* * *

The planet's name was Cybertron, the home of a race known as Transformers. It was a small planet, made completely of metal, millions of years old. His intended purpose had been to produce robots, who would then be sold as servants -- until they rose against their masters, the Quintessons, and won the war.

Hot Rod evaded another attack and jumped for cover behind a large rock formation. He aimed his blaster and destroyed three of the laser units at the ceiling of the cave he was in. Suddenly something grabbed his ankle and he lost his balance, slamming onto the hard, rocky surface. Surprised, he rolled onto his back and saw a viscous looking machine behind him. It had several tentacles and one of them had snaked around his leg. The machine, who looked like an oversized shredder, pulled him towards it. He didn't have time to think about how the thing had suddenly appeared behind him without him seeing it, he simply reacted. He aimed his weapon, but the machine seemed to be smarter than it looked. Another tentacle sneaked up and curled around his wrist, biting into his metal skin. Hot Rod gave an enraged cry.
"Hot Rod hold on!" a rough voice rumbled. A large head descended over the tentacle imprisoning his foot and a quick snap of strong jaws severed it.
The machine materialized more tentacles, which moved with lightning speed toward its new attacker. Several of the tentacles fell victim to the strong jaws, but others managed to get a hold on to the gigantic form.
Hot Rod fired some shots at the machine and hit the right spot after the fourth try. The machine exploded and the tentacles went lax.
"Thanks for the help, Grimlock," he said.
The Dinobot leader transformed from the impressive form of a Tyrannosaurus Rex to his robot mode. "Me Grimlock love fight," he declared. "Was good fight, good fun."
Hot Rod laughed. "Glad you liked it, big guy.
"But too short," the Dinobot added. "Too short fun."
"Then why don't we try another of those programs?" Hot Rod was just about to order another training sequence to be started when the ground began to shake violently.
"What's happening?" Hot Rod asked in confusion.
"Hot Rod look there!" Grimlock pointed at something behind his back.
Hot Rod frowned as he discovered the black thing that had suddenly appeared on one wall of the room. This wasn't part of any program! The computer had been shut down and was awaiting new orders. It wouldn't simply activate a new training sequence.
He stepped closer, curiosity overruling common sense. He was only a few feet away as the black thing started to glow and pulse in an orange light. He stopped, but was pushed forward by a sudden storm. He couldn't prevent himself from coming closer to the black hole.
"Hot Rod!" Grimlock's cry was drowned by the howling storm. "Come back!"
And that was just what Hot Rod was trying to do, but whatever he tried, the forces pulling him toward the black hole were ten times stronger than anything he had ever felt.
He fell into the black hole.
"NO!" Grimlock bellowed.
With horror Hot Rod saw Grimlock transform and follow him as he tried to catch the Autobots' second-in-command. Then everything blacked out around him.

*

Shanygn screamed in pain and doubled over. She fell to her knees, her body wracked by heavy cramps. She felt someone holding her as she shivered, her eyes closed, her breath coming in hard gasps.
"Shan? Shan, do you hear me?"
The worried voice belonged to someone she knew, but she couldn't attach a name to it.
"Shanygn? What's going on?" the voice asked, it's tone very insistent.
"Hot Rod!" she whispered, her voice weak and rough with pain. "He's ... gone...."
Then she lost consciousness.

