Tag between Transformers flim and ROTF
TITLE: One man's trash is not always another man's treasure
AUTHOR: Rose0mary
RATING: K+ (everyone)
CHARACTERS: Robert Epps, Ratchet, and assorted others from NEST
GENRE: General
CONTINUITY: BayVerse
SUMMARY: First Battle is over. The Autobots and their human allies prepare for future battles - and try to find a proper base that works for everyone.
WARNINGS: NONE
Ratchet grumbled as he found himself in the abandoned Military base. There was clutter everywhere. Back on Cybertron, a find like this would have been a boon, yet, according to the human allies, this was a small dump.
"Obsolete?" Ratchet asked, "Everything works." He began poking at the wires, running power through the cords, and scanning the equipment, trying to ascertain what had been broken for the humans to just abandon a thousand pieces of similar equipment.
Robert Epps leaned against the only wall not blocked by junked computers. "It slow, and no longer brand-new. The firewall protections were cracked, and the 'secrets' of the inner workings are now public knowledge." He watched, bemused as Ratchet dismantled the pieces he got his servos on.
"Can't they be recycled? Modified?"
"Probably. Most assume it's just easier to make everything brand new than to change it from the factory settings."
Ratchet stopped his browsing of the salvageable parts. "I'm sure," he vented. "Are you just going to stand there?"
Epps looked around. Most of the piles were taller than him. "What do you want me to do? Send the stacks falling down? Being buried is not something humans can shrug off"
Ratchet's scavenging efforts soon found intact and functional old-style computers. "All they need is a power-source." Ratchet fiddled with the screens. "No virus and no malware in the primitive programing."
"But the memory and RAM is nada." Epps countered. "Modern technology is much better than this junk."
Ratchet paused. Looked at the lone soldier escorting him around this military base. "I've seen enough." Ratchet extracted himself carefully from the room - the hallway and corridors that lead to top-secret disposal sites were not made for mechs his size.
The two emerged from the underground chambers. Ratchet led as Epps trotted beside. "Hey, man, I thought you wanted to see everything!"
Ratchet did not slow as he headed back to where the other human soldiers were waiting. "I have a hypothesis I need to try."
"The experiment need that stuff?" Epps meant the selection of computers in Ratchet's servos.
"Yes. Captain William Lennox!"
William Lennox looked up. "Afternoon, Ratch. How's this site work for you?"
"It is not adequate." Ratchet set the computers down, connected the powerless devices to his systems. "Do you have a Laptop I can borrow?"
"Why?" Both Lennox and Epps asked. The remaining soldiers remained quite as they edged closer.
"A one-time trial. Your Personal Computer will remain unaffected."
Lennox thought about the request. Brought out a Portable Computer. "Will this do?"
Ratchet scanned the device without touching it. "Yes." He turned the old-style computer on and somehow reformatted the ancient device and its first-generation programming so that it accepted wi-fi Internet connection.
"Whoa!" Commented Ward. "That thing is older than the 'Net! How's it working?"
Ratchet vented. "All it needed was a power-source." He manipulated the monitors and screens so that they were both uploading the same you-tube video.
Epps blinked, trying to understand what the object of this demonstration was. The old, computer, probably one of the first ones every used in the military, failed downloading the video, flashed an error. "See? Lack of RAM power." The other, the borrowed laptop, played the movie.
Ratchet grunted. "Modern technology? By Autobot standards, your best stuff is almost as useless as this!" Ratchet unplugged the bulky device. "Cybertrons can download files as fast as your servos can upload the info - the limiting factor is not time, but processing speed."
"Ratchet?" Optimus Prime returned from his survey of the outer parameter. "Your thoughts?"
"Converting an abandoned base into usable headquarters would be folly sir. We'd do better to dig our own shelter and stock it with supplies we need." Ratchet shook his head. "Human style construction, unless it includes an Air Craft Hanger, is not built in a scale any of us could feel comfortable in."
"What about an island base?" Robert Epps piped in. "After WWII ended and the troops returned home, we left structures behind - structures only, as the materials used to make the structures were not designed to be dismantled or portable."
Ratchet and Optimus Prime were silent for several moments. "If we could examine one such base, it might prove to be adequate."
