Interrupting Extinction

Interrupting Extinction - Four

    ---Earth: One Orbit (Day) | Cybertron: Two Deca-cycles (Roughly Three Weeks)---

    It had been a day since Alice went and beamed herself to Cybertron, and her parents didn't know yet. Sam had yet to tell them, and was honestly just hoping that the situation would resolve itself before they had to know. Of course, things never actually work out that way. He should've known the moment Cherrybomb and Steel had located their mother millions of lightyears away that things weren't going to go smoothly. But the young man had decided to ignore the issue whilst trying his best to get his sister back. And in doing so he had sealed his fate.

"Samuel James Archibald Witwicky." His mother's voice growled from behind him. Sam immediately froze his fingers hovering over the keyboard as he shook minutely in fear. Oh no. He panicked. Sam whipped around, spinning on his heels and meeting the eyes of his very, very angry mother. His father stood behind the furious version of the woman. A half-resigned, half-disgruntled expression on his face. Sam's mother had always been the sort to feel deeply whilst his father kept his emotions to himself. But Alice hadn't checked in with them for over 24-hours. And likely, Steel and Cherrybomb had phones the two in a panic. Sam gulped pathetically. Time to face the music, he supposed.

"Where is your sister," Judy bit out, extremely angry. Her daughter, for all of her procrastinating tendencies, had never once disobeyed their one rule: Wherever she is, whenever she is, she had to check in within 24-hours. It had been twenty-six. Her other spawn trembled in front of her, her husband standing staunchly behind her. She was glad that she could always rely on Ron to support her. Especially in public. The man knew when to stop her in private, but once other people could see or hear them, he was her #1 supporter. "Well?" Judy pushed, emphasizing the word. Her son winced pathetically.

"In space," Sam mumbled, knowing full well that his mother would be displeased that she couldn't hear him clearly. His mother's expression twisted, her anger mounting. Sam cleared his throat, repeating himself, "She's in space. On Cybertron." His mother's anger disappeared in an instant, the air in her sails whooshing out immediately. Instead, both of his parents looked gobsmacked.

"She's what?" Ron breathed out, looking at his son. He had known that his children were both embroiled in something he would likely never understand. Knew that his grandchildren were little aliens, and that his little Alice was far too young to be a mother, even an adoptive one. But not once, not once did he think that his daughter would full-on somehow get herself into space. Onto an alien planet. Some-odd million lightyears away. His son looked as disbelieving as he felt, but Sam had gotten more time to process it. The eldest Witwicky child bobbed his head in some sort of mimicry of a nod.

"She's not here," Sam reiterated, "On Earth. This solar system. Gone from the Milky Way. Teleported once and boom she's on an alien planet," Sam laughed a little at the end of his word vomit. His parents laughed a little too, but none of them were actually feeling it. The sounds of gears turning and air compressing whooshing appeared from behind them. Sam looked up from his parents to see Optimus approaching. Once the mech reached them, he kneeled down to get on a better eye level with the three humans.

"Greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky. I see you have heard the news," Optimus began, trying to broach the topic gently. Alice's mother seemed to have no intention of doing the same. Puffing you're as she was, her face red.

"Yes we have," Judy started hotly, "Any reason why we weren't told?"

"Ah," Optimus nodded gently, "That would be because the news of exactly where she went was not discovered until a few hours ago." The mech explained. The human female immediately cooled, her anger fizzling into almost nothing. And honestly, Optimus wouldn't be surprised if Cherrybomb hadn't told his grandparents before alerting the Autobots as to what Alice's new location was.

"Oh." Judy breathed. Her husband turned and whispered to her.

"That's when Steel called us, dear. We were likely told first." Ron placated his wife. Judy sniffed a little, but in the end calmed a little more. Ron has noticed that Optimus had that kind of affect on people. The large mech nodded in thanks towards the Witwicky patriarch, then continued.

"We are searching for the best way to retrieve her, but the avenue of which Alice originally used is no longer... available to us." Optimus hinged, wincing at the fact. The treasure of the Autobots really had wild streak going for herself. For all of the hours Alice spent sleeping she seemed to stir up trouble that lasted forever. His attention flickered back to Alice's mother as she spoke.

"And that means?" Judy pushed. She then stopped and blushed a little in embarrassment. Would she even understand if he told her? Alien tech was so not her forté. "If there's an explanation we can understand." Optimus chuckled a bit at her amendment, easily answering her.

"She used a set of teleportation pillars, that at the time, we were still fixing." Optimus sighed deeply. "There was a sign warning humans to keep out, but alas..." The mech mimicked a human cough, his cheekplates tinged blue, "The point is that we have to restart our progress. It will take some time." Optimus has grown very fond of Alice over the time he had known the little human. But she was a rascal even at the best of times. Likely why she was stuck on Cybertron at the moment. Optimus looked to Sam as he began to speak.

"I'll do whatever I can to help," Sam promised, looking into Optimus' optics with a steel to his voice.

"We will too!" Both Ron and Judy declared in unison. They weren't going to sit back and relax like they're daughter wasn't in a dangerous situation. Likely, no-one knew her true state or what she was going through. That only made them more worried for her. Optimus nodded to all of them, just as serious.

"Together then. We will be counting on you," Optimus told them, rising to his full height. Every 'bot, soldier, and personnel in NEST would work hard to bring Alice home.

No matter what.