I write more Dinobots! I also write my first honest-to-goodness *story* in years, and fair warning, it's a bit patchy. I clearly need the practice. It started out as more post-movie character study scenes, but I realised I could string the Dinobots together (everybody but Grimlock gets a POV) and create an overarching plot. It would probably have been better if I'd done less POV switching... maybe just had Sludge and Swoop, but I've got a bit of a fetish for creative structuring and I wanted to cycle through them all. I skipped Grimlock because a lot of this story is about the other Dinobots being frustrated with his representation of them. He gets a lot more dialogue than any of the others as their spokesperson anyway, so it was important that the perspective always came from one of the others.

Plot can be loosely summed up as Sludge finds religion. I will note that I did an awful lot of thinking about how exactly Vector Sigma and the Matrix etc work in my universe (per the thread on here a few weeks ago) and I do have it fully worked out in my head (more or less... there are always going to be unresolved plotholes), but this wasn't really the right story to actually address it. So there's a fair bit of cryptic-ness in here, though I hope not so much that the story feels unsatisfactory. I'm thinking of doing a story in a completely different time period to delve into the mechanics of it.

Velvet Glove (And also, I'm thinking of a doing a story about actual Decepticons. Some day. Possibly.)

--------

Sludge's Quest

Sludge learned about Cybertron's tunnels the day after Unicron. The Autobot leaders—Rodimus Prime, but Kup and Ultra Magnus were helping—had asked the Dinobots and Wheelie to take part in blocking out routes through Iacon so they would know where to build and where to keep clear.

A good portion of Iacon was too clear, in Sludge's opinion. Most of the buildings stretched below ground level, and in many places, the surface had been stripped away to expose the city's depths. Swoop was fascinated by it, but the other Dinobots disliked the overpasses used to navigate these areas. They were too constrictive—and some were in such disrepair that they were liable to give way and that meant 'do not pass' signs. Dinobots did not like restrictions.

Fortunately, the Autobots were focused on an area in front of the Great Dome which they called a plaza. As with most things, Sludge didn't know how the Autobots intended the plaza to be used, but it was a broad stretch of level ground where the Dinobots could spread out and choose their own pace and direction. Other than that, it was largely featureless, and a bored Snarl tried to create some interest by crumpling the remains of a wall.

"Snarl, no!" Grimlock scolded. "Dinobots not break stuff!"

"Dinobots always break stuff!" Slag retorted.

"Cybertron our home now! We not break our home!"

"Grimlock make Dinobots act like Autobots! Dinobots not Autobots!"

Sludge didn't like this argument, so he moved away, only to come up against Kup and Ultra Magnus arguing about where old access hatches had been located and snapping at Rodimus' attempts to mediate.

Tucking his head to look down, Sludge began to plod back and forth across the plaza, his footfalls drowning out voices. Before long, he felt Wheelie scrambling onto his tail and slowed while the tiny Autobot climbed up to his head. Wheelie wasn't much bigger than a cassette-bot, and his small weight was oddly comforting.

Wheelie gently rubbed Sludge's brow. "Sludge walks, ground talks."

Sludge smiled. Wheelie was right... As he walked around the plaza, his steps rang and resonated by turns.

"Tunnel we got, tunnel there's not," the minibot chanted softly, until Sludge could repeat it with him, interpreting the echoes that meant there was space beneath them.

The three Leaderbots had ended up where the biggest tunnel was, and they called Slag to prise up one of the ground panels with his triceratops horns. Thankfully, Slag deemed this appropriate Dinobot behaviour and dropped his confrontation with Grimlock. A few minutes later, an old hatch was revealed, and once *that* was coaxed open, steps led beneath the ground.

Below the surface was a tunnel wide enough for four Dinobots to stand abreast, and although smaller tunnels branched off from it, Sludge was pleased to see that these were still comfortably large enough for him to navigate in either mode. As he walked forwards, his steps echoed off the walls, but listening carefully, he could still hear the difference beneath his feet. "Tunnel we got, tunnel there's not."

"Hey, Dinos, keep your tails where we can see 'em, if you don't want to get lost!" Kup ordered. "These tunnels just keep going and going, millions of them, all the way to Vector Sigma at the very heart of Cybertron."

"That's a misconception," Ultra Magnus remarked. "Vector Sigma is deep but it's nowhere near the core of the planet."

"Depends how good you are at tellin' a story!"

"Heart's not the part where you should start!" Wheelie slid off Sludge. "What's Vector Sigma?"

Sludge was very familiar with the mild horror on Ultra Magnus' face, though at least this time it was at somebody else's ignorance. "An ancient supercomputer, older than Cybertron itself! Vector Sigma alone has the power to bring new Autobots to life."

"Read the room, Magnus." Rodimus' snipe came from pure irritation, but he gave Wheelie a sympathetic enough look. "Vector Sigma created the original personality templates for both Autobots and Decepticons. We're all descended from that programme in one way or another. My creator came from Vector Sigma, the Dinobots' creators came from Vector Sigma. Your creator, Wheelie, or your creator's creator probably came from Vector Sigma as well."

Sludge had heard about Vector Sigma often, but this was the first time *he* had been included in its mythology. He forgot about the tunnels and ambled closer to the main group. "Me Sludge want to hear story."

Swoop was as interested as Sludge. "More story, more story! Tell Swoop more!"

Kup willingly took over. "Back in the Golden Age of Cybertron, all Autobots and Decepticons really did come from Vector Sigma. So when the Great War started millions of years ago, both sides fought for control of it. One of the first things Megatron did was to wipe out the city of Tarn, Gateway to Vector Sigma, knowing the supercomputer would be safe in its labyrinth below ground!"

"I was there." Ultra Magnus dampened Kup's dramatics. "Thousands of innocent people died that day, and more died in the tunnels over the next few weeks, trying to find a way out. Pure chance dictated who survived. Tarn is not a bedtime story; it's a memorial to those killed by Evil's lust for power."

"Till all are one." Kup allowed a dutiful pause before resuming the tale. "A lot of the Tarn survivors made it to Iacon and joined Optimus Prime's new army. That's when I gave Ultra Magnus his first flying lesson—if I'd known then that that bumble-fingered, oversized kid was going to become Air Commander of the Fleet one day, I'd have deserted eight million years earlier than I did!"

"Not flying lesson story," Snarl reminded him. "Vector Sigma story."

"I'm gettin' there—this is all good colour! Anyway, the Autobots were in Iacon, the Decepticons were in Polyhex, and Vector Sigma was a million miles from either." Wheelie pulled a face at the impossible distance, but Ultra Magnus had given up corrections, so the Dinobots were able to enjoy Kup's easy-to-remember version of history.

"For millennia, we disputed the territory, fighting back and forth for control and building up our own defences around Vector Sigma. The Autobots sealed off its tunnel system, so the only way to Vector Sigma lay through Tarn's ruins. The Decepticons built drones to wander the tunnels and attack all intruders. So many mines and traps were laid that nobody could remember who had put what where!

"Eventually, both Autobots and Decepticons understood that they could never hold Vector Sigma while the other side dwelt on Cybertron. An agreement was reached that it would be a neutral zone not a battleground. Yet to this day, reaching Vector Sigma remains a long and dangerous journey, and creating new soldiers is a decision no Prime ever takes lightly."

Even Rodimus Prime had been hooked in. "When *was* the last time Vector Sigma was used?"

"Cassettebots," Grimlock butted in quickly, keen to be the authority on something that had happened in the Dinobots' lifetime.

