It was unimaginably vast, the sort of vessel that looked as if it could never land, because surely only the immensity of space could hold it. It was completely alien, its design strangely simple yet not resembling any of the known spacecraft from the galaxy's spacefaring races. It was empty.
"We've scanned from port and starboard, we've scanned from front and back, we've scanned from above and below and got nothing, nope, zilch, no lifesigns at all!" Blurr reported as the comparatively microscopic Autobot craft flew around the ship like its own personal moon.
"Although with a ship this size, there could easily be something in the centre that wouldn't register," Kup added. "I remember the time we were dismantling what we thought was a ghost-ship for parts and nearly got scrapped by this metal-hungry thing hiding in the central grav-systems. There were so many layers of metal that our sensors hadn't picked it up."
"Thanks, Kup," Rodimus Prime put in. "Now, with that in mind, who's ready to board the thing?"
"Sure, why not?" Springer returned lazily, moving the shuttle towards the hold entrance, which gaped open.
"I still don't understand how a ship with a totally unfamiliar design can have a name written in a standardised alphabet." Arcee frowned, staring at the giant letters as they passed them.
""Labyrinth'?" Kup read aloud. "Odd name for a ship."
"Fits in with your theory of a monster in the centre though," Rodimus told him, amused. When the others looked at him in confusion, he chuckled and waved it aside. "Something I learned from helping Daniel with his homework once."
"Well, judging from the size of it, the name could be apt enough," Springer remarked. "I've been in ships that I needed a map to get around in."
"Only because you won't ask for directions," Arcee murmured quietly.
* * *
"Well, whoever left this place remembered to turn the lights off," Rodimus remarked.
There had only been one exit from the shuttle bay to the rest of the ship, and this led to a dark corridor with no light sources that they could identify. The five Autobots had fallen back on the easiest solution to this and had transformed to their various vehicle modes, using their headlights to show the way ahead.
"Not much of a labyrinth either...aren't you supposed to get choices every now and then?" Kup asked. "Not just one corridor to nowhere."
"Look on the bright side. We're not getting any dead-ends either," Springer pointed out. "Hey, Blurr! Watch it!"
Slightly ahead of the others, Blurr was rocking erratically in his forward motion, jerking each time a corner came into view ahead. This had the natural effect of forcing those behind him to keep a discreet distance.
"I just don't like this, don't like it at all. We don't know where we're going but we can only go in one direction and we can't see very far ahead and this corridor's a little small and I don't know how quickly I could turn around in it which means, Rodimus, you would definitely have problems and-."
"Blurr, calm down," Rodimus interrupted him casually.
"Do you get claustrophobic, Blurr?" Arcee wondered.
"I'm not saying I'm scared but I like to know I have room to manoeuvre in case anything comes up because it's always a good idea to be prepared, if you know what I mean. And how can we be prepared when we're heading into the unknown?"
"You've seen worse than this," Kup reminded him.
"Yes, but I could see it!"
"Personally, I much prefer imaginary dangers to real ones," Springer avowed.
"I think the corridor's opening out," Arcee interjected. "And isn't it lighter up there?"
For answer, Blurr accelerated. She had been right. With the next turn, the walls and ceiling abruptly disappeared into the shadows, and ahead of them the far wall was marked by an opening into a lit room. Blurr was making for this with all speed.
"Hey, Blurr- Slow down! We should really keep together," Rodimus called after the blue hover-car.
Kup would doubtless have made some sarcastic comment on practising what one preaches, but any such was forestalled as Blurr shot into the room, and instantly a door slammed down, cutting the others off.
"Blurr!" they called out, immediate concern making each revert into robot mode. Darkness blanketed them, but they modified their visual sensors accordingly, searching the doorway.
"There's no way to open it!" Rodimus muttered in frustration. "Blurr, can you open the door from your side?"
"Blurr, can you hear us?" Arcee queried, realising another problem. Judging from the silence that returned, either question had been redundant.
"Stand back!" Springer took a run at the door, throwing his full and not inconsiderable weight onto it...to no effect. The door remained unyielding, but the hefty Autobot rebounded and went staggering back. "Oof- did I even dent it?"
Arcee reached out to steady him. "Your pride, yes- the door, no."
Rodimus fired on the door but had no more success than Springer's shoulder had done.
"Let's search the rest of the room," Kup suggested. "There may be another way out of here."
"Fine, but stick together," Rodimus ordered.
"What about Blurr?" Arcee asked.
"With any luck we'll run across him sooner or later."
They took two steps before the floor seemed to come apart. A wide-spaced grid was inset, and now this shot up into the air carrying most of them with it. The poles making up the gridwork weren't close enough together for the Autobots to stand easily, and caught off-guard and off-balance, they went sprawling.
It rose for only a few seconds and then stopped as abruptly as it had started, leaving them high above their original level.
"Springer! Rodimus!" Arcee's voice, panicked, screamed up from the shadows beneath them. "Kup!"
"Arcee?" Springer called back, still shaken from the abrupt shift in location. "Where are you?"
"Still down here, of course!" came the reply, exasperated now that their continued existence was proven. "Where are you?"
"She must have slipped through the gaps," Kup said. He himself hadn't been standing directly on the grid, but his shoulders had become wedged at their widest point, and now he was left dangling in an undignified manner. Arcee was of a slimmer design, and it was certainly possible that she could have gone through the rising grid without ever touching it. Unfortunately, the rest of them were too bulky to make any attempt to get back down.
"I think we've been taken to the next level," Rodimus told Arcee, as he and Springer helped Kup up.
"So how do I get there?"
"Wait a moment and maybe the lift will come back down?" Springer suggested.
Rodimus frowned, scanning about them. The grid had stopped to rest flush with the threshold of another doorway, leading again to an illuminated area of the ship, but at some point higher than where Blurr had entered.
"I don't think we have much choice but to go where the ship wants to take us, Arcee," he finally yelled down. "You go back to the shuttle and radio for a team with some heavy duty metal-cutters. Then you can move through this place on your own terms. We'll have to go on according to the ship's rules."
"Are you sure? What about Blurr?"
"We'll keep an eye out for him. But I wouldn't worry...we've not seen any real danger, just a lot of moving parts."
