Alex Roberts eyes Gwen sideways. "Overwhelming doesn't begin to cut it."
Gwen Whitmore takes a deep breath. "Okay, I was curious about what would 
happen if I ran through the Matrix. So I did some simulations based on 
whatever data I had, and the most likely scenario was that its.. well, 
energy signature, for want of a better term... would be accepted by the 
transfer machine as a part of your own. The integration is complete. And 
I'd be willing to guess that the actual power and content of the Matrix, 
as well as we understand it, is inside you right now. Not inside the 
body that the Quintessons have.
Gwen Whitmore uhms. "Of course, you would know better than me..."
Alex Roberts digests that slowly. "Soo... you think they just have the 
shell..? No, I *don't* know! That's the problem! I can't access 
anything!"
Gwen Whitmore says, "Well, look at yourself. Look at me. If you were 
just Hot Rod, you'd look the same age as me."
Alex Roberts pauses. "How old am I, then?"
Gwen Whitmore shrugs. "Well, you look older. Hm....
Gwen Whitmore peers closer. "At least five years older than I do. As far 
as I can tell, I'm in my late teens. And you're closer to mid or early 
twenties."
Alex Roberts mmphs. "What's it matter, anyway?" he abruptly dismisses 
the train of conversation. "I'm me, you're you, and the Quintessons have 
our bodies. Well, that's just GREAT."
Alex Roberts thumps his left fist against the wall and abruptly regrets 
it.
Gwen Whitmore winces. "I know. I'm sorry. But I thought it might make 
you feel better that... um, shouldn't do that."
Alex Roberts sighs, dragging in his temper again (and shaking his hand 
out). "Yeah. I guess. Once it sinks in. But I can't.. access it, dammit! 
What good's it do to be intergrated with me if I can even tell if it is 
or not?"
Gwen Whitmore uhm. "Well, it means that the Quintessons can't poke at 
it."
Alex Roberts closes his eyes and exhales softly. "Right."
You say, "I'm sorry. I'm upset."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Look, I know. And it's my fault. I didn't listen to 
you. But I checked out the computer back there, and it is based on my 
design. It can put us back to our bodies and I know how to work it. And 
since it is built for Quintessons to use, the controls are accessable to 
me. As soon as we have the bodies, we will be capable of putting them 
back."
You say, "But that's the trick."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Just... if the Matrix is integrated with you... we 
can't put you back without it."
You say, "..because the energy signature wouldn't have anywhere to go."
Gwen Whitmore sighs heavily. "It would probably.. dissipate. You'd most 
likely pull through it, but it would be lost."
Breakaway arrives on the people-mover from the Iacon Base.
Breakaway says, "I've got food for you."
Alex Roberts scowls. "So we have to get it back. Considering how hard 
it's gonna be already, I think we can just tack that onto the list."
Alex Roberts looks up at Breakaway abruptly. "Oh, uhhm.. great. Thanks."
Breakaway says, "Where do you want it?"
Gwen Whitmore says, "I'll work on ways to make sure that we can 
maintaiin cohesion as long as possible."
You say, "In the EDC office, I guess.."
Breakaway heads into the EDC Office.
Breakaway arrives from the EDC Office.
Gwen Whitmore says, "The cabbit is going on a month now, and with no 
side effects. We have at least that long."
Breakaway steps on the people-mover, and heads south into Iacon Base.
Alex Roberts growls. "We'd better not NEED that long.."
Alex Roberts rakes his hand through his hair again and then drops his 
hand to his side abruptly. "I'm calling Earth."
Gwen Whitmore says, "We had better start as soon as we can, that's for 
sure."
Gwen Whitmore hmms. "I can make you a small radio like mine. It wouldn't 
be that hard."
You say, "That'd help. I guess I'll, uhm.. be in the monitor room, 
then."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Okay. Uhm, I really am sorry. If I can do anything 
else..."
Gwen Whitmore looks sorta helpless.
Alex Roberts closes his eyes again and shakes his head tiredly. "Just.. 
do your research or whatever you have to.. I can't blame you for this."
Gwen Whitmore sighs deeply. "Well, I can. I'll work on that radio."
Gwen Whitmore heads toward her lab and opens a small panel, revealing a 
set of small controls.
Alex Roberts offers a faint smile. "Work on shifting the blame to the 
Quintessons."
Gwen Whitmore smiles tenuously back. "Okay, I'll work on it."
Gwen Whitmore decides to check out Whiz's Lab.
Alex Roberts heads for the gravlift.

You step on the people-mover, and head south through the tube into the 
Base.
