From A Distance

Datalog Location: Earth Orbit

Humans have always been fascinated with space. I mean, look at how hard they try, time after time, to go one step further away from their own planet and into an environment they barely understand. Going to the moon and back may be a big achievement to them, but to our race, its like taking a walk from Iacon to Polyhex. They cannot even begin to grasp how vast space is, how empty it is-. How lonely.

How do I know? Because I'm there almost every day of my life ... ever since we crashed on Earth. Most of the time its usually flying around the Earth and its moon, and believe me when I say there is nothing more exciting to do up here than dodge a few satellites and some assorted space junk.

Some of the others tell me how lucky I am to be able to fly, and even better, to be able to escape the confines of Earth under my own power. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for my abilities, but sometimes I just wish I was nothing more than a simple ground-based Autobot. At least then I wouldn't be so alone.

I envy some of the others. They get to spend their time together in the Ark, fighting side by side, getting to know each other, forging friendships. I wish I could have the opportunity to get to know my fellow Autobots on a more personal level, not just as other soldiers fighting some seemingly never-ending war.

Speaking of the war, I've picked up the Combaticon Blast Off hovering near the moon, probably also on monitoring duty. The logical thing I suppose, would be to attack him, but lets not forget the fact that I am a lot smaller and weaker than he is. Plus, I AM an Autobot, and so far he has done nothing to provoke me into shooting him. Actually, he comes up here every now and then, and I'm sure he watches me just as closely as I watch him, but he's never attacked me.

Part of me thinks its because we're all each other has out here. At least by keeping a scanner on each other, it gives us something to do till either one, or both, of us receives the call to return to our respective bases. In some twisted way it keeps him from attacking and killing me out-right, for which I must say, I am VERY grateful. He knows that I would never attack him first. I cant help but wonder if he gets as lonely as I do out here.  Yet now, even as I record this log, my radar indicates Blast Off heading back into Earth's atmosphere; and I'm left here to drift in silence again.

Back to the subject of friends, its not that I don't have any. Most of the other Autobots back at the Ark, I consider them friends, but I'm not as close with any of them, as say, Ratchet and Wheeljack are, or Hound and Trailbreaker, or Blaster and Tracks. I don't have any friendships like that. Sometimes I hate myself for it ... for envying those bonds. Sometimes I cant help but feel like an outsider, especially when I return to Earth and find out there's so much I've missed out on. All the little in-jokes and stories from on and off the battlefield, the music, the movies, the trends. What's new to me when I return to Earth is already last month's news to the others.

There are those Autobots who consider me a friend to them as well, and for that I am truly grateful. Primus bless their sparks, but they always try to keep me in the loop of what's going on. They try their best to make me feel like a part of the group, eventhough they may only see me once or twice every Earth month. They don't have to, they're under no obligation to me, but they still do. And I have nothing to give back to them except my appreciation and gratitude.

Its mechs like them that make me keep on doing what I'm doing. You wouldn't believe how many times I've asked myself why I haven't quit yet. Its because of mechs like them. That's why I still do my job unrelentingly, no matter how lonely it gets up here. Because if I slip up and get careless, it's the "Bots down there on Earth ... my friends ... who'll end up getting slaughtered by the Decepticons.

Optimus Prime should count himself blessed to have such Autobots under him. Primus forbid he ever take them for granted. I know I don't. Even now, there are some messages coming in from a few of them-

"Hey Cosmos. Sorry you had to miss a great show of fancy jet-riding by yours truly, especially since it was you who gave us the heads up on the three Coneheads trying to knock off a fuel station. Thanks for that by the way. Lets hope they can find a pencil sharpener large enough for them to stick their heads into. Sunny sends his regards too, by way of a "Slag off, pig-slagger', but I'm sure that means "Hi Cosmos' in Sunstreaker language."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, two better warriors you'll never find anywhere, nor two better mechs in general. They'll never admit it, but everyone knows how deeply they love each other ... the perfect example of brotherly love. I don't think one would ever be able to survive without the other, and I have no intentions of trying to find out.

"Hello Cosmos. Found this beautiful little waterfall up in one of the mountain forests last week. Quite remarkable, this planet. You never know what you're going to discover next. I'll show you a couple of holograms I took of it when you get back. It's the next best thing to actually being there."