"Alright," she finally acceded, sounding reluctant. "But be ca..."
Her voice cut off with a startled yelp. Silence followed.
"Arcee?" Springer called down, Rodimus and Kup almost as quick to take up the cry.
There was no answer, and Rodimus and Springer repeated her name, increasingly frantic.
"Wait! Calm down and focus on what we know!" Kup interjected. "You said it yourself, Rodimus- this place is full of moving parts and no real danger."
"So we're working on the basis that the ground opened up and swallowed her?" Frustrated, Springer peered down into the gloom. None of them had the visual capacity to see that far. "Anybody else get the feeling we're being deliberately split up?"
"Let's not get carried away-." Rodimus cautioned. "We've seen no life, so this could just be automatic or random programming on the ship's part. Maybe we're tripping sensors that we can't see. The room that Blurr went into might have been trying to lock us all out but he was too fast for it."
"Or else the ground was sensitive to our wheels...but missed him because he doesn't have any," Kup agreed.
"Then we activated something that sent this up here...and it could have been pure accident that any of us were carried with it or left behind. Arcee probably just inadvertently sent herself to another part of the ship."
"We still don't know why this ship is here, or why it's set up like this," Kup reminded him.
"So we go and find out. If it's a labyrinth, there's a way out if we keep looking. But let's not assume we're in danger until we've got proof."
"Nice theory," Springer put in, suddenly getting to his feet. "Now look behind you and tell me if that's proof enough."
A look revealed a nightmare in machine form. Claws, drills, pincers, buzzsaws and any other conceivable metal-damaging gadget waved wildly on projecting metal arms from a squat base. And it was heading straight for them.
"That'll do it," Rodimus agreed, scrambling to his own feet.
"It looks like it's configured to use the gridwork as runners," Springer grunted, struggling to balance himself for long enough to fire.
"Then let's get off the grid!" Kup yelled.
As flights went, theirs was embarrassing. They only had to go a few yards to get to the safety of the next chamber, and the machine moved slowly. The difference was that the machine was designed to move on the wide-spaced struts, and they weren't. Stumbling, tripping, occasionally saving themselves from a fall by sheer virtue of forward momentum...and occasionally not...they blundered through the doorway only after several agonising moments and only just ahead of the machine.
No sooner were they through the door than it shut.
"Blurr was right," Springer snarled. "We're only being given one direction to go in."
"Then let's go," Rodimus said grimly. "If nothing else, maybe the others are being led in the same direction."
* * *
Arcee, for one, was being led down. As she had been talking to the others, she had stepped onto a trapdoor and fallen into a chute. The next thing she knew, she was sliding down it at a decidedly incautious rate. Immediately, she put out her arms and legs, trying to brace herself against the sides. Sparks flew up as metal scraped against metal, but friction did its work, and her speed decreased rapidly.
But not rapidly enough. Just before she came to a complete halt, she felt the sides fall away as she slid out into open space. Grabbing unsuccessfully at the lip of the chute, she plummeted several feet before clattering into a heap on a new floor.
Dazed, scratched but otherwise unhurt, she picked herself up and stared back the way she had come. The chute was out of her reach, the wall was sheer and she wasn't designed for flying.
"So much for getting back to the shuttle," she muttered aloud.
A brief glance at her new surroundings revealed another corridor with the same blank metal walls. The only break in the monotony of the interior décor was an alcove further down. She headed cautiously for this, wary of any more trapdoors or other surprises.
Somewhat against her expectations, she reached it with no untoward events and discovered that the alcove was actually a stairwell. A spiral staircase wound upwards to an unknown destination, but since she had already come down, she was going to want to head up at some point and it may as well be now.
She heard it as she completed the first turn: a strange metallic scraping followed by a clatter. Looking down, she saw the bottom steps falling away and down, before finally bouncing to rest between the obligatory sharp metal spikes. Somehow she wasn't surprised.
She also wasn't hanging around. Turning back, she threw caution to the winds and raced up the steps. The stairs were giving up their grip faster than she could climb them, and without looking back she knew that she was running just ahead of an increasingly high precipice.
In the traditional nick of time, a doorway suddenly appeared ahead of her. She flung herself forward, falling half over the threshold as the steps beneath her feet dropped away. Pulling herself up, she threw a glance back to where falling slabs of metal slowly emptied the shaft of the winding staircase. This would have to be the right floor, because she certainly wasn't going up or down that route.
Back in the corridors, she struck out in an arbitrary direction, and gave a cry as she turned the first corner.
"Blurr!"
The blue Autobot was standing at a junction, looking hopelessly about himself. At her call, he turned his head. "Arcee?"
"You're alright!" She ran to him, touching his shoulder for mutual reassurance. "Now we just have to find the others..."
Her words broke off as he gave a pained cry. Pulling her hand away, she stared at his shoulder. Where she'd touched him, the metal had flaked away, exposing the circuitry beneath.
"Blurr?" she asked unsteadily.
He gazed at the wound, stupefied, lifting his own hand to touch it. He brushed the edges only gently, but the parts crumbled at his touch, and when he turned his hand over, his fingers were grazed.
"Arcee- what- what's happening- help me," he pleaded, his voice slowing in agony.
"I- I don't know. I can't." She reached out, but her fingers hovered just above his metal, not daring to make contact. He stared at her, and she withdrew her hands, unable to meet his gaze.
Looking wildly up and down the empty corridors, she screamed out in desperation. "Please, somebody! Help us!"
Unexpectedly, an answer came. "Arcee!"
"Springer?" she gasped.
The green triple-changer dashed around the corner with Kup. "Arcee! Blurr! What's happened?"
"Something's wrong with Blurr. There's nothing I can do for him," she tried unsuccessfully to report something useful, clutching at Springer's arms in equally futile emphasis. Then she shrieked. "No!"
Beneath her hands she could feel his limbs dissolving. As she pulled away, his fingers melted into nothingness where they had clasped her own arms.
"What- what's happening to us?" Kup was staring at the exposed wiring in his hands where he had tried to assist Blurr. The blue Autobot's arm now dangled limply, most of his shoulder gone altogether.
"I don't know, I don't know what to do," Arcee whispered, staring at them in horror. She remained unharmed, but the other three seemed unable to endure any physical contact.