You head into the Monitor Room.
Monitor Room
Obvious exits:
 East <E> leads to Central Hallway - New Iacon Base.

Alex Roberts pulls out the radio and adjusts some of the dials.
Your message is transmitted to Krystal. It reads: *shouting a bit; the 
voice sounds tinny* "Uhm.. Krystal? You there?"
You receive a powerful long range radio message from Krystal. It reads: 
*vaguely puzzled* "Yeah, of course I'm here, Rodimus...what can I do for 
you?"
Alex Roberts pulls out the radio and adjusts some of the dials.
Your message is transmitted to Krystal. It reads: "Uhhh.. can you, 
uhm... get up here?"
You receive a powerful long range radio message from Krystal. It reads: 
*sounding rather concerned now* "Of...of course....is everything all 
right?"
Alex Roberts pulls out the radio and adjusts some of the dials.
Your message is transmitted to Krystal. It reads: "It's.. under control. 
For now. All right? No."
You receive a powerful long range radio message from Krystal. It reads: 
"All.....right. I'm on my way. I'll catch the next shuttle out."

<time passes>

Mischief arrives from the Main Hallway.
Breakaway arrives from the Main Hallway.
Alex Roberts looks rather lost in a Cybertronian-sized chair at one of 
the comm stations, his head buried in his arms on top of the console, 
restlessly dozing.
Mischief mutters to Breakaway.
Mischief walks over slowly. "Rodimus?"
Breakaway heads back out into the Central Hallway.
Alex Roberts stirs groggily. "Hm, whu?"
Mischief says, "I was thinking.... I don't know what good it is, but I 
still have that copy of the Matrix Sidearm made for me... maybe we can 
trick the Quintessons with it or something."
Mischief sits down so she doesn't have to look down, cause that's 
getting to be kind of an awfully strange feeling.
Alex Roberts mumbles, "Whuzza' trick 'em? They already know they've got 
the real thing.."
Mischief sighs and shrugs. "I guess.. nevermind..... Are you okay?"
Alex Roberts sits up, yawning mightily. "I...yyyyeah. As okay as can be 
expected."
Mischief fidgets. "Arachnis brought the food stuff. I think Breakaway 
put it in the EDC office area..."
You say, "Yeah. He did."
Breakaway arrives from the Main Hallway.
Mischief looks down. "I suppose that's all.... excuse me."
Mischief gets up and walks out.
Mischief heads back out into the Central Hallway.
Alex Roberts rubs his eyes blearily. "Okay.."
Breakaway stands in the shadows, awaiting his turn to talk.
Breakaway says, "Rodimus Prime?"
Alex Roberts looks over at Breakaway. "Was there.. *yawn* --sorry-- 
something else?"
Breakaway says, "Yes, I'm Breakaway. Just in from Earth."
Alex Roberts shakes his head to clear it, then stands up on the chair. 
"Oh. Right. Uh, sorry. Yeah, I'm Prime."
Gasket arrives from the Main Hallway.
Gasket looks around, looking for Rodimus.
Breakaway says, "Caern sent me to help with the situation. Of course, he 
didn't tell me what I was getting into."
Gasket waves, "Hey, you guys seen Rodimus?"
Breakaway says, "He's right here, Gasket."
Gasket looks around again.
You say, "I'm Rodimus."
Breakaway points to Alex Roberts
Gasket looks down and his jaw drops.
Alex Roberts grumps, "You don't have to stare."
Gasket sorries and closes his mouth.
Gasket says, "The squids?"
Krystal arrives from the Main Hallway.
Krystal enters, her eyes surveying with cool dignity.
Gwen Whitmore arrives from the Main Hallway.
Gasket was out underground, does tectonic surveys.
Gwen Whitmore comes in on Krystal's heels.
You say, "Yeah, the... squids."
Gasket shakes his head.
Krystal glances back at Gwen, gesturing towards the stranger. "Did EDC 
just transfer this new guy up here?"
Gwen Whitmore says, "Eh? Who? Him?"
Gwen Whitmore points at Alex.
Gasket stutters, "Uh..."
Alex Roberts yawns again despite himself and scrubs his hand through his 
hair, looking around vaguely at the door, then comes to sharp attention 
and leaps down off the chair he'd been standing on. "Krystal, you made 
it."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Just some guy off the street, we took him in as a 
charity case. Evidently riaised by wolves, feral boy, that kind of 
thing."
Gwen Whitmore snickers behind her hand.
Alex Roberts thbts at Gwen and finds it works much better with a tongue.