Kup nodded. "And the Aerialbots before that—that was when Alpha Trion merged with Vector Sigma. Now let me tell you about Alpha Trion—"

Ultra Magnus finally cracked down. "That's enough history for one day, Kup. We'll need to inspect Vector Sigma ourselves at some point, but we must lay our foundations here first. Rodimus, what are your goals for the road layout?"

"Oh, I don't know, and you know I don't know. I never even lived in a city before I came to Earth! You guys know Iacon... just tell me what you want to do, because that's where we're gonna end up anyway."

They were back to arguing again, and Sludge wandered away, listening again to his footfalls. The ground told him tales of many tunnels, but it could not tell him in which direction lay Vector Sigma.

Great story! I'm all for exploring the inner lives of the Dinobots; fascinating characters that sadly were reduced to comic relief/extras in the third season. This story made me get out my Dinobots again and look at them in a new light. Thanks for writing!

On Saturday, August 12, 2023 at 1:52:58 PM UTC-4, Velvet Glove wrote:
> I write more Dinobots! I also write my first honest-to-goodness *story* in years, and fair warning, it's a bit patchy. I clearly need the practice. It started out as more post-movie character study scenes, but I realised I could string the Dinobots together (everybody but Grimlock gets a POV) and create an overarching plot. It would probably have been better if I'd done less POV switching... maybe just had Sludge and Swoop, but I've got a bit of a fetish for creative structuring and I wanted to cycle through them all. I skipped Grimlock because a lot of this story is about the other Dinobots being frustrated with his representation of them. He gets a lot more dialogue than any of the others as their spokesperson anyway, so it was important that the perspective always came from one of the others.
>
> Plot can be loosely summed up as Sludge finds religion. I will note that I did an awful lot of thinking about how exactly Vector Sigma and the Matrix etc work in my universe (per the thread on here a few weeks ago) and I do have it fully worked out in my head (more or less... there are always going to be unresolved plotholes), but this wasn't really the right story to actually address it. So there's a fair bit of cryptic-ness in here, though I hope not so much that the story feels unsatisfactory. I'm thinking of doing a story in a completely different time period to delve into the mechanics of it.
>
> Velvet Glove (And also, I'm thinking of a doing a story about actual Decepticons. Some day. Possibly.)
>
> --------
>
> Sludge's Quest
>
> Sludge learned about Cybertron's tunnels the day after Unicron. The Autobot leaders—Rodimus Prime, but Kup and Ultra Magnus were helping—had asked the Dinobots and Wheelie to take part in blocking out routes through Iacon so they would know where to build and where to keep clear.
>
> A good portion of Iacon was too clear, in Sludge's opinion. Most of the buildings stretched below ground level, and in many places, the surface had been stripped away to expose the city's depths. Swoop was fascinated by it, but the other Dinobots disliked the overpasses used to navigate these areas. They were too constrictive—and some were in such disrepair that they were liable to give way and that meant 'do not pass' signs. Dinobots did not like restrictions.
>
> Fortunately, the Autobots were focused on an area in front of the Great Dome which they called a plaza. As with most things, Sludge didn't know how the Autobots intended the plaza to be used, but it was a broad stretch of level ground where the Dinobots could spread out and choose their own pace and direction. Other than that, it was largely featureless, and a bored Snarl tried to create some interest by crumpling the remains of a wall.
>
> "Snarl, no!" Grimlock scolded. "Dinobots not break stuff!"
>
>
> "Dinobots always break stuff!" Slag retorted.
>
> "Cybertron our home now! We not break our home!"
>
> "Grimlock make Dinobots act like Autobots! Dinobots not Autobots!"
>
> Sludge didn't like this argument, so he moved away, only to come up against Kup and Ultra Magnus arguing about where old access hatches had been located and snapping at Rodimus' attempts to mediate.
>
> Tucking his head to look down, Sludge began to plod back and forth across the plaza, his footfalls drowning out voices. Before long, he felt Wheelie scrambling onto his tail and slowed while the tiny Autobot climbed up to his head. Wheelie wasn't much bigger than a cassette-bot, and his small weight was oddly comforting.
>
> Wheelie gently rubbed Sludge's brow. "Sludge walks, ground talks."
>
> Sludge smiled. Wheelie was right... As he walked around the plaza, his steps rang and resonated by turns.
>
> "Tunnel we got, tunnel there's not," the minibot chanted softly, until Sludge could repeat it with him, interpreting the echoes that meant there was space beneath them.
>
> The three Leaderbots had ended up where the biggest tunnel was, and they called Slag to prise up one of the ground panels with his triceratops horns.. Thankfully, Slag deemed this appropriate Dinobot behaviour and dropped his confrontation with Grimlock. A few minutes later, an old hatch was revealed, and once *that* was coaxed open, steps led beneath the ground.
>
> Below the surface was a tunnel wide enough for four Dinobots to stand abreast, and although smaller tunnels branched off from it, Sludge was pleased to see that these were still comfortably large enough for him to navigate in either mode. As he walked forwards, his steps echoed off the walls, but listening carefully, he could still hear the difference beneath his feet. "Tunnel we got, tunnel there's not."
>
> "Hey, Dinos, keep your tails where we can see 'em, if you don't want to get lost!" Kup ordered. "These tunnels just keep going and going, millions of them, all the way to Vector Sigma at the very heart of Cybertron."
>
> "That's a misconception," Ultra Magnus remarked. "Vector Sigma is deep but it's nowhere near the core of the planet."
>
> "Depends how good you are at tellin' a story!"
>
> "Heart's not the part where you should start!" Wheelie slid off Sludge. "What's Vector Sigma?"
>
> Sludge was very familiar with the mild horror on Ultra Magnus' face, though at least this time it was at somebody else's ignorance. "An ancient supercomputer, older than Cybertron itself! Vector Sigma alone has the power to bring new Autobots to life."
>
> "Read the room, Magnus." Rodimus' snipe came from pure irritation, but he gave Wheelie a sympathetic enough look. "Vector Sigma created the original personality templates for both Autobots and Decepticons. We're all descended from that programme in one way or another. My creator came from Vector Sigma, the Dinobots' creators came from Vector Sigma. Your creator, Wheelie, or your creator's creator probably came from Vector Sigma as well."
>
> Sludge had heard about Vector Sigma often, but this was the first time *he* had been included in its mythology. He forgot about the tunnels and ambled closer to the main group. "Me Sludge want to hear story."
>
> Swoop was as interested as Sludge. "More story, more story! Tell Swoop more!"
>
> Kup willingly took over. "Back in the Golden Age of Cybertron, all Autobots and Decepticons really did come from Vector Sigma. So when the Great War started millions of years ago, both sides fought for control of it. One of the first things Megatron did was to wipe out the city of Tarn, Gateway to Vector Sigma, knowing the supercomputer would be safe in its labyrinth below ground!"
>
> "I was there." Ultra Magnus dampened Kup's dramatics. "Thousands of innocent people died that day, and more died in the tunnels over the next few weeks, trying to find a way out. Pure chance dictated who survived. Tarn is not a bedtime story; it's a memorial to those killed by Evil's lust for power."
>
> "Till all are one." Kup allowed a dutiful pause before resuming the tale. "A lot of the Tarn survivors made it to Iacon and joined Optimus Prime's new army. That's when I gave Ultra Magnus his first flying lesson—if I'd known then that that bumble-fingered, oversized kid was going to become Air Commander of the Fleet one day, I'd have deserted eight million years earlier than I did!"
>
> "Not flying lesson story," Snarl reminded him. "Vector Sigma story."
>
> "I'm gettin' there—this is all good colour! Anyway, the Autobots were in Iacon, the Decepticons were in Polyhex, and Vector Sigma was a million miles from either." Wheelie pulled a face at the impossible distance, but Ultra Magnus had given up corrections, so the Dinobots were able to enjoy Kup's easy-to-remember version of history.
>