"You have to do something," Springer implored, reaching out to her, and the others followed suit. "Please- you have to help us-"
She backed away, trying to forestall any further damage, but all three automatically stumbled after her with the floor eroding their feet at every step. She stood still, shaking her head in despairing apology, clenching her hands against the urge to stretch them towards her friends, but they only continued their desperate appeals.
"Please, help us-"
"I can't. I can't help you- I'm sorry, I can't help you!"
* * *
In another part of the ship, the scene played out from different angles on a variety of monitors for an interested audience. However, those screens were merely a few of many, and as one focused on Blurr's ruined form, one adjacent to it depicted a Blurr who was intact and in a wholly different part of the ship.
Quite unaware of his doppelganger, Blurr was preoccupied with his own situation.
"I don't know where the others are, don't know where I am, don't know where I'm going, don't know where to go...just once I'd like to know something!" He kept up the nervous litany as he walked through intersecting and identical corridors.
Reaching yet another dead end, he drove his fist into the wall in frustration. He then ruefully flexed his fingers...the walls were definitely solid...before hopelessly retracing his steps. "I can't get out because there's no way out, and that means I'm stuck here wandering about until my energy supplies are drained at which point I collapse, and I'll be trapped here forever because nobody will ever find me in all this!"
Around him the walls seemed to shift suddenly and he briefly stopped both his words and steps, sending frantic glances about him. "And now the walls are closing in on me, which either means I'm going mad or it's all going to be over sooner than I expected, and either way I have a very bad feeling about this-."
He started walking again, moving faster than before while he struggled to get his nerves under control. "OK, calm down Blurr- you got yourself into this. You get yourself out..."
It was at that point that the wall panels behind him fell inwards. Like a house of cards, this had a knock on effect on the panels next to them: the whole corridor started to collapse in on itself...and he was caught in the middle.
"Got myself into this, get myself outgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout!" he repeated his panicked rationale, throwing himself into hover-car mode.
He shot down the corridor through the advancing devastation. He was trying to get ahead of it, but the walls on either side were already falling as he passed beneath them. The destruction wasn't slowing at the corners like he had to, and here there were no junctions to offer an alternative route to safety.
He had long since given himself up for lost by the time he saw the doorway to his left, and at the speed he was going, he all but overshot it. As it was, he slammed himself through it so hard that he flipped over and had to transform to stop himself from spinning across the room upside-down. Stretched full length on the floor and still trying to realise his abrupt salvation, he stared back at the doorway...which had sealed itself.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" he moaned softly, scrambling to his feet and scanning the room.
The chamber he was in had only the one entrance, and that had no visible opening mechanism. The sole other feature was a low alcove along the opposite wall. It looked as if it could hold him, but it didn't lead anywhere.
He turned his attention upwards and studied the high ceiling. Again, he could see no means of exit that way, and the longer he looked at it, the lower it seemed to get.
"OK, so the ceiling seems lower. That could very easily be my imagination," he told himself, deliberately looking down. "Then again, a room that closed in on itself would be just the sort of thing that this place would have."
He threw another look upwards and, on impulse, aimed his rifle at the far wall, a little below ceiling level. The laser had no useful effect on the wall, but it did scorch it, and as Blurr watched, the ceiling descended down the scar, gradually covering it.
"I knew it! Why does this kind of thing always happen to me?"
He threw himself at the door to no effect. He fired at it, aiming specifically at the edges, hoping to weaken or warp the fittings. Again, no effect...not even a burn scar. He darted around the room, unsuccessfully feeling for any loose panels or secret entrances and tapping for hollow walls. He repeated the procedure on the floor to no avail.
The seconds were passing and he no longer had the headroom to stand up. He converted to vehicle mode, throwing himself recklessly about the room. He had only one meagre reassurance: the alcove was not getting any smaller, and should provide shelter from the oncoming ceiling. Of course, once in the alcove, he would be well and truly trapped.
As the ceiling descended further, he returned to the door in desperation. "Can anybody hear me? Please! Get me out of here!"
Naturally, he received no answer and he shuddered all over, hovering next to the door as the ceiling grew ever closer...it was now no more than a few feet above the floor, and soon he would be pinned in place for those few agonising seconds before he was slowly crushed.
It wasn't until that prospect was immediate that he made his move, streaking across the room and into the alcove in less than a second. The alcove seemed even smaller once he was inside, and certainly there was no room to transform, but it remained stable...barring one side where a wall inexorably descended as the ceiling finally met the floor, entombing the Autobot.
Blurr hovered motionless in the centre, just above the floor, just below the ceiling and not quite touching any side of his prison. There was no light, and the only sound was that of his own murmuring.
"I can't see, I can't move, I can't transform and I know that if I stop talking I won't be able to hear anything, and if I can't hear anything then nothing can hear me, and I can't get out, so I'm stuck here, and nobody can find me, so I've only got until my reserves give out, and then I'm doomed-."
* * *
Meanwhile, Rodimus Prime, Springer and Kup were slowly making their own way through the endless passages.
"Does anybody have a clue where we're going?" Springer asked.
"There's got to be some way down at some point," Rodimus rationalised. "We do know that we're above Blurr, Arcee and the ship."
"Even if we get back on the same level it could take us days to find anything," Kup said pessimistically. "This reminds me..."
He didn't have a chance to launch into the story as the floor beneath his feet suddenly disappeared, and he fell. Rodimus didn't even wait for this to sink in before leaping after Kup and dragging Springer with him.
They all landed in a heap much lower down and in yet another corridor.
"Well thanks, O fearless leader," Springer got out, awkwardly extricating himself from the tangle.
"Sorry," came the Prime's unrepentant apology. "But we've been split up enough already." He motioned upwards, where the hole that they had fallen through had resealed itself.
"Did you at least stop to check that I hadn't fallen into a smelting pit before piling in after me?" Kup demanded.
"Well, I guess it was one way down," Springer interrupted the lecture for Rodimus' sake. "Now which way?"
Rodimus shrugged and walked off at random. With no better ideas, the other two followed.
At least, they started to. Then Kup cried: "Look out!" and both he and Springer yanked Rodimus back as a razor-edged pendulum suddenly sliced across the passage.