Gasket glances at 'Whiz.'
Gasket mumbles about the tunnels being safer and wanders back out.
Gwen Whitmore says, "Ah, but you'll forgive me. I come bearing gifts."
Gasket carefully picks his way out.
Breakaway drops his head, shaking it, and chuckling.
Gwen Whitmore gave you Class Ring.
Krystal's brow furrows in confusion as she steps forward, offering a 
hand. "Well...um, yes.....I made it...and you seem to know my 
name....so, how about yours?"
Gasket heads back out into the Central Hallway.

Class Ring
A simply styled, squared off class ring. It is made of burnished gold, 
with a shining red stone set in the center. If you get very close, you 
might make out an Autobot symbol on one face of the ring, with some kind 
of shining star (with handles?) on the other. Under the jewel, set into 
the gold, is a small microchip capable of sending and receiving short-
range radio messages.
Breakaway moves slowly toward the door, waiting for the response.

Gwen Whitmore says, "It's not perfect, but it'll work. And Krys, how can 
you not recognize the guy you came to see?"
Alex Roberts pauses, fumbling the ring Gwen just handed him. "What's 
this..?"
Gwen Whitmore says, "A radio, in disguise. Hope it fits."
Breakaway says, "Will that be all, sir?"
Alex Roberts hmphs, examining the metalwork. "Cute." He looks up at 
Breakaway. "Ahh.. yeah, I guess so."
Breakaway opens the door.
Breakaway heads back out into the Central Hallway.
Krystal throws a rather quick, very startled look at Gwen, staring 
aghast at her, her eyes widening after a extended amount of silent 
tension.
Alex Roberts fumbles the ring awkwardly onto his left hand as his right 
is currently bound up in a medical brace.
Gwen Whitmore smiles, but her eyes are more concerned than amused.
Alex Roberts says quietly, "It's Rodimus, Krystal."
Krystal's head snaps back to face this new person, her jaw dropping 
dumbfoundedly with a startled gasp. "...no way....wait...just...a 
minute....."
Gwen Whitmore looks at Alex. "I thought you called her up about 
this...?"
You say, "I did."
Alex Roberts reaches out uncertainly to touch Krystal on the shoulder. 
"Hey, calm down.."
Krystal lets out a slow breath as she studies 'Rodimus' for a 
moment...frowning slightlly as she tries to ascertain...glancing slowly 
at the hand on her shoulder, then breaking into a soft smile. "Well I'll 
be...." she looks back up at Rodimus, chuckling briefly as she smiles.
Gwen Whitmore grins uncertainly.
Alex Roberts withdraws his hand quickly, turning the ring around on his 
finger. "Uhm.. yeah."
Krystal glances back at Whiz, frowning as she senses something.
Alex Roberts jokes almost desperately, "Well, at least I'm still taller 
than *you*.."
Gwen Whitmore grrs. "That's right. It's my machine, I should at least 
get *some* perks."
Krystal raises a hand to her mouth, "Oh, Rodimus!" she tries not to 
crack, smiling still, but feeling his turmoil. She tilts her head 
slightly.
Gwen Whitmore watches Krystal with interest.
Alex Roberts knuckles his left fist against his eyes, biting back 
another yawn. "Anyway, I thought you, uhm.. thought you should.. know."
Gwen Whitmore mutters to Alex Roberts, "Did you... her to see if she 
could maybe get... touch... you... mind..."
Gwen Whitmore whispers "Did you want her to see if she could maybe get 
you in touch with... you know. Some mind trick thing?"
Krystal presses her lips together in a bit of a smirk that's half a 
frown. "And you look rather exhausted...."
Alex Roberts blinks. "Is that possible? Without the linking circuits.."
Alex Roberts looks back quickly at Krystal. "I am exhausted. Normal 
state of being. Don't worry about me."
Gwen Whitmore shrugs. "It's not physical anymore. It's mental."
Gwen Whitmore says, "You never know..."
Krystal oookays...."Someone wanna share anything with me??"
Alex Roberts shrugs. "Whiz thought maybe you could help me get in touch 
with the Matrix. She's got this theory that it's integrated in me or 
something.."
Gwen Whitmore nods. "Well, I really hope so. I mean, if it... it has to 
be."
Krystal blinks. "Oh!" she mouths silently, suddenly remembering Rod's 
fears in the first place.
Alex Roberts glances down at the floor briefly, "Cause if it's not with 
me, that means the Quintessons have it.."
Krystal draws herself up, tensing, as she is suddenly hit with the 
realization. She nods, reaching out to squeeze Rod's arm reassuringly. 
