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Author’s Note--

This story takes place just after Airazor and Tigatron disappear. There are two different groups of aliens. One group is the Nebula Vok, who want to keep the time line a certain way, and the others are rebel Vok from the Nexus. The children are Nebula Vok, who’re being punished in a time loop for interfering too much. The two groups were once only one, but they separated when time travel was discovered. The Nexus Vok want to change time lines, the Nebula Vok want to keep them the same.

What’s a time loop? That’s a part of time in which nothing that happens has any effect, as long as everything is basically the same when it is closed. Only the people who first caused the loop will even remember what happened. However, if small things are changed, they might cause a slightly larger chain reaction, resulting in a paradox. There are no known cases of a time loop damaging anything permanently, though. Time loops are standard procedure when Vok children break the rules. They have to see what it’s like not having so much technology to make things easy, and learn what happens to the people that they meddled with. Some times it works better than others.

The Vok children have a natural ability to transport, but only to places they’ve seen before. In order to transport anywhere else, they need a locator signal from another Vok child. After they Change, it is possible for them to transport to anywhere at all. But the rebel ships still have escape pods, just in case. They have ways of transporting non-Vok, but they take a lot of energy, often giving off a visual energy signature, blue in color.

Above the planet, an alien ship plummets down. It glows, and transports back into time. The greenery on the continents fade slightly, and as the ship draws closer to the surface, the Maximal and Predacon bases can be seen.

“How come I gotta haul junk, and Rhinox gets to watch the board?” whined Rattrap. “He’s stronger than I am.”

“And doesn’t fuss,” Optimus muttered. “Rattrap, you’ve been complaining all day. Just do what you’re told, please?” He smiled slightly. “Besides, I thought you liked junk.”

The Maximals were having a fairly ordinary day. No Predacon attacks, no stasis pods, nothing exciting seemed to be happening, and Rattrap was grumbling--in other words, everything was normal. Things were proceeding like this until Rhinox turned around and, in a serious tone, said, “There’s something on the scanners.”

Optimus immediately came over, abandoning Rattrap to his protests. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure,” Rhinox answered, shaking his head. “But it looks like it might be an alien ship. And it’s coming down fast.”

“Oh, man, not again,” Rattrap complained. “Haven’t those aliens done enough around here already?”

“I had hoped so,” Optimus said, “but apparently not. Where will it land, Rhinox?”

“In the middle of nowhere. Grid Delta. Right between here, and the Predacon base.”

“I’ll go check it out. Who is closest?” asked Optimus.

Rhinox glanced back down at the scanners. “Cheetor is only a little ways away. No one else is anywhere near it.”

“Signal Cheetor to meet me there,” Optimus said, heading for the door.

“Are you sure it’ll be okay, with just the two of you? Megatron will probably come, with all the Predacons he can get there quickly,” Rhinox suggested. “It isn’t every day an alien ship lands.”

“Good point. Come on, Rattrap.”

“Oh, no. Not me,” Rattrap tried to refuse, but went along anyway. “Oh, we’re all gonna die...”

Meanwhile, at the Predacon base, Inferno has seen the same thing. “Royalty! An alien ship is heading for Grid Delta!”

“What!?” Megatron came to check the reading. “It would seem you are correct. Inferno, Waspinator, come with me. Tarantulas, follow as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, my Queen!” Inferno said.

As the three Predacons flew towards Grid Delta, Megatron muttered, “I do wish he’d stop calling me that.”

Above Grid Delta, the ship could be seen hurtling through the sky like a meteorite. However, its path was slightly more controlled. Inside the ship, voices could be heard...

“Why’d They have to do this? We were just having fun!” one childlike tone said.

“They said we ‘interfered too much, and might have changed the future from its intended course,’ remember, Ehnen?” another reminded, imitating a more adult voice.

“Oh, yeah. But we didn’t know at first there was anyone living here!” yet another protested.

“But we didn’t ask permission to change things here. And They said that some intelligent species or another was supposed to live here in the future,” the first voice replied.

“We didn’t know!” the third complained.

“We had suspicions, and we should have figured it out when we saw that old station,” the second told him, “and you know, we probably deserve what we’re getting, Bernian. I said we should have stopped playing when we found those old stations They left here, remember.”

“Let’s not start the ‘I told you so,’ business again, please, Felien?” Bernian sighed. “I wonder if they’ll be returned. We don’t have them anymore, remember. They took the tiger and the bird away from there. That was too bad. They were nice to watch.”

“They’ll probably only be sent back if they make an important difference in the future, and only when it’s necessary. You know how They are,” speculated Felien. “Anyway, we have to think about what we’ll do. This ship won’t work at all until They give us the password to tell it, and They’ll transport it away as soon as we are out of it. And the beings down there will be fighting over us and it the moment we land.”

The other two alien children murmured agreement, as their ship plummeted toward the planet.

Cheetor bounded over the rocks and bushes in his path. Reaching the predicted touchdown point, he skidded to a halt as the alien ship grew visible above him. It slowed, coming to rest on the ground. Cheetor watched it closely, but nothing moved for a while.

Hearing the sound of jets, he spun to see Optimus landing behind him, with a rather panicky Rattrap on his back. “Hey, big bot!” he greeted. “What do you think this is?”

Just then, Megatron, Inferno, and Waspinator appeared in the sky. They landed on the opposite side of the ship. The Maximals and Predacons, respectively maximized and terrorized, faced off across the prize of the alien ship and prepared to do battle, as usual.

Suddenly, the top of the alien ship popped open. Startled, both sides turned towards it. Something began to rise from the hatch.

A cheerful, grinning face appeared, with extremely large eyes and freckles. “Hi! We’re the aliens!” the person announced as he clambered out. He had feathery wings, short red hair coming from his head, and was wearing a loose, one-piece outfit that covered him from his neck to his tiny feet.

The boy was followed by two girls, who each had waist-length hair, one with brown, one with black, and who otherwise looked more or less the same as the boy.

None of them was over four feet tall. The dreaded aliens were, quite obviously, children.

Cheetor looked at the alien children, then at his commander, and half whispered, “They’re kids!”

Megatron cleared his throat, startled, to say the least, then said, “Welcome to this planet. I am Megatron, leader of the Predacons, and--”

The black-haired girl said in a stage whisper, just loud enough for everyone to hear, “Not really something to brag about,” and the other two aliens giggled. The Maximals smiled slightly. The Predacons didn’t seem to get the joke.

“And you should help us,” Megatron finished quickly, feeling slightly insulted, but privately admitting that the alien was mostly right.

“What are your names?” Optimus asked.

The brown-haired girl answered, “I’m Felien. This is Bernian,” indicating the boy, “and Ehnen.”

“Well, Felien, Bernian, Ehnen, greetings. I am--”

“We know all that,” Ehnen, the black-haired girl, interrupted. “We aren’t joining either side. But anyone who tries to hurt us is in big trouble.”

“That is to say,” Felien said quickly, “we won’t permit anyone to harm us, and we do not wish to join either of you at this time. We will observe you, and will make our separate decisions in ten of your megacycles. Goodbye!”

The boy grinned mischievously, and the ship disappeared. So did the three children. The Maximals and Predacons, no longer having anything to fight over, left with only a few indifferent shots at each other.

Optimus, Cheetor, and Rattrap went back to their base, puzzled and a bit worried. Once there, they told all the others what had happened.

“Kinda disappointing,” Rattrap remarked. “All this fuss, and it’s a bunch of kids!”

“It could be even worse this way,” Optimus said grimly. “This ‘bunch of kids,’ as you say, is apparently very powerful. If they were to join the Predacons and fight against us--”

The voice of Bernian interjected, “Thanks for the compliment!” as he stepped into view and disappeared again immediately.

Rattrap stared at where the alien had been. “I think I see what ya mean, fearless leader.”

“Right,” Rhinox said. “But we can’t really do anything but hope they don’t help the Predacons.”

The other Maximals agreed.

At the Predacon base, with everyone finally returned, Megatron had come to a different conclusion. He was trying to talk the three alien children into joining his side. Ehnen was the only one who hadn’t yet transported away.

“You could be my second-in-command, and be in charge of anything you want!” he told her.

“Whatever,” she said, waving a hand at him. “Like I said, commanding this bunch is not the kind of thing I’d want to brag about.”

Megatron gritted his teeth. “There are many other advantages to becoming my ally. I could...”

Ehnen stood up. “I don’t think there’s much point to this particular line of conversation,” she said in a bored tone, and transported herself away. Megatron smashed Waspinator, for no reason other than the fact that he was irritated.