Further down, three more pendulums swung out of the walls, slowly arcing back and forth. They were just far enough apart and swinging at just such a speed that it was just about possible to pass by them unharmed. Of course, the Autobots would have to time themselves just right to do it.
"I don't know about you guys," Springer remarked, "But I think I'll go the other way."
"I'll join you," Kup seconded the motion.
"Like I said, let's not split up," Rodimus settled the matter and they set off in the opposite direction.
Turning a corner, they found themselves at what appeared to be the start of an open maze. They were at a three way junction with more choices down each branch.
"A maze within a labyrinth." Kup observed. "Now that's just annoying."
"So who says we have to play by the rules?" Springer asked grimly. The walls were merely dividers and did not connect to the ceiling, leaving a clear gap above the maze. The triple-changer leapt up above these and transformed to helicopter mode. "You guys want a lift?"
"Springer," Rodimus started, but his admonishment was made redundant, as a ceiling abruptly slid over the walls.
Chagrined at how easily he had fallen into the trap, Springer promptly dove downwards. The new surface was rapidly concealing the maze, but the helicopter was faster and he dropped into a dead-end passage moments before it was covered over. Looking up and then about him, he realised he had no idea how to find the others.
"Nice one. Really great thinking there," he muttered to himself, before stalking off and calling aloud: "Rodimus? Kup?"
The two Autobots in question were around several twists and turns and well out of earshot.
"That's it!" Rodimus Prime snarled. "We stick together, whatever happens!"
"That's what we said before, remember?" Kup pointed out tightly, glancing down each branch of the junction.
Rodimus made a start down one passage and then stopped. "So we keep in contact then," he declared, swinging back to Kup with one hand outstretched.
And in that instant, their surroundings changed. The panels of walls, floor and ceiling turned reflective, mirroring their images a dozen times over. The walls also started sliding and rotating, changing the layout of the maze around them.
"Kup!" Rodimus called out to ten different Kups all standing roughly where he had last seen his one-time mentor. His words were picked up by hidden microphones and speakers, as if his own many reflections had all spoken simultaneously.
"Don't panic, lad!" Kup replied from all around him, standing still as he tried to get his bearings.
Rodimus reached out to him at random. but his hand met only the flat surface of constantly changing walls. "We don't have time not to panic!" he yelled back, frustrated.
"Stop using visual and audio sensors," Kup suggested swiftly. "Switch to heat sensors or sonar or..."
Even as he spoke, the mirrors moved again, and suddenly every image of Rodimus had disappeared.
"Rodimus!" Kup yelled through the wall in front of him, knowing that he would get no reply. He slowly pressed his head against the reflective surface, fuming. "Split up when we were probably within arm's reach!"
"Who are you talking to now?" a voice asked, disbelieving but mostly exasperated.
It was also eerily familiar.
"Hot Rod?" Kup asked uncertainly, turning around.
It wasn't Hot Rod, although the young robot in front of him had been made to a similar design.
"Who?" he asked, and then shook his head. "Oh, never mind- Come on oldtimer, let's get to work," he said, not unkindly.
Kup looked back, but the mirrors had turned to matt metal again, with only vague reflections.
The young robot gently prodded him forwards, and he took a step trying to shake him off. "Watch it!"
His protests were ignored, and he found himself walking or being walked down the corridor with a small group.
"Why do we have to take him with us?" complained another robot, a pretty little thing with a sulky expression.
"Because he's still functional even if his reality perception is worn out," the young one told her. "We don't waste people."
"We could get this done a lot faster without him though, we could indeed, he slows us down, we have to keep reminding him where he is, it's ridiculous, that's what!" declared a third impatiently.
"And I'd like to see you volunteer to carry the energon if we dumped him," a last robot chuckled malevolently.
This one, larger than the others, stopped them by a small hatch in the wall. Kup, dazed and trying to figure out what was going on, vaguely noted that the walls were no longer blank, but had closed doors and the occasional incomprehensible design.
The large robot had opened the hatch and now looked expectantly at Kup...and then he looked beyond him, mouth opening in horror: "Behind you!"
Immediately Kup whirled around, one hand going for his gun, but the corridor was empty...and his gun was missing. Behind him, he could hear the snickering of the robots he had fallen in with.
"Oh now, that was just cruel," Young was reproaching, but he was unable to stifle his own mirth.
Kup rounded on them: "Who are you, and where's my gun? Where am I for that matter, and what happened to the others?"
Female squealed at his aggressive stance, and Impatient took several hasty steps back. Large just folded his arms, smirking in delight at the reaction he had provoked.
"Now look what you've done!" Young snapped. Irritation clear in his face, he stepped towards Kup and shook him by the shoulders. "Come on, we're on the energon round, remember? Now transform, and let's get on with it."
Kup scanned the other's face desperately, perceiving the vague similarity to a face from the life he remembered, but nothing more. No trickery, no deceit, just tired, run-of-the-mill exasperation.
"Please transform," Young pleaded, apparently getting increasingly close to the end of his tether.
Dumbly, Kup complied.
"About time! We're behind schedule as it is," Female sniped.
"I don't see why we have to put up with him. He's dangerous, that's what he is. Half the time he doesn't know where he is...and he's always thinking he's surrounded by enemies. One of these days he's really going to hurt somebody, and that wasn't in my contract."
"Yeah, well my contract was to make sure you guys work instead of yap, and I'm far more likely to hurt you than some walking supply of spare parts." Large loomed over Impatient menacingly, and the latter hastily joined the others in taking energon from the shaft and loading it onto Kup.
"He still works, he can't really hurt anybody and as long as we don't scrap him, we're saved from having to be cargo carriers." Young added, as they set off again, walking alongside Kup.
They stopped at another shaft, unloaded the energon and stored it on the lift inside before closing it up again.
"One down, about four zillion to go," Large grumbled lacklustrely.
Back in robot mode, Kup studied his new companions. At first he had thought they weren't Autobots, but now he saw that they did bear the mark. However, rather than having the symbol proudly emblazoned in the middle of their chests which was the favoured way of displaying it, they wore a small insignia on the left shoulder, like a badge. Reluctantly, he looked to his own shoulder. He too was marked there rather than on his chest.
