Of Base Flora and Fauna
As he flew over the ocean, Skyfire contemplated the little 'errand' Starscream had asked him to undertake. One, Starscream had talked him out of Autobot City while Starscream stayed behind--after a lengthy conversation with the Autobot Security Chief. Ulterior motive, or happenstance? Either one was possible. Red Alert had never quite trusted
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// Echoshift, if you've been following my study of your local lifeforms, this--" here Skyfire holds up the box with Squirmy in it, "critter--I'm calling it a 'skitterfluff', is non-local in origin, probably from the Nexus. It is, however, harmless to us, and seems to have an agreeable disposition. I believe it is a domesticated vermin hunter of some kind, and it is well adapted to hunting in the ducts and accessways of this base. I've also noticed that you have a rat problem here. //
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He nods at Skyfire. //Yep, I've been following. You thinking it could take care of the rat problem if you set it loose or something?//
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//Well, we've gotta training arena here for when anyone feels like doing some target practice. Stops them from accidentally shooting holes in the wrong wall and letting the ocean in, heh. So the critter'll probably be fine as far as that goes.//
He looks thoughtfully at the box containing Squirmy, pondering Skyfire's point on whether the animal will find enough to eat.
//Is there any way of telling how long he's been here already?//
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// Not really. Not long enough to become completely feral, or noticeably malnourished. It definitely did not grow to maturity here--there are trace elements in its tissues that do not naturally occur in this part of the galaxy. //
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//Eh, set it loose if you want to. It'll probably be fine. If it starts running out of food here you could catch it again and take it to Autobot City then, I guess.//
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Skyfire takes the box containing Squirmy under one arm and departs Starscream's lab after carefully shutting down the computers and re-locking the door behind him.
Back in Starscream's quarters, he carefully opens the box.
The skitterfluff doesn't dart out immediately. It raises its head to look around, large ears flicking from forward and back. It tilts its head and looks curiously at Skyfire.
Some tiny noise catches the skitterfluff's attention; its head snaps around and its ears focus on the air vent leading into Starscream's quarters. In an agile yellow flash, it's out of the box and on the wall, scuttling up to the vent. The flexible tail flips forward and unlatches the vent cover, and Squirmy vanishes into the depths of the vent system.
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He turned away from the console, and looked through the drawers in the desk. There were datasticks and unlabeled circuit modules; Skyfire picked them up and deposited them in a cabin compartment of his. Again, Skyfire looked around at the tiny, barren room.
Starscream spent much of the last few decades of his life here, and in that lab I just left. Underwater, entombed in this metal crypt--Primus, how did he keep from going mad??Idly, he began to check through the datasticks, not expecting to find anything of significance. Anything important, Starscream himself would have removed long ago, or the Decepticon security chief would have found it and removed it. At first, it seemed like none of the datasticks were of importance--old ( ... )
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"Echoshift, I'm finished here. If you'd be so kind as to raise the elevator tower for me, I'd appreciate it."
Skyfire's face is still pensive.
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He chuckles. "Though if you and Starscream're thinking of coming here regularly in future, maybe it'd just be easier if you were given the codes and stuff so you can raise the elevator on your own."
Maybe.
The pensive look doesn't go unnoticed, but Echoshift wavers on whether or not to comment on it. The look he gives Skyfire remains mostly friendly, if slightly curious.
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He's always on edge, ever wary, in the stronghold of his old enemies. Although would things be any better here? He has so few friends and too many enemies even among the Decepticons. Better to get him out among the stars again; both enemies and friends are few out there, but at least I know which is which.
Skyfire's expression grows more somber, and he looks speculatively at Echoshift.
"If you don't mind a personal question, Echoshift--how did you become a Decepticon?"
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The change in Skyfire's expression and the rather unexpected question make Echoshift pause. He wonders what could going through Skyfire's head.
"Bit of a random time to ask, but..." He shrugs. "I've always been a Decepticon. Got built as one, see." It's a rather simple answer, but then honest truths often were. The curious expression becomes a little more obvious. "Why?"
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He looks at Echoshift, looks as if he's about to say something, then falls silent for a few moments. Finally, he speaks. "When I was trapped in the ice, there were no 'Decepticons' as such. The dominant class wore the Autobot symbol, but it meant something else then. I'm trying to understand, really understand how Cybertron got from what I knew to what I woke up to." Almost as an afterthought he adds, "and why and how Starscream took the path he did."
"I wonder how and why others made that choice."
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His optics glance momentarily to the bright red Autobot symbol Skyfire wears. He knew of the circumstances surrounding Skyfire's reactivation on Earth, of course. So at least he didn't end up looking confused at Skyfire's mention of being trapped in ice, even if he hadn't actually been there when it happened. It was one of those incidents that everybody seemed to have at least heard of.
All that other stuff though? The talk of Cybertron changing from how it had been before to what it was just before the truce? He wasn't as familiar with that part. He couldn't be. For mechs like Echoshift, there was no 'before the War'. There had always been Decepticons and Autobots, and they'd always been fighting each other; the neutrals simply fought everyone just the same, regardless of faction. That was the norm. That was how Echoshift remembered it being ( ... )
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He ponders. "I remember how it was, and Starscream has told me that it kept getting worse in exactly the way we feared--so I can grasp some of it. But I've heard other things... things done by both sides in this bitter war that make me doubt that everyone really chose--or had chosen for them--the side they truly belonged with. If there even is such a thing."
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"You're starting to think about this too hard, Skyfire," he comments with a chuckle, reacting with open amusement to the white shuttle's over-pondering as well as attempting to lighten the mood a little.
He looks for a moment at the computer console. "Elevator should be ready now." He straightens up and stops the processes being run by the computer that aren't necessary for the moment. "I think I'm gonna take a break and go out for a flight for a while. You know, just to see the sky again. Clear my head and stuff." And maybe it'll clear yours a bit too. He heads for the control room door, tossing a grin in Skyfire's direction. "Come on. Screamer would throw a fit if I let you keep standing there until your processor smoked out from thinking too much."
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