Part 1

Jenny Witwicky sat on the bed, waiting for her parents to get properly dressed for lunch. Her father Jonathan, in his early forties, was past the point of trying to constantly look business-like, so he had been sitting on the balcony of the hotel room in nothing but colourful Bermuda shorts and sandals, watching the people of Espoo, Finland walk in and out of buses and taxis.

Jenny's mother Axawl had been lying on the other bed, reading a half-scientific, half-religious book in her native language, Mazmogadi. Neither Jenny nor Jonathan understood much of the book. Finally, after what seemed to be an arduously long wait, Jonathan said: "OK then, let's go see what the food is like in this quaint little hotel." Jenny and Axawl joined him as he opened the door that led to the corridor and walked out of room 317 of the Tapiola Garden Hotel in Espoo, Finland.

While the three family members turned left and started walking towards the elevator that would take them downwards to the Garden restaurant, Jenny thought about the adventure she had had with three Transformers only about a fortnight ago. It had been a dangerous journey through time and space and had involved many different places and people, humans, Transformers and others.

Of course, Jenny had enthusiastically told both her parents and the current Autobot leader, Mercator Prime, the basics of her adventure, but none of them had showed any real sign of actually believing her. After all, life in 2065 was considerably advanced compared to the 1980's when Transformers had first been sighted by modern humans, but still not so advanced that time travel would be available to anything bigger than a helium molecule. However, Jenny had anticipated this, and thus it didn't bother her.

After her adventure, Jenny had invited her parents to visit her in Finland, and to her surprise, they had actually agreed. So they had rented a room at the Tapiola Garden Hotel for a few nights and now, here they were, on their way downstairs to have some lunch. Jenny thought this to be simultaneously exciting and relaxing.

In the restaurant, the family picked a four-seated table from beside the large window facing the swimming hall. It wasn't long until a waiter appeared, ready to take their order. He could tell by their (somewhat literally) alien looks that they obviously didn't speak Finnish or Swedish.

"Do you want the menu?" he asked in English.

"Yes, please", said Jonathan, so the waiter handed each of the three of them a menu.

"Oh, look at all the lovely foods here", said Jonathan, scanning through the menu, "I think I'll take the pepper steak á la Garden. What about you?"

Jenny didn't usually eat very large or filling meals, so she chose something lighter. "I'll take the casserole Boulebaisse", she said.

"Ah, excellent", said Jonathan, "what about you, Axawl?"

Of course, the two humans knew that Axawl was a strict vegetarian. The Mazmogadi didn't eat animal flesh at all, the whole concept was alien to them. "I'll have the vegetable Wok", she said. When the waiter reappeared, Jonathan ordered the meals. He himself chose Finnish beer as a drink, Jenny chose mineral water and Axawl chose ordinary water. Her Mazmogadi stomach didn't take kindly to most flavoured drinks. The family soon engaged in casual conversation that was barely interruptedby the waiter bringing them their food, and continued while they were eating.

When Jenny had almost finished her meal, another waiter suddenly approached their table. "Excuse me", he said, "but there is a long distance phonecall for miss Jenny Witwicky. Really long distance."

"OK, put it through to our room, 317", said Jenny, rising from the table, "Excuse me, mother, father, I'll go see what it is all about."

"Of course, dear", said Jonathan, so Jenny walked to the stairs and climbed back to the third floor.

In the hotel room, Jenny lifted the receiver and answered it with her name. "Oh, finally", came a familiar, electronic voice with distinct feminine characteristics. "It's Windchaser here, calling from the current Decepticon headquarters situated on Phobos, the bigger moon of the planet Mars. How would you and your... Autobot friends like to come visit my coronation ceremony as new Decepticon leader?"

Jenny could tell from the way Windchaser stressed her words that she was still opposed to humans and Autobots, but had started to form a semblance of friendship towards the particular human and Autobots who had accompanied her in their previous adventure. "Yes, we'll be glad to", replied Jenny.

"Excellent!" said Windchaser, "The ceremony will take place on Phobos on Tuesday 14th July 2065, at 12:00 Standard Cybertronian Time."

Of course, thought Jenny, Cybertron no longer existed, but apparently that didn't stop Windchaser from retaining her use of the Cybertronian time zone. "So that's three days from today?" said Jenny, "We will be there."

"Thanks", said Windchaser and closed the connection.

Jenny put the receiver down. "It's lucky that Windchaser will be paying for this", she thought, "calling from Phobos to Earth must be very expensive. I'll go meet Punch/Counterpunch later today and tell him the news."

While Earthern space transport was still mostly limited to lunar voyages, and quite expensive, that of the Autobots was more advanced, capable of reaching other planets, and free of monetary charge to those who were privileged to use it, like Jenny and her Autobot friend, Punch. This solved Jenny's problem of how she was going to actually get to Phobos.

Jenny knew her parents would get suspicious if she was to go back to the USA in the middle of their vacation in Europe, so the central Autobot Earth Headquarters was out of the question. Luckily, the Autobots had integrated into the world so well there were several branch headquarters in Europe. While there wasn't one in Finland, the Scandinavian Autobot Headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden was still quite near.

"I think I will be taking Punch to a cruise to Sweden today", Jenny told her parents the next morning, "the only countries he has seen of Europe so far have been the United Kingdom and Finland. He has been telling me he wants to travel more."

"Oh, all right then, dear", said Axawl, "just make sure you return before we go back to Portland on the 20th of July."

"I will", said Jenny, "and I will also charge the cost of the cruise out of the Autobot central money fund, that way it won't be a strain on your wallet." Jenny's plan to be reunited with Windchaser, the only Decepticon she had ever met in person, was starting off well.

Jenny met Punch in the parking lot just next to the central bus station in Tapiola, Espoo. On the sight of his friend, Punch opened his right front door. Jenny entered and Punch closed the door. "Hello, Jenny", he said, "what's up?"

"I have received a message from our 'friend' Windchaser", answered Jenny, "she wants us to attend her coronation ceremony on Mars's moon Phobos tomorrow evening. I think it's best we use the Swedish Autobot Headquarters to get spaceborne."

Punch knew from last time that Jenny was used to getting her way. So this time he made no argument, also this time he was going on a known trip, not some sort of mysterious adventure. So after Jenny had buckled up, Punch started his engines and began to drive. Making use of the road maps in his memory, Punch drove to the road called Merituulentie, then after a few hundred metres, he turned Tapiolantie, then again left onto Länsiväylä, heading east towards Helsinki, the capital of Finland. After 6 kilometres of monotonous express-way driving, Punch arrived in central Helsinki.

"We will be going by ship, right?" he asked Jenny.

She replied in the affirmative.

"Hmm, I think we'll use the Katajanokka terminal a few kilometres east from here, then", said Punch and resumed driving, but at a slower speed.

From Länsiväylä, Punch drove onto a road close to the sea, called Mechelininkatu. From there, he turned to Lönnrotinkatu, but this time he didn't turn onto Mannerheimintie, but instead to the beautiful park road of Northern Esplanadi. This part of Helsinki was very comfortable, even pictoresque, because it was a central point, but still very close to the sea.

In the Katajanokka peninsula area, Punch began the final leg of his journey in Finland. It was only half a kilometre of Kanavakatu to the Katajanokka ship terminal, from which they would be leaving to Sweden. When Punch and Jenny had arrived at the ship terminal, Jenny got out of the car and walked inside the terminal. The clerk at the ticket reservation desk greeted her in Finnish.

"Do you speak English?" asked Jenny.

"Joo, eikun yes, I do", replied the clerk hastily in a jumble of Finnish and Swedish, "how may I help you?"

"I and my Autobot friend are thinking of going to Sweden. Do you have any place left on a ship?" asked Jenny.

"Why, of course", replied the clerk, "so that will be one car in the car deck and one person? Do you want your own cabin, or are you willing to share one?"

"I can share a cabin", said Jenny, thinking it was less expensive this way. Also, it would only take one night to get from Helsinki to Stockholm.

"Excellent", said the clerk, pounding away at his computer, "that will be 600 Finnish marks. Here are your tickets and boarding passes."

"You can charge it off the Autobot central money fund via the Internet, as usual", said Jenny, receiving the documents, "thanks very much."

The ship was leaving in fifteen minutes. "Wow, you Eartherns sure know how to build big, classy ships", Punch said, headlighting the enormous white-and-red-coloured Viking Mariella as he drove inside it. After all cars had reached their places on the car deck, Jenny stepped out of Punch and waved a parting greeting to him.

"Don't worry, I'll collect you tomorrow morning", she said, entering the part of the ship designed for people, not cars.

Inside the ship, Jenny first checked out her cabin. It was a small cabin, situated in the centre of the ship, so there was no ocean view. Jenny shared her cabin with one African-European girl and a female Autobot cassette, whom the girl usually kept in cassette mode inside her cassette recorder.

As the link between the headphones and the recorder was two-way, Jenny's two cabinmates could have lively discussions together. Only occasionally, when they were out on the sundeck, did the Autobot cassette emerge and stretch her legs a little in panther mode. Even then, she took care to move slowly as not to frighten small children.

The next morning, the ship arrived in Stockholm. Jenny looked out from the seadeck, seeing the somewhat blocky castle where the king of Sweden, Carl Gustaf XX, lived. However, as the ship sailed closer to land, Jenny turned her gaze to the seaside road of Stadsgården, which the ship was nearing. When it had almost landed, she went back to the car deck, and then got back inside Punch, ready to emerge upon Swedish roads. After Punch had driven out of the ship and they had shown their boarding passes, Jenny asked Punch if he knew where the Autobot Scandinavian Headquarters was.

"I think I will find it in my memory banks", replied Punch, "hold on. There, it's along the road to Uppsala." Punch contacted the Royal Cityinfo Server of Sweden, which showed a clear map of Stockholm's roads in his mind. Satisfied, he began driving.

Punch turned north from Stadsgården, driving past the Royal Castle along Skeppsbron, and then found his way to Birger Jarlsgatan. From there, he could already see the Autobot Scandinavian Headquarters in the distance. He and Jenny would be leaving Earth in a few hours, if all went well.

When Jenny and Punch arrived at the Autobot Scandinavian Headquarters, they could see Stargazer there waiting for them. "Stargazer, what a lucky coincidence", said Punch.

"Actually, it's more than a coincidence", said Stargazer, "Windchaser contacted me, too, and no doubt she had the same message to me as to you. I figured you two might use this headquarters as your launching site, so I came here. The dozen megametres I had to fly from Oakview to Stockholm isn't very straining for a metallic dragon like me, because Windchaser contacted me two days before, and I took pauses on Pacific islands."

"Hmm, you sure are friendly to us", said Jenny, stepping out from Punch to meet Stargazer. "Oh, it was nothing, really", said Stargazer.

The newly-assembled trio progressed towards the Autobot Headquarters. The Autobot Micromaster Rescue Patrol was there to meet them. Most of the European bases contained only Micromasters because of their great numbers, but small needs. They were supervised by the Protectobots in London.

"Halt, state your names and business", said Stakeout, the patrol leader.

"I am Stargazer, Autobot mystic", said Stargazer, "and these are Punch/Counterpunch, Autobot special agent and Jenny Witwicky, our human contact. We need a spaceship."

"What for?" asked Stakeout.

"A scouting mission", said Stargazer, "Cosmos, the Autobot outer space scout, told us there was some kind of strange activity on the moon Phobos. We three volunteered to investigate."

"Hmm, that Cosmos is up to his tricks again", said Stakeout, "probably another false alert. Still, constant vigilance is one of the base rules of the Micromaster Rescue Patrol. You are cleared to access a spaceship to Phobos. Follow me, please." He transformed to police car mode and led the trio inside the headquarters.

Stargazer felt pleased to be on another adventure, even on a small one like going to attend Windchaser's coronation ceremony. He couldn't reveal their true mission to the Rescue Patrol, because that would imply that they had made friends with the current Decepticon leader, and thus were suspected of revolting to the Decepticon cause. The Autobots couldn't have let that happen.

Luckily, no one suspected Stargazer's plans. He turned on the ship's engines and headed straight into the sky. With a decent Autobot spaceship, the trip would only take a little over an hour.

When the Autobots landed on Phobos, they could already see the headquarters the Decepticons had established there. A large, dark grey robot with a Decepticon emblem on his chest, wielding a menacing weapon, approached them. "Autobots", he snarled, almost contemptuously, "what are you doing here?"

"Erm, we're here for Windchaser's coronation ceremony", said Stargazer, not knowing what this Decepticon would do to them.

"I'll go ask Windchaser if that is true", said the dark grey Decepticon, "don't go anywhere. My men are watching you."

"I don't like the looks of this", Jenny whispered to Stargazer.

It wasn't long until the dark grey Decepticon returned with Windchaser walking beside him. "Ah, you must excuse Juggernautilus here", she said, "he and his Navigaticons are newly-created members of my empire. They don't know the, erm... details of our relations to the Autobots yet." This explanation satisfied Juggernautilus, who left the landing site, resuming his normal patrol duties. Actually, Windchaser was not as Autobot-friendly as she told Juggernautilus she was. she only tolerated these Autobots (and this human) because they had helped her on a past mission. But Juggernautilus didn't need to hear so complex explanations.

Windchaser led the two Autobots (and Jenny, in her spacesuit) to a large meteor crater where the ceremony was to take place. The place was surrounded by the major part of the Decepticons still left in existence. The Headmasters Mindwipe and Weirdwolf stood just behind the crater's centre, with Windchaser's long-time friend Dragonwing standing in the centre.