He stared at the others again in slow fear. This time he caught Female's eye briefly, but she broke contact by moving behind Large.
"I don't care what you guys say," she muttered. "He gives me the creeps."
"You'll be old one day too," Young grinned at her.
She sneered at him, but Large gave a merciless bark of laughter. "I'll throw myself into the smelter before I get to that state."
"I can understand what you're saying," Kup protested. He had intended to snap, but his words lacked all conviction and his voice cracked halfway through.
Young gave him an encouraging grin. "Of course you can." Glancing to the others, he added: "Makes a nice change, huh?"
They stopped at another shaft, and the younger workers stood impatiently as Large jerked his head at Kup. "Transform."
The round continued.
* * *
Elsewhere, Springer was still pounding through the maze, calling the names of the other Autobots and getting increasingly frustrated. And then a laser streaked so close to his face that he felt the heat of its passage.
He wasn't fool enough to stop, but he did pivot, sidestepping behind the corner as he aimed his own gun down the corridor from which the shot had come. When he saw who had fired it, he came out into the open, grimacing.
A skuxxoid stood there, an irritating grin on its snouted face and a gun in either hand. "An Autobot! Just what I've always wanted!" it exclaimed.
"A skuxxoid. Just what I need to de-stress myself," Springer retorted, standing over him with his gun aimed squarely at the creature's face. "Was it your lot who built this place then? Or have you been hired to maintain it?"
"I'm just here to have fun," it snickered, peeking around the muzzle of his rifle. It waggled a chubby pistol at him. "Want to see what this can do?"
"I'd wager not very much," Springer returned. "Unless you drop it on your foot. That could smart."
The Skuxxoid just smirked and pointed the tiny pistol insolently at the Autobot. Springer swept his hand at it, the tips of his fingers knocking it from the Skuxxoid's paw...but not before it clicked.
He felt the tingle running through his fingers and up his arms. He also felt his gun slide from his hands, although, for a moment, he couldn't realise why. Then he staggered. The ship's gravity seemed to have increased tenfold, yet the Skuxxoid was unaffected. It just stood there, watching Springer with a smug smile on its face.
"What was that?" Springer gasped, trying not to reel.
"Did it smart then?" the Skuxxoid jeered. "I didn't even have to drop it on your foot, did I?"
Springer stumbled again, dizziness encroaching as his strength sapped away. He put one hand against the wall for balance, and the Skuxxoid's smile broadened. Extending a gnarled finger, it prodded the Autobot's leg. Springer fell over backwards with a crash.
"Get away from me," he hissed, trying to kick feebly at the alien.
It laughed merrily. "Get away from you? My new toy? We're just getting to the fun part!"
The Skuxxoid scurried around the Autobot, giggling. Springer desperately pulled himself onto his knees, propping himself up against the wall, and already feeling himself sliding back down it.
"Whatsamatter with the big, strong Autobot?" the Skuxxoid gurgled. "Bet you're wishing you'd picked on somebody your own size, now, huh?"
Springer lashed one arm at him, using the momentum to fling himself to his knees again, only to sink gracelessly down onto all fours. He held himself there, trembling with the effort to maintain that humbled position.
"Need some help? You're not calling for your friends now, are you?"
Springer wasn't sure he'd have the energy to speak if he wanted to. His head hung, barely able to stay high enough to watch the Skuxxoid, as it brought across some thick rope, which was then knotted around his wrist. His other wrist was similarly tied by a second rope, and then a third and fourth bound his legs. The ends of the ropes trailed around a corner, and the Skuxxoid laughed tauntingly at Springer before trotting in that direction.
Presently there was a whir of machinery, and the ropes went taut as they tugged at his limbs. Springer hit the floor again, unable to resist the slow, persistent pull of fetters he should normally be able to snap as if they were threads. The ropes were stout enough to bear his weight when he lacked the energy to struggle however, and thus he was dragged roughly along the corridor.
Once around the corner, he felt his arms being raised. Slowly he was pulled into a mockery of an upright stance, still sagging in his bonds. As his head lolled backwards, he saw that the ropes hung from a frame similar to those used to control a puppet. He rolled his face forward again, gazing helplessly at the Skuxxoid who held what looked frighteningly like a remote control.
It half-crooned at him. "Don't look so upset. Things aren't so bad. In fact, you know what would make you feel better?"
Springer didn't reply.
"A dance!" crowed the little alien, working some levers.
Springer's limbs were jerked up and down while the Skuxxoid cackled gleefully. Unable to resist, the Autobot could only wait for it to end.
It did eventually, and he was permitted to sink back to his knees, his upper body still hanging by his wrists.
"Yes, kneel before your master!" snickered the Skuxxoid. "Bow down before me!"
Springer abruptly found himself lurching forward until his face slammed into the floor, then hauled back upright only to repeat the process. And all the while, mockery rang through his audio receptors.
"Who's mighty now, eh? Going to need some help to get out of here, huh? Maybe if you beg I might be nicer...do you know how to grovel? Do you want to try?"
* * *
Rodimus Prime continued to walk through the maze, bracing himself for every turn. Nothing happened; that didn't help.
"Kup!" he called aloud. "Blurr! Arcee! Springer!"
"Rodimus Prime-."
The voice echoed through the corridors, deep and oddly sorrowful on the last word.
Rodimus stopped dead in his tracks for a long moment, staring down a passage from which the voice seemed to have come. Finally, he moved forwards, face set.
He emerged into a shadowed chamber, apparently empty except for one figure.
"Optimus Prime."
The words came hollowly as Rodimus stared at his predecessor, now merely an apparition hovering before him. Unconsciously, he put one hand to his own chest, wherein the Matrix resided.
"You're dead," he added foolishly. What else could he say?
"I still watch over the Autobots," Optimus replied. "What have you done, Rodimus? How could you let this happen to them?"
"This place split us up," Rodimus explained weakly. "We tried to stay together- I tried to-" He trailed off. Matrix or no Matrix, he felt like Hot Rod again.
Optimus Prime continued to gaze sadly at him. "You let them face the dangers of this place alone."
Rodimus...Hot Rod...bowed his head, unable to meet the Prime's optics. "They're good soldiers, sir, they can handle it," he murmured. "I...I shouldn't have let it happen, I know, but I have faith in them. And I'm looking for them...I won't give up."
