This one starts at the end of Code of Hero, the episode where Dinobot dies, but then skips forward to just before Feral Scream, part one, and after that to the end of the season. Starstalker and Cloudwalker are on scouting duty nearly all the time. Felien is still trying frantically to preserve both the time line and her secrecy.

Felien watched Dinobot’s final battle in growing horror from a cave, then transported to her shielded facility. “This isn’t supposed to happen!” she whispered, as if denying the scene she had seen could somehow make it vanish. She turned to her small computer, frantically calling up the meager store of records she had.

Felien shook her head. I don’t have enough details. I’ll have to risk connecting to the Nebula computer, she decided reluctantly. “Computer, open connection to Nebula. Data feed only.”

The computer hummed softly for a moment, then said, “Connection established. Warning--risk of detection if link is held too long.”

“I know that!” snapped Felien, then she sighed. “Sorry. Just download all information on the Earth time line, especially ones having to do with this incident.”

“Acknowledged,” the computer replied. It whirred to itself for several minutes. “Unable to comply. All requested records are encrypted and secured under Leader-only levels of secrecy.”

“What!?” exclaimed Felien. “All of them?”

“Affirmative.”

“Why would the Vok Leaders secure all the files on Earth’s time line?” Felien mused quietly. “Computer, who’s the Line Guardian for Earth?”

“That position is currently vacant,” said the computer.

“Ah. That’s why.” Felien leaned back in her chair. “But stars of the Nebula, how am I supposed to fix all this mess without knowing what’s supposed to happen?”

“Insufficient information to answer your query.”

Felien gave an irritated wave toward the computer screen. “I wasn’t talking to you, Computer, so disconnect and turn off.”

The computer beeped at her rather reproachfully and went blank. Felien thought frantically, trying to remember all she had read about the proper time line. She grabbed a small machine, transported back to her hidden cave, and set it to record.

There still might be some way to pull all this off.

Felien’s two friends were in what looked a lot like the control room of the flying island, though it had no inscriptions on the walls. Bernian lounged in a chair, while Ehnen was manipulating some small machinery embedded in the floor.

Bernian watched as the readouts scrolled by on his own computer screen. “I knew she’d contact the Nebula computers sometime,” he said smugly.

Ehnen glanced up from her own work. “What’d you do now?”

“I tapped into her computer’s data feeds,” Bernian said, smiling, but not taking his eyes from the screen. “Felien’s just hooked up to the Nebula database. She’s asking for information on Earth’s time line...” He frowned suddenly. “That’s odd. It’s been sealed since I copied it.”

Ehnen came to stand behind him. “By who?”

Bernian pointed at the display. “Looks like the Vok Leaders. About as top secret as you can get. But let me see...” He looked closely at it, muttering to himself and tapping at a keyboard that appeared out of thin air.

Ehnen sighed and turned back to her tinkering. She had been with Bernian long enough to know he’d be hopeless until he decoded the records. “What are we going to do?”

“I’ll tell you that as soon as I figure it out,” Bernian replied absently. “But if I were you, I’d start powering up the engines. I think it’s just about time we headed for Earth.”

Felien watched sadly as Dinobot and his comrades said their final good-byes. There was nothing she could do to prevent what was about to happen. But maybe if this worked, she could at least prevent the rest of the Maximals from following Dinobot, albeit much later.

She lowered the device, and returned to her underground base. Felien found a chair, and sat down. She gazed thoughtfully at the tiny machine, leaning back. I’ve recorded Dinobot’s memories, his personality...at least partially...I hope this all works out, she worried.

Felien sighed. “Computer, on.”

The screen formed, and words began to scroll up it. Felien sat up, startled. She read the text. “Computer, what is this?”

“This is a demonstrative term, used to indicate...”

“I mean, what you have on the screen.” Felien shook her head. I wonder if it has a sense of humor, she thought. Sure seems like it sometimes.

“The origin of information currently being displayed is unknown. However, it was sent on a private frequency often used between Vok children.”

Felien smiled slightly, her eyes glued to the screen. “It’s a copy of Earth’s time line. Bernian must have sent it.” She tapped at the insubstantial display. “Computer, print it out, and then erase the file.”

“You did what!!” Ehnen stared at her friend.

“I erased some of the files on Earth’s history,” Bernian explained for the tenth time. “I had to. There’s going to be some changes, and we have to make sure none of the adults find out what happens.”

“But we have to make sure the time line stays the way it’s supposed to!” Ehnen exclaimed incredulously.

“We’ll keep all the important details the same,” Bernian clarified patiently. “But if the Nebula Vok find out what Felien and we have been doing, you know what’ll happen.”

“I...” Ehnen subsided. “Oh, okay. I admit, you’re right. But we have to be careful not to change anything.”

“I know,” Bernian nodded, “that’s why I asked you to add the cloud-maker. And just to make things safer, I made the control room kind of like the Nexus Vok would. If anyone finds this flying island of ours, they’ll just think it’s them, not us.”

Ehnen frowned. “How about all those little traps? Did you deactivate them?”

Bernian’s face sagged. “Aw, come on, Ehnen, I like those! And I marked them all, so you know where they are. Besides, there’s not one that would hurt anyone who can fly or transport. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Okay, okay. But...” Ehnen stopped, and shrugged ruefully. “I can’t think of anything else to argue about.”

“Good! Then let’s get going!” Bernian stepped into the circle that identified the user. “Computer, activate time engines. Set coordinates for Earth, whenever Felien is. Lock onto her automatic locator.”

“Acknowledged. The requested time is a wide span--please specify?”

Bernian waved a hand impatiently. “Doesn’t matter. Somewhere in the middle of when she’s there.”

“Acknowledged.” The flying island began to be hidden by fog the central tower produced, then it glowed and disappeared.

A long time later...

Cloudwalker was very near Felien’s hideaway when the flying island materialized above it. She stared at what seemed to be a large billow of mist, realizing that it couldn’t be a real cloud, because clouds normally don’t appear out of nowhere.