* * *
 

Peter Venkman felt like run over by a bunch of trucks. Heavy trucks with trailers. His whole body was hurting and a horde of dwarfs seemed to tap-dance inside his head. He blinked and sat up with a groan. The sudden change from horizontal to vertical roused a nauseous feeling. His stomach wanted to turn inside out and the dancing inside his head rose to a crescendo. He inhaled deeply and felt the nausea fade. After some time he was able to tell his right hand from his left foot. His headache faded too, but didn't disappear completely. He leaned back against the wall behind him and looked round. Wherever he was it definitely wasn't New York.
He was in some kind of street. Old newspapers and garbage of undefined origin littered the ground. The buildings on both sides where old and lay in ruins. A lot of house entrances were nailed shut and burned out wreckages of cars and vans blocked the pavement. And everything was eerily silent.
Peter got up slowly. Everything around him looked the same grey and black. There were no lighter colors. Even the sky had a slate grey color and it smelled like rain. As if somebody had read his mind it started to rain. Suddenly Peter remembered Egon. He searched the street with his eyes for any signs of his blond colleague, but was unable to find him. He pushed away from the wall and started down the empty, lonely street. He had gone only a few meters when he saw movement. Close to an entrance lay a heap of papers and other old stuff. And the heap moved. Peter froze. Someone moaned and a human hand appeared from inside the heap.
"Egon?!"
Peter ran over to the heap, starting to uncover the human form. But the man he found wasn't Egon. He didn't even have the slightest resemblance to the blond physicist. The man had light brown, slightly reddish hair and was wearing an overall colored in red, grey and orange. An equally red overcoat covered most of it. The man groaned again and opened his eyes.
"Who the hell are you?" Peter asked, instinctively searching for some kind of weapon. The only suitable weapon he saw was a broken off piece of wood from the laths that covered the entrance.
The man sat up, dazed, and rubbed his head. "And who are you?" he questioned Peter in return.
"I asked first, mister."
The man looked up at him, then suddenly frowned and held his hands before his eyes. "Oh, no!" he moaned. "No! Not again!"
Peter was confused. Again what? "Are you okay?" he asked.
"No, I'm not okay!" The man stood and looked down his body, as if he saw it for the first time. "This is not supposed to be!"
"Huh? Excuse me, but what are you talking about and who the hell are you anyway?"
The man sighed. "My name is Hot Rod and I'm an Autobot."
"Hot Rod?" Peter had to confess that this was a weird name. "And what's an Autobot?"
"A robot."
"You are a robot?" Peter echoed. He stared at him for several seconds, then came to the conclusion that the guy was very serious and possibly, no, very likely, a bit shook up. A robot?
"I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Hot Rod said with a smile and stepped out of the garbage heap, brushing off his coat. "And who are you?"
"Peter Venkman," Peter introduced himself.
"Where am I?" Hot Rod asked and looked round.
"That's something I'd like to know, too," Peter murmured.
"Anyone else here?"
"Yeah, you for instance," Peter remarked dryly. "You expecting someone?"
"You seem to, Mr. Venkman. Who is this Egon?"
Peter was surprised the man remembered the name Peter had addressed him with. "Egon is a friend of mine."
"Who came here, too?"
"I don't know."
"Well, I hope that - if he is here - he didn't encounter them."
Peter followed Hot Rod's gaze and froze. Three humanoid looking creatures had appeared, wearing some kind of knight's armor. All three were armed with a battle ax and looked really, really nasty. Out of thin air a horse appeared under one of the three. It was armored, too. While the horseman stared at Hot Rod and Peter from horseback the other two advanced. With every step they took Peter noticed the street pattern changing. It looked like a chess board now.
"Shit!" he whispered and grabbed the wooden stick he had considered as a weapon before.
Hot Rod had gone into a half-crouch and tensed. His searching hands found a brick and he got ready. As the first of the men on foot charged he took aim and threw the brick. The brick sailed through the air and hit the man full in the chest. He went down. Before he hit the street he vanished into thin air. The second one charged Peter. Venkman moved back.
"Your staff!" Hot Rod cried. "Hit him with your staff!"
The staff hit the second attacker squarely into the chest and threw him back. Peter was more than just surprised. With all that armor the man was heavier than a normal person and should not have been thrown back that far, or thrown back at all! And then the second attacker vanished like the first one. Still baffled Peter failed to see the horseman. Something hit him hard into the back and fell to his knees. The horseman passed him, aiming straight at the defenseless Hot Rod. Hot Rod had grabbed a piece of wood -- his only means of defense. The wood splintered under the brutal attack of the horseman, who had pulled a sword. Hot Rod yelled in outrage, stumbling back.
"Damn!" Peter got to his feet and grabbed for some more bricks and stones. He threw them at the horseman screaming: "Get down!"
Hot Rod reacted out of instinct, dropping to the street. The projectiles touched the armor of the third attacker and Peter heard a whining sound as horse and rider vanished like their companions. He ran towards Hot Rod who still lay on the street, covering his head with his hands.
"You okay?"
Hot Rod struggled up and stared at the other man. "I ... I guess so." He winced as he moved his left hand. There was a large, slightly bleeding bruise there. He looked at the blood, something he wasn't used to. As a robot he could feel pain, was very well able to feel it, but he had never bled. Robots couldn't bleed. He could loose several important fluids through a wound, but not ... blood.
"Sure?" Peter asked.
Hot Rod inhaled deeply, then nodded again. "Sure. I'm just a little ... dazed. Thanks for the help."
Venkman grinned. "Hey, nothing to it." He looked up and down the street that was now covered in black and white squares. "What the heck were those things?"
Before Hot Rod could say anything, some kind of gigantic screen popped out of nowhere. Both men stepped back from the thing. On the screen a head appeared. Peter gasped as he recognized the face. The face had a bluish pink skin and large eyes. A silly looking cap decorated with bells sat on top of the head.
"Welcome!" called a happy sounding voice. "Welcome to my game!"
"Game?" Hot Rod echoed. "What kind of game?"
"A good question, my transformed friend," answered the head on the screen and then laughed as if he had just delivered a very funny joke. "It's a game of life and death. Your life, your death." The thing on the screen seemed to find that very amusing because it started to laugh again.
"Who are you?" Hot Rod demanded.
"The Player," Peter answered Hot Rod's question.
Hot Rod turned to the other man. "You know that clown?"
"It's a class nine ghost. We met him before."
"A ghost? " Hot Rod echoed in disbelief.
"The pleasure is mine, believe me, Dr. Venkman," the Player said with a devilish grin.
"What do you want this time?"
"Fun, Ghostbuster. Simply fun! And you two will entertain me." Again, he laughed. "It's all one big and deadly game. Maybe you will survive, but I wouldn't bet on it. You mastered the first level but the second one is much more dangerous. No-one ever survived." The Player giggled. "Welcome to the Black City, gentlemen!"
Then the screen disappeared again. Peter and Hot Rod were alone.

