Chapter 11 - Micro Chip

The Great Dane Scientist, also known as Professor Markus, circled the 4x4 that was now stood on a set of legs that, by all natural laws he could think of, shouldn't exist. Carjack watched him move around at his feet, turning his head as far as he could when the scientist disappeared around his back. An electronic sounding sigh of boredom emanated from the transformed washing machine's direction and he tapped a bird-like foot on the concrete of the large storage - cum - loading bay.
''So... An upgrade you say....?'' Professor Markus stated slowly, the thought of speaking to a pair of robots having some difficulty settling into his pained mind.
''Can you do it or not?'' Carjack rumbled.
Markus winced. He wished he'd have sat out that last headache, instead of swallowing his last aspirin. He really could use one right now. He rubbed at his forehead, the slight pressure easing the throbbing pain temporarily.

''I need to have a look at these blue-prints you've got, including a set of your own, to see what I can and can't do.'' He replied uncertainly. ''That's assuming I can do anything at all....''
''Oh, I'm sure you can do alot.'' Carjack replied.
A large alloyed hand that was forged on a distant planet lowered to Markus' height, the large fingers opening slowly to reveal the tiniest of shapes lay in his palm. The stolen micro chip was eyeballed. A paw tentavely reached out and plucked the tiny piece of wire and plastic from the behemothic hand.
''I think I have something to read this with...'' The Great Dane murmered, almost to himself.
''Good.'' Spinner snapped. ''Let's get on with this. I gotta be back soon.''


The very much out-of-place Apache AH-64A landed within the confines of the remnants of an old warehouse foundations. It scanned its immediate surroundings, swiftly moving on to scan further away. The industrial estate was near empty. It was late afternoon, so almost everybody had gone home, or were starting to depart. It was also time to make contact with Speeder again.
''What's your current status, Speeder?'' He queried over a secure line.
A slight delay in the reply.
''My current status? Bored out of my mind! How far away are you from Bresham?''
''I have another hundred miles to fly. I've just set down for a quick recharge, then I'll be on my way again.''
''How long?'' Speeder probed.
''A half hour recharge. That do you?''
''Yeah... Just remember what Carjack has in his possession and what he intends on doing with it. Oh and also, we ain't alone and he ain't the only Decepticon here either.''
Speeder was starting to feel extremely impatient now.


Over head, spearing through the late afternoon sky was what most would consider a UFO. But to others, especially to the bored form Speeder who was roaming the back streets, the alien craft bore a name and a personality one wouldn't want to encounter in a dark alley. The silver and black aircraft's name was Turbulance. He flitted from cloud to cloud, keeping perfect time and course with the Autobot below that had disguised himself as a police car, and was slowly descending with each burst of speed. He knew Speeder wasn't oblivious to his prescence. The Autobot had paid for his ignorance of his surroundings some time ago, having found himself suddenly trapped and severely damaged in an old Energon mine during a brief scuffle between the two back on Cybertron. And Speeder wasn't one for making the same mistakes twice. But then, neither was Turbulance. Speeder was leading him away from as much civilisation as possible, much to Turbulance's distaste. The Decepticon relished chaos and destruction more than most, it seemed, and having an Autobot try and thwart that yet again frustrated him.

Wings adjusted, panels shifted and relocated to their new positions to reveal Turbulance in all his menacing bipedal glory as he executed a free fall, using his thrusters to home in on Speeder like a missile. Speeder accelerated and Turbulance followed suit with a burst of black fire. He tilted and turned seemingly effortlessly in mid air ahead of Speeder and slammed into the ground, shattering the road surface. Tires squeeled in protest at the sudden stop in motion and the police cruiser jerked to one side sharper than should have been possible and rolled, a swift transformation being executed. Speeder landed neatly in a feral crouch, arm mounted weapons, a small plasma cannon on his left and a machine gun on his right, pointed directly at Turbulance who stood defiant in his midst. No words were exchanged. They just locked gazes for a brief few moments. Turbulance was the first to move, performing a swift, low and sweeping kick. Speeder lept, but his foot was grazed by Turbulance's and the touch knocked him slightly off kilter. Speeder recovered easily, bringing his gun up and firing, shots plowing into Turbulance's strong chest armour, merely denting it. He shifted position again, skipping back and then abruptly darting off to his left as the Decepticon charged, long arm blade at the ready.