About ten other Decepticons stood outside the crater. As well as them, the Decepticon empire contained two Micromaster patrols, who were currently scouting the solar system, and the Navigaticons, assigned to guarding Phobos. They had been created a few years ago as a replacement to the Constructicons and Combaticons, who had died in Cybertron's explosion. Windchaser felt a little bit disappointed that there only were a couple of dozen Decepticons, while the Autobots still numbered almost three hundred, but at least this was better than nothing.

With Jenny and the Autobots stopping at the front edge of the crater, Windchaser walked to its centre to meet Dragonwing, who was holding an ornate, gilded steel crown in her hands. "Windchaser, my commander and friend, do you accept the leadership of the Decepticons and all the responsibility it includes?" she asked.

"I do", said Windchaser.

"Kneel", said Dragonwing. Windchaser bent her knees, putting one knee on the ground beside her other leg. Thus shortened, she allowed Dragonwing to place the crown on her head.
Dragonwing withdrew her arms as her fingers left the crown, and she said: "Arise, Windchaser, fifth leader of the Decepticons."

Windchaser stood up and eyed her subjects. Then she relaxed her regal expression and went to meet the Autobots.

"A pretty good show", said Jenny.

"Thanks", said Windchaser. This felt a lot to her. Decades ago, her father Starscream had been on the verge of becoming the fourth Decepticon leader, but had been killed by Galvatron in the attempt. With this ceremony, Windchaser was avenging her father.

Windchaser had scarcely had the time to think about her plans of conquest, when Juggernautilus returned to bring her news. "Commander Windchaser", he said, "I've spotted a massive energy discharge on a small planet just outside the solar system. It's coming from a place where no natural phenomenon could cause such effects. This might be an Autobot trick, or another hostile force."

"All right", said Windchaser, "I wouldn't send my subjects to unknown missions not knowing if they'll come back alive. I'll investigate it myself."

"As you command, Windchaser", said Juggernautilus. She escorted Windchaser to a light Decepticon fighter spaceship. When Windchaser had boarded the shuttle, she waved to Stargazer and his friends. "Are you coming?" she asked.

"Oh, why not?" said Stargazer, "whatever it is, it beats hanging out here in the middle of all these Decepticons." Stargazer, Punch and Jenny joined Windchaser in the fighter, which then took off, heading towards the location Juggernautilus had showed his commander.

When the four travellers arrived at their destination, they found a small planet, possibly just an asteroid, made of strange-looking black rock. "This must be where the energy discharge is coming from", said Windchaser, "let's take a look." She landed the ship on the planet. After the ship's passengers had exited their spacecraft, they surveyed the planet.

"Nothing special here", said Punch, scanning the planet's interior with his energy detector. Only after that did something in the sky catch Jenny's eye.

What Jenny had spotted was a bright flash of red light, which then changed to yellow, then green, cyan, blue and finally purple, and back to red, then dying out. However, that wasn't all. Something was forming out of the darkness where the colourful flash had been. "Look", Jenny said to the others, pointing to the sky. The others turned their gaze to follow her finger.

"By Primus", shouted Windchaser, "what is that?"

Part 2

The view from the stern window had lost almost all of its interest value by now. While only hours ago the outer planets of the Dhospyob star system could still have been seen through it as small dots, now it was mostly the same as the view from everywhere else, just black space, with the occasional star here and there. Of course, the stars themselves were even further away than the Dhospyob system, but their sheer size and luminosity kept them still visible.

"Well, we're definitely outside the star system by now", said Stardust, taking a final gaze out of the stern window before straightening himself up and beginning his leisurely stroll back to the bow, where he would examine the controls of this strange alien spaceship once again.

"Well thanks for that information, Mr Obvious", said Scramble, "but what I want to know is, where the slag are we going?" For a few minutes there was no answer, as Stardust pored over the strange markings and even stranger meter readings on the ship's navigational computer. Then, without bothering to look up, he said: "I don't know for certain, but I have attempted to decipher some of the alien writing here. This is no normal transport ship, this is used for great voyages, expeditions. By the looks of things, this ship was still in experimental stage when we got our hands on her. We're making her maiden voyage now, or should I say 'test run'."

Stardust's words didn't do anything to help Scramble. "Primus help me", he said, collapsing back onto his chair, "what have I got myself up to this time?"

On his side, the female Decepticon warrior Rosestar just shrugged. "Well, wherever we're going, it's away from Megatron, and that's good news to me. Perhaps we are even going to find some trace about where in the Universe my brother is nowadays."

Scramble raised his head, glancing at Rosestar. "You mean Starscream?" he asked, "What makes you think that?"

"Before the Autobot spaceship Ark crashed onto the Earth four million years ago", said Rosestar, "and you Astrobots probably hadn't even been built yet, I and Starscream belonged to a team of scientists. Back then, the Decepticon empire wasn't as tightly assembled as it is now. Nemetron had just transferred leadership to Megatron, and not all of Nemetron's subjects trusted their new leader that much. In particular, our scientist group, older than Megatron's rule, was considerably autonomous."

Scramble was intrigued by this new knowledge. "Please go on", he said.

"The point is", continued Rosestar, "even though I am considered a 'founder member' of the group, it actually was only Starscream and his colleague, Skyfire, who started the team. The two of them might have devised some back-up plan in case Megatron's rule came to a sudden end, and spread out triggers to this plan all over the galaxy. This ship could be one of those triggers, or at least be connected with one."

"Hmm, after some consideration, your theory sounds convincing, if yet a little cynical", said Scramble, "but we won't have a certain answer for some time. From what I and Stardust witnessed at the battle between the seventh planet and its moon, Megatron's rule is strong, and far away from coming to an end."

"Unfortunately, that seems to be true", said Rosestar.

Suddenly, Stardust rose from his cockpit seat and turned to face the others. "I'm sorry to interrupt your chatter, friends", he said, "but I'd like to point your attention to matters outside the spacecraft. We are picking up considerable speed, going far beyond the safety limits dictated for Autobot spaceships. What's more, some of the more complicated temporal measurements are going, how shall I put it, totally bonkers."

"Well, can't you do something about it?" asked Scramble.

"Sorry, I can't", said Stardust, "I can read the meter readings easily enough, but there's no actual controls to speak of. The best we can do is continue staring out of the windows and pray to Primus this ship remains in one piece."

A few hundred kilometres behind the alien craft, two more Transformers were engaged in a conversation with each other. "Look! What is happening to the ship?" asked Blast Off, viewing the alien spaceship they were pursuing in his tactical scanner.

"Let me have a look", said Swindle.

After Swindle had looked at Blast Off's scanner display, he said: "They're moving extremely fast, and into an area of dangerous magnetic fields. Maybe we should just abandon pursuit and go home to Cybertron?"

"No way!" shouted Blast Off, "You were the one to suggest we go after them! And besides, do you think Megatron will be happy to see us after what we did on the battle scene with those Astrobots?" When Swindle still hesitated, Blast Off continued: "Look, if you don't want to go after them, fine by me. I'll just drop you off here and you can use your Decepticon radio to signal a passing spaceship. Myself, I'm certainly following that ship, whatever it is and wherever it's going."

"OK, OK", said Swindle, "we'll go after it. But if you damage my paint job, I'm taking part of the repair bill from your salary."

Inside the alien spaceship, things were beginning to get even stranger. "The sensors indicate a strong presence of magnetic fields", said Stardust. "Huh, no need for you to tell me that", said Scramble, "look out of the window, will you?"

Stardust followed his friend's advice and took a look through the side window. "Oh, wow", he said. The view outside had stopped being black, and was now very colourful. Brilliant strands of red, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple flared on and off, moving in eerie patterns.

"I've seen this before", said Stardust after a few seconds, "in laboratory conditions. This is the result of very strong magnetic fields affecting the very light radiated around us. However, I've never before experienced it in field conditions."

"Well, you're about to", said Scramble, looking not at all that hopeful.

As the two Astrobots were conversing, Rosestar was sitting on her chair, looking out from the bow window. "Whatever this is, it's certainly interesting to watch", she said. After a few minutes, as the ship's speed still increased, the strands of colour grew larger and merged together, creating a solid wall of bright colours. "Look", said Rosestar to the Astrobots, "what is that?"

Stardust tried to answer her. "That's because they're... uh..." he started to say. Then he dropped back onto his chair, exhausted.

"Stardust? What's the matter?" asked Scramble. But soon he, too, fell victim to the strong forces and passed out. Rosestar had a few seconds to look at her unconscious comrades, then she too lost consciousness.

When the three passengers finally awoke, their spaceship had slowed down to below interplanetary speeds. "Ugh, where are we?" asked Scramble, rising from his sprawled position on the chair. Rosestar had already risen up. "We're on the outskirts of a solar system", said Stardust, looking out from the window.

"What solar system?" asked Scramble, "are we back in Dhospyob?"

"No", replied Stardust, "I've seen this before somewhere, but I can't quite remember... oh, now I've got it. This is the Sol system, where the Earth is located. However, we're hundreds of gigametres away from the Earth."

"What's the nearest planet, asteroid, any lump of rock big enough to land on?" asked Rosestar.

"Hang on, I'll scan", replied Stardust. Stardust initiated a short-range scan for planets and asteroids. After a few minutes, the scan was completed. It had only pinpointed one small planetoid, totally infertile, but with a few faint lifesigns. He presented it to his comrades, and they agreed on landing there. "I'll see if I can get this blasted thing to work", said Stardust, sitting at the ship's controls.

To Stardust's amazement, the ship actually responded to his attempts at getting it to land on the planetoid. "Well, all the better for us", thought Stardust. When the ship had entered the planetoid's orbit, Scramble peered at the planetoid through the window. "Look!" he shouted to the others, "There are some beings down there!"

As the ship drew even nearer, Scramble could get a closer look. "There are four beings", he said, "three Transformers and one human. What are they doing there?"

"We'll find out soon enough", said Rosestar.

As the alien spaceship landed on the planetoid, the Astrobots could identify the Transformers standing on the surface, gazing and pointing in their direction. "Great Primus!" said Scramble, looking at the only Decepticon on the planetoid's surface, "Stardust, is that who I think it is?"

Stardust joined his fellow Astrobot in looking. "Yes, I believe it is", he said, "it's our old 'friend', Windchaser!"

Rosestar joined the two Astrobots. "So THAT's Windchaser, my niece?" she asked, "Are you sure about this?"

"Quite sure", replied Scramble, "in an earlier adventure, we had to fight and capture her, and to keep her prisoner. We did our best, and she still managed to escape. We got quite a good look at her doing that."

"OK, I accept", said Rosestar, "she even looks like my brother. More so than I do, actually. Who or what is or was her mother?"

"We don't know", said Stardust, "that was one thing that didn't come to mind to ask when we were busy trying not to get blasted into oblivion by her and her friend Dragonwing."

"Well, once we get out of the ship, we can rectify that oversight", said Scramble, "hold on." The ship's engines stopped, it was moving only by its landing thrusters. Rosestar and the two Astrobots felt the bumping movement as the ship touched down on the rocky ground.

The ship's door opened and the three Transformers walked outside. "Greetings!" said Rosestar, who had taken the role of speaker, "I am Rosestar, Decepticon warrior, sister of Starscream. These are the Astrobots Scramble and Stardust, of the Autobots. Are you Windchaser, daughter of Starscream?"

"That I am", replied Windchaser, "but I am surprised by your words. My father never said anything about having a sister. Would you care to explain?"

"Ah, I see", said Rosestar, "I'm sure you know that my brother - your father - was never too keen on following Megatron's rule. Neither was I. But he still had common sense, and no doubt had a strong affection - what was that human term, love? - for you. By not informing us of each other's existence, he was protecting us both from Megatron."

"How?" asked Windchaser. "From what I've heard from these Astrobots, you are a great warrior and loyal to Megatron. If you had been aware of me, and I had committed a crime against Megatron, you would have been forced to choose between turning me in and collaborating with me. Your father decided to spare you that choice in advance."

"Oh, I understand now, I think", said Windchaser.

When the two females had finished chatting, Scramble and Stardust stepped forward to meet the two Autobots standing at Windchaser's side. "I am Scramble, Astrobot aerial warrior", said Scramble, "and this is Stardust, Astrobot scout. Who are you?"

The smaller of the two, seeming the elder, stepped forward. "I am Stargazer, Autobot mystic", he said, "and these are Punch/Counterpunch, Autobot special agent and Jenny Witwicky, our human contact."

"Stargazer!" said Stardust, "So YOU're the Stargazer my friend Moondancer had talked about! You look different from what I pictured."

"You met Moondancer?" asked Stargazer, "Where?"

"On the first planet of the Dhospyob star system, of course", said Stardust, "don't you know? She was there studying alien biology."

"Dhospyob?" asked Stargazer, "Moondancer hasn't been there for decades. She rarely visits alien planets herself these days, now that she has her own scientific unit."

"Since when?" asked Stardust, "She told me she was Perceptor's apprentice."

"Perceptor?" asked Stargazer, his amazement growing with each question, "He died in the Great War almost two decades ago, Primus bless his spark."

Stardust couldn't believe what he was hearing. And, he thought, it seemed that Stargazer couldn't believe what HE was hearing, either. "Erm, I need to know something to find the proper theory", said Stardust, "what year is this?"

Stargazer was puzzled by the strange question, but he answered anyway: "Why, it's 2065, of course. What happened to you three, a rock hit your cranial armouring?"