* * *

Grimlock felt as if he had collided with a steel wall. He groaned and rose from his partly supine position, rubble and garbage falling off him.
"Me Grimlock have headache," he muttered and rubbed his large head. And stopped.
His eyes grew wide as he looked at his small arms, the arms of a T-Rex, his dinosaur mode. Those arms were nothing unusual, but the scaly, grey-green skin was. He turned his head and looked at his body.
"What happening?" he growled, surveying the muscular, flesh body that was apparently his own.
He moved the tail, which was obviously his, and watched the muscles beneath the scaly skin work. Turning his head he looked into a puddle of water and saw a T-Rex head look back. His size and proportions were the same as before, except maybe that now he had orange, reptilian eyes and no longer consisted of servos, metal and bolts. A flesh body, he mused, how strange. He knew he had been created after the dinosaurs who had once ruled the planet Earth, but he also knew that they were extinct. Why was he suddenly looking like one of those extinct creatures.
His nostrils flared and he smelled the rot and decay around him. Carefully, Grimlock moved away from the place he had apparently crash-landed, as if dropped from a great height. There was a visible dent in the pile. He remembered the sudden pull of the black hole as he had tried to reach Hot Rod and how he had been sucked in. Then he had blacked out. Now that he was awake he found he was in a strange place.
Everywhere around him reigned chaos and destruction. The houses were mere ruins and everything was scorched and blackened by fire. The street was full of garbage. The sky above him was dark and a steady rain fell down on him. Grimlock wondered where he was. And where Hot Rod was, too. The Autobot second-in-command was nowhere to be seen.
"Hot Rod?" he called but only a hollow echo answered him.
Grimlock growled and started to walk down the street, searching for his companion.
"Peter?" The new voice made Grimlock stop in mid-stride and look round.
The voice had come from the semi-darkness of a near entrance. Something moved in there and then someone stepped out. It was a tall man, maybe late thirties, wearing a battered looking lab coat. Red-rimmed glasses sat on his nose and blue eyes looked curiously, but cautiously, at Grimlock. There was no apparent fear in the blue eyes, something Grimlock was not used to in his dinosaur form. Every human looked at him with respect and always with a bit of fear. This one was only curious.
"Intriguing," the human muttered.
Grimlock snorted. "Intruiging, why?"
The human appeared startled. "Ah, you can talk. Who are you?"
"Me Grimlock. Me Dinobot. Who are you?" Grimlock lowered his head to look closer at the man.
"My name is Egon Spengler." The blond human shoved his glasses up his nose and regarded the T-Rex. "Hm, intriguing. You haven't met anyone by any chance? Dark hair, green eyes, clad in jeans and sweat-shirt?"
Grimlock snorted. "No. Me Grimlock looking for friend too. You see friend?"
"You are the first person I have met so far," Spengler said.
"And you won't see anyone else, my friends," a voice suddenly said.
Grimlock whirled round. Only a few meters away from him hovered a dwarf-like creature, clad in a joker's costume with a silly hat on his head.
"The Player!" Egon gasped.
"You know him?" Grimlock asked, looking down at the human.
"The Player is a ghost we met only a few months ago." Egon held up the P.K.E. meter he had found in his pocket. He aimed it at the Player. He got no reading at all.
"Your devices won't help you here, Dr. Spengler," the Player said with a smile. "This is my city, my game. What I want happens."
"What you do with Hot Rod, Player?" Grimlock demanded, approaching the little figure. "You tell Grimlock now!"
