs of life I've seen around here seem to be just as informed as either of us... finding any more information might be a challenge."

[towardspeace]

"Cybertron is a big place," Megatron points out. "There must be answers here somewhere." He doesn't sound like he's colossally gung-ho about seeking them, though – he just sounds kind of annoyed that he isn't in any position to just send someone else to do it.

[d_17nolonger]

"I'd hope so. Although that doesn't quite sound like a priority to you."

Just an observation; no suspicion here, maybe a small amount of incredulity. "I'm sure someone will stumble upon something eventually, one way or another. Most of these places look like they'll crumble if you so much as touch them, so it shouldn't be too hard."

[towardspeace]

"A priority? It's the only thing to be done here," he says. "For now we need to gather as many of those transported here to one place, to cease all this aimless, confused wandering... ensure everybody knows what needs to be done, if we can discover what that is."

He still sounds irritated – he's just not super enthusiastic about the fact that all of this is necessary. Too much bullshit,

[d_17nolonger]

Megatronus nods, a bit unsurely in the face of how authoritative that sounded -- someone accustomed to giving commands. "Right, I suppose getting us all organized and on the same page would be the bets first step to any kind of plan. However, it seems like most everyone is a bit on guard to blindly trust anyone else at this point."