/Starstalker?/ she sent to her sister, a little ways away. /I think this is something we’d better investigate./

/Definitely,/ the answer came back. /What do you think it is?/

Cloudwalker sighed. /I have no idea./

/Wait a second! There’s a door or something over here!/ Starstalker told her sister. /Should we go in?/

/We? How about you, instead?/

/Oh, no. Not by myself,/ Starstalker tried to refuse.

/You’re already there. I’m not. Go on in, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. Besides, we can keep in contact the entire time,/ Cloudwalker reassured.

/Oh, all right. But you’d better come soon. I’ll know if you don’t./

/I know you will. Don’t worry, Starstalker!/

/I’m not worrying, I’m just plain scared!/

/At least you’re being honest. Of course, it’s impossible to do anything else between us. Actually, I’m scared too./ Cloudwalker laughed. /See you in a second./

Felien saw the cloud at once, and recognized it as her friends. She transported up to the control room, after contacting them.

“Bernian, how did you decode the records?” she asked.

“Hey, I’ve told you before, I can do anything with a computer. It’s all ready for the new time line.” Bernian grinned smugly.

“Okay, then. We have to make sure that most things are still the same, all the important events work out right,” Felien began, “but we’ll change a few things to be better, to reflect the new time line. First, there’s the matter of the mind-linkers. They’re not supposed to be here at all, but I won’t just let the Vok knock them out of existence. And then Dinobot...”

Starstalker crept through the dark tunnel beyond the door. /How did I get talked into this?/ she wondered.

/Good question,/ Cloudwalker’s thought came back. /I haven’t got an answer. But I’m only a little ways behind you now, I think./

/Well, it’s about time,/ Starstalker griped. /I think I’m about to the end of this tunnel. There’s a big room, with lots of machinery in it, and some papers./

/What do they say?/

/I’m not going in there! It isn’t Maximal, it isn’t Predacon, I don’t know whose it is, and I have no intention of the owner finding me here by myself./

/Whatever. I’m here now, so we can go in together,/ Cloudwalker thought, rounding the last bend. She hurried forward to join hands with her sister, and together they began to look at the things, their shield ready to be put up at a moment’s notice.

They didn’t get it.

Felien transported into the tunnel leading to her underground base, and walked forward noiselessly. It was the last time she would likely come here, as she was moving everything up to her friends’ creation.

Well, mostly Bernian’s. He had probably had a ball putting the thing together, with all its little surprises--the falling section of floor in the control center had almost caught her off guard, so that she’d had to fly back up to the solid ground. Ehnen had put together the engines.

But they were depending on her to fix the time line. That was her gift, like Bernian could manipulate computers and Ehnen machinery. It was what made her so perfect for a high post, once she Changed.

It was what made the Vok so worried about her. About the possibility that she might start changing time lines beyond repair.

Like she was doing.

Felien almost didn’t notice the two intruders until she had entered the room, but the computer’s silent, tiny alarm lights in the inner part of the corridor alerted her. She spread her wings slightly, almost flying, to avoid her footsteps making even the slightest noise.

She peeked around the corner quickly, then ducked back. Good, it’s not the Predacons, was her first thought. Her second was, Oh, no, they’re Maximals.

Felien flipped up a hidden panel in the wall and hit the button concealed within. A stasis field emanated from the walls, filling the room with blue light, and instantly tumbling the mind-linkers to the floor and knocking them unconscious, without damage.

“Why did you have to find this place?” she muttered, mostly to herself. “Now that you’ve probably read my printouts, you know what I’m doing. I can’t put you outside, you would just come back. If I tell you everything...you would be a security risk to the Vok. The second they found out, they’d vaporize you. Especially if anyone realizes you’re not supposed to be in the time line at all.”

She sighed. “But I’m sure I can find some way around that. After all, I’ve managed everything else so well...”

Felien slapped the button again, and the blue field faded away. The mind-linkers began to wake up. Stepping into their view, Felien held out her hands to show she had no weapons.

Starstalker was the first to completely recover. “Who are you?”

“I’m Felien. I left you that note,” she explained. “I’m a Vok child.”

“Why did you leave that note?” inquired Cloudwalker, frowning slightly. “And what did it mean, anyhow?”

This is going to take some explaining. “Well, it’s like this...” Felien began.

Ehnen finished yet another check of the systems she had put together, practically from scratch. As usual, every part worked flawlessly, just like it was supposed to. The systems she had created herself worked just as well as their more standard counterparts, if not better. For instance, the automatic identification systems she’d installed were now foolproof. Nobody who was not authorized could control the island. Of course, the list of authorized people included herself, Bernian, and Felien, and had the capacity to be added to.

Bernian rushed into the control room. Ehnen didn’t know for sure what he had been doing, but was willing to bet that he’d been adding more traps. His success in tricking Felien with one of them had doubled his enthusiasm for the little tricks, unfortunately. “Ehnen! Felien sent a message, a couple of Maximals found her underground hiding place, we have to keep the engines ready to go as soon as she gets here,” he said in a rush, slightly out of breath.

“All right, calm down,” Ehnen told him. “Now, who found Felien?”

“Their names are Starstalker and Cloudwalker, they’re the two Felien was trying to save. They are coming with her, to see us. They’re gonna help us.”

“Well...that’s good, I suppose.” Ehnen sighed. “The engines will only need destination coordinates. Do you know where we’re going?”

“Somewhere safer, in the mountains, I think. Felien hasn’t said. But first, we need to adjust the engines...shield them better, so that the Maximal and Predacon sensors don’t detect it. They might have already.”

“Okay. When will Felien get here?” Ehnen asked.

“In a few minutes.” Bernian grinned. “Just enough time for me to reset all the traps.”

Ehnen looked up suddenly. “They are all marked, aren’t they? You promised you would, remember, Bernian.”

“I know, I know. I marked them all. It should be easy for everyone to avoid them. As long as they pay attention, anyway.” Bernian’s grin faded, but only slightly.

The warning marks would probably be nearly impossible to see. Ehnen shook her head. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt in your traps, all right, Bernian?”

“Don’t worry! They’re harmless,” Bernian assured. “Most of them are, anyway. And the ones that aren’t are marked more clearly.”

“They’d better be,” sighed Ehnen, giving up. “So. What frequencies do I need to shield against? I think the best way to do it would be to tie interference in with the mist I made.”

Starstalker looked at Felien rather skeptically. “How are you going--” she started.

“--to get us up there?” Cloudwalker finished.

Felien sighed. “I’m going to transport you. Just stay still. If you try to move during transport, you’ll automatically be put into a stasis field on the way.” She handed them each a small locator. Then she transported herself to the control room of the flying island. “Okay, Ehnen, transport them up.”

Ehnen nodded, and activated the controls. The mist thickened, but a bright blue beam of light could still be seen connecting the island with the ground.

The mind-linkers appeared in the control room. Starstalker stared around as the blue light faded away. “Where is this?”

“This is our base, of sorts,” Felien explained.

Cloudwalker sighed. “Well, we don’t know if we believe you or not, but we’ll help for now.”

Ehnen left the room. Bernian met her outside. He nodded, and they both transported to the underground cave.

A few miles away, someone else had noticed the blue beam. “Blackarachnia to base.”

“Optimus here. What is it?”

“Are you reading an anomaly in sector Havilah?” asked Blackarachnia.

“No, I don’t think so...” Optimus looked at Rhinox, who shook his head. “The scanners aren’t picking anything up. Why do you ask?”

“I see some activity over there. It looks...alien. I think they might be back,” Blackarachnia reported.

“Go check it out, but stay out of sight,” ordered Optimus. He turned to Rattrap. “Weren’t Starstalker and Cloudwalker near that area?”

“Yeah, that’s where their last report was from,” confirmed Rattrap. “But we still can’t pick up their signals.” He tapped at his board for a moment, then turned back. “The next closest is Silverbolt.”

Optimus raised the comlink again. “Keep an eye out for the mind-linkers, too. They may be in trouble. And I’m sending Silverbolt for backup.”

“Understood. Blackarachnia out.” She began trudging towards the source of the light.

In the underground cave, Ehnen adjusted a few more wires, then smiled in satisfaction. “There. Now anyone who finds this place gets transported up. No one will be reporting us. And if we have to, there are ways to erase their memories.”

Bernian frowned. “Won’t their sensors pick the transporter beam up? Once we get too far away to shield it, I mean.”

Ehnen shrugged. “Yeah, but they won’t be able to see where it’s directed to. And we can’t let any of the people here get hold of Felien’s computer. We need it, and we can’t move it, or it won’t work.”

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “But won’t it disrupt the time line?”

“You’re worried about the time line?” laughed Ehnen. “You’re the one plotting to change all the records!”

“Will you ever forget about that? It’s necessary, okay?” Bernian told her. “We have to do that. But if we change too much, the Vok in the Nebula will notice. And then, we’d all be in trouble.”

“You’re right,” Ehnen admitted.

“Of course. I’m always right.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far,” said Ehnen. “But you do have a point. We’ll hide the entrance better, later on. Right now, we have to get back to the island. Felien can’t manage the engines alone.”

They transported away. Moments later, the island began to float off, surrounded by its camouflaging cloud.

Blackarachnia reached the cave the blue light came from just as the beam cut off. She tried to activate her comlink, but got only static. She shook her head, and walked into the mouth of the cave.

She came to the chamber at the end of the corridor. It was empty. Blackarachnia cautiously stepped inside, her weapon raised.

A blue light filled the room. Blackarachnia whirled, but no one was in the room.

A computer voice droned, “State the password.” Blackarachnia, startled, said nothing. The light grew brighter, and then Blackarachnia felt a tremendous grip on her. She struggled, and then fell unconscious.

The light speared out from the cave mouth, carrying her with it.

Silverbolt was closing in on the coordinates Blackarachnia had reported the beam coming from. He saw the blue ray snap off, and flew faster in case his beloved was in danger.

When the beam came back on, he glanced upward at it. This time, it was not shielded, but it stretched off in the distance, finally vanishing in the clouds.

Blackarachnia was inside this one!

Silverbolt angled his wings and sped upward, but too slowly. The beam had already carried Blackarachnia with it past the clouds. “No! Blackarachnia!” Silverbolt howled after it, uselessly--and a bit melodramatically. He followed the blue light as far as he could--but not far enough before it disappeared.

At the Ark, an alarm sounded. Rattrap, at his console playing a card game, ignored it until Rhinox reached over and turned his game off.

“Hey! Rhinox!” Rattrap protested. “I was about to win!”

“We have trouble,” Rhinox rumbled. He swiveled his screen so Rattrap could see the image on it--Blackarachnia caught in the alien blue light, just as Airazor and Tigatron had been long before.

On board the flying island, an alarm was also sounding. “Ehnen!” Felien yelled over it. “Did you set up an automatic transport at my cave?”

Ehnen poked her head into the control room as Felien deactivated the alarm. “Well...yes,” she admitted. “I didn’t want it found by any more of the Maximals or the Predacons. Why?”

Her question was answered by the blue light suddenly filling the chamber and then disappearing, leaving behind an unconscious Blackarachnia.

“Ah. That’s why.”

Starstalker and Cloudwalker hurried over to Blackarachnia. “Is she hurt?” they asked together.

“No,” Felien reassured, “she’s just in a stasis field. Side effect of the transport. I warned you two about it when I brought you up.” She touched a control.

Blackarachnia sat up and saw the mind-linkers. “What’s going on?” she asked them. Then she noticed Felien and Ehnen. “And who are they?”

Starstalker and Cloudwalker took turns explaining what Felien had told them.

When they had finished, Blackarachnia looked skeptically around. Then she noticed the familiarity of the control room. “Hey, this is that flying island Tigatron found!” she exclaimed. “But it was destroyed. How’d it get here?”

“Bernian and I built this,” Ehnen told her. “But maybe Tigatron will find it later.”

“But it already happened,” Blackarachnia said with a frown. “Otherwise I wouldn’t know about it.”

“So?” Ehnen asked. “It’ll go back, or you went forward. Probably the first. You would know if you went forward. It’s a rougher ride than going back for some reason. Felien knows why, but I never bothered learning.”

Starstalker shook her head. “We’re confused.”

“It’s because the future is more mutable than the past, even for Vok,” Felien told Ehnen. “The past can be changed, obviously, but you have to keep the changes subtle or you’ll set off a time storm. And that will alert everyone that time is being tampered with, so they’ll come back and fix it. That’s why the rebels can’t do too much damage--the Nebula Vok fix it soon enough that it makes no difference.”

“Now we’re really confused,” said Cloudwalker.

“You’re not the only ones,” Ehnen told her. “I’m going to go do something a lot more simple. Maybe I’ll adjust the time-difference inertial compensator. It was a little shaky the last trip.” She went out the door. A moment later they heard crumbling rock and a tiny shriek from Ehnen as she nearly fell through the newly opened hole. She flew back up, landed within their sight, and dusted herself off. Then she yelled, “Bernian!” and stalked off.

Blackarachnia raised an eyebrow. “Those are still here?”

“Oh yes, Bernian made those,” Felien told her. “He loves practical jokes. It’s too bad you don’t remember the time loop,” she added under her breath.

The mind-linkers glanced at her curiously, but said nothing.

“Anyhow, we know what Megatron’s supposed to do. But we can’t tell you, for fear of messing up the time line.”

“Then what...” started Starstalker.

“Can we do?” Cloudwalker finished.

“You won’t be able to help me much, I’m afraid.” Felien grinned. “Ehnen and Bernian can’t really help me much either. Bernian knows computers, I know time lines, and Ehnen knows her machinery. None of us are much good at the others’ specialties.”

“So we should basically just forget about you guys?” asked Blackarachnia.

“Well...” Felien hesitated, then handed Cloudwalker a tiny comlink and all three of them little devices. “I’ll contact you sometime. And let me know if you hear about Megatron having some kind of...well...ball. Ehnen left it behind, and it could be dangerous if he changes it. Ehnen made it to play hover-catch with, so it’s got our materials and Ehnen’s technology in it.”

“A ball?” asked Starstalker incredulously.

“A toy could be dangerous?” Cloudwalker finished.

Felien grinned. “Hey, this whole island is one of Ehnen and Bernian’s toys. And nearly anything can be dangerous under the right circumstances. But that ball is a different matter entirely. I had Ehnen make a list of what it might be able to do in Megatron’s hands, and she figured out quite a few things. Now, we’re going to transport you back down by the entrance to the cave, with the transport tracers--they minimize the side effects of transporting. Could you collapse the tunnel for us?”

The mind-linkers nodded in unison.

“Good.” Felien turned back to the little control board, and activated the transporter. A thin aura of blue light surrounded the three Maximals, who knew better than to fight it this time, and they disappeared.

The now much lesser light of transport faded away, leaving them by the entrance to the tunnel. Starstalker and Cloudwalker headed over to it, and using their hand lasers, they began to collapse it.

Blackarachnia watched them with some amusement. “I don’t see why you’re doing that.”

The mind-linkers paid no attention to her. The cliff side fell onto itself, totally burying the cave. As the last pebbles came to rest, Silverbolt came into view, flying as fast as he could toward them.

The mind-linkers faded away into the hills again, back to their normal obscurity away from the base. They heard Blackarachnia beginning a long and totally fictitious explanation before they were out of earshot.

A little while passed without incident. The mind-linkers made it a habit to get in contact with Blackarachnia more often than before, but she didn’t see or hear about anything either. Felien kept them all updated on the time adjustments. Then everything seemed to happen at once...

It seemed a little suspicious that the mind-linkers were separated when Megatron began his first use of the ball he’d found. And Starstalker found it even more so that she was inside a cave in the very canyon he chose, fully concealed, with no memory of walking there. She thought maybe those children were interfering again.

Actually, it was only Bernian who was interfering. He had used Ehnen’s augmented transporter, and sent Starstalker to one of the hidden caves Felien had found so useful for spying before. But the mind-linkers never found that out.

Starstalker watched, baffled, as the platform was set up. But she realized something bad was up when Megatron brought out a ball, roughly fitting the description Felien had given of Ehnen’s lost ‘toy’. She immediately contacted Cloudwalker, and told her about what had happened. As soon as she had a chance, she crept away, unnoticed.

Cloudwalker went to find the comlink Felien had given her as soon as she knew what her sister had seen. They’d hidden it inside the base at first, but Blackarachnia had apparently had several problems getting it in and out of its hiding place, so it had been moved to a distinctive cliff.

“Felien,” she told the comlink.

It immediately gave a beep, then Felien’s voice came, “Got something to report, Cloudwalker?”

“Actually Starstalker does, but close enough. She saw Megatron with that ball you lost,” Cloudwalker told her.

“Hey, I didn’t lose it, that was Ehnen and Bernian. Don’t go accusing me of things I didn’t do,” protested Felien.

Cloudwalker grinned slightly. “Oh, sorry. Well, what can Megatron do with that ball, anyhow?”

“It depends on how he’s modified it,” Felien replied, a trace of seriousness creeping into her normally happy voice. “Its original purpose was just to move around and return to whoever threw it. With Ehnen’s changes, it can extend that to other things around it. I don’t know what Megatron’s done to it.”

“What should we do about it, then?”

“Just be careful, I suppose. We’re rewriting history here. I don’t know what to do about it. If it is returned to us, it might change things more than we want it to--if it isn’t it could do irreparable damage. We’ll just have to play it by ear. Keep us informed, please, Cloudwalker.”

“All right,” agreed Cloudwalker. “We will.”

“Thanks. Goodbye.” The comlink went silent again.

Cloudwalker silently sent the conversation to Starstalker. /What do you think?/ she asked. /What should we do now?/

/Let’s just take Felien’s advice for now. We aren’t even supposed to be in this time line, the way it was before,/ Starstalker suggested.

/All right. Are you away from that canyon now?/

/Yes. And I’m staying away. We both know that Optimus and everyone will never let Megatron do whatever it is he’s doing without a fight, and I’m not going in there to mess everything up./

/You’re probably right,/ Cloudwalker admitted. /But I don’t want anyone to get hurt, Starstalker./

/All of them can handle a fight better than we can,/ Starstalker pointed out. /Even Rattrap can do more than either of us. We’d be out of it before we knew what hit us. At least, except if we’re together--and even our shield might not help much./ She paused for a moment. /Hey, I know what you’re getting at. You don’t want Cheetor to get hurt. You like him, don’t you?/

/Don’t be silly. I think he likes Blackarachnia./

/And she’s with Silverbolt. But don’t worry. I can’t tell anyone. You know that,/ laughed Starstalker.

/I know. After all, you like Rattrap,/ teased Cloudwalker.

/Hey! You promised!/ Starstalker objected.

/Sorry. It’s true, though./

/Let’s just stop talking now,/ Starstalker said, and cut off all but the carrier wave that was always between them.

Cloudwalker laughed silently, knowing Starstalker would hear, and began to walk toward her sister’s location.

“Bernian, are you listening to me?” Ehnen demanded.

He looked up at her with that infuriating grin of his. “No,” he said indifferently, and went back to his work with the computer.

“Well, you should. I need you to help me put together a simulation of all the things Megatron might be doing with my ball.”

“What, the one you lost? Maybe he’s playing catch with it.”

Ehnen gritted her teeth, determined not to start yelling. “He is not playing with it. He is going to use it against the Maximals, and we need to figure out how so Felien can adjust the time line the right way.”

“Why isn’t he playing with it? It wouldn’t be much more ridiculous than that rubber duck he plays with,” Bernian pointed out in a reasonable tone.

“That has nothing to do with it. Bernian, you’re the one who got me into this mess, so help!” Ehnen told him firmly--and a bit more loudly than she meant to.

Felien poked her head through the door to the computer room. “What’s all the yelling in here?” she asked.

“What yelling?” said Bernian, looking up innocently.

Ehnen threw up her hands and stalked away. She could have just transported, but it was much more satisfying to stomp loudly with every pace.

Felien shook her head. “Bernian, I wish you would stop aggravating Ehnen. I need you two to work together, or we’ll never be able to fix this time line. You’ve got the computer expertise to change the records, and she’s got the mechanical skill to help with everything we’ll need to do here. So stop making her mad. Got it?”

“What would you do if I said no?” Bernian asked mischievously.

Felien gave him a predatory smile. “Oh, I’d think of something. I’ve watched you work for long enough.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Bernian hurriedly. He disappeared, gone to apologize to Ehnen, Felien hoped. If those two didn’t get along, they would probably all get caught. And if that happened...well, the Leaders weren’t really very forgiving about mistakes. Less so about children who purposely changed time lines.

Felien sighed, and looked at the computer. Ehnen and Bernian hadn’t even started finding possibilities for that ball, but she already had a pretty good idea.

She transported to her room. Now where did I put that recorder...

Felien looked into the canyon from her little cave. Megatron was there, with his stasis pod and Waspinator. She’d been right. Megatron was going to make a clone of Dinobot.

I wonder if Waspinator remembers the note I left him, Felien thought. The time’s getting pretty close, I think. She glanced at Megatron, then at the stasis pod. Megatron sure is being melodramatic.

She activated the little device she held once again. It was now set to broadcast what it had recorded a long time ago. It gave a quiet hum, and a tiny screen lit up to report its progress.

All went well at first, then the hum grew slightly louder. ‘Transfer of data interrupted’, the screen read. ‘Unable to establish a connection. Transfer impossible. Incompatible with receiver.’

“What are you incompatible with, you silly thing?” Felien whispered angrily. “You worked well enough before!”

‘Incompatible with receiver,’ the screen repeated. ‘Transfer impossible. Cancel or data will be lost.’

“All right, all right. Cancel data transfer.”

‘Transfer cancel confirmed,’ appeared on the screen. The hum died away in what almost sounded like relief. ‘Have a nice day!’

Felien shook her head. “I should never have added those personality circuits Ehnen made to my computer. It’s getting too sarcastic.” She transported back to the island.

Ehnen was flying quickly toward her. “Felien! We think we know what Megatron’s going to do with my ball!”

“Now you tell me,” Felien sighed. This was not a good day.

Blackarachnia listened to the readout the computer gave Depth Charge. Very interesting, she thought. This must be the ball those kids told us about. But Megatron’s altered it. Now I wonder just what it can do...

Her musing was interrupted when Depth Charge tossed the ball over the side, towards the lava. Dark and inactivated, it plummeted down. Blackarachnia leaped after it, changing into beast mode and attaching a dragline as she did. She caught the little ball, and began to pull herself back up.

Very interesting indeed. She didn’t think she’d give this back to the kids just yet. Not until she knew what it did, anyway. She smiled. And how it could help her.

This was a good day.

Felien and her friends knew about what happened later from Starstalker and Cloudwalker--and even Blackarachnia, every once in a while--as well as from their own spying. The ball worked as a Transmetal Two driver, it seemed, after the alterations Megatron had made to it. When Blackarachnia tried to use it, it barely worked for her. Ehnen did cheat just a bit, though, and boosted its power. Blackarachnia was necessary to the time line. If she had died, they’d have the Vok Leaders down on them for sure.