Ehnen appeared in the small cave the children were using as a temporary home, giggling. Felien, inside, grinned at her and asked, “What’d you do?”

Finally getting control of her giggle attack, Ehnen answered, “I’ve been annoying Megatron. You know, I never realized how much fun it is to actually be part of the story, instead of just being around the edges.”

“I know,” Felien nodded, “it is a lot more fun this way. Being punished isn’t so bad after all.”

Bernian appeared in front of the girls. He was laughing, too. “I just played the best trick on Tarantulas!” he exclaimed once he calmed down. “You should have seen his face...” he broke off, his laughter overcoming him again.

The girls looked at each other, then at Bernian, and burst out into giggles again. Finally, after a very long time, they all stopped.

“You guys,” Felien said, “we’re going to have to get more serious about this sooner or later. We’re supposed to join a side in,” she checked a timepiece, “five megacycles now.”

“Well, the Maximals are cast as the ‘good guys,’ said Ehnen. “And Rattrap could be a lot of fun. So could Cheetor.”

“But the Predacons are so much fun to irritate!” Bernian said, grinning wickedly. “I couldn’t pull off so many practical jokes with the Maximals. They’re too smart.”

“Never heard that quality was bad,” said Felien teasingly. “As a matter of fact, I have some of it myself.”

“It’s good in friends,” Bernian explained quickly, “but bad in people you want to trick a lot.”

Felien smiled. “I think I’ll join the Maximals, since Megatron is basically just a big ego plus a huge weapon.”

“You’re absolutely right about that,” Ehnen agreed, “but he’s so much fun to annoy! I’m with the Predacons--to their disadvantage! How about you, Bernian?”

“I have way too many practical joke ideas to be done in five megacycles!” he exclaimed. “Predacons are for me.”

“Poor Predacons,” Felien murmured. “I don’t think anyone on this planet realizes we can’t actually help them at all, since none of this will ever have happened when They take us away. It’ll be like we were never here, as characters anyway.”

“I think you’re probably right,” Ehnen agreed. “So we can have that much more fun!”

The children spent the next five megacycles pestering and bothering both sides. Ehnen annoyed Megatron. Bernian put a skunk in Tarantulas’ lab, locked Inferno out of the base, got Rampage going off on a wild goose chase, and basically tricked and harassed every single Predacon. Felien went to the Maximal base, beginning to tease Rattrap.

“You know, I don’t understand why you eat garbage. Is it because of some obscure principle?” Felien asked, popping in behind Rattrap, who was in robot mode.

“No, it’s--” he tried to respond, turning around quickly, but she interrupted him.

“Maybe you always have to eat leftovers and trash because no one wants to give you anything good,” she speculated. “I can understand that perfectly.”

“That’s not--” he tried again. She disappeared. “Hey, where’d ya go?”

Felien transported to right behind Rattrap again. “Then again, maybe that’s all anyone here gets to eat. I don’t know if I would like that.”

“You don’t--” Rattrap attempted to correct her, turning, but she was gone again. “That’s frustrating, ya know.”

“That’s the point,” Felien called from above Rattrap, flying lightly. He spun around, looking for her, until he saw her, and fell onto his back. She chortled.

“I wish you’d quit doing that,” he muttered. “It’s hard ta argue with someone who keeps disappearing like that.”

“That’s the point, too!” she replied, laughing, and disappeared in mid-giggle.

Finally, the time came for the aliens to announce their sides. Felien went to Optimus, who was in the command center.

“Hey, um, Optimus, I’ve decided to join the Maximals,” she announced.

Rattrap groaned. “Oh, no.”

“Welcome, Felien,” Optimus said, shooting Rattrap a warning glance. “Can you tell us which side the others will be on?”

She grinned. “Officially, they’re on the Predacon side. Really, they’re more interested in playing practical jokes and being annoying than actually helping anyone. Bernian says you guys are too smart to pull a trick on, and Ehnen is having fun calling Megatron names and watching him scrap the other Predacons. He doesn’t dare do anything to her, of course.”

“I see. Will they be any danger to us?” asked Optimus.

“Only if you get in the way of one of Bernian’s practical jokes!” she giggled. “He’s already put a skunk in Tarantulas’ lab, and tons of other stuff.”

Rattrap smiled. “I could get to like him, I think.”

“Will you be able to help us?” Optimus asked.

“Well, I’m not going to destroy any of the Predacons. And none of we aliens can fight each other--that’s against the rules. Oh, and we don’t have much fancy equipment, so all we can do is transport ourselves. But yeah, I’ll help.” Felien grinned. “As much as I can.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re on our side, then.”

Bernian and Ehnen told Megatron their decisions, and were immediately put to work. They were sent to build a jamming station, along with Tarantulas and Inferno.

Tarantulas sidled up next to Ehnen, out of earshot of Inferno. “What do you think of Megatron?” he asked the child.

“He’s all ego,” she replied disdainfully. Then she smiled. “Fun to tease, though.”

“I agree with you. Do you think he leads the Predacons well?”

Ehnen snorted. “He’s the perfect boss for most of them. Exactly what they need in a leader--power and persuasion.”

“You’re very perceptive,” Tarantulas complimented. “But I believe the Predacons could do much better under a new authority.”

“Let me guess. You?” She snickered. “That’d never work in a thousand stellar cycles. By the way, did you ever get that smell out of your lair?”

He gave up and left, her mocking laughter following him.

Meanwhile, Bernian was setting into effect yet another practical joke--this time on Inferno. Flying a little ways ahead of the others, he stretched a vine out at ankle level, and attached one end to a tiny catapult. He placed a large, wet mud pie in it, and hurried back to the Predacons. Flying above them, along with Ehnen, the two exchanged news and waited for Inferno to reach the vine.

When he did, the results were all that could have been hoped for. Stumbling over the vine, Inferno staggered back just as the mud pie hit him smack in the face. He fell into the puddle from which the mud had originally come, and was absolutely covered by the thick, wet earth.

“Argh!!” he growled, and crawled out, not being smart enough to realize that the now hysterically laughing Bernian had anything to do with his mishap. Tarantulas rounded the corner, and raised an eyebrow at the mud-covered Inferno, but said nothing. That was a good thing, since if he had, the mud ball which hit him from above would have gotten into his mouth instead of simply hitting his face.

High above, the two aliens were practically in paroxysms of glee.

Meanwhile, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Felien had detected the Predacon signatures and were going to investigate. Felien was scouting in the sky, while the other two ran along on the ground.

“Do you see anything, Felien?” called Cheetor.

“Not yet. There might be something over there, though,” she answered, pointing toward the left. “I’ll check it out. Back in a second!” Felien transported herself close to where she had seen the movement, and sure enough, spotted her two friends flying above the Predacons. Getting a little closer, she noticed what Tarantulas and Inferno were wearing.

She transported back, laughing. “That may be the best one yet!”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Rattrap asked.

“Bernian has Tarantulas and Inferno covered in mud!” Felien indicated the direction. “They’re over that way.”

“Well, let’s go!” exclaimed Cheetor eagerly. “What are they doing?”

Still giggling, Felien managed to say, “They’ve got the right equipment for a jamming tower.”

“Come on!” Cheetor called, running ahead. “We can’t let them set up another one.”

Rattrap sighed. “We’re all gonna die. Hey, kid, wait up!” He ran as fast as he could after Cheetor.

Felien burst out into laughter again, but flew with the Maximals, easily keeping up.

With the Predacons, Ehnen and Bernian had seen their friend pop in and out, but didn’t tell their supposed allies. When Felien and the Maximals reached their position, they simply continued to laugh until Tarantulas cleared enough of the mud from his eyes to notice them.

“Maximals!” he shouted to Inferno, who was still struggling to get out of the mud puddle. “Destroy them!”

Without being able to see, Inferno swept his flame gun across the entire area. “Burn, Maximals!” he shrieked. The blast of fire completely missed its intended targets. It did, however, score with almost perfect accuracy on Tarantulas.

All three aliens doubled up in laughter, dipping and swerving through the air. “Nice shot!” Felien hooted. “Maybe next time, you can hit an enemy instead of a team member!”

Tarantulas stumbled across the now blackened ground, yelling first at Inferno, then at Ehnen and Bernian. “Come on, you! Can’t you do anything right?!”

“Apparently not!” Ehnen told him gleefully.

Cheetor and Rattrap stopped short at the edge of the mud puddle. The Predacons were hopping around, Inferno in anger, still firing, and Tarantulas in pain from his burns, both splashing mud everywhere.

