Chapter Summaries

Sun Cheng watched specialized excavation and transport robots work at the La Paz branch base as his forces made up for their shortage of Decepticon personnel with machines. An excavation robot broke through into an underground passage near Tiwanaku City, and survey data indicated an inverted pyramid lay beneath the ruins.

• Sun Cheng observed the new excavation robots and spider-like transport robots clear the Tiwanaku ruins while Sprint and Mora praised the machines sent by Atlas and the engineers.
• Sun Cheng considered how the robots had helped his understaffed forces and noted that his combat robots already numbered more than five hundred.
• Sprint reported that an excavation robot had fallen into a pit and apparently uncovered a passage to the underground ruins.
• Sun Cheng hurried to the site and recalled the archaeological clues that had led his team to investigate beneath Tiwanaku City.
• Sun Cheng learned that a structure resembling an inverted pyramid lay seventeen meters underground, six kilometers southeast of Tiwanaku City.

Sun Cheng and his Decepticons excavated a hidden underground structure in Bolivia and entered its damaged passageway. Mora discovered that the wall murals bore Mayan Script, a writing system preserved in his core.

• Sun Cheng reviewed the excavation robot’s footage, saw an artificial tunnel with carved patterns, and ordered the robots to keep digging toward the target.
• As the excavation continued through the night, Sun Cheng waited while worrying that spy satellites and the awakened Soundwave were watching him.
• Sprint reported that the robots had reached the underground main hall, and Sun Cheng entered the passage with Mora while Sprint guarded the surface.
• Mora spotted writing on a broken mural and identified the symbols as Mayan Script stored in his core.

Sun Cheng had Mora analyze the Mayan Script recorded in an underground passage, hoping the murals might reveal information about an ancient Pathfinder. After more than ten minutes of calculations, Mora announced that he had succeeded.

• Sun Cheng recognized fragments of ancient murals in the tunnel and suspected they contained Mayan Script.
• Sun Cheng asked Sprint for the excavation robots' footage and learned that Mora could decipher Mayan Script.
• Sun Cheng transferred the tunnel recording into Mora's core so he could analyze the murals.
• Mora strained his core while deciphering the writing, then announced that he had succeeded.

Sun Cheng followed Mora through an underground passage after Mora deciphered inscriptions about a heavenly god’s tomb and its demonic guards. Sun Cheng reached a vast, earthquake-damaged main hall, continuing to search for the remains of a Pathfinder.

• Mora deciphered three Mayan passages describing a heavenly god’s return, King Sinchi’s tomb, and demons guarding the god’s rest.
• Sun Cheng dismissed Mora’s warning about demons and continued down the tunnel, hoping to find a dead Pathfinder.
• Sun Cheng stepped on a human arm bone and saw remains embedded in the tunnel walls, suggesting the area had been used for human sacrifices.
• Sun Cheng jumped from the tunnel into a spacious square hall supported by twelve stone pillars and marked by cracks and old deposits of earth and stone.

Sun Cheng explored the great hall at the top of the underground pyramid, where ancient murals and traps revealed the sophistication of the Maya civilization. After finding a human-sized passage leading down, he saw the mural Mora had discovered and recognized the Ark.

• Sun Cheng and Mora inspected the hall’s murals, while Sun Cheng’s scan dated a bronze arrow to the Maya Preclassic Period.
• Sun Cheng triggered and destroyed the hall’s traps as he searched for a way to the lower level.
• Sun Cheng opened a passage too small for him to enter and prepared to have the excavation robots widen it.
• Mora called Sun Cheng over to a mural, and Sun Cheng recognized the Ark in its image.

Sun Cheng recognized a mural's flattened spacecraft as resembling the Ark, the ancient Autobot flagship, and inferred that a Cybertronian Pathfinder and possibly a spacecraft had once reached the site. He left eager to investigate the possibility of finding ancient spacecraft technology.

• Mora pointed out a mural depicting a Decepticon Pathfinder worshipped by kneeling figures.
• Sun Cheng noticed a carefully drawn, smoking spacecraft in the mural and recognized its resemblance to the Ark.
• Sun Cheng recalled how the Ark had helped the Autobots defeat Shockwave's forces and how Megatron later commissioned the Nemesis.
• Sun Cheng considered how ancient Cybertronian spacecraft technology might help him overcome his faction's limited ability to build interstellar vessels.
• Sun Cheng concluded that a Pathfinder—and perhaps a spacecraft—had once descended at the site.

Sun Cheng explored the underground pyramid after learning that a Decepticon had taught the ancient Indians, and ordered the robots to excavate deeper levels. At the bottom, he discovered a golden ship and the remains of a Pathfinder Decepticon.

• Mora interpreted the hall’s murals, which showed a Decepticon teaching the ancient Indians and a young leader building the underground pyramid as the Decepticon’s resting place.
• Sun Cheng ordered Sprint to have the robots widen a hidden passage to the next level.
• Sun Cheng and the others found burial and sacrifice areas on the second level, then waited as the robots dug through two labyrinth-like anti-theft levels.
• Sun Cheng jumped into the bottommost temple and found a golden ship with the rusted remains of a giant bearing a familiar emblem.

