TRANSFORMERS: The Missing Link

                     It had been a while since he was last here, this home away from
home. It was quiet here most of the time, with little happening during the
light hours. The sky was blue, as it was on this planet, not like the black
skies on his own world. The vegetation quite green and evident amongst the
few structures. The lake lay in between the forest and the first structure, with
a small mountain looming in the background.
                     He made his way up to the front door of the smaller structure,
and opened it, it’s metallic hinges squeaking enough to register on his audio
sensors. Walking in slowly, he walked over to the bar, his large metallic feet
causing the floor to creak underneath. He took a brief look around, using his
optics to scan the interior of the large room, but finding no one, mechanical
or flesh. Whiterod walked past the bar and over to the smaller side door of
the room. He opened it, took a quick scan of the short, dark hallway before
continuing down it.
                     He made his way down the hallway, and within a few seconds,
arrived at the entrance for the very cavernous hangar bay, which was half 
underground. Whiterod punched in his access code into the small lit-up
control panel, and the large metallic door slid open in a hurry, revealing the
oversized hangar bay before him, it’s vast space mostly empty save the two
boxy tri-wing shuttles parked at their births on the main level, and the large 
unknown space vessel docked at one of the higher docking ports.
                     Whiterod had chosen not to land his ship here, but rather land
it on the outskirts and drive in to the area himself. He took some extra time
to perform a scan of the bay. After his scan of the hangar was complete, he
transformed into his car mode, mechanical noise and all, and sped towards
the hangar door at the far end. Activating the door via remote access, he 
accelerated, the door just beginning to open with him almost at it’s mouth...
    
                      With a loud boom from the excessive speed, Whiterod shot
out of the open hangar door, shattering the calm of the surroundings. His
tires hit the ground a short time later, and he hit his brakes, letting loose a 
cloud of dirt and dust as the shriek of the brakes and whine of the hard tires
grinding on the ground echoed throughout the area. Whiterod then started
accelerating again, heading towards the forest this time.
                      Within a few moments, he was rounding the lake and approaching
the wooded area of the forest. As he neared the forest, the dirt road ended and
turned into a grassy knoll before the onslaught of tall trees. He came to a halt
and transformed again, this time back to robot mode, his tall form towering
above the ground. Whiterod was about to go looking for his secret energon stash
when he began to register a faint disturbance in the distance that appeared as an
unstable power source, then disappeared just as quickly. He used his optics
to scan for it, and came up with a weird power source, located inside of the
mountain on the other side of the forest.
                      He trudged through the lush forest, kicking fallen trees out of his
way as he walked, occasionally picking one up and snapping it with ease. His
optics still scanning, the power source appeared again on the scan, then vanished
again without a trace.. He kept walking, soon approaching the foot of the
mountain, it’s looming mass casting it’s shadow upon what lie below. The
mountain’s incline was somewhat treacherous, so he decided to use another 
means to get to the top. 
                     Whiterod leapt into the air, and began his ascent to the peak above.
He could have easily phase-shifted to the top, but wasn’t sure if the top was 
stable. ‘It would be a bitch to materialize in solid rock, or a sheet of ice.’ He
thought to himself as he neared the top of the mountain. He descended a bit,
and landed on a flat area three-quarters of the way up the mountain, an area
flat enough to land on without causing a rockslide.
                      Just as he set down on the mountain, the faint power source
appeared once again on his scan, then vanished quickly. ‘More curious by the
moment,’ he thought. Suddenly, Whiterod noticed something. It was a small
opening in the mountain, just a few paces from where he was standing. He
had almost missed it, and would have if the faint power readings weren’t
coming from the same direction. 
                      Without a second thought, he stealthily went over to the opening
and walked in. His optics glowing now, Whiterod scanned as he walked, the
narrow tunnel winding it’s way downward. His scanners told him that the
tunnel was ending soon, just beyond the next rocky turn, which made him
slow down so that he could creep up on it, in case something or someone
lurked nearby. A moment later, he had arrived at the end of the tunnel. Where
the tunnel ended, a seemingly bottomless pit started, only going down into the
dark depths of the mountain, and possibly beyond.