“Arrgh!” screamed Tarantulas. He yanked out his own gun, and began firing wildly, unable to see anything through the soot and mud. Rattrap and Cheetor dove behind a rock. Finally, the Predacons realized that they weren’t hitting anyone, and retreated quickly, followed by the two still uncontrollably laughing aliens.

Cheetor and Rattrap cautiously stepped from behind their rock. Felien landed on it, still chuckling.

“Well,” Rattrap said finally, “that was interesting. I guess your friends won’t do the Predacons much good.”

The other two glanced at him, and all three returned to their base with acute cases of the giggles.

That night, the three aliens met in their secret cave to discuss the events of the day. After all, just because they were on different sides wasn’t any reason to pass up a good idea for a joke.

“That was a great joke today,” Felien complimented Bernian. “How did Megatron react?”

Ehnen snickered. “He smashed Tarantulas absolutely flat. Then, he put on his ‘tolerantly amused’ face, and told Bernian not to do it again.”

“He should know better,” Bernian grinned. “I never repeat a joke--at least, not until everyone stops watching for it.”

The aliens laughed, and then Felien grew a little more serious. “When do you think we’ll get taken away?” she asked. “I like the Maximals.”

Shrugging, Ehnen said, “I don’t know, and I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter all that much. No one is allowed to talk about punishments once they’re back. I think, though, that They wait for something to happen before They change everything back. And, Felien, don’t let Them hear you saying that.”

“Right,” Bernian agreed. “But anyway, I hope we’ll be here for a while longer. I have this great idea. See, I’ve found an empty stasis pod, and Ehnen will help by getting Megatron to send Waspinator to retrieve it. Hopefully, Tarantulas will still be in that R tank of theirs getting fixed. Only in the stasis pod, there will be this thing I’m making instead of a protoform, and when Waspinator tries to open it, it will spring out at him and get water and tree sap all over him. He probably won’t be able to fly back until he gets all the sap off his wings, and I’ll sabotage his com-link. Then, Megatron will have to send someone to find him. When he does that, I’ll sabotage their com-link, too, but in a different way. I’ll imitate Megatron’s voice, and--”

“How well can you do that?” asked Felien. “Good enough to fool the Predacons?”

“I’m very good at it, yee-es,” Bernian said in a perfect copy of Megatron. Then shifting to Quickstrike’s voice, “I been practicin’, pardner!”

“Nice job!” Ehnen giggled.

“And order that Predacon to travel north. If I’m lucky, it’ll be Inferno,” Bernian finished. His grin grew almost vicious. “That ant would travel past the North Pole all the way to the South, never once changing direction, before he would disobey Megatron.”

“His Queen,” Ehnen added. “You know, we really must think of some way to use that in a joke.”

Bernian looked thoughtful. “Hmm. I have an idea on that one, too. And you know, the only thing that would make these jokes worse to the Predacons would be sending a tape of them to the Maximals. I wonder...”

“And it’ll make the Maximals laugh,” added Felien.

Bernian stared at her. “Who cares about that? It isn’t funny.”

“But it’s a nice thing to do,” Felien told him.

Ehnen got a troubled look on her face. “Be careful, Felien. You’re getting close to breaking the rules.”

Felien sighed. Ehnen was correct, but there was just something about these Maximals that almost seemed as if...as if they were people, too. But that was impossible.

Wasn’t it?

The next day, Rhinox saw the stasis pod’s beacon on his scanners. “Optimus,” he said, puzzled, “there’s a stasis pod out there.”

“That’s funny,” the Maximal commander commented. “There shouldn’t be any out there now. I thought they were all down.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Felien advised from the entrance. “It isn’t really.”

Optimus turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out,” Felien said, smiling. “I’ll go check it out, if you like. I can get there fastest.”

“Go ahead,” said Optimus, “but I think you should have some backup. I can send--”

“No,” interrupted Felien. “You shouldn’t. Unless someone wants to be totally and completely embarrassed.”

“If one of my crew is out there--” Optimus started.

“They aren’t,” Felien assured. “Look more closely at the beacon.” With an impish grin, she transported away.

Optimus turned to Rhinox. “Is there anything unusual about the beacon?”

Rhinox tapped some buttons, looked more closely. “It keeps flashing on and off. It...wait a minute.” He studied the signal. Suddenly, it changed. “It’s a message. To us only. I doubt the Predacons could see it.”

The picture he was looking at had changed to an image of Bernian. “This will be your only warning, so pay attention,” the boy said. “Don’t worry about the pod. It’s a joke for the Predacons. So stay out of the way. Also, keep this channel open, and you will receive a recording in one megacycle.” Bernian’s image disappeared, to be replaced with the stasis pod’s beacon.

Optimus looked slightly amused. “Suggestions, anybody?”

“Do what he said,” Rhinox said. “It is definitely not a real stasis pod, so there’s nothing to lose.”

“All right,” decided Optimus. “We were warned about Bernian’s jokes. We’ll do what he suggests.”

Felien appeared above the mock stasis pod as Bernian disappeared, transporting back to the Predacon base as they had agreed last night. Landing, she rummaged around in the bushes until she found the object of her search--a video camera. She hid in a tree and prepared to begin taping.

Waspinator appeared in the distance, his mutters slowly becoming audible. “Why Wazzpinator sent? Why not girl-alien, or ant-bot? Why Wazzpinator alwayzz have boring jobzz?” He landed next to the stasis pod, and checked the board. Waspinator had no idea what any of the flashing lights meant, but there weren’t any warning voices, so he tried to check on the protoform inside.

When he opened the pod, a rain of extremely sticky sap and water drenched him! There was nothing inside but more sap and water, and a contraption that had thrown most of it onto him. Waspinator wasn’t too bright, but it didn’t take much thought to figure out who had done this.

“Boy-alien not nice. Not nice to trick Wazzpinator like that. What Wazzpinator ever do to him?” muttered Waspinator under his breath, activating his com-link.

Or trying to. The com-link did nothing but give a sputter, and hiss softly. “Now Wazzpinator has to walk back to base!” Waspinator complained, testing his waterlogged, sticky wings. “Oh, why universe hate Wazzpinator?”

As the sodden bug began his long trek, Felien lowered the camera from her eye. She had an unusual _expression on her face, as if realizing that perhaps the joke was going a bit too far. But, shrugging the feeling away, she transported to a different location. There was a lot more taping to be done.

The Predacon base was in the opposite direction from the way Waspinator was headed.

At the Predacon base, Ehnen was doing her part of the plan. She had contrived to get Waspinator sent after the pod, and when he had not reported in, she managed to get Inferno sent out after him. Now, Megatron was taking his rest. Ehnen had made sure of that with the mild tranquilizer she had slipped into his drink. She deactivated the security systems--they were simple things, to her--and retrieved the props she had hidden in a closet. Sneaking in, Ehnen made sure Megatron was really asleep, and set to work.

Felien transported into the room, holding the camera. She gave Ehnen a thumbs-up, and pointed the camera at the Predacon commander.

When the two aliens transported out, Megatron looked very...pretty...in dress, wig, and crown. A sign painted on the floor read, ‘YES, MY QUEEN!’

Meanwhile, Bernian was waiting for his friends, and perfecting his speech. A little of Ehnen’s mechanical trickery with Inferno’s com, and the only person the ant could talk to or hear from was him.

Ehnen and Felien appeared. “How’d it go?” he asked them.

“Perfect!” Ehnen giggled. “Are we ready?”

“Yep,” he grinned. “All ready. Let’s do it.” Felien transported to where Inferno was, still a long way from the pod and Waspinator.

Bernian cleared his throat, and began to talk to Inferno through the com-link in perfect mimicry of Megatron. “Inferno!”

“Yes, Royalty?” replied Inferno quickly.

“I want you to travel north. That’s the direction Waspinator and the pod are going. But it may take you a long time to catch up with them.”

“Yes, my Queen!” Inferno assented, and immediately started heading north. Felien had taped both sides of the short conversation.

It didn’t take too long for Inferno, flying swiftly, to reach the arctic regions.

Megatron woke up. Looking at himself, he disposed of the ridiculous outfit at once, and bellowed, “Bernian!”

A nervous-looking Tarantulas tiptoed in. “He’s not here.”

“Then get Ehnen!” snapped Megatron.

“She’s gone, too. And they left this.” He proffered a note. Megatron read it, and grew more furious yet.

Tarantulas quite suddenly found himself in need of repairs again.

