Saturday Bonus Snippet - Project Reset: Librariobot Beginnings 2
Niecelet successfully wrangled! Here's part two of the previous snippet-fic (if you're confused, go one post back ^_^)
"Sir! Sentinel Prime? Come back...please?" Quig slowed and came to a halt as the much taller Prime rapidly outpaced him. Very clearly any and all conversation was over. "What...what am I supposed to do?" he plaintively asked the empty rampway in front of him. Surely there was some mistake. Sentinel Prime wouldn't just...leave, wouldn't just...abandon...
Quig shivered suddenly as he recalled Sentinel Prime's words: "The rest you may do with as you will." Sentinel had been every mechanometer the wise and compassionate leader up until that moment, but...deep uneasiness roiled through Quig's processor. Any impulse to chase after the Prime or attempt to contact him by comm signal died completely. It was almost a relief to hear the sound of the Prime's shuttle engine departing overhead. Quig turned and made his way back down to the Vaults.
The six hatchlings were snuggled together, but they squeaked and squirmed towards him as Quig sat down. Very different from Vector Sigma-sparked youngsters, but quite similar in many respects to newborn Nebulons in their developmental state. Sentinel Prime had given him a few instructions, how to keep the hatchlings alive until he could arrive. Quig had grown rather fond of them, in the short time they'd been under his care, but they'd also been an exhausting and full-time responsibility. He was in no way prepared to...what was he even thinking, of course it was impossible. He'd done some research on his own, while waiting for Sentinel, but other than a few vague acknowledgements that hatchlings existed, there was an appalling lack of information about them anywhere. As if it had been deliberately erased. And Zeta Prime had hidden them, and been killed, in the oddest, most strangely targeted Theta Con attack ever seen on Nebulos.
Quig opened a tube of medical-grade energon gel and picked up the closest hatchling to feed, as he tried to comprehend why it felt like the bottom had just dropped out of his world. Sentinel Prime was wise and kind and was going to be the one to bring a new Golden Age to Cybertron. Everyone knew this. Everyone said so. And he had left behind Zeta Prime's deactivated frame and six helpless hatchlings without a second glance.
Quig suddenly wanted to stand and pace in a panic, but was prevented by the five other hatchlings beginning to climb and cling to his leg armor. "I can't stay here," he said aloud, his spark beating hard in his chest. He was not prone to overreaction or fits of paranoia, had, in fact, been chosen for his position on Nebulon in part because of the steadiness and sensibility of his temperament, but Quig couldn't deny or ignore the stark fear coursing through his energon lines.
His hands were trembling as he gathered the other five hatchlings from his legs and hooked them to his chest armor next to the one he had just fed. They cheeped up at him hopefully, and he patted them as he stashed the rest of the energon tubes. "In a little bit, small ones. Your fuel will be delayed just a little bit," he told them, as he rose and made his way out to his small personal transport shuttle. He'd switch it with an unmarked public one as soon as possible.
Was he really doing this? Quig thought. Leaving the position he'd worked so hard for, his duties, his responsibilities to both Cybertron and to the Nebulon people? He looked down at the small frames clustered against his chest, fighting panic again. He had friends here, Quig reminded himself, people he could trust with his spark, or so he would have said a joor ago, before Sentinel had rattled the foundations of everything he thought he knew. Still, what else could he do? He couldn't do this alone. Quig patted the hatchlings again for courage, with a pang of worry for the fate of the seventh one, but there was nothing he could do about that now. Six innocent and helpless lives, and they were depending on him. He activated his shuttle and steered resolutely for the sky.
This entry was originally posted at http://playswithworms.dreamwidth.org/153271.html. Please comment wherever you wish.
"Sir! Sentinel Prime? Come back...please?" Quig slowed and came to a halt as the much taller Prime rapidly outpaced him. Very clearly any and all conversation was over. "What...what am I supposed to do?" he plaintively asked the empty rampway in front of him. Surely there was some mistake. Sentinel Prime wouldn't just...leave, wouldn't just...abandon...
Quig shivered suddenly as he recalled Sentinel Prime's words: "The rest you may do with as you will." Sentinel had been every mechanometer the wise and compassionate leader up until that moment, but...deep uneasiness roiled through Quig's processor. Any impulse to chase after the Prime or attempt to contact him by comm signal died completely. It was almost a relief to hear the sound of the Prime's shuttle engine departing overhead. Quig turned and made his way back down to the Vaults.
The six hatchlings were snuggled together, but they squeaked and squirmed towards him as Quig sat down. Very different from Vector Sigma-sparked youngsters, but quite similar in many respects to newborn Nebulons in their developmental state. Sentinel Prime had given him a few instructions, how to keep the hatchlings alive until he could arrive. Quig had grown rather fond of them, in the short time they'd been under his care, but they'd also been an exhausting and full-time responsibility. He was in no way prepared to...what was he even thinking, of course it was impossible. He'd done some research on his own, while waiting for Sentinel, but other than a few vague acknowledgements that hatchlings existed, there was an appalling lack of information about them anywhere. As if it had been deliberately erased. And Zeta Prime had hidden them, and been killed, in the oddest, most strangely targeted Theta Con attack ever seen on Nebulos.
Quig opened a tube of medical-grade energon gel and picked up the closest hatchling to feed, as he tried to comprehend why it felt like the bottom had just dropped out of his world. Sentinel Prime was wise and kind and was going to be the one to bring a new Golden Age to Cybertron. Everyone knew this. Everyone said so. And he had left behind Zeta Prime's deactivated frame and six helpless hatchlings without a second glance.
Quig suddenly wanted to stand and pace in a panic, but was prevented by the five other hatchlings beginning to climb and cling to his leg armor. "I can't stay here," he said aloud, his spark beating hard in his chest. He was not prone to overreaction or fits of paranoia, had, in fact, been chosen for his position on Nebulon in part because of the steadiness and sensibility of his temperament, but Quig couldn't deny or ignore the stark fear coursing through his energon lines.
His hands were trembling as he gathered the other five hatchlings from his legs and hooked them to his chest armor next to the one he had just fed. They cheeped up at him hopefully, and he patted them as he stashed the rest of the energon tubes. "In a little bit, small ones. Your fuel will be delayed just a little bit," he told them, as he rose and made his way out to his small personal transport shuttle. He'd switch it with an unmarked public one as soon as possible.
Was he really doing this? Quig thought. Leaving the position he'd worked so hard for, his duties, his responsibilities to both Cybertron and to the Nebulon people? He looked down at the small frames clustered against his chest, fighting panic again. He had friends here, Quig reminded himself, people he could trust with his spark, or so he would have said a joor ago, before Sentinel had rattled the foundations of everything he thought he knew. Still, what else could he do? He couldn't do this alone. Quig patted the hatchlings again for courage, with a pang of worry for the fate of the seventh one, but there was nothing he could do about that now. Six innocent and helpless lives, and they were depending on him. He activated his shuttle and steered resolutely for the sky.
This entry was originally posted at http://playswithworms.dreamwidth.org/153271.html. Please comment wherever you wish.