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transmorphobots · 9 months

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Incident report of emergency response to Civilian Asteroid "Safe Harbor"

New Cybertronia Emergency Response Corps. 103rd Regiment. Commander of the Autobot Response Frigate “MarbleOak”, Exposure.

Enclosed is my official report regarding the civilian asteroid "Safe Harbor". Said asteroid was gravity-moored within Sector x33-y45 and had a capacity to sustain at least 45 sparks. The most notable thing within the region's file is that the scientific organization "Heart of Cybertron'' was present with a large facility there. Most of the sparks present were seemingly employed by "Heart of Cybertron" organization and it maintained a spaceport much larger than an asteroid of that size would normally be equipped to handle. After our rescue attempt I did search our records and it did have proper permits, however, I recommend these be reviewed due to the following events.

[ CW: ROBOGORE/BODY HORROR]

We received an all channel, priority response distress signal at around 0720 joors and were able to arrive within 83 kliks. The asteroid can no longer sustain civilians due to what appeared, at first, to be a catastrophic explosion from the "Heart of Cybertron" facility. No fire or lingering explosions but it had caused damage to the asteroid's structure and it was drifting apart. Using the ship's towing equipment we were able to stop the asteroid from drifting further apart. I sent two engineering teams to the gravity moors to see if they could be repaired and I asked the on board team to review permits and transportation logs to possibly narrow down the radiation type we could be exposed to.

Due to the massive damage I split the recovery teams between the asteroid pieces and despite protocol dictating otherwise, I was the only member of the recovery team to start searching the facility. My reasoning was that I was unsure how many sparks actually survived the destruction of the facility as only partial walls were left standing. I entered with proper safety equipment as directed by Data Analyst, Jump Drive. Attached to my report will be a recording of my communications with the team and Jump Drive as I explored the facility.

At the threshold of a hole in the exterior wall I was able to see the full extent of the explosion's damage. From what I could observe it seemed like the explosion was hotter than any sort of incendiary device I could recall in training or my own experience. I believe it may have been in the range of several thousand degrees but I also observed that the area cooled off almost instantaneously due to the warping and severe cracking of the asteroid. I had been within the building for nearly 18 kliks without finding any sign of life, there was only disaster.

Impossible was the only word running through my processor. Impossible. Impossible.

I circled the rim of what I assume must have been the center of the explosion. I was able to find a survivor that was clinging to a door. They had no lower body and most of their features were torn away. A chassis was left with minimal wiring and nearly no internal components except for the spark chamber and brain module. They had a spark reading and the brain module registered activity on my equipment. I am unsure how they survived and we are still running simulations based on the evidence. I asked for assistance from the team, quick response medic, Engine Light, was diverted to my location shortly after.

Engine Light arrived within 10 kliks and helped me put what was left of the survivor within a transport capsule. We had to sever both arms due to them being fused into metal. The left hand had melted into the door which was slightly ajar. Seemingly they were trying to force the door open. I will note that it seemed like the door was locked. We are studying the material to see how it survived the initial heat but we have found similar alloys in the survivor. The right arm had to be severed as it was fused into the arm of another employee. The employee had sunk into the floor when it melted. We could not recover the other. No sign of activity. Engine Light exited with the transport capsule to signal the transport drone for a pick up. I waited for Engine Light to return, which took less than 5 kliks, before I continued into the facility.

Engine Light had to anchor me so I could proceed further. The facility had sunk inwards; it triggered a memory recall in me of carnival games I had seen once in my foundational experiences. A heated ball bearing dropped into a column of material, you would place bets on how far it would drop. The facility looked like that, sunken in and melted, but there was no ball bearing to be found.

More employees were fused into the flooring due to the intense heat. I could not find a way to recover them as what was them and what was part of the building could not be separated.

I had to use them to descend further into the facility due to the loss of gravity. I will include the visual documentation taken from my recording equipment but I do not advise looking at them. I feel haunted by the warping of form and architecture and equipment. All of it had melted together, dripping towards what was the center of the facility.

I had to use their hands.

Jump Drive sent me a blueprint of the facility that was given to the Autobot Transport and Building Regulation Department of this sector and I immediately noted that, even in the destroyed state the facility was in, there were discrepancies. Specifically as I climbed down I was able to see tunnels that were built into the asteroid's core and would have been hidden if not for the walls hiding them having melted. This was all I could see of them but our ship's computer core, Guardia, was able to map out what was left of the secret tunnels, which showed more labs deep within the asteroid's core.