Neither Stardust, Scramble, or Rosestar could speak for several dozen seconds for sheer amazement. Finally, Stardust got over his shock. "2065!" he exclaimed, "It was 1998 when we left Dhospyob, and that was mere hours ago! Ye gods, what HAS happened?" He looked at his comrades, but none of them had an answer.

The six Transformers and one human could be seen on a holographic viewscreen floating over the floor in another place. A strange, ethereal being looked into the viewscreen. "What do you make of it, 'P'?" asked the being.

"All is going well. Soon both parties will understand each other's situation and go on the trip together. We won't have to worry about anything, 'M'", replied another ethereal being.

"Well, if you say so", said "M", "come on, let's find out where 'F' has got herself into."

"P" was just about to follow the other being when the image in the viewscreen changed. "P" peered into it once again.

"What is it?" asked "M".

"That!" said "P", pointing at the image, "Two Combaticons! They are heading right into the warp left open by the alien spaceship!"

"Darn and blast!" cried "M", "They weren't supposed to come into this! Now what will we do?"

"Nothing yet", said "P", "It's too late to stop the Combaticons or close the warp. We'll just have to see what happens and hope that they don't get in the way. And, of course, we must inform 'F' on this."

Part 3

The six Transformers and one human on the strange black planetoid had just gotten over the initial shock of finding out they were from two different timelines and had resumed their previous conversation. "So, Windchaser, now that we've got ourselves acquainted", asked Rosestar, "what are you doing here?"

"Nothing much", replied Windchaser, "I was just crowned new leader of the Decepticons today, and this is my first mission in that position. I went here to see what the unusual energy discharge one of my troops had discovered was."

"Well, did you find out what it was?" asked Rosestar.

"Not really", said Windchaser, "but I think it had something to do with the bright flash of coloured flight that accompanied your spaceship's coming here."

"Perhaps", said Rosestar, "just before we went through that weird flash of light, the Astrobot Stardust told me the temporal meters were going, erm, 'bonkers'. That could have been reaction to whatever was causing the energy discharge."

The two Astrobots had moved a few dozen metres away from Windchaser and Rosestar, and were chatting with Stargazer, Punch/Counterpunch and Jenny Witwicky. "Tell me, Jenny", said Scramble, "this is a strange, far-away and perhaps dangerous place. What brings a human here, and a young one at that?"

"Nothing special", said Jenny, "I and these two Autobots were invited to Windchaser's coronation ceremony. After that had ended, Windchaser went here to find out some thing about some energy discharge. We just felt it would be safer to be here with her than out there on Phobos with all those strange Decepticons."

"That's a logical explanation", replied Scramble, "I see your point."

"I'm glad you do", said Jenny, "but now could you tell me, what are you doing here?"

"That's a bit more difficult to answer", said Scramble, "but I'll try. Back in 1998, we Astrobots were on a mission in the Dhospyob star system. There we met Rosestar. During the mission, we assembled and launched this alien spaceship. I, Stardust and Rosestar came along for a test flight."

"Hmm, interesting", said Jenny, "now that you've arrived here, do you have any additional agenda?"

"Sort of", replied Scramble, "Rosestar, of course, is eager to find out more about her niece and sister-in-law. Also, back on the fourth planet of Dhospyob, she told me she was looking for her brother Starscream. Windchaser might have some idea about him, because she's his daughter. As for us, Stardust is primarily interested in seeing where this ship will eventually end up. Myself, I just we get back where - and when - we belong, and perhaps make a profit along the way."

Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by another flash of colourful light in the black sky, this time a bit smaller than the last time. "Look!" said Jenny, pointing to the sky, "What's that, more of your friends from 1998?"

"Could be", said Scramble, straining to see what was emerging from the flash.

As the colours cycled through the rainbow and faded away, the object in their centre was clearer to see. Scramble was the first to identify it. "It's the Combaticon Blast Off!" he shouted, "He must have followed us here!"

"What are we going to do about him?" asked Jenny. "We'll see when he lands", said Scramble, "but I would advise taking alert positions."

Scramble's suggestion was soon heeded. Windchaser and Rosestar stood where they had been, since being Decepticons they had nothing to fear from Blast Off. Punch transformed into Counterpunch and went to their side. Windchaser could have told Rosestar about him, but she hadn't told Blast Off. The three remaining Autobots transformed into their alternate modes and Jenny took her place inside Scramble. Then they took off into the sky, ready to intercept the Combaticon, if need be. Blast Off drew nearer to the planetoid. As he identified the beings occupying its surface, he said: "Hey, look. There's both Autobots and Decepticons here. What does that mean?"

"We'll see", came a voice from inside him, "let's transform!"

Blast Off transformed to robot mode, landing onto the planetoid. Next to him landed his fellow Combaticon, the yellow jeep-Transformer Swindle.

The two Combaticons looked around, surveying their situation. "Should we attack the Autobots?" asked Blast Off.

"Not yet", said Swindle, "there's someone here that I hope can provide an explanation." He stepped closer to Rosestar. "Hello, old 'girlfriend'", he said, "fancy meeting YOU here."

"Swindle?" said Rosestar, "What are YOU doing here?"

"We followed your ship when it went through that weird warp", replied Swindle, "but that really doesn't matter, does it? Now we can be together once again. We'll make a great team! Think of all the glory... all the profit!"

"Right", said Rosestar, "but how do I know you're not going to deceive me again? Earlier you tried to sell some of female comrades away. Cloudscape and Yell at least, if I remember correctly. You'd probably have sold Windchaser and Dragonwing - oh, and that Autobot female Moondancer - too, had you known of their existence."

"No, that's not how it happened", said Swindle, "you see, it was all because of Megatron..."

Swindle's explanation was cut off by a sharp cry from Blast Off. "Swindle!" he shouted, "Are you going to do something or just talk? I warn you, Swindle, I'm used to working alone. Any more waste of time and I'll detach myself from your company."

"Blast Off, can't you just wait until I've explained this to Rosestar?" asked Swindle. "No!" shouted Blast Off, "I should have ditched you when we were still in space flight! I quit!"

Blast Off walked away from Swindle, towards the other Transformers. He shot a brief glance at the two Astrobots and Stargazer. "Autobots! Bah!" he snarled, "Those three aren't even worthy of my interest, let alone my wrath!" Instead, he turned to face Punch, now disguised as Counterpunch. "Now there's a Decepticon who looks action-minded and devious enough to be my partner! What do you say, comrade?"
Counterpunch was first surprised by Blast Off's sudden action. But then he noticed that this would be the perfect chance for him to spy on Decepticon troops. Those from 1998, the past, or those from 2065, the present, that didn't matter to him.

"Right!" he said to Blast Off, "I'm with you! Let's ditch these losers!"

"Climb aboard", said Blast Off, transforming to shuttle mode. Counterpunch entered the vehicular form of his new "friend", and the spacecraft started its engines and shot off to space, back to the direction the two Combaticons had originally came from.

"Slag! Now I've lost Blast Off!" said Swindle, "Never mind my explanation, Rosestar, we've got more important matters here. Will you side with me?"

"Oh, alright then", said Rosestar, "I'll take you for a trial period. But I'll have Windchaser as my guard. Also, perhaps an Autobot would be suitable as well. In case Swindle tries anything funny, he'll report to the current Autobot leader, whoever he is."

"That's a good idea!" said Scramble, "I'll go with you! I bet there's a price on Swindle's head from both allegiances now, seeing as he is a rogue Decepticon and a threat to Autobots."

"Oh, an Autobot who likes to earn money", said Swindle, "but do you have financial skills?"

"Just try me", answered Scramble. "All right", said Swindle, "we'll be leaving, then. But in what? Blast Off is gone."

"We'll use the alien spaceship", said Scramble, "I bet either Stardust or Stargazer can find out some way to fly it."

"Ah, I presume I can", said Stardust, "after all, I flew Shifter's spherical ship, didn't I?"

His question was answered by a "Yes, but only barely" from Windchaser and a "Who's Shifter?" from Rosestar.

"Never mind that", said Stargazer, "let's get going." In a matter of minutes, the two Autobots and three Decepticons entered the alien shuttle.

"I believe that leaves just you and me", said Jenny to Stardust.

"Right", said Stardust, "but this is no place for either of us. And also, wherever those guys take their ship, it might be dangerous. We can't follow Blast Off either, he's too far gone. Maybe we could go to Autobot headquarters, wherever it is nowadays?"

"Good idea", said Jenny, "I'll show you the way." Stardust transformed to UFO mode and Jenny climbed aboard inside him.

Elsewhere, three ethereal beings watched the events passing on the black planetoid. "Now they've split into three groups, each going their separate ways", said one being.

"What will we do now, 'P'?" asked another being.

"Maybe we should split up. One of us is going to handle each of them", answered the first being.

"Erm, I don't think that is necessary", cut in the third being, "the Combaticon and his double agent 'ally' are of no interest to us. Only the two other groups matter."

"I think you are right, 'F'", said "P", "I will take care of the bigger group. What about you?"

"I haven't really stabilised fully yet", said "F", "perhaps 'M' would like to handle the smaller group?"

"I'll give it a shot", said "M". "Excellent", said "P", "now let's go to work. I'll set up an energy pulse luring the bigger group to a more appropriate place. The smaller group can be intercepted on their way to the Earth's moon."

Back on the outer edge of the solar system, Stardust had already flown most of the way from the black planetoid to Earth. At first he had thought they would be going in the other direction, to Cybertron, but Jenny had informed him Cybertron didn't exist any more in this timeline, and the current Autobot headquarters was on the Earth's moon. So Stardust had set a course there. In fact, he was a little bit glad about the way things turned up, because Earth was a shorter distance away from the small planetoid than where Cybertron had been. Stardust and Jenny had passed the orbital planes of Neptune (Pluto's plane was so tilted they were going straight under it), Uranus, Jupiter, the asteroid belt and Mars, but were still hundreds of megametres away from the Earth. Suddenly, however, the surroundings changed.

The two travellers found themselves no longer in deep space, but instead in some kind of big room, with large, gray, orthogonal walls totally devoid of all features. In a matter of seconds, the appearance of the room began to change. "Wow, this is like that Kubrick movie", said Jenny, "I wish I had taken the time to see the sequels."

"What is a Kubrick movie?" asked Stardust. "Never mind that", said Jenny, "oh, now I recognise this place. This is the Tapiola Garden Hotel in Espoo, Finland - Earth. Only everything's much bigger and I can see no lifeforms here, save for plants."

Stardust couldn't believe his audio receptors. "What are you babbling about, Jenny?" he asked, "this is clearly no human building. I think we're in the big sepulchral chamber on the deserted planet, where I and Scramble first met Windchaser. I agree with you in one point, however, everything IS much bigger and I CAN'T see any lifeforms here. But then, there were no native lifeforms in that sepulchral chamber. None alive, at least."

Suddenly, the two heard footsteps. Or thought that they heard, they weren't trusting their own senses all that much. "Perhaps it's the hotel manager", said Jenny to herself, "or at least a waiter, or a fellow guest."

"Or perhaps a descendant of the two beings we saw mummified, or the dragon Xirakhus", said Stardust.
What appeared was none of the beings they had expected. The being Jenny and Stardust saw in front of them was a human, a young woman a little older than Jenny, perhaps 17 or 18 years old. Jenny thought the woman looked a little bit like herself, only her hair was darker and shorter than Jenny's, and unlike Jenny, she wore no glasses. Her clothes were standard, a white T-shirt with a Decepticon Transformer image, and normal blue jeans. Jenny had never seen this woman before in her life, but some faint instinct kept insisting she was familiar to her.

"Greetings, travellers", the woman spoke, "do not be alarmed. I presume you are Jenny Witwicky, human, and Stardust, Autobot Transformer."

"Yes", Stardust dared say, "but who are you?"

"Actually, that bit's rather complex", said the strange woman, "I am not always this being, or any one being for that matter. But as not to confuse your brains and cerebral networks, for the moment let's call me 'M'."

"Is the 'M' short for something?" asked Jenny. "No", replied "M", "not right now, at least."

Many gigametres from the Earth, five other Transformers had matters of their own. "All right then, let's get this show on the road", said Scramble. "Don't be so hasty", said Stargazer, "I've still got to get to grips with this ship. It's certainly more standard design than the Gaudron spaceship - which had no physical controls - but still quite foreign to me."

"Yes, I didn't know anything about that ship my mother gave us", said Windchaser.

"Your mother? Who was she?" asked Rosestar.

"A being called Shifter", said Windchaser, "she died in 1988. I'll tell you more about her later. Now we've got to get this ship started."

"Well, it got us Astrobots and Rosestar here", said Scramble.

"Hey, wait", said Stargazer suddenly, "maybe there's an idea. I think we couldn't have got the Gaudron spaceship off the Earth without having Windchaser on board, after all she is the daughter of the ship's original pilot. Perhaps Rosestar has a similar effect on this ship."

"So what do you suggest?" asked Scramble. "I don't know, but I'll try something", said Stargazer,
"Rosestar, please come here."

Soon, Stargazer and Rosestar were both seated at the controls, holding their hands firm on the ship's computer and thinking about beings important to them. Rosestar thought where her brother Starscream might be, and Stargazer mentally repeated his friend Moondancer's last report from her scientific unit. The two closed their eyes and relaxed. Behind the two "pilots", Scramble and Swindle looked anxiously out of the ship's windows. "How long before we lift off?" asked Swindle.

"I don't know", said Scramble, "could be microseconds, could be days, could be millennia. You never know with - HEY! We're moving!" The ship had indeed lifted off the planetoid's surface and hovered in space at an altitude of a couple of metres. Stargazer and Rosestar opened their eyes.

"Well, we've started", said Rosestar, "but where are we going?"

"I don't know yet", said Stargazer, "I'm still not sure if I can fly this thing."

Suddenly, the ship's computer announced the presence of an energy pulse in the form of a vastly prolonged line, leading out of the solar system, somewhere in the direction where Cybertron had once been. "Perhaps we could follow that?" asked Windchaser.

"Yes, let's", said Stargazer, "it's the only interesting thing here."

Stargazer and Rosestar had succeeded in getting the ship to follow the energy pulse. "Where will it lead?" asked Swindle, "And wherever it does lead, is there someone to buy a ride back to Cybertron, preferably in our old time, from?"

"Someone who will accept a credit card payment, or even better, payment afterwards?" added Scramble. "I don't know, damn it! Have I known anything important so far?" asked Stargazer. Without waiting for an answer, he said: "Now shut up, you two, and enjoy the ride."

The energy pulse continued for many gigametres. When it finally ended, the ship also stopped, apparently waiting for further instructions. "Now what?" asked Swindle. "I don't know, ask those two - HEY!" said Scramble, "we're no longer in open space! We're in some kind of room!"

"Yes, I can see that too", said Swindle, "but I can't make out where - hang on, now I know. We've somehow ended back on Earth, in the big weapons market organised annually in Baghdad, Iraq. I made some good deals there last year - oops, 68 years ago."

"No we're not, stupid Decepticon", said Scramble, "we're on the Arieu-Gifedar space station, where we Astrobots took Windchaser.

"You're both wrong", cut in Windchaser, "we're back in Autobot Headquarters on Earth, where my parents met, but I don't know how it can still exist." Stargazer and Rosestar decided not to interfere in the argument, but even they saw things differently from everyone else. Stargazer saw the place as his secret laboratory in Oakview, California. Rosestar, however, was seeing the old scientist base on the desert planet Thane, where she and Starscream had worked.

The Transformers' arguments were cut short by the appearance of someone outside the spacecraft. The being that appeared was human in form, but larger than any human the ship's passengers had ever seen, easily over 20 metres in height. The human was male, an young adult, perhaps 21 or 22 years old. He had pale skin, short, blond hair, and rectangular glasses. He was wearing casual black trousers and a white T-shirt. Everyone was looking at the strange man, until Stargazer stood up from his seat and said: "Now I get it! That man out there is Ipsoftos, the god we met in an earlier adventure!" Windchaser was having similar thoughts. "He can change his shape", she said, "so perhaps he can change his size as well."

However, Stargazer and Windchaser's amazement didn't cease as the man began to speak. "I am pleased you made that observation", he said, "but you are wrong. I am not Ipsoftos, although I may look like him. But we'll come back to that later. Now I've got to verify you. You are the Autobots Stargazer and Scramble, and the Decepticons Windchaser, Rosestar and Swindle, correct?"

"Yes, but who - or what - are you?" asked Stargazer. "Ah, I was figuring you'd ask that", replied the strange man, "Well, I'm going to try to explain. Although I may appear to be a god, I am actually only a temporary persona, a manifestation of the Sentient Core of our Universe. Please, for the time being, call me 'P'."

"Right, 'P'", said Rosestar, "I think I understand what you are trying to explain. Are there other such manifestations currently active?"

"Hmm, let me check", said "P", "in actual space, only I and 'M' are currently personified. 'M' is taking care of some of your friends. Back in the Core, there are 'F' and 'J', who have no specific form and actually have quite a hard time keeping their essences separate from each other."

"Hmm, this is certainly very... erm, interesting", said Rosestar, "but I fear it might be too complicated for us."

"Don't worry, I expected that and took it in mind", said "P".

"But what are we doing here?" asked Scramble, whose interest had awakened, "How did the ship get here?"

"Ahh, you must excuse me for that", said "P", "it was mostly through my intervention that you managed to fly the ship here. Don't get me wrong here, you did a wonderful job starting the ship up, but the actual flying was done mostly by me, via remote control."

"That explains how we got here", said Scramble, "but you still haven't answered my first question. WHY are we here? What is so special that it requires our presence?"

"Have patience, Scramble", replied "P", "all will be revealed in due time."

Part 4

Blast Off and Counterpunch awoke to find themselves in the same place they remembered having last been in, but it still seemed somewhat different. Blast Off didn't know, or perhaps even care, what had happened, but Counterpunch had his suspicions. Unlike Blast Off, Counterpunch knew the two Transformers were from different timelines. He knew which year he himself was supposed to live in, and Blast Off's native time was easily deduced from the fact that he had been accompanying Swindle, following Rosestar, who had herself admitted to being from the past.

Coming from 1998 to 2065 had happened easily and kindly to the two Combaticons, since they were using temporal-magnetic residue from the warp that had allowed Rosestar's and the Astrobots' ship to come through, but the journey back to 1998 had been much harder, since Blast Off had created his own warp by backtracking his previous flight path. This had caused him and Counterpunch to momentarily lose conciousness. Had he been a real Decepticon, Counterpunch would have explained all this to Blast Off. However, although he sometimes got carried away on undercover missions, Counterpunch was always fully aware of his true allegiance. He decided it would be most prudent to keep Blast Off blissfully unaware of the matter until need would arise, perhaps from outside influence.

"Umm... what happened?" asked Counterpunch, pretending not to have noticed anything special.

"We lost conciousness for a while", said Blast Off, "However, that is nothing to worry about. Stuff like that tends to happen when flying through space at very high speeds. I'm not one to go on wild joyrides, but sometimes I feel the urge to explore the very limits to the tolerance of my structure."

"Well, this should have made a worthy notification about that", said Counterpunch, still playing innocent, "Just don't repeat it anytime soon, will you?"

"I understand", replied Blast Off.

"Now that we've discussed that over", asked Counterpunch, "do you have any idea where we should go next?"

"Hmm, let me think about that for a moment", said Blast Off. Soon he reached a decision. "We are in need of repairs, physical and electronic check-up and overall update about the Autobot-Decepticon war situation. We must go to a Decepticon base."

"Which one?" asked Counterpunch. Hopefully Blast Off would lead him to a major source of Decepticon inside information.

"Let's see", said Blast Off, "We can't go to the main Decepticon Headquarters on Cybertron. You may or may not be aware of this, but Swindle and I are now considered rogues, having deserted from a battle against the Astrobots. Megatron would have our hides if we ended up in his place anytime soon. However, there are other options."

"Such as?" asked Counterpunch.

"There is another powerful Decepticon, in a high position", replied Blast Off, "his name is Scorponok. He is the commander of all Decepticon Headmasters and Targetmasters. Having lived outside of Megatron's empire most of life, and having organised the expedition to the planet Nebulos all by himself, he is considerably autonomous from Megatron. His flagship, the Leviathan, should currently be orbiting a small planet not very far from here. We'll seek refuge there."

"That sounds like a good idea", said Counterpunch.

Elsewhere, and actually elsewhen, an altogether different conversation between various characters was taking place. "Why have we ended up here in this place? I don't quite understand all this", said Jenny Witwicky to the strange young woman who called herself "M". She looked like she could be Jenny's classmate in high school, but Jenny didn't know if she actually was even a human.

"You have not exactly ended up in this place", said "M", "This place has ended up around you. Before I go on, I would like to ask you what this place reminds you of."

"Stupid question", said Jenny, "but I'll answer it anyway. This is the Tapiola Garden Hotel in Espoo, Finland. Or at least it looks like it. We are now in the main lobby. The reception desk should be to our left, next to the general recreation room. To our right should be the stairs leading down to the restaurant."
To emphasise her words, Jenny looked around. She did, indeed, see the things she had mentioned. However, the stairs seemed unnatural. The top part of them was OK, but going downwards, the stairs seemed to fade into nonexistence as they passed below floor level. Jenny was amazed, but decided to allow Stardust to use his speaking turn instead.

"I see a different place", said Stardust, "What I see around me is the main burial chamber inside a mountain cave, on a distant planet, where long ago a glorious civilisation may have thrived, but which is now deserted. The sarcophagi I opened, maybe for the first time in millennia, are visible along the left wall. To the front, a bit to the right, is the hole Windchaser and Dragonwing created when they blasted their way in here. However, I wonder why Jenny and I see different places."

"Ah, that is easy to explain", replied "M", "This place is neither of those places you mentioned."

"Then what is it?" asked Stardust.

"Actually, it is nothing", said "M", "physically we are still somewhere between the orbits of Sol III and Sol IV. At least that's where you are. However, manifestations of the Sentient Core, such as the one currently acting as me, have the capability, and also a quite apparent tendency, to create illusions around them to suit whomever they are addressing. I just searched your minds and chose the recent places that you would be most familiar with. It seems that I have chosen different places for the two of you."

"It would seem so", said Jenny, "if I understand your words correctly, I can't see the burial chamber Stardust is seeing because I've never been there. Stardust, on the other hand, can't see the Tapiola Garden Hotel, because he's never been there. But still, this is rather awkward. Is there any possibility to make both of us see the same place?"

"I will try", said "M", "but I need your cooperation. Jenny, keep looking around you. Focus on what you see, think about it in your mind. Keep telling yourself about this place. Stardust, forget about the burial chamber. Your electronic mind is more capable of replacing old information with new than Jenny's organic one. Explore your surroundings, like you'd just woken up in a place you don't previously know."

Both Jenny and Stardust followed "M"'s advice, as "M" herself concentrated on reading both of their minds, channeling visual information from Jenny's brain to Stardust's neural network. After a while, she relaxed and said: "I think that will do. Stardust, what do you see?"

Stardust took a good look around him. "Wow, I believe it has worked", he said, "I no longer see the burial chamber. It has been replaced by some sort of human building. I've only ever visited one, an airport in Portland, Oregon, when your great-grandfather Spike Witwicky took us Astrobots to visit Earth, but the similarities are obvious."

"Now that that's over", said Stardust, "we return to the issue at hand. Why have you come here to meet us?"

"I have come to deliver some important information to you", said "M".

Jenny and Stardust prepared to listen to what "M" had to say to them. "Jenny Witwicky, you were present when Stargazer found about Unicron's plans to clone himself and attack Earth, and aided Stargazer in preventing it from happening. You might not know it, but you and your friends may have saved almost the whole Universe", said "M".

"How?" asked Jenny.

"I am a manifestation of the Sentient Core of the Universe", said "M", "which is the oldest part of the whole Universe. Actually, the Core is older than the Universe itself. It formed in the old Universe, countless trillions of years ago, when actual matter was still nothing more than a few loose protons and neutrons, and ancient gods, the most notable of which was Unicron, were fully present and ruled over the Universe."

"What happened then?" asked Jenny.

"Unicron rose in power over all the other gods", explained "M", "and started to consume the Universe itself. He destroyed everything he could and killed all the other gods. When he was finished, he rested in an empty Universe. However, Unicron had not managed to destroy the Sentient Core. The Core was alerted to Unicron's evil deeds, and created a new Universe, the Universe which you now know today. To prevent Unicron from eating this Universe too, the Core also created a new god, known as Primus, to fight him. Primus succeeded in trapping himself and Unicron into lifeless asteroids, which then evolved into the planet Cybertron, and the robotic monster which was Unicron's new form."

"I've found vague hints about that in religion class at school", said Jenny, "but have never found out the whole story."

"I was told most of that by our tutor Nightbeat, who had been present when Primus himself explained the story to his children, the Transformers, in 1991, when Unicron's robotic form was finally destroyed. We Astrobots were created after that."

"However, as Stargazer found out, Unicron had taken the precaution of cloning himself to launch an attack against the Earth", continued "M", "and if he had not been prevented from doing so, he might eventually have succeeded in destroying the Earth and moving on to other planets. He might even have finally destroyed this Universe, too. You, Jenny, and your friends Stargazer and Punch/Counterpunch are great heroes."

"Thanks", said Jenny, amazed.

Now "M" turned to Stardust. "Stardust, you and the other Astrobots were assigned by Optimus Prime to go on an exploration mission on the planets of the star system Dhospyob. In the process, you found and recovered seven spherical artefacts."

"Yes", said Stardust, "but we never really found out what they were."

"That's what I will now tell you", said "M", "The artefacts are in fact powerful mystical orbs, created in the very first days of this new Universe. They are internally linked to the Sentient Core, and enable sentient, civilised species to communicate directly with it. After the creation of the orbs, we left records of their existence in various places all over the Universe. Later, when life evolved, the records were found, and when finally understood, evolved into common information, traditions and finally, religions. Almost every culture in the Universe believed they were in the possession of at least one such orb."

"Like the Holy Grail in Earthern mythology?" asked Jenny, "It is not spherical, but various details, including shape, might have changed during the repetition of the stories."

"That may very well be the case", said "M".

"The most civilised race in the Dhospyob star system, the ones living on the asteroid belt", continued "M", "had explored the seven planets by remote-controlled orbital probes and found actual traces of the orbs' presence. Through a bizarre series of occurrences, seven of the orbs had finally ended up in the same star system, although only a few dozen had been created, and they had been distributed evenly across the entire Universe. The people of the asteroid belt couldn't recover the orbs themselves, but luckily you Astrobots helped them with that. When the aliens examined the orbs, the Sentient Core became aware of their recovery. This is the very first time any of the orbs have been discovered and used by any sentient, civilised being."

"Gosh", said Stardust, amazed.

"We are very grateful to you Astrobots", said "M", "and when we learnt through the orbs that the aliens had given you a spaceship of unknown design as a reward, we took the opportunity to draw the ship into this timeline where you could meet with Jenny and Stargazer, and both parties might learn of their heroic deeds simultaneously."

Back in 1998, Blast Off was on his way to where he remembered Scorponok's spaceship was, carrying his new ally Counterpunch. Blast Off was glad to see he had remembered correctly, the Leviathan did indeed show up on his radar.

"This is Blast Off of the Combaticons", Blast Off contacted the ship with his radio transmitter, "I request permission to dock and come aboard. I am carrying a Decepticon special agent, named Counterpunch."

Inside the ship, Blast Off's transmission was received by Sunbeam, who had been accepted into the Decepticon ranks quite recently with his partner Zigzag, and so was still in a low position. "I'm not authorised to clear or deny dockings", he thought, "I'd better ask someone else." Sunbeam rose from his chair and began walking towards the Targetmaster recreation/repairs room, where he had last seen the Decepticon he and Zigzag were binary-bonded to, Needlenose, in. Sunbeam turned in the corridor so fast that he couldn't see if someone was coming through the automatically opening doors.

Through accident, he bumped into the leg of Spinister, colleague of his supervisor Needlenose. "What's that?" wondered Spinister as he noted something light, but metallic-feeling, slow down the progress of his left leg. Looking down, he saw Sunbeam. "Oh, it's you, Sunbeam", he said, "what is it?"

"I was going to find Needlenose, my supervisor", said Sunbeam, "but I guess you will do just as well. Anyway, a Combaticon called Blast Off is outside the ship, requesting docking permission. He says he is carrying a Decepticon special agent named Counterpunch. I was wondering if I am to clear or deny the docking."

"Hmm", said Spinister, pondering the question. "I know Blast Off", he said, "we are old friends, dating back to before the battle with Unicron. However, this Counterpunch is a different issue. I know I haven't met him, but still the name seems strangely familiar. I must check on it later. Meanwhile, they're still both Decepticons, and as far as I can see Scorponok hasn't issued specific bans on either of them. So you can clear that docking request."

"Thanks", said Sunbeam, walking back to his post as radio traffic controller.

"Don't mention it", said Spinister, but as he resumed walking he thought: "There's something mysterious about this Counterpunch. Even though I like mysteries, I am without a starting point in this one. I'd better ask our mystic, Mindwipe. He might have some idea."

In the other timeline, in a place beyond the orbital plane of the planet Pluto, a being known simply as "P" was addressing a group of two Autobots and three Decepticons. So far, he had provided one explanation to why the Astrobot aerial warrior Scramble and the Decepticon warrior Rosestar had arrived to meet him, and one to why the Autobot mystic Stargazer and the new Decepticon leader Windchaser had done the same. However, the Decepticon tradesman Swindle was still without an explanation.

"If I understand correctly, you have told the same story about the old and new Universes to Jenny Witwicky", said Stargazer. "Well, not necessarily YOU", he added, "meaning the being to which I am speaking to, but still a manifestation of the same Sentient Core."

"Yes", replied "P", "another manifestation of our self, one known as 'M', did indeed explain the same to Jenny Witwicky. I know, because we share the same memories, although our actual minds are different, at least for now."

"I understand that", said Stargazer, "but I have one question. You said Unicron killed all the gods in the old Universe. However, I've met some gods in an earlier adventure. One was a god called Ipsoftos, and another was a goddess called Zaheislik. Where did they come from?"

"I thought you'd ask that question", said "P", "and I'll try to answer. The very nature of gods is that they're not easy to completely erase. There has been evidence of gods being able to procreate, like mortal lifeforms do."

"Yes, I know", said Stargazer, "examples of that can be found all over Earthern mythology, for example. Even a considerably new religion, Christianity, has a main character who is considered something of a son to the primary god."

"Right", continued "P", "Now it's easy to see that some of the gods in the old Universe had begun to procreate before Unicron killed them. The gods spawned tiny sparks of immortal life, which hadn't formed full personalities at the time Unicron killed their parents. Thus he failed to notice they were alive, and unwittingly spared them. The Sentient Core, eager to salvage what precious little was left, adopted these lifesparks and nurtured them until it the new Universe was born. After the Core had created Primus, and he had imprisoned Unicron in a metal asteroid, the Core decided the danger of Unicron had passed, and released the sparks, which evolved into other gods. Ipsoftos and Zaheislik are examples of these sparks."

"And after the new gods had been released from the Sentient Core, they went to live on the planet Hypsis, because it suited them the best", said Stargazer, "I've read from ancient legends that Hypsis is capable of travelling almost anywhere through space at will. And as luck would have it, I've even managed to actually visit Hypsis once myself."

"Yes, I know", said "P", "I discovered it while searching your memory. I also picked this form I now wear from your memory. I had no idea it was used by one of the new gods."

"Yes, the god Ipsoftos usually appears as a man in his early twenties, with blond hair and glasses", said Stargazer, "such as you do now. But that's hardly the point here, is it?"

"You are right", said "P", "the point here is that you organised the whole time-travel operation to prevent Unicron from attacking Earth, and so far it seems you have succeeded. Now the time has come for us to reward your heroic deeds."

"Reward us? How?" asked Jenny. "We will give you a small token of our gratitude", replied "M", "something that only one other race in the whole Universe has access to, at this moment."

"Hmm... do you mean..." said Stardust. "Yes", said "M", "you will be given similar mystical orbs as those you helped the Dhospyob aliens to find."

"How many of those will we be given?" asked Jenny. "Three in total", replied "M", "and they shall not be your personal possessions, but shall be made publically available. One will be given to humans, another to Autobots and yet another to Decepticons. I will handle the one given to humans, the others will be handled by my colleague 'P'."

"Seems fair enough", said Jenny.

"How shall the orb be given to the humans?" asked Stardust, "Will you give it to Jenny now?"

"No", answered "M", "it's not even in my possession. It was the Sentient Core itself that originally created them, you see, not any manifestations of it. The orb, which you humans will be granted usage, is hidden somewhere inside either the Earth or its moon. I don't know its exact location, but when the Core tried to sense at least vague hints about where the orbs had ended up, one such hint came from the direction of Sol III, or perhaps Sol III 1. The scale was too large for us to distinguish between the two celestial bodies."

"All well and good", said Stardust, "but if you, who are a manifestation of the Core itself, can't find it, what hope is there for us, who aren't linked to the Core in any way, to find it?"

"If you had to start from scratch, not much", replied "M", "but fortunately some work has been done for you in advance. You may remember that news of the orbs' existence spawned entire religions. All you have to do is search the religions of your celestial bodies for hints about mystical artefacts found, possibly beneath the surface."

"That narrows it down it a bit", said Stardust, "the Moon has no religions. Until humans first landed on its surface in 1969, no lifeform bigger than a bacterium has adorned its rocky surface, and I do believe bacteria can't decipher ancient signs, let alone start religions. We only have to look for the orb on Earth. But the countless religions that abound in Earth's culture are still quite a job to search through."

Jenny thought about Stardust's words. "Maybe not that much, actually", she said, "remember that 'M' said that first, the orbs are ancient, dating back well before the Earth itself was formed, and second, they would have been found beneath the surface."

"So?" asked Stardust, "Explain further, please."

"That would mean that humans would regard them as natural powers, ones of the Earth itself. Have you looked at Christianity, for example?"

"Yes, a little bit", said Stardust. "Good", continued Jenny, "the point is that Christianity, for example, is by nature a heavenly religion. All its main forces reside in a supercelestial place, out of reach from the Earth's surface. If the orb was found beneath the Earth's surface, it wouldn't have been elevated to the heavens, would it?"

"I see your point", said Stardust, "we only have to search through natural religions."

"Right", said Jenny, "and that makes our job easier, because those are more ancient than heavenly religions, and thus share more of a common background with each other. The only downside of this is that almost all natural religions were almost wiped out by crusaders from newer, heavenly religions, like Christianity. But there might still be clues. I suggest that when we return to Earth, we go back to Finland, and then to the Helsinki University library, to find some book about ancient religions, written in English, of course, not Finnish."

"That's a good idea", said Stardust, "but why Finland? Why not go to Portland, if you Witwickies still live there?"

"We do", replied Jenny, "but currently I and my parents are on a vacation in Finland. I left their company a few days earlier. I said I was taking Punch on a sightseeing tour in Sweden, but actually we went to Windchaser's coronation, and then ended up here. So I think I'd better return to Finland, so as not to worry my parents."

"Sounds good", said Stardust, "but won't they wonder why Punch is missing?"

"Ah, I'll just tell them he liked Sweden so much he went on to explore more of Europe himself", said Jenny, "hopefully he'll turn up when his adventures with Blast Off are over."

"You have made a wise decision", said "M", "I will now part your company and allow you to proceed on your way. I will be monitoring your progress, however. If you need any help, just think about me, and I'll see if I can show up to assist you." With that, she vanished from view. Then, the whole illusion of the Tapiola Garden Hotel vanished, leaving the original starscape between Mars and Earth. "Right, let's get going, then", said Stardust, restarting his engines, "we've got work to do."

Part 5

On the outskirts of the Sol system, history of a sort was being made. A group of Transformers, two Autobots and three Decepticons were having a conversation with a manifestation of the Sentient Core of the Universe itself, and this conversation had so far led to mentions of heroic deeds and their rewards.

"I can see why you're rewarding Stargazer", said the Decepticon warrior Rosestar, who had been brought here from the past, "after all, he was the one who organised the whole operation to finally kill Unicron and save the Universe. I can also understand why Windchaser is getting a reward, because for one thing, she helped Stargazer get back to his own time, and for another, she restored what was left of the Decepticon Empire to at least a passable level of glory. The Astrobots and I myself are here because we helped you to establish contact with intelligent residents of the Universe. But - but why this pathetic lowlife here?"

Rosestar pointed to Swindle, who had insisted on going with her. Swindle's so far neutral face twisted in an expression of taking offense. After all, he was a worthy member of the Combaticons, even though his love for trade and profit usually overcame his loyalty to Megatron, or other Decepticons. And why was Rosestar calling him a pathetic lowlife, after all the time they had had together in the past, prior to the historical crash-land on Earth? However, Swindle forced himself to remain calm, not to complain about Rosestar's words, but instead listen to what this entity who called himself "P" had to say.

"You're probably thinking why we would want to reward this Combaticon, who pursued your spacecraft along with his friend?" asked "P". "Right", said Rosestar.

"Simple", replied "P", "we don't. HE didn't play a part in Unicron's final demise, nor did HE help us establish contact with actual creatures living on the planets of this Universe. However, he is a Transformer, and as such he deserves his share of all the benefits of our communication with you. This way we're hoping to avoid any future major war in the galaxy, possibly involving Transformers or humans. The Core did a great load of work constraining Unicron's rage of destruction, and your efforts at colonising this new Universe, of re-establishing life amongst the stars, were also noteworthy. We don't want you to throw away all this by killing each other off."

"All right, I accept", said Rosestar. She turned to Swindle and said: "But don't get any ideas, however. Windchaser is still the leader of the Decepticons and is in command here. For myself, I decide everything concering my return to my own timeline and finding my brother Starscream. You will only be tolerated if you don't get in the way."

"Yes, of course", said Swindle.

As the two Decepticons were busy establishing their own terms, Stargazer looked at Windchaser as if to ask her permission to continue the conversation with "P". Windchaser realised what he meant and nodded, so Stargazer stepped forward, past Rosestar and Swindle, to face "P". "You said you would lead us to two mystical orbs, one for the Autobots and one for the Decepticons", he said.

"Yes, that is correct", said "P". "Then where are they?" asked Stargazer. "I don't know exactly", replied "P", "but the Core has sensed their presence near a star system hundreds, maybe thousands of light years from here. Perhaps you could follow our directions there."

"All by ourselves?" asked Stargazer, "That would take centuries! Even in its heyday, Cybertronian spacefaring technology only allowed us to visit nearby planets, like Earth or Nebulos. Now, after Cybertron's destruction, our capabilities are more limited."

"I am aware of that", said "P", "and so I have made plans in advance. As we speak, a spaceship of great proportions is slowly making its progress between whole galaxies. All I had to do was establish a connection to it and I managed to get you permission to board it and use all the help its crew can provide in your search."

"Wow", said Stargazer in utter amazement, "I have never seen an intergalactic spaceship before. I am looking forward to this experience."

"Then let's not delay", said "P". His form became less solid, more ethereal. At the same time, the illusion of familiar places also waned, leaving the dark starscape. Stargazer sensed an act of mystic intervention happening as a colourful, irregularly shaped ring of light appeared outside the orbital plane of Pluto, slowly growing bigger. When it had stopped growing, a spaceship of unknown design appeared in its centre.
The ship was about 25 or 30 metres long and dark grey in colour, seemingly made of stainless steel or some similar metal. It was quite streamlined, but still its form seemed old-fashioned. The wings were short, flat and triangular. The engines were also small, and obviously utilised common rocket propulsion. The only markings on the ship's outer surface were a picture of two brightly coloured blue and white stars, with a black line connecting them, and some incomprehensible alien writing in red below it.

"That's the ship?" asked Stargazer, "It doesn't look like much."

"No", replied "P", "this is only a runabout. The actual ship was far too large to be transported into this time and place. You are welcome to choose a party to board this runabout, which will then take you to the ship."

After the appearance of the alien runabout, the Transformers had stopped their internal arguments and were now paying full attention to this matter. Stargazer and Windchaser stepped out as leaders of the Autobot and Decepticon parties, respectively. "I volunteer to go on this alien ship", said Stargazer, "I have the most experience of meeting alien cultures and voyaging amongst the stars. Also, because of my knowledge of mystical arts, 'P' will find it the easiest to communicate with me when I'm on this voyage. What about other Autobots?"

Scramble, the Astrobot aerial warrior, looked around himself. "It seems I'm the only other Autobot here", he said, "so I'll answer. As much as I'd like to go on this voyage - I might establish trade connections with aliens I've never seen before and amass profits beyond my wildest dreams - I really can not. For one thing, I am an Astrobot, and as such loyal to my group leader Planetfall and the Autobot leader Optimus Prime. For another, I am already one timeline away from my native time. Another timewarp would only add to the hassle."

"That is that settled, then", said Windchaser, "now it's the turn of us, the Decepticons. I am the new leader, and as such I will give you my decision first. This voyage might make for interesting travel and perhaps battle experience, but my duty is for Decepticons first, and the Universe second. Without a leader, the Decepticon Empire may fall again. I can't allow this. Because of this, I must regret that I am staying behind. What about you, Decepticons?"

"I have no such bonds to the Decepticon Empire", said Rosestar, "and so I would be free to go, if it weren't for one thing. Like Scramble said, this isn't my timeline. If I go on an alien intergalactic ship, my chances of ever finding Starscream will diminish. I will also stay behind."

"That leaves just me, then", said Swindle, "I agree that this is not my timeline, but what the heck? I'm already in enough trouble with Megatron and even other Combaticons, so I might as well go. I might even make a huge profit along the way. So Stargazer, I guess we're shipmates."

On another ship, in another time, two newcomers were being escorted into the ship's interior. When the airlock had fully closed, Counterpunch stepped out of Blast Off, who transformed to robot mode. He glanced up at the upper edge of the door leading to the ship's corridors, where a red light shone next to an electronic speaker system. "Stand by for routine inspection and decontamination", came a computer voice from the speaker system. Both Transformers were well used to such processes, Blast Off on Decepticon ships and Counterpunch (as Punch) on Autobot ships. The inspection was complete in less than a minute. "Inspection and decontamination complete. No illegal or dangerous substances found. You may proceed", told the voice. The red light changed to green and the door opened. Blast Off and Counterpunch stepped through it, onto the lighter-coloured metal floor of the ship's internal corridors. The door to the airlock room closed after the Transformers had walked through it.

"Well, we're here", said Counterpunch, "where should we go now?" He was trying to get Blast Off to lead the way, so that he could get a view of the Leviathan without arousing suspicion. After all, he didn't know how Decepticons usually lived in big battle cruisers. "We might go to Scorponok's command room", said Blast Off, "then we can ask him if he'll grant us refuge here. Perhaps we'll even get to fight some Autobots!"

"That's a good idea", said Counterpunch, and so the two began walking towards the biggest room on this deck of the ship.

Blast Off and Counterpunch were just about to get to the door leading to Scorponok's command room, when Spinister stepped in front of them. "What is this?" asked Blast Off.

"Just checking a thing", said Spinister, "no big deal." He turned to Counterpunch and asked him: "You're the one called Counterpunch, right?"

"Yes, I am", said Counterpunch, "I am a Decepticon special agent."

"Come with me", said Spinister. Counterpunch was alarmed, but decided not to make a fuss. Instead, he obediently followed Spinister, leaving Blast Off to meet Scorponok on his own. Spinister led Counterpunch to a side corridor, leading almost a hundred metres to a door with a sign saying: "Top secret! No entrance without special permission!" Spinister pressed a button on the side of the door. "Yes?" came a voice from the comlink system above the button. "We're here", said Spinister. "Exzellent", said the voice, "kome in."

The door opened and Spinister led Counterpunch inside.

At first, Counterpunch saw nothing but gray darkness in front of him. This changed to black darkness when the door closed behind him. No lights, he thought. Something weird is going on in here. "Ah, Kounterpunch", said the voice Counterpunch had heard from the comlink, "I've been expektink you."

"What is going on? Who are you?" Counterpunch dared ask. There was a click and the room was now lit normally. Counterpunch's optical sensors adapted to different luminosity levels in a few microseconds, so he wasn't temporarily blinded like his friend Jenny would have been. Instead, he was fully able to look at whoever had spoken.

When Counterpunch saw who was addressing him, he was surprised. In a chair less than ten metres in front of him sat none other than Mindwipe, the Decepticon equivalent of the mystic Stargazer, whom Counterpunch had met less than a day before.

"Now will you tell me what is going on?" asked Counterpunch.

"Yes", said Mindwipe, rising from his chair and walking over to a computer terminal. "Spinizter here told me zat you vould be komink here", he said, "zo I decided to do a little rezearch on you. Vhat I found vaz quite zurprisink."

Counterpunch was getting more alarmed and a little nervous. He glanced at the Decepticons sharing the room with him. Spinister was leaning against the back wall, perfectly calm and apparently motionless. Mindwipe paced around, holding his hand to his chin and looking intently at Counterpunch. "It turns out zat you are not zupposed to be here", said Mindwipe.

"Well, I came with Blast Off, who couldn't go to Megatron and..." began Counterpunch.

"No!" said Mindwipe, "I mean you're not zupposed to be anywhere here! I don't even know vhere you ARE zupposed to be!" Mindwipe paused a little, and continued: "The ship's data rekords know of no Tranzformer kalled Kounterpunch, Dezeptikon or Autobot. Thiz didn't stop a powerful myztik like me, however. I kontakted the zpirits of zpace and zey told me zat ze Dezeptikon leader Galvatron rekruited the zpecial agent Kounterpunch in 2006!" Spinister, having so far remaind silent and motionless, stood up from his leaning position and said: "That's 8 years in the future, agent boy. You'd better come up with a nice explanation for this, or we'll do... well, something unpleasant to you."

Back in 2065, Stargazer and Swindle said their goodbyes to Scramble, Rosestar and Windchaser as they boarded the runabout that would take them to the famous intergalactic spaceship. The doors of the ships closed and the ships turned away from each other. Inside the spaceship from the Dhospyob star system, Windchaser said to Rosestar: "Well, seeing as those two are going on an orb search, I guess we're not needed here any more. I want to go back to Phobos to join my fellow Decepticons. Can you fly this weird spaceship back there?"

"I... I think so", said Rosestar, "I'm a warrior, not a mystic like Stargazer, but I can still talk to this 'P' being. Hopefully he has enough control of the craft to first take you onto Phobos, and then me and Scramble back to 1998."

"Well, let's try it, then!" said Windchaser. Rosestar turned to look outside the ship's bow window. "You heard me, 'P'", she said, "how about a trip back inside the solar system?"

"Yes, of course", replied "P", "your work here is done. Stargazer and Swindle will take care of the rest." The ship's engines started on its way to Phobos, where the Decepticon main headquarters were presently located.

Inside the other ship, Stargazer and Swindle relaxed and prepared for a shake-up as the runabout, piloted by creatures looking like humans with a slight green tint to their skin and less body hair, entered another time warp to another time and place.

Once the warp was over, Stargazer looked out of the window. "Wow, that was quite a jump", he said.

"Yesh", said one of the aliens in a voice sounding like he was constantly out of breath, "we've broughth you to our time. Our race is calledh the Zan'znar, andh we live on a large, civilised planeth in the Andromeda galaxy. We've recently inventedh intergalactic space travelh, and are utilisingh it to provide transport for ourselvesh and other races as wellh... for a price, of course."

"What sort of price?" asked Swindle, as if awakened by the mention of commerce.

"Don'th worry", said the Zan'znar, "your trip wash planned in advance by 'P', who tookh care of all expensesh. If you find the orbsh you're searching for, that's enough paymenth for us."

"Good", said Swindle.

Stargazer kept looking out of the window, until he could see the intergalactic spaceship. He had expected a wonder, but this exceeded his expectations. The ship was huge! It was shaped cylindrically, with an octagonal base figure. The cylindrical hull was well over twenty kilometres long, and more than two kilometres in diameter. The ship was coloured gray, only a little lighter than the runabout. It, too, was ornamented by a design of two bluish-white stars and a black line between them, and some red alien writing. Stargazer could see beautiful clear-glass windows on the ship's sides. He wondered how many there were, but lost count at four thousand eight hundred.

"That's quite a ship you've got there", said Stargazer as the runabout reached the main ship's airlock and began to dock, "I'm impressed!"

"Thankh you", said the Zan'znar, "we needh a big ship for intergalactic travel. She's calledh the T'sun Zong, that means 'The river of the stars' in your language. We'llh soon get inside her, so you can have a look for yourselvesh."

After the runabout had docked in the ship's airlock, the Zan'znar escorted Stargazer and Swindle into the command bridge of the T'sun Zong. The captain of the ship bid them welcome and asked them to relax and enjoy the ship's offerings before reaching their destination, where "P" had told them the orbs would be.
Stargazer looked around the bridge room. On one wall, a large panorama window opened to offer a breathtaking view of some of the ship's interior. Stargazer could see corridors, leading to cabins near the bridge and to restaurants, shops and the like closer to the middle of the ship. However, Stargazer was surprised to see farmlands and homesteads in the aft section. He expressed his amazement to the captain.
"You're forgettingh how big this ship ish", said the captain, "andh how long our journey is goingh to take. We can't possibly survive on our own with the food we got from our homeworldh, much lessh feed our passengers. Because of that, we have to grow more food ourselves on the way."

"This is clearly revolutionary technology", said Stargazer, "when did you say you invented this?"

"Oh, quite recently", said the captain, "but we couldn'th have constructed thish great ship without the help of the nice people at Earth. I believe thish ship was launchedh in the Earth year 2675."

Stargazer seemed a little surprised by this information. He couldn't think of anything to say, but Swindle took a step towards him and said calmly: "So we've travelled another 610 years into the future. Surely you aren't feeling homesick already?"

"No", said Stargazer, relaxing. "Good", said Swindle, "because I intend to make the best of this timeline."

On Phobos, the alien spaceship touched down on the landing site just outside the current Decepticon headquarters. Windchaser stepped out first, followed by Rosestar and Scramble. "So this is what the Decepticon headquarters looks like in this time", said Rosestar, "not too bad, considering what you must have gone through."

"Yes", said Windchaser, "I was on a mission on Earth when Cybertron exploded, but my then-commander Megatron was very near to the centre of the blast. He, and the Autobot leader Rodimus Prime, vanished without a trace. I suspect they are dead, but I can't know for sure."

"What exactly happened to Starscream?" asked Rosestar, "He was your father, in addition to being my brother, so you must know something about him."

"Yes, I do", replied Windchaser, "unfortunately, Starscream died in 2005, killed by Galvatron, who took over as Decepticon leader after Megatron. Later, Starscream came back as a ghost, trying to resurrect Unicron, but failed. I did not see him as a ghost, as I was on Earth at that time, but I heard about him from Patch-Up, the Decepticon medic who aided in restoring Trypticon's wiring after the incident."

"Patch-Up?" asked Rosestar, "I've never heard of him."

"Not surprising", said Windchaser, "Patch-Up keeps to himself most of the time. His superiors can tell him whom to check up or fix, but that's where their authority ends and his begins. I, who have known him for over two decades, have never seen the inside of his surgical laboratory."

"Hmm, sounds like he would enjoy our scientist team, then", said Rosestar.

Windchaser's and Rosestar's conversation was interrupted by two of the Navigaticons coming to meet them. "Why did you have to drag me here with you?" asked one of them, "You could manage perfectly well by yourself. All I am doing here is wasting my valuable time."

"Hah! 'Valuable time', you say!" said the other, "All you ever do in your time, Deadlock, is laze about in your quarters, or whatever secluded place you can find, trying to find new excuses to avoid duty! Besides, Juggernautilus ordered us two here."

"I know that, Waveglider", said Deadlock, "but why do we have to obey all of his orders? Wouldn't you much rather be back on the sea again?"

"Yes, I would", said Waveglider, "I love exploring seas, and trying out exciting new cruise patterns. But, there are no seas on Phobos, so the best we can do here is walk."

"Yes, but..." started Deadlock. "Ssh!" said Waveglider suddenly, "here they are." He pointed a finger in front of himself, to direct the gaze of his fellow Navigaticon. "I can see Windchaser all right", said Deadlock, "but who are the other two bozos with her? Looks like a largish, dark red Decepticon and a small, white Autobot."

"I don't know", said Waveglider, "but that doesn't matter. The point is Windchaser has returned."

"Greetings, my faithful warriors", said Windchaser. "Welcome back, commander. What was the energy discharge all about?" asked Waveglider.

"Nothing special", replied Windchaser, "a small meteor collided with Pluto and exploded. There was no damage to the planet, but the explosion was still powerful enough to show up on our scanners."

"Ah, I see", said Waveglider, a bit disappointed. He had hoped for a chance to witness something exciting, like a big, cosmic light show. Windchaser, however, couldn't reveal all the details about the Sentient Core and the time warps. Luckily, she knew, Waveglider didn't know much of cosmic physics.

"Who are these Transformers?" asked Deadlock, pointing to Rosestar and Scramble.

"Oh, this is Rosestar, a... erm... friend of mine", said Windchaser, "I met her on Pluto. She was just escorting this Autobot here to her secret hideout on Earth when I met her."

"I thought there were no Decepticons on Earth", said Deadlock. "That's exactly what Rosestar wanted you to think!" said Windchaser, "Why do you think her hideout is secret?"

"Oh. I see", said Deadlock.

"Anyway, I'll be assuming my usual duties here", said Windchaser, "I'll escort you two back to the headquarters. Rosestar and the Autobot will remain here, and will depart on their own voyage." Having said that, Windchaser turned her back on her aunt and the Astrobot, and began walking back to her command centre, grateful that for her part, most of this adventure was already over.

Rosestar waited a few minutes after Windchaser had left until she and Scramble went back to the alien spaceship, where Rosestar once again contacted the strange entity known as "P". "Well, is everything OK?" asked "P".

"Yes", replied Rosestar, "there's only us 1998-ians in here. And we're ready and set to go back into 1998!"

"Good", said "P", "I'll send part of my essence back to the Core, where it will temporarily merge with 'F' and 'J'. This should allow us to open another time warp. Where would you want it?"

"Umm, somewhere around here would be nice", said Scramble, "but perhaps pointing away from Earth, so as not to arouse the suspicion of humans on Earth and Autobots on the Moon."

"OK then", said "P". The form he was using, the young man with blond hair and glasses, ripped into several parallel vertical lines, with every even one staying in place and every odd one vanishing away. "Looks cool", said Scramble.

After a while, the image of the man was whole again. "You have your time warp now", said "P", "it will remain between Deimos's orbital plane and the asteroid belt for about 2 hours. If you need help in flying through it, just ask me."

"Thanks", said Rosestar, "now let's get going!" Remembering Stargazer's instructions, she started the ship and set a course to the time warp.

Windchaser watched the sky as the spaceship took off and vanished behind the planet Mars. "There they go", she thought, "I hope Rosestar and Scramble find whatever they are looking for." Suddenly, she heard Juggernautilus tell her that he had registered another energy discharge, this time between Mars and the asteroid belt.

"Should we investigate?" asked Juggernautilus. "Not worth the bother", said Windchaser, "perhaps it's just solar wind colliding with Jupiter's magnetic field. Jupiter has quite a large magnetic field, you know."

"Well then, you're the boss", said Juggernautilus, returning to his normal duties. Windchaser was glad to notice that she could finally stop worrying about the Universe, and actually start commanding Decepticons.
In another place and time, the sun rose as a small, bright red dot on the black sky, illuminating the rocky terrain and the decaying steel carcass of a cargo freighter spaceship resting on it. As the planet had no atmosphere, dust hadn't settled on the ship's remains, but it had remained completely bare. Only a small amount of fine-grained rock dust flew against its surface as a white and blue robotic foot touched down on it.

"Yes, this is definitely the right planet", thought the owner of the foot, "you're a lucky robot now, Starscream! Once I put what I found inside this old freighter into good use, I can finally restore Cybertron to the level of glory it was until that great oaf Megatron rose to power over four million years ago. But first, I must regain contact with at least some of my former scientific colleagues, most notably Rosestar and/or Skyfire. I hope they find the hints I left behind on Thane and can understand them."

Starscream sat on the structure of the ship's wing, relaxing and thinking about his friends. An image of Shifter came to his mind. "Ahh, Shifter", he thought, "even though you never gave me actual 'Changer' powers, you still allowed me to 'borrow' your powers for a while. After your death, those powers would have been forgotten for ever, but luckily my systems constantly recorded what was happening in my body. From those records, I was able to find this planet. This time, I will succeed! Without the Kissceians, without any weird Matrix! Without anyone!"

Part 6

For the past few days, the huge starship T'sun Zong had been flying away from the Sol system, at a very high speed. Still, it would take it at least a week to get to the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, and its entire voyage to the neighbouring galaxies would take years, if not decades. The Transformers Stargazer and Swindle, who had gotten on board the ship on a quest to find two mystical orbs, which had been promised to the Autobots and the Decepticons by "P", a manifestation of the Sentient Core of the Universe, were sitting in a small, remote restaurant they had found inside the ship.

They liked the atmosphere, and they had found that the larger, more popular restaurants simply couldn't get the Energon right. Usually they served their cubes with the energy contained in some sort of liquid, which was consumable but was prone to causing stains on the Transformers' exterior armour. One restaurant had even tried to pass organic food as energical nourishment. The cuisine effort was lost on the Transformers, because their tastebuds weren't nearly as sensitive as those of the organics.

This particular restaurant, however, had some years ago come across a large, ugly-looking machine which could convert electrical voltage into pure energy, contained only in a thin frame made of insulating plastic alloy, which was easily disposed of. Stargazer and Swindle were very pleased, even though they usually were the only customers.

"How much longer will we have to be on this ship?" asked Swindle, "Don't get me wrong here. I like the experience, and I've even made trade contracts for several million buckazoids, credits, euros, grems, valuecrystals and what have you. However, I'm beginning to worry if we ever get the job done, and we'll ever see... I mean I'll ever see Cybertron again, and you'll see... what planet did you say you lived on?"

"Earth", said Stargazer calmly, staring leisurely into the half-full Energon cube on the table. "Right", said Swindle, "I used to be on that planet too. I didn't choose to, it was all Starscream's fault. I was quite happy being imprisoned on Cybertron, but Starscream had to drag me out of there and bring me to Earth. Of course, as soon as Starscream was out of the picture and I joined Megatron's ranks, I could go to Cybertron whenever Megatron allowed me to, which was quite often."

"Ah, Cybertron", said Stargazer, "I miss that planet. I wish I could come to your time when it still existed, but I cannot. However, back to the original matter."

"Yes, I asked how long will it take for us to find the orbs", said Swindle.

"Not much longer now", said Stargazer, "I've contacted both 'P' and Ipsoftos in my dreams, sometimes even Primus, and they've all been saying the object of our quest is somewhere on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, in another spiral arm. I suspect the Sagittarius arm."

"Sagittarius?" asked Swindle, "But we've never got any life readings from there."

"That's because it's too far away", said Stargazer, "our from sources outside the Orion Arm. However, we'll soon be much closer, and so we can have a look when we get there."

"Righto", said Swindle, "that's all I wanted to know."

610 years earlier, thousands of light years away, the Astrobot Stardust and his human companion Jenny Witwicky had just entered the Helsinki University library on Yliopistonkatu, next to the grand Church of Helsinki, built in the 1830's. "Excuse me", said Jenny to the librarian behind the help desk, "do you have English books about historical natural religion?"

"I'm not sure", said the librarian, "let me check." She entered a few words into her computer and watched as it produced the results. "Yes, there is one", she finally said, "the Finnish original was written in 2008 by P. Saarijärvi. In 2013, the University saw fit to acquire the English translation of Saarijärvi's work, written by P. Bunyan. It is currently located in our historical department." She showed Jenny the map of the library, pointing to the historical department.

"Good, I'll find it", said Jenny, "do I have borrowing rights?"

"Are you, or your Autobot companion, a student at the University?" asked the librarian. "No", said Jenny, "we're just visiting here."

"Then you can't borrow the book", replied the librarian, "but you have every right to read it here."

"Thanks", said Jenny. She turned to Stardust and said:

"This building wasn't designed for Transformers. I'll go check the book and you wait here. I'll get a photocopy of all the pages we need."

"OK", said Stardust, so Jenny went on her way.

When Jenny returned, she and Stardust went outside, onto the central Church plaza, to look at the photocopies Jenny had made. "There are quite a few ancient monuments still in existence", said Jenny, "the pyramids in Egypt, for example. But those were built to honour the Pharaohs, which in turn were considered equivalent to the Heavenly Gods."

"So we'll have to rule that one as a second-class option", said Stardust, "what else do we have?"

"Well, then there is Stonehenge in the UK", said Jenny, "it was built around the same time, but the people who built it were less civilised than the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians had astronomers, the English had Druids."

"Druids?" asked Stardust. "An old Earthern term", said Jenny, "it means 'knower' or something. It's sort of between an astrologist and a shaman, which were found in the Native American and African tribes, and in ancient Lapland."

"Did these shamans build monuments?" asked Stardust. "No", said Jenny, "their religion was based mostly on word-of-mouth. There was no need for monuments. However, Stonehenge might be a religious monument, although some say it is an astronomical device."

"Then we'll go there", said Stardust, "it's better than nothing."

"OK", said Jenny, "but how shall we be going? I haven't got any money left for an aeroplane ticket."

"You are forgetting my capabilities", said Stardust, "I can transform to my UFO mode and carry you there. We both have our passports in order, so there should be no troubles."

"Good", said Jenny, "we'll leave tomorrow morning."

The captain of the T'sun Zong sat back on his chair and immersed in his thoughts. He considered the flight change Stargazer and Swindle had suggested him. "Sagittariush Arm, you say?" he said finally. Stargazer nodded. "Wellh, our originalh flight path only goes a few thousandh light years from it", said the captain, "but the passengersh are in no hurry. In fact, very few of the passengers on shipsh of this kindh are on an actual voyage to another galaxy. Mosth passengers regard this of the ultimate pleasure cruise in their lives, and some even spend theirh entire lives on board this ship. So reaching a certainh destination is not such a big dealh to most of them."

"So you're saying yes?" asked Stargazer. "I'm saying thath we might make a brief stop at the end pointh of the Sagittarius Armh", said the captain, "we'll let you off there, buth we can't keep the whole ship waitingh while you search for the Orbsh. Luckily, thish ship was designed with such instancesh in mind. In our cargo bay is a smallerh ship, an exploration vessel. It is also capable of intergalactich flight, but on a much smallerh scale."

"And we will use that?" asked Swindle. "Yesh", said the captain, "you will departh deeper into the Sagittarius Arm on that ship, and the T'sun Zong itselfh will continue on its voyage to the neighbouring galaxies. Whenh you have finished your search, send a radio message to us. We will travelh slowly, so the message should reach ush in no more than a couple of weeks, and we will pick you up in a few months. This, I presume, is a small time for you to wait, because I've beenh told you live up to millions of years."

"That's right", said Stardust, "then it's settled. When will we arrive at the Arm?"

The captain looked at his flight path navigator console. "I'dh say, in abouth one month", he said.

In one month's time, Stargazer and Swindle set on board the smaller ship, which was about one kilometre long and octagonal like the T'sun Zong itself, with a small Zan'znar exploration crew. The exploration ship flew out of the intergalactic cruiser's cargo bay and towards the beautiful-looking star concentration ahead.
The crew of the exploration ship spent several weeks trying to find a suitable planet to look for the Orbs in the Sagittarius Arn. Stargazer felt that he could take no chances, so he contacted "P" at regular intervals to ask him for directions towards the Orbs. Finally, the ship arrived in a star system with a large, yellow star and a smaller white star in some kind of binary relation, with only two planets orbiting them.

The inner planet, so close to the stars it was hard to pinpoint against them, was a tiny sphere of barren rock. "I readh no life signs whatsoeverh from the inner planeth", said the ship's science officer, "also, it seemsh to consist entirely of volcanic rockh and ash. No standard, valuable or radioactive metalsh, no gemstones or other crystals, justh rock."

"Then there's no way the Orbs could be hidden there", said Stargazer, "try the outer planet."

The ship, in a position between the orbital planes of the two planets, turned around to face the outer planet, which was much larger. Unlike the dark, volcanic inner planet, the outer planet was metallic-looking, shining in the light from the larger star. Strange-looking regular patterns appearing in the reflection on the surface gave hints of small perforations, leading inside the planet.

"This looks much more promising", said Swindle to Stargazer, "those patterns are much too regular to have evolved naturally."

"I agree", said Stargazer. "Take us onto the outer planet", he said to the ship's crew. "Right", said the ship's commanding officer, and set course for the planet.

Once the exploration ship had landed on the outer planet's surface, Stargazer and Swindle stepped out of it. "No atmosphere", said Swindle, "that must be why the planet was so shiny. Luckily it doesn't bother us Transformers."

"Right", said Stargazer, "however, there doesn't seem to be much of interest out here on the surface. I suggest we enter one of these perforations to see what it's like underground." Stargazer promptly transformed to his dragon mode, keeping Mnyria in a compartment in his chest, and Swindle followed by transforming into his jeep mode. The lack of an atmosphere made it impossible for Stargazer to fly down the perforation, but he was an expert on many forms of agile, fast ground movement, so he had no trouble walking or running along the tubular hole's inner edge. Swindle followed, driving downwards in a spiralling pattern, using centripetal and centrifugal forces to prevent him from falling into the hole's centre. Soon both Transformers had traversed the entire hole, arriving beneath the planet's surface.

The view inside the planet was the strangest either Transformer had seen in his entire life. The planet was mostly hollow, with a burning hot core floating in its centre, acting as a mass concentration to hold the planet together. The diameter of this core, however, was less than one hundredth of the diameter of the entire planet. Stargazer conducted physical measurements on the planet's gravitational forces, and found out that the outer crust of the planet, made of some super-strong, super-heavy metal, was so massive that gravity on its inner edge was actually away from the planet's core instead of towards it. This made the space they were currently in into a practical planet-within-a-planet.

Unlike the outer surface, the planet's inside was lush with strange alien vegetation, with a few mountains and lakes of an unknown, turquoise liquid scattered here and there. There appeared to be no native civilisation, only a few gigantic insectoid creatures buzzing around, minding their own business. They seemed to take no notice of the Transformers. "Wow, this is a weird planet", said Swindle.

"Yes", replied Stargazer, "but we have no time to explore all of its mysteries. We have to find the Orbs."

Elsewhere, elsewhen, the Decepticon warrior Rosestar and the Autobot aerial supporter Scramble had arrived in their native year, 1998. Once they were clear of the dizzying effects of the timewarp, they began to examine their surroundings. "So, any idea where we are?" asked Scramble. "Let me see", said Rosestar. She compared the surrounding view to the astronomical charts in her internal database. "I'd say we're still in the Sol system", she said, "close to Earth. We're just outside the Moon's orbit."

"Good", said Scramble, "that means we're close to humans, and/or other Transformers. I'll try radio contact."

Scramble activated his Autobot radio, sending a hail message towards Earth. After a few minutes, there came a faint reply. "This is Hot Spot (crackle) Protectobots in the USA, Earth", Scramble heard his radio say, "we've been assigned (bzz) our leader, Optimus Prime, who (bleep) Cybertron. Can we help you?"

"Yes", replied Scramble, "I need passage for two to Cybertron."

"State a full (hiss) passengers, and the reason (blip) flight, and I'll see what (crack) do", came Hot Spot's reply. "There are two passengers", replied Scramble, "myself, the Astrobot Scramble, and the Decepticon Rosestar. Our reason is to rejoin our forces on Cybertron." There was a pause of about ten minutes. Scramble presumed Hot Spot was contacting Optimus Prime and Megatron, telling them the news. When Hot Spot answered again, he told Scramble that their request had been granted. They were clear to come to Earth, and then go on a shuttle flight to Cybertron.

"That's good", said Rosestar as she and Scramble started their engines and flew towards Earth.

On Earth, it was close to the end of the year 1998. As Rosestar flew closer to the Autobot Headquarters, she asked Scramble: "I know the white stuff is snow, I've seen it on other planets, but why are there colourful lights all around in the human settlements? Have the humans gone crazy?"

"No", said Scramble, "they're celebrating a local holiday. I believe it is called Christmas. At this time, it is something of a tradition to put colourful things on houses, trees and stuff."

"Why?" asked Rosestar. "Beats me", answered Scramble. In the Autobot Headquarters, Scramble and Rosestar went aboard the next Autobot shuttle to Cybertron. Cliffjumper, who was flying the shuttle, was alarmed to see a Decepticon board the shuttle, but Scramble told him it was all right, for now at least. Cliffjumper agreed to take Rosestar aboard, but kept a constant watch on her as the shuttle flew to Cybertron.

When the shuttle landed on Cybertron, Rosestar led Scramble a few dozen kilometres away from the landing pad, outside the range of curious Autobot audio sensors. "Here's where we split up, Autobot", she said, "the Orb search is being handled by Stargazer, Swindle, Stardust and Jenny. The only thing left for me to do is find my brother, and that I should better do alone. You go back to your Autobot Headquarters, and I'll go to Decepticon Headquarters. It was nice working with you on Dhospyob IV, but it was never intended to be a permanent alliance."

"But..." Scramble started to say. "No buts", said Rosestar, "now go before I alert the Decepticon secret police."

"All right", said Scramble. He hurried back to the landing pad, to meet Cliffjumper.

"Where did that Decepticon go?" asked Cliffjumper.

"She escaped before I could bring her to Headquarters for negotiations", said Scramble, "I don't know where she's going."

"Ah, good riddance", said Cliffjumper, and they started walking towards Autobot Headquarters. Rosestar watched the two small Autobots walk away from her.

"What a fool", she thought, "an Autobot with half a cerebral circuit intact would have calculated that I'm well outside the communication range of the Decepticon secret police, which really isn't nearly everything it's rumoured to be. Still, I'd better go to Decepticon Headquarters. There I'll go on a ship to Thane. Perhaps I'll find Starscream there."

It took only a few days for Rosestar to reach the scientist base on Thane. She opened the door with her fingerprint ID and stepped inside. The whole scientist base was dark, because the ceiling lights were off. Rosestar figured no one had been here for a while. She approached the main computer in the centre of the entry hall. "Computer, activate", she said. Instantly the computer flared to life. Its bright green display illuminated part of the hall with an eerie glow. "Voice pattern ID recognised: Rosestar", its soft, synthetic voice said, "awaiting command."

"Lights on", said Rosestar. One by one the old halogen lights flicked into action. Some of them flickered irritably, some gave a bright burst and then popped grandiosely back into darkness, some refused to light in the first place, but there were enough lights for Rosestar to see the whole base. "No one is here, except me", she thought, so she gave the second command to the computer: "Tell me Starscream's current location."

"Location of Starscream is unknown", said the computer. "Figures", thought Rosestar. "List all members whose current location is known", she said.

The computer hummed to itself a couple of seconds, then started talking. It began its list: "Cloudscape, current location: Decepticon Headquarters scientific facility, Cybertron. Rosestar, current location:
Scientist Base, Thane. Wheeljack, current location: Autobot Earth Headquarters, Portland, Perceptor, current location: Autobot Headquarters scientific facility, Cybertron. Deluge, current location:
Previously uncharted moon, Cewaeth system. Octane, current location:

Republic of Karbombya, Middle East. Yell, current location: Decepticon secret military outpost, Gyruss. Windchaser, current location: the Outback, Australia. Thundercracker, current location..."

"Stop", said said Rosestar.

The computer stopped its list, ready to accept further commands. "Windchaser was never a member of this Scientist Base", she thought, "I think she doesn't even know it exists. Perhaps Starscream has had a hand in this." Aloud, she said: "List member info for Windchaser."

The computer instantly respondend and began its output: "Member: Windchaser. Allegiance: Decepticon. Gender: Female. Function: Warrior. Function in Scientist Base: Unspecified. Sponsor member: Starscream. Info hereafter is restricted to these members: Starscream, Rosestar, Skyfire, Windchaser. Do you wish to proceed?"

"Yes", said Rosestar. The computer continued: "Comment: Hi there. I figured at least one of you would spot this sooner or later. In case you're wondering, Windchaser is not a real member. I just put her here to draw your attention. Now here's another clue for you all: The nearest wolf is small and red. The ancient bird is near it. The bird holds the key to the future. Cryptic enough? Heh. Member info ends."

"Nearest wolf?" thought Rosestar, "That must be a clue to where Starscream currently is. I'll have to look at the starmap and see if I can find anything that might match that." She turned to walk towards the room where the great starmap display was kept.

As Rosestar was walking, she thought about what "P" had said about the Orbs. "Let's see now, there are three Orbs", she thought, "one for us Decepticons, one for Autobots, and one for humans. Stargazer and Swindle are searching for the first two, and Stardust and Jenny are searching for the third one. However, even if they find them, when will we get to have them? The Stargazer and Jenny I met are native to the future, 2065, while Swindle and Stardust are native to this time. Will the Orbs arrive in the present or the future? I guess only time will tell." When Rosestar stopped thinking about the Orbs, she found that she had already reached the starmap room. She pressed the power switch on the computer console, and the starmap display lighted up. It displayed a large rectangular grid, with lots of tiny-looking stars mapped onto it. In the centre was Alpha Centauri, with Cybertron in orbit around it, and a little down and to the left from that was Sol, with Earth. Thane was displayed somewhere along the centre of the top-right quarter. Rosestar looked closely at the stars surrounding Alpha Centauri and Sol. They were mostly yellow and red, with sizes ranging from very small to quite large. Suddenly she had an idea. She went back to the console, and zoomed in to the nine-square area in the centre, where Alpha Centauri and Sol were. The closer view showed the stars in greater detail, with their names listed below them in Cybertronian and human writing.
Rosestar's gaze scanned the stars lazily, coming to an abrupt halt close to the centre of the left edge. The star there had two names, as most familiar stars near Cybertron had. Its Cybertronian name was al-Piscore 2, named after Piscor, one of the twelve members of the mythical Covenant that Primus was supposed to have created millions of years ago, as his very first creations. This was only based on some archaic and very cryptic documents found several kilometres beneath Cybertron's surface, and its authenticity was a burning question to many Transformers.

That didn't say much to Rosestar, however. She didn't care much about religion, anyway. The star's human name, however, was Wolf 359. "That could be it", thought Rosestar, "it's even small and red. Perhaps Starscream is there. I'll need a shuttle. Maybe I can con Megatron into lending me one."

Rosestar had surprisingly little trouble in obtaining a shuttle. Megatron was nowhere to be found, presumably fighting a war on Earth or some other mudball of a planet. The first Transformer Rosestar met at the Decepticon Headquarters was Astrotrain, who had just returned from a cargo transport mission somewhere many gigametres away. "Hey, Astrotrain", said Rosestar, "You're in charge of most non-assault shuttlecraft, could you assign one for me?"

"For what purpose?" asked Astrotrain. Rosestar knew Astrotrain's personality. He knew, and cared, little about any emotional stances, or schemes based thereon. All he wanted was the cold, solid facts.
"I wish to go to a distant star on a search mission. I have a hunch that a certain fugitive would be found there."

"Anyone Megatron would be interested in?" asked Astrotrain. "You bet", answered Rosestar. "Well then, I'll see what I can do", said Astrotrain.

It turned out that Astrotrain could only assign a small, unarmed and poorly armoured shuttle to Rosestar. He would need all the bigger shuttles (and his own shuttle mode) for other missions. That was enough for Rosestar, however. She boarded the shuttle and launched it, setting a course towards Wolf 359.

Although the shuttle was quite fast, certainly faster than the clumsy big battlecruisers the Decepticons used in full assaults, it took over a day for Rosestar to reach her destination. When she did arrive, however, she found that there were four planets orbiting the star, all equally small and devoid of life, or anything that could sustain it. The innermost planet was the smallest, and very near the star. The temperature on the planet was so hot that its thin atmosphere had, in a way, caught fire. That made the planet appear outward as a ball of fire, burning with a solid, yet constantly changing glow. No way could Starscream be there, thought Rosestar. The second planet was quite a bit further away, about the relative distance between Sol and Venus. This planet also had a thin atmosphere, but it wasn't on fire. Instead, there were clouds of poisonous-looking green gases, constantly shifting in their patterns. Rosestar didn't much like that planet, either. The third planet was the biggest, and also had a thin atmosphere, but it was calm, and almost totally transparent. Rosestar saw that the planet's surface was mostly covered with ice. "Hmm, that's the best so far", she thought, "but I'll have a look at the outermost planet first."

The fourth planet was the second smallest. Its orbit was so far away from the star that it looked like the first three orbits were one broad ring, and the fourth orbit a narrower ring around that. This planet was the only one without an atmosphere. Its surface was hard rock, covered in fine dust.

On this planet, Rosestar saw something that she hadn't seen on any of the other planets: an extraplanetary object, namely a metal frame that could once have been a cargo freighter. "Maybe that's the 'ancient bird' Starscream mentioned", she thought, "I'll land on that planet." It took Rosestar about an hour and a half to reach the planet's orbital plane, and then manoeuvre nimbly enough to follow its quirky path and actually land on it. When she finally managed to settle down on it, she silently made a short prayer to Primus. Then she stepped out of her shuttle, and began walking towards the wreck of the cargo freighter. Suddenly Rosestar heard a noise from behind her. That's weird, she thought, because the lack of an atmosphere made it impossible for any sounds to be audible here. Then she realised she hadn't so much heard it as registered it with her communication radio. It was an easy mistake to make for any Transformer who used both communication methods often. Rosestar turned in the direction of the noise, and saw a familiar vision: the Decepticon air commander, founding member of the Scientist Base, father of Windchaser - her own brother, Starscream.

"Boy, am I glad you finally showed up", said Starscream. "Funny, I was going to say the same to you", said Rosestar. "Never mind that", said Starscream, "where's Skyfire?"

"How the slag should I know?" asked Rosestar, "I thought it would be enough for me to follow your lead. Also, Skyfire is an Autobot these days, and you know I don't specially trust those buggers."

"Fair enough", said Starscream, "the important thing is that at least you are here. Now I can tell you what I have found here, and we can utilise it to our own ends."

"Well then, what is it?" asked Rosestar. "This freighter dates back millions of years ago", said Starscream, "when the Quintessons were still in control of Cybertron, prior to Primus's first reawakening. It was carrying devices of very high technology, stolen from Gaudron, to Quintessa, technology so advanced even we of the Scientist Base couldn't achieve that level in several millennia. Unfortunately for the Quints, the freighter never reached Quintessa."

"What happened?" asked Rosestar. "I don't know", replied Starscream. "Possibly it ran out of fuel, or collided with a meteor. Or perhaps it was shot down by pirates. Anyway, it crash-landed on this planet. The crew waited here for centuries to be rescued, but eventually they all died. The craft lay here in ruins, forgotten by all but the Gaudronians."

Now Rosestar remembered where she had heard that name. "My niece, Windchaser, said her mother was from that planet", she said, "but she didn't know any more about her."

"That's right", said Starscream, "my dear daughter was talking about Shifter, my sadly departed, erm, 'wife'. Is that the correct expression? Anyway, Shifter was the last surviving Gaudronian, and was thus in charge of preserving traditional information, such as the whereabouts of this craft."

"And you found some faint trace of that memory, and followed it here?" asked Rosestar.

"Ah, you catch on fast", said Starscream, "and here I have found a device that will help me in my attempt to take over as ruler of the Decepticons."

"What is it?" asked Rosestar.

"It's a spiritual restoration device", said Starscream, "if I am killed while using it, it will preserve my spark on some ethereal plane, allowing me to return as a ghost when I'm good and ready."

"So are you going to use it against Megatron?" asked Rosestar.

"Eventually", said Starscream, "but first I will make a test run. I will attack the Decepticon that made such a mess of his leadership on Earth, that Shockwave and I deserted his ranks and were later attacked by him. I will now finish what I started then."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Rosestar. "Isn't it obvious?" asked Starscream, "Scorponok."

To be continued...