(no subject)
Title: The Mystery Spot
Author: tainry
Fandom: Transformers: G1
Rating: PG
Warnings: Lightly implied human/robot snuggles. Pret-ty tame. ^^;
Summary: For the flesh_and_steel community Strange Places On Earth free-for-all. :D Spike, Bee, Carly, Wheeljack, Chip and Prowl go to the Mystery Spot near Santa Cruz, California. Hijinks ensue!
~1000 words.
The Mystery Spot
“We could have gone to the Oregon Vortex, you know,” Spike said. He tried not to sound sulky, he really did. Maybe it was just the heat, and the furtive way Bumblebee kept gazing at Prowl. Which wasn’t fair, Spike knew. Bee and Prowl had known each other a very long time, and maybe they were just talking about anti-Decepticon tactics or something over their internal radios. Prowl could go on about that, once you got him wound up, and they were a little bit vulnerable, just the three Autobots out here on a nice long road trip down to California. Far from base.
And parents. Spike would bet Chip’s parents were stewing up a storm, this being such a long trip with no, well, no human adults along. They’d only allowed it because Prowl could pretty much out-adult just about anyone, and his influence - at least in Mrs. And Mr. Chase’s eyes - seemed to balance out the wild card of Wheeljack. Worse, Wheeljack and Carly.
“You three go on in the main entrance here,” Wheeljack said, making shooing motions. “We’ll cut around through the woods.” Even Bumblebee would have had to duck under the big yellow sign, and Prowl, with his door-wings, just really wouldn’t fit. Wheeljack handed Carly the money he’d gotten from Smokescreen for their entrance fee. At least they didn’t have to pay for parking.
Spike and Carly both pitched in to help Chip wheel his chair up the hill - the walk was paved and plenty wide - and nice and shady under the redwoods - but pretty steep. Chip had a lot of upper body strength, but he had a lot of other kinds of strength as well so he didn’t mind letting his friends help him.
As promised, the three robots met them beside the little fenced-in shack that was the main focus of the Mystery Spot. They couldn’t fit inside, but they watched their human friends take the brief guided tour, and play about in the shack, seeming to stand on the walls and hang at funny angles and laugh as a suspended weight seemed to swing to the right but not to the left like any proper, self-respecting pendulum. Prowl reached an arm in to lift Chip up to the handles set into an open door frame so that Chip could dangle, too.
“You guys know this is all an opt-” Chip began, as Spike watched a billiards ball seem to roll uphill for about the eighth time.
“Hush!” said Bee, smiling. Spike wanted to hug him, but that would have been awkward.
“Knowing the reason doesn’t really take away from the fun,” Carly said, patting Bee’s hand. “Our eyes are so strongly hooked up to our brains, it still messes with our heads.”
Wheeljack nodded. “If I turn off my gravimetric sensors the illusion is really convincing! Even the trees look like they’re tilted funny.” He gazed about happily, enjoying the atmosphere of fun and winking mystery.
“As they often do,” Prowl said, “on a hillside.” He reached in and retrieved Chip, sensitive as ever to when the young man grew fatigued. After a while Spike and Carly joined them beside the little snack bar for lunch.
“Spots like these became popular during the Depression,” Chip was explaining to Prowl. “Entertainment was the only kind of business that was still booming. People really wanted to get away from their daily lives.”
“There’s a hiking trail,” Spike said, unabashedly enjoying himself now. “You guys game?” The robots would probably be all right as long as they stayed in root mode, and Spike saw the little look pass between Chip and Prowl. The trail might not really be wheelchair accessible, but Chip would ride on Prowl’s shoulder, or in his arms, depending on overhanging branches or whatever.
“Sure!” Carly and Chip said together.
It was a short trail, about half an hour, as human footsteps went, and mostly shady. Clouds gathered and cooled the breeze. Chip, now away from the main attraction, happily explained about building the shack at a 25 degree angle, and cleverly disguising that angle with landscaping and specially slanted fences, removing vertical references and dotting the area with specially distorted objects to enhance the illusion.
“You’re sure an alien spaceship didn’t crash here?” Spike teased, waggling his fingers at Bee and Wheeljack. “Or that gravity isn’t toroidally distorted in this area?”
“Pretty sure,” Wheeljack chuckled.
“I dunno, guys,” Spike said. “The tour guide sounded pretty convincing to me.”
“Spike,” Prowl said, “as your philosopher Occam observed, the simplest explanation is generally the correct one.”
“Although I guess it’s kind of sad that the simplest explanation is that it’s a scam,” Bee said wistfully.
“’Scam’ is such a harsh word,” Wheeljack said. “Nobody’s being forced into anything, it’s a legitimately fun illusion, and all they give up is time and five bu-uuUUUUCKS! WHOA!”
Bumblebee yelped as well, as all three robots began to rise up into the air, as though gravity itself was doing something distinctly mysterious! Carly, Spike and Chip gaped at them, too confused and surprised to do anything for a moment. Then Spike leapt up and tried to grab Bumblebee’s flailing hand, as though his slight weight would be enough to get his friend’s feet back down to terra firma. Carly stared around wildly, thinking this might be some bizarre Decepticon attack. Prowl remained silent, even as he was turned aft-over-wheels, his sensor panels fanning out, his face set in a look of concentration; and Chip watched Prowl, the expression on his face changing as Prowl’s did.
“Windcharger,” Prowl said calmly. “Please put us down.”
“What!?” Bee squawked, twisting around as his fellow minibot came out of the forest, grinning.
“Sorry, guys, couldn’t resist!” Windcharger lowered them gently enough, though Bee was still upside-down and Wheeljack landed rather noisily on his aft. The red and grey minibot couldn’t have safely kept them suspended for much longer anyway. “Prime was fretting about you down here all by your lonesomes, so I took it upon myself to follow you. And then you handed me such a perfect straight line!” He grinned particularly at Prowl - the Autobots’ eternal straight man.
“Woohoo!” crowed Wheeljack. “Good job, Windcharger! You almost had me going!”
“That was fun!” Bumblebee agreed.
“A real gravitational anomaly would have been more fun,” Spike sighed.
Carly patted his shoulder. “Maybe next time!”
Author: tainry
Fandom: Transformers: G1
Rating: PG
Warnings: Lightly implied human/robot snuggles. Pret-ty tame. ^^;
Summary: For the flesh_and_steel community Strange Places On Earth free-for-all. :D Spike, Bee, Carly, Wheeljack, Chip and Prowl go to the Mystery Spot near Santa Cruz, California. Hijinks ensue!
~1000 words.
The Mystery Spot
“We could have gone to the Oregon Vortex, you know,” Spike said. He tried not to sound sulky, he really did. Maybe it was just the heat, and the furtive way Bumblebee kept gazing at Prowl. Which wasn’t fair, Spike knew. Bee and Prowl had known each other a very long time, and maybe they were just talking about anti-Decepticon tactics or something over their internal radios. Prowl could go on about that, once you got him wound up, and they were a little bit vulnerable, just the three Autobots out here on a nice long road trip down to California. Far from base.
And parents. Spike would bet Chip’s parents were stewing up a storm, this being such a long trip with no, well, no human adults along. They’d only allowed it because Prowl could pretty much out-adult just about anyone, and his influence - at least in Mrs. And Mr. Chase’s eyes - seemed to balance out the wild card of Wheeljack. Worse, Wheeljack and Carly.
“You three go on in the main entrance here,” Wheeljack said, making shooing motions. “We’ll cut around through the woods.” Even Bumblebee would have had to duck under the big yellow sign, and Prowl, with his door-wings, just really wouldn’t fit. Wheeljack handed Carly the money he’d gotten from Smokescreen for their entrance fee. At least they didn’t have to pay for parking.
Spike and Carly both pitched in to help Chip wheel his chair up the hill - the walk was paved and plenty wide - and nice and shady under the redwoods - but pretty steep. Chip had a lot of upper body strength, but he had a lot of other kinds of strength as well so he didn’t mind letting his friends help him.