Sun Cheng discovered that the Pathfinder on the golden boat had been dead for millennia and found no spaceship in the temple. After suspecting the boat concealed something, he moved it and uncovered writing and a metal sphere beneath it.

• Sun Cheng scanned the Pathfinder's corpse and confirmed that its AllSpark and body had decayed beyond use.
• Sun Cheng let Mora take the golden boat and told him to have Yuri negotiate with Numar for resources and authority in Bolivia.
• Sun Cheng searched the temple but found no spaceship or hidden compartments.
• Sun Cheng suspected the golden boat had been made to conceal something and threw the Pathfinder's corpse aside.
• Sun Cheng shoved the golden boat away and found lines of writing and a football-sized metal sphere embedded in the floor.

Sun Cheng discovered that the metal sphere from the underground pyramid was an activator for a Cybertronian spacecraft’s main control computer, but he chose not to use it yet. He received an urgent transmission from Pioneer and froze after reading it.

• Sun Cheng recorded the Elder Script, identified the sphere as a key, and ordered Mora to erase the pyramid’s evidence and arrange the golden ship’s removal.
• Sun Cheng explained to Sprint that the sphere could activate a spacecraft’s main control computer, but warned that awakening it could trigger defenses or attract the Autobots and The Fallen.
• Sun Cheng stored the activator in the Spherical Space and considered searching for the crashed spacecraft and transporting it to Base Two if it was badly damaged.
• Sun Cheng received an urgent transmission from Pioneer and froze as he read it.

Sun Cheng learned that Barricade and another Decepticon had appeared near Sam’s home, while Bumblebee was drawn away from the area. After seeing the second Decepticon, Sun Cheng realized the attack was a trap to lure the tiger from the mountain.

• Pioneer reported that he had detected Barricade and another Decepticon near Sam’s residence.
• Sun Cheng recalled the history connecting Barricade and Bumblebee and questioned why Starscream would risk bringing them into conflict.
• Pioneer reported that Bumblebee had detected Barricade and chased him away from Sam’s neighborhood.
• Pioneer said the other Decepticon had evaded Bumblebee’s scan and infiltrated Sam’s house.
• Sun Cheng saw the infiltrator’s image and understood that Bumblebee had been lured away.

Sun Cheng ordered Pioneer to capture the miniature Decepticon accompanying Barricade and prepared Sprint to manage Bolivia while he traveled to the United States. Pioneer reported that he had captured Wheelie and taken an AllSpark fragment from Sam, leaving Sun Cheng focused on the prize.

• Sun Cheng recognized that Starscream had used strategy to lure Bumblebee away and ordered Pioneer to capture the miniature Decepticon near Sam.
• Sun Cheng told Sprint that Barricade and the miniature Decepticon were targeting Sam, then gave him instructions for managing Bolivia and its military equipment.
• Pioneer interrupted Sun Cheng's orders to report that he had captured Wheelie and obtained an AllSpark fragment from Sam.
• Sun Cheng fixed his attention on the AllSpark fragment in Pioneer's hand.

After discovering that Sam possessed an AllSpark fragment, Sun Cheng realized the Decepticons might be preparing to resurrect Megatron and ordered Sprint to keep Sam safe. At Base Two, he arranged for two dead Decepticons to be rebuilt under his control and sent Hephaestus to the Far East to fulfill an agreement with human nations.

• Sun Cheng learned that Sam had an AllSpark fragment and ordered Sprint to take him to Mexico and keep him hidden.
• Sun Cheng flew to Base Two in Brazil and brought the remains of Iron Hammer and Boomerang to Atlas.
• Atlas confirmed their memory chips were intact but said they needed new bodies, and Sun Cheng ordered B1-standard bodies with cores designed for control.
• Sun Cheng assigned Hephaestus to lead Engineers and construction robots to the Far East to build four nuclear submarine bases and new submarines for human nations.

Sun Cheng surveyed Base Two after returning from Russia and saw how its manufacturing capacity and defenses had expanded. The base had amassed thousands of robots, a broad air-defense network, and an improving stockpile of Scarab missiles, though Sun Cheng still lacked strategic weapons such as nuclear warheads.

• Sun Cheng dismissed his people to their duties and walked through Base Two, reflecting on its changes since his last visit.
• Base Two had grown its robot forces to more than ten thousand, while its surrounding industrial and defensive network transformed the western Brazilian Highlands.
• Sun Cheng's Engineers had built up 256 S-300PMU launch systems after adapting production lines to manufacture and upgrade the air-defense systems.
• After Russia and the Far Eastern regime refused to sell him strategic weapons, Sun Cheng arranged for the base to produce its own missiles using stolen SS-21 data.
• The Engineers doubled the Scarab missile's range to more than 250 kilometers, and Base Two had stockpiled more than fifty capable of threatening leader-class warriors.

