trans_9 | Test Drive

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"Stupid slagging diode-blooming meatship downgrading meee-eeeeee!" Sentinel roared his displeasure as he veered around another corner. He was still getting used to the different sense of balance with his reduced size. The change in mass was playing havoc on his handling. How did the damn Bumbler deal with the change?

He clipped another corner, not slowing down as he refused to give up. Hopefully none of those skittering organics would get in his way this time.

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"Of course. I imagine that would take a lot of power to maintain. What does a trans-warp engine do?" And more importantly, can he replicate it? Kyle knows the hover platforms his world has, although they're used for fairly mundane things, like cleaning high-up windows.

"So you can use any energy source? Electricity, solar power...?" At the bit about their frames being made of rarified energon, Kyle gives him another curious look. "You mean that's not metal?" It certainly looks very similar. The torso thump makes him want to grin again. The robot is so proud he can practically feel superiority radiating off him.

"I'm Kyle," he adds, more than just a little bit late. "Do you have a name?"

"Faster than light-speed travel, with potential chronal displacement capabilities as well. All made possible by Autobot ingenuity." Sentinel expounds, before going on to explain energon.

"Energon is the form we process it in, but we can extract the raw energy from just about any source. Rarified energon is a solidified energy. It's transient nature is what allows our bodies to reformat as necessary. There's only a finite amount of it in the universe though, so far as we know."

He draws himself up to his full (although diminished) height. "Yes, I.." He postures, "..am Sentinel Prime. Field commander in the Autobot Elite Guard." He snaps his battle visor into place to emphasize his point.

Faster than light-speed? Definitely some funny effects with time. "So these ships' armor is strong enough to withstand impacts from particles at that speed?" When a ship was going faster than light speed, even minute particles of dust could utterly destroy steel hulls.

"Transient. You can emulate any vehicle? Can it change color, too?" He's itching for a chance to get a close look at the stuff, but holds back from being too pushy. Still, those are some interesting properties. It's unfortunate that there's only a finite amount of it; the potential of such a material could be great.

The posturing reminds him of those little action figures they marketed to kids, and he has to try to keep from laughing. "Nice to meet you. I'm just an engineer." Though he's not sure how much clout that title has here. "If you're an Autobot, is there another kind of robot?"

Sentinel waves dismissively. "I'm not one of those limp-servo'd science bots, so I can't tell you how it works, but I can tell you that it does work. As for reformatting, we can usually copy any vehicle we scan, but we can't go outside our own base abilities. An Autobot couldn't scan some hu-man flying machine and fly because of it, for example. Color gets displaced from however the bot looked before, but we can repaint ourselves without a problem."

He scowls at the last part. "Yes... the Decepticons. The scum of the universe. Theirs is the wretched grasp that reaches across stars to snuff out decency and honor." He pauses. "Oh, and the Quintessons, and a few others, but it's mostly the Decepticons you need to concern yourself with."

So there are limits to the reformatting, but not that much. "Isn't there a wide range of vehicles to choose from, given your reliance on them? Why one that looks...awkward?" Kyle has no idea what that giant shovel is for. "So you can't change color. Can you change the texture?" Otherwise, where did the seats go? And why would a transforming robot need to make a vehicle with seats, unless there was a smaller species that could ride there?

Sentinel's language might have annoyed him, if he wasn't so busy asking technical questions. It's the kind of overblown stuff that makes him want to laugh or shudder. "Do they look different from you? And...are there any on the ship?" That might be bad for peacekeeping.

Sentinel twitched in annoyance. "This form was chosen in order to blend in with other local hu-man vehicles when on a mission to 'Earth'. I of course rid myself of it when returning to Cybertron, but for some reason this blasted meatship reassigned it to me. I've yet to find anything else of sufficient scale and function to scan for a new vehicle mode. What do you mean by texture?"

He grimaces as the Decepticons are brought up again. "As a general rule? Bigger, uglier, and with more firepower. I've heard rumors of some of them being on this ship, but no confirmation... YET."

"Do you have to scan something? Why not just download the blueprints?" It looked very unwieldy, and hard to maneuver. "Texture. The way something feels? Unless you don't have sensors for those..." Which was a distinct possibility, given that Sentinel had metal fingers. "I mean, where do the vehicle's seats go when you change to this form?" Unless they were internalized...

"That could be bad, huh?" he remarks mildly. Given Sentinel's obvious distaste for Decepticons, it might prove disastrous should he come face to face with one. Supposedly, now that they were all on this ship, faction shouldn't matter, but it sounded like neither Decepticon nor Sentinel would care.

Sentinel widened one optic. "Blue...prints? What are those?" He exhaled. "As for the texture thing, some of our materials are softer or harder, but we don't concern ourselves with stuff beyond making sure our wheels get enough grip."

He grins as the Decepticons are mentioned again. "Oh don't you worry your tiny squishy head, hu-man. I'm in the Elite Guard. I can handle a few Deceptisleezes if I have to."

"Blueprints. Vehicle designs on paper. Drawings of the components and how they go together. It's like a 2D deconstruction of a 3D object. Could you scan something in the sensoriums?" He's just full of ideas today.

"Then what happens to the seats? Do they fold inside or just...change?"

Kyle rolls his eyes a little at the smugness, although he has to grin, too. "If they're built anything like you, I could take them apart and rebuild them with their exhaust pipes where their heads are."

"Seats?" Sentinel looks himself over. "Oh... those holding receptacles for the hu-mans. They're internalized, somewhere..."

The idea of scanning something in the sensorium possibly has merit. Sentinel is glad he thought of it.

He then narrows his optics at the final comment. "And what are you implying about me then, hu-man?"

They must have folded up and disappeared into the robotic form, then. Possibly they broke into segments first...

At the almost-challenging question, he raises an eyebrow. Best to be honest, considering it's a little late to back out. "That if you ever pissed me off enough, I could do the same to you? And if I felt like it, I might also be able to make improvements, or new weaponry." The last bit's worth mentioning. He doesn't exactly have an EMP grenade or gun on hand at the moment, so pissing off the robot might be bad.

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