> "For millennia, we disputed the territory, fighting back and forth for control and building up our own defences around Vector Sigma. The Autobots sealed off its tunnel system, so the only way to Vector Sigma lay through Tarn's ruins. The Decepticons built drones to wander the tunnels and attack all intruders. So many mines and traps were laid that nobody could remember who had put what where!
>
> "Eventually, both Autobots and Decepticons understood that they could never hold Vector Sigma while the other side dwelt on Cybertron. An agreement was reached that it would be a neutral zone not a battleground. Yet to this day, reaching Vector Sigma remains a long and dangerous journey, and creating new soldiers is a decision no Prime ever takes lightly."
>
> Even Rodimus Prime had been hooked in. "When *was* the last time Vector Sigma was used?"
>
> "Cassettebots," Grimlock butted in quickly, keen to be the authority on something that had happened in the Dinobots' lifetime.
>
> Kup nodded. "And the Aerialbots before that—that was when Alpha Trion merged with Vector Sigma. Now let me tell you about Alpha Trion—"
>
> Ultra Magnus finally cracked down. "That's enough history for one day, Kup. We'll need to inspect Vector Sigma ourselves at some point, but we must lay our foundations here first. Rodimus, what are your goals for the road layout?"
>
> "Oh, I don't know, and you know I don't know. I never even lived in a city before I came to Earth! You guys know Iacon... just tell me what you want to do, because that's where we're gonna end up anyway."
>
> They were back to arguing again, and Sludge wandered away, listening again to his footfalls. The ground told him tales of many tunnels, but it could not tell him in which direction lay Vector Sigma.
>
> * * *
>
> "Come up with ideas for rebuilding."
>
> That was the mandate Rodimus Prime gave the skeleton crew of Autobots he left to manage Iacon during his trip to Earth. The new leader had only had a day on Cybertron, but most Autobots and their affairs were still on Earth; dealing with things there took priority over their newly re-claimed home planet.
>
> Perceptor had been left in command, and he had the final say on how 'ideas for rebuilding' could be interpreted, but most of the Autobots took to brainstorming with enthusiasm. It was the Dinobots who became mired in paradox.
>
> "Me Slag say things to destroy!"
>
> "Destroying not building," Grimlock rebuked him.
>
> They were in the Great Dome, after hauling in various construction materials, including an intact set of stairs that Swoop had found in a gutted building. Perceptor's priority was to clean up the Junkions' haphazard arrangements within the Dome into a uniform layout. As he didn't trust the Dinobots' craftsmanship, they now had a moment of free time while Perceptor directed Blurr, Springer and Arcee in the actual construction. Swoop had ideas for how they could spend this free time, but the others were wasting it in arguing. Perhaps Slag had a point when he said Grimlock was trying to turn the Dinobots into Autobots.
>
> "Rodimus say *re*build," Snarl pointed out.
>
> Slag grabbed this logic and ran with it. "Destroy, rebuild, destroy, rebuild, destroy..."
>
> "No!" Grimlock roared, cutting him off. "Not what Rodimus *say*. What Rodimus *mean*."
>
> Arguments were exhausting anyway. Arguments about semantics were not to be borne. Swoop transformed: "Me Swoop do sweep of Iacon!" The roof of the Dome was open today, and he took flight before anybody could protest.
>
> Having so much sky without needing to request airspace clearance was very much a novelty, and this was Swoop's eleventh aerial survey that nobody had asked for nor needed. There had been speculation that Rodimus was likely to bring the Aerialbots back with him. Swoop wanted to make the most of the skies while they were still his (and Springer's, but the helicopter was barely using them).
>
> The departure of the Earth-bound shuttle had cleared Cybertron's air in the figurative as well as literal sense. It took with it the Autobots still struggling with their grief over the losses at Autobot City; it also carried away Rodimus Prime, his diligent advisors and the tensions that bound them. Even the helpful chaos of the Junkions was gone: an ambassador party with the shuttle, the rest to their home planet, with a promise of sending further aid soon.
>
> Those left behind found themselves free to move on, and by their third day on Cybertron, their new life began to feel almost like a game in which they could create the rules to suit themselves. Swoop dove into one of the exposed city-depths, where he had dropped Wheelie off earlier. Ostensibly, the minibot was mapping and scouting for supplies, but mostly he had wanted to see if he could find his own route back to surface level. Swoop didn't see him now, but Wheelie would com-link in if he needed help.
>
> The pterosaur banked gleefully through desolate buildings, pulling stunts just to see what he could do. Iacon was no different now than it had been the other ten times, but *he* was getting better. He turned on a wingtip to flash between two buildings so close together he couldn't even spread his wings until they were behind him.
>
> However, he was still a Dinobot at his core, and Dinobots did most things together. So when Swoop spotted the other Dinobots in their new territory—before leaving for Earth, Rodimus had formally granted Grimlock's request for the stretch of wasteland on the outskirts of Iacon—he finished his flight in favour of joining them.
>
> Slag still looked to be in a bad temper: he was fighting his own namesake, dragging his horns against the runoff deposits from ancient explosions. However, the others were wallowing together, enjoying the unfinished textures of craters, while their optics took in the eternal night sky.
>
> "Swoop!" Grimlock called. "You stay here now. We have job watching for shooting stars!"
>
> Swoop remembered Perceptor talking about that. While Unicron's head had a secure orbit, the same was not true for all the debris that was whirling around Cybertron. Perceptor had calculated that a grouping of large objects would pass over Iacon on their way to impact on the other side of the planet.
>
> Swoop checked his chronometer. Perceptor was always right, and that meant they would see the shooting stars in a matter of minutes. He came to rest on an outcrop of fractured, twisted metal. The Autobots might be interested in what they could salvage afterwards, but he was excited for what should be an impressive light display. "Good job for Dinobots!"
>
> "*Important* job for Dinobots," Grimlock corrected, and when Swoop paid no attention, he doubled down on the statement. "Dinobots have *two* important jobs now."
>
> "Other job not good job." Snarl side-eyed Grimlock. "Grimlock say us Dinobots wrong. No rebuild things to destroy."
>
> Swoop hunched his wings. He had hoped they'd finished with this.
>
> "What *other* things Dinobots like?" Grimlock demanded, every bit as irritated as Snarl.
>
> "Me Snarl like sun," Snarl grumbled. "Perceptor said 'not sun'."
>
> Swoop thought of long-gone days in the sun, chased down a fluttering memory of Dinobot Island. "Me Swoop like... to fish!"
>
> "Me Sludge like fish!" Sludge could always be counted on for support.
>
> "Fish! Fish!" Swoop warmed to his idea. "Fish need water; Cybertron need water! Build lake! Then fish!" Swoop hoped so anyway. He wasn't sure how they would get the fish, but they had to be simpler than a sun.
>
> Grimlock snapped up an actually feasible suggestion. "Good idea, Swoop. We bring Lake for Iacon to Perceptor's table! Now, *more* ideas!"
>
> They were rescued by bright flares overhead. "Stars shoot!" Slag bellowed.. "Log time!"
>
> Swoop let somebody else do it, barrel rolling beneath the streaking lights in hopeless but glorious pursuit. By the time, they disappeared over the horizon, the others were already tromping towards the Great Dome. He looped around and followed erratically, playing with the wind shear over the depths.
>
> They entered the base to discover that Perceptor had gone to recharge, though not before putting his team to good work. The command centre had been moved to a stage halfway up the dome wall. This raised position allowed those in the centre to oversee the city from a newly installed window, but perhaps more importantly, its staircase slowed down invaders. Particularly when Springer stood squarely across the top.
>
> "Only one of you and only in robot mode," the heavyset triple-changer told the Dinobots firmly.
>
> There was no discussion about which one. Grimlock barely gave Springer time to stand aside as he bounded up. "Me Grimlock report shooting stars!"
>
