Gaslight_Dreamer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wyntir_knight) wrote2007-11-30 05:07 pm
wyntir_knight) wrote2007-11-30 05:07 pm
Entry tags:
YATTA!!! --- or The Devil You Know, Chapter 21
Title: The Devil You Know
Series: G1 universe, focusing on Original characters
Rating: R
Summary: In the early days of the civil war on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime authorized several refugee vessels to take Neutrals away from the planet in hopes that they could start peaceful colonies where they would be safe. Many of these refugees were never heard from again; lost to us through time and distance. But history does record the fate of one of the vessels. The Stormchaser was three orns away from its destination when it was shot down by Decepticons in an act of cowardice and deceit. There were no survivors. That is what history tells us. But in this case, history is wrong.
Author's Note: Day 30. I did it! I hit 50,000 words! Go Me!
I've decided not the post the chapter notes, but, instead, will continue posting chapters as they are completed. SO, hopefully, it will all be up by the end of the year.
EDIT: And apparently I got it done just in time. I just ripped the nail off of my left index finger. SLAG! That hurts like a sumbitch! Well, not so much now that the pain killers have kicke in, but tomorrow I'll be paying for it .... *grrrr*
Chapter 21
The figure seemed to gaze out at the stadium seating as if looking at all the mechs who weren’t sitting there. There was a forlorn look in the face, even though the flickering of the image, degraded from lack of use and the ravages of time. Still, he could be seen clearly enough. He seemed to be of an old design of Consumer Goods, but there was no obvious sign of an alt mode.
“If you have come this far, then you have come too far,” the figure said cryptically in a broken and tired voice. “Unless of course, you now have the technology needed to access these records from space. If that is the case, then I beg of you, do not come down to this cursed planet. Do not put yourself I any further danger. And if you are watching this from the Council Chamber, then may Primus protect y0our Spark.”
“What is this?” Discourse asked.
“I have no idea,” Cobalt replied. “Do you think this is some kind of a joke?”
“Silence!” Updraft ordered as the figure continued to speak.
“-less of where you are, it is imperative that you listen to my story and that you learn from it. You cannot make the same mistakes we have. We paid for our arrogance with our lives. I pray that with this, my last act, I am able to impart some wisdom upon you, and maybe you can avoid the fate that befell us.”
“This has got to be some kind of a joke,” Circuit said as he began to examine the console.
“If you do not shut up, then so help me I will kill you,” Updraft growled. “And if you even think about touching those buttons I will rip your arm off and shove it up your exhaust port!”
Circuit looked like he was about to reply, but then he closed his mouth and backed off, hands up an away from the console. After a moment, Updraft turned bac to listen to the hologram.
“- were arrogant. We believed that we knew better than the Council. But I imagine that you already know of the glories of out colony. What the histories will not tell you is that we were not the first here. When we arrived we found the remains of a previous colony. It was ancient, even by our standards, and had been abandoned since long before our War of Independence from the *shhrrkkt* Our scientists believed that the race that had been here *frtweh* -ganic in origin, and possibly were related to the *shrethekkk* -”
“What’s going on?” Updraft demanded. “Fix it, Circuit. We need to hear this story!”
“I – I’ll see what I can do,” Circuit replied as he began to examine the console. “But I can’t make any promises. It could just be old.”
“Do what you can and do it fast,” Updraft said as he watched the hologram continue to speak, gesturing wildly as if making some sort of important point.
Circuit worked frantically but nothing seemed to work. Finally giving up, he gave into his frustration and kicked the console viciously. Suddenly, the hologram regained his voice and the story continued.
“-ore. But we assumed, in our arrogance, that they had passed out of existence thanks to their frail organic nature. But the clues were all there. The truth was right there in front of our faces the whole time. We just couldn’t see it.”
The mech stopped and shook his head mournfully. He seeped about to speak again, but then he turned and looked off into the distance for a long time. A look of pure fear and panic came to his face and he quickly turned back to face the viewers.