"Can they handle it? Are you sure?" Optimus gestured at one wall, and a bank of monitors suddenly lit up.
In dawning horror, Rodimus walked forward, staring at the varied images on the screen: Blurr shown in infra-red as he hovered motionless in a tiny chamber that had no exit; Arcee huddled in on herself before a trio of half-disintegrated Autobots who were barely recognisable as their other companions; Springer on his knees and suspended by ropes in front of a laughing skuxxoid; Kup walking lifelessly with a group of young robots who were either ignoring him or sneering.
"No-" Rodimus whispered.
"They're all alone and afraid," Optimus said sorrowfully. "I can't help them anymore, and you have failed them."
Rodimus stared at the screens desolately, but he shook his head. "How can I face their fears for them?" he asked quietly.
"You are their leader. You led them into this. And now you cannot help them."
"They followed me-." Rodimus protested, uncertain.
"They put their trust in you, and you betrayed their trust by letting this happen to them."
"No!" Rodimus' voice still trembled, yet there was now strength in it. "I would have betrayed their trust if I abandoned them, and I haven't. They are soldiers. We are at war-. I can't protect them from all danger, and they wouldn't thank me if I did."
He looked Optimus full in the optics, tense but resolute. "For all of us, there comes a time when we have to face our fears alone. That's what this is about, isn't it? You're not Optimus Prime; he's dead. This is just a set up- and I can probably guess who's behind it. Show's over, how about we bring the house lights up?"
Optimus Prime blinked out abruptly, and the shadows gradually faded away as a dais on the far end was illuminated. Upon the dais were a handful of guards and three Quintessons.
"Your courage is illogical in view of the fact that you are still at our mercy," one said.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Rodimus Prime snarled, clenching his fists. "Playing your little games with us again, I see. And losing again."
"Tell us in what way we are the losers? You are lost, your friends are still lost, and you cannot help them." The creatures stared at him in bland curiosity.
"What makes you think I can't help them? What's stopping me from looking through your maze until I find them? Tell me that!"
"There is a 92.8% probability that, by the time you find them, they will have gone insane from fear and horror," one calculated, switching faces around to look at him.
"69% probability that it is already too late," another added.
"You yourself are hardly calm and collected right now," observed the third.
"You like odds, don't you?" Rodimus snapped back at them. "Would you care to make a little experiment then? Let me speak to them."
"You are in no position to bargain."
"I think I'm in every position to bargain! After all, I'm already the victor here. Your mindgames didn't work on me, did they? You miscalculated."
"We were not in error. You overestimate yourself. You have lost your companions and you cannot escape by yourself. You are the loser," the first Quintesson hissed.
"I'm not trying to escape. I'm trying to prove to you that you're wrong. And you're too afraid to find out." He smiled grimly at them.
"83% probability that he is trying to provoke us," the third Quintesson said with what could perhaps have been amusement.
"72% probability that it makes no difference whether we let him communicate with his companions or not," the second added, turning a face to the screens. "Now 73% and rising-"
"We will give you ten seconds then," the first one sneered at him. "Ten seconds to talk and realise that you have failed your friends utterly.
Rodimus nodded, forcing a grin. "I'll take that bet."
"Speak. The sound will be audible to them," the second Quintesson ordered.
Rodimus Prime stood tall.
"Autobots, transform and roll out of there!"
* * *
Blurr heard the words over his own petrified ramblings, and they spun him off on a different tangent.
"Rodimus? What? Transform and roll out? Oh, great, how am I supposed to do that? I'm trapped here, can't see, can't move, can't transform...and even if that wasn't true, it's not as if I can roll out when I haven't got wheels. Transform and zoom out that I could do if I wasn't stuck here, but at least I try. Well, I will try, but I can't-"
He shuddered himself into motion, shunting back and forth like a pinball, only to be stopped dead in his figurative tracks when the wall behind him buckled.
"The only wall in this place that I can push down is the one I haven't tried?" he screamed in outrage.
Frenzied, he threw himself forward, rebounding off the wall in front of him into the wall behind him. In a few seconds that gave way and he shot backwards into a corridor. Swerving wildly, he saw light, heard voices and made a dash in that direction.
"Got myself into it, got myself out of it, now I suppose I'll be getting myself into something else-"
* * *
"Autobots, transform and roll out of there!"
The words jerked Arcee's optics away from her ruined friends and sent them frantically scanning the corridor.
"Rodimus?" she called uncertainly. "Rodimus...are you there?"
There was no further evidence of him, and she glanced fearfully back at her companions. "I...I should try to find him-"
"Don't leave us," pleaded Kup from a face that had been laid open.
"He could be in trouble too," she beseeched in turn. "Or he might be able to help you-" She offered no conviction in those last words.
"We're powerless like this," Blurr whispered, his arm now totally gone and his side in shreds. "We need you."
"But I can't do anything for you!" she cried brokenly.
"Stay with us-" Springer was on his knees, unable to stand on the remnants of his feet. "Please, Arcee-"
For one agonised moment she stared at them, and then she tore herself away, transforming. "I'll come back," she promised wretchedly. "But I have to let Rodimus know what happened to us...I have to make sure he's OK. But I'll come back-"
Desperately, she accelerated in the direction of Rodimus' voice, before the cries floating after could break her resolve.
"No, Arcee, please no-" "Come back-" "Don't leave us like this!" "Arcee!"
* * *
"Autobots, transform and roll out of there!"
Sheer force of habit compelled Springer to lift the weight of his head in response to the command. But he only saw the Skuxxoid, still laughing gleefully at him.
"What shall we do next, hmm, Autobot?" it chattered. "I wonder if this thing does cartwheels-"
"I don't have time for that," Springer forced out. "I have to find my friends."
"Oh, and I'm sure they'd find you a lot of use," it retorted shrilly.
Springer hung limply in his ropes again, bringing one hand up and clasping at his shoulder, in what appeared to be an odd pose of supplication. The Skuxxoid merely snickered, and went back to studying his control.
That was a mistake. Abruptly, Springer's hand spun outwards, pulling his sword from his back. In the same motion, the blade sliced through three of the ropes, which were taut as they held Springer's weight. The fourth rope, attached to the sword-wielding hand, was halfway severed before Springer lost the momentum and sagged again...his full weight immediately snapping the rope.
