Reflections

Shadow Squares

A series of huge black squares spin around the sun, each joined to its neighbors by incredibly strong threads only a few molecules in diameter. The shadow squares rotate retrograde to the spin of the Dyson Ring beyond, providing a reasonable facsimile of a normal planet's day/night cycle. The inside of every square is covered in solar panels, suggesting that they also serve the purpose of powering the Ring, transferring the collected energy by microwave transmission.

Rodimus Prime arrives on the Autobot shuttle Uniswifter. Actually, it's a cruise liner that Ultra Magnus and others hijacked in their attempt to escape from Monacus some time ago, but since the owners haven't asked for it back, the Autobots kept it. He steps out onto a giant square the size of a planet that floats around the sun and winces at the heat. He looks back into the ship. "Gonna want to make sure your envirmental controls are up to snuff, Jayson. It's pretty hot out here."

And after Rodimus comes Patchwork, cheerful as always and in full size again, it's almost overpowering. "Yup, hot...what's that human phrase? Frying an egg on the ground?" she wonders as she skirts around to come to a stop at Prime's side.

Stepping out onto the ramp, Tracks sighs and wipes a forearm across his brow ... as if to wipe some sweat from it. "Hot isn't the word for it Prime, it's -absolutely- unbearable. I swear, another centigrade or two higher and my fabulous paint job would be in ruins!" he complains, descending the staircase and stepping down onto the first square.

"Something like that, Patchy. Don't use the phrase, myself." Jayson's voice emits clearly from the Starknight that he is piloting, having borrowed it from the exo storage at EDC headquarters. As Rodimus addresses him, the Starknight waves a mechanical hand in a dismissive manner. "Sure thing, Prime. Don't worry about me." It steps out of the ship after the others, Jayson giggling at Tracks' complaints.

Rodimus Prime smirks at Tracks. "This from the guy who spends his spare time in some of the worst parts of New York City. Your paint job's in more danger there than here!" He takes another few steps forward and frowns, then kneels. He inspects the ground beneath his feet, then waves Patchwork over. "Hey, Patchwork... what do you make of this? Is this what I think it is?"

"I'd much rather be attributed to the underground movements of good old NYC instead of on this rock, smelting away as we speak." Tracks hrumphs, studder stepping over towards Rodimus Prime. Fiddling with his Black Beam Gun, the Autobot socialite scans the area with a cautioning glance. He may be all style and substance in front of a crowd, but he's still a soldier first and foremost.

Grapple trails in at the tail end of the strangely high spirited yet complaining group. With his own recent size change and the return to normalcy, he's been a bit more eager just to get out and DO things. Maybe building all those tiny forts out of empty cubes got to him. Who knows. At any rate, he's there, and ends up on the same train of thought. "Well, at least it's warm enough that we shouldn't come under any sort of attack."

Patchwork grins brightly at Tracks as she gives him the once over. "Your fabulous paint job has a chip...there, on your shoulder. Just behind you..." she advises him, managing somehow to keep a relatively straight face. Hearing her name, she turns, and moves towards Prime, crouching next to him. "What do you think it is? I can't tell you if it's what you think it is if I don't know what you think it is!"

Rodimus Prime snorts. "Whatever you say, Tracks," he answers, amused. Then he looks up at Patchwork and shrugs. "I'm not really sure. It /looks/ like a very large solar collector, but I need confirmation." He smirks. "I'm figuring we couldn't be lucky enough to already have a system in place." Grapple blinks at Rodimus's direction. Trying to ignore the heat to the best of his ability, he wanders over to see what the curiosity is about. "Hmm.. I believe you may be right, Prime. It does appear to be a solar collector. If we remove the hatches on the top layer, we may even be able to tell if the device is still functioning or not."

Tracks struts around the solar panel, giving each and every nook and cranny an inquisitive nod. Then suddenly, like a predatory bird preying on his narcicism ... Patchwork's comment sinks in. "You cannot be serious Patchwork, I've just gotten my frame detailed last week!!" he cries out, trying to find the right angle in the large solar collector to utilize it like a mirror ... to inspect the shoulder in question.

From Exo-Suit Starknight , Jayson Redfield is listening to the Autobots quietly, though he's smirking as Patchwork teases Tracks, trying hard to suppress another giggle.

Bobbing her head quickly, Patchwork's grin widens. "Yup, I think that's what it is too. That's three of us thinking it, so we are likely right." she proclaims as she straightens, hands settling on her hips. She catches the twisting and turning from Tracks. "Yup, there....no no, the -other- side Tracks. YOu -almost- have it..." And turns quickly back to Prime to keep from laughing out loud. This is the same femme who told a certain t-rex dinobot that he had flowers and rainbows and sunshine painted on him...

Rodimus Prime brightens as Grapple and Patchwork confirm his suspicions. "I imagine it's too much to expect that these are still in working condition, but the more we can salvage from what's already here, the better." He inclines his head towards Grapple. "Go ahead and open it up, Grapple." He glances up at Tracks's attempt to inspect himself, then quickly looks down and covers his mouth, trying very hard not to make it obvious that he's snickering.