> Slag and Snarl glared at Grimlock's back and stayed in dinosaur mode, lashing their tails. Sludge also stayed in dinosaur mode, for internal walls had not yet been set up, so his long neck let him comfortably see into the command centre anyway. As everybody had their attention on the screens, Swoop risked perching on the rail alongside Sludge; this way, he wasn't technically *in* the command centre.
>
> Arcee was editing charts, swiftly keying in Grimlock's update. "Did you remember to log the time?"
>
> Grimlock looked over the railing to Slag, but the triceratops did not cooperate. "Why Grimlock not log time? He lazy Autobot now?"
>
> Grimlock looked ready to bound over the edge of the platform and beat the information out of Slag. The Autobots exchanged uneasy looks, and Swoop guiltily regretted that he had also not bothered with logging the time.
>
> To his immense relief, Sludge broke the tension, placidly relaying the information: "06 – 32 – 19."
>
> "You're sure that's correct?" Arcee was kind, but she could never quite trust the Dinobots. Fortunately, Snarl and Slag were readier to come to Sludge's aid than to Grimlock's, and when they repeated back the same time, that satisfied her.
>
> Crisis averted, Grimlock ploughed on with their contributions: "And Dinobots say Iacon needs lake. For fishing."
>
> Springer shrugged. "Why not? We'll need some liquid reservoirs anyway. Where do you want it?"
>
> "How about pride of place in the plaza?" Blurr chipped in. Thanks to a past career as a courier, he had nominated himself as Cybertron's foremost expert on galactic urban design. "Lots of cities use pools and lakes and fountains for aesthetics, good impressions and dramatic effect."
>
> "A fountain full of Dinobots will have dramatic effect, all right," Springer agreed.
>
> "And fish!" Swoop reminded them.
>
> "Fish? There's no water on Cybertron yet and without water we're without organic life and without organic life we're without fish! And even when we get water, where do the fish come from?"
>
> "Just write it down, Blurr. We'll let Perceptor worry about the details. Arcee, did our scrap delivery fall on schedule?"
>
> As the talking went back to the fallen debris, Swoop monitored Blurr to make sure he got their suggestion down correctly. The Autobot typed faster than the Dinobot could read and put in his own elaborations on what could be included in a water feature, but eventually Swoop was able to confirm the two relevant details of 'pool' and 'fish'.
>
> By that time, Blurr had already left his screen and was looking at some old satellite images Arcee had brought up. The plan was to salvage the debris once it had made planetfall, and the estimated impact area was highlighted in yellow. "That's a great big gigantic part of the middle of a huge stretch of nowhere!"
>
> "Considering the likely force of impact, that's just as well!" Arcee reminded him. "Only thing for miles around is the old city of Tarn, and that's in ruins already."
>
> Sludge perked up. "Me Sludge know about Tarn. Uh... Where Tarn?"
>
> He craned his head over Arcee's shoulder, startling her, but she pointed out the blocky shadows of old buildings for him. "How do you know Tarn, Sludge?"
>
> "Ultra Magnus tell me Sludge about Tarn."
>
> "*That's* where I've heard it before," Springer realised. "It was his hometown way back when." He grimaced at the satellite image. "He's aged better than it has."
>
> "Never mind ghost towns, ruins and graveyards; what about the salvage crew?" Blurr interrupted. "*I* want to take the shuttle on this one. Springer's not the only pilot here, I've had my galactic licence for years upon decades upon centuries and never crashed even one time, not once in a blue moon! So why does he get to hog the new shuttle?"
>
> "She's had one test flight, Blurr, and you were recharging at the time. But hey, as a special favour, I'll sit this one out."
>
> "Cheap favour!" Arcee sided with Blurr for bantering's sake. "Perceptor's got you back on construction detail this afternoon. You should be sitting out in a recharge bunk now."
>
> "Eh, it's not a school night."
>
> These three had been doing this ever since the shuttle left—making up for the first day's heaviness by taking absolutely nothing seriously. Swoop was glad they were happy, but he rarely understood jokes. Grimlock was better with this sort of stuff.
>
> What Swoop *was* good at was maps and aerial views. Sludge, on the other hand, was hopeless with them, yet he was staring hard at the screens showing Tarn and the impact area.
>
> Swoop stretched out one wing to brush Sludge's shoulder. "Me Swoop learn map. Remember for you, Sludge." Sludge nodded gratefully.
>
> The banter escalated to a rash threat from Arcee. "Don't make me make Grimlock push you down the stairs!"
>
> Springer gave way at this, making a show of ducking around the Dinobot leader as he left, but Grimlock huffed. Deliberately, he loomed over Arcee, folding his arms above her eye level. "Little Autobot not make Grimlock do anything!"
>
> Her humour stalled out. "Sorry! Just needed to remind Springer he's not the biggest Autobot in town!" Arcee shot a frantic glare at Blurr, who had sidestepped away from the confrontation, then looked back at Grimlock, awkwardly continuing. "But... remember your Dinobots are rostered for salvage crew? There's not much in the way of roads round there, and your dinosaur modes will handle the terrain better than any other."
>
> "Dinobots remember," Grimlock assured her, tetchily.
>
> "Me Slag remember when Dinobots not take orders from Autobots!" And Slag punctuated his disapproval with a small pop of firebreath.
>
> Grimlock leapt over the rail, transforming before he hit the ground, using his momentum to swing his tail full into Slag's face. The triceratops was rolled off his feet, his horns snagging on Grimlock's tail for a moment before he tumbled free, skidding across the floor with one horn wrenched out of shape. Grimlock's tail was lacerated, but the Dinobot leader seemed not to notice, roaring his fury at Slag's defiance.
>
> "Dinobots take orders from *me, Grimlock*!"
>
> Swoop felt an odd thrill watching the display, not entirely sure who he wanted to win, not entirely sure he was sorry it was happening. As he had always understood it, *this* was what being a Dinobot meant.
>
> Next to him, Sludge finally tore his optics from the screen and looked anxiously down. "Me Sludge want to salvage!"
>
> Sludge wanted to see Tarn, Swoop knew, and he too felt a thrill at the prospect of further exploration. He wasn't sure if that was necessarily part of being a Dinobot, but it was part of who *he* was. "Salvage! Salvage!"
>
> Slag glowered, but the consensus was clear, and he bowed his head before Grimlock.
>
> The Dinobot ignored his defeated opponent, instead jabbing a finger at Blurr. "You pilot. Me, Grimlock, lead salvage."
>
> As Blurr realised that he had drawn the short straw again, Swoop was grateful that Springer wasn't around to drop a bewildering punchline.
>
> * * *
>
> Slag never enjoyed shuttle rides. It was too confined, too boring and felt too much like ceding control. Even worse, Grimlock was currently on some sort of dignity crusade for their team and was insisting they stay in robot mode and generally act like Autobots. Slag did not see where the dignity was in that, but his triceratops mode was still humiliated by a bent horn, so he was cooperating for now.
>
> Most of the flight had been over cities as exposed as Iacon, their towers seeming to rise out of the core of the planet. However, they had left those behind and now flew over rubble; whatever had once existed here was crushed and twisted beyond recognition. There were no roads—not even Blurr's hovering alt mode could manage this terrain. This, Slag thought with satisfaction, was a place for Dinobots.
>
> "Here we are, into the home stretch, over the impact area and approaching our final destination!" Blurr announced. "Just got to spot a landing spot between the landing spots so we can land where we can spot—"
>
> Sat in the co-pilot's seat, Grimlock cut him off. "Swoop! You look for salvage while Blurr waste time."
>
> "Waste time!" Blurr's vocal processor actually seized up at that to Slag's relief. He watched enviously as Swoop transformed and flew out. In Slag's estimation, dignity would have been to remind Blurr that all the Dinobots were capable of landing under their own power.
>
> Swoop was already waiting on the ground in robot mode by the time they disembarked. "Me Swoop see two crashed things to the west. One north-west, there, and one south-west, there!" He pointed with what the other Dinobots knew would be perfect accuracy.
>