Exactly one megacycle after Bernian’s message, the Maximals received a new transmission.

“What do ya think it is?” asked Rattrap.

“I don’t know,” Rhinox answered. “It must be what Bernian said he would send, but he didn’t say what it would be.”

“Well, let’s find out!” Cheetor exclaimed.

They did. It was the entire tape that Felien had recorded. At the end, there was a scene of Inferno. He was deep in snow and ice, and still heading north.

The Maximals laughed and laughed.

Bernian and Ehnen reappeared at the Predacon base only long after Megatron’s rage had faded. Megatron was still rather...irritated...however.

“If you are with us, you must follow my orders! I command here!” he fumed at them. “So, stop causing trouble, or leave! Are you still on our side?”

The aliens nodded. “I’m on your side!” Ehnen said firmly. Then a puzzled look came over her face. “Um...which side was that again?”

Megatron’s face grew lavender with anger. “PREDACON!” he almost screamed. “Now both of you, get out of my sight!”

The two children left quickly, with an outward show of meekness. In reality, however, they were barely managing to hold their giggles in.

Felien transported into her room in the Maximal base, intending to rest for a while. However, when she appeared, she found Rattrap there.

“Hey, what’re you doing in my quarters?” she asked.

He turned towards her. Rattrap was hardly ever surprised by her anymore. Very disappointing. “Lookin’ for ya,” he replied. “I wanted to talk a little.”

“About what?” Felien asked. Ordinarily, she would have refused point-blank, but this was intriguing. Rattrap usually tried to avoid getting anywhere near her. With good reason, she had to admit, seeing as how she had been teasing him. But somehow, it was hard for her to keep the detachment she was supposed to have around other species

“Why are you here?” he asked bluntly. “You guys aren’t interested in helping either side, that’s obvious. So why did you come?”

Felien was a bit taken aback. Should she answer Rattrap’s question? Won’t hurt anything, in the time loop, she decided. I just hope the others aren’t angry. “It’s kind of a long story, but if you really want to hear it...” she started.

Rattrap nodded, and sat down on the floor. “All of it.”

She settled herself on the bed. “Okay. Ehnen, and Bernian, and I, are children of a race called the Vok. We wanted something to do, and They had this--

“Whaddiya mean, They?” interrupted Rattrap.

“Them. The adults. What we’ll turn into, whenever we grow up. They are really the Vok, we just try to keep ourselves amused until we turn into Them,” she tried to explain. “Anyhow, they had this observation going on here. But then you guys came, and the rebel Vok, from the Nexus, tried to destroy you all. They want to change the time lines, to make it better for themselves.”

“That was when the heat-ray thingie almost killed us all?” Rattrap asked.

“I guess so. But, see, the Vok in the Nebula had to let it happen,” Felien continued. “It would have changed the time-line otherwise, They found out. Luckily, you kept that from happening, and apparently, everything worked out all right, because nothing changed then. So They took everything and left, all but a couple stations I guess They forgot about.”

“Why were these rebels here, anyway?”

“This was their first try. To see if they could change the time line safely, without causing any harm to themselves or their future. They can’t do it very well.”

“This isn’t telling me why you’re here,” commented Rattrap.

“Patience, please,” grinned Felien. “I’m getting to it. When the three of us saw this planet, it looked deserted. We didn’t know anyone lived here. So it seemed like a good place to play. When we saw you, we didn’t think you were important--so we kept going.”

“What were you doing here?” asked Rattrap curiously.

Felien smiled in remembrance. “Lots of stuff. There was one time we were playing hover-catch, and--” She broke off. “Oops. I can’t talk about that.”

Rattrap gave her a puzzled glance. “I’m not even gonna ask.”

“Good. I can’t tell you why, either. So anyway, we tried not to bother you too much, but it didn’t always work out.” She grimaced. “There were a couple of you guys that ran into one of Their old stations, as I recall...oh, never mind that. We had a lot of fun until then. They found out about what we were doing, when those two were sent to the Nebula.”

“Not good?”

“Not at all. They said we were greatly disturbing the future time line, and that now there were some very bad possible outcomes. So to punish us, we were restricted to here, and we won’t be taken away until something happens. We don’t know what it is.”

“Wait a cycle,” Rattrap protested. “Wouldn’t your bein’ here just upset the time line worse?”

Felien laughed. “Of course not. No punishment should ever affect anyone except those being punished. When we’re taken away, this will become a time loop--nobody and nothing here can be changed.”

“What happened to Tigatron and Airazor?” Rattrap eagerly inquired. “Are they okay?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Like I said, they were transported to the Nebula. Only the highest-ranked Vok go there.”

“Ya know, this is really confusing,” Rattrap said, shaking his head. “Time loops, and transporters, and rebels, and whatever else.”

Felien nodded. “It is. But you should have seen the time when someone got stuck in a time loop. Now that was confusing...”

“But aren’t you worried about Tigatron and Airazor?”

“No,” she said, not altogether looking as if it was true. “I don’t have to do anything more with this planet, once I’m away. And what difference would it make if I was?”

“Would you be worried if the same thing happened to the rest of us?” Rattrap asked, his eyes slightly narrowed.

“You’re not my problem,” she answered, still looking distressed. “We should only worry about things when we’re supposed to do something about them, and no one has to do anything about anything until they Change.”

“What do you mean, Change? Change how?” Rattrap looked as if he was trying to understand something.

“It’s what happens when a child becomes an adult. They change shape,” Felien told him. “And if I wasn’t being punished, telling you all this would be treason.” A worried _expression crossed her face. “You won’t let the Predacons find out, will you? Bernian and Ehnen would be so mad at me.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that,” Rattrap said, seeming preoccupied. “Tell me something, Felien. How do you think of us? As people, or something else?”

She started to answer, then stopped. “You’re...” She looked troubled. “I don’t know. You’re not Vok, we’re supposed to think of you as those who need some help sometimes, but never as anything more. But I don’t know. It’s awfully hard to not think of you as...as...I don’t know.”

“How do the adults think?” Rattrap asked.

“Them? They spend all their time monitoring time lines. Only a very few have ever actually been with other species. Especially sentient ones.” She slowly shook her head. “I can’t understand. The instruction we were given...we can’t...can’t get attached. Not to anyone but other Vok.”

Rattrap started to speak, but Felien had disappeared.

Felien transported herself to the hidden cave. She was worried and confused. Every child was given a set of rules when they were first sent away from the edges of the Nebula, and the highest one stated, ‘Never, ever, start to think about other races as people. The duty of the Nebula Vok is to guard the time line, and therefore we must keep separate from all others.’

Now she was breaking that rule.

Felien buried her head in her hands and cried, for the first time in her life.

A little while later, Ehnen appeared. She noticed her friend, and started, “Hey, Felien, wait till you hear--” She broke off. “Are you...crying?”

Felien looked up quickly, drying her tears. “Ehnen, would you tell Them if I broke the rules?”

Ehnen sniffed. “I wouldn’t tell Them if the entire Nebula went nova. None of the children would, you know that. But why would you do anything that would break rules? Most of them are silly, but they don’t really interfere with our play.”

“True,” Felien agreed. “But I suppose I’m getting to think of these people as just as good as us. They’re people.”

“We all understand that, Felien,” Ehnen said, “but the point is, we have to stay objective about them. When we Change, we’ll have to guard the time line too, you know.”

“I know, I know,” said Felien, shaking her head. “I just don’t understand it. Why can’t we forget about the time line, and just be part of it, like everyone else?”

“It’s too important. And the Vok have to do it, because it’s the rebels who want to change things.” Ehnen told her friend.

“Yeah. That makes it so much more understandable. Just as clear as mud,” Felien said sarcastically. “Quit repeating the rule-book. I know it as well as you do.”

Ehnen sat down beside Felien. “Do what you want. I know how you feel. But be careful. If They find out...” she trailed off ominously.

“Thanks, Ehnen,” Felien said, smiling. “I will.”

Ehnen winked out, evidently going to her base, and Felien sighed. She sat in silence for a while, then apparently reached a decision. Spreading her wings and leaving the cave, she flew away.

Waspinator was continuing to try to find his way back to the Predacon base. His wings, which now had dried very stiff with the heavy sap, could not carry him. By this time, he was several days’ journey away from the Predacon base, and still going.

“Wazzpinator tired of walking,” he complained softly to himself. “It’s not fair...” He glanced up, and noticed Felien flying overhead. She had obviously not yet seen him. “Maximal alien!” he said, surprised enough that he did not get his gun out for a long moment, then yanked it out and began firing.

