"Who ordered the Spychanger pate?" Overload said, driving into the main room with a semi-conscious, damaged figure on his back. Dropping the load, he transformed.

   "Not me," Rail Spike said. "Go talk to Cab."

   "About what?" Cab said, entering the room.

   "This goof here," Overload said. "Looks like the EDF made an air-mail delivery and someone forgot to apply the 'fragile' stamp."

   "Now I'm worried for my record collection," Rail Spike said.

   "Very funny!" the damaged figure said. "The name's..... Icecap."

   "Couldn't wait to get here, huh?" Overload asked.

   "Yeah," Icecap replied. "I'm supposed to be the inspector."

   "Looks like you're going to be inspecting the medical bay," Cab said. "Come on."

*****

   Through bleary eyes Adam looked out at the Star Bridge gate. He hadn't had any sleep since Friday night, and even then had only gotten four hours. "I have got to find someone to shove this paperwork off on. John will do."

   Slowly, the figures appeared before him. First it was Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus. Then Alita 1 and a team of Spychangers. Following them was an all-female gestalt team and then some that clearly had animal alt-modes. The room was pretty quickly filling up.

   "Has Icecap reported in?" Prime asked, wasting no time.

   "He moved; the ground didn't," Adam replied. "That's what he gets for not waiting for a normal transport."

   "I see. Do you have one for us?"

   "We're getting it ready now. At least I hope we are."

   "How much sleep has everyone had?"

   "Hard to say. I'm thinking maybe less than four hours on average. We had to have all three shifts going at once. Everyone is basically wasted. And that's just the guys here at the bases. The guys in the field don't even have any adrenaline left and there's still stuff going on. Some of the men are considering an all-out raid on Columbia just to get at the coffee beans."

   "That bad, eh?"

   "On the plus side, many nations have begun to mobilize their troops; we've been working with them in order to get the troops directed to where they're needed. If nothing else, we can start pulling our boys to the rear for some rest. On the down side, our cover is blown wide open so there's going to be some political hell to pay. That, and in some places we've had to divert our own forces in order to keep the peace-keepers from causing more harm than good. Namely in Southern Africa. Especially Southern Africa."

   "The United Nations will deal with it as it happens."

   "The UN doesn't exist anymore, Prime. Annon's dead; he got killed in a car crash on his way to the UN building. Between his death and all the violence the UN has effectively collapsed. We've got just over a month left here in two-thousand and two and yet the UN won't last until the end of the year. I don't know how much you saw Prime but what you were watching was the end of the world as everyone once knew it. I wouldn't be surprised if entire regions are depopulated as a result. As you already know, three major cities have been wiped off of the map. Let's pray there aren't that many more."

   "I understand. Now, about the shuttle?"

   "I'll tell you when I hear something."

*****

   Deep within its ship, a figure grinned to itself before it burst out laughing. For the figure, things were going better than it could have hoped. It would take a few years' patience for maximum effect, however. Then it would have a planet to reign over.

   "Jihaxus; Megabolt!" the figure bellowed. "Keep your optics on this planet here. Keep a very close watch."

*****

   Shiro cursed. On one hand, the Autobots were unable to rouse the girl Tai from out of her room; it seemed that she had locked herself in and wasn't going to come out any time soon. On the other hand, even if she did come out, Koji was so exhausted that he woke up long enough to make it from his bedroom to the couch before falling asleep again.

   But the news coming from the base was even worse. Everyone was still on high alert; few had slept for any length of time and he could tell. And to make matters worse, it sounded as if Prime and an envoy from Cybertron had just arrived. As a transtector pilot, he should be at base.

   But as a cousin, he should be here.

   Either way, he realized, things were going to be a lot less pleasant from now on.

*****

   Slowly, the Humvee drove up to the gate. The driver knew that he was going to be stopped, but he didn't care. It was just a part of the game. Without thinking, the driver stopped the vehicle and shut it off as one of the gate guards came rushing up. The others, true to form, had their rifles aimed at his vehicle the entire time. Slowly, the driver pulled out his identification and some paperwork while he rolled his window down.

   "State your name and business!" the guard shouted as he got up to the window.

   "Jack Cotton," the driver said. "And in this envelope, you'll see my business here. And my ticket to get in the gate."

   "We'll see about that." Slowly, the guard opened the envelope up and began to look through its contents. Skeptical, he handed it back. "I'm gonna call this in."

   "Take your time," Jack replied. "I've got all day."