> "Good work, Swoop. Slag, you go north with Sludge. Me Grimlock go with Snarl to the south. Swoop, you fly between us. Check all stays good."
>
> "But what about me, what about me, what am I supposed to be doing?" Blurr demanded. He had just about resigned himself to taking orders from a Dinobot, but he never liked being ignored.
>
> "You Blurr report to Iacon. Swoop get you if we need backup."
>
> "Fine, I'll radio Iacon and tell them not to worry, keep calm and carry on because Grimlock's in charge so clearly everything's under total control!"
>
> That was probably sarcasm, but it was aimed at Grimlock so Slag didn't care. "Transform, Sludge. We go!" Finally, he stretched into his transformation, barely waiting for all four feet to hit the ground before he was off into this new land.
>
> Swoop followed them as they stomped off across some kind of scrap dune. Once they were out of sight of the shuttle, he dropped into robot mode. "Sludge, Tarn that way." He pointed again. "You see tower? That in Tarn."
>
> Slag could not see the tower and had clearly missed something. "Sludge go to Tarn?"
>
> "Me Sludge go to Vector Sigma!" The words were unexpected; the vehement tone even more so. Slag stopped and stared appraisingly at Sludge until the other dinobot settled into a more familiar abashment. Yet he did not drop his resolve. "Rodimus say Dinobots come from Vector Sigma too. Me Sludge want to see where we come from."
>
> Slag could not understand why this was important to Sludge, but it clearly was. He made a decision. "You Sludge see tower?" Sludge nodded hopefully. "OK. You go to Tarn. Me Slag handle salvage." Sludge so rarely got passionate about something that not even Slag had the heart to deny him the one time he did. Besides, he liked having an excuse to change Grimlock's orders.
>
> Sludge lowered his neck and rubbed his head between Slag's horns. "Sludge thank Slag."
>
> Touched but embarrassed, Slag shook him off. "Sludge welcome. Now go!" and he stomped away, not looking back.
>
> Swoop looped around to check on the others, and Slag had a rare moment of solitude. He didn't like it. What was the point of being cross if you had nobody to fight with?
>
> At least it was not far until he found their... 'salvage' It wasn't space debris after all. It was a body, badly mangled by Unicron and planetfall. One seeker wing was still clearly visible, the scratched Decepticon insignia glaring at Slag. Slag prodded it with his nose, but it was most definitely dead.
>
> It was at this point that Swoop returned to Slag's unaccustomed relief. For once, he was open to a second opinion. "Here, Swoop! Dead Decepticon!"
>
> Swoop landed and stared at the body. "Me Swoop think not right for parts. We salvage?"
>
> Slag considered the other option. "Already bashed." The Dinobots had never had a protocol for bodies. The Autobots were their clean-up crew. "Ask Blurr."
>
> Swoop nodded and took off again. They were close enough to the shuttle that Blurr could walk here quickly enough, and because it was Blurr, Slag expected him to run. While he waited, he nosed around the area, locating other fallen pieces by their residual heat from re-entry. These were much smaller and one of them looked suspiciously like a foot.
>
> When Blurr arrived, he corroborated their findings. "Yep, that's a dead doornail, kicked bucket, shuffled coil and bitten dust... And I have absolutely positively definitely no idea what to do with it."
>
> "Slaggit," Slag said, hopefully.
>
> "No no no no slagging, Slag! That was a living, processing, good-for-nothing, sentient, waste of space Decepticon and he deserves our respect!"
>
> Swoop pondered their ethical dilemma, finally suggesting: "We all children of Vector Sigma."
>
> "He still Decepticon."
>
> Swoop touched the body's insignia gently with his beak. "Til all are one."
>
> "Fire make all one," Slag muttered.
>
> "Well, do you know what Decepticon funerary practices are because I don't know what Decepticon funerary practices are because they don't cover that in Autobot basic training because—wait, where's Sludge?"
>
> "Sludge go see Vector Sigma."
>
> Blurr stared at him, and Slag gazed complacently back. Blurr was always good for a reaction. He could see the frustration rising through every line of his body.
>
> "This is absolutely the last straw and time I work with you Dinobots ever again in a million years. How am I ever supposed to explain to the other Autobots that I lost something the size of *Sludge* of all Dinobots?"
>
> "Sludge not Blurr's to lose. Sludge choose own way."
>
> Blurr was so eager to latch onto this logic that he missed the sourness of Slag's tone. "You're right, you're right, nobody can argue with that, it's indisputable: none of this is *my* fault!"
>
> "You Blurr worry about Blurr. Dinobots worry about *Sludge*." Slag did not bother to hide his contempt, and Blurr finally had the grace to look embarrassed.
>
> Slag was done with the Autobot, and he was done with this salvage mission that had nothing to salvage. He turned his horns towards Tarn and started walking.
>
> "Slag, wait! Me Swoop tell Grimlock!"
>
> "Me Slag no care what Grimlock thinks. Me Slag help Sludge because *me* say so."
>
> Swoop beat his wings, staring down at the Triceratops. When Slag paid no attention to him, his beak clacked. "Me Swoop tell Grimlock anyway. *And* help Sludge." He flew off to the south.
>
> Blurr dithered, looking between the two Dinobots. Finally, he followed Slag, for once silent.
>
> * * *
>
> Snarl and Grimlock also found Decepticon remains at their crash site though they weren't sure just how many robots the fragments had once constituted. Grimlock celebrated over them, taking it as proof of the Dinobots' superiority that they had survived Unicron when the Decepticons had not. Snarl agreed with Grimlock's logic, but he did not feel like celebrating. Their whole journey now felt like a waste of time.
>
> When Swoop checked in, he broke the mood by saying a brief prayer over the bodies. Apparently, they had some Autobot obligation to respect the dead.
>
> "Whole life, Autobots tell Snarl to *destroy* Decepticons." Snarl pointed out, but Swoop was not interested in debating the issue when he had more news for them.
>
> "Sludge gone to Tarn to find Vector Sigma."
>
> That was a lot of information that Snarl and Grimlock couldn't make sense of. "Blurr tell Sludge to go?" Grimlock asked, looking irritated.
>
> "No, Sludge wanted to go. Me Swoop going too!" Suiting action to words, Swoop peeled off.
>
> "Swoop! Me Grimlock say—" The Dinobot leader broke off, for it was clear Swoop would not be listening.
>
> Snarl wasn't paying attention to Grimlock either, still processing Swoop's news. "Sludge want to see Kup's story! But Vector Sigma long, dangerous journey. And Sludge..."
>
> Grimlock grasped his point. "Sludge good Dinobot, but not smart. Hmm." He came to a decision. "Swoop right. Dinobots help Dinobots. We go to Tarn." He gave Snarl a firm look, but Snarl was in full agreement.
>
> As they set off, however, a flash of gold caught his optics, and he paused staring down at a charred body part. A streak of golden paint was still visible, and for a moment he was caught by the resemblance to the Dinobot colour scheme. If the battle had gone differently, their bodies could be littering Cybertron now.
>
> It was unsettling and he had to shake his head before he could move on, but the image lingered with him.
>
>
> Tarn felt emptier than Iacon. There were fewer buildings and no exposed depths; instead the ground stayed at ground level, reinforced by collapsed bridges and the rubble of a battle long gone. Snarl nosed the surface he was walking on, remembering Ultra Magnus' contribution to Kup's story. "'Til all are one."
>
> Grimlock was sniffing. "Me Grimlock smell dinosaur electrons. Sludge went this way. Slag too."
>
> Their fellow Dinobots had taken a rather meandering path, but with nothing else to muddle the trail, they had no problem tracking them, though it ended up being Blurr who they found first. The Autobot was pacing back and forth beside a large shaft that appeared to go straight down.
>
> "Oh, of course, Vector Sigma had to be underground!" Like the Dinobots, Blurr had been created off-planet, and he had clearly never read up on Cybertron's supercomputer. "First Slag says Sludge went down there, then Slag went down there and now Swoop's gone down there, and here you are to go down there. And I don't even know because we can't know because nobody knows *what's* down there!"
>
> "Traps," Snarl told him. "And attack drones."
>
> From the look on Blurr's face, he was not appreciating this lesson on his cultural heritage.
>
> "Stupid Autobot scared of underground," Grimlock grumbled. "Autobots always want Dinobots to save their tailgates; but when Dinobot tails need saving, Autobots make excuse."