Felien, searching for the lost Predacons, heard Waspinator’s mutters just in time to transport out of the way. “Hey,” she called from her new location, “do you mind? I just wanted to give you some advice!”

“Not shoot Wazzpinator?” he asked unbelievingly, lowering his gun slightly and stepping back, into a large hole. He lost his balance, and tumbled head-over heels into it.

Felien lighted on the edge, and called into the darkness. “Are you all right?”

“Wazzpinator not badly damaged. If Wazzpinator’s wingzz hadn’t gotten covered with this stuff, Wazzpinator could fly out of this hole. But alienzz played mean trick, and now Wazzpinator stuck,” he answered accusingly.

“I’m sorry about that,” Felien told him. “Can you climb up a vine or something, if I lowered it to you?”

“Alien not shoot Wazzpinator?” he buzzed suspiciously.

“Nope,” she reassured him, “I don’t even have a weapon.”

He pondered this for a moment. “Okay. Wazzpinator come up. What alien Maximal want to tell Wazzpinator?”

“I’m sorry about the trick we played on you,” Felien apologized, lowering a vine into the hole. “And I thought you might want to know that you’re going the wrong way.”

Waspinator tilted his head skeptically as he clambered out. “Not another trick?”

“It isn’t a trick. I promise.” Felien glanced to the side, and spotted the figure of Bernian in the distance. “I have to leave. I’m really sorry, and I won’t do it again. But be careful around Bernian. He does love to play jokes.” She disappeared.

Waspinator scratched his head. The encounter didn’t seem to make sense. Mentally shrugging, he turned the right direction and started off again.

Felien transported to the region where Inferno might be. Sure enough, there he was, still trekking through the arctic in supposed obedience to Megatron. She considered her approach cautiously, and flew towards him, ready to transport out of danger the moment Inferno showed the slightest sign of firing his weapon. The torch gun could be deadly to the unprotected alien.

“Inferno?” she called. “Don’t shoot! I just want to talk.”

The large red ant glanced up at her, and instantly pulled out his gun. A blast of fire swept across the icy landscape. “You are an enemy of the colony! Burn!” he screeched loudly.

Felien transported far, far away, almost out of earshot. “It’s a trick!” she yelled. “Bernian sent you this way, not Megatron!”

“I do what the Royalty commands!” he shouted after her as she disappeared into the distance, still melting the ice and snow, firing after her futilely.

Transporting to the secret cave, Felien shook her head. She had done her best to convince Inferno, but he would never believe her, that was for sure.

Oh, well, she thought. At least I tried.

Felien disappeared from the cave.

_____________

Far away, in the Nebula, four members of the Vok were secretly watching the children’s deeds on the planet. They spoke not so much in sound as in thought, and looked like ghosts with the basic shape of the children, except that their bodies were much smaller in comparison to their heads, and their wings were transparent.

~ The young one’s actions are disturbing, ~ one of them told the others.

~ Yes, ~ another agreed. ~ After she Changes, Felien will have an important place among our people. We must not let her form attachments to those not so advanced as we are. ~

~ We need not worry yet, ~ a third stated his opinion. ~ Her contamination is not great. Simply end the children’s punishment early. ~

The fourth and last Vok shook his head in disagreement. ~ That will not help. Felien is already too attached for it to work. No, we should test her loyalty to the Vok cause. ~

~ And if she fails the test? ~ the second asked.

~ No Vok leader can be so contaminated by the other races. We will not allow her to change, if she cannot prove her loyalty, ~ the fourth stated.

~ We may change our own time line that way, ~ the first protested. ~ Felien must take her place as a Line Guardian. Surely our time line must be protected, even above the other races’ time lines. ~

~ Then the attachment must be...eliminated, ~ the third said grimly. ~ In a way that will not change their time line, though. It is most puzzling. ~

~ Send an observer probe to the children’s punishment time loop. We must see just how deeply this has already gone, ~ the first ordered. ~ Then we will decide on what course to take. ~

The other three assented.

Felien appeared in her room, and went in search of Rattrap. It was funny, but she was almost beginning to think of him as a friend. That was against the entire rule-book, of course, but she had decided to forget about the rule-book for now. And Rattrap was nice, if sometimes annoying.

She walked along the corridors instead of transporting directly to his room, out of politeness--another thing which should have been beneath her notice, especially to races such as the ones from Cybertron, but now wasn’t. Felien sighed slightly. She was going to be in so much trouble when the Leaders found out...

Her musing was interrupted by the sound of alarms as she passed the command center. She looked in. “What’s wrong?”

Rhinox, at the scanners, glanced toward her briefly. “Scanners are picking up an alien signal. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” The scanner’s image showed an oval ship, very small, that was coated with some shining material, designed to avoid more primitive sensors.

Felien came into the room. “That’s strange. If--I mean, we didn’t know there was anything else coming. May I see?”

Rhinox nodded, and stepped aside. Felien examined the unfamiliar board for a moment, then played her hands across it quickly. The image turned slightly, grew larger. She studied it, then said, “Yeah, it’s a Vok probe. But it won’t land, I don’t think. It’s an observation device. I don’t see why it’s here, though...that kind of satellite is normally only used for civilizations that can’t see it.”

Optimus entered. “Do you have any idea why your people might send it here?”

Tilting her head, Felien looked puzzled. “No. Not unless...” She stopped, suddenly worried. “Not unless they had something to watch closely here.”

Rattrap poked his head in. “Hey, what’s goin’ on?” he said, gazing around. He noticed the alien probe on the scanners. “What’s that?”

Felien turned around and looked at him soberly. “It’s a probe,” she told him. “From the Nebula Vok. Rattrap, have you told everyone what I told you?”

He shook his head. “Not a word.”

“I will, then.” Felien explained why the three aliens were on Earth, and the time loop. “But I broke the rules,” she finished. “It’s one of the most important laws never, ever, to make friends with other races. And I did.”

“So why’d they send a probe after you?” Rattrap asked. “You’re here in the first place ‘cause you broke their rules, so why are they so worried now?”

Sighing, Felien sat down. “I’m too important for them to let me get attached. You see, I’ll probably be a Line Guardian after I Change. One of only about ten. In charge of safeguarding the future of an entire intelligent race.”

“Ah,” Rattrap began, and couldn’t find anything else to say.

“What will they do?” asked Rhinox.

Felien stared at the floor. “They might kill you.”

“Hey, if they’re so worried ‘bout protecting time--” Rattrap started to protest, then stopped.

“Or they’d threaten to kill you, unless I forgot about you all,” Felien continued. She looked up. “I can’t stay with you guys. I’m only putting you all in danger.”

Optimus sighed slightly. “You might be right. But where can you go?”

Felien shook her head sadly. “I’ll discover somewhere.” She glared at Rattrap momentarily, and added, “Don’t try to find me, either.”

The Maximals all said good-bye, and Felien transported away.

At the Predacon base, Ehnen and Bernian were privately discussing the probe, and playing hover-catch. This involved a medium-sized ball, which floated above the ground into their hands.

“It has to be one of Theirs. I should have known They’d find out! I should have figured out They would be watching Felien!” Ehnen berated herself, catching the ball. “Now we’re all in trouble.”

Bernian nodded, serious for once in his life. “What are we going to do about it?” He missed Ehnen’s throw, but the ball zipped back to his hand, and he tossed it towards her.

“What do we ever do? They do whatever They want, and all we can do is try to stay out of the way.” Ehnen grimaced as she caught the ball. “I am so sick of it.”

“Me, too,” agreed Bernian, “but that’s just the way it is. We can’t change it. No one can. And the Nexus Vok are even worse.”

Ehnen shook her head. She set the ball down, turning off the power. “Well, I’m not just going to let Them have their way this time. Felien broke a rule. So what? I won’t let all these people be punished for it.”

“What else can you do?” asked Bernian. “They’re Vok. We’re children.”

“I don’t know,” Ehnen said determinedly, “but I’m going to do something.”

Bernian grinned. “Then I’m with you all the way, Ehnen. We’ll do it together--whatever it is. Let’s see. Maybe if we refused to take our jobs, after we Change? Most of the other children feel the same way.”

“No,” disagreed Ehnen, “that will take too long. We need to do something here and now. We could get the Maximals to help us...they would do it, I’m sure. Possibly even one or two of the Predacons.”

“How could they help? And even if they did, it would only make the Vok angrier at them,” Bernian pointed out.

Ehnen smiled slightly. “The time lines, remember? ‘Most all of these people have to do important things still. They can’t change things here.”

