Transformational (part 3)
Mr Zoat
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5th February 2014
12:36 GMT -7:00
I hop out of Slipstream's cockpit and onto the tarmac of the Jasper Airforce Base, Slipstream transforming the moment I'm clear. Some of the soldiers and ground crew regard Slipstream nervously for a moment, but they mostly get back to their job as Agent Fowler marches past.
"You got someone?"
Fowler glances at me… Something odd in his eyes. "We got someone."
"A dying member of the Joint Chiefs-?"
"He's a kid."
O-oh. "A.. child? Why would-?"
"Tried to steal some energon crystals from the Chinese government, only they were unstable and the whole pile blew up in his face. He's been suffering from severe energon exposure on top of everything else." He shakes his head, eyes not entirely focused. "They were using him as a test case, but it's pretty clear that he isn't going to last all that much longer. How fast can Shockwave work?"
"Pretty.. fast. Didn't that happen to… Ah, Ralph?"
"Raf got infected with dark energon. It's not the same." He shakes his head. "We can't treat him here."
Which is a bit odd, now that I think about it. The local humans evolved on Unicron's outer surface. If anything, I'd have thought that they'd be at least a little compatible with dark energon.
I nod. "Sounds like a good candidate. Are you bringing him here?"
He nods. "Jet's arriving in a few minutes."
"Alright. Do his parents want to come along and watch? I assume they've-."
"As far as we can tell, he's an orphan." Fowler shakes his head. "Doesn't even have a family name. He just goes by Kyansa."
"Is he in any state to have input on his treatment?"
"Not according to the Chinese." He glances over to where a group of American soldiers are setting up an expansive medical tent. "How much we can trust that remains to be seen."
I feel Slipstream's puzzlement, but she usually prefers to let me handle other humans.
"Has there been a development in international affairs that we've missed?"
Fowler looks at me, then up at Slipstream. Then he turns around and stares up at Darkmount, the world's biggest sundial needle and the reason why the US government is bothering to rebuild Jasper.
"Everyone's scrambling to grab hold of whatever cybertronian technology got left on Earth. And all of the energon deposits that are still here."
Slipstream smirks. "Eating energon doesn't sound like it goes well for you."
"We don't have the technology to refine it, we can't make more and it makes a much worse warhead than a fission bomb. That isn't stopping everyone who doesn't know what you and-" He looks back at me. "-I know convincing themselves that it's a vital resource. I'd have thought that you'd have been getting offers."
Slipstream shrugs. "Do I look like a miner? Ooh." She looks down at me. "We should get a miner."
"If what Agent Fowler says is correct, that might be a bad idea. How tense are things?"
"At the moment, everyone knows that the US knows more about cybertronian technology than everyone else. So they assume that if anyone knows anything about advanced alien weapons, it's us."
I shake my head. "China copied half of its arsenal from America because of your terrible data security. If you knew, they'd know."
"That-." He shifts awkwardly. "We do know more about energon processing than anyone else. And we got hold of more raw materials than any other country, thanks to M.E.C.H. and this place. That's what China wanted in exchange for their prisoner."
I shrug. "Better for the environment than coal, I suppose. Have you got Darkmount's space bridge working?"
He nods. "Not that we want to let the Chinese -or anyone else- know. If anyone asks, it's yours."
I nod back. "And what do we owe you for their prisoner?"
"The full technical schematics of your implants."
"Sure. It's about a century in advance of anything Earth could make, but it's yours. Anything else-?" I frown. "Or was that a personal request for Misses Darby?"
"Ah, of course not." He shakes his head. "And I wouldn't be so sure that it's too advanced for us. Colonel Bishop used a similar system to control Breakdown's body."
I shake my head. "The setup he used wasn't sustainable. I'm amazed he lived long enough for Airachnid to kill him without getting every part of his body infected with something."
"Sure. We also want an agreement not to trade cybertronian technology with anyone. Other than the US, of course."
Slipstream snorts.
"You realise that Earth isn't exactly short of terminally ill people, don't you? I asked you first as a courtesy, not because you were our only option." I glance over to the base's tank hangar. "We gave you those null cannons to shut this place down, not to try and make you planetary hegemon."
"You sold us those null cannons." I shrug. "Fine. Weapons, then."
"We'll agree to limit weapon sales to the US, India and Britain."
I feel Slipstream's disquiet as she underestimates the ability of my countrymen to bypass arms embargos.
"India… I guess you've already got contracts with them." We've got infrastructure that we want to defend. India can't afford our guns. "Britain?"
"Where did you think I got this accent? Malaga? The important thing is, not China, not Russia, and not anywhere in the Middle East, which is basically what you want."
"I guess that-." We hear the roar of a jet engine and look up as-.
Slipstream's eyes narrow. "You've got Stratosphere doing cargo pickups?"
"The Autobots wanted to trade for any of the relics we find. And they want to keep an eye on Unicron."
Hm. I hoped that we'd negotiate on setting up a watch, though I suppose that for the Autobots, reaching out to a human government they already had good relations with makes more sense than trying to work with me. I'll have to try and get an appointment with Emirate Xaaron to set up a system for coordinating our efforts, at least.
Stratosphere lands on the runway, puts down his ramp and waits patiently for the physicians to move the patient towards the medical tent for a check-up.
Agent Fowler watches him go. "What are his chances?"
"Literally no one has ever died during a headmaster conversion. Shockwave has been researching human physiology at my request." I shrug. "I don't know how injured Kyansa is or what sort of problems the energon poisoning is causing, but I can't think of anyone who could do more."
"I hope he pulls through." He nods. "Let me know how it goes."
