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koilungfish ([personal profile] koilungfish) wrote2008-03-08 05:10 pm

080308 - Lost in Transmission

15/2/08 - 1305 words on The Other God of Charr
16/2/08 - Day Off
17/2/08 - 740 words on Omicron Rising
18/2/08 - 553 words on Taste of Empires
19/2/08 - 21/2/08 - Ill
22/2/08 - 681 words on Stormhangar
23/2/08 - Fail
24/2/08 - 1342 words on Stormhangar
25/2/08 - Day Off
26/2/08 - Day Off
27/2/08 - Ill
28/2/08 - Ill
29/2/08 - 901 words on Stormhangar
1/3/08 - Ill
2/3/08 - 1089 words on Stormhangar
3/3/08 - 7/3/08 - Ill


8/3/08 - Lost in Transmission

         Soundwave sat back in his seat, the screens before him dim and the command chamber quiet. Behind him Megatron stood glowering over a map, deep in thought. On Soundwave's right Rumble was loaded into the computer, spooling through three days' worth of recorded television in search of anything useful.
         Soundwave sat back and listened.
         Seven cables ran from Soundwave's workstation into his data jacks. Four carried human radio signals, monitoring vast swathes of frequencies - long wave, short wave, medium and satellite. The other three carried signals from the patrolling jets: Skywarp, roaming the North Atlantic on the fringes of the Artic; Dirge, scanning the west coast of Africa; Starscream, combing the Gulf of Mexico.
         [M one nine to V one,] Skywarp called softly, voice inflectionless in automatic report, [Position two three five by one three seven by forty-three. Zero zero, weather to follow.] All clear, sensor readings transmitted in a quick flicker of code. Soundwave dumped the data to his workstation and let the base computer add it its model of Earth's resources and weather-systems.
         [S one to V one,] Starscream called, flat, bored, transmitting on deep automatic well below conscious thought. [Position nine eight two by eight seven seven by fifty-nine. Zero zero, weather to follow.] Soundwave glanced into Starscream's data, plunging himself into clear blue skies over clear blue water, into a mesh of wind and the smell of salt water.
         [M three eight to V one,] Dirge called, full voice, bored and morose. [West of Angola, just passing Luanda on my way south. Nothing to report.] His communication closed.
         Soundwave moved, flicked keys to single out Dirge and to transmit to him. [V 1 calling M three eight, transmit weather.]
         [There's nothing to report,] Dirge complained. [No wind, no waves, sun's going down. It's dead sky.]
         [Transmit weather,] Soundwave ordered. Dirge complied, overloading his transmitter to hit Soundwave with a squeal of data. Soundwave ignored it and dumped the data to his workstation.
         On his right Rumble ejected from the computer. "Man, these flesh-germs watch a lot of rubbish," he said, sprawling across his seat. "Can I take a break, Soundwave? I think my processor's going to melt from boredom."
         "Operation status?" Soundwave asked, human transmissions singing away in one side of his brain.
         "I'm about three-quarters of the way through. Gimme a breem off and it'll be done by the time my shift's over, I swear," Rumble said, his voice pleading.
         "Request allowed," Soundwave said, fine-tuning a few stations. "One breem."
         "Thanks boss! You won't notice I'm gone," Rumble said, jumping down from his seat and leaving the room quickly. Soundwave tilted his head a little, listening for any reaction from Megatron, but the tyrant was silent, off in some far tower of thought.
         Soundwave lifted his hands from the keyboard and began to cycle through the human stations playing in his head. They washed over him like soft brushes, tickling his mind with odd chords and fragments of words - the jangle of adverts, the precise tones of announcers, the patter of a disk-jockey on speed, the chatter and effects of radio plays, and all between the endless, limitless music.
         Soundwave heard guitars strum and squeal across the ether, drums thumping dimly amongst static and interference, low throbs of bass pressing against his senses like heavy velvet. Human voices shrieked and crooned and - too often, Soundwave thought - wheedled off-key. He sloshed through repeats of Top 40 hits, through muddled radio plays mushed into pirate radio, the occasional snap and buzz of an ambulance or police car and the plainchant of the shipping forecast.
         Audio salad, Soundwave thought, snatching the phrase out of the jungle of signals. Jambalaya signals. The words meant less than the rhythm of their sounds. Jalambalaya balamalamam lalalama ... Soundwave hummed in his mind, idly tapping his fingers on the keyboard.
         [M one nine to V one,] Skywarp interrupted him. Soundwave's hands stopped, the beat lost. [Position two three five by one three eight by forty-four. Zero zero, weather to follow.]
         Soundwave dumped the data straight into the terminal and slumped in his chair, head back, faintly annoyed at losing his new beat, waiting until the other two Seekers reported in and he could go back to sound-surfing. Reminder; recommend fewer patrol sweeps to Megatron.
         Silence on the Decepticon radio. Soundwave raised his head. Starscream had missed his check-in.
         [M three eight to V one,] Dirge said, forestalling a call on Starscream. [West of Angola, just passing Lobito, heading south, blah blah blah. Nothing to report. This is so boring I might just crash myself for entertainment. Weather to follow,] he finished in grumpy tones. Soundwave dumped the data to the workstation automatically, ignoring Dirge.
         The Decepticon channels went silent.