"Don't worry....we'll see if we can't find out, okay?"
Gwen Whitmore perks up hopefully.
You say, "CAN you do that? I mean, I know you can read.. things.. but.."
Krystal shrugs dubiously. "I ...don't know. No guarantees..." she then 
stops abruptly. "Whoa...rewind! Quintessons have it? What?! I missed 
something VERY crucial here....so when is someone gonna explain to me 
what happened, exactly??"
Gwen Whitmore erms. "Oh yeah. Remember how I was on Earth human for a 
while?"
Alex Roberts looks vaguely sheepish. "Quintessons.. ambushed us in 
Crystal City--"
Krystal nods.
Gwen Whitmore says, "Well, I used a machine to do that... the Quintssons 
stole the plans for it from my brain, and then trapped us all 
underground and did a mass transfer. They took off with the bodies, 
too... which leaves us stuck like this."
Krystal looks quickly at Gwen. "'All of us'....meaning...?"
You say, "Uhm.. well.. a lot."
Gwen Whitmore erms. "Lots of people. Junkions, Autobots, Decepticons..."
Gwen Whitmore says, "It was a, um, pretty good trap."
Krystal stares. "Decepticons too?"
Gwen Whitmore can't resist a snicker. "Shockwave's a girl."
Alex Roberts nods. "Galvatron, Shockwave.."
Gwen Whitmore says, "I thought I saw Scourge in there someplace too. 
Guess that means Cyclonus is in charge."
You say, "Yeah, I gu... HEY! Just because they're stuck in this damn 
lump of putty doesn't mean they can't lead!"
Gwen Whitmore says, "They could lead us, but the Decepticons?"
You say, "Well, okay."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Galvatron kinda has to be able to knock his troops 
around to make them listen, that's his leadership style."
Gwen Whitmore covers her butt nicely.
You say, "Right, well, I can still handle the .. well, light diplomacy, 
anyway."
Alex Roberts grins uncertainly.
Gwen Whitmore smirks. "You're a tyrant, no matter how you try to hide it 
in that body."
You say, "Oh yeah, whatever."
Gwen Whitmore gets an odd look on her face and digs in her backpack for 
a little snack.
Gwen Whitmore eats a couple of jelly beans. "So anyway, Krystal, that's 
the story. Slag tried to eat his hand... that's the bandaged bit. And 
then he keeps punching things with the other hand... and then there's 
Hound, he got too close to a missile, and FX nearly got crushed by Slag 
too... we're not coping so well so far. I think the Decepticons are 
probably having the same problems."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Though they don't have a little rampaging dinosaur 
to deal with, they do have a rampaging Galvatron."
Alex Roberts rubs his hand sorely. "I think I'd rather deal with 
Galvatron."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Didn't somebody say he's supposed to be an 
herbivore?"
Gwen Whitmore ponders. "Might explain why he didn't tear the skin, just 
crushed the hand."
Gwen Whitmore grins. "Next time, put the chocolate on the ground and 
step back."
You say, "But he's not a real dinosaur, though.."
Gwen Whitmore says, "As long as he thinks he's one, that's how he'll 
act. Interesting, though, that it was his natural form to him."
Alex Roberts grunts and tries to keep his twitching hand still so Whiz 
won't poke him with another needle, although his face gives him away 
plain as day. "I was just trying to get him away from FX, and I knew he 
liked chocolate.."
Gwen Whitmore says, "He and Sky Lynx didn't come out humanoid - 
actually, it would be really exciting under other circumstances, just 
because it proves that it works. Shockwave, though... that was a 
surprise."
Gwen Whitmore digs in her backpack. "When your hand starts to hurt 
again, try these. Extra strength, it may keep the throbbing down."
Gwen Whitmore hands over some ibuprofens or whatnot. 
Gwen Whitmore says, "Sorry about... before. I told you not to look..."
Alex Roberts nods. "I guess Shockwave always had a streak of evil femme 
in him." He takes the painkillers gratefully and pops the lid off with 
his thumb. "It's okay. How many?"
Gwen Whitmore says, "Well, hard to say. Haven't tested them on the 
silicon physiology yet. The simulations didn't show any bad 
interactions, though."
Gwen Whitmore smiles slightly. "Try the regular dose of 2. If it does 
anything bad, drop it. If it doesn't help, raise it. I know that's not a 
very good diagnosis, but you're a test subject now."
Gwen Whitmore says, "A regular hospital could probably do better, but 
you don't really want them x-raying you."
