Christopher Eagle - Password

Christopher Eagle
Password
October 3rd 2013

Questions were starting to toy with his mind. The more he thought the more he wondered about his mark, the missing Seeker and his own missing history. Amongst much of his questions was information he knew that he didn't comprehend. Such as knowing how to break into the Seeker's chatter over lake Ontario the day he was shot down. How he knew how to fly a fighter jet and apparently not be missing from any known allies military. How he could speak multiple languages, specifically languages of major countries or world powers.

Chris was beginning to feel a little paranoid, concerned about the strange old man with wise eyes who appeared to be trailing him. He had not seen him since Canada Day when he was enjoying a mug of hot coffee outside the coffee shop. He wondered whether or not his home had been bugged or of his computer was hacked. He searched the place and found nothing.

Another thing became apparent. He found he was able to code complex computer programs and he worked on one that would render his system secure from outside scrutiny all the while appearing normal. The more he did the more he questioned himself and wondered if his answers would lie with the Mechanoids who had shot him down. There was one he felt might entertain his questions... Thundercracker.

Thundercracker – answers needed. Come in peace, come alone. Sudbury Ontario Canada. Three days hence. Looks for signal ping on compromised frequency.
~ C.Eagle.

He wrote out the message and sent it encoded on a frequency he thought would reach the Decepticon flier. He was not sure why he felt it would but. He waited to see if there was a response. There was no reply. He did not really expect one.

He arranged with Sarah to come look after Sparky while he was up north. He was taking a client to Sudbury for some business of their own, and had leave to remain there to go fishing while he waited for the client's return.  

The further north he went, the larger the forests became. He was surprised at how wild and underpopulated the land was, towns scattered about. He understood that large areas of Canada remained remarkably underpopulated with the vast majority of the population crowded around the great lakes. It should not be surprising, the great lakes were the major Canadian trade routes, with rail and shipping.

The other thing that impressed Chris was the amount of water. There appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands of small lakes .There would be no end of choice for fishing. All he needed to do was rent a float-plane, land on a lake and send his signal. He rented the aircraft for a week, he would take it to a remote lake north of Sudbury, one that was relatively long with forests and no other humans. There was a risk involved: should he run afoul with wild animals or the Decepticon he hoped would arrive...

He set up his tent, and made a fire on the beach, the plane was pulled to the bank. He took the radio he had modified and set it on the passenger seat and hooked it into the Aircraft's own system and set up the ping.

There was no reply, however he let the ping run all night. He went to sleep in his tent and was awakened by a rumble that sounded like thunder. He heard the sound of transformation and then then water splashing.

“You aren't a Decepticon, So tell me, how did you get that frequency... Flesh creature” a deep voice demanded.

“I had hoped you might tell me, Thundercracker.” Chris said exiting his tent he stood before the behemoth who looked down at him with an expression of disgust. The Seeker looked as if he was tempted to crush the human under his foot.

“Who are you, human?”

“Again, I don't know. I call myself Chris Eagle... you may remember a small plane about three months ago, you shot it down over lake Ontario -  well not you, Skywarp did.”

“That was you, and you survived that? Remarkable.” Thundercracker sat down on the pebble beach as soon as he ensured he was not at risk. “Why did you call me here, Human. No humans would dare call a Decepticon. Not unless he had a death-wish.”

“Perhaps, but I have questions... questions for you. Questions only you could answer. What happened to Starscream? I am aware he does not fly with you two anymore.”

“You called me here to ask about my former wing leader?”  Thundercracker asked in disbelief.

“In part.” Chris kept himself just out of reach of the blue Seeker.

“He's dead.” Thundercracker replied matter-of-factly.

“How did he die?”

“Megatron had him executed. He screwed up a mission... It wasn't that he screwed it up per-say, it just ended very bad and Megatron took his rage out on him. Can't tell you what the mission was or else I would have to kill you.”

“Did you see Megatron execute him?”

“No...we were just told that Starscream was no longer with us and that his frame had been taken be melted down.”

“So you were expecting to find a Cybertronian...?”

“You were... using Starscream's emergency channels and protocols... I had thought -  hoped - I may find him here. Sometimes Starscream managed to escape his wrath... we'd find him in the wilds – usually surviving.”

“I have a lot of questions... my memory is gone, from the day I was found. I get shards of memories, disjointed pictures... part of me wondered... if I was actually... him – Starscream I mean.”