         Soundwave waited, marking off seconds in his head. Starscream was thirty seconds overdue, an ice age for someone transmitting on automatic.
         Thirty-five seconds.
         Soundwave put his hands on the keyboard. [V one calling S one, report.]
         Silence.
         Forty seconds overdue.
         [V one calling S one, report.]
         Forty-five seconds.
         [V one calling, report signal.]
         [V one, this is M one nine. Receiving strength twelve.]
         [Soundwave, this is Dirge. I hear you fine.]
         [M three eight, maintain radio silence until notified,] Soundwave ordered. Dirge's channel went sullenly dormant. [V one to M one nine. Unable to raise Starscream.]
         [He's outta my range,] Skywarp replied. [I'm over Greenland, he's in the Bahamas.]
         [Acknowledged.]
         One hundred seconds.
         [V one calling S one, report or be reported!]
         [- oundwave?] came a voice loaded with static. The normally crystal-clear Decepticon channel buzzed, the black-and-white fuzz of sound pouring into Soundwave's head and smothering Starscream's voice. [- use - I've got - channel one by - ] Starscream's transmission cut, vanishing under the waves of static.
         Soundwave sat up, tapped at the keyboard. "Alert level four," he said, hearing Megatron turn at the sound of his voice. "Radio contact with Starscream disturbed."
         "Starscream is always disturbed," Megatron said. "What are the Autobots doing this time?"
         Soundwave put his call to Starscream on automatic, repeating every twelve seconds, and checked on the Autobots. Their jamming station in New York was still online, deafening Soundwave to anything in the northern half of the USA and most of Canada. He could dimly pick up echoes of the Ark's transmitters, tail ends of signals bounced off human satellites. [V one calling, report Autobot signals.]
         [Negative,] replied Dirge instantly.
         [I got nothing,] Skywarp said, [except ice on my tailfins.]
         [- V one, V one, answer, answer - ] Starscream's signal blurted over the radio, fizzling with static, his voice a hard edge amongst a mess of points.
         [V one receiving, signal distorted. S one, S one, signal bad, signal bad.]
         [- unclear - repeat, repeat,] Starscream's irritation was the most audible part of his signal, the rest a crashing wave of random noise.
         Soundwave adjusted the tuning, rotating the docking tower to point its better transceiver towards the south. [S one, S one, make channel eight-three-eight, channel eight-three-eight.] Soundwave set the message to keep repeating and put all his receivers on channel eight-three-eight.
         And waited.
         Five minutes now. Soundwave felt the prickling of unease spreading across his chest-door like cracks. Rumble sauntered back in, late, and jumped into his chair. The Infocon was about to transform and load himself into the computer when he glanced at Soundwave and stopped still.
         [- V one, V one, distress, distress - ]
         The signal boomed out of the ether through a roar of static, straight into Soundwave's head, automatically broadcast over of the command chamber's speakers. Soundwave heard Megatron stand up and walk over, heard Rumble climb onto the console and run along the keyboard to his side.
         [S one, S one, transmit position, transmit position]
         "What's going on?" Megatron asked, laying a hand on the back of Soundwave's seat. "Is he under attack?"
         [- V one, V -] The signal vanished, overrun by static.
         "Soundwave, get through to him," Megatron ordered.
         "Rumble, raise docking tower," Soundwave said, hoping the extra elevation would aid reception. [S one, S one, signal broken, signal broken.]
         "Docking tower's up," Rumble said. "Diverting auxiliary power to receivers."
         [- V one, V one, distress, distress.] Starscream's signal cleared. His voice was loud, anxious, confused, muddled with static.
         "What's causing that interference?" Megatron asked. "Rumble, sweep the radio for counter-signals."
         [S one, S one, receiving strength three,] Soundwave replied.
         [- ving strength two - ] Starscream said, words lost in static. [- can't find nor - interference on all inst - lost heading - got my marker?]
         [S one, S one, no marker heard, repeat no marker,] Soundwave replied.
         Starscream's reply was a crack of static, possibly a curse. [- V one, no heading - no - can't see - ]
         Static. The sound rose up like a wall of sighs.
         [- altimeter - last posi - malfunctioning - ] Starscream shouted, buried behind the mutter and moan of radio ghosts.
         The hiss and whine filled the command chamber. Soundwave heard Megatron's low, grating hiss of frustration, the tap of Rumble's hands on the keyboard. "No counter-signals, boss," the Infocon said. Soundwave almost jumped at his voice. "Want me to sent Astrotrain up with the communications relay?"
         "Negative," Megatron said, frowning at the readouts on Soundwave's console. "Starscream is barely a thousand miles from here."
         A red light began to flash on Soundwave's console. "Starscream's emergency beacon activated," Soundwave reported, hesitating.
         "Lock position and scramble the Seekers," Megatron ordered.
         Soundwave's fingers brushed over the keys, the emergency beacon echoing in his head. "Unable to resolve signal," he reported, a tremor in his fingers. "Emergency beacon received via satellite relay."
         The static whistled, keening in the bodiless realm. Soundwave wanted to turn it off. Decepticon radio didn't get static, ever.
         "Rumble, trace that beacon," Megatron said. "Soundwave, keep signalling Starscream. If this isn't the Autobots then it's probably nothing Starscream can't deal with on his own."