>
> "No, no , no..." Blurr shuffled miserably, but he looked Grimlock straight in the optics. "I'll help, even if it means getting stabbed, sliced, detonated and otherwise crushed underground in the dark and deep and..."
>
> "This Dinobot mission," Snarl interrupted. As confusing as many things were right now, he was very very sure that Blurr would be absolutely no fun to have along with them.
>
> "Me Grimlock leader of this mission!" Grimlock reminded them both. "Salvage mission failed. Waste time and energy. Not good. *New* mission: Dinobots go in tunnels, destroy traps and find Vector Sigma for Autobots."
>
> Snarl stood taller in new excitement. This was what the Dinobots wanted.
>
> Grimlock swung back to Blurr. "You Blurr no good in tunnels. You scout surface." There was the briefest hesitation as Grimlock struggled to remember some non-combat operations. "Secure area. Report to base."
>
> Blurr somehow looked simultaneously grateful and panic-stricken. "And what do I do if you don't come back?"
>
> Grimlock ignored him, already plunging into the shaft. Before he followed, Snarl gave Blurr one casual assurance: "Dinobots always come back... eventually."
>
>
> It was a drop of perhaps two storeys, but four feet spread the landing impact comfortably, and once down they could scent the others' trail again. The tunnels here were narrower than the ones they had found in Iacon, and they were forced into single file with Grimlock, of course, in the lead.
>
> At the first fork, Grimlock sniffed down one path: "This way!"
>
> Snarl was already sniffing at the alternative route. "But me Snarl smell dinobots this way. They try both?"
>
> "Grimlock? Snarl?" It was Swoop's voice echoing from Grimlock's route, and that made their choice for them.
>
> They did not go far before Swoop flew into sight. "Me Swoop glad to see you! No find Sludge or Slag!"
>
> "Swoop not have good nose like Grimlock and Snarl. We follow trail! You follow us!"
>
> "Trail end here," Snarl observed, looking up in confusion. He couldn't see any reason for Sludge or Slag to turn around but there was nothing beyond this point but the lighter traces of Swoop's electrons.
>
> They backtracked and found the trail continued down the other branch. There were scorch marks along the passage here and, further ahead, they could see a blade embedded in the wall. Kup had not been exaggerating about the traps.
>
> Grimlock transformed back into the robot mode and punched the walls until he found the triggers, at which point Snarl smashed them with his tail. Grimlock and Swoop used their dinosaur teeth on anything that protruded, tearing it away. Only when Grimlock was satisfied, did they continue.
>
> They found Slag at the next fork: wedged awkwardly on his side by some kind of motorised panel. It wasn't clear if the trap was intended to crush or to bar their way, but it had been crumpled as Sludge passed through and now couldn't move properly. When Slag activated it, it had somehow managed to roll him over before getting stuck.
>
> The triceratops glared at them from the indignity of his position, but Grimlock never hesitated, charging straight into the panel and tearing it loose. Slag was quick to get to his feet, and he gave his leader a wary look.
>
> Grimlock simply looked him up and down. "You Slag OK? Good. Dinobots keep going."
>
> They went through more forks: for some Sludge had picked a path and stuck with it, for others he had tried multiple branches. They were close enough behind him that the traps along his route had yet to reset: the only one they were struck by was a floor panel that delivered an energy shock capable of overloading an average-sized Transformer. Even to a Dinobot, it was enough of a jolt that Slag lost his temper and deliberately faceplanted into it several times until it sparked, fizzled and died. The triceratops was staggering and twitchy for several minutes afterwards, but the trap was nullified.
>
> Even with these pauses, Sludge was going more slowly than they, and they caught him up as he was retracing his steps from a false path. He bore several scorch marks and had a few small ballistics embedded in his metal hide, but he was still plodding on and showed no surprise at seeing them. "Me Sludge knew Dinobots would come." There was affection in his voice.
>
> "Sludge do well today!" Grimlock told him, and that made them all stop in surprise. "Sludge show Autobots that Dinobots make plans too. Not need wait for orders. Sludge have good idea finding Vector Sigma. Good for Cybertron."
>
> "But me Sludge not found Vector Sigma."
>
> "Not *yet*," Swoop corrected.
>
> Grimlock nodded. "Now all Dinobots look, so we will find it. That teamwork."
>
> That last part was clearly cribbed from an Autobot pep-talk and Slag frowned. Snarl hastily moved the conversation forward. "Sludge know which way?"
>
> Sludge looked behind him. "Not that way." He laboriously turned his long body around in the narrow tunnel—this had been half the reason for his slow pace—and took a few steps down the passageway, his footsteps echoing. "Tunnel we got..." Then the sound changed, becoming less resonant. "Tunnel there's not." He touched his nose to the floor. "Vector Sigma deep, underground. Sludge not found way down."
>
> Finally, Snarl realised what had guided his path: he'd been listening for more tunnels below this level. Something else occurred to him: "No traps in this tunnel. *Traps* lead to Vector Sigma!"
>
> "And Dinobots bash traps!" Grimlock declared to general approval. This was a leadership style they could enjoy following.
>
> Retracing their steps to the last trap, they tested out some unexplored tunnels until Grimlock found himself sprayed by a corrosive fluid. Slag promptly breathed fire at him, boiling the acid off, and if he felt some satisfaction at finally being able to flame his leader, he was gracious enough not to express it.
>
> Grimlock was not one whit daunted by his lightly sizzling haunch. "Me Grimlock say this way is right!"
>
> Sludge turned around and slammed his tail against the jets which had issued the acid, crumpling them to uselessness, and they continued. Grimlock also took the brunt of an explosion around the next corner, but once the smoke cleared, they found steps down.
>
> The next level of tunnels were wider, straighter and better lit. They were also occupied.
>
> "Drones!" Swoop called. "We getting closer!"
>
> "We getting fight!" corrected Slag with great satisfaction as he surveyed the rows of blank green robots turning, firing, marching in their direction.
>
> This was even better than traps. Two by two, the Dinobots charged the drones: Grimlock and Slag sent them flying then Sludge and Snarl trampled them where they fell. Swoop streaked a little ahead, zig-zagging wildly to draw fire, the drones stumbling into each other as they turned to aim at him. It was both chaos and a wonderful simplicity: the pounding of their feet as they ran was all the strategy needed, overcoming their hurdles, taking them closer to their goal.
>
> They found themselves going down more steps, descending through a rising horde of drones until they broke through to a forest. Snarl re-oriented himself. No, not a forest... just a vast space filled with arching metal pillars and cables draped between them. The drones still on this level were not crowded into convenient lines, but scattered around them, and the Dinobot stampede faltered without a clear direction.
>
> "There!" Snarl said before Grimlock could pull towards a group of drones who were firing on them. He took a few steps towards the centre of the room, looking up at a dome shaped structure engraved with geometric lines: "Vector Sigma there!" It *had* to be.
>
> Reluctantly, Grimlock abandoned the fight and led them towards the dome and a large entrance. Snarl fell back in line and looked at Sludge alongside him. The brontosaurus' head was up, optics wide and reverential. Snarl stifled most of his smile but an embarrassing glow persisted within him. He had done something good today.
>
> * * *
>
> Sludge had always been patient, so he didn't protest when Grimlock was the first to enter Vector Sigma's chamber, although he did crane his neck to look over his leader's head. It was an elegant space, a wide, round chamber with white walls marked by cool blue lines. In the centre floated a golden orb, glowing softly. Peace and beauty; never before had Sludge appreciated them.
>
> "That Vector Sigma?" Grimlock looked to his team to confirm. None of them could be sure but it felt right, and they all nodded. "Dinobots found it!" He roared his satisfaction and the sound echoed off the walls around them, breaking the peace. Grimlock seemed even more satisfied with that and he looked up, listening as the echoes died away. Belatedly, he acknowledged the importance of this place. "Nobody touch."
>
> "No touch," Sludge agreed, moving forward, closer to the orb. He could see the delicate circuitry that bound it. Definitely not something suitable for his clumsy hands.
>
> Kup had not explained to the Dinobots that they would need a key to activate Vector Sigma, and Sludge did not know what he wanted from it anyway. He could hear shuffling behind him as some of the other Dinobots grew bored.
>
> Sludge bowed his head. "Till all are one."
>
> The others quietly echoed the prayer, and Slag looked to Grimlock in hopes that they could go and finish off the drones now.
>
> Another voice forestalled them, one from the computer itself. "A primitive comes again to Vector Sigma."
>
> Sludge looked back at the others, but they were as baffled as he. Unaccustomed to being their spokesperson, he kept it simple. "Dinobots come to Vector Sigma."
>
> "I was awakened days ago by that which I have long awaited... Tell, me, 'Dinobots', was the Matrix opened? Has the chaos-bringer been destroyed?"
>
> "Yes," Sludge replied simply.
>
> "Tell me all that happened."
>
> At such an open request, Sludge's mind went completely blank. His fellow Dinobots stepped into the breach.
>
> "Unicron attack Cybertron! So Autobots and Dinobots attack Unicron!" Grimlock got straight to the point.
>
> "Unicron made Galvatron, and Galvatron stole Matrix," Snarl elaborated. "Unicron ate Galvatron, ate Matrix, try to eat Cybertron."
>
> "Me Swoop tell good part! Hot Rod go *inside* Unicron, find Matrix and open it!"
>
> "Unicron destroyed." Slag summed it up.
>
> "So the prophecy has been fulfilled." This was a new voice, softer, but it still came from Vector Sigma. "I am Alpha Trion."
>
> "Me Sludge know you. You in Kup's story."
>
> "I am honoured to hear it. Tell me, Sludge, who leads the Autobots now?"
>
> "Rodimus Prime. Was Hot Rod."
>
> "It seems I have indeed completed my timeline," Alpha Trion sounded amused, but as usual, Sludge did not get the joke.
>
> Vector Sigma spoke again: "The Matrix has fulfilled its purpose."
>
> "Rodimus still using it," Grimlock said doubtfully.
>
> "Then it has a new purpose as should we all," Alpha Trion told them. "Evil still exists and we shall fight it. Even you primitives may yet have a part to play."
>
> "We not primitives! We Dinobots!" Grimlock had no compunctions about correcting an otherwise omniscient entity. Belatedly, he remembered to add: "*and* Autobots."
>
> "Before Cybertron was, I was." Vector Sigma intoned. "Before I was, Primitives were." It was some comfort to Sludge that this clearly didn't make sense to the other Dinobots either. "What are Dinobots?"
>
> "Dinobots fighters!" Slag said quickly.
>
> "Strong fighters," Grimlock agreed. "Dinobots help Autobots."
>
> Swoop and Snarl offered their own qualifiers, that Dinobots were brave and loved adventure, that they did good. Slag said they didn't follow orders, but Swoop insisted that they were loyal. The words whirled about Sludge, all of them confusing but all of them true.
>
> The question came to him suddenly, and he broke through the babel to ask it: "Dinobots children of Vector Sigma?"
>
> "Indeed."
>
> That silenced everybody. Sludge smiled. "Dinobots belong on Cybertron."
>
> Alpha Trion spoke again. "All Autobots have a home on Cybertron, but I think you are more than just Autobots. One day, that might be of importance."
>
> "Should the time come," said Vector Sigma. "Should you choose to accept."
>
> Grimlock stood tall: "Dinobots will *always* protect Cybertron!" The others roared their agreement.
>
> "It will always be your choice," Alpha Trion told him.
>
> "While Cybertron lives, I will live," the computer observed. "But now I will slumber again, until the new Prime chooses to awaken me."
>
> It began to dim and lower to its dais, and the last they heard was the fading voice of Alpha Trion: "I am glad to have met you, Dinobots."
>
> The Dinobots stood in twilight for a moment.
>
> "We finish off drones now?" Slag asked.
>
> Grimlock nodded. "That good idea."
>
>
> When they re-emerged at the surface, Blurr was nearly hysterical. "What have you been doing, done, did to yourselves??" By this point, all the Dinobots were scorched and bearing wounds of varying degrees, but they looked round at each other and shrugged it off. They had had much worse.
>
> "Dinobots find Vector Sigma," Grimlock announced.
>
> "And Sludge, hi, Sludge, are you done now?"
>
> Sludge nodded, but Blurr was very much *not* done. "So while you guys were down below and underground, I was overthinking things over, and because Vector Sigma is a top priority, super important really big big deal, I think we can't leave it without any security..."
>
> Blurr explained his plan three times before the Dinobots grasped it, and then, to be sure, he repeated it five times more while they carried it out: they hauled a fallen section of bridge over the shaft to conceal it, and he attached a remote sensor—already retrieved from the ship while he was waiting for them—to one side.
>
> "Now if anybody moves this, alarms, sirens and code red red alert will go off back at Autobot HQ! Or maybe it's orange or yellow or blue alert..."
>
> Blurr started to reconsider their handiwork, but Grimlock didn't let him waste time in worrying. "You talk to Iacon?"
>
> "Yes, Perceptor says we should bring back the bodies and they will have a morgue ready waiting and available for our post-living post-haste!"
>
> "You told Perceptor they dead Decepticons?" Grimlock checked.
>
> "They not die fighting Autobots," Snarl reminded him. "They die fighting Unicron. Protecting Cybertron."
>
> Swoop nodded. "Not right to leave them. Deserve respect."
>
> "Me Slag not want Con-scrap laying around. Cybertron belong to Autobots now!"
>
> "Dinobots take different paths to same place." It didn't happen often, but Grimlock was always pleased when he could get a metaphor to work. "We help Blurr bring dead Decepticons to shuttle."
>
>
> By the time they were ready to depart, they were several hours behind schedule, and Perceptor was more than a little anxious when they radioed in with their update.
>
> ::Ah, you did not physically manipulate Vector Sigma by any process, I hope?::
>
> ::He means did you touch it?:: Springer anticipated their confusion.
>
> "No touching," Sludge agreed. "Dinobots have respect."
>
> "Dinobots tell Vector Sigma about Unicron and Rodimus Prime," Grimlock reported.
>
> ::I'm afraid it would not have been capable of receiving audio input, Grimlock. Vector Sigma requires a key for activation.::
>
> Grimlock paid no more heed to Perceptor's words than Perceptor did his. "Dinobots tell Vector Sigma about Dinobots too."
>
> ::Fortunately, Optimus discovered that the Autobot leadership matrix is sufficiently compatible with Vector Sigma's computational matrix to achieve a full interface.::
>
> Sludge recognised some important words in there. "Huh?"
>
> ::He means Rodimus can switch Mr Super-Computer back on.::
>
> ::In any event, I commend you and your team, Grimlock, for anticipating Autobot requirements. Knowledge that Vector Sigma survived Unicron's attack unscathed will be a vital encouragement for us all, but especially for those still processing the trauma of the past few days. Moreover, reducing the security measure to ones more appropriate for this new era was an excellent initiative.:: Perceptor's tone made his approval clearer than words could.
>
> Springer had a different approach to approval. ::And the good news is that while you were gone, we've built an off-duty community relaxation hub.::
>
> The announcement was met with confused silence.
>
> ::He means a bar,:: Perceptor explained.
>
> ::You *knew*?!::
>
> ::My cybertronic personality was downloaded from Vector Sigma six million years ago, not yesterday... And to anticipate your next question, no, you may not take the shuttle on an interstellar energon run.::
>
> "But if there's no energon, then it's not a bar and what's the point of a bar with no energon to reward our hard work?" Blurr demanded.
>
> ::From Earth culture, I have learned the principles of a multitude of board games that could be easily replicated with available materials.::
>
> ::Perceptor, that's not what *anybody* means by off-duty relaxation!::
>
> For once, the argument didn't bother Sludge. The Dinobots had been included in the invitation. The specifics didn't matter.
>
> However, Grimlock had decided that was enough talking, and he leaned in close to the radio, cutting everybody else off. "We come home now."
>
> Sludge agreed. "Dinobots come home."