Grapple gives Rodimus a slight nod before grasping at the latches. It ends up being a fairly simple affair; reset a few latches holding a panel and off it goes. Possibly to make the internal circuitry easier to repair; who knows. Once the architect takes a look inside, surprise crosses his features. "It.. Appears to be perfectly functional."

"You're little ruse isn't that clever Patchwork." Tracks informs the femme after his 'inspection', rest assured that the scratch was only a pratical joke ... at least he hopes. "Who would put solar panels in such a drab place as this Prime?"

"REeally?" Patchwork turns and moves towards Grapple and the area he's inspecting, trying to peek around him to the circuitry. "Amazing...it -is-...!" She glances back, and flashes an innocent grin to Tracks. "Clever enough!"

"Someone with a lot of spare time?" Jayson suggests.

Being the one with the alternate mode properly designed for exploration in space such like this, Jetfire took it upon himself to look over the collection of squares as a whole while the other Autobots investigated one of them directly. Which mostly consisted of flying back and forth a few times to scan them... well that and the occasional barrel roll now and then, mostly just enjoying that in space he can fly as he wishes without worrying about his size being an issue. "Find anything interesting?", his voice transmits from the spacejet as it comes back to hover over the block everyone else is on.

Rodimus Prime's optics widen as Grapple reports that the thing's still function. His mouth opens. Then his mouth closes. Then his mouth opens, and he murmurs with realization, "Of course! The space bridge!" Then he looks up at Tracks and smirks. "Actually, Tracks, I was planning to, but someone beat me to it." Then he waves Jetfire over. "Jetfire!" he shouts. "Good news! Looks like someone else did most our work for us!"

Grapple gives Patchwork a slight smirk -- the only sign he even heard all the drama with phantom scratches and paint job-related angst -- before looking back to the panel. "In fact, it's likely active at this very moment. It's certainly well built." He starts to close the hatches back again.

"Why thank you Grapple ... oh, the panels." Tracks mutters, mildly confused as to what the builder was admiring for a moment.

Grapple clicks the hatches back together and, upon hearing Tracks' mumble, stops. After a second, he simply gives his head a quick shake and decided it's better not to give it too much thought.

"Yes, I saw the arrays on many of the other units as well... are they functioning?" There's a pause as he partially unfolds to land by the others, briefly appearing like a giant jet with legs or a certain other 'middle' mode we're not allow to say because of legal reasons, before finishing the transformation once he's landed. "I'm sorry, my curiousity was absorbed in the unsual connectors these structures have... though that's pretty impressive. I doubt just keeping the ring itself operational would require as much energy as these are able to collect."

Veritech Spacefighter  transforms into his Jetfire mode.

Patchwork steps back as the hatches are closed, her smile having faded into a frown, as if something's on her mind. "There's something about this...that seems familiar..." she mutters.

From Exo-Suit Starknight , Jayson Redfield just stays quiet. It's like when Mommy and Daddy are talking.

Rodimus Prime stands up fully, then walks over to Jayson, kneels, and places a hand on his shoulder, then gives him a quick nod and a smile before looking up at Patchwork. "Go on, Patchwork."

Jetfire knows that sort of thoughtful look, turning his attention to look in Patchwork's direction. "Seems familiar to what?"

Tracks shrugs and goes back to enjoying the scenery, casting his gaze out amongst the multitude of solar panels. And if one would train their optic close enough, they'd see a tiny reflection in each and every mirror ... of Tracks staring back. Basking in the glory, Tracks loses himself and the current conversation. It was bound to happen, afterall.

Patchwork purses her lips before she sighs. "It just...the Dyson ring used to work as a spacebridge, right? And...it would have had to draw power from somewhere..." she murmurs before she turns to fully face Prime. "And whatever was giving that power would have a sizable excess now..." She trails off, head canting to the right.

Rodimus Prime covers his mouth as he takes in the full implications of this. "And the spacebridge isn't working anymore... and this... this was enough power to spacebridge /planets/ across the power... and no one is using it anymore and the collection system is still running..." he looks down at the black square beneath his feet, staring blankly as his mind scrambles to process the full implications of all of this.

But somewhere inside, the part of him that used to be Hot Rod is practically /crowing/ the word, "JACKPOT!"

Grapple completely ignord Tracks basking not too far away, instead glancing from Patchwork to Rodimus. "Can we use this power for ourselves? Assuming, of course, that's what you're thinking."

"... That would quantify needing such a number of collection arrays to provide energy for." It's not that Jetfire isn't as amazed at the revelation as the others, it's just that as a scientist he's got a better grasp on the entire scope of the matter from that angle, and already trying to contemplate ways of using it. He looks down at his feet, or moreso what he's standing on. "I wonder if these units store the energy itself, or if they are transmitting it somewhere else. A collection point of some point that we could access."

Patchwork nods quickly to Prime as he catches on quickly. "Uh-huh...exactly!" she agrees before she looks to the others. "Why not use it for ourselves? Better us than the 'Con's, and you k now they wouldn't think twice."