Thundercracker looked at the tiny human and laughed hard. His voice carried across the remote lake. “You jest. What even gave you that delusion, Human.”

“What I know. I can fly fighter jets. And yet no one appears to be missing a pilot with my skills. And believe me, my skills would be something missed. I can speak, read and write at least fifteen different languages. I can hack your systems and I know Starscream's emergency protocols. I... bear a Decepticon mark.”

“Anyone can mark a tattoo on themselves, Human.”

“True, that is very true...”

“You'd need to come up with something only Starscream and I would know.”

Chris nodded and went inside his tent and came out. He had his leather bound journal in his hand. He opened it to the front page. There were several numbers and a few letters in Decepticon script written on the front.

Thundercracker optics brightened and he grabbed the tiny book from the human's hands... “That's a subspace key-code...”

“Who's?” Chris asked.

“I don't know...” Thundercracker muttered. “We are only ever given one and the code is guarded. Most of the time when we die, whatever was in there is lost.”

“Could you access it?”

“If given the code, yeah, I can access it.”

“Access it...” Chris ordered the Decepticon.

Thundercracker gave the tiny human a baleful glare then did so. “Primus... it's Starscream's. His stuff is in here and only he would know that code... its private. He guards his privacy -  with a ferocity.” Thundercracker handed back the leather bound book. “How did you come by it?”

“It and the letters keep coming into my mind. I wrote them down to shut them out. I think... what is in there would be yours, should he die...” Chris said concentrating really hard. “After all you are his cousin.”

Thundercracker withdrew a datapad. “You... you can't be... Starscream?”

“Is that something he'd know that only you'd know?”

“Only Skywarp and I would know, yes... he-how?”

“I wish I know...”

Thundercracker reached down and picked Chris up in his hands and looked at him closer. Chris panics a little as he is in the grasp of a creature that could crush him like a lowly insect. “There is no actual way for me to tell by looking if you are who you think you are...”

“Do you know if Megatron had... any processes that could turn, a Decepticon into a human?” The man asked as the Seeker placed him on the ground. He was frightened that the huge fingers would crush him, but the blue Seeker held him with the lightest of pressure.

“Starscream may have known if he did. Shockwave does experiment with stuff, so if anyone could, he'd be the one who'd done it. Why we'd even have or use such technology is beyond me... humans have painfully short lives...”

Chris frowned. “Might be why I am looking for answers...”

Thundercracker stood up and looked at the human before him. “If you are Starscream, and what you seem to know indicates a strong possibility; I will look for answers. But without Starscream's body -  we probably can't bring you back. With all things considered, we really would want him back.”

Chris nodded. “I'll work with the life I got then.”

The human added wood to the fire and the blue Seeker seemed pensive. “I think I believe you, Eagle – I will use your assumed name. For one, you know Skywarp well enough to have avoided using him as your contact. He'd have crushed you... Try to remember yourself... I'll contact you when I get information.”

Thundercracker leapt into the air and Transformed, moments later he had a ground bridge open and he flew through.

Chris stared. “That's the portal! That's how I came to be in Burlington!”

Christopher Eagle sensed great loneliness after watching the great Seeker leave. He had possible answers and it did leave him feeling extremely afraid and very alone. He reached into the float plane and deactivated the signal beacon. There was evidence enough to Thundercracker that he may indeed be the missing Decepticon flier. He returned to his tent but he was unable to sleep. Too many thoughts ran through his mind. Wolves howled in the distance.

What scared him the most was not conflicting ideas of who he was and who he had become. Starscream had been no kind person, from what he had read of the Decepticon. And if what he read was actual truth and not exaggeration he was someone who had few friends and a sadistic temper.

He knew himself to be relatively goodhearted, if only having a fast temper and strong defensive tendencies. He seemed to be charitable, grateful for other humans around him, happy to help out and had at least one friend. If he was Starscream he would most assuredly have to give up his cat and he really had grown fond of the pet. He eventually rolled over and fell asleep. The day had been long started. He would have figured it to be noon if it were not for the heavy overcast sky.

He added some wood to his fire and heated some water up to make coffee and made himself a pot of oatmeal. Chris over estimated how much he would need to feed himself and made enough to feed a small army of people. However, he ate as much as he could, and packed the rest into a bag. He decided it would be a great time to go out and get wood.

Chris picked up his axe and his belt knife, and strode purposefully toward the trees.