Kevin and Gears discover a secret program to use satellites to track incoming Transformers.
Vital statistics[]
ISBN 0316188697
ISBN 978-0316188692
Writers: Ryder Windham & Jason Fry
Pagecount: 224
Synopsis[]
Trapped on the world they have dubbed Blue Planet, Duane Bowman and his men lay a trap for two of the wolves that plague them. Though Anson is injured in the fight, they manage to dispatch the creatures, only to find that the wolves are robotic in nature.
Back on Earth, in the NEST Rapid Response Base in Nevada, Kevin Bowman and Gears are in the lab catching up on the analysis of the Cybertronian cylinders. Chief Lindsay attempts to introduce power to the intact Battle Mountain cylinder gradually, only for it to unexpectedly climb to 600% power levels. They vacate the lab rapidly, but after examining readings, determine it won't actually activate for four days.
Meanwhile General Marcus, Optimus Prime, Ironhide and Ratchet preview Hyperdynamix's latest rocket technology—Reusable Launch Vehicles which service the Hyperdynamix Orbital Debris Disposal Initiative Station, a space station which will clean up space junk in Earth orbit. Alexander Porter reveals that known to many working on the project, the station also includes an early detection system for incoming Cybertronians. Additionally the latest two RLVs they're preparing to launch carry a satellite which will broadcast a signal to shut down Decepticons worldwide. Optimus is not totally convinced it won't affect Autobots too, but Porter seems confident. The discussion is cut short when HODDIS detects four meteors heading for northern Idaho. Elsewhere, Douglas Porter, who intends to ruin his father's plans, reviews footage from a spy drone he's had hidden in the Rapid Response Base.
Duane and his team barely escape a pack of wolves, managing to shelter on a rocky ledge, but find themselves surrounded by the predators. Until, that is, a giant robot centipede attacks the wolves, killing or driving them off.
Optimus and his team arrive in a remote area of Idaho and soon find the fallen meteorites, which turn out to have been carrying giant robot centipedes. The Autobots come off second best during the initial encounter, and when Optimus comes around, the intruders have scattered. The Autobots likewise split up, with Optimus following one pair, and Ironhide and Ratchet following the other.
Marcus orders the powered-up cylinder moved to a more secure location near Yucca Mountain. As it's the only way he might get Duane back, Kevin enlists Gear's help in persuading Lindsay to let them accompany the cylinder. Douglas, still spying via the drone, contacts Simon Clay to organize an interception of the NEST convoy with Reverb and the stolen Hyperdynamix tanks.
Optimus dispatches his two of the centipedes, which seem intelligent enough to lay traps. Ironhide and Ratchet attempt to stop the other two before they reach the town of Sagle. They manage to dispose of the first, though Ironhide has to chase the other into a lake to kill it, startling some fishermen.
Gears and Bumblebee accompany the NEST convoy, which is duly ambushed on Highway 99 just south of Beatty. While the Autobots scramble to defend the cargo, not far away at Hyperdynamix Aerospace, Porter and Marcus view footage of the battle and are surprised to see Reverb using the stolen tanks. Porter accelerates the launch of the RLVs to twenty minutes from now. Doug, spying on his father remotely, instructs Reverb to break off the ambush and stop the launch. The confusion allows the Autobots to get the upper hand, driving off the rest of the autonomous tanks, and Gears and Kevin likewise head for Hyperdynamix. Reverb gets there first and bursts into the control room, seriously injuring the elder Porter. As he's unable to stop the launch from there, the Decepticon attempts to attack the RLV directly, and is still on board as it launches. As Gears and Kevin arrive, Porter smugly reveals that the signal the satellite will generate will destroy Autobots as well as Decepticons. Gears and Kevin board the second RLV just before it also launches.
On the Blue Planet, Duane and his team stumble on a Cybertronian cylinder identical to the ones found on Earth. It activates as they watch.
Witnessing his father's brush with death causes Doug Porter to have a change of heart, and he turns the information he has on the cylinders over to NEST. Gears and Kevin attempt an operation to stop the satellite with Reverb's help and some instructions from Hyperdynamix's fight controller Lyons. The first attempt goes poorly, so Kevin is forced to don a space suit and go outside to rewire to the satellite. He succeeds only for Reverb to shoot Gears in the back. The crew on HODDIS use the station's anti-junk drones to send the Decepticon plummeting Earthward, and the badly-injured but functional Gears is taken on board the station. Kevin meanwhile rides the RLV back down to Earth. He assumes manual control and lands next to the activating trans-spacial cylinder.
At this point, the craft is transported to the Blue Planet and Kevin greets his surprised brother. Kevin uses the information provided by Doug Porter to reconfigure the cylinder Duane's team has found and it transports all six of them back to Earth, where they arrive back with the convoy in front of a startled Optimus Prime.
Back at the NEST base, Marcus and the Autobots debrief on the giant centipedes and Reverb, while Ratchet believed he had burned up in the atmosphere, the General ordered a search, just in case. Kevin visits Doug Porter at Alex Porter's bedside before he and the repaired Gears go for a drive.
Featured characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Quotes[]
"If the meteoroids delivered Autobots instead of Decepticons, you may not get to sate your regrettably unquenchable thirst for violence."
"Ouch, way to bring a guy down, Sawbones."
- —Ratchet and Ironhide
"And do you understand the plan?"
"I was ambushing my enemies when your kind was bashing beasts over the heads with stones."
"Good to know. I'm glad you've had thousands of years to learn to follow directions."
- —Doug Porter and Reverb
"Did you see it? With the tail still on, that sucker was this big."
- —Ironhide boasts to some fishermen.
"I have been at war for many years, Kevin. I have lost many friends, and I grieve for them. But I have gained friends, too. Friends like you, Kevin. And that is a good thing, despite so much that is bad."
- —Gears
"Unbelievable. Sentenced to death by the clumsiness of a half-grown larva."
- —Reverb is not impressed by Kevin.
"Sorry, Douglas, but I'm kind of trying to land without getting killed right now."
- —Kevin Bowman flying an RLV on manual control.
Notes[]
Continuity notes[]
- Now there's no more doubt that the Classified trilogy takes place before Nefarious, since Reverb is the only Decepticon who survived the events of all novels of the trilogy, and he died in the said mini-series. Also his design in the novel is toy accurate, rather than the four-armed design from Nefarious. Maybe he didn't have four-arms during that period.
- Duane Bowman and his men were transported to Blue Planet in Transformers Classified: Switching Gears.
- Optimus is familiar with the story of Sodom, as it was among the broadcasts he studied on the way to Earth.
- Ironhide swears in the name of the Fifth Baron-Warlord of Polyhex.
Trivia[]
- The existence of this book was first revealed in an advert in the back of the previous novel. Unlike the first two books in the series, it was first released in paperback format, with no hardback format scheduled.
- Duane believes that the life forms on Blue Planet are Cybertronian in origin, though this is not followed up on.