                                     *                    *                 *                 *

                      As a transport and several other Decepticons passed by outside,
Minirod took a break from his endless staring contest with his malfunctioning
console, and got up off the chair, wandering about the control area. This was
one of those times when he didn’t get to join the boss on an off-planet kind
of excursion. ‘Damn.’ he thought. Minirod hated this sitting around, waiting
for something to happen.
                      Just then, his console beeped. He didn’t bother taking a look.
“Probably another malfunction.” he said out loud. He was about to walk out
of the control area to go for a spin, when the console beeped again, a little
louder than before. He walked over to the computer, and brought it brought it
up on the main screen. Curious. An energy source of an unknown signature
was emanating from deep inside of Cybertron. He had never seen that kind of
a power reading before.
                       Minirod thought for a moment. Devastator was off-planet,
deep inside the core of the new moon on a priority mission, so that meant
that he needed a team that could get down there with ease. No one had been
that deep inside Cybertron in millennia. He tapped the comm button on the
computer console. “Minirod to Constructor Squad. Report to the main control
area immediately.” he said, before pressing the button again, closing the 
comm channel.
                       While he waited for his crack team to show up, he worked the
controls, trying to cross-reference the power signature with anything else on
record in the main Cybertronian databanks. After a few cycles of searching,
he found nothing. Apparently, this was new to the computer. Minirod was
about to yell at the computer in frustration, when the main doors slid open,
and the Constructor Squad marched in. Minicons, they were the same size
as Minirod, who himself was barely half the size of the 27-foot Whiterod and
the rest of the regular-sized Decepticons.
                       The team of six stood there, all in a row. Stone Cruncher,
Sledge, Grit, Hammer, Excavator, and Knockout. They could combine into
one solitary larger robot, or pair up and form three mid-sized robots, all
with shared abilities to be used in different situations. No one moved for the
longest time, as they waited for Minirod to address them. The quiet became
too much, and Sledge spoke first, in his calm, monotone voice. “You called
for us?” he said. Minirod looked to him. “Yes. I have a job for the six of you.”
he said, his optics glowing slightly.   
                       He began to explain the funny energy readings, and how he was
sending them down there to find out, seeing as how the Constructicons were
on an important mission elsewhere. “Wow,” yelled Grit. “We’re going cause
we’re the next best thing to old ‘Dunderstator!” The rest of the Squad managed
a quick laugh, as did Minirod. The Constructicons and the Constructor Squad
were always arguing over who was the better construction and demolition team
among the Decepticons. 
                       Minirod motioned to them to follow him over to the computer,
where he promptly showed them the readings on the screen, the faint signature
still registering on the scanners. “Alright. We’re on it!” exclaimed Excavator.
With that having been said, the group of six left the control area, and headed
off towards the maintenance shaft nearby. It didn’t go nearly as far as they
needed to go, but instead down a couple kilometers to the secret Decepticon 
subterranean weapons lab. 
                      Minirod sat back down in his chair and studied the readings
more carefully this time. He was completely baffled. “Won’t know anything
til the ‘Squad gets there.” he mumbled. Once again, he was in the control
area by himself, waiting for something to happen. 

                     With a quick mechanical noise, Whiterod was transformed into
his car mode again. He then activated the wheel spikes that popped up out of 
his tires with a muffled sound. He was ready to descend. He figured it was easier
this way, rather than to leap down into the pit and land on something that he
couldn’t see. He applied the accelerator just enough to get rolling , and drove
over the edge, and down the side of the pit, slowly but surely. His scanners
set to full forward, he cautiously accelerated a bit, not going too fast for fear
of losing the grip of the spikes and plummeting.
                     A fall wouldn’t damage him too much, providing it was a soft
bottom to this pit, which he very much doubted. It was also too risky to use
the phase-shift, with the hazard of materializing inside solid rock. He had much
better things to do than become one with the granite. He continued downward,
still not getting any accurate scans on what was at the bottom. ‘If there is one.’
He thought. 
                     Down the wall he went, hopefully getting close to what lay at
the bottom, the faint energy source that he sought. Suddenly, the pit began to
shake and surge. His scanners detected an earthquake! Whiterod’s tires began
losing their grip, the spikes not able to pierce the rockface with the earthquake
shaking them loose. Just then, the last wheel lost it’s hold on the rockface, and
Whiterod began to plummet down the pit, now well past ground level, and 
still falling at a high rate of speed.
                     He quickly transformed back to robot mode, and spread his arms
and legs out in order to fall correctly. The ground still shaking, he heard 
something above him, and looked up. A rather large piece of rock was falling
with him, and would probably crush him at the bottom. If they ever got there.
Whiterod used his limbs to roll to the side and over, so that he was facing 
upwards, his back to the pit’s bottom, and looking right at the rock.
                    He drew his sleek, black plasma rifle, and trained it on the enemy
rock, firing a concentrated burst of raw energy at it. With a loud boom, the
blast impacted with the rock, and shattered it into thousands of smaller rocks,
which wouldn’t cause any damage upon landing. Whiterod then rolled again,
his face down, looking towards the bottom once again. Just then, his optics 
picked up something. After falling for for half a megacycle now, he was 
almost two hundred kilometers below the planet’s surface.
                    Being this far down, he had now picked up the bottom of the
pit, and got a stronger reading on the power source. The ground had stopped
shaking, so he transformed quickly back to car mode, and once again activated
the spikes on his tires, then hit the brakes. Hard. He came to a screeching stop
just as his front bumper lightly touched the floor of the pit. He released the 
brakes, and slid onto the floor with a thud, all four wheel now touching. In
front of him was another opening with another tunnel, but his scanners told
him that this was a smoother incline.
                    Whiterod accelerated, and journeyed down the tunnel, some dust
kicking up behind him, not knowing how far ahead this passage would take
him, or how much deeper into the planet he had to go.