“Yes, they can. This is a time loop, remember?” protested Bernian. “They can do anything They feel like doing to these people. And us.”

Ehnen sagged slightly. “Oh. Yeah.” She sighed. “I sure wish Felien were here. I don’t know anything about time lines and temporal paradoxes. She’s the one who’s s’posed to be a Line Guardian, not us.”

“Hey, that gives me an idea!” exclaimed Bernian. He explained. Ehnen listened eagerly, and then burst out laughing.

“You know, that has got to be the most ridiculous plan I have ever heard,” she told him merrily. “But it just might work. Let’s get started!”

The children set to work on their plot.

Felien stared upward into the night sky, at the faint, swiftly moving light of the probe. She sighed, and turned to go inside the cave where the children had met. Just then, Felien heard a twig snap in the forest, and she froze. Listening carefully, she perceived a familiar muttering, and relaxed slightly. It was Waspinator.

“Wazzpinator never get back to base! Wazzpinator just wander around forever, without wingzz working. Not fair. Sometimezz Wazzpinator wishezz alienzz had never come,” he was grumbling.

“You know, I think I might almost agree with you on that point,” she called to him softly, to avoid misunderstandings. “Don’t worry, Waspinator. It’s me, Felien.”

Waspinator’s buzzing complaints stopped for a moment, then he cautiously came into sight from within the forest. “Felien izz nice alien. Help Wazzpinator get stuff off wingzz?”

“Sure, Waspinator,” she smiled. “I’ll help you get the sap off your wings. Come over here. There’s a stream.”

“Okay,” Waspinator agreed, if a bit suspiciously, and followed Felien over to a small brook that splashed its way through the nearby rocks. She began to splash the cold water onto his sticky wings, and soon the sap had been washed away.

“There. Your wings are fine now.” Felien glanced quickly at Waspinator, then looked down. “You’d better go.”

“Girl-alien not like Wazzpinator?” he asked, turning to leave.

“No, nothing like that, Waspinator. It’s just that...well, I broke some rules of my people, so it’s safer if no one is near me,” Felien explained.

Waspinator nodded. “Bad alienzz.” He tilted his head sympathetically. “That mean Felien can’t have friendzz?”

“Yes,” Felien agreed sadly.

“Wazzpinator doezzn’t have any friendzz either,” he told her.

Felien looked at him suddenly, realizing what he meant, and nodded shyly. “Sure, Waspinator, I’d be happy to be your friend.” She handed him something. “Read that, after I’ve gone. But don’t tell anyone that I gave it to you.”

Waspinator smiled as best he could, with his mouth, and flew away.

Felien stared after him, and slowly began to lose the sad _expression from her face.

Rattrap looked at his sensor board, and sighed. As much as Felien had teased him, he found that he had almost begun to think of her as a friend, and he missed her. He even missed the teasing. He wondered where she had found to live.

The sensor board began to signal for his attention. Rattrap checked the scanner readouts, and suddenly began to worry more. An alien ship had appeared beside the probe. It was different from the one Felien and her friends had landed in, having a different energy signature, and it bore a noticeable similarity to the green construct they had seen much earlier. He activated his comlink, calling Optimus, who was off duty.

“Rattrap to fearless leader. We got trouble.”

The probe watched silently from a high orbit, recording its data. It included the actions of the beings on the planet below. It noted the strange behaviors of one of them especially, one who was important to its programmers in some way.

When the foreign ship approached, it sorted through its data files, and found a match in the data tracks recorded by the probes originally assigned to this planet, those which had been destroyed in various ways or recalled when the project was terminated. The ship was of the type often used by the Nexus Vok, the rebels.

The probe sorted its options, and chose a course of action. It began to broadcast all its gathered data to its masters.

Its information was barely transferred to the Nebula when the foreign ship blasted it to fragments, floating uselessly in the void of space.

The four Vok watched as the probe’s transmissions cut off. ~ Troublesome, ~ one of them said. ~ It appears this time loop is spreading. The rebels have noticed it. And young Felien continues to make friends. ~

~ That is of no consequence now, ~ another one said. ~ The time loop must be quickly tied off. If we do not do it soon, we will be unable to. ~

The third motioned negatively. ~ If we take that action, the loop will have spread to include all these aliens. They will remember what took place. This would break the time lines. Only those originally in the loop can cut it now without irreparable harm to all time lines the loop has touched. ~

The last Vok stared toward Earth. ~ They must perceive that the time loop is unstable, then figure out how to tie it off. Can they do it? They are merely children. They know nothing of time loops. ~

~ They will have to. There is no other option, ~ the second told them.

~ Save one, ~ the third added. The other three gazed at him in shock.

~ You cannot be suggesting...~ began one.

~I am. We must contact the beings on Earth. We cannot contact the children directly, therefore it is the only alternative. ~

The third slowly nodded. ~ You are correct. Which group would help us more readily, do you suppose? ~

~ The group called Maximals. The other will not help us unless they can help themselves in the process. ~

The first Vok turned to the seemingly empty gas that they had just watched the probe’s message on. It formed a screen, and the Vok told it, ~ Direct-line communication. Destination: planet Earth, time loop currently in progress, Maximal base. ~

~ Working, ~ the screen replied. ~ Caution. If the Vok children this time loop is created for see the communications screen, all contact will be cut off. ~

The Vok all faced the screen. ~ Understood. Establish connection. ~

~ Connection established, ~ it reported. ~ Caution. According to safety protocols, automatic cutoff will result if contact is held for more than... ~

~ Disregard, ~ the first told it.

~ Safety circuits suggest not contacting time loop’s origin at this time...~

~ I said disregard! ~ the Vok snapped.

~ Safety precautions overridden. Speak when ready. ~

Ehnen was involved in her favorite pastime--annoying Megatron--at that time, though she seemed to have a bit more than her usual enthusiasm for it.

“So, how many bad things happened today, Megatron?” she asked.

“Go away,” he growled.

“Too haughty to answer, hmm? Well, luckily for you, I checked it out myself. In the past seven hours, one hundred embarrassing things happened to your forces. About a third of those were damaging in some way. Waspinator hasn’t returned yet, Inferno’s still missing, Rampage went off somewhere. Blackarachnia and Tarantulas are nowhere to be found, probably scheming as usual. And, oh yes, the tape of most of those things was somehow intercepted by the Maximals. And...”

“That’s enough!” Megatron cut her off sharply. “And how many of those things did you and your friend cause?”

She cocked her head and pretended to be counting. “Maybe half. The others were just Predacon clumsiness. They mostly seem to have a lot of that, you know. Did you mean for that to happen, or was it an accident? And if you meant for it to happen, why? Because I don’t see much reason for it. And...”

“I said enough! I’m going to my quarters. Quickstrike, you’re in charge here.” Megatron made a semi-dignified retreat.

Unattended, the sensor board began to show the Vok probe and the other ship. Ehnen glanced at them, smiled obscurely, and transported away.

“Yee-haw! I never got to be in charge before! Everyone, I’m in command!” Quickstrike glanced around the empty room. “Wait a minute. Nobody’s here for me to command.

Ehnen reappeared outside Megatron’s quarters, just after he slammed the door. Bernian flickered into existence in front of her.

“So? Did you get them?” asked Ehnen.

Bernian held up a printout and a piece of machinery. “Of course I got them. I can do anything with any computer system.” A mischievous grin darted across his features. “I did something else, too. Just wait until Megatron comes out of his hot tub.”

Ehnen smiled. “Sounds like a good one. I’ll look forward to it. But meanwhile...”

“Right,” agreed Bernian. “Our plan. Let’s get started.”

The aliens hurried off down a corridor. They finally stopped before a large metal door. Bernian stepped up to it and said, in his ‘Megatron’ imitation, “Open door. Voice code: Megatron.”

The door swung wide. Bernian and Ehnen went through it, and it closed behind them. They were now in what had been the ship’s engine room.

They set to work.

Optimus hurried to the command center, and leaned over Rattrap’s scanner board. “Are they Felien’s people, or someone else?”

“Doesn’t match her ship’s energy signature, but who knows?” Rattrap shrugged. “But I get the feeling it’s the other aliens. They blew the probe to scrap.”

Optimus glanced at the readouts. “I see. What--”

A screen appeared in midair. On it were the four Vok in the Nebula. Their words came across as speech, in order to be understood by the Maximals.

“We are the Leaders of the Nebula Vok,” the first one said. “The reason for this contact is...rather unique.”

“Well, what is it?” asked Optimus.

