Game Over

Chapter 10 - Despair

-o-o-o-o-o-

Whirl stormed through the house, knocking over furniture as he went. The servants all ran and hid.

"Don't you do that!" Hebetus screamed at him. "I will call our sire and he will come home and discipline you."

"Go ahead! Call! See if I care." She'd threatened to call Caedmis before, which wouldn't go over well. Currently he was on a two meta-cycle cruise through the prettiest nebulas of the galaxy and would not want to give up the lazy, luxurious days spent sipping fine fuel and staring for hours on end at attractive displays of galactic gas. Sometimes Whirl even wondered if this Caedmis existed, though his sisters and his conjunx swore he did.

"White Noise, you were an absolute beast at the party last week. You embarrassed yourself. You embarrassed me. In front of my friends! You embarrassed the name of Boeotia! Pale says you haven't spark-merged with her in more than a week. You've been abandoning her when she wants to go hunting or shopping. And then after going missing for three days, the police found you back again at that disgusting gladiatorial pit, half-drunk and your money all lost to betting."

"That was the most fun I've had since coming back from the Lost Light!" he retorted. "It makes me feel like I'm not trapped in this fancy prison."

"Oh, don't you go telling me about your precious Lost Light again!" she bellowed. "You've made a lot of stupid decisions in your life, but that was the worst. I've been on the phone with them and our lawyers and two different mnemosurgeons because of that debacle. And don't you dare call this a prison. You're not Whirl! You're White Noise of the House of Boeotia and it's time you started behaving as such."

"I'd rather be on the Lost Light than here!" he snarled, stopping in his tracks. "At least there I didn't have to live under your thumb and spend my days doing absolutely nothing worthwhile. Yeah, there were times it sucked, and yeah, I spent a lot of time in the medibay and a lot more time in the brig, but at least I was doing something with my life. Here? Here I feel like I'm just sitting around waiting to die of boredom."

"Well you can die for all I care. You're all but worthless to this House." Hebetus turned toward a doorway. "Spanner!" she shrieked, calling for her personal assistant.

The mech came in cautiously and tried to keep his distance. "My Lady?"

"Please find something suitable for Master White Noise to kill himself with and deliver it to his room. On a silver platter please."

Whirl put his hands on his hips and glared at Spanner. "Make sure it packs a punch, Spanner, because if it doesn't take me out in one shot, I'm coming for you with it." He spun about and threw down a vase of crystal flowers, both the vase and its contents shattering on the marble floor into a thousand tinkling, bouncing pieces. And then he stomped up the closest staircase.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Rodimus sat at the table while his carrier washed dishes. Cardios' life seemed an endless stream of domestic chores for his conjunx and the four offspring that still lived at home.

Rodimus read the "Lost Light" brochure for the thousandth time. He'd found it in an advertising rack when stopping at a convenience store to pick up some polish and tube sealant one night after work. And then he sat in an oilhouse reading it over and over as he sipped his engex.

The brochure promised danger, thrills, adventure, romance, and an escape. No wonder Shunt of Port Iacon had gone for it. The character of Rodimus was much like Captain Starbolt and Infinitus Prime rolled into one. "The Lost Light has just launched—into disaster! All of Cybertron thinks the grand, mysterious ship was destroyed. But in fact, a malfunction with the quantum engines have left it on the opposite side of the galaxy."