"Me too. I will."
12:36 GMT -7:00
I hop out of Slipstream's cockpit and onto the tarmac of the Jasper Airforce Base, Slipstream transforming the moment I'm clear. Some of the soldiers and ground crew regard Slipstream nervously for a moment, but they mostly get back to their job as Agent Fowler marches past.
"You got someone?"
Fowler glances at me… Something odd in his eyes. "We got someone."
"A dying member of the Joint Chiefs-?"
"He's a kid."
O-oh. "A.. child? Why would-?"
"Tried to steal some energon crystals from the Chinese government, only they were unstable and the whole pile blew up in his face. He's been suffering from severe energon exposure on top of everything else." He shakes his head, eyes not entirely focused. "They were using him as a test case, but it's pretty clear that he isn't going to last all that much longer. How fast can Shockwave work?"
"Pretty.. fast. Didn't that happen to… Ah, Ralph?"
"Raf got infected with dark energon. It's not the same." He shakes his head. "We can't treat him here."
Which is a bit odd, now that I think about it. The local humans evolved on Unicron's outer surface. If anything, I'd have thought that they'd be at least a little compatible with dark energon.
I nod. "Sounds like a good candidate. Are you bringing him here?"
He nods. "Jet's arriving in a few minutes."
"Alright. Do his parents want to come along and watch? I assume they've-."
"As far as we can tell, he's an orphan." Fowler shakes his head. "Doesn't even have a family name. He just goes by Kyansa."
"Is he in any state to have input on his treatment?"
"Not according to the Chinese." He glances over to where a group of American soldiers are setting up an expansive medical tent. "How much we can trust that remains to be seen."
I feel Slipstream's puzzlement, but she usually prefers to let me handle other humans.
"Has there been a development in international affairs that we've missed?"
Fowler looks at me, then up at Slipstream. Then he turns around and stares up at Darkmount, the world's biggest sundial needle and the reason why the US government is bothering to rebuild Jasper.
"Everyone's scrambling to grab hold of whatever cybertronian technology got left on Earth. And all of the energon deposits that are still here."
Slipstream smirks. "Eating energon doesn't sound like it goes well for you."
"We don't have the technology to refine it, we can't make more and it makes a much worse warhead than a fission bomb. That isn't stopping everyone who doesn't know what you and-" He looks back at me. "-I know convincing themselves that it's a vital resource. I'd have thought that you'd have been getting offers."
Slipstream shrugs. "Do I look like a miner? Ooh." She looks down at me. "We should get a miner."
"If what Agent Fowler says is correct, that might be a bad idea. How tense are things?"
"At the moment, everyone knows that the US knows more about cybertronian technology than everyone else. So they assume that if anyone knows anything about advanced alien weapons, it's us."
I shake my head. "China copied half of its arsenal from America because of your terrible data security. If you knew, they'd know."
"That-." He shifts awkwardly. "We do know more about energon processing than anyone else. And we got hold of more raw materials than any other country, thanks to M.E.C.H. and this place. That's what China wanted in exchange for their prisoner."
I shrug. "Better for the environment than coal, I suppose. Have you got Darkmount's space bridge working?"
He nods. "Not that we want to let the Chinese -or anyone else- know. If anyone asks, it's yours."
I nod back. "And what do we owe you for their prisoner?"
"The full technical schematics of your implants."
"Sure. It's about a century in advance of anything Earth could make, but it's yours. Anything else-?" I frown. "Or was that a personal request for Misses Darby?"
"Ah, of course not." He shakes his head. "And I wouldn't be so sure that it's too advanced for us. Colonel Bishop used a similar system to control Breakdown's body."
I shake my head. "The setup he used wasn't sustainable. I'm amazed he lived long enough for Airachnid to kill him without getting every part of his body infected with something."
"Sure. We also want an agreement not to trade cybertronian technology with anyone. Other than the US, of course."
Slipstream snorts.
"You realise that Earth isn't exactly short of terminally ill people, don't you? I asked you first as a courtesy, not because you were our only option." I glance over to the base's tank hangar. "We gave you those null cannons to shut this place down, not to try and make you planetary hegemon."
"You sold us those null cannons." I shrug. "Fine. Weapons, then."
"We'll agree to limit weapon sales to the US, India and Britain."
I feel Slipstream's disquiet as she underestimates the ability of my countrymen to bypass arms embargos.
"India… I guess you've already got contracts with them." We've got infrastructure that we want to defend. India can't afford our guns. "Britain?"
"Where did you think I got this accent? Malaga? The important thing is, not China, not Russia, and not anywhere in the Middle East, which is basically what you want."
"I guess that-." We hear the roar of a jet engine and look up as-.
Slipstream's eyes narrow. "You've got Stratosphere doing cargo pickups?"
"The Autobots wanted to trade for any of the relics we find. And they want to keep an eye on Unicron."
Hm. I hoped that we'd negotiate on setting up a watch, though I suppose that for the Autobots, reaching out to a human government they already had good relations with makes more sense than trying to work with me. I'll have to try and get an appointment with Emirate Xaaron to set up a system for coordinating our efforts, at least.
Stratosphere lands on the runway, puts down his ramp and waits patiently for the physicians to move the patient towards the medical tent for a check-up.
Agent Fowler watches him go. "What are his chances?"
"Literally no one has ever died during a headmaster conversion. Shockwave has been researching human physiology at my request." I shrug. "I don't know how injured Kyansa is or what sort of problems the energon poisoning is causing, but I can't think of anyone who could do more."
"I hope he pulls through." He nods. "Let me know how it goes."
"Me too. I will."
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