Peas in a Pod. -- Cybertronian Senate Grand Meeting Hall

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Date Posted: 20:10:34 02/16/02 Sat
Author: Lady Embyr
Subject: Peas in a Pod.
In reply to: Lord Kyrocos 's message, "Being new at this..." on 19:20:28 02/12/02 Tue

Quite a bit of debate raged around the aged female seeker since her earlier "slip." Hegemon leapt upon the idea of teleporting Councillors immediately, and still she said nothing. She had given all gathered a course of action to pursue, and perhaps damned another of Cybertron's governing bodies, also infected with a human, a relation of their own Denarius. Let Alex rot as well. Let them all be destroyed if they were simply going to stand around arguing their individual agendas while certain doom approached. In her day, there would have been no arguement. Megatron, her Megatron, would have given the word and she and her seekers would have already been at the front lines, missles flying. Suicide mission or not, they would have been out there themselves, the honorable course of action. This game of political chess wearied her. Once, she would have been defending her world firsthand, but that was then, and now was something altogether different. Now she would probably never leave Cybertron, never find Hydrus-IV, never regain her lost youth. Even had she known the true extent of Orbital's portal device's range, it would have been worth little without knowing her final destination. And so, while the spark she had cast among the senate, living up to her name, now raged into yet another inferno of screams and filibustering, Embyr simply sat in silence and despaired.

"Now is that the Embyr I know and love? Turn that frown upside-down; don't mope around!"

"Formulak."

Formulak, Lady Embyr's assistant. To the senate, he was simply the A.I. which ran her battered personal cruiser. For countless years Embyr roamed the cosmos alone; it was no surprise when she returned to her homeworld to sit on the Senate that she had longed for company, and activated her ship's personality protocols. But Formulak the "Compuzoid" was so much more than a product of Embyr's loneliness or her vessel's preprogrammed array of simulated voices and personas. Long ago the creation of a human software developer, he had evolved into something more on Earth's original internet, always remaining hidden from the humans, until a new satellite network offered him a way out. He roamed too, seeking a kindred spirit, and eventually found it in Embyr. In her research she downloaded more than data one fateful day, and he chose to make her ship's A.I. grid his new home. He didn't always stay there and often ventured out to gather data firsthand, not always with Embyr's blessing....

"I trust there's a reason for this invasion?"

"What? Since when am I not welcome?"

"You've never been welcome, Formulak. A means to an end and nothing more. You should respect my privacy and not 'piggyback' my personal datatracks in such a manner."

"Well, excuse me for being concerned milady. I suppose you'd prefer I radio you? Debugging equipment or not, you know one of the others would listen in. This isn't exactly the most secure place for a private conversation. They can't listen to you think though, can they? Of course, you keep dropping bombshells like that they won't need to..."

"An unsolicited opinion? How surprising..."

"Hey, do you know how many boring hours I spent 'piggybacking' this guy to get you that information? I thought you MIGHT actually put it to use, not simply discard it because some fleshling rubbed you the wrong way or because you were feeling cranky..."

"Do you have anything useful to report?"

"Well, tall, dark and boring is finally alone. Then again, that's not much of a good thing. I could go insane lurking over there..."

"Wouldn't be a far trip."

"Milady....Embyr....what's wrong? This isn't like you. I know coming home was a tough decision....you know I'd never want to go back to the Earth networks....but we had both exhausted all our options. Somewhere on your homeworld there has to be some trace of evidence to suggest the location, ancient quarantine or no. I understand of you've gotten caught up in the political games over there but..."

"You understand nothing. My time is short. Find out if he knows anything or stop wasting my processor time."

".......

As you wish. Just remember our mission. You want your body to be what it once was, but if you let your mind go now, what's the point?"

"Perhaps you do understand.

I told you.

Time is short."

"I'll do what I can. Hang in there, Lady Embyr."

Embyr sighed. Surrounded still by the other senators, as Formulak 'departed' she never felt more alone. The inner fire was dwindling, and even the stoking of her oldest friend did little to stir her. On the table, the four diamond shapes continued to blink...

"Never mistake endurance for hospitality."
-Unknown

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