Grapple glances down at the panel he had reaffixed moments ago. "Wouldn't the stored energy build up and either stop charging or overload if it was held here?"

Tracks stares into the sweet abyss, the caress of a hundred Tracks staring right back into his lasercore ... it's heaven. Placing his hand on his chin and turning slightly to the left, the Autobot narcicist assumes his most visually stunning pose and looks out to the multitude of pretty little reflections. He is on cloud nine.

Then the dream ends, the dreamer awakes to find his world in flames ... Tracks notices there -is- a scratch behind his left shoulder. And worse yet, a hundred mirrored images are staring back at him ... daunting and laughting at his physical imperfections. "Patchwork, I just want you to know ... I hate you the most." he mutters, the bright flicker lost in his optic. He'll never be the same again. :(

From Exo-Suit Starknight , Jayson Redfield is still being quiet. But an idea does come to mind. He activates the Starknight's thrusters and launches up from the surface to hover near the Autobots in an attempt to get a better view. Oh, and he's getting in Tracks' way by doing this. Probably on purpose. He's still got a bit of a mischievous streak, you know.

"YAHOO!" Rodimus yells out, jumping into the air and raising a fist in a little victory dance, perhaps reminding some people that, for all that he is a Prime, he is still very much a youth and much of him is still boy. He throws back his head and laughs. "We won't... we won't have to rely on the humans. We can even..." he laughs again. "We can even pay them back! With this much energon, we can give back to them some of the energy they shared with us." His arms spread wide as he looks around. "And it's already in place... it's already working... we just have to figure out how to tap it!" And then his expression immediately sobers and he lowers his arms as he realizes something. He sighs. "And how to keep the Decepticons from it."

Turning to Tracks as he speaks to her, Patchwork's optics widen before her eager, excited smile fades completely, her shoulders slumping heavily as his words settle over her. Apparently, Tracks isn't the only one who's just been completely and utterly deflated. In fact, she looks like she's about to cry...if she could.

Exo-Suit Starknight  is still deliberately in Tracks' way. "Aw, Tracks...you hurt her feelings!" He sounds genuinely concerned for Patchwork.

Jetfire nods a bit to Grapple. "That's why I suspect it's either being stored somewhere else, or at least being transmitted to were it can be used." He turns, waving a hand vagely in the direction of the rest of the Dyson Ring. "-Something- has to be providing gravity and such for the rest of the ring. It's quite possible that maintenance is providing just enough usage that it doesn't overload in capacity... That's why we need to find where, first, Rodimus."

Grapple winds up distracted by the slight movement Patchwork gives in her slumping shoulders. Reflex causes him to glance; curiosity has him looking to where Patchwork is gazing. Tracks' sour expression and Patchwork's depression. Not entirely knowing what to do but really not eager to see a crying Patchwork, either, he simply.. Pats her shoulder. Gently, of course. And awkwardly. And hopes she doesn't get TOO upset.

Tracks is locked in a staring contest with his grotesque reflection, until Jayson Redfield comes streaking through and interrupts his hundred guest pity party. Without commenting, he turns about and drags his feet away from the others ... trying to avert his gaze from the panels. "Feelings can be mended..." he mumbles, stumbling off.

"So can paint..." Patchwork offers, quietly, before she glances to Grapple, and tries to offer him a smile, though the usually chipper medic doesn't quite manage it.

Rodimus Prime nods at Jetfire. "Yeah, I agree." Then what's going on behind him finally sinks in and he turns towards Tracks and Patchwork. "Oh, for pity's sake! Tracks, I'm pretty sure there's a buffer on the /cruise liner/ we flew here!"

Exo-Suit Starknight  lowers back down to the surface. "Don't let Tracks get to you, Patchy. He's a jerk."

Tracks continues his sluggish pace, back towards the Uniswifter. His pride the only thing injured here today, the soldier will bounce back eventually. But can the same be said for Patchwork? Only time will tell.

Jetfire ... had totally missed the whole drama with Tracks and his reflection in the discussion of potential scientific discovery and relief for their own energy needs. Until the point that Rodimus exclaims about it, blinking a few times, and then just shaking his head a bit while trying to hide a smirk at Tracks' behavoir. Some things just don't change...

Rodimus Prime looks towards Jetfire, then towards Grapple and Patchwork. "All right, guys. We need to figure out how to tap the power this thing is generating, we need to do it before the 'Cons, and we need to protect it from the 'Cons. High priority. Not higher than the Charr outpost, not yet, but if you guys think we can work on them at the same time, that'd be great. But if that's it, though..." He looks around and snorts. "I think /I'd/ like to get out of this heat." Then he heads back to the ship.

Jetfire rubs the back of his head with one hand, recalling the grumblings of Impactor the last time they were exploring Charr's caverns. "To be honest, this probably has better probability of being a long term success. But that's not reason to give up on the outpost operation in light of this discovery either." Though with people heading back to their ship he's mostly just talking to himself at this point.