Ep. 1.5 Hangers On [Open]

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The sound of tearing metal rang back from the direction of the escape pod. Maximus had pried back the heat shields and was now ripping into the bow hull, using little more than his bare hands. A sheet of crumpled metal hit the ground with a thud as he wrenched it back.

Ratchet meanwhile watched Tailgate soberly, his gaze subdued. He kept his hand on the little bot’s shoulder in a gesture of support.

“I see,” he murmured. “I remember the incident. Not from such a vantage point as yours, of course – I merely remember reading news of the disaster reaching the Iacon datanet, and the aftermath that followed. It was a great tragedy. I can only hope that history got the details wrong, and other escape pods were activated as well.”

The medic peered into Tailgate's optic, trying to gauge by his sluggish responses how much time of active consciousness he had left. "Before you jettisoned into space, before the ship tore apart as you described - had there been any anomalous readings of the sector of space you were exploring? Anything strange reports that might account for the catastrophic space bridge failure?"

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Normally, unseen screeching metal and clattering hunks would have startled Tailgate. His systems were so frazzled and slowed, however, that he just held a blink for an obscene amount of time.

"No, I was in the lower decks. I don't know what happened," Tailgate managed. "No, I was in the lower decks. I don't know what happened"

Wait.


Did he not just say that?

Tailgate realized he was repeating himself. Probably not a good sign. More error messages popped up.

ALERT: RECHARGE IMMEDIATELY

ALERT: POWER LEVELS LOW

ALERT: CHRONOMETER NON-FUNCTIONING

ALERT: YOU'RE STILL STUPID

The bot groaned on the inside. Stupid error alert software. So that Ratchet had apparently heard of the catastrophe but it failed to arouse any immediate action. They assumed the vessel lost and did not even try to look for it. Fantastic. And apparently this Ratchet was as old as Tailgate.

...OLD?

Tailgate did not feel old and he definitely did not want to be old. He was in his prime! His youth had been taken from him so maliciously. Absolutely miffed at this revelation, the bot loosened his hold on consciousness.

"I think....I'm gonna.." Tailgate pivoted his faceplate into the dirt as he drifted off.

"Mmph." And with that, the bot's head plunked right back into the dirt.



(OOC: Go ahead and wrap it up, Lex! )

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Maximus came walking back from the escape pod just as Tailgate's head dropped again.

He regarded Ratchet with alarm. "Is he...?"

The medic was already waving the green light of his forearm scanner over the prone bot. He shook his head. "No, just offline. He passed out. A combination of shock and low energy levels, would be my diagnosis. Did you get the serial number of that escape pod?"

"Yes, if you want to cross reference it. Couldn't get much off the flight recorder, but the data is flagged with the name of the ship he was talking about - The Prescient Dawn."

"I had a feeling."

Ratchet stood, his knees creaking. Crisply, he said, "Pick him up and bring him with us, would you? Carefully! I'll put him on an energon feed back in the medical bay to bring his levels up, and then let him rest. Primus knows he likely needs it."

Maximus regarded him sharply. "But we haven't verified-"

"Because he doesn't have any codes! He comes from a time before there were even Autobots! I'll explain at the base," said Ratchet with a snort. He turned. "We certainly cannot leave the poor fellow here. I think I'll need to have a word with Optimus about this one."

Maximus looked down at the unconscious bot and sighed heavily. But he did as he was told.



and that's a wrap!