"Or what?" the Player teased. "Don't worry. Your friend is still alive. He is a good player."
Grimlock roared and snapped at the Player, but his mighty jaws simply passed through him. "What trick is this?" he snarled.
"Oh, it's not a trick, dinosaur brain," the Player laughed.
"What is the objective of this game?" Egon asked, even though he badly wanted to know what had happened to Peter.
"The objective? Your 'objective' is to survive!" The Player chuckled cheerfully.
Egon remembered the last game all four Ghostbusters had played with the Player. "Where is the exit of this world."
"All scientist, Dr. Spengler, aren't you? But to answer your question: it is in the very center of this city."
"Me Grimlock find center!" Grimlock announced. "Me Grimlock destroy it!"
"And now let the game begin! You are on level one!" the Player called. "Welcome to the Black City!" With that he vanished.
Egon looked at his P.K.E. meter again. It read nothing at all. No paranormal activities even so they were in the middle of a ghost town. Very strange.
"Okay," Grimlock said at his side. "Let's go and find center of game!"
"Wait, Grimlock!" Egon called after the T-Rex, who was walking off down a street.
Grimlock stopped. "What want?"
"We have to be careful. The Player is a very powerful ghost which means he is also very dangerous. He loves to play games."
"He not dangerous, he little, blue dwarf."
"This 'blue dwarf', as you call him, is not only very dangerous, he also loves to play with human lives. He could terminate our life with the blink of an eye. But since he loves to play he won't just kill us right on the spot."
"Him ghost? He not look dead....." Grimlock frowned and looked at the blond human.
"He is a class nine ghost and, for that effect, really dead. His spirit presence came back and accumulated enough power for him to interfere with the course of the life around him," Spengler explained.
Grimlock scratched his head. "You talk like Perceptor. Me not understand, but me think you be useful later, maybe. You can come along with Grimlock and search for Hot Rod."
Egon sighed and then nodded. He might have a better chance with this ... dinosaur.
Grimlock bent down, laying his head onto the ground. "Egon Spengler get up," he said.
The blond Ghostbuster hesitated for just a second, then climbed onto the scaly, though strangely warm head. Grimlock lifted his head again and Egon got his first good look at the situation. Wherever he looked all he saw were only ruins or near-ruins of black buildings. There was no visible city limit, no squares, only hundreds of thousands of streets.
"Fascinating," Egon murmured. He held the P.K.E. meter first toward the city, then pointed it at Grimlock. The small device blinked slowly and the needle moved, showing a reading. "Fascinating," he repeated.
"What?" Grimlock rolled his eyes upward. "What's that?"
"This device normally picks up the frequencies of ghosts, but right now I'm getting something else. You are not a ghost, are you?"
Grimlock growled. "Me Grimlock is Autobot and leader of Dinobots. Me no ghost!"
Egon wondered what a Dinobot or an Autobot was, but he restrained himself from asking more questions than were necessary right now.
"All right, you are not a ghost. What about your friend?"
"Hot Rod no ghost either!"
"He is like you?"
"Hot Rod Autobot also, but not Dinobot. Hot Rod Autobot second-in-command."
Egon re-adjusted the P.K.E. meter and turned it towards himself. Again the needle reacted, but not as much as with Grimlock.
"I would say that the P.K.E. meter picks up human frequencies. You register a bit stronger, which I can't explain right now. But I think we can find Hot Rod and Peter with it."
"Then we should go. Where to?"
Egon turned a 360°, then pointed in one direction. "That's where the readings are the strongest."
Grimlock gave an affirmative rumble and walked down the street.