There were no survivors in these labs. It took several joors to break through the melted metal and reach them, but my team found nothing but equipment in various conditions. We are still digging through all the data. I do not know why no one was there, I see only bodies that mark the rim of the explosion. My current hypothesis is that they were gathered around whatever the source was.

I could not find any sign of a device that would have caused the explosion and cannot make out what the source could have been. Judging by the blueprints there was supposed to be a rotational device at the bottom of the facility but the explosion and whatever followed after had destroyed it.

After my investigation into the facility I returned to Engine Light and we both met with the rescue teams in order to assist survivors and regroup for the next batch of operations. Those reports and strategy advice will be attached to this file.

Most of the unaffiliated civilians survived with only minor injuries. One major injury was due to the proximity to the building when it exploded and the patient received burns severe enough they will need a partial frame and internal replacement. The energon boiled inside of them and caused corrosive damage. It seems they were trespassing across the facility's land in order to 'reach home faster' which was on the other side of the asteroid. Most civilian buildings were kept several miles from the facility's border, which was marked with a fence that is no longer standing. The fence was a mile away from the facility's exterior wall.

Civilians report that they used a particular type of holographic generator in order to obscure the building from view. A very novel type of privacy technology that anyone can use for their homes or facilities that roused no suspicion until the explosion. A total count of survivors is 13, only one employee.

After our rescue operations which took two orns to complete I did research into the "Heart of Cybertron" organization. Starmass, the head of the project and organization, was studying energy conversion technology. There are several accolades for his work, and just as many criticisms due to Starmass' philosophical views. Bold enough to claim the position of Prime and start a new, "universal" philosophy which proposed that ideas can become energy and matter. I did not read very far into Starmass' personal beliefs but it came across as all advertising talk and half-promises of this new technology. All reports list Starmass as being at the facility but I have not seen nor recovered a body.

The survivor I found is reported to be a Transport Security Officer designated Vigilance. Included is the transcript from an interview with a survivor who identified himself as A-33, who had connections with Vigilance and was the one to put in the distress call. Post-Disaster Analyst, Viewpoint, conducted the interview.

Viewpoint: Hello, I'm a post-disaster analyst. I'm conducting this interview to get an idea of what happened on Safe Harbor from your perspective and to see what we can put together of the event. You can call me Viewpoint.

A-33: I am somewhat familiar with the protocol. Where do you want me to start?

Viewpoint: Your designation and tell me what you were doing before the disaster took place?

A-33: I am referred to as A-33. The only notable event before the disaster I can think of was that Vigilance, a Transport Security Officer for the port, had told me that Starmass had finally completed a massive project and was going to perform a demonstration later in the day.

Viewpoint: Do you know when this demonstration was going to take place?

A-33: I assume a little bit before the explosion happened.

Viewpoint: Did Vigilance tell you any details of what this project was.

A-33 fidgets with his hands for an astro-second before continuing.

A-33: I was perhaps the most aware of what the Energy Conversion project was outside of the Heart of Cybertron laboratories.

A-33 falls silent for a few kliks while Viewpoint takes notes. A-33 looks at the notes before looking away, and fidgeting with his hands again. A seeming self-soothing motion of rubbing between the thumb and pointer.

A-33: Vigilance helped with securing goods on the port and preventing theft, specifically, of Heart of Cybertron's materials and equipment. However, he always found time to secure my deliveries. I maintain.... maintained a small parts and repair shop and he learned my routine in order to have my things ready when I came to pick them up. We were friends.

A-33 pauses again for several kliks, self-soothing, but his engine was making a few hiccups and chirps as he struggled to maintain control of his composure. Viewpoint does not make a move to comfort him but waits for him to continue. A-33 exhales and straightens his posture before his voice returns to a professional tone.

A-33: He would often tell me of small projects that Starmass was working on. He talked about Starmass like he was the center of the universe. He clearly admired him and the time Starmass would take out of his day to discuss philosophy and science. They were speaking about things I had long given up trying to understand like theoretical physics and energy engineering. From what Vigilance understood and would explain to me, is that Starmass was experimenting with Ergospheres. Fascinated by their ability to output more energy than what goes in. It had something to do with rotation- I'm more about chemistry and batteries. I don't understand black holes.

Viewpoint: It sounds very.... delicate.

A-33: That is a very kind way to say that Starmass was playing with live wires and didn't expect to blow a generator.