Lennox sighed. "I'll talk to the SecDef and arrange for you to visit the islands."
AUTHOR: Rose0mary
RATING: K+ (everyone)
CHARACTERS: Robert Epps, Ratchet, and assorted others from NEST
GENRE: General
CONTINUITY: BayVerse
SUMMARY: First Battle is over. The Autobots and their human allies prepare for future battles - and try to find a proper base that works for everyone.
WARNINGS: NONE
Ratchet grumbled as he found himself in the abandoned Military base. There was clutter everywhere. Back on Cybertron, a find like this would have been a boon, yet, according to the human allies, this was a small dump.
"Obsolete?" Ratchet asked, "Everything works." He began poking at the wires, running power through the cords, and scanning the equipment, trying to ascertain what had been broken for the humans to just abandon a thousand pieces of similar equipment.
Robert Epps leaned against the only wall not blocked by junked computers. "It slow, and no longer brand-new. The firewall protections were cracked, and the 'secrets' of the inner workings are now public knowledge." He watched, bemused as Ratchet dismantled the pieces he got his servos on.
"Can't they be recycled? Modified?"
"Probably. Most assume it's just easier to make everything brand new than to change it from the factory settings."
Ratchet stopped his browsing of the salvageable parts. "I'm sure," he vented. "Are you just going to stand there?"
Epps looked around. Most of the piles were taller than him. "What do you want me to do? Send the stacks falling down? Being buried is not something humans can shrug off"
Ratchet's scavenging efforts soon found intact and functional old-style computers. "All they need is a power-source." Ratchet fiddled with the screens. "No virus and no malware in the primitive programing."
"But the memory and RAM is nada." Epps countered. "Modern technology is much better than this junk."
Ratchet paused. Looked at the lone soldier escorting him around this military base. "I've seen enough." Ratchet extracted himself carefully from the room - the hallway and corridors that lead to top-secret disposal sites were not made for mechs his size.
The two emerged from the underground chambers. Ratchet led as Epps trotted beside. "Hey, man, I thought you wanted to see everything!"
Ratchet did not slow as he headed back to where the other human soldiers were waiting. "I have a hypothesis I need to try."
"The experiment need that stuff?" Epps meant the selection of computers in Ratchet's servos.
"Yes. Captain William Lennox!"
William Lennox looked up. "Afternoon, Ratch. How's this site work for you?"
"It is not adequate." Ratchet set the computers down, connected the powerless devices to his systems. "Do you have a Laptop I can borrow?"
"Why?" Both Lennox and Epps asked. The remaining soldiers remained quite as they edged closer.
"A one-time trial. Your Personal Computer will remain unaffected."
Lennox thought about the request. Brought out a Portable Computer. "Will this do?"
Ratchet scanned the device without touching it. "Yes." He turned the old-style computer on and somehow reformatted the ancient device and its first-generation programming so that it accepted wi-fi Internet connection.
"Whoa!" Commented Ward. "That thing is older than the 'Net! How's it working?"
Ratchet vented. "All it needed was a power-source." He manipulated the monitors and screens so that they were both uploading the same you-tube video.
Epps blinked, trying to understand what the object of this demonstration was. The old, computer, probably one of the first ones every used in the military, failed downloading the video, flashed an error. "See? Lack of RAM power." The other, the borrowed laptop, played the movie.
Ratchet grunted. "Modern technology? By Autobot standards, your best stuff is almost as useless as this!" Ratchet unplugged the bulky device. "Cybertrons can download files as fast as your servos can upload the info - the limiting factor is not time, but processing speed."
"Ratchet?" Optimus Prime returned from his survey of the outer parameter. "Your thoughts?"
"Converting an abandoned base into usable headquarters would be folly sir. We'd do better to dig our own shelter and stock it with supplies we need." Ratchet shook his head. "Human style construction, unless it includes an Air Craft Hanger, is not built in a scale any of us could feel comfortable in."
"What about an island base?" Robert Epps piped in. "After WWII ended and the troops returned home, we left structures behind - structures only, as the materials used to make the structures were not designed to be dismantled or portable."
Ratchet and Optimus Prime were silent for several moments. "If we could examine one such base, it might prove to be adequate."
Lennox sighed. "I'll talk to the SecDef and arrange for you to visit the islands."