* * *

"What happened?" Knight asked and looked at the motionless figure of Andrea Shanygn, who was tended to by Jill McKennan.
"I wish I knew," Ambassador Adam 'Spike' Witwicky said and shrugged. "We were talking about the last conference when she suddenly screamed and broke down."
" First Aid?" Optimus Prime asked.
The Autobot medic looked up from his read-outs and shrugged as well. "Physically everything is fine with her. I can't explain why she lost consciousness."
"She said something about Hot Rod," Spike said thoughtfully.
Skywolf whirled around. "What? What did she say?"
"She said something like 'He's gone', but ..." He looked at Skywolf. "She couldn't have meant that he's ... I mean...."
Skywolf shook his head. "I don't know. Their Interface is a highly unusual one. If it were a Sentinel she was Interfaced to, then maybe she could feel his death. Jill would feel my death, but then we are not in any way Interfaced the way Hot Rod and Shanygn are. Our bond is closer in a way, but also weaker in others. There is no comparison."
Optimus Prime turned to Knight and Jazz. "Find Hot Rod. If something has happened to him....."
"Will do, Prime!" Jazz called and the two raced off.
Optimus turned back to watching the unconscious woman. If her state was an indication of what might have happened to Hot Rod ... he didn't really want to think about it.
 
 

The room was empty now and only a few burn marks told them of Hot Rod's battle with the holographic adversaries. Knight and Jazz looked around. There was no trace of Hot Rod, or Grimlock for that fact, who should have both been inside according to the computer files. Then they discovered the circular, black hole in the wall. The inside of the hole pulsed in an orange light.
"What is this, Jazz?"
"I don't know, Knight. But whatever it is, it's getting smaller." Jazz pointed at the hole and Knight noticed that it was really getting smaller.
"Do you think Hot Rod and Grimlock ...?"
"I dunno." Jazz looked at the ceiling and saw that the observation cameras were still switched on and running. The cameras had been installed to tape the trainee's battle and then evaluate it. "Let's take a look at the tape."
They went to the observation room and Jazz rewound the tape. He then did a fast forward to skip the training sequence and stopped it as they reached the part where Grimlock entered. Then the black whole appeared and both witnessed the disappearance of their friends.
"What was this?" Jazz asked, horrified.
"That's something we have to find out," Knight said slowly. "And fast. Let's call Optimus Prime."