         [V one calling S one, V one calling S one, receive? Receive?]
         [- ne, S one, rece - strength two, stre -]
         [Starscream,] came an unexpected voice. [This is Optimus Prime. Can you hear me?]
         [- obots! Signal's ba - clear the air!]
         [V one to Ark, V one to Ark, clear air, clear air.]
         [Ark to Soundwave, received. We will continue to monitor. Sound off.]
         [- one, sky is - horizon is curved! - flying in circles? Chronome - magnetic re - ]
         "Magnetic interference?" Megatron said, wondering aloud. He stepped aside, taking over the workstation between Soundwave and Rumble. Soundwave heard him calling up the mapping data of the Bahamas, reviewing the magnetic data.
         [Seventy two,] said a voice on the radio. [Seventy one. Seventy.]
         Soundwave stopped dead still. Rumble stopped, looked up at the speakers. Megatron looked at Soundwave. "Who is that?" the tyrant demanded.
         "Unknown," Soundwave replied. The voice was low, smooth, entirely untouched by static. It was a human voice, speaking in English. "Transmitting on Cybertronian channels."
         "The humans do not possess such a capacity!" Megatron said. "Which Autobot is this?"
         [Sixty five. Sixty four,] the voice continued in calm, clear monotone.
         "None known," Soundwave replied.
         [- one, V one, repeat, six five six four what?] Starscream asked, the static on his signal deafening.
         [Sixty one,] said the voice, faceless, breaking through the static like a bullet through tinfoil. [Sixty. Fifty-nine.]
         [Ark to Soundwave,] came the voice of Optimus Prime. [That counting - it's not us.]
         "Megatron," Soundwave said. "Request orders."
         "Get Starscream's position, and get Prime off the air," Megatron said, voice grating. "Rumble, status?"
         "Can't trace nothing," Rumble replied. "Got a - a wall of interference between us and the Bahamas. I can't clear anything."
         [- V one, stop - what are these numbers?] Starscream shrieked, immediately blotted out.
         [Fifty. Forty-nine. Forty-eight.]
         [- stop it, stop it - can't tell whi - up or down - ]
         Megatron's fists tightened. "Soundwave, jam that counting."
         Soundwave compared channels and frequencies. "Enemy signal broadcasting on Starscream's frequency." [V one to S one, V one to S one, make emergency channel, emergency channel.]
         [- emergency chan - ] Starscream replied, jumping from channel eight-three-eight to two-seven-four. [- V-one - now?]
         [Thirty-one. Thirty.]
         "There's no way the Autobots could know what channel he's on!" Rumble protested.
         [Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven.] The voice was flat, without resonance, without the soft shadings of sound caused by the air-spaces in the human head, Soundwave realised. The voice was not Autobot, not Decepticon, not human.
         "That is no Autobot," Megatron said, frowning like murder. "Soundwave, get-"
         [Twenty-five. Twenty-four.]
         [- one, one, one, one!] Starscream's voice suddenly shouted, echoing over the radio. His voice wobbled back and forth, first one speaker then another, signal scattering, volume increasing.
         "He's coming from all over the place," Rumble said, pointing at his screen, the traced signal bouncing across thousands of miles of empty ocean. "Even he can't move that fast!"
         The dopplering screaming rose, overlapping, blurring into a loud squeal of feedback that climbed up and up until Soundwave had to mute his audios even though he could feel the sound beating on his chest until with a horrible rip of jagged noise the signal broke -
         The counting stopped.
         [- S one calling, signal clear?] Starscream said, exhausted, frightened. [Blown a bank of - get my posit - isit - counting?]
         [V one to S one, signal breaking,] Soundwave replied. [Unable to resolve your beacon.]
         [Eighteen. Seventeen.]
         Starscream screamed. Soundwave trembled.
         [Fourteen. Thirteen.]
         Megatron leant over Soundwave shoulders and hit the transmit button. [Starscream, get down! Get down on the ground!]
         [Ten. Nine.]
         [- tron? - hear you! - o ground, no ground, just water - should have seen - where - islands all gone?] His voice was panicked, shaking, almost pleading. [- istress, distress, can an - ]
         [Six. Five.]
         [Climb, you fool!] Megatron shouted over a thousand miles.
         [Three.]
         [- p. Can't find up -]
         [Two.]
         [- sky is turning -]
         [One.]
         The static stopped.
         The air deadened to utter silence. The counting was gone. There was no transmission, not even the slightest whisper of a signal. On the console, the red light of Starscream's emergency beacon faded and went out.
         [Starscream?] Megatron called. [Starscream, answer me!]
         Silence. Not even a hiss of static.
         [Starscream!] Megatron roared, and Soundwave had to lean away slightly. [Starscream, you coward, answer me!] The tyrant stood up, scowling, violence held back for a lack of target.
         [V one calling, V one calling. Report, report.]
         [Starscream, this is Dirge. What's going on?]
         [Optimus Prime calling Starscream, do you receive?]
         [Skywarp calling, Skywarp calling Starscream, answer!]
         [V one calling S one, V one calling S one, respond, respond.]
         Silence.
         [V one calling S one, respond.]
         Not even the whine of the ghosts of static.
         [V one calling S one, are you there?]
         Dead air.