"You won't get away that easily," the Skuxxoid scoffed as he watched the Autobot fall to the ground. "I've got more rope than you have energy-"
Urgently, Springer scrabbled away from the creature, gaining his feet through terror and staying on them only by leaning into a corner. "No," he gasped in protest.
It gurgled with laughter, standing its diminutive form between him and the one way out of the dead-end passage. "You're too weak to escape me. And you can only get weaker." He raised the small gun that he had used earlier on Springer to such devastating effect.
"But I'll fight you every step of the way," Springer swore, half-collapsing into vehicle mode and then revving himself up to a speed born of hysteria.
He was past the Skuxxoid before either of them noticed, and fled down the corridor, lurching erratically into the walls at every turn. But he kept going.
* * *
"Autobots, transform and roll out of there!"
"Rodimus?"
The word was out before Kup could stop himself, and his shoulders hunched in an action as involuntary.
"What is he babbling about now? Get on with it!" Impatient grumbled.
They were standing by yet another shaft, waiting for Kup to transform and take yet another load of energon.
"You didn't hear that," he said, not even bothering to make it a question.
"We heard you say "rodimus'," Female muttered superciliously, but Young tried to look understanding.
"Ahh, don't worry about it now. Come on, and transform. Need to keep the energon moving y'know- don't want to get behind schedule," he soothed.
Kup pulled away, ignoring his words and taking a long look at them all. "Why? What's the point?"
Large muscled forward, snarling. "Look, buster, just move it. It's a little late in the day for you to be getting philosophical."
Kup did move it. He transformed. And he streaked away from them.
"Hey, stop! Where do you think you're going?" Young called after him.
"I don't know, but I'm not wasting my life here like you lot!"
The walls on either side of Kup swiftly became featureless again. At the first junction he came to, his path was decided for him when Blurr streaked past. He followed, Arcee and Springer falling in with him from somewhere, and all four of them headed full-tilt into the centre of the Labyrinth where Rodimus and the Quintessons waited for them.
"Impossible!" the second Quintesson informed the room. "Our margin of error allowed for one or maybe two to respond, but not all!"
"The cavalry's here anyway," Rodimus declared. "Game over, Quintessons."
His forces did little justice to his words as they transformed. Blurr was shying at the very walls, Springer was walking as if he expected to fall over at any second, and Arcee and Kup kept flicking scared glances to the other Autobots. But they formed a line, however ragged, and faced the Quintessons.
The Quintesson guards formed another line at the edge of the dais, levelling their weapons at the Autobots.
"84% probability that their recent experiences will have left them disorientated and confused," insisted the first Quintesson.
"Autobots- attack!" Rodimus screamed, and the line broke forwards, firing.
"82% probability that their state of mind will only make them more dangerous," the third decreed. "We shall retreat."
At his words, the labyrinth shifted again. Walls shunted up on either side of the dais, while other walls and the ceiling fell away, revealing open space. As the Autobots watched, staggered, a ship built itself around the Quintessons and took off into the void.
All around them the labyrinth was collapsing and folding down. They braced themselves for a further trap, but the ship simply levelled into an open plain, floating in space, with slightly curved walls rising up at the far edges and the stars overhead. Far off at one side was their own spacecraft, still intact as they had left it.
Blurr broke the silence with a wild, prolonged cheer as he leapt into vehicle mode and giddily zipped around them in ever increasing circles.
"We got through, we did it, we're free we're free we're free!"
Equally jubilant, Springer let out a whoop as he picked up Arcee by the waist, whirling her around...but she didn't share his exultation: "Don't!"
Startled by her shriek, he set her down. "Hey, it's OK- I was just testing something."
"No, it's alright-" She was staring at his arm where she had inadvertently gripped it. Visibly she relaxed, a small but relieved smile appearing on her face as she repeated: "It's alright."
"Is- any of this...that- real?" Kup asked, gazing warily at Rodimus.
"Not what you saw back there," Rodimus assured them all. "Quintesson tricks and illusions. But we beat them."
"One heck of an illusion," Springer muttered.
"I don't care, as long as it's over." Kup shuddered. "That's one experience I don't care to relive for awhile."
"But why?" Blurr protested, returning to them. "What did they hope to achieve? What was the point? They didn't even try and fight back!"
Rodimus shrugged and turned back to the shuttle. "I think they learned that they didn't know as much as they hoped they did."
Author's note:
This is part of a series of stand-alone stories which take place at some point during Season 3 of the cartoon show. The actual stories are my own personal homage to the 80's cartoons that I adored 15 years (and more!) ago. The plots are intended to be the sort of episodes that might have come up in Season 3 had it been longer. In other words, nothing happens that has long term effects and I try to avoid imposing my own personal interpretation of canon onto them. They're written in prose form rather than script because they're not actually going to be made into cartoons (duh!) and I just work better like that, but I've tried to keep the storyline less introspective and more action/dialogue-driven than I might otherwise. I've also freely plagiarised all sorts of cartoon memories from that period...it's homage, so it doesn't count!...so don't expect originality. I'm gleefully intending to emulate the general style here (one which happily provides an excuse for any number of gaping plot-holes, corny dialogue and blatant inconsistencies), right down to cheesy one-liners at the end.
This storyline was ripped almost wholesale from an episode of Dungeons and Dragons. Not that I've seen it for at least a decade, but as I recall, the kids were exploring a castle and they got separated, each one having to face their own deepest fear. Where my story differs is that (from possibly inaccurate memory) at the end, their leader realises what's up and somehow manages to yell out to the others that it's all just a hoax and none of it's real. Even as a child, this seemed like a major cop-out to me...particularly in the case of the girl whose deepest fear was being alone. "You mean I'm not alone? Then I'm not afraid!" Well, duh!
At any rate, I did very much want the Autobots in this story to actually overcome their fears instead of realising that it was all a trick and getting out of it that way. Facing up to your fears is a common theme in any genre, and this particular storyline isn't that far off something like The Killing Jar or Nightmare Planet. Which may be a good or bad thing depending on your opinions of those episodes.