* * *

Peter was wet and miserable. His mood was way below zero. This was mostly due to the attack which had left him a little bit shaky - but he would never admit it to anyone. Then he was in company of a very strange guy who thought he was a robot. And now he was walking along the lonely, empty streets of a strange town in another dimension getting thoroughly soaked. That he was hungry was another matter.
"I think we've been here before," Hot Rod said as they stopped at another crossing.
"Are you sure?" Peter looked round without so much as a spark of enthusiasm.
"No. Every street looks alike."
Peter snarled something under his breath which, following the tone of voice, had to be a curse. He kicked at some piece of garbage and it landed in a puddle with a sick splash.
"Could I ask you something?" Hot Rod asked.
"What?" the psychologist asked, unfriendly. He was in no mood for a game of '20 questions'.
Hot Rod was not shaken by Peter's unfriendly behavior. He wanted answers. "You said the Player is a ghost. What did you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I wanted to say. The Player is a ghost, a class nine to be correct. And if I had a proton pack and a trap I'd wipe that damn grin of his ugly face!" Peter's green eyes flashed with surpressed anger.
Hot Rod frowned. Trap? Proton pack? Ghosts?? "You may judge me as naive, but what are you talking about?"
"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Ghostbusters before?" Peter stared at his companion in horror. Someone who hadn't heard of the famous Dr. Peter Venkman and the Ghostbusters?? Unbelievable!
"Ghostbusters? Ghosts? You want tell me you believe in such superstitions as ghosts?"
"Ghosts are no superstition. Ghosts are real. The Player is real. Very real indeed. How else do you want to explain all of that?" Peter pointed at the city around him.
"I don't have a logical explanation for this," Hot Rod confessed, looking down the street. "Or for the fact that I'm human. But ghosts are not a way to explain what has happened. They don't exist."
"Who ever expected a logical explanation from me? Egon's the logical one." Peter shoved a wet strand of hair out of his eyes.
"So there's more than one of you?"
"Four of us. We are four. And you really never heard anything about us? I don't believe it! Where were you when we saved the world from Gozer five years ago?"
"I don't know," Hot Rod answered. "I never heard of any Gozer. "
"The story made all the headlines," Peter told him. "'Ghostbusters save New York!'".
"New York? No. I never heard of something like that happening in New York."
"I still don't believe it. Everybody knows us. We even had some busts in Russia and Germany. We are famous!"
Hot Rod shrugged. "Okay. But I still don't believe in ghosts. This Player looked a bit strange but that doesn't make him a ghost. He could be a hologram."
"Believe me, he isn't one. We met him before and that time he played with us, too. We escaped." Peter stared down the desolate street. "I wonder if we can escape this time, too," he muttered to himself.
Hot Rod's lips were a thin line. He, too, wondered whether they would find the center of the city. They had not encountered new adversaries and both of them were utterly tired and exhausted. He was used to energy shortage, but being exhausted like this, it was not normal. Then again, being human wasn't normal as well. He was a robot, a Cybertronian, for Primus' sake! He was a Transformer, but he didn't transform into a human! What had happened to him when he had been sucked into the hole? There had been a situation once when his life energy had been sucked out of his robot body and transferred into a carbon-based one. He had been human, but not for long. The process had been reversed and he was glad about it. Now he was human again.....
And what about Grimlock? What had happened to him. Was he here as well or somewhere else completely? And if he was here, was he human as well?
"Maybe we should take a look at this city." Hot Rod decided and pointed at a high building which might have been a tower once, but was a crumbling ruin now. It was the tallest building they had seen so far.
Peter sighed and followed him inside. They climbed up the shaky looking stairs. More often than not parts of the old stair crumbled away, leaving them with even less space to stand on. Breathing heavily they emerged on the roof. Peter stared at the scenery before him in disbelief.
"I don't believe it!" he breathed.
"I'd say we've a problem."
The city seemed endless. Blackened, wrecked buildings stood side by side, leaving no free space and showing no distinctive features. Somewhere in the distance smoke rose to the uniform grey sky.
"How do we ever find the center?" Peter whispered.
Hot Rod was silent. He had no answer to the other's question.
"You don't have a compass, do you?" Peter wanted to know, trying to get back to his old self. Hot Rod shook his head. "That's what I thought. What now?"
"We go on. If the others are here we'll find them some time or the other."
"'Some time or the other' isn't very encouraging."
"Do you have a better idea, Dr. Venkman?"
"Peter," Peter corrected the other man. "And no, I don't have another idea." He looked at the endless, black city again. "Maybe we should go there."
Hot Rod followed Peter's gaze. "That smoke?"
"There may be people there."
"May I remind you that the last people we met weren't very friendly?" Hot Rod said dryly.
"To use your question: do you have a better idea?"
Hot Rod shook his head and they climbed down again. Very, very carefully. The rain had not ceased. They went down the street towards the now clearly visible smoke billowing over the ruins. Peter mulled over the questions he wanted to ask very badly. Then he decided to ask.
"Hot Rod? Can I ask you something?"
"Huh?"
"You said you're a robot...... whatever gave you the idea?"
Hot Rod looked at him and a small smile appeared on his lips. "I think I've to start from the beginning..... Well, I'm an Autobot."
That drew a blank look and Hot Rod frowned. "An Autobot?" Peter asked, confused.
"You never heard of us? I thought everyone on Earth knew about us!"
"Not this little Ghostbuster here. What's an Autobot?"
Hot Rod looked equally confused, then explained about Cybertron, the Autobots and the Decepticons.
Peter shook his head again when he had finished. "I don't understand that ..... I never heard of it .......Giant robots? Spaceships? A metal planet?"
Hot Rod stared at him. "That's impossible! You never heard of the Autobots? Or the attack of the Decepticons? "
Peter shrugged. "No, sorry. But judging from what you said about ghosts and the Ghostbusters I'm not surprised anymore."
Before Hot Rod could say anything an explosion shook the city and both had to fight to keep their balance. Only a few hundred meters away a column of fire shot out of the ground. The fire spread fast and soon the first flames touched the buildings close to them.
"Streets of fire," Peter joked without any humor.
A second explosion made them stumble and a second column of fire licked at the ruins.
"Let's get outta here!" Hot Rod grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him into an alley. They felt the heat on their backs as they raced down the narrow alleyway and somewhere another explosion shook the city.