Alex Roberts smiles dryly, "I go through all of this just to reach the 
distinction of test subject? Geez, what's it take with you?"
Gwen Whitmore says, "Hey, at least you're in good company. I'm a test 
subject too, remember?"
Alex Roberts worms two pills out of the bottle with one finger and 
tosses them into the back of his throat, swallowing hard to force them 
down.
You say, "Yeah, but you WANTED to be."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Uhm, I think they go down easier with water. 
Unfortunately, don't have any on me."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Not like this. I never wanted to force others into 
it, especially if they didn't understand the consequences. I felt bad 
enough about Pak and Sidearm last time. I wanted to be sure it was safe, 
first."
Gwen Whitmore sighs. "And it's different when you don't know you can go 
back anytime you want to."
Gwen Whitmore says, "This time, it's not fun. It's... responsibility."
Alex Roberts stabs a finger at Whiz, curling the rest of his hand around 
the pill bottle. "Ha."
Gwen Whitmore cringes a little. "Yeah, I know. And when Galvatron and 
Shockwave were hovering over me, about ready to choke me to death... I 
sorta realized that humans can be dangerous too. When they want to be."
Alex Roberts grins a bit. "Well, you know how I hate to say I told you 
so.."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Yeah, right. You hate it."
Gwen Whitmore looks up from staring at her feet. "But... well, you 
should at least take a little time to experience it, too. At least get 
some of the good stuff out of it."
You say, "No, I..." he yawns again, dragging his hand down across his 
face. "I don't hate it. I hate this..." he rumbles, clearing his throat, 
and tries to look alert with increasingly less success. "What's so good 
about it?"
Gwen Whitmore smirks a little. "Well, when you're not getting yourself 
hurt, it's fun. Cookies were good, right? You should see Earth from a 
human perspective, too."
Gwen Whitmore says, "But you need rest. That's what all that means, by 
the way."
Gwen Whitmore catches a contagious yawn.
Alex Roberts grunts. "I want energon, dammit. Forget cookies."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Suuure. Though they were a little stale."
Gwen Whitmore thinks. "It's different, but it gets better. You just have 
to get into it, down among the other humans. Maybe we can sneak into New 
Aztlan again."
Gwen Whitmore says, "It was a rush, I'll tell you."
Alex Roberts suddenly looks instensely sad for a brief instant, then 
snaps back without pause. "Uh. No thanks."
Gwen Whitmore sighs. "I know, it was supposed to be a joke."
You say, "Oh. Sorry, I'm not exactly in top form at the moment."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Look, maybe you'll feel better after some rest. And 
maybe Krystal can help do some kind of Jedi mind voodoo force on you. 
Get you in touch with your inner Rod."
You say, "Mmph. Things keep going the way they are, my inner Rod's gonna 
be a steel pole in my back after I break it."
Gwen Whitmore smirks. "I told you I was more used to being careful than 
you are."
You say, "And I told YOU that I knew I'd get killed without anything to 
protect me."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Well, I'll just have to protect you. And failing 
that, you'll have to walk around town in an exo-suit."
Alex Roberts ughs.
Gwen Whitmore says, "Which one deserves the 'ugh'?"
You say, "The exo-suit. You hang around and so I can protect you and let 
you think it's the other way around already."
Alex Roberts grins.
Gwen Whitmore puts on her long-suffering look. "Great, well, at least 
I'm of some use."
You say, "Oh, we all love you, Whiz.."
Gwen Whitmore heh. "See if you can still say that after this is all 
over."
Alex Roberts breaks off with another yawn and stretches mightily. 
"That's it. If I don't.. get some sleep.. soon.. I'm gonna crash."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Well, I tried to say that."
Gwen Whitmore says, "You could probably just curl up on one of the seat 
cushions in your own office."
Gwen Whitmore grins.
Alex Roberts smiles sleepily and pats Gwen on the top of the head. "Yes, 
and you're a very good girl. Bleh. I'll pull out Dan'l's blankets and 
throw em on my cot.."
You say, "Even I'm not dumb enough to think I could spend a night on 
cold steel and not feel it in the morning."
Gwen Whitmore tries unsuccessfully to unmuss her hair. "Well, I'm off 
too. Big days ahead."
Gwen Whitmore says, "Let me know if the radio has any problems."
Alex Roberts examines the ring as though from a great distance. "Yeah, 
sure. Thanks."
Gwen Whitmore jumps up and down in front of the door-opening sensors, 
eventually getting them to slide apart.
Gwen Whitmore says, "Welp, see you tomorrow."
Gwen Whitmore heads back out into the Central Hallway.