The other popular cliché in this story was all the stock, Indiana Jones-esque, booby-traps. I had a blast putting them in, although I never appreciated before how tricky they are to write as compared to watching them on a screen.
Structure-wise, this is probably the easiest story I've ever written. Once I figured out everybody's fear and how they get split up, everything stacked together like building blocks. Set up, fear 1, fear 2, intermission, fear 3, fear 4, fear 5 and revelation, finale. Normally I'm pondering when to introduce a certain theme or whatever. Due to the fact that most of these scenes were solo pieces, most timing decisions were made for me.
And oh, the fears! With these cartoon-style stories, I am trying very hard to stay away from long digressions into what the characters are thinking. This was a very simple story, but the hardest part of it was definitely conveying panic while avoiding introspection (barring reasonably inconsequential phrases). Blurr lent himself rather easily to this since he's the sort to carry on monologues, and the others all had somebody to talk to as part of their fear, but there's only so far that the spoken word can take you. I was thinking of the story in very visual terms and you know how a picture tells a thousand words-. My solution was to try and use specific words to convey the particular atmosphere that might otherwise be conveyed through expression, music, etc. What do you think? Did I succeed?
I enjoyed driving the Autobots to honest-to-goodness terror regardless. No calm courage here. I wanted to turn them into nervous wrecks. I'd like to say that I chose the characters with much consideration, based on how well their particular fear fit into the story. In fact, they just happen to be five of my favourites. Simple as that. Yet again, no Decepticons. I could perhaps have had a rival Con party get stuck in the Labyrinth too, but eh-. I don't like to force an issue, and I had my hands full with the Autobots and Quintessons as it was. Mind you, if this was a cartoon, lord only knows how they'd manage the symbol flip. Autobot to Autobot. Autobot to Autobot. Autobot to, oh, gosh, Autobot. Maybe a Decepticon at the end for the Quints.
But to run down the five characters and fears-.
Blurr was a bit of a given. His tech spec says he gets claustrophobic. I don't know if he was in the cartoon...I don't think it ever came up...but it was rather convenient for me. Of course, being a fan of Blurr, I feel somewhat guilty that he gets such a character-lite fear. He was so much fun to write though! Especially the dialogue. Unlike the others, he tends to be a in a state of panic most of the time anyway, so you'll notice that he doesn't give into his fear straightaway. He's hysterical for a long time, but it takes a while before he's frightened to the point of inability to do anything. Still, I feel bad for not giving him more to chew on as it were.
Arcee's fear would have freaked me out the most- That and Kup's fear. The others I could have probably coped with to an extent. But watching your friends slowly dying and being unable to help...that's just not nice at all. I said in my essay on her that she didn't like abandoning people, and hadn't really been put to the test on that score. So here I put her to the test and had her fail miserably on the first attempt, poor lamb. Incidentally, the Autobots falling apart in front of her aren't necessarily acting in character, since it's her perception of the situation. She's not thinking about what would really happen, just what she's most afraid of. If that had really been Kup, Springer and Blurr, I suspect they would have told her to pull herself together and find help. And quite right too.
Springer always strikes me as being such a bully in Five Faces of Darkness when he picks on that little Skuxxoid who sabotaged the Galactic Olympics. It's one of the things I like about him...no nancing around!...but I couldn't resist turning the tables. Actually, taking away his strength was a bit of a cop-out since he handles that very well in Only Human, and we shouldn't forget his tech spec quote: Strength is more than physical. On the other hand, I did humiliate him as well...and it was more about his pride than his strength. Now let that be a lesson to you, Sonny-Jim! I like Skuxxoids too. Cute little buggers.
Kup! Officially my favourite fear of the lot-. The others were all stock fears, but with Kup I actually had to...gasp...use some modicum of ingenuity. I did want to use Kup in the story (I always want to use Kup in a story), however it's not easy to pick on any one thing that might scare him. Finally, I realised that if he relies so much on experience, taking that away would leave him very vulnerable. Amnesia was a possibility, but the "what if everything you knew was just a dream' scenario was more interesting. I worry that it may have been a wee bit too confusing though? The four robots with Kup are obviously riffs on Hot Rod, Arcee, Blurr and Springer, each one tagged with the original's basic, 1D, characteristic. They were fun to do, although they're not so much the Evil Twins of the characters as the characters done in a way that Kup would hate.
Rodimus Prime- Well yeah. Absolutely no imagination used here at all. After all, there are at least three episodes in the series where he spends all his time moping on how he's not as good a leader as Optimus, and he complains about leadership in almost every episode he appears in. I rather agree with him on the latter score, but the first always makes me shudder. Which was probably why I didn't dwell on it too much...heck knows I didn't need to. Again, this isn't actually Optimus Prime appearing in the episode, so he's not necessarily acting in character. And the difference with this fear is that while Rodimus is badly shaken by Optimus appearing and taking him to task for his leadership, it doesn't work. I wanted to do Rodimus standing up to Optimus and defending himself. Incidentally, this whole letting people face things on their own (just don't abandon them entirely) is an aspect of leadership that I think Rodimus handles better than Optimus in general.
Finally, the Quintessons. I love the Quintessons...they're my favourite villains of the series. I tend to have more trouble coping with the Decepticon POV where they're Evil and that's essentially their motivation. I can see where the Quintessons are coming from, i.e. they're the important race in the Universe and all others are little more than lab-rats.
I have to confess though that it took me ages to realise that Rodimus needed to fight fire with fire when facing the Quintessons. I had the story all mapped out, but it was only when playing out Rod-Quintesson dialogue in my head prior to getting around to writing it, that it suddenly hit me that he needed to turn their worst fear against them. Before that I couldn't figure out why they would let him talk to his companions. Isn't that awful? The most predictable, you can see it coming a mile off, inevitable ending, and it didn't occur to me.
I also couldn't think of a cheesy last line for this episode, so I settled for that other cartoon staple- something that vaguely sounds deep but is really a semi-non-sequitur. Oh, and you know how that last line and the dialogue immediately preceding it is spoken in a vacuum? Now that's quite permissible going by the rules of the cartoon, but what really gets me is that it wasn't until after I'd finished the story that I noticed I'd done that. I'm so proud! I've finally achieved the cartoon mentality. Now if only I can find my way out of it again-.