* * *

Grimlock looked around. "Very big city," he growled. "Me not like endlessness."
"It seems to go on forever like that," Egon agreed and looked up from his P.K.E. meter.
"Reminds me of labyrinth game Daniel and Grimlock played. This strange place."
"Strange doesn't even start to describe it," Egon frowned at the display of the P.K.E. meter He had studied the readings since they had started off towards what he thought were other human life forms. "It's also strange that the readings I get -- of which I think are other humans -- are moving away from us with the same speed with which we are moving towards them."
"This be Hot Rod and your friend?"
Egon shook his head. "I don't know. I programmed the P.K.E. meter with Peter's biorhythm, but it doesn't tell from this distance. We're still too far away. It only shows that whatever or whoever those life forms are, they are no ghosts."
Somewhere in the distance they heard thunder. It sounded like an approaching storm, but Egon wasn't sure it really was one.
"Egon look!" Grimlock turned his head to one of the buildings.
In the shadow of a half-crumbled building he saw a vaguely human shape. Egon didn't know who or what it was, but he intended to find out.
"Set me down, Grimlock."
The T-Rex complied and Egon slid off his high seat, then carefully walked over to the shape. Grimlock followed him, his massive steps resounding in the street. Egon took readings but didn't get any results. He guessed whatever that thing was, it was an inhabitant of this city. It was a ghost. The ghost was clad in old, tattered clothes which hid its body completely; only the hands were visible. The head was covered by a large hood. In front of the ghost was a small box full of strange coins and other stuff. Beside the box was a piece of wood on which three nut shells and a tiny golden ball sat.
The ghost made a gesture towards the shells and the ball, emitting a series of grunts.
Grimlock stared into the hood, trying to distinguish the features of the face. No luck. He thought she could see a pair of red eyes but wasn't sure. The shape grunted again, this time forcefully.
"What he say?" he asked his human companion.
"I don't know. I guess it wants us to play." Egon pointed at the wooden board and the shells. "Can you show us the way to the center of this city?" he asked the shape.
A cackling laughter was the answer and Egon suddenly started to shiver. Then the ghost started to grunt again, pointing at game.
Egon shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any money to play."
The ghost snorted and said something they didn't understand, but which sounded like a question.
Egon looked at Grimlock who just shrugged. "Play with him. Grimlock love games!"
As if the shape had understood Grimlock's words it started to place the tiny, golden ball under one of the shells. With an incredible speed it then moved the shells on the board. Egon tried to concentrate but found it impossible. When all three shells stood still the ghost made a gesture towards them, grunting. Egon frowned, choosing the one on the right side. The shape laughed and lifted the shell. No golden ball. The shells were placed again and then again they were shuffled with an inhuman speed. Again Egon chose the shell on the right side and again he lost. The shape chuckled and lifted one finger.
"Guess again. Me guess it is this one," Grimlock said and pointed at the shell in the middle.
The ghost picked up the shell.
No golden ball.
The shape roared with laughter and slapped its knees. It pushed the shells off the board and they fell in front Egon's and Grimlock's feet.
"No fair game!" Grimlock exclaimed in a roar. "There no ball!!"
The shape laughed even louder and suddenly vanished into thin air -- just like the rest of the street. For a second Grimlock and Egon seemed to hang in thin air then they followed the law of gravity. For a long time they simply fell. The colors around them changed throughout the spectrum, then they slowed down. All the time Egon tried to clear away the cobwebs which seemed to descend on his brain.
"What happened? Where we are?" Grimlock floated at his side, his massive tail swinging left to right.
"It looks like we lost the game," Egon stated slowly.
"Me Grimlock know that. Me want to know where we are!"
"You are in the Limbo, my friends," a voice answered Grimlock's question. A well-known face appeared inside the uniform grey. The Player. He looked relaxed and like he was enjoying himself immensely. "I'm sorry but you have lost. No more games for you. But don't worry, soon you'll have company. Your friends won't win against me!" He disappeared again.
Egon had a sinking feeling.
"How could I forget?!" he suddenly exclaimed, slapping his palm against his forehead in a gesture Peter sometimes used.
"What you forget?" the T-Rex asked.
"Maybe this dimension hinders my normal mental processes," Egon muttered to himself, pulling his pocket computer out of his pocket. He hacked at the tiny keyboard like mad and some minutes later he looked a bit shocked.
"What' going on?" Grimlock wanted to know, straining his neck to look at the small device.
"I should have realized it the first minute the Player mentioned the Black City," Egon muttered. "It's all here in 'Tobin's Spirit Guide." He sighed. Aloud he said: "I think we're in a very precarious situation."
"You not need machine to tell you. Grimlock could have told you!"
"The Black City is not in another dimension, it is another dimension," Egon said sternly. "There are very few ghosts here. Following 'Tobin's' it's nearly impossible to find the Black City's center because the dimension is always changing. The center is always moving."
Grimlock stared at him. "You say there no way out?"
"Well, judging from our momentary situation we are out of the game. But there is a way. We could open a gateway back to our own world if we find a source of energy that is strong enough to breach the dimensional barriers."
"Me Grimlock hate this flesh form! Would have enough energy if were still Dinobot! Grimlock growled and lashed around with his tail. "Me no like this!"
Egon could only agree. He didn't like this as well. They had a real problem.