Rattrap looked at his commander incredulously. “You’re actually gonna listen to ‘em?” he asked under his breath.

“Yes, Rattrap, I am,” Optimus said in a tone that allowed no argument. He turned back to the floating screen. “You were saying?”

The speaker almost looked embarrassed. “Yes, well. We of the Vok find that we... well...we need your help. The time loop we made has grown unstable. If it is not soon closed, the time line will have enormous damages.”

“And we care about this why?” Rattrap muttered.

“It could cause immense changes in your own past and future. Even the destruction of everything as you know it,” a second Vok explained, unperturbed by Rattrap’s skepticism.

“What can we do about it?” Optimus asked. “And why can you not do it yourself?”

“The time loop is now large enough that we will have no effect. You must contact the children who were being disciplined on your planet. They must cut off the loop.”

One of the Vok who had not yet spoken smiled slightly. “Tell Felien their password is, ‘Children may play, but they can’t change until they Change.’ She will understand.”

Though a bit puzzled, Optimus nodded. “We will.”

The four Vok leaders made an uninterpretable gesture in unison, and the image disappeared.

Rattrap looked at Optimus. “I’ll take the message, fearless leader.”

“So suddenly you’re all for it?” Optimus said, smiling slightly.

Rattrap shrugged. “No. I just want to let Felien know she’s off the hook with her people.”

“Okay, you can do it,” he agreed.

Rattrap smiled and headed for the lift.

“Of course, you have to tell the other two, as well,” Optimus added.

Rattrap stopped short. “Oh, no,” he moaned. “Those two.” His enthusiasm for the chore dampened a bit, he sank out of sight below the floor.

Felien was in the cave when she heard Rattrap outside. Oh, no, was her first thought. He came looking for me even after I told him not to risk it.

“Felien? Are you in there?” he was calling. But his next words allayed her misgivings. “Those adults of yours sent a message!”

She stepped out. “What was that?”

“Oh, good, you are here,” Rattrap said. “I didn’t know where else to look. Okay, here’s the deal. Those other aliens showed up and blasted the probe, then your Leaders or whatever called. I’m supposed to tell you your password is, ‘Children may play, but they can’t change until they Change,’ or something like that. They said something ‘bout time loops being too big and damage to time lines.”

Felien stared at him. “Too big? Do you mean it’s unstable?”

Rattrap shrugged. “I don’t know. Somethin’ like that.”

Felien started to transport away, but then paused. She went up to Rattrap and pressed something into his hand. “Keep this, Rattrap. Goodbye.”

Rattrap looked at it. It was a slip of paper. “What is it?” He glanced around, receiving no answer. “Felien?” But she was gone.

Felien activated her automatic locator, which would lock onto Ehnen’s and take her to wherever Ehnen was at the moment. Her mind was racing furiously. If the loop was too unstable and large for the Leaders in the Nebula to be able to tie it off, it was undoubtedly too large for the normal methods. At this point, drastic measures were necessary. But where was she to get the supplies necessary for an emergency time-warp? And even more important, how had the time loop grown so large in the first place?

Coming out of the emptiness of mid-transport, Felien found herself standing behind Ehnen in the Predacon engine room. Her friend was apparently attempting to create a miniature time-warp communications device from the innards of several Predacon machines and one semi-functional transwarp cell, as well as a few alien things.

“Ehnen? What are you doing?” Felien asked, tapping her friend on the shoulder.

Startled, Ehnen leaped into the air and hovered there for a moment, then landed. “You scared me, Felien!” she gasped. “But look. I’m trying to make a time-com from all these things. See, if we can get the other Vok to...”

“Never mind that for now,” Felien interrupted. “We’re not in trouble with them at the moment. We have bigger problems.”

Ehnen snorted slightly. “Bigger than you maybe getting kicked out?”

“Yes. Our time loop is unstable now. You know what that means?”

Ehnen stared at Felien in shock. “You’re serious, aren’t you. How big?”

Felien shook her head slightly. “The rebels are in it, and it’s getting to the Nebula. We have to tie it off ourselves. Where’s Bernian?”

The prankster poked his head from around a corner. “I heard. But how are we supposed to do something like that? Closing a time loop is dangerous! I don’t have the slightest clue how to do it!”

“I know how to do it,” Felien assured him. “But we’ll need some things. Let me see your trans-com, Ehnen. Bernian, what were you working on?”

Bernian held out several of the little arachnoids, with some things attached to them. “I’m trying to get these things to be able to record and send messages. We were going to sneak some into lots of places where other Vok are, to try to get the Leaders to see sense. But I guess that doesn’t matter now.”

Felien inspected the wriggling machines. “These could be helpful. Ehnen, how much power does that transwarp cell have?”

“Um...” Ehnen checked the power readings. “About sixty percent.” She looked at Felien in realization. “No, Felien, it won’t work. You don’t have a ship or parts to build one. It’s not enough power...You’d be killed!”

“I have to try,” Felien told her. “And the time loop has to be tied off.”

Glancing between them, Bernian shook his head. “No, Felien. Everything has to be right, or it won’t be tied off. I know that much. I’ll go.”

“Who’s the expert here?” Felien asked him.

“You, of course,” said Bernian, taking the transwarp cell from Ehnen. “But don’t worry. All I need to do is get far enough back to keep us from ever coming here, and then start the transwarp up, right? It’ll work fine.”

Ehnen looked at the floor, but Felien shook her head. “You should know better, Bernian. We all have to go.”

Ehnen nodded. “We all have to be there. But how are we going to get up there?”

Felien grinned, and held up the arachnoid. “We transport to the rebel ship.”

Ehnen and Bernian stared at her as if they thought she might be crazy. Ehnen was the first to speak. “We can’t transport somewhere we’ve never seen, unless someone gives coordinates. And how is that supposed to happen?”

Felien rolled her eyes slightly. “We send these things!”

Bernian’s confusion cleared, but Ehnen still looked puzzled. “And how are we going to get them up there?”

Bernian grinned. “I may have an idea on that one.”

His friends sighed, and simultaneously buried their faces in their hands.

“But before we leave...” continued Bernian, “can I just leave a present for the Predacons? I have this really good idea for a joke...”

Aboard the alien ship, several Changed Vok were speaking softly to computer screens, getting ready to fire a weapon. One of them stopped when a beeping from a console indicated a message. He pressed a button, and a voice that sounded like Megatron’s came from a speaker.

“I have called to...bargain with you,” Megatron’s voice said. “Why are you here?”

“We found our reports from the neutralization device had cut off,” the leader said, speaking out loud in order for his words to be carried to the planet surface, where a large mask would be forming. “We have come to finish the job.”

“I wish to give you a gift which will perhaps appease your wrath. You may transport it aboard, if you want. There is a locator on it. I believe it may interest you.” Megatron’s voice paused. “Yee-es,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Very well. Transport it up,” the leader ordered, breaking contact. The aliens worked their machinery, and a blue shimmering appeared in front of them. When it faded, arachnoids skittered off in all directions.

“Catch those machines!” one rebel shouted.

“Run!” screamed another.

A mad scrambling resulted as all the rebels tried to obey both orders at once. None of them succeeded completely, but several managed to cling to the arachnoids’ backs as they scurried away. Absolute pandemonium reigned throughout the ship.

The leader screamed in anger. ~ Fire! Destroy them all! ~ Seeing that no one was obeying him, he flew around and began to push buttons at random on the control panels.

A computerized voice spoke. “Planetary destruct sequence activated. Major weapons will fire in ten minutes. This will cause total annihilation of the ship, so it would be advisable to evacuate. Have a nice day.”

Rattrap ran into the Maximal base. “Felien’s got the message, she’s gone to do somethin’ or other. Don’t ask me what.”

Rhinox raised his eyes from the scanners. “Let’s hope she does it soon. I think that ship’s about to fire!”

Rattrap hurried over and checked the readings. “Oh, no. We’re all gonna die.”

Below, still in the Predacon engine room, Bernian was laughing at the success of his deception--for, of course, he had been the one talking, not Megatron. The two girls were grinning also, but were watching the transmissions from the altered arachnoids at the same time.

“We have just about enough images,” Felien told Ehnen. “It should only take a few more minutes. Then we can get on with it.”

“Right,” Ehnen agreed, then let out a titter at the sight of the panicking aliens. "The adults aren't nearly so imposing this way. Or maybe it's just the way the rebels are.”

Felien nodded in agreement. She glanced at the screen. “That's all we need. Ready any time.” Bernian heard this and walked over. “I’ve never tried anything like this before. You know, it goes against all the safety regulations for transporting.”