Final Version Posted

[identity profile] vivian-shaw.livejournal.com 2008-03-08 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh fuck me with a sixteen-phase MAR, don't leave them there.

I love, love, the way you've set all this up as completely routine and rote, and the insights you've given into how Soundwave thinks when he's doing routine and rote things with a different part of his mind; how the sound-surfing appeals. And I love the soaked-in aura of old ghosts, old signals still on the air: radio is haunted.

The Bermuda Triangle isn't something I'd have thought of doing to him, but it really works, and the effect is exactly as eerie as the reports I've read of last-known transmissions from lost aircraft. The counting makes me think again of the King short story 1408 as well as the shortwave number stations.
Truly excellent.

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-08 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
After three hours, I think I'm allowed to stop for a bit ;) Honestly, I have no idea where to go from here.

I was trying to set up the beginning as rote and routine - after all, weird is only weird relative to normal, so to produce weirdness one must first define the norm from which it deviates - and was vaguely thinking of adding more on the human radio and sound-surfing, but it didn't come up again.

It wasn't the Bermuda Triangle I had in mind but your recent post on number stations and Amelia Earhart. The countdown was lifted, bad fish, from Naamah's Ozark transmission.

Thank you.

[identity profile] lunatron.livejournal.com 2008-03-08 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Hah, so this was inspired by Viv's links!

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-08 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup, should be clear to anyone who's read the post in question. You like?

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[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/ 2008-03-08 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
STARSCREAM!!! NOOO!!!

This is brilliant, Koi! Can't wait for more.

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-09 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, he'll be all right. He always is.

Afraid there isn't going to be more. This is just a one-shot to get the idea down.