Sun Cheng inspected Base Two’s improved second-generation combat robots before Phantom summoned him to the laboratory with news about the sphere from the Tiwanaku City ruins. There, Phantom revealed familiar-looking symbols identified as Elder Script, leaving Sun Cheng poised to learn what the sphere had uncovered.

• Sun Cheng scanned a patrol of second-generation combat robots and assessed their improved frames, weapons, and squad organization.
• The robots recognized Sun Cheng as their highest authority, and he dismissed the patrol.
• One of Phantom’s avatars summoned Sun Cheng to the laboratory to see Phantom’s discoveries about the sphere.
• Sun Cheng arrived and saw the sphere illuminated beneath a glass cover as patterns appeared across its surface.
• Phantom revealed symbols on the glass that Sun Cheng recognized as Elder Script.

Sun Cheng learned that the awakened initiator had sent an Elder Script program toward a hidden main control computer, and Phantom calculated its likely location in Peru. The signal pointed to Lake Titicaca, so Sun Cheng dispatched Sprint to search for it.

• Sun Cheng memorized the Elder Script characters but could not decipher them.
• Phantom explained that activating the initiator had triggered an awakening program, which it intercepted before it reached the base’s main control computer.
• Phantom traced the initiator’s signal to a location in Peru, within thirty kilometers of its calculated target.
• Sun Cheng identified the location as Lake Titicaca and urgently ordered Sprint to search there without exposing himself.

Pioneer kept the captured Decepticon [Wheelie] chained beside him while guarding the [AllSpark] fragment in a lead box. After hours of watching each other, they were interrupted by an unwelcome visitor.

• Pioneer threatened [Wheelie] with the [Controlled Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb] attached to his chain and warned him not to test his patience.
• [Wheelie] tried to persuade Pioneer to let him complete the mission Soundwave had assigned him with Barricade: retrieving the [AllSpark] fragment to awaken Megatron.
• Pioneer dismissed [Wheelie]’s appeal and threatened to kill him, prompting [Wheelie] to back down.
• Pioneer guarded the lead box as the fragment’s energy slowly affected both Decepticons, until an unwelcome visitor arrived at the door.

Pioneer secured Wheelie and the [AllSpark] fragment before preparing to confront two approaching Decepticons. After identifying them as [Sideways] and the [Constructicons], he left Wheelie chained in place and readied himself for battle.

• Pioneer chained Wheelie to an iron rod and welded the chain in place while keeping the [lead box] containing the [AllSpark] fragment.
• Pioneer sensed two powerful electromagnetic signatures approaching and realized they had locked onto him.
• Pioneer’s scan identified the approaching Decepticons as [Sideways] and the [Constructicons], with no other Cybertronians nearby.
• Pioneer assessed his combat strength and prepared to fight the Decepticons.
• Pioneer warned Wheelie to stay put and threatened to detonate the [Controlled Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb] if he tried anything.

Sideways and Constructicons caught up with Pioneer and Wheelie after tracking the AllSpark fragment. Pioneer assessed Constructicons's strengths and weaknesses and prepared to attack him with missiles.

• Sideways and Constructicons raced through the mountains and transformed into their combat forms when they spotted Pioneer and Wheelie.
• Sideways identified the AllSpark fragment in Pioneer's hand and confirmed Wheelie's location.
• Pioneer recognized Constructicons as one of six Decepticons created for Shockwave's Devastator Project, whose members could combine into Devastator.
• Pioneer judged that his speed, range, and firepower gave him an advantage over Constructicons and deployed two missile launchers from his back.

Pioneer ambushed Sideways and injured his leg before fighting the Constructicon, who attacked with crushing force. The chapter left Pioneer aiming a plasma cannon at the charging giant.

• The Constructicon demanded that Pioneer hand over the fragment, but Pioneer prepared to fight and targeted Sideways instead.
• Pioneer launched two missiles at Sideways, who dodged one and lost the lower half of his left leg to the other.
• Sideways ordered the Constructicon to kill Pioneer, and the giant's shovel strike missed Pioneer but flung the chained Wheelie into the air.
• Pioneer widened the distance from the Constructicon, drew a plasma cannon from his thigh, and aimed it at the giant.

Pioneer used the Engineers’ improved plasma cannon to exploit Constructicons’ vulnerable tires and defeat the giant Decepticon. After Constructicons fell, Pioneer had overcome the opponent who posed the greatest threat.

• Pioneer hit Constructicons’ upper tire with the improved plasma cannon, while Sideways threw a spear at him and missed.
• Constructicons hurled a boulder at Pioneer, who dodged it with his propulsion jets and fired missiles at the giant’s head.
• Pioneer targeted Constructicons’ lower tire and discovered that destroying the tires’ outer layers crippled the giant’s mobility.
• Pioneer fired his remaining missiles and plasma shells until both of Constructicons’ arms were severed and an energy shell struck his brain.
• Constructicons crashed to the ground, defeated by Pioneer.