Plague

Plague-chapter 13

Starscream jerked awake when his comm. sprang to life. At first, he did not even recognise the voice that started talking frantically on the other end, his systems were too slow to reboot after this sudden call. He saw the young Autobot medic, First Aid run up to him, but Starscream waved him away. He shut his optics and mouth tight and waited for his systems to calm down before trying to stop the ranting of his former partner.

Skyfire, please... slow down! I didn't understand anything you said.

I'm sorry, Star, I'm just... alright, I'll start again. I asked Soundwave to help me get access to my lost memory files about the chemicals we brought to our expeditions and you said this was the one I made for Earth after Virida. I noticed on Virida that around some trees, roughly the same species, there were hardly any harmful bacteria and the roots were clear of fungi. I took a sample from their bark and during the distillations, one of the compounds I extracted acted as an antifungal and antimicrobial agent.

But... Starscream frowned, can it be... synthesized here? On Earth?

Oh, the humans use it, too! They have for at least a hundred years against their own microbes and bacteria. They even use it as a corrosion inhibitor on ferrous alloys! On Earth, they call it a kind of phenyl-propenal. It's extracted from the bark of cinnamon trees.

I... Is that... cinnamaldehyde? Starscream's optics widened. He had heard of it, he had researched about many chemicals found and used on Earth. As much as he despised the humans, their science was interesting and their methods not as bad as he thought, though he didn't think much about the local flora, and as such, he brushed this knowledge aside.

Yes, that is what the workers called it. I asked for a load and we have already tried it out with Perceptor and Wheeljack. Their mixture of razon gas and their stabilized ingredient had reacted well with this organic compound. I now remember why I used it. It inhibits the function of their glucan synthase enzymes and the chitin synthases, too, which–

Synthesize the monomers of their cell walls... Starscream finished his sentence with a small smile. I knew you would find it, Skyfire.

The Seeker vented deeply and offlined his optics again. No matter how happy he became over Skyfire's good news, his body still felt as if it were on fire. Pain seared through his frame and made the nauseous swirling in his tank even worse, his spark felt ready to explode out of its chamber. Starscream raised a hand shakily to his chest, and tried not to concentrate too much on his rebellious body and listen to Skyfire's voice instead.

As of the latest tests, everything seems stable, the space shuttle continued, Wheeljack tried it on... well... different subjects and all went well, fortunately. The razon still remains liquid on this temperature thanks to the bonds it makes with 'Jack's ingredient and Perceptor confirmed that it would remain so as the two keep each other from dissolving or evaporating, and the cinnamaldehyde does not interfere much with this system... it will work, Starscream. Right now, Perceptor is using his matter duplicator to make more to fill all four CR-chambers.

I take it you're still working... even though it's close to midnight now. Starscream allowed a small smile to his lips.

Skyfire chuckled a little, Yeah... well... we'll be resting now. We just wanted to make everything ready and make sure everything worked. I'll be taking the four CR-chambers over to your base early in the next solar cycle. We have already discussed everything with Optimus and Ratchet. It will be alright, Starscream. You made it all possible.

"Starscream, what do you feel?" the Seeker heard the Autobot ask quietly and Starscream onlined his optics to see First Aid lean above him. He had just noticed his hand was still on his chest, that must have been what alerted the young medic.