Ehnen went a little overboard. The ball turned Blackarachnia Transmetal Two--but that was the end of its power. It reverted to its original programming, and made her able to move things toward her. Then it went dead. Ehnen went to get it later, but it was completely burned out. “One of my best toys, too,” she lamented.

Bernian just laughed at her. “Play with the island, Ehnen. You can fix the ball if you want to, and you know it.”

“No, it’s caused too much trouble.” She looked at the ball again. “But it was one of my best attempts at improving the basic hover-ball design. I’m going to miss it.”

Felien rolled her eyes at them both, and continued her monitoring.

It wasn’t long afterward that Megatron made his second attempt on the Ark. Felien, of course, knew what he was doing, and she warned the mind-linkers about it. Blackarachnia they judged able to handle things, and they were more or less right--of course, a little tampering by Ehnen to the ship’s self-destruct circuits helped a little.

Megatron took the original Megatron’s spark, and using it, became more powerful. Ehnen watched that with interest. “It’s fascinating,” she later said. “While my ball was with Megatron, he apparently absorbed a little of its energy. That’s why he’s more Transmetal Two than he is like Optimus.”

But that near-alteration of the time line alerted the Vok. Most of them weren’t paying any attention to a little planet that didn’t even have a Line Guardian, but unfortunately for the children, two of the Elders--the very oldest of the Vok, the ones with a great deal of authority, perhaps even more than the Leaders--were watching just then...

~ There has been a serious disruption in the time flow, ~ said one of the aphysical adults, both translucent with extreme age. ~ Location--Nexus, Earth. ~

The other looked shocked--although it could hardly be told on the transparent, withered face. ~ Impossible. That Nexus is closed. Their experiment has been terminated. ~

~ The Nexus is gone, but the danger still exists. If we are to restore the damage to the time flow, we must send a new mission. ~

They turned together to the bodies of Tigatron and Airazor, who had appeared there when they ran into a secret base. And decided what they would do...

The Elders, in the form they had made, noticed the island immediately. Ehnen noticed them as quickly. All three children left their home, and separated, hoping to escape. They succeeded--at first.

Felien sat down. She pulled out her comlink. “Felien to Starstalker,” she said into it.

“Felien?” Starstalker replied. “Hey, what’s going on? Optimus just called, he said there’s an alien signal headed right for the Predacon base! Is it yours?”

“No,” Felien said grimly. “I’ve just been found out. It’s the Elders. Watch out--I don’t think they’ve ever been Line Guardians, so they haven’t got the slightest idea of how to change time lines the right way. And you and Cloudwalker don’t have any protection if they’ve seen the original records.”

“Thank you for warning us. Optimus is headed toward there. He might be able to keep them from doing anything too drastic.”

“I wouldn’t count on it. But we can always hope, can’t we?” Felien cut off the signal. It was a little different than she’d been planning for, but everything was set up. If the Elders destroyed the base and not the Predacons, the time line might still work out. She’d given Tarantulas all the hints he needed to have. Everything had been ready for the final touches. This would, of course, complicate things, but if it worked out...

She smiled grimly. Even if everything was discovered after it was all over and she was taken back to the Nebula, the Leaders wouldn’t be able to change it again. Not once everything was done, and not with she and Ehnen and Bernian watching over everything as carefully as they had.

As long as everything worked out...

Felien raised the comlink again. “Felien to Ehnen.”

“Are you okay?” Ehnen’s hushed voice asked. “I saw them heading toward you. Did they see you?”

“No,” Felien told her. “And they don’t know you’re there. Keep hidden, whatever you do. But if you can, transport to the Predacon base. Do you have the coordinates of the cave I used to spy on it?”

“Yes. I kinda used the back of it for a storage dump,” Ehnen admitted.

“That’s all right. Look, just go there and watch. Try to keep Optimus from getting himself killed, if you can do it without being noticed. Megatron, too. And do you still know how to get into the Predacon base? You lived there during the time loop.”

“I can do that.”

“Weaken the engine chambers. So that if it’s attacked enough, they’ll explode. And start an evacuation warning in the computer.”

“Gotcha. How come you can’t do the watching part yourself?” Ehnen asked.

“I have to stay here, or the Elders will get suspicious. Just do what I said, okay? It may be our last chance at fixing this time line without being noticed.”

“I’ll do it.” There was a click from the comlink. Ehnen had cut off the signal.

Felien sighed. It was their last chance. And it was very risky. But it could work, and that was all that mattered.

Starstalker and Cloudwalker were worried about what Felien had told them. Anyone those children were so worried about was not something to be shrugged off. Starstalker headed toward the Predacon base, while Cloudwalker headed for the Maximal base. Together, they would be able to keep track of everything. Probably.

Starstalker suddenly remembered her transmitters. The ones in the Axalon hadn’t been much use--especially after the ship had fallen into the ocean--and she hadn’t told anyone about the ones in the Predacon base, after Felien had warned them not to interfere. Giving the Maximals a way to know what the Predacons were planning would definitely be interfering.

But now, knowing what was going on inside could be useful. Starstalker stopped some distance away from the Predacons’ wrecked ship wreck, and transformed. She pulled out the little speaker, and activated it.

But she didn’t hear the Predacons. Instead, she noticed Ehnen muttering to herself. “Weaken the engines’ precautions, okay, that’s great, but Felien doesn’t understand how hard it is to judge exactly how much will do what we want and how much will just plain blow it up! Especially with an unfamiliar system like this. If I’d built this thing, it would be a lot better. For one thing...” Ehnen trailed off, her voice becoming inaudible. Then the sound of an explosion ripped through the speaker.

Starstalker frowned slightly, and tuned in to a different transmitter. This one was mounted outside the base, so she ought to be able to hear what was going on without getting close enough to let herself be seen.