Viewpoint: So the demonstration in question was related to black holes?

A-33 pauses for several kliks again. Not as emotional as the previous pause but gripping his own hand intensely, shaking slightly, and holding an expression of repressed anger or distress.

A-33: I have seen bombs. I have seen nuclear, I have seen protonic, I have seen what fusion energy looks like when it explodes. I remember the taste of it in the air, how it warps your paint. This wasn't like that. At around 0684 joors I was unloading my delivery at my shop when the privacy hologram at the facility went down. They had suffered a loss of power judging by how it fizzled out. There was this... rumbling following soon after. The whole asteroid felt like it was... it was purring almost... and I saw that a light turned all the windows of that building into beacons and then it happened. It was like a miniature star. It burst out of the walls, flares reaching out like tentacles and lashing at the area around the facility. The clocktower was caught within one flare and burst into flames as it melted. My paneling started to boil from the heat. Then, just as fast as it started expanding out, almost eating the entire building, it collapsed in on itself. The yawning darkness tore parts of the facility before it sank into the asteroid. I could feel it feeding on the rock below my feet. The ground churned and the power went out, then, the gravity went out. I managed to hold onto a nearby emergency railing. I think it stopped soon after. Around 0698 joors.. My shop was across from the emergency station and I was able to help our marshal send out the alert. I assisted the marshal in trying to find survivors... most everyone was unharmed... I performed minor repair work.

Viewpoint: In zero gravity?

A-33: In zero gravity.

Viewpoint: Did you attempt to approach the facility?

A-33 falls silent for 3 astro-seconds before he continues.

A-33: I did.

Viewpoint: What did you see?

A-33: The floor was still red hot. There was no screaming. There was no sign of life. I could not get very close but I did notice what was left of Vigilance was trying to open a security door.

Viewpoint: How did you recognize him?

A-33 goes silent for a klik this time, self-soothing, and keeping his optics locked on another part of the room away from Viewpoint.

A-33: I would know him down to the very atoms. I could not get close enough to see if he was functioning.

Viewpoint: Commander Exposure, who went into the facility, reported that there is one survivor who was found trying to open a door. Is this Vigilance?

A-33: Yes. I could tell it was Vigilance because he had clearly stopped saving himself to turn around and help someone else.

Viewpoint: I hope our team can restore him then. Do you think he would cooperate with an investigation?

A-33: Most likely.

Viewpoint: Do you think he would lie to protect Starmass?

A-33: No. I believe he will tell you the truth.

Viewpoint: What do you think the truth is?

A-33 straightens himself up again, putting his hands on the table and directly facing Viewpoint rather than looking to the side or at the floor.

A-33: I think the truth is that Starmass killed a lot of people for a prize that was not worth the cost.

After the interview, A-33 was seen leaving the medical wing he and the other survivors were being held in. Cameras caught him at 1877 joors searching the medical wings with little deterrence. Most of the on board medical staff was suffering from the abundance of work we had been receiving in the last quartex and was not at peak operating status, allowing A-33 to slip by without being noticed by staff. He was seen looking through several rooms until finding the one where staff stored Vigilance's parts. A-33 did nothing but stare for several kliks, eventually placing a hand on the tank, before exiting.

A-33 was last seen stealing a skipper, able to bypass security codes in place with ease, and escaped. By the time we noticed he was gone, there was no hope of tracking him down. I do not know why A-33 left or why in such a manner. We could not find a record of him among civilians but his versions of events were corroborated by the 10 other functioning survivors.

Currently, Vigilance is being held in a preservation chamber. We were able to recover some schematic data from the brain module but we do not have the parts necessary to conduct a full reconstruction. My staff have done minor reconstruction in order to protect and maintain the spark and brain module. We have located a facility that may be able to do the repairs necessary in Sector x12-y23. I have already informed the head of operations there of the situation and we are currently in-route.

I hope that this report will be sufficient for my request that the 103rd regiment be removed from active duty as we are overworked and overburdened. The staff have seen horror after horror and after two orns digging through what was left of the facility and the employees of the "Heart of Cybertron" I do not believe we will be an effective response team.

It has been three orns since our answer to "Safe Harbor" and I have not found it within my abilities to recharge nor refuel. My chief medical officer, Airlift, has relieved me of my duties and I request that they do not be returned to me. They have given me a list of recovery facilities and I hope to find a suitable fit. I will be there for a very long time.

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