Picket Fences out In Space - Transformers Series

2. Hitchhiker

   "Is that a big guy really far away or a little guy really close?"

The miniature transformer bounced off Sky Lynx's windshield with a small THUNK, bouncing off like a softball.

"I guess that answers that."

"Oh, I am truly sorry, my good man. It's rather strange that you didn't appear on my sensors ahead of time. They are quite prodigious if I do say so myself. In any case, allow me to retrieve you." Hoping that the person floating space they just hit is capable of speaking in radio frequenceies, Sky Lynx apologized to the "pedestrian." Sky Lynch assumed his space-dragon mode. Sky Lynx is an unusual transformer, in that he does not have a humanoid robot mode. He converts into a dragon from space-shuttle-with-attached-runway-crawler. In a pinch, he could separate his crawler and convert into two other things. He stretched out his long neck, and grabbed the floating mechanical person in his mouth. The little one bounded down its captor's throat, past a series of airlocks, and onto the floor of main cabin.

Nightbeat crouched down beside it. "Are you the one who sent the message?"

"That's not the most important thing at the moment, Nightbeat," corrected Sky Lynx.

"Right. Are you okay, little person?"

The mechaniod guest scratched its head and looked up at Nightbeat. Its armor was pristine, gleaming white, as if it had never been touched by atmosphere. It didn't wear a mouth plate, but it wore a visor on its forehead that could be pulled down over the eyes. There was no indication of any kind that it had an alt-mode. There was something particularly alien about it. "Yes, I'm—I'm ok. I didn't send any message, though."

"You must be made out of some really tough stuff, then. We nearly knocked you into next week." Nightbeat put his chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

"I am Dexi------mal. I don't really remember anything other than that. I think I was traveling somewhere." The robot touched its pointer fingers together and stared at them meekly. "I seem to have gotten lost."

"Deximal? I once knew a bot named Dexi-mare when I was at the Academy for Performing Arts in Iacon. Perhaps you know her. She turned into a horse. She was rather tall, unlike you, but of course not tall like me either, and very good with a bow-"

"Why did you pause in the middle of your name? It was almost like there was more to it but I couldn't hear it."

"I'm confused. My name isn't Deximal; it's Dexi------mal. Oh. I see what you mean. It's like, I can hear my name in my head, but I just can't get my mouth to say it. I guess part of my communication systems are built into my transtector."

"You're a headmaster," deduced Nightbeat. A headmaster is a smaller robot that transforms into the head of a larger robot. The body the headmaster connects to is called a transtector.

"A Headmaster! I always wanted to be a headmaster. Imagine me, a dragon, becoming the snakelike head and neck of a larger dragon."

"Where is your transtector now? There's nothing else out here for miles."

"I....don't know. I can't sense them. I think we were separated, and that's how I got lost."

"This is the message we received." Nightbeat picked up a datapad and showed it to the alleged-headmaster. "It contains coordinates for this location. We can't read it, but maybe it means something to you?"

"Oh. " Its eyes grew wide. "Yes." The robot meekly took the datapad into its tiny hands. "I did send this. But it was meant for my transtector." It held the datapad close to its chest and pulled down its visor to cover up its eyes.

Was it being bashful?

"You and your transtector apparently don't transmit in Cybertronian language. What does the signal mean?"

The little robot covered its face in its hands.

"Clearly the poor thing's embarrassed, Nightbeat. Imagine how you would feel if you were asked what you told your own body after you had separated."

Nightbeat was uncomfortable. He wouldn't make any progress solving the mystery if he had to deal with this stranger's separation anxiety, on top of its apparent amnesia. "What does it turn into, without you attached? And where were you when you disengaged from it?"

"Um...I...cannot remember." The small transformer fell to the floor onto its back with a clang. Then it spoke. "Do you have any food? I've been floating right there for a very long time, and I'm almost out of Nucleon."

"That's pretty strong stuff. Pretty sure we don't have that. Uh, Sky Lynx, did we pack any rations? At all?"

"Me, pack? You mean inside my own body? I can't exactly reach in there, if you catch my drift."

"Is there a trading outpost closer to our current location than Cybertron?"

"Well, there is a grubby little spot in the Shellbap cluster, but I must warn you the environment is nearly toxic."

"Does it have a corrosive atmosphere or something?"

"In a manner of speaking. It is most untidy, and smells of organic excretions."