Infected

Chapter 36

Eclipse POV.

Flare and Wavelength joined us in the control room. I could tell our captains were on edge. Whatever was in the forest wasn't good.

"We're here!" Flare waved.

"Good! Because the ship is officially on lockdown for the next while." Siege frowned.

"Lockdown?!" I look over shocked.

"Yep. Siege recognized the beam from one of Mr. Thundercracker's old military video logs." Solar nodded.

"That isn't comforting in the slightest." Wavelength shifted his weight.

*It's really not! Before Carrier started really started losing his memory he refused to talk about the war. I was allowed to ask some questions and certain topics were off limits.* Harmony recalled.

"Which video log?" Flare asked.

"Remember Uncle Thundercracker's story about having to camp in one of Earth's jungles? The- Amazon?" Siege asked.

"Yep! The cons couldn't risk bridging close to the Autobots while their cloaking technology was down. So he and his brothers had to walk through the jungle." Flare recalled.

He was right. During the early days of the war on Earth, the cons needed resources to rebuild. They found an Autobot camp they could easily raid. Their ground bridge wasn't able to cloak itself due to the crash landing. So Uncle Thundercracker suggested he, Sire, and Uncle Starscream walked to the base. Once they stole the supplies they had the flying power to quickly get out of there.

"The beam Solar and Wavelength found looks exactly like the one in the footage. The beam the Autobots used to set off a silent alarm." Siege explained further.

*So if we found one here and so close to the ship-* Harmony's wings froze upon realization.

"Someone has been stalking our ship." My throat felt dry.

"But who? Human technology can't detect Cybertronian ships yet. We even have our cloaking device on just in case!" Wavelength looked horrified.

"Which is exactly why we're on lockdown for a few days. If it's not a human government, then it's someone else." Solar finally spoke up. "More than likely cybertronian. It would also explain the empty safes and mines. There might be a refugee group from the war living somewhere on here Earth."

"Friend or foe?" Flare sat down in his control balcony.

"We have zero idea. Considering they were tracking our movements so close to the ship, it's doubtful they can be trusted." Siege huffed.

*I agree!* Harmony pipped up. *It's creepy. And we landed just yesterday morning! We land, we rest, we sleep, morning seeker flight, Wavelength and Solar being morning nerds again-*

"Hey!" "Hey!"

*Run through the woods, seekers come back, this meeting. We haven't been in Greenland for very long!*

"No, we haven't. So is there a possibility we're being followed?" I offer.

"For how long?" Solar asked, not yet saying it wasn't possible.

I pause to think for a moment.

"The safe!" Flare gasped.

"The safe?" Siege turned to look at him.

"The very first safe we tried opening! And all it had was dust?" Flare jumped up.

"What about it?" Wavelength took a seat himself, entering data to run his simulations.

"What if THAT had a silent alarm! After whoever raided the safe they might have installed one. If they ARE a refuge group, then they might be scared of being pulled into conflict or war again! So knowing if other Cybertronians are on the planet would be a huge advantage for preparing to hide!" Flare grinned at his explanation.

"It works." Wavelength confirmed. "It's all speculation, but, there's still a few hundred bots that never returned to Cybertron or Cybertronian colonies after the war. Most of which kind go wherever in the universe, but others formed small camps and towns to try and hide from others, just wanting to recover in peace. A mass majority of the old V-cons being one of those groups."

"So it's possible one of those groups made their way to Earth?" I hum.

*But Earth was part of the Great War? Why come here?* Harmony asked confused.

"Apparently Earth has tons of unexplored land. Mostly underwater, deep in forests, or cave systems but still. Or they're not on Earth but one of the neighboring planets. Possibly stopping by for resources." I offer another explanation for our theory.

"That would make sense. Mars is a wasteland. And Venus is way too close to the sun. Pluto is too far. But human media is saying that's a moon now." Solar nodded. "So no human can go to those places."

"Human media is also saying another planet is suspected to exist though! They've never seen it with telescopes or satellites. But they have observed gravitational pulls on Uranus and Neptune's orbits around the sun. And not from the sun itself either. But by something else." Wavelength added. "So that's now what? The moon, Pluto, Venus, Mars, and mystery planet. Plus Earth's two unexplored areas we mentioned. So seven places a refuge town could easily hide in." Wavelength tapped his ped.

*See. Nerds.* Harmony grinned.

I giggled slightly. She wasn't wrong. It fascinated me how much they knew. Especially Wavelength.

"We aren't- ok fine. We might be nerds." Solar huffed.

"No, you totally are. Half your conversations are about nerdy things. The other half is about geeky things." Siege snorted. "Not that it's a bad thing. Just making sure you're aware of it."

"Thank you. So much. Can we get back on track please?" Solar tried glaring, his baby face betrayed him.

"Yes we can." I sit on my control balcony's edge. "If they are a refuge town then it's possible they're trying to see if we're a threat."

"Unknown ship returning to Earth reading as an old war vessel? Yeah, I can't blame them." Flare spun in his seat.

*So if they're scared of us how do we show we're not a threat?* Harmony moved onto a new question.

"I- don't know." Solar paused. "Wavelength?"

"I have the situational data, be zero data on actual behavior. So unfortunately I'm not sure. But a refuge town near Earth is very likely, especially when factoring in the resources we mentioned." Wavelength nodded.

"So, we're not alone?" Siege asked. "Like we thought we were?"

"No. Not even close." Wavelength confirmed.