“I don’t have much time so I will attempt to make this as concise as possible,” he said quickly. “We came to this world in search of a Utopia and instead we found only the depths of the Pit. The society that had been here before us had been infected and tore themselves apart from the inside. But the time we learned the truth, it was far too late. It was like we were the fruits of the krishtow tree. Beautiful to look at, but always, there is a worm at the core.”
“There’s that worm reference again,” Discourse murmured.
“-ly we too became infected, corrupted from the inside. We had intended this to be a peaceful society, but we became violent. It started small. More arguments, more paranoia, more fear and confusion. We blamed our problems on each other rather than turning to ourselves. I think … I think that we wanted to ignore it. Like a Sparkling who hides in the corner, covering his eyes in hopes that if he cannot see the Unmaker, then the Unmaker cannot see him. If we ignored it all, then maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t real.”
A look of pain crossed the mech’s face as he pulled out a small, palm sized picture cube.
“Our Sparklings were the first to succumb to this … this evil. We saw them fading before us and we sought to protect them, but in the end we did more harm than good. We kept them close, we protected them from all outside enemies, but we ignored the fact that we, their creators, were their enemies. I watched my sweet little Waterspider and my darling Coax fade away until there was nothing left of them. Just empty shells where my creations had once been,” he said softly as he gently touched the picture cube.
“What started with the Sparklings, spread to the rest of us far too quickly,” the hologram continued. “But we were in mourning. We needed someone to blame and, thus, we turned upon each other. The violence escalated, neighbour turning on neighbour, friend against friend, brother against brother. Some of us tried to fight this … this urge we had, to fight, to maim, to kill. Be we were too few. Far too few. Our council, in an attempt to find someone, anyone, to blame, became xenophobic. At their counsel we closed our borders to any that could have helped us. But perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. We allowed no one in and no one out. That meant that the virus was trapped here, unable to spread its destructive power to other worlds.”
A loud noise, like a banging, came from somewhere off screen, and the hologram turned to look at it, a look of total defeat on his face.
“If I am not the last, I certainly am one of the few who has been able to fight off this evil that has consumed us. All the others have fallen, possessed by their most base urges. Even as I speak to you, they are tearing the city apart. They are practicing the most unspeakable acts. … Just believe me when I say that this world is not safe for anyone. Do not land here, and if you are listening to this from the Council chambers,” he broke off and took a deep breath. “I beg of you to trust me when I say this. You and your crew are likely already infected. The symptoms are *shrrkkt* You will find yourselves paranoid, angry, and full of all the most base urges of our society. Taboos will seem to be normal activities, and you will never think to question your own actions.”
The noise from beyond the hologram increased to as rapid banging. It was obvious from the noise that someone or something was trying to break into the room.
“They’re here!” the hologram whispered. “That is all I can tell you. Trust no one. And more importantly, trust nothing! At the end, it seemed that even the very plants had turned against us. Please, do what you can to save yourselves, but make sure that no one ever comes here again! We are cursed and I will not see the Empire fall because of us!”
Suddenly the banging became a loud crash. The figure in the hologram turned and moved as if to run but he was too slow. A mech, dripping with fluids, flew out from the left, tackling the speaker. Both fell in a heap, the attacker letting loose a feral growl, the victim screaming in pain. More bots, both mechs and femmes, both consumer good and military hardware, came into the scene, falling upon the speaker and each other.
As Updraft, Circuit, and Discourse watched in horror, the attackers began to rip the speaker to shreds, dipping their heads down and coming back with mouths full of fluid and metal.
“Turn it off,” Updraft whispered.
Discourse’s legs gave out from under her and she sank to the ground in a heap, looking in shocked terror at the, now obvious, dried mech fluid all over the dais and the floor surrounding it.
Circuit just watched the scene continue, rooted to the spot, unable to take action.
“Turn it off!” Updraft yelled.
As if he has been slapped, Circuit jumped forward and pressed several buttons, turning off the recording just as one of the attackers threw his head back and howled in triumph.
