The Cabin

Lancer exited the ground bridge. In front of her, right where she expected to see Crystal City arising from the metallic plain, there was a most unexpected sight: a rectangular structure made of organic materials, mainly cellulose, sitting atop a mound covered in grass. A log cabin. "Ground bridge control, something has gone wrong. I appear to be on Earth."

"Lancer, this is Cloudraker at ground bridge control. That's not possible. Everything reads as normal here, and the amount of power needed for space transport would have destroyed the bridge."

"Cloudraker, this is definitely not Crystal City. There's a field of grass and a large wooden house."

"Perhaps you have been diverted somehow? Let be do some checking." Cloudraker called up the part of the sensor grid which covered Crystal City. "Lancer, the sensor grid indicates that you arrived at the target coordinates. We are reading you in front of Crystal City. Strange....there's some sort of unexpected energy signal from your location. Sending Greenlight to investigate."

"Ok, I'm going to check out my surroundings. Will stay in touch." With that, Greenlight walked up to the cabin.

To her surprise, the cabin was further away than she thought at first. That meant that it was larger than she thought; much too large to be a normal human cabin. When she reached the cabin she realized that it was proportioned for Cybertronians. She opened the door and went inside.

The cabin was empty. No computer terminals. No appliances. No furniture. Just walls, floors, and ceilings. She went from one room to another, and found nothing. After seven rooms, Lancer was surprised that there were more, but she kept exploring. After fourteen rooms, Lancer realized she had no idea how to get back to the front door. "Cloudraker, this is Lancer. This cabin is bizarre. It's big enough for us. From the outside it seems to have normal proportions, just enlarged. But I'm now going into the fifteenth room. The geometry of this place is not normal."

"Understood. Your signal doesn't seem to have moved much at all. Greenlight is nearly there."

"Ok. I'll keep looking for explanations." She kept exploring, kept going into different rooms. In the twenty-second room, she started to hear machinery, but there was no sign of where it could be. Her anxiety about this strange situation was increasing

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Greenlight was almost at the arrival coordinates when she saw the rectangular structure. "Lancer? Lancer!" She walked up to the box. It was not much bigger than she was; if Lancer was inside it, she didn't have much room. Walking around the box, she found the control panel -- and a Decepticon sigil. She tried the controls, but they didn't respond to her. She retracted her hand and produced a small saw, cutting around the controls slowly. If she could get behind the panel, she could take control of the box directly.

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Lancer was in the twenty-third room when the machine noises stopped. She was about to open the next door when suddenly the log cabin, the mound, and the grass field disappeared, and she found herself in front of Crystal City. Greenlight was to her left. Lancer turned, and just fell into Greenlight's arms. "What -- what was that?"

"Some sort of small, holographic Decepticon trap. Come on, Maccadam's is not too far away. Let's grab a drink while I make a report," Greenlight responded. Then: "Ground bridge control, Cloudraker, This is Greenlight. Lancer is safe. There was some sort of Decepticon trap. I'll prepare a full report shortly, but I think Optimus Prime and Jazz will want to see this." The two Autobots transformed and drove off for the oil house. They returned to robot mode; Lancer held Greenlight's hand. It seemed the thing to do.

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Somewhere in Tarn, Soundwave watched. At a pitch no other Cybertronian could hear, he screamed out his frustrations.