As promised, the three robots met them beside the little fenced-in shack that was the main focus of the Mystery Spot. They couldn’t fit inside, but they watched their human friends take the brief guided tour, and play about in the shack, seeming to stand on the walls and hang at funny angles and laugh as a suspended weight seemed to swing to the right but not to the left like any proper, self-respecting pendulum. Prowl reached an arm in to lift Chip up to the handles set into an open door frame so that Chip could dangle, too.
“You guys know this is all an opt-” Chip began, as Spike watched a billiards ball seem to roll uphill for about the eighth time.
“Hush!” said Bee, smiling. Spike wanted to hug him, but that would have been awkward.
“Knowing the reason doesn’t really take away from the fun,” Carly said, patting Bee’s hand. “Our eyes are so strongly hooked up to our brains, it still messes with our heads.”
Wheeljack nodded. “If I turn off my gravimetric sensors the illusion is really convincing! Even the trees look like they’re tilted funny.” He gazed about happily, enjoying the atmosphere of fun and winking mystery.
“As they often do,” Prowl said, “on a hillside.” He reached in and retrieved Chip, sensitive as ever to when the young man grew fatigued. After a while Spike and Carly joined them beside the little snack bar for lunch.
“Spots like these became popular during the Depression,” Chip was explaining to Prowl. “Entertainment was the only kind of business that was still booming. People really wanted to get away from their daily lives.”
“There’s a hiking trail,” Spike said, unabashedly enjoying himself now. “You guys game?” The robots would probably be all right as long as they stayed in root mode, and Spike saw the little look pass between Chip and Prowl. The trail might not really be wheelchair accessible, but Chip would ride on Prowl’s shoulder, or in his arms, depending on overhanging branches or whatever.
“Sure!” Carly and Chip said together.
It was a short trail, about half an hour, as human footsteps went, and mostly shady. Clouds gathered and cooled the breeze. Chip, now away from the main attraction, happily explained about building the shack at a 25 degree angle, and cleverly disguising that angle with landscaping and specially slanted fences, removing vertical references and dotting the area with specially distorted objects to enhance the illusion.
“You’re sure an alien spaceship didn’t crash here?” Spike teased, waggling his fingers at Bee and Wheeljack. “Or that gravity isn’t toroidally distorted in this area?”
“Pretty sure,” Wheeljack chuckled.
“I dunno, guys,” Spike said. “The tour guide sounded pretty convincing to me.”
“Spike,” Prowl said, “as your philosopher Occam observed, the simplest explanation is generally the correct one.”
“Although I guess it’s kind of sad that the simplest explanation is that it’s a scam,” Bee said wistfully.
“’Scam’ is such a harsh word,” Wheeljack said. “Nobody’s being forced into anything, it’s a legitimately fun illusion, and all they give up is time and five bu-uuUUUUCKS! WHOA!”
Bumblebee yelped as well, as all three robots began to rise up into the air, as though gravity itself was doing something distinctly mysterious! Carly, Spike and Chip gaped at them, too confused and surprised to do anything for a moment. Then Spike leapt up and tried to grab Bumblebee’s flailing hand, as though his slight weight would be enough to get his friend’s feet back down to terra firma. Carly stared around wildly, thinking this might be some bizarre Decepticon attack. Prowl remained silent, even as he was turned aft-over-wheels, his sensor panels fanning out, his face set in a look of concentration; and Chip watched Prowl, the expression on his face changing as Prowl’s did.
“Windcharger,” Prowl said calmly. “Please put us down.”
“What!?” Bee squawked, twisting around as his fellow minibot came out of the forest, grinning.
“Sorry, guys, couldn’t resist!” Windcharger lowered them gently enough, though Bee was still upside-down and Wheeljack landed rather noisily on his aft. The red and grey minibot couldn’t have safely kept them suspended for much longer anyway. “Prime was fretting about you down here all by your lonesomes, so I took it upon myself to follow you. And then you handed me such a perfect straight line!” He grinned particularly at Prowl - the Autobots’ eternal straight man.
“Woohoo!” crowed Wheeljack. “Good job, Windcharger! You almost had me going!”
“That was fun!” Bumblebee agreed.
“A real gravitational anomaly would have been more fun,” Spike sighed.
Carly patted his shoulder. “Maybe next time!”