                     They stood before the sealed entrance, having gotten off the lift
that had gotten them this far underground. No one, Decepticons or Autobots,
had used the old passageways in a very long time. They were sealed quite well
in some locations, and it would take some doing to break through the heavy
2 metre thick cybernite door. Sledge drew his laser-torch, and began melting
a hole in the centre of the door. “Give me some help!” he yelled at the others.
He knew it would take more than the torch.
                     Hammer pulled out his drill gun, and started to bore through
another part of the large door, hoping to somehow pierce it to gain access to
the other side. All six of them knew this could take a while, so they decided
it was in everyone’s best interests to make haste in bringing down the door.
Just then, the comm unit on Excavator’s arm chirped. “Yeah?” he said into
the comm. “Minirod here,” began the voice. “What’s your status?” he asked.
“Well,” began Excavator. “We’re attempting to gain access to the tunnels by
bringing down a thick cybernite door.” he finished.
                     “Acknowledged. Keep me informed.” The comm channel
closed immediately. ‘We need to get through that door.’ thought Excavator.
A few cycles later, both holes in the wall were half a metre deep, and still
going. It looked as if the door would be down in good time, as they had to
press on and search for the teleportation room of the weapons lab. It might
be able to take them down further into the depths of Cybertron.
                      A short while after they had begun, a cracking sound rang out
and reverberated up the lift shaft, the huge door finally pierced. With the
centre of the door pierced, the locking mechanism was broken, and with the
side nearest the right wall pierced, there was now a way to flood the inner
groove with something. Excavator walked up to the door, and drew his 
weapon, firing a blast of extreme heat into the door’s groove. Within seconds,
the door gave way to the extreme heat and the sides melted, causing the door
to fall forward, landing with an extremely loud crash.
                      “Ahhhhhh!” screamed Grit. “My poor audios!” he held his
hands to his audios, obviously hurting. Excavator just shook his head, and
took the lead into the passageway, having his men follow him into the
unknown that lay ahead. The tunnel winded somewhat, it’s walls partially
lit with emergency lighting. He then noticed something on the floor as he
rounded the next corner. It was the charred body of a deactivated Autobot,
it’s insignia partially visible, which has been there quite some time according
to his scans. 
                       After another few metres of tunnel, the group arrived at a
smaller set of doors, one with a small keypad to the left, on the wall next to
it. Excavator frowned at the control panel. None of them had passcodes for
this place. He turned to address the others, and saw Stone Cruncher raise his
weapon and aim it past Excavator, and at the doors. Excavator jumped aside
as a burst of energy lanced out from the weapon and struck the doors, blowing
them off the frame, and onto the floor, giving them a way into the facility.
                       Excavator looked at the fallen doors. ‘Too bad.’ he thought. 
‘This place still might be of use someday.’ he surmised to himself. They 
scoured the inside of the facility, searching for a way to the lab. Grit then
cried out, as he had found the door to the lab and gone inside. To everyone’s
disbelief, the teleporter was broken beyond repair. It had been taken apart,
and only the shell and some circuit boards left intact, the small teleportation
chamber charred from old laser fire.

                      The tunnel coming to an end, Whiterod entered what looked to
be a large room as dictated by his scanners. He transformed back to robot mode,
and began to look around the vast space, trying to find the power source. 
According to his scans, the power source was in this same room. But upon
another glance around the room, all he saw was rocky walls, a rocky ceiling,
and a triangular metallic door at the far end. Wait a minute. “Where did that
come from??” he asked out loud, not expecting an answer.
                      Whiterod made his way over to the strange door, which was
definitely a metallic door, remotely resembling a Cybertronian design of days
past. He just stood there, unsure of this doorway. He scanned it again, trying to
figure out it’s significance in this underground maze. Whiterod randomly kicked
a piece of rock that was laying at his feet towards the doorway. As the rock
passed through the doorway, it disappeared in a quick flash of orange coloured
light that seemed to light the whole room for a second.
                      Whiterod stepped back a bit? “Where’s the rock???” he yelled
out, wondering what had just happened. The rock was no more. The readings 
on the doorway jumped off the scale for that moment, and had settled back down
again. This was very confusing. If this was a portal of some sort, it was unlike
any he had seen before, and was located in the weirdest place.

