[Video]

[buildingasentry]

[Have a new face, Haven – or most of one. Engineer hasn't bothered to take any of his gear off, so there's only so much to see: his eyes are covered by his goggles and a yellow construction helmet sits on his head. He clears his throat before addressing his potential audience, clearly a little uncertain about the Link device he's been given, but definitely intrigued by it. They don't have video communication quite this fancy back where (and when) he's from.]

I suppose the polite thing to do would be to introduce myself before I start asking questions. Name's Dell Conagher, though people tend to call me Engineer these days. I'll answer to either.

Now then, if it ain't too much trouble, I could use a little assistance and some information. I'm a reasonable man, but I'm also a rational one. I got the introductory speech from these here – uh, Acolytes, I think it was – and while it isn't the craziest thing I've ever heard, it's in the running. If I'm expected to believe I'm on another planet, I need a bit more of an explanation than these walking answering machines can provide. Heck, if I had to make a guess based on the level of technology I'm seeing here, I'd guess I'm in Australia. [Australia, of course, being a technological powerhouse in his reality. He pauses, turning to one of the Acolytes that's still hovering nearby in case the new arrival would like to hear its pre-programmed spiel again, and raps his knuckles against its ankle. Its only reaction is to cock its head to one side.] I know we ain't got anything quite this fancy back home, at any rate.

I'd be mighty thankful if someone could point me in the direction of the nearest cafeteria, while I'm making requests. I get the feeling I might be here a while and that half a sandwich I had for lunch won't keep me going forever.

Oh, and I believe I owe some fella by the name of Solus Prime a thank you for this here device? [A finger reaches out and taps the edge of the screen to indicate the Link device in his hand.] Sure is a neat little welcome package.

Comments

[Video]

[glitteratimedic]

Australia? Really?

[Hello, Engineer. Have a talking metal cat shaking it's head at you.]

And here I thought those Acolytes were supposed to be smart. -What more of an explanation do you need? I am perfectly aware of what Earth looks like, and even this Cybertron bears very little resemblance.

[Video]

[buildingasentry]

[Excuse you, it is a perfectly logical assumption and certainly no less insane than "well, I must be on a robot-controlled alien planet."]

Best technology comes out of Australia, though I gotta admit Sniper's never mentioned anything about thirty foot automatons or facilities the size of this one, and he did grow up there. Seems like it'd be hard to overlook.

Even the Australians don't have space travel, though. I ain't buying this story about some tear in space 'less someone can explain the theory behind it. The Acolytes apparently ain't the thinking type.

Not that I suppose you would be, either, though you're awful eloquent compared to them. Is there anyone sentient around here I could talk to?

[He'd gotten over the shock of talking machines about twenty minutes ago with the Acolytes, but his conversation with them didn't manage to convince him that they can think for themselves. He assumes Glit is, likewise, just a fancy bit of programming, and not a real person.]

[Video]

[glitteratimedic]

Excuse you.

[Now you've done it. The mechanical feline bristles up, joints going stiff as a low hiss escapes.]

For your information, you are speaking to someone sentient, you wet sack of carbon.

[Video]

[buildingasentry]

Now, there's no need for insults, however technically correct they may be.

[Engineer recognizes his composition - just as he recognizes that you, kitty, are definitely a robot. Robots are built by people, who think and feel, but do not think and feel themselves.

At least, not in his universe. Engineer has the grace to make an odd expression. He's the thinking sort, so even if he doesn't immediately believe it, he can at minimum consider the possibility.]

You're suggesting you're an artificial intelligence? We ain't got any of those back home, either.

[video]

[littlecrowgirl]

Australia? Well, maybe if Australia was in SPACE!

[Sorry, engi. This is your welcoming committee.]

Then again, if it was Australia in space, it'd need a new name. Like...Spactralia. It sounds sci-fi enough. All...movieish!

...but no, it's the real deal, mister! You're on another planet!

[video]

[buildingasentry]

[As welcoming committees go, Engineer could do a lot worse than a bubbly little girl. She isn't even holding a gun - which is how Engineer is used to being greeted when he winds up somewhere he ought not be.]

Well, hello there, little lady. The Australians might take umbrage to you renaming their continent without asking 'em, but I reckon you got a point.

It's a shame I never studied more astronomy than I did. If I could head outside and look at the constellations... but I'd only know the prominent North American ones. [He pauses and seems to consider something, but shakes his head to himself, then looks back at Kay.] I don't suppose you've got anything in the way of proof that this isn't Earth, or know someone who would?

[video]

[littlecrowgirl]

[You haven't seen her little armory she's got going, Engi. She could blow up a lego city if she wanted.]

Some proof, huh? Now you're talking my language.