“Actually, I’ve never done it before either,” admitted Felien calmly, picking up the modified transwarp cell. “But it’ll work. Coordinates loaded?”

Ehnen nodded. Bernian just stared at Felien incredulously. “You mean we’re doing this- ” He was cut off as all three disappeared.

Tarantulas looked through the door. He saw the unused parts scattered about, and entered. “What are those aliens up to now?”

Among the parts, a squarish piece began to project a picture of Bernian. He grinned, and said, “This is my good-bye present to the Predacons. It’s a bomb. It’ll go ‘bang’ in half an hour. Have fun!”

Tarantulas glanced around, and then ran away, panicking.

The three children reappeared on board the ship, in a deserted corridor, since most of the rebel Vok had transported back to their Nexus long since. “--without knowing how it’ll affect us?” Bernian finished his sentence. He glanced around. “Never mind.”

The ship’s computer spoke. “Planetary destruction in seven minutes, followed by the ship’s breakup. Have a nice day.”

Felien led her friends through the tunnels. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for. She stopped, and Ehnen came up to her. “What is it?” she asked Felien.

“Their escape pods,” Felien replied absentmindedly. “We should be able to insert the transwarp cell into its transporter. It’s a bit primitive, but it should work.”

“Work to do what?” inquired Bernian from the rear.

The girls exchanged a glance. “To go back in time,” Ehnen said in a long-suffering tone. “We have to go to the point when we were first entering the planet’s atmosphere. Then we tie off the time loop.”

“How do we do that?” he asked. “I never was very good at time theory things. And they’re worse in real life. Is it a true time loop or a paradox in this case?”

“More of a time loop,” answered Felien as she worked on opening the door to the escape pod. All the small aliens were staying far, far away. “As long as nothing changes. But if we changed anything permanently that makes a difference to the time line, it’ll become a paradox, meaning that we were never here, but what we did is real. It could happen, but it’s still better than the time loop staying the way it is.”

Bernian frowned, still a bit puzzled. “Why?”

“The time loop is dragging people here,” Ehnen took over the explanation while Felien worked. “That’s why this ship is here. If it gets much bigger, and more people are pulled in, the time-lines will be almost destroyed. That’s why we have to close it.”

Felien glowered at the door controls. “I’m not getting anywhere! This wiring makes no sense!”

“Planetary destruction in three minutes, followed by ship breakup. Have a nice day!” the ever-cheerful computer voice said.

“Let me try,” suggested Bernian. “I may not be so good with time-line manipulation and such, but locks are something I can do.” He hurried up to the lock, a complicated mass of wires Felien had exposed, and studied it for a second. Then he took the end of one wire and connected it to another.

Nothing happened.

Ehnen snorted derisively. “I thought you knew locks.”

Bernian glanced at her. “I do.” He hit the door, and it slid open, squeaking badly. “Not my fault if these rebels don’t oil their equipment regularly.”

The girls looked at the door, then at Bernian, and began to grin. All three crowded into the pod.

Once inside, Felien opened a panel and connected the transwarp cell to the machinery in the walls. It took her a moment to complete, and then she sat up with a satisfied look on her face. “There. That’s pretty close to a time-ship’s engine--Ow!” She rubbed her head and glared at the ceiling, having forgotten how low it was. “Silly thing. Well, let’s start it up!”

Ehnen tried to conceal a smirk. “Right.”

Bernian nodded, and closed the door again. The pod began to shake them all around as he punched commands into its circuitry, and finally was shot out into space.

Outside, the escape pod was spit out of the larger ship. Vibrating greatly, the rebel ship’s weapons grew ready to fire on the planet. A brilliant beam of light shot towards the surface. The planet began to break apart...the alien ship exploded...

The escape pod was surrounded by a dazzling glow, and then disappeared. The universe froze--the planet’s fragments, the escape pods, the rebel ship’s debris, everything. Time’s strands began to unravel, looping back upon themselves...

Above the planet, an alien ship plummets down. It glows, and transports back into time. The greenery on the continents fades slightly, and as the ship draws closer to the surface, the Maximal and Predacon bases can be seen.

A second alien ship appeared, of a slightly different type. The ships drew closer together. On board the escape pod, all three children transported onto their ship, and into the exact same place as they remembered being. They combined into themselves. The escape pod headed into the atmosphere at a slant, and quickly burned up.

Felien rushed to the computer interface. “Start the engines!” she told the dark board.

The computer gave a small beep of acknowledgment. “State password.”

“Children may play, but they can’t change until they Change.”

“Engines reactivating.” The ship suddenly came alive, veering away from its collision course with the planet surface.

Felien sighed. “The time loop is tied off. Nobody will remember what happened in it except for us.” Including the Vok in the Nebula, she added silently to herself.

Ehnen smiled. “We’ll never forget. Right, guys?”

Bernian nodded decisively. “Never. But what do we do now?”

“We could start again,” suggested Ehnen. “But this time, let’s make sure the planet isn’t important. Completely uninhabited, maybe.”

Felien shook her head slightly at her friends’ incorrigibility, and smiled secretively. She glanced at a piece of paper, identical to what she had given Waspinator, and gazed towards the planet’s surface. She knew that what she had done was against the rules...but some things were simply more important.

Maybe she would just go back and stick around Earth for a while. After all, she had friends there.

Waspinator stared at the paper, puzzled. He could not recall finding it anywhere, and certainly did not remember putting it with his special things. But it seemed so familiar...

He shrugged, and set it down. The advice it gave seemed silly, but maybe that particular situation would happen someday. “Could be good idea. Wazzpinator do it, maybe.” He glanced at the signature again. It read,

‘Waspinator, don’t tell anyone about this. Someday, the Predacon base will be totally destroyed. When it is, and you are sent to look for a new one, leave the Predacons. You will find a better way to live, and you won’t be shot at anymore. I promise.

Your friend,

Felien.’

“Maybe Wazzpinator be happy, then.” And maybe he could figure out who this Felien was, who said she was his friend.

Rattrap looked at his pile of junk, bewildered. Who had put the paper on it? He hadn’t, certainly, and no one else had been in his quarters. He shook his head. The paper was not in any of his friends’ writing, either.

Oh, well. He’d figure it out sometime. Or not. It didn’t matter, most likely. Probably.

Mystified, Rhinox looked at the tape. It wasn’t his, but it was in his viewer. He activated it, then stared at the images in amusement and confusion. Who could do so many ridiculously embarrassing things to the Predacons? And who were the people shown in several scenes?

He thought about it. Were they the aliens? That really didn’t seem too likely to him, but who knew what they were like?

Oh, well, he thought.

The tape was soon buried under a stack of other things and forgotten.

Inferno stared around at the white landscape. How on earth had he gotten to the middle of the arctic? He was supposed to be on his routine patrol route.

He gave up on puzzling over it, due to his limited mental capabilities, and just started on the way back.

Tarantulas stared at the scattered parts on the engine room floor. He didn’t recognize a few of them. There was something he didn’t quite understand going on here. The parts seemed almost...alien. One small box had red, glowing numbers on it, clicking steadily down.

He scooped them up and headed for his lair. Now he was sure the aliens would come back.

Someday...

He opened the door--and immediately shut it again. What is that terrible smell? he thought.

The box dropped, unnoticed, onto the floor of the tunnel.

Megatron clambered out of his hot tub, setting down the rubber duck. Then he looked at himself and frowned. He was dyed a lovely shade of light pink.

Who would put paint in his hot tub? None of his troops, even the most treacherous, seemed likely. And certainly none of the Maximals had been there.

He shook his head in bafflement and headed out the doorway. The door to one of the unused rooms was hanging open, and he looked in. Were the spiders plotting inside there? There seemed to be nobody in the room, but there was a round object on the floor. It looked like an alien artifact. Megatron didn’t know where it had come from, but...

Hmm, he thought. I can use this...

The box was nearing zero, in the tunnel with no one to watch it. 0:02...0:01...0:00...and the top popped open with a slight puff of smoke. A flag sprang upright. Written on it was simply the word ‘BANG!’

Felien smiled at her new home. No one will ever find me here, she thought. She had very carefully set up an underground hideaway, shielded against all the scanners owned by Predacon, Maximal...and Vok. She hoped.

Oh, well. The time loop had been tied off, and consequently there was nothing the Vok could do to her. For now.

Felien gazed at everything once more, then transported away. She did not notice Ehnen, who stared around, placed a tiny camera where it would not be seen, then disappeared as well...