Excerpt: The Human Element- Life lines - Deus ex machina

The room, as always, was dark. He rarely bothered with the lights anymore. It wasn’t a conscious decision, he just felt more comfortable this way. More at ease.

He tapped the fingers of his right hand slowly and rhythmically on the desk in front of him, while the fingers of his left absently played over the jagged cracks in his optic. Perhaps living in half darkness for so long had had an effect on him. More likely, he knew, it was his interrogation of the alien that had changed him.

After Scourge had revealed all he would about his identity and mission, Starscream had ordered Flux to go into his processor and take the rest.

The things that he had learned had been life changing. He knew things now he never would have allowed himself to believe before.

Suddenly the door trilled, letting him know that someone was there. It sounded different to him. He’d heard it millions upon millions of times before, but now the simple little sound held an extra musical element to it that he’d never noticed before.

“Enter.” He said. The door reacted and slid aside. A moment later Thundercracker pushed his way into the room. He made sure that the door was closed behind him before he spoke.

“A little dark in here, isn’t it?” he observed. Starscream made no reply, though his fingers continued to tap away on the hard surface of the desk.

“I assume there’s a reason you’re here.” he said at length, his voice strangely soft.

It didn’t take incredible powers of observation to realize that there was something fundamentally different about Starscream. And to be perfectly honest, Thundercracker wasn’t a fan of the change. At least before you’d always been able to tell what he was thinking. (Usually because of his tendency to yell at everyone and make his opinions widely known.)

“Uh, yes sir.” He answered uneasily. “ Your communicator is turned off, so I was sent to let you know that we’re supposed to be ready to transfer to Earth’s moon in the next shift.”

Starscream tilted his head, but his one good optic did not focus on Thundercracker’s face. Instead, it focused on a place just left of it.

“No, I don’t think so.” He said, as if he were talking to himself. For a moment, Thundercracker thought he might have been.

“Uh… Why?” he asked.

Starscream’s hands never stopped their individual motions.

“We’re done here.” he answered. “Gather our remaining forces on Cybertron and have them transfer to our base on Titan.”
Thundercracker’s head snapped back as if he’d been struck.

“What, all of them? Now?” He asked incredulously.

Starscream finally seemed to focus on the mech in front of him, as if only now validating his presence.

“Is this a problem?” He asked in his new level and unreadable voice. Thundercracker stared at him in silence for a moment, considering his next words carefully.

“If we pull all of our forces out now, during a mobilization of this magnitude… there won’t be any coming back. Are you sure we’re ready to break away from the Decepticons, from Cybertron completely yet?”

“Trust me Thundercracker.” Said Starscream with an indulgent smile. “If there was ever a time to leave Cybertron, this is it. I don’t want a single member of the regime left here. Understood?”

Thundercracker’s brow furrowed, but he did not protest. “It’ll be done within the next hour sir.” He saluted quickly, then turned and left the room.

Starscream leaned his head back and considered the ceiling above the door. His fingers still tapped their slow, steady beat.

He knew that several of his followers still believed that they were not ready, as a whole, to separate from the Decepticons. They whined about resources and supplies and firepower. Perhaps they were right.

It didn’t matter now. There was simply no more time.

No, not one of his followers should remain on Cybertron, and the sooner they left the better. After all, what was a ruler with no one to rule?