[Being a lawyer's assistant, evidence was everything, right? Well, hold onto your overalls...because

WHOOSH! She pulls out--...a pocket watch?]

If it was Earth, would I have this super cool space watch?

[GENIUS!]

[video]

[buildingasentry]

[Engineer's reaction is, perhaps, not the show Kay would have liked: he tilts his head ever so slightly to one side and slides her an amused smile.

It's a watch, kiddo.]

Looks like a nice little pocket watch, from this angle. What sort o' super cool things does it happen to do?

[Video]

[cliffjumper]

Last time I was on Earth, or Australia for that matter it didn't have two moons, ya know. Or both the moon and the planet made outta metals and metal ores.

[With a snort, Cliffjumper waves a hand in the air, shaking his helm. Seriously, just take a look outside, man.]

[Video]

[buildingasentry]

True enough. For all the strange things I've heard 'bout Australia, there weren't no mention of double moons in any of those stories.

[Engineer props his chin on his hand, looking deep in thought for a moment.]

This place really has two moons? Now this I have to see.

[The distances within the temples are long for an organic, Cliff. He hasn't quite made it outside yet.]

How many hours in a day?

[Video]

[cliffjumper]

[Shh, he didn't think about the distance, okay? It's easy to forget, even if he's among the shorter of his species.]

Yeah, just really deadly or strange animals.

[Really strange animals, even if there's strange animals all over Earth from his point of view.]

Shouldn't be too hard to spot 'em, we ain't got much in the way of sunlight. Suns's too far away, even if we've got an artificial lamp to mitigate that some. [He shrugs, then, briefly calculating it because he hasn't been paying too much attention.]

Er... thirty two hours, so don't try to stay up a whole day.

[Video]

[buildingasentry]

Strange people, for that matter. Can't think of any other nation that'd be willing to choose a monarch based on kangaroo boxing.

[Engineer looks almost disturbed by this fact. Just because it's how it is in his world doesn't mean that he doesn't find it weird.]

Lack of sun doesn't sound too much like Australia, either.

And careful about setting a man a challenge like that. Wouldn't be the first time I'd stayed up that long; my first couple PhDs were rough, let me tell you.

[video]

[primest]

[Oh, perfect. Another organic.]

Engineer. [Oh boy is he sneering at you. Smart organics have never been good news.]

If you'd listened to those drones, you'd know exactly what's going on. [Haha, hypocrisy.]

You're on Cybertron. Not... whatever Australia is.

[video]

[buildingasentry]

[Even better: an organic with a fascination for machines! Once he's got his bearings, he'll be eager to look into the local Cybertronians - literally. Little, oily, germy hands all up in your components, Sentinel. Won't that be fun?]

It's a continent on Earth, located in the southern hemisphere. Known mostly for its technological output, beards, and an abundance of poisonous animals.

[He does not consider the fact that Sentinel doesn't know what Australia is proof that the 'bot is an alien, of course. Engineer knows people like Scout, for whom is it not unusual to ask things like "What the hell is gravity?"

Engineer lifts one hand and starts ticking off points with his fingers as he speaks:]

I got the bit about this being Cybertron, robots being the dominant species here, and something about me being brought here via the Lambda. None of which makes a lick of sense, I'll say it again. Any chance you know more about this supposed "Lambda" that brought us here?

Re: [video]

[primest]

[NOoooOOooOOO WHY WOULD THAT BE FUN (SOBBING)]

Poisonous- sounds disgusting.

[Sentinel barely knows what anything relating to Earth is - mostly because he doesn't care enough to do more research. He thought the city hall was a hall the size of a city! Nothing gets past this bot.]

I was told it was made by Unicron. [Oh right, Engie probably won't know who that is.] Who's an... evil god, or whatever. I'm not really into the whole religion thing.

[He finds Dell slightly less gross with his helmet and goggles on. Probably because if he squints enough, it looks like he's talking to a robot.]

[video]

[adamndoctor]

Everything they told you is true. You're on an alien planet mostly inhabited by giant robots, but there are others - like you and I - who have been brought here too, surviving day by day. You've been branded by a Firstforged whose power supposedly protects you from the Big Baddies out in the Badlands.

Welcome. If you need help in regards to food and water, I've got you covered. [Here! Have this map to all the locations where you can find stuff for humans and whattnot, yay!]

[video]

[buildingasentry]

[Engineer sighs, long suffering. This is all incredibly inconvenient.

Also, his employer will probably have him executed for missing work.]

Not that I have much choice in the matter, but I have a heck of a time taking a story like that at face value.

[But hey, a map! You are the most useful person he's met today, McCoy.]