                      Excavator walked through the debris in the direction of Hammer,
who had yelled out a cycle ago about finding something important on the far end 
of the facility. He himself had no clue the facility was this big, let alone having
a second level, which they had just found and were scouring. As he approached
his fellow Squad members, he came into view of what they were standing near.
Another teleportation device had been located, and it was in pristine condition.
He nodded, and walked up to it.
                      “It was coordinates already locked in.” said Sledge. “This will
teleport us to sixty kilometres below Cybertron’s surface, where there is 
another large room.” he finished. Excavator noted that they would have to be
teleported two at a time, as the chamber wasn’t big enough for all six. It
resembled the Space Bridge, but on a much smaller scale. He stepped into the
chamber, as did Sledge, and the circular half-wall closed shut, instantly sending
them into the depths of Cybertron to the large room.
                      Stone Cruncher and Hammer were next, followed by Grit and
Knockout. Once they had all re-assembled in the large space, they noticed
something on the far wall. As Excavator walked closer to it, the other five
in tow, he began to make it out. It was a triangular shaped doorway,
mechanical in nature, that looked a lot like early Cybertronian design. He
remembered seeing architecture like it when planning for an invasion of
Iacon, way back in the heyday of the Cybertronian War.
                      Suddenly, the room filled with orange light as the doorway
seemed to warp briefly. A small rock came flying out of it, striking
Grit in the lower leg with a light clanging sound. Excavator and Grit both
stared at the doorway with their mouths open. Neither of them seemed to
know what just happened. Sledge picked up the rock that had bounced off of
Grit, and threw it back at the doorway.
                     
                      Whiterod was about to examine the doorway more closely when
again the room was bathed in bright orange light. CLONK! Something came
through and a high speed and hit him in the chest plate! He looked down at the
offending object. It was the same rock he had kicked through in the first place!
‘Wow!’ he thought. “There must be someone or something on the other side!”
He said out loud. 
                      He knew that there was only one way to find out what was on the
other side of this ‘portal’. He had to walk through himself and make contact
with whatever it was on the other side. Whiterod brought his rifle up to chest 
height, and stepped through the doorway not knowing what lay in wait for him
on the other side.

                      Almost touching the doorway with his had, the room was again 
bathed in orange light. Excavator jumped back, and as the light faded, he
stared in disbelief at what had just come through. Standing there with his rifle
drawn and his optics glowing was their leader Whiterod! 
                      “No way!” yelled Sledge from behind, as the others just stared
at the large Decepticon that had just emerged from the portal. “Boss, where’d
you come from?” asked Grit. Whiterod pondered his next statement for the
moment, then spoke. “Earth.” he said. “I had found a way down into the depths
of the planet to search for a rather strange energy source.” he explained.
                       “As did we.” said Excavator. Just as he was about to continue,
the doorway/portal began to pulsate and shake. “Um, energy levels are off the
scale!!” yelled Hammer, who was monitoring the device. Excavator decided
it was time to leave before something blew up and took them all with it. 
“Everyone to the chamber, QUICK!” he exclaimed.
                         He and Whiterod teleported first, followed by the others, two
at a time, then Grit by himself. As each pair re-materialized back up in the
lab, they quickly ran up into the first level, and down the tunnel back over to
the lift shaft, and leapt into the air, heading back up to the surface. Grit, who
was the last out, could hear the explosions far below as he ran down the tunnel
and leapt up the shaft. 
                          When they all reassembled on the surface, Excavator scanned
for the energy signature, but didn’t find it this time. No brief flashes, no weak
trace amounts of energy, nothing. A megacycle later, they were back in the 
main control area, explaining everything to Minirod, who wasn’t picking up
anything anymore on his console. The power source was gone, as was the 
chance to examine the portal in hopes of duplicating it’s ingenious technology
for their own purposes. It was over.

                                    *                  *                  *                  *

                          The weather calm, and no clouds in the sky, Whiterod stood
on the flat area of the mountain, three-quarters of the way up. The entrance
into the side of the mountain permanently closed, a flow of magma and 
molten lava oozing up from below. It had happened just as he got back here,
his quick scan revealing that the portal here had been totally destroyed as well.
                           His ship below near the lake, he was ready to leave. There was
nothing left for him to investigate, and no enemy in all this to fight. He began
to wonder what would have happened if they had been able to duplicate the
technology, and just simply walk onto other worlds. He frowned. “Too much
to contemplate for once.” he mumbled. “Just too much.”

                                                        THE END