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[identity profile] dragoness-e.livejournal.com 2008-03-08 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
My thought was Bermuda Triangle; I remember back when Charles Berlitz's book came out and it was a hot topic. Most of the supposedly "mysterious" disappearances have been since debunked, but that hasn't stopped it from entering popular myth.

It makes for a creepy story.

Now, since this is S2 Starscream, I'm pretty sure he survives this, so the question is, where'd he go and how do they get him back?

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-09 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I picked the location rather at random. Something tropical felt vaguely appropriate. I guess he was inside the Bermuda Triangle area, but I don't think that had anything to do with. Er. Probably.

It's creepy? I thought it was a bit flat on the atmosphere side.

I have no idea, but I'm sure Skywarp will end up doing most of the leg-work.

[identity profile] cindy-73.livejournal.com 2008-03-08 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
About a 3rd of the way into the fic when Starscream started getting interference I thought the Bermuda Triangle. Poor Starscream. Superb fic Koi, the beginning was great. I rarely ever read any fics with board Decepticons and I never in my life seen Skywarp that civil. Keep up the great work. :)

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-09 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh, looks like I wandered into the Bermuda Triangle without realising. Thanks. I guess even the Decepticons have quiet days.

[identity profile] aragem.livejournal.com 2008-03-09 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. You do suspense well. Really well. I like it and I am VERY curious to see what had happened to Starscream and how he is going to get out of this mess.

It's also a nice touch to have Optimus Prime becoming involved in a situation and actually trying to help.

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-10 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I may end up having to continue this some time.

Well, can you imagine Optimus Prime - bastion of compassion - hearing Starscream calling frantically on the radio and *not* responding?

[identity profile] ladyrazorsharp.livejournal.com 2008-03-09 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. Loved it. When Starscream said "Got my marker?" I immediately thought, "Oh, hell, he's wandered into the Bermuda Triangle!" =)

I loved the buildup to the very end where he 'disappeared.' Very creepy; I could hear the desperation in Starscream's voice. Starscream screamed. Soundwave trembled. Oh yeah, that sent a chill down my spine.

When the counting started I wondered if it was the precursor to an atomic bomb test...but then when it wasn't human or cybertronian I immediately thought "Oh man he's had a run-in with the Vok!" XD

But anyway. Yeah he'll show up sometime or other, rattled and sputtering but grateful even for Megatron's wrath of "Where were you" and "when I call you answer me!" and all of that..while Soundwave ponders quietly in the background...

Nicely done!

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-10 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh, didn't think it was quite that good. The Bermuda Triangle wasn't exactly in my mind, but I, like Starscream, seem to have wandered into it unknowingly.

Possibly Vok, possibly not. We may never know.

Either that or they have to go and find him.

[identity profile] kleeng.livejournal.com 2008-03-10 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Long time reader first time poster.
I loved the build up.
Going from the routine ,which was still absolutely novel for me (I just love it when the otherness of the transformers gets explored), to absolutely frantic.

The count down really creeps me out, for me it really built up the tension, because you just know something bad is going to happen at the end of that count down.

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-11 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Aloha! You make me sound like a magazine ;) Exploring what it's like to be a TF is always fun, yes.

The countdown is based on something that happened to a friend of a friend. Her telling of it was, I think, rather creepier than this.

[identity profile] illix.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
This is the first Transformers situation that has ever actually scared me. It's a very Lovecraftian horror - not fear of something with lots of big guns, but pure, unadulterated exposure to the unknown, a hundred times more powerful because it's happening to characters we're used to thinking of as masters of the strange.

I kicked myself for not getting the Bermuda Triangle thing when I read the story, but looking through the comments it seems like that was accidental and I don't quite feel as bad now :D.

I'm torn between requesting more because I really want to see Cybertronians tangling with Earth superstition - scarier than mythology, because mythology is a system with known quantities, where this is just a lexicon of the unfathomable - and wanting this story to stand alone so that its mystery stays, well, mysterious.

Oh, by the way, I'm illix, I've wandered in here by accident. ...Hi?

P.S. You mentioned that the countdown was based on something that happened to someone you know. Is there a link to her description?

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi. Heh, if this is actually scaring people, more to the good.

Well, the Bermuda Triangle thing wasn't exactly supposed to be there. I certainly wasn't thinking of it when I wrote it.

I'm half-tempted to follow this one up, but I have a lot of long fics on the go as it is and it would be hard to do this one justice quickly.

Hi. Find me by accident?

