“Not really. But it helps.” Professor Arkeville turned his back on the group and focused his attention on the piles of refuse around him, all scavenged from the demolition yard. He began rummaging through the scrap, occasionally tossing a piece of electronics equipment or a disused tool over his shoulder. “Rick, give me a hand here, would you? I’m looking for a computer, a radio and about three feet of copper wire.”

“Sure thing. Uhh… why?”

“If I can patch together a dial-up modem and a radio, we can catch a wi-fi signal.” The professor grinned as he pulled a rusting car stereo out of a pile of junk.

“Or you can use my oPod.” Sephie pulled out a small black device the size of a wallet out of her purse.

“… er… yes. I suppose we could.” The Professor looked crestfallen and tossed the stereo back over his shoulder. “At any rate, perhaps our new friend Heatwave can use his talents to find out which base they’re using.”

Sephie gawped at the missile truck. “You can talk to machines?”

“I really don’t like talking to your infoweb,” Heatwave sighed as he took the offered device. “I feel like I need a decon wash after every connection.”

“Rilly?” Ravage replied. “I think it’s full of win.”

“Is that supposed to be a euphemism for-”

“Can we just get on with this?!” Cliffjumper howled. “I don’t know if you all forgot, but there’s a mad-mech with an orbital laser out there!”

“Heatwave, start looking. The rest of you… hit the recharge bays. We’re going to need to be at full for this.”

Several minutes later, Heatwave looked up from his console. “Well, it wasn’t easy, but I think I’ve got it. I asked every military base computer I could find for access. They all told me what I could do with myself… all of them except one. It didn’t say anything at all.”

“Then it’s offline...” Starscream mused.

Crasher grinned. “…And that means we know where they are.”

“Surely the Autobots will be ready for our attack,” Heatwave interrupted. “They’ll hit us with that orbital laser before we even get close!”

“Why should they be prepared?” Starscream smiled wide. “As far as Rodimus-so-called-Prime is aware, we’re nothing but space junk... irradiated dust and scrap floating in space thanks to that nuclear bomb. And while I may stick out like a mis-installed access panel, the rest of you are robots in disguise.”



- Eye in the Sky