Stray Dog Strut (status post)
It felt like eons since Astrotrain had last allowed himself to wander.
Everyone had been clamoring to keep him, like a stray turbohound found in a back alley. And for a while, he let himself be drawn into that idea, of being kept and taken care of, of being loved.
But you canβt take the space out of a shuttle, and space was calling to him now.
It didnβt care where his loyalties lie, how much it would hurt to leave them behind. It was an ancient pull, deep in his weakened spark and his corrupted drives, starlight written into his very code - and to disobey it would be crazier than anything heβd done planetside.
With spacebridge technology, he realized, he could wander farther. There was a multiverse at his fingertips instead of just a universe. He could go anywhere he wanted to go, explore anywhere he wanted to explore, and heβd likely die long before he saw the whole of it.. assuming of course, he was allowed to die.
At this point, he felt damn well invincible.
Spaceflight protocols were already beginning to activate, an old, warm thrumming in his frame like the embrace of a lover he hadnβt seen in ages. He could feel what he hoped wasnβt rust shedding from his body, inside and out. He had slept for so long, and now it was time to stretch his wings.
He left a simple message where friends and loved ones could see it, one word in a familiar drunken scrawl:
goodbye.
