001; video.

[stickshiftittotheman]

[The camera cuts in on Mike, hands on the wheel and foot on the gas. It's kind of loud in here, too! Which, if you look at the merrily neon-green holo-speedometer, is because he's coasting along at 250 miles per gatdamn hour.]

Okay, so half an hour into total barren wasteland and the Duke pulling some wacko "Mike Chilton versus Aliens on the Moon" prank is looking way less likely. Which means I ammmmm... on another planet, talking to whoever's on the other end of this Link thing.

Right. I have no idea how I managed to fall through dimensions in the middle of the night. That is... kind of a new one for me. Anybody out there in radioland want to give me some layman's term answers? The welcoming party here was kind of chilly.

I really hope you guys have gas here. Getting Mutt here down the mountain was kinda rough drivi--

[He cuts off mid-sentence, having just blasted the car right over the top of one of the spires of rock jutting out of the ground.]

Comments

permavideo;

[stickshiftittotheman]

Great!

[Beat.]

... okay, so what's energon?

[ex_dishonestly997]

Primary energy source for Cybertron. If you get in good with an engineer--a mechanically minded type, they can probably reformat your car for energon instead of gas.

...You're not a human medic, by any chance?

[stickshiftittotheman]

Nope. I mean, I can do an okay patchjob, but that's just experience with getting banged up.

How come? Is someone hurt? [A note of worry in his voice now.]

[ex_dishonestly997]

I ...kind of. It's more her software than hardware, though. I mean, uh.

[he has no idea he should really be asking for a brain surgeon or a psychiatrist.] It's fine, we can handle it. I just thought I'd ask.

What's your name, again? Mike?

[stickshiftittotheman]

Yeah, Mike. Sorry I can't help, uh...? [He gives him a 'your name goes here' pause.]

I mean, I could talk to her, see if I can do anything... [There's nothing that stings more for Mike than being asked for help and not being able to provide it.]

[ex_dishonestly997]

"Starscream" is fine.

It couldn't hurt. I'm guessing humans get lonely when they're all by themselves, maybe that's what's made her a little... [well.] Her name's Vandal, you might see her around if you keep your eyes open.

Do you have a glyph?

[stickshiftittotheman]

Can do. I'm good at lending an ear, at least.

[Oh, right, the glyph. In the ruckus of being on an alien planet, somehow that had seemed... less important. Mike rucks up his jacket sleeve, exposing Prima's mark.] This thing? Tried scrubbing it off, didn't work. What, somebody ink me up on the way through?

[ex_dishonestly997]

Sort of. That's the FirstForged who you belong to.

It's kind of complicated to explain, but they have a temple you can live in so you don't have to stasis-sleep in your car.