Mounting the steep verge that protected the road from the farm land that lay off to it's side, Turbulance lost his footing and stumbled, his fall made all the more rougher as Speeder proceeded to help him down by landing a kick in his lower back, sending him sprawling and cursing. Speeder came in to follow-up with another blow, but Turbulance rolled deftly to one side, Speeder's massive, but slim fist burrowing deep into the verge. The menacing blade attatched to Turbulance's forearm arced downwards from the side and sliced through the armour on Speeder's back, the blade going deep enough to touch upon the sensitive circuitry hidden beneath. Pain registered and Speeder recoiled to one side, the sudden and awkward movement jerking the blade from his back, doing more damage than good. In a rage, he let off a volley of plasma shots, the heat slamming into the offending Decepticon's armour, making his body temperature rise at an alarming rate. Turbulance tried to defend himself, but the totally outraged Autobot had him locked within his crosshairs and was refusing to let him go. With each stagger backward, Speeder would approach.

The damage being done to Turbulance was becomming too much, too fast. He hadn't anticipated this kind of reaction. It was the first time he'd witnessed Speeder to be so brutal and straight forward with an attack. He steeled himself and pushed aside the swiftly growing pain that was enveloping his circuits, threatening to shut him down permanently, and performed a ducking roll which lead to an awkward somersault and transformation back to vehicle mode. Speeder may have won this small spat, but he won't win the next. Turbulance growled to himself as he propelled himself back into the sky as more shots of heated plasma seared after him. He needed to cool off and assess the full extent of the damage that the damnable Autobot had done. Hopefully, it was just cosmetic, and nothing more.


Proffessor Markus sat his desk, computer mouse in one paw, his other trained on the keyboard as he eyed the specs and other pieces of data that scrolled across the computer screen, manifesting in their respectful different folders. His shoulders sagged a little further. He had no idea what the language was he was seeing. He'd never come across anything like it. He hazarded a quick glance through the parted curtains and into the more open floor space of the storage bay. Carjack was back in vehicle mode and waiting silently. As to what the mechanoid was thinking, Markus didn't know. And where the monstrosity's little friend had gone, also eluded him. He stared hard at the screen once more, trying his damndest to make heads and tails of the foreign language that was appearing on the screen. He'd been flitting through his computer's translator programs with a sliver of the foreign words as a test, to see if he could find a match and translate. He'd exhausted all of the planet's languages, finding not one match. A few simalarities, but even they didn't make much sense to him.

''Uhm, I'm having some difficulty in reading this, uh, data...'' He hazarded.
The 4x4 the semblance of a question was aimed at remained unnervingly silent. The prolonged silence made the scientist think he was losing his mind and that the transforming car had been a product of the headache that had seen fit to assault him at midday, mixed with a severe lack of sleep and nourishment.
''What's the problem?'' Carjack announced suddenly.
The Great Dane flinched.
''I don't understand the language. It's not in my database or any others I've connected to.'' He said pointedly.
''The language is Called English, so of course it won't be in your databases.'' Carjack sniffed.
Markus supressed an irritated grumble. Then the idle computer monitor to his left suddenly went mental, a trail of words appearing and then vanishing into freshly created folders, just as they were on his primary screen. A moment later, it calmed down and went idle again, leaving a large blueprint image in its wake.
''There.'' Carjack stated tiredly. ''I managed to interface with your systems and translate it for you. Now get to work.''
Markus blinked in astonishment at the screen with the blueprint on it. It'd been translated all right. And he gaped when he saw what the alien mechanoid wanted doing.

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