Hound is one of the nicest Autobots around. In fact, I don't think there's a mech in the Ark who truly dislikes him. He's just so easy to get along with; and he always keeps some holograms of his travels around Earth's wilderness to show me. If this war ever ends, I have a feeling he would permanently relocate to Earth.

"Cosmos! Hi! Okay, I don't know if you already got Sideswipe's message, but in case you didn't, I'll just tell you anyway. It was totally crazy the way those two jumped on those jets and tried to force them to land. All Sideswipe's idea and as usual, nearly got himself and Sunstreaker killed. Ratchet went crazy when he saw them. It was like in the old Earth days y'know- uh, they called it jousting I think, y'know, all that charging towards each other trying to ram the other guy. Yeah- good thing I was able to get off a few good shots or Ratchet would be picking up their pieces. And Sunny's a little mad with Sides for doing something that crazy. I'm just happy no one was really, seriously hurt."

Bluestreak enjoys rambling on in his messages. They don't always make much sense, but at least it whiles away the time, trying to make out what he's saying. He's a good mech really, a little wacky in the CPU department, but his spark's pure. He's a guy who'll always try to be your friend, whether you want him to be or not.

"Primus damn you Cosmos! Next time you relay information about Decepticon activity, can you please make sure the Hellspawn Twins aren't around?! This is the 574 gazillionth time I've had to piece them back together after one of their crazy stunts went wrong. For Primus' sake, do you enjoy driving me crazy?! Don't answer that. Now all I need is for Wheeljack to blow himself up again!"

Good old Ratchet. Glad to see he hasn't changed. He doesn't really mean all that, he just gets upset when he sees "Bots hurt. He just has his own way of expressing it. I think the angrier he gets with you, the more he likes you. That's probably why he's always threatening to dismantle the Twins himself.

There are also some messages from Bumblebee, Hoist, Beachcomber, some further instructions from Prowl. Blaster's sent me a full review of a rock concert he and Tracks attended a few days ago. He tried to beam some of it to me, but I think, at the time, I was somewhere behind the moon, and couldn't receive the signal. I'll still thank him for trying though. Its nice to know some of them still think of me when they're having fun.

"Yo Cosmos, how's it goin' man? Hope you ain't spacin' out or anythin'. Hehe. Hang in there li'l buddy, I heard Prime say they're plannin' to call you back down to Earth any time now, so you'll be back with the rest of us land-crawlers soon. Hope you ain't scarin' the eyeballs outta anymore humans, though I gotta say, seein' you on the news, hoverin' over the Eiffel Tower, now that was pretty funny. Y'just be careful y'don't get yourself shot down. Not only would Ratchet blow a nice fuse, you'd never hear the end of it from Prowl. Anyways, I included a couple o' tunes to keep you jivin' till ya get back. Enjoy!"

Jazz is a good mech. He never fails to say something encouraging, and he always sends me some music to keep me going. He's another guy who, I have a feeling, would move to Earth in the flash of an optic if he was given half a chance. He just loves the planet, and loves the culture even more. He knows a lot about various different Earth cultures, and he's very interesting to talk to. Maybe I can send him something in return for the music. Its evening in China, where I'm hovering over, and they're having a cultural parade on the streets. Lets see if I cant beam this back Jazz's personal computer. I just hope he's around to watch it. Here goes nothing-

"Hey! Thanks a bunch Cosmos. By the way, you just got the "all-clear' to return home, so we'll be seeing you soon. Cheers!"

And that's how the cycle ends. I go back to Earth, go straight to Prowl and Prime and give them report after report of what I've seen. After that, depending on how much time I've got, I'll head down to the med bay for a maintenance check up, and an audio-full from Doc Ratchet. Once he's done chewing my sensors off, I guess I could go look for Hound and get him to show me those holograms, see how the Brothers are doing, and catch up with Blaster, Jazz, Bluestreak and the others, before I'm sent off into orbit again, or the Decepticons attack and the others go rushing off to save the world again ... whichever comes first.

I may be able to escape the confines of Earth, to reach for the stars, to leave all this war and confusion-. But then, I wouldn't be an Autobot; and besides, with friends like these, why would I want to?

End Datalog.