Series: G1 universe, focusing on Original characters
Rating: R
Summary: In the early days of the civil war on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime authorized several refugee vessels to take Neutrals away from the planet in hopes that they could start peaceful colonies where they would be safe. Many of these refugees were never heard from again; lost to us through time and distance. But history does record the fate of one of the vessels. The Stormchaser was three orns away from its destination when it was shot down by Decepticons in an act of cowardice and deceit. There were no survivors. That is what history tells us. But in this case, history is wrong.
Author's Note: Day 30. I did it! I hit 50,000 words! Go Me!
I've decided not the post the chapter notes, but, instead, will continue posting chapters as they are completed. SO, hopefully, it will all be up by the end of the year.
EDIT: And apparently I got it done just in time. I just ripped the nail off of my left index finger. SLAG! That hurts like a sumbitch! Well, not so much now that the pain killers have kicke in, but tomorrow I'll be paying for it .... *grrrr*
The figure seemed to gaze out at the stadium seating as if looking at all the mechs who weren’t sitting there. There was a forlorn look in the face, even though the flickering of the image, degraded from lack of use and the ravages of time. Still, he could be seen clearly enough. He seemed to be of an old design of Consumer Goods, but there was no obvious sign of an alt mode.
“If you have come this far, then you have come too far,” the figure said cryptically in a broken and tired voice. “Unless of course, you now have the technology needed to access these records from space. If that is the case, then I beg of you, do not come down to this cursed planet. Do not put yourself I any further danger. And if you are watching this from the Council Chamber, then may Primus protect y0our Spark.”
“What is this?” Discourse asked.
“I have no idea,” Cobalt replied. “Do you think this is some kind of a joke?”
“Silence!” Updraft ordered as the figure continued to speak.
“-less of where you are, it is imperative that you listen to my story and that you learn from it. You cannot make the same mistakes we have. We paid for our arrogance with our lives. I pray that with this, my last act, I am able to impart some wisdom upon you, and maybe you can avoid the fate that befell us.”
“This has got to be some kind of a joke,” Circuit said as he began to examine the console.
“If you do not shut up, then so help me I will kill you,” Updraft growled. “And if you even think about touching those buttons I will rip your arm off and shove it up your exhaust port!”
Circuit looked like he was about to reply, but then he closed his mouth and backed off, hands up an away from the console. After a moment, Updraft turned bac to listen to the hologram.
“- were arrogant. We believed that we knew better than the Council. But I imagine that you already know of the glories of out colony. What the histories will not tell you is that we were not the first here. When we arrived we found the remains of a previous colony. It was ancient, even by our standards, and had been abandoned since long before our War of Independence from the *shhrrkkt* Our scientists believed that the race that had been here *frtweh* -ganic in origin, and possibly were related to the *shrethekkk* -”
“What’s going on?” Updraft demanded. “Fix it, Circuit. We need to hear this story!”
“I – I’ll see what I can do,” Circuit replied as he began to examine the console. “But I can’t make any promises. It could just be old.”
“Do what you can and do it fast,” Updraft said as he watched the hologram continue to speak, gesturing wildly as if making some sort of important point.
Circuit worked frantically but nothing seemed to work. Finally giving up, he gave into his frustration and kicked the console viciously. Suddenly, the hologram regained his voice and the story continued.
“-ore. But we assumed, in our arrogance, that they had passed out of existence thanks to their frail organic nature. But the clues were all there. The truth was right there in front of our faces the whole time. We just couldn’t see it.”
The mech stopped and shook his head mournfully. He seeped about to speak again, but then he turned and looked off into the distance for a long time. A look of pure fear and panic came to his face and he quickly turned back to face the viewers.
“I don’t have much time so I will attempt to make this as concise as possible,” he said quickly. “We came to this world in search of a Utopia and instead we found only the depths of the Pit. The society that had been here before us had been infected and tore themselves apart from the inside. But the time we learned the truth, it was far too late. It was like we were the fruits of the krishtow tree. Beautiful to look at, but always, there is a worm at the core.”