Thank you kindly, sir. I have a feeling I'm going to be making frequent use of this. Where exactly do all of, uh, our types sleep? They got rooms around here? Human-sized rooms, I mean. So far I haven't seen so much as a chair I'd be able to sit in.

[video]

[adamndoctor]

Not a problem. We're better sticking together and helping each other, anyway. By the way, I'm Leonard McCoy. I'm also the only human doctor on this planet. I'm sure at some point you'll need to make an appointment.

[snort] You mean the giant rock slabs aren't comfortable? Not that I know. If you're lucky, you can find some blankets and pillows in the junkpile, but they're rarely in good condition. Yet to get my hands on a nice, intact mattress. Lord, I'd stop drinking for a month if I did.

video;

[gtfostalker]

I do not think Australia is quite big enough for this. The Acolytes are correct; this is a different planet.

[And yet it's much the same as home, at least for Strelok. Except coushier; there's no anomalies here and he doesn't have to worry about blood suckers or giant brains in jars. It's so nice.]

I am afraid it will only get more strange from here, Engineer. I am Strelok. Welcome to Cybertron.

video;

[buildingasentry]

So it'd seem, though it ain't one I'd heard of before today. Not much hope of getting home if I don't know quite where I am - and my employer don't take too kindly to unauthorized time off.

[Docked pay is the least of his worries, really. The Administrator isn't someone you want to cross. He can only hope that his skills are valuable enough - and that he can make this story about alternate universes sound convincing enough - to be spared the worst of her temper if he ever manages to make it back.

Then again, he's been worse places. So far no one here has tried to shoot him, curse him, or build him a structurally superfluous new behind. Being stuck here might not be ideal, but it might be okay.]

Thank you for the welcome all the same, Strelok, though I do wish it were under better circumstances.

... do I wanna know what falls under the classification of "more strange?"

video;

[gtfostalker]

The only ones that have seem to mostly be the Cybertronians - the machine men. I have heard they are working on a way home... probably not fast enough for your boss, though.

[Bah, bosses are overrated anyway. Strelok doesn't really miss that part of living outside of the Zone, at all. Better that he doesn't have to answer to anyone about his occasional disappearances. Though... he did kind of miss getting chewed out by Ghost and Fang and Doctor about his escapades. Getting chewed out about them by Nexus - while surprising and interesting - wasn't nearly the same.]

Ah, there are no better circumstances for me. There is nothing attacking and we are not shooting each other.

You will find out about what is more strange shortly, I believe. It never takes too long.

[Video]

[angleofscience]

Basic observation when you have the chance should provide enough proof to the conclusion that you are on another planet, so I doubt that'll be an explanation you need...

[Pausing, Jetfire rested his chin against his curled fist.]

And space travel is, technically, simple enough, but I doubt you'd be interested in that as more than an extrapolation of normal planetary travel, even if there's more to take into account when it comes to travelling through space.

So what sort of... er, explanation are you looking for?

[Video]

[buildingasentry]

I'm primarily interested in how exactly I went from where I was to here, which may not even be in the same galaxy, for all I know.

[He pauses. He really does want to know how that happened, but Jetfire is also, apparently, familiar with the ins and outs of space travel. Engineer can't possibly resist an offer like that.]

Not that I wouldn't also be interested in anything you can tell me about your methods of interstellar travel, but from my understanding that isn't what's at play here. One topic at a time.

[Video] /watch me say things that wouldn't really work

[angleofscience]

Indeed it's not. [He smiles, slightly dry and then shrugs.] But for that... While there was no proof prior to the... ah, relocation here for the theory of an existant multiverse, it clearly has been proven now, so, simply put; each individual reality isn't infinite, expanding or not. Outside that space, we can with some reasonable evidence say there are other realities, all of them slightly removed from each other.

[Optics narrowing and dimming slightly in thought, Jetfire gives a brief gesture upwards.]

When you get the chance to go outside, you'll see an anomaly in the sky. It continually deposits the items you'll find in the center of the Haven, and, however unlikely it would seem, us.

I would assume it's a time-space anomaly similar to transwarp, which is has enough energy to pierce normal reality in two chosen locations - our current form of quick space travel, the difference to the Lambda being that it's a disturbance that affects time-space on an interdimensional plane instead of being kept to a single plane and reality.

[A shrug.]

As to how any of us got pulled through, there's supposedly an entity behind the creation of the Lambda that would be responsible, but even if not, with the Lambda reacting with various realities, if you were close to a location where the energy broke through into your reality, you'd either be pulled through or have been pulled apart.

[video]

[sword_redemption]

If you need a lift to the Hub, I'd be glad to take you there.

And, uh, also, I think Solus Prime is a she.