On Monday, August 14, 2023 at 12:01:01 PM UTC+1, Codigo Postal wrote:
> Great story! I'm all for exploring the inner lives of the Dinobots; fascinating characters that sadly were reduced to comic relief/extras in the third season. This story made me get out my Dinobots again and look at them in a new light. Thanks for writing!

Thank you! I'm always a bit panicky when I try writing characters I've never written before, but it's always worth it because I end up falling in love with them a little bit, and it gives me a whole new appreciation for them. (Even if I'll sometimes watch an episode afterwards and think: Oh, wait... I got that wrong, didn't I?)

Velvet Glove (who has livened up boring parts of the day by imagining follow up scenes of Dinobots at the new Cybertron teetotal bar. Karaoke was involved.)

On Saturday, August 12, 2023 at 11:52:58 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:

> I write more Dinobots!

I find that Dinobot dialogue is always very hard to write. It's difficult for me to decide which words they should be able to use and which ones they shouldn't. But, you wrote them well, and I could hear their cartoon voices in my head as they spoke.

But, having been part of the discussion about the Dinobots earlier, now I get a little peek into your creative process, which is fun. For example, the reference in this story to Swoop not really always getting jokes, which is completely founded in canon, and recalls the discussion about scenes from "Desertion of the Dinobots."

I never really thought about things like Alpha Trion never having met the Dinobots. There are SO many characters that there are probably many dozens of meetings that never took place, but I might have gone my whole life without thinking about Alpha Trion meeting the Dinobots. What a cool idea.
> (And also, I'm thinking of a doing a story about actual Decepticons. Some day. Possibly.)

Can't wait for it!

> "Slaggit," Slag said, hopefully.
>
> "No no no no slagging, Slag!"

One of the funniest lines in the story.
> Swoop touched the body's insignia gently with his beak. "Til all are one."
>
> "Fire make all one," Slag muttered.

The *other* funniest line in this story.

Zob (the foreshadowing of "Call of the Primitives" was cool, too)

On Monday, August 14, 2023 at 11:09:43 PM UTC+1, Zobovor wrote:
> I find that Dinobot dialogue is always very hard to write. It's difficult for me to decide which words they should be able to use and which ones they shouldn't. But, you wrote them well, and I could hear their cartoon voices in my head as they spoke.
>

Very relieved to hear that! Thanks!

> But, having been part of the discussion about the Dinobots earlier, now I get a little peek into your creative process, which is fun. For example, the reference in this story to Swoop not really always getting jokes, which is completely founded in canon, and recalls the discussion about scenes from "Desertion of the Dinobots."

It was super important to me to have a distinct but cartoon-consistent personality for each of them--even if this means picking up on some rather arbitrary things.

> I never really thought about things like Alpha Trion never having met the Dinobots. There are SO many characters that there are probably many dozens of meetings that never took place, but I might have gone my whole life without thinking about Alpha Trion meeting the Dinobots. What a cool idea.

It had never occurred to me either until I came up with this very random premise that the Dinobots would go chasing after Vector Sigma--in fact I wasn't going to have that whole conversation with Vector Sigma originally, seeing as they didn't have a key, but when I did think about how they'd never met Alpha Trion, I figured he would probably get a kick out of them, so I fudged it. And it meant I could hint at the Call of the Primitives stuff too.

> > (And also, I'm thinking of a doing a story about actual Decepticons. Some day. Possibly.)
> Can't wait for it!

Got some bad news for you then. I'll get there. I'm trying to pick a cast who might volunteer to go sort out Decepticon bodies on Cybertron. Also poking at various individuals in the hope they'll give me a story idea.

> > "Slaggit," Slag said, hopefully.
> >
> > "No no no no slagging, Slag!"
> One of the funniest lines in the story.

At one point Blurr's line said 'slag' about five times, each one being a different grammatical usage. But it felt like I was hammering the joke into the ground (and it was impossible to read) so I chickened out and simplified it. Still can't decide if that was the right call.

> > Swoop touched the body's insignia gently with his beak. "Til all are one."
> >
> > "Fire make all one," Slag muttered.
> The *other* funniest line in this story.

Aww... Slag was a joy to write. A necessary pin to deflate the high ideals of the others... and just fun to write. He was the one who had the most cuts because he kept leading me off on character-confrontation tangents.

Thanks for the comments!