This signal wasn’t very clear, but she could make out a voice she didn’t know--probably the Vok Elders. She didn’t quite understand the words--then there was a deafening burst of static, and the signal cut off completely.

Starstalker fiddled with it, retuning the frequencies, and wondering what had happened to her transmitters. Had Ehnen blown up the Predacon base? That was hardly noninterference.

She glanced up. There was a thick column of smoke rising from where the Predacon base should have been, along with various flashes of light.

Well, there was no chance that her transmitters were still in working order. Starstalker sighed, and began carefully creeping forward.

/Very interesting goings-on over there, Starstalker,/ Cloudwalker remarked through the link. /You have the good part. Nothing’s happening at this base. But Starstalker, be careful./ She paused. /I don’t know how much feeling transfers through this link of ours./

/Don’t worry about that,/ Starstalker retorted. /I wouldn’t leave you alone. You need too much supervision./

/Well! I’m insulted, Starstalker, I really am,/ Cloudwalker replied with a silent laugh.

/Good. That was what I was trying to do./

There was a final /Hmph!/ from Cloudwalker, then they were both quiet again. Starstalker crept ever closer, voices now dimly becoming audible. One she recognized as Optimus, but the other was the same voice she had heard dimly through her transmitter before it was destroyed.

“Destroy him, and you’ll only make things worse!” she heard faintly. Then the ground shook loudly, and Starstalker was too busy trying to keep her balance to hear anything else. She left as quickly as she could.

Ehnen, however, was watching from a little cave. Too scared to interfere much, she still used one of the little gadgets she’d stored in the cave to prevent Optimus from being completely crushed.

Not that he probably needs it, she thought sourly. But what happened after that was more interesting yet. Tarantulas stepped from his own hiding place, and--using a device she recognized as partially hers--he incapacitated the Elders’ form.

Wow! I didn’t know my modified arachnoid could be adjusted to work that way! she thought. It had worked on Optimus sorta like that...She probably should have predicted Tarantulas’s next step. But feeling a little braver now, she crept after Tarantulas, and transported herself into a location hidden from both Tarantulas and the Elders. She listened with some surprise to Tarantulas’s threat. How odd. He’s made it out of the scraps I left here, I think. I knew I shouldn’t have made any changes, Ehnen berated herself. But her fascination with the technicalities overcame her fear, and she looked out again.

Just in time to see the Vok Elders fly out of their form. They sped toward Tarantulas, who, in a panic, began to fire wildly toward them. One of his shots hit the device, and it spun straight towards him. It fired.

Felien flew quickly toward the Predacon base. If everything worked out as she had planned, despite the attempted intervention of the Elders, the time line was still retrievable.

She found Ehnen by the tracer she wore, and transported there. The black-haired girl was picking up the pieces of Tarantulas.

“What are you doing, Ehnen?” Felien asked curiously.

“Well...I guess I feel kind of sorry for him. He was just changing the time line, the same as us,” Ehnen said. “And he was so much fun to annoy, too.”

“Isn’t he dead now, though?”

“I don’t think so,” Ehnen shook her head. “These guys can take an awful lot of damage. Waspinator especially, but Tarantulas is pretty tough. And he was too prepared not to have a repair-whatever-you-call-‘ems in his lair. I fixed it.”

She began piling the parts into the tank.

“What are you going to do with him after he’s better?” asked Felien. “Just tell him everything and expect him to go along with it? Hah!”

Ehnen looked up with a mischievous twinkle in her eye to rival Bernian’s. “No, actually, I thought we could send him away. To a completely deserted planet. Say, the one Bernian and I were playing on earlier?”

Felien shook her head. “That’s really mean, Ehnen. And I suppose you’re going to do the same thing to all the rest of the people who are supposed to get killed here.”

“Well...” Ehnen looked thoughtful. “That’s a good idea. Only the fun ones, though. The mind-linkers you’re so concerned about, too.”

Felien sighed in despair and transported away to find Bernian. Soon, it would all be over. Her friends could go back to their playing. Starstalker and Cloudwalker would be safe. She might even decide to join them.

If they weren’t all killed first, anyway.

Felien got ready. Ehnen was concealed at the Nemesis’s engines. And Bernian was on the flying island, at his computers, ready to alter the record of history.

It was almost time...

Rampage exploded on the sea bottom. Depth Charge was too near to escape the blast, and was blown to pieces. Felien dutifully reported it all to her friends.

Ehnen added another potential playmate to her list.

Bernian typed in codes frantically.

Felien checked her equipment one last time.

All three waited for the right time to finish their long vigilance...

Tigerhawk attacked the Nemesis alone--bravely, yet futilely, as all who saw it realized.

Felien began broadcasting her recorded data, the screen, this time, giving her no problems. The data from Dinobot, to Dinobot.

Dinobot remembered those last few moments that Felien had recorded. And without Rampage there to suppress it, he remembered how important honor had been to him.

The Nemesis destroyed Tigerhawk. His attack had drained the weapons systems of their critical power--although Ehnen had drained a little herself. There had to be just enough to get back on line at precisely the right moment--too early, and everything would be destroyed; too late, and the time line would be irreversibly changed.

The huge black ship began to move toward the valley.

Felien suddenly remembered several things she had yet to do. She set the equipment, still transmitting, in an inconspicuous location, and went to fulfill a promise that, technically, no one had ever heard her make.

Waspinator pleaded with the little girl to quit pounding his head. Briefly, he thought, Maybe Felien’s note not so good after all. But he quickly changed his mind when the blasts began hitting everywhere around, destroying Quickstrike and Inferno.

Just then, Felien appeared. Waspinator, of course, didn’t recognize her. But Una saw her, and listened carefully to what she asked.

Optimus rose toward the ship, along with the rocks being pulled up by the tractor. Near to being destroyed by the huge, spinning blades, he reached for a bit of rock, and threw it into them.