Yeah, it's over here (http://vivian-shaw.livejournal.com/303772.html), in the comments.

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[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-28 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you. Yes, the point was to start out with a mundane situation [since the abnormal only works when you have a baseline normal to compare it to].

Really terrifying? People seem to be reacting to this much more strongly than I expected.

I'd like to continue it, but I have so much to do and so few ideas where to take it ... ;)

The counting ... heck, I'm not sure. The original experience had by said friend of friend concerned her picking up just such a countdown on a radio station whilst driving in the mountains. It came from nowhere, seemed to connect to nothing, and creeped her out rather. She turned it off before it reached zero.
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[identity profile] calger459.livejournal.com 2008-03-27 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
This was really awesome, loved the build from the mundane (loved the "crash myself for entertainment" line, that deserves an icon ;) to the suspense and panic, the way you chose to do it through the radio waves was really effective. It's like real combat situations where the commanders can only hear transmissions from a closed room, there are no pretty dramatic shots of battle like in the movies.

I know from reading the comments you didn't intend Bermuda Triangle, but that would be my assumption too. I'm not familiar with the details of the Amelia Earhart disappearance, I'll have to check that out now :) I also know you didn't want to continue this, but I really hope you do, I need to know what happens to Starscream!! :D And who was counting, God? That was super creepy.

Anyways, fantastic job, I hope to see more on this someday :)

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-28 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Poor Dirge. Perhaps that's what happened in "Hoist goes to Hollywood". And thanks.

I have an idea what happened to Starscream, but I'm not sure how to execute it. I'm not sure who or what was counting. Not God.

[identity profile] cmdrtekk.livejournal.com 2008-03-28 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Amazing and well done. Very well done. Taking this from the boredom of routine to the intense ending by using, for the most part, only the radio chatter was creative. Very creative.

Creative also to realize and show that the Autobots would probably pick up/be watching the cons and toss them into the mix.

To keep the feel of the story, it needs to end here. However I am sure many of us would love to see how everything might be resolved. If it is to be assumed that this is set in AU then perhaps this is how it ends for SS anyway.

Awesome writing. You should consider posting this to ffnet.

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-28 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you. Yes, the Autobots are too empathic to stand by and listen to someone half-way falling to bits from fear and not intercede.

This will be posted to ff.net, and my website, when I get around to polishing it up a bit and doing the html.

[identity profile] redseeker.livejournal.com 2008-04-08 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Here via a recommendation...

And dude, this is seriously creepy. Very well executed, and totally unsettling. Especially with the counting (because the minute it starts, you already know something bad's going to happen when it reaches zero :/); you built up the tension really well ♥

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 11:24 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry it took me so long to reply, I've been ill again.

Whoa, who's recommending me? :)

And thanks.

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[identity profile] redseeker.livejournal.com - 2008-04-30 11:38 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] missrao.livejournal.com 2008-04-16 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
I know I commented on this today on ff.net, but thought I'd come and comment here as well because it really made my morning. The light of the emergency beacon going out is very dramatic. The counting is really spooky. We all know something is going to happen when it finishes. What's special about 72? I love the start of the story, with the boring reports. No wonder they're always happy to go fight.
Autobots would make good neighbours, but probably nosy ones.
Only the knowledge that it's G1 Starscream (and he never goes away for long) keeps me from being completely creeped out. *glee!*

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 11:26 am (UTC)(link)
I can't believe the number of reviews I've gotten for this on ff.net. I think it's over 80 now. Astonishing. I think 72 was chosen arbitrarily as being about the right place to start for the countdown to terminate at the right time. I think it may have started lower in earlier drafts and been raised as the story got longer. Thanks :)

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(Anonymous) - 2008-05-06 23:25 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] stalker-of-doom.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
cool-cool-cool-cool!! Bermuda Triangle FTW! I love how everyone got in on the action, even Optimus. I can just imagine the confusion on their end. Seriously though, this story had me on edge right through. I was holding my breath!

So there'll be more? Please please? With sugar? And a cherry? and other strange edible paraphernalia that you find appropriate to go onto 'please'?

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 11:26 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks :)

Looks like I might have to write more, given that so many people want me to. Now all I need to do is find the B-Plot and I can get started ...

[identity profile] angelus2402004.livejournal.com 2008-08-07 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
That was awesome!! Good job! Had me at the edge of my seat!!

[identity profile] koilungfish.livejournal.com 2008-08-07 09:34 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks :)