Cybertronian Homesick Blues Flashback: Blaster has repaired the Lost Light's long-range subspace network, and Swerve has bribed him with free drinks to let him send the first transmission back to Cybertron. He records a message for his old buddy Blurr, explaining the ship's explosive departure and the progress of the quest, and then begins to tell the story of the events of the previous day...
Present: A horrible howling sound emerging from Tailgate and Cyclonus's hab-suite catches Swerve's attention on his way to work, but before he can open the door, he is yanked away by Drift, who is preparing to storm the room with Aquafend. They proceed to kick the door in, to discover that the noise was Cyclonus singing a hymn in Old Cybertronian. Suitably chastened, Drift returns to Rodimus's office to carry on teaching the captain parrying, and Swerve tags along, asking the ninja-bot to become his new room-mate. Moments later, Ultra Magnus comes storming in, wound tighter than ever and rattling off a list of the crew's preposterously minor protocol infractions. Rodimus suggests he relax, and proposes that the crew take some "shore leave" on the nearby planet Hedonia, convincing Swerve to show Magnus the planet's sights.
On the trip down to Hedonia, Swerve and Tailgate chat about the latter's choice in roommates and Cyclonus's past, and Swerve's friendship with Blurr, while Magnus desperately tries to relax. Setting down on the planet, Swerve's "posse" employ new auto-generated, personality-based holomatter avatars to find a mechanoid-friendly bar; Magnus's choice of a self-designed avatar based on Verity Carlo leaves them all asking questions. Swerve convinces Magnus to deactivate his fuel intake moderation chip so that he can enjoy drinking, but Whirl exploits the opportunity to slip him a mickey—weapons-grade Nucleon, which knocks Magnus out completely. Two hours later, the rest of the group are playing the "nemesis game", naming their worst enemies, when Magnus begins to come around and everyone but Swerve immediately flees in fear of repercussions. The sozzled Magnus mopes about his predicament to Swerve, about hating the quest and being hated by everyone and wanting to go back to Cybertron, and almost confesses to enjoying music when he notices Swerve's Autobot badge is missing. He dubs the little 'bot a shirker before gulping down another drink and passing out again.
A little later, the others return with trinkets bought from the gift shop; Rung has purchased a new model ship that reminds Skids of the Ark-1, prompting Rewind to play some millennia-old footage of the opening ceremony for the ship's launch, in which the crew was named. Suddenly, Cyclonus flies into a rage, flipping over the table and getting into a scuffle with Skids. Tailgate intervenes, urging the others to head back to the shuttle while he calms Cyclonus, and Swerve realises they only have twenty minutes to do so. Whirl quickly flies everyone back to the shuttle, after which they project their holomatters avatars back to the bar in order to transport the still-unconscious Ultra Magnus back via a short-cut through an organics-only area. To do so, he must be in his alternate mode, so they drag him out of the bar and begin jumping up and down on him in order to make him involuntarily transform, and they eventually succeed... except, he's upside down. After managing him to flip him over, the group drives back to the shuttle, happily commenting on what a good time they've had.
And back at the bar, a perfectly calm Cyclonus reveals something to Tailgate: he knows that he is lying, that he was not on the Ark's crew manifest - there was a Tailpipe, but no Tailgate. Tailgate realises that Cyclonus made a scene to save him from discovery, and sadly confesses that he never worked in bomb disposal, or the Primal Vanguard: he was actually a waste disposal 'bot, and he lied about himself because he was despondent over having never even been looked for after he fell through the Mitteous Plateau while
Signal To Noise Present: Growing a little claustrophobic, Rung exits the elevator he is travelling in twenty floors early and carries on towards his appointment on foot. With Ultra Magnus at his side being his usual non-conversational self, Rung is left to think quietly to himself about the nature of his recently repaired body—still unchanged from its original design—and the psychological link between bodyforms and warfare. He recalls his convalescence following his accidental injuring, how the very first time he moved following his reawakening was to press a finger to Swerve's lips to silence him, and Rewind's multiple storytelling sessions. Most recently, he remembers his work with Brainstorm to create upgraded holomatter avatars that draw on their users' psyches, which they tested on Hedonia... where Rung remembered something important...
Flashback: In the gift shop outside the bar on Hedonia, a short time after abandoning Swerve with a drunken Ultra Magnus, Rung, Rewind, Tailgate, and Skids are browsing the store's wares. Tailgate grows bored as Skids tries on hats but refuses to wait outside with Whirl, who is banging his head on a display case to, according to Rung, "relieve the pressure on his brain". Rung is also feeling guilty about leaving Swerve, and worries about the trouble they'll be in with Magnus, encouraging Rewind to suggest that if they're already in trouble, they might as well get into some serious trouble by searching for the "dark secret" of Hedonia (since all friendly, welcoming planets have a seamy underbelly). Rather than do that, though, they instead decide to watch Cyclonus, also browsing the aisles, out of the corners of their eyes and talk about him behind his back. Rung selects a model spaceship and takes it to the pay-port, only to be stopped by the sight of a rack of memory sticks, containing recordings of the "Hedonian experience". Rewind dissuades him from buying any, since he's recording his own, but purchasing them is not on Rung's mind: the sight of them has triggered a memory...
Present: Ultra Magnus finally speaks up after twenty minutes of silence, warning Rung that his impending meeting with Rodimus may not be too smooth, given the various problems Rodimus is dealing with: the failure of the long-range subspace network, the loss of their only lead in their quest, and his own personal issues. Rung remarks on the succinctness of Magnus's language, which prompts Magnus to try and make a joke, only for it to come out so seriously that Rung misses its intent entirely. Rung encourages him to find a kind of humor that works for him, and Magnus tries again, only to fluff the punchline and grimly apologise. Mercifully, the pair then arrive at Rodimus's office (complete with a new plaque commemorating his residence that Rung dubs "premature"), where the ship's captain is drawing on his desk with a laser scalpel. He quizzes Rung on the psychological health of the crew following recent setbacks, and, satisfied with his answers, returns to his doodling until Magnus points out that it was Rung who asked for the appointment, not Rodimus. His attention back on Rung, Rodimus listens as the psychiatrist describes Red Alert's final sessions with him before his apparent suicide attempt and the mysterious voice he claimed to hear coming from beneath the ship. Rodimus is doubtful of the paranoid Red's claims, but Rung verifies them by bringing up the recording Red made of the voice, and Rodimus agrees to look into it—after dealing with prior appointments with Brainstorm and Perceptor. Rung is ushered out, and when Magnus, waiting outside, asks how it went, Rung invites him for a chat. After all, it would be nice for someone to listen to him for a change.
