Welcome to My Window

“Leader-1! Leader-1”

Matt looked up from his station on the bridge of the Commander Center to where Scooter sat behind the primary sensor station, with Nick and AJ peering around from either side of him.

“What is it, Scoot?” Leader-1 asked from the captain’s chair.

“I’m detecting a spatial anomaly less than a light year away from us! I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“You want to go check it out, Leader-1?” Turbo asked, from the pilot’s chair.

“Ch-check it out?” Scooter gulped. “Couldn’t we just, maybe, send a probe or watch from here?”

Nick gave Scooter a playful punch in the arm. “Aw, come on, Scooter. It can’t be that bad.”

“Yeah,” AJ said, “what’s the worst that could happen?”

“It could be the Renegades,” Leader-1 said. “They’ve been quiet ever since Cordax. I wouldn’t put it past Cy-Kill to endanger the fabric of the universe if it would help him conquer Gobotron.”

“All right!” Smallfoot said from her own station. “I’ve been going stir crazy without a fight!”

“I hear you, Smallfoot,” Turbo agreed. “I’m taking her in!”

The Command Center sped through space, until they found the anomaly Scooter had detected. It was like nothing they had ever seen. It was…

“A window!” Matt shouted. “It looks like a window!”

It was a perfect tear in the fabric of space, crackling white energy along its edge. Inside… inside a planet could be seen. It was metal, like Gobotron, but rounder, broken only by a massive crater that had torn open a section of the planet. Giant towers seemed to stretch almost into space. Who could have built such a place?

“I’m getting some strange readings from the other side of that window,” Scooter said. “Whatever is powering that planet, it’s like nothing I’ve even come across. Their energy output is a hundred times greater than Gobotron.”

“Fascinating,” Leader-1 said, a little bit of annoyance creeping into his voice. “But not why we’re here. Any sign of the Renegades?”

“Negative,” Scooter said.

“Those metalheads probably have their stealth device engaged,” Turbo said, crossing his arms with impatience. “How’re we supposed to stop them when they don’t play fair!”

“Maybe we should just let them go through?” Scooter suggested. “Maybe they’ve taking a vacation?”

Leader-1 took a moment to answer, and Matt could tell he was growing annoyed with Scooter’s timid nature. The smaller Guardian would always come through in a pinch, but sometimes, it took him far longer to reach that point than the others. “Negative,” Leader-One said. “We’re not about to let the Renegades become someone else’s problem.”

“Look!” Nick said, pointing at the viewscreen.

“There they are!” AJ added. “They’re going through the window!”

“Fire a warning shot!” Leader-1 said. “See if we can scare them off!”

“You’ve got it, Leader-One!” Smallfoot said as he hands danced across the control panel. From twin studs on the Command Center’s bow, bolts of energy lashed out at the Thruster.

The Renegade’s ship was swift, and whoever was piloting it had a firm hand on the controls. It dodged the blasts from the Command Center with ease, speeding toward the window.

“Darn it! Stand still, you lousy Renegades!” Smallfoot pounded on the control panel in frustration.

“After them, Turbo!” Leader-1 barked.

“You’ve got it!”

The Command Center shot forward, Smallfoot still firing their blasters. They were quickly closing the gap between the Thruster and themselves, but the Renegade ship managed to stay one step ahead of them. But as they drew closer to the window, the ship began to shake.

“Scooter! What’s going on?” Leader-1 demanded.

“The gravitational pull is too strong! Our engines can’t fight it!”

“Can’t… pull… out…” Turbo said, struggling to move the Command Center away.

“We’re too close to Thruster!” Leader-1 said. “Brace for impact!”

Matt barely had time to strap himself into his chair before they collided with the Renegade ship. Nick and AJ weren’t so fast or so lucky. Scooter was able to grab hold of Nick, but AJ slipped away from his grasp, tumbling across the bridge. Only Leader-1’s quick reflexes saved her from a nasty impact with the viewscreen.

“Careful, AJ,” Leader-1 said. “I’m not sure our insurance covers human passengers.”

“It’s no good!” Turbo shouted. “We’re being sucked in….!”

Both the Command Center and the Thruster were sent tumbling through the Window. With the ship spinning, it was hard to tell, but Matt was certain he’d seen the Window close behind them… Furthermore, he’d lost complete track of Thruster. As frightening as either of those thoughts were, he couldn’t dwell on them for long. Alarms were going off all over the bridge as the ship continued tumbling, threatening to bring the cheeseburger he’d had for lunch back up. Even the artificial gravity was beginning to fail, only the crash straps kept Matt in his chair.

“Turbo!” Leader-1 called out. “Do something!”

“I’m tryin’! I’m tryin’! But the controls are dead!”

“Did you have to say ‘dead’?” Scooter wailed.

“Brace for impact, everyone!” Leader-1 ordered. “It looks like we’re going to make a spectacular first impression!”

The ship shuddered mightily as it hit the planet’s atmosphere. Even with the other controls knocked off-line, the Command Center’s heat shields held, or it wouldn’t have mattered if they crashed or not. It twisted through the sky until it hit the metal ground with a tremendous crash.