“There’s that worm reference again,” Discourse murmured.
“-ly we too became infected, corrupted from the inside. We had intended this to be a peaceful society, but we became violent. It started small. More arguments, more paranoia, more fear and confusion. We blamed our problems on each other rather than turning to ourselves. I think … I think that we wanted to ignore it. Like a Sparkling who hides in the corner, covering his eyes in hopes that if he cannot see the Unmaker, then the Unmaker cannot see him. If we ignored it all, then maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t real.”
A look of pain crossed the mech’s face as he pulled out a small, palm sized picture cube.
“Our Sparklings were the first to succumb to this … this evil. We saw them fading before us and we sought to protect them, but in the end we did more harm than good. We kept them close, we protected them from all outside enemies, but we ignored the fact that we, their creators, were their enemies. I watched my sweet little Waterspider and my darling Coax fade away until there was nothing left of them. Just empty shells where my creations had once been,” he said softly as he gently touched the picture cube.
“What started with the Sparklings, spread to the rest of us far too quickly,” the hologram continued. “But we were in mourning. We needed someone to blame and, thus, we turned upon each other. The violence escalated, neighbour turning on neighbour, friend against friend, brother against brother. Some of us tried to fight this … this urge we had, to fight, to maim, to kill. Be we were too few. Far too few. Our council, in an attempt to find someone, anyone, to blame, became xenophobic. At their counsel we closed our borders to any that could have helped us. But perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. We allowed no one in and no one out. That meant that the virus was trapped here, unable to spread its destructive power to other worlds.”
A loud noise, like a banging, came from somewhere off screen, and the hologram turned to look at it, a look of total defeat on his face.
“If I am not the last, I certainly am one of the few who has been able to fight off this evil that has consumed us. All the others have fallen, possessed by their most base urges. Even as I speak to you, they are tearing the city apart. They are practicing the most unspeakable acts. … Just believe me when I say that this world is not safe for anyone. Do not land here, and if you are listening to this from the Council chambers,” he broke off and took a deep breath. “I beg of you to trust me when I say this. You and your crew are likely already infected. The symptoms are *shrrkkt* You will find yourselves paranoid, angry, and full of all the most base urges of our society. Taboos will seem to be normal activities, and you will never think to question your own actions.”
The noise from beyond the hologram increased to as rapid banging. It was obvious from the noise that someone or something was trying to break into the room.
“They’re here!” the hologram whispered. “That is all I can tell you. Trust no one. And more importantly, trust nothing! At the end, it seemed that even the very plants had turned against us. Please, do what you can to save yourselves, but make sure that no one ever comes here again! We are cursed and I will not see the Empire fall because of us!”
Suddenly the banging became a loud crash. The figure in the hologram turned and moved as if to run but he was too slow. A mech, dripping with fluids, flew out from the left, tackling the speaker. Both fell in a heap, the attacker letting loose a feral growl, the victim screaming in pain. More bots, both mechs and femmes, both consumer good and military hardware, came into the scene, falling upon the speaker and each other.
As Updraft, Circuit, and Discourse watched in horror, the attackers began to rip the speaker to shreds, dipping their heads down and coming back with mouths full of fluid and metal.
“Turn it off,” Updraft whispered.
Discourse’s legs gave out from under her and she sank to the ground in a heap, looking in shocked terror at the, now obvious, dried mech fluid all over the dais and the floor surrounding it.
Circuit just watched the scene continue, rooted to the spot, unable to take action.
“Turn it off!” Updraft yelled.
As if he has been slapped, Circuit jumped forward and pressed several buttons, turning off the recording just as one of the attackers threw his head back and howled in triumph.
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Now I'm going to start reading this from the beginning ^^ *grabs and dances*
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*looks about nervously* It's still rough, mind you and not quite done yet. But read away! And any thoughts would be appreciated :)
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