A little irritated, Ehnen transported the short distance to the controls. “Come on, can’t he take care of himself?” she muttered quietly. She made a couple of swift adjustments, and the blades stuttered to a halt as she appeared back in her hiding place.

Optimus and Megatron began their fight. Ehnen was unnoticed in her corner, still transmitting. They really ought to keep their attention on one thing or the other, she thought. Either they should fight, or they should quote from that silly book. Doing both gets too confusing.

The Nemesis moved closer to the Ark. Dinobot saw that they would easily destroy the helpless Maximals.

Honor had been so important to him...

It still is, he decided, and began transmitting information to the Maximal computers.

Ehnen grinned broadly and disappeared. Bernian, still at his computers, typed faster, rewriting this part of history.

“We’re all going to die,” Rattrap said.

“Yep,” Rhinox answered grimly.

But just then, unseen, Felien shoved a note into Rattrap’s hand. A copy of her earlier note, it read,

‘You are not, so don’t worry so much. You’re a major character, Rattrap. I made sure of it.

Your friend (even if I’m not allowed to be, and even if you can’t remember that I am),

Felien’

“What does that mean?” Rattrap muttered quietly, unconsciously echoing Cheetor. He wasn’t going to realize the answer for quite a while.

Then Rhinox saw the information Dinobot had sent to the Ark’s computers, which had appeared on his screens.

An Autobot shuttle was in the Ark. “It means we just may have a chance!”

Megatron stepped up to the console, betrayed by Dinobot once again, having destroyed Inferno and Quickstrike himself.

The Autobot shuttle drew closer and closer, through the bridge of the Nemesis. But Ehnen had done that part of her long preparation well. The shuttle survived nearly unscathed. The Nemesis was destroyed. But unseen, a bright blue glow appeared in the control room, and another surrounded the two mind-linkers. They appeared on Ehnen’s ship, then were transported to a deserted planet far away.

“All is as it should be. At last,” Optimus pronounced solemnly, his words coming from a tiny speaker in one wall of a small ship.

Felien grinned. “Right,” she said. “Ehnen, do I really have to destroy all of my transmitters?”

“Yes,” Ehnen said firmly. “If they’re found later on, we’ll all be in huge trouble.”

“Fine,” sighed Felien, and triggered a quiet self-destruct. On board the shuttle and on the planet, several small devices crumbled silently into unrecognizable dust.

“I hope Blackarachnia keeps this to herself,” Bernian said worriedly. “None of this will work out if she tells anyone about it.”

“Don’t worry,” Felien assured him. “She won’t remember for long. Don’t you remember the information you sent me? About Megatron and everyone?”

“Not really. Do you?”

“Probably not as much as I should,” Felien admitted. “But there’s this virus, and it’ll make her forget about us.”

Ehnen smiled. “Then we’re off the hook. I sent the island to the past like you said I should and everything.”

“I returned the original Megatron’s spark,” Bernian added. “I suppose you took care of everyone you were wanting to, Ehnen?”

“‘Course. Depth Charge will have a little memory loss, though. Unavoidable. And I figured I’d better not get Rampage back.” Ehnen grimaced slightly. “Even I can’t get rid of that preoccupation he has. I put Tarantulas on the planet, too. And I was even able to repair Quickstrike and Inferno. I couldn’t leave them here, after all,” she added defensively. “Those pet mind-linkers of yours are waiting at the base.”

Bernian shot Ehnen a suspicious look. “And Tigerhawk?”

The black-haired child shook her head slightly. “Ah. Yes. There’s something odd about that. There is no more Tigerhawk, just Tigatron and Airazor.”

“You’re sure they can’t be traced from the Nebula?” Felien asked anxiously.

“Positive. The Elders were the ones who combined them and took control of them, and now that they’re gone--” Ehnen winced. “Never mind. I’m sure.”

“Great!” grinned Felien. The time line was safe. And they hadn’t been caught at it!

The three children went to their little world, resolving, this time, to stay there until they had Changed.

And somewhere on Earth, as Felien’s note had promised, Waspinator was happy at last.

~ They have done very well, ~ one of the four Vok Leaders asserted. ~ Even if they did break a few rules. ~

The second Leader shook her head. ~ Their actions led to the death of the Elders. They cannot go unpunished. ~

The first one would have laughed, if she hadn’t been among her fellow Leaders. ~ As if they weren’t a nuisance to us all anyway? They’re the ones who caused that disaster with the other planet, and might have done the same with Earth if the children hadn’t stopped them. ~

The third Leader looked at the first with disapproval.

~ She’s right, though, ~ the fourth told him, seeing the look. ~ You know as well as the rest of us that the Elders were more trouble than anything else. And besides, what would you do to the children? Put them in another time loop? We all saw how well that worked last time. Felien, despite her faults, is obviously an extremely skilled manipulator of time lines. We’re too short on Line Guardians to waste one. ~

~ What about her two friends? ~ asked the third. ~ Ehnen and Bernian also broke rules. They have no such skill in time line manipulation. But we cannot lift the penalty for one without lifting it for all three. ~

The first smiled slightly. ~ They believe we do not know. We shall encourage that belief. And when they Change, we will assign Felien as a Line Guardian, and the other two as her assistants. And if it will make you happy, we can test them a little. ~

~ Very well then, it is decided, ~ the third agreed with a tiny smirk, the rest also smiling. ~ We will, of course, have to repair a few of the changes she has made. The matter of the Predacon left on Earth, for instance... ~

~ Has the Line Guardian of Cybertron been alerted? ~ interrupted the second. ~ There may be serious ramifications on its time line, if she is not prepared to deal with the Maximals coming there. There have been slight changes made to them, after all, and they are major players there. ~

The fourth looked slightly miffed. ~ Current Cybertron is in my area of space/time. The Line Guardian there is very reliable. She has already been preparing the...changes necessary for the next part of this time line. ~

~ Then everything is set. We need only wait and watch. ~

~ As always. ~