I'm done doing chapter previews, just so you know.
CHAPTER THREE
--The Lost Light, the bridge--
"Gigantion, huh? So we're finally going to Gigantion," Bumblebee said. "Not Junkion or Aquatron or Earth. Gigantion. After 113 years. Wow."
Skids glanced at him oddly before turning to Arcee, who was staring at the stars out one of the ship's ports. "Am I missing something?"
"It's a long story," Arcee replied. "We had to make quite a few detours on our trip."
"Is that right? So you had to make a stop at Junkion of all places?"
Arcee shrugged. "Like I said, it's a long story."
"Did you stop by Velocitron?" asked Swerve as he passed by. "Did you see Blurr?"
Arcee sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, we saw Blurr, at a race. No, we didn't talk with him or get his autograph. Please, shut up."
"Don't bother," Skids snorted. "It never works, from what I hear."
Sure enough, no more than two seconds later: "Did you get his autograph?"
* * *
"I see you've been busy in the past century," Perceptor commented as he entered Brainstorm's cluttered lab, where the aforementioned scientist and Nautica were working. Picking up a small metal sphere, he held it up close to his optic. "What is this?"
"Don't touch it!" Brainstorm quickly snatched it from his hands. "It's a prototype suspense bomb. Once detonated, it causes the victim to think time is slowing down, leaving them hanging in suspense."
Perceptor crossed his arms. "And how exactly would anyone benefit from that?"
"I, well, er... you just never know." Putting the bomb away, he then turned to Nautica, who was focused on some sort of project. "How are things proceeding, my young apprentice?"
"Don't call me that," Nautica said through gritted teeth. "And be quiet! I'm trying to work here."
"Oh, okay," Brainstorm whispered in a mockful tone. "I'll give you your privacy. Didn't mean to interrupt. Sheesh."
"What is she working on?" Perceptor asked.
"Her wrench. She wants to give it more gadgets so she can do more than just fix things and throw it at people."
"Interesting."
"Mm, not really. So! What have you been up to lately?"
Perceptor frowned, his shoulders sagging. "Well...."
* * *
"Y'know, it's funny when you think about it, Shock," the blue Duobot said to his red lookalike as they worked in the Lost Light's engine rooms. "Just a month or so ago, we only had a ruddy four crew-members on our ship-- five, before the captain left us. Now we've got a whoopin' twenty-three, and Optimus slaggin' Prime is one of them!"
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Shock laughed as he finished welding a panel on a thruster shut. "Though not as hard to believe as Skids' little story."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Ore shook his head. "I'm still tryin' to wrap my processor around it: I mean, all of that because of a plant?"
"Yeah, I know. I guess when you're a time traveler, you--" Shock suddenly paused, his hand moving up to his communicator. "Huh? Now? But we haven't-- eh? Okay, if you say so."
Turning to his brother, the red Duobot said, "That was Prime. We're making the jump to hyperspace now. Is the hyper-drive all set?"
"Aw slag, I totally forgot." Ore quickly rushed over to the hyper-drive and opened a panel in it, fiddling with its inner workings. When he was done, he started to pull his arms out... only for them to get caught.
"Hyperspace sequence initiated. Jumping in ten... nine...."
"Are you done yet?" Shock asked. "We've gotta get out of here!"
"My arms are stuck!" Ore cried.
"Seven... six...."
Shock grabbed a hold of Ore and heaved, but no matter how much strength he used, he could not get his brother free.
"Five... four...."
"Hang on, I'll use my torch," Shock said, deploying his tool.
"Better hurry!"
"Three... two...."
"Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurr--!"
"One."
* * *
Optimus Prime's world had become red.
Alarms blared all over the bridge. Most of the Autobots were on the floor like he was, disoriented from the violent tumult that had shaken the ship upon making the jump to lightspeed. Picking himself up, he called out, "What just happened?!"
Riptide pulled himself back to his monitor. "Some explosion went off in the engine rooms! The hyper-drive is damaged!"
Optimus directed his attention to the viewport, where a tunnel of stretched out stars twirled before it. "Anyway we can pull out?"
Before Riptide could answer, Perceptor, Brainstorm, and Nautica entered the bridge, the latter rushing to the hyper-drive controls.
"I'm on it!" she said. "I'm a quantum mechanic."
"What?!" Riptide exclaimed. "Since when?"
"Since always. Now shut up and let me work."
Her hands moving almost as fast as lightning, Nautica worked with the hyper-drive controls, activating emergency backup systems to lessen the damage somewhat and eventually brought the ship out of hyperspace, bringing it out before a massive, purple world.
"Huh," Bumblebee said. "We actually dropped out at our original destination, and without crashing. That's a first."
"We still can't land, though," Windblade said grimly. "The engines are out completely."
"Then we'll have to take a shuttle," Optimus said. "I'll take a team down with me to scout out the landscape. We'll contact you if we need reinforcements."
"I'll stay back to command the ship," Elita said. Her voice suddenly became quiet as she said, "Be safe, Optimus."
Optimus caught her gaze and stared into her optics. After a quiet moment, he nodded. "I promise."
With that, he went to quickly gather up a team. Soon, with Bumblebee, Drift, Bulkhead, Brainstorm, Perceptor, Glyph, and Windblade, he was heading down for the Lost Light's shuttle bay, where two gold shuttles awaited them.
"What do you think we'll find down there?" Bulkhead asked. "Glyph tells me there's less data on Gigantion than any of the colony worlds, besides Gorlam Prime."
"Who can say?" Optimus said. "After all I've been through, I have to wonder if anything can faze me now."
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