* * *

Perceptor shook his head. "I have never seen anything like it before but I theorize that it is some kind of gateway."
"A gateway? Where to?" Optimus Prime wanted to know.
They stood in the training room, watching the hole. Perceptor had transformed into his microscope mode and was scanning the unusual appearance. Jazz and Knight remained a bit further away, ready to intervene if something should happen.
"Unknown," Perceptor answered. "I did a complete analysis and I can't say anything about it, except that it is a gateway all right. It bled off some strange energy when Hot Rod and Grimlock entered, but now it's inactive. It's a phenomenon, especially since none of our sensors picked up an energy surge. Very puzzling."
"What's going on here?"
Optimus Prime turned and discovered Kup entering the room.
"We have a problem. Hot Rod and Grimlock have disappeared," he told the old warrior.
"What'd they do? Take a day off?"
"I wish it would be that simple, Kup," Prime answered. "This gateway appeared and it sucked them inside. It's closing very, very slowly now." Optimus gestured at the black hole.
Kup regarded the hole and frowned. "What kind of an outrageous story is that?"
"It's not so outrageous, Kup," Perceptor explained. "We have a tape of what happened and we have this hole, which is nothing I have ever encountered before."
"What now?" Kup wanted to know.
"We have to try and widen the gateway again to keep it from closing," Perceptor answered and transformed. "But to do that we need a great amount of energy. I think I know a way to produce the energy we need, but I'm not sure it will work. It might have a different effect altogether though."
Optimus Prime placed a hand on Perceptor's shoulder. "We have to try."
"How about someone entering the gate?" Knight spoke up after listening to the explanations.
Perceptor looked indecisive. "We are not one hundred percent certain that entering the gateway is safe, Knight," he told the female Sentinel. "Another entry could also shift the energy balances and corrupt any exercise of stabilizing the gate."
She shrugged. "Well, if you don't come up with any better ideas I'll volunteer for trying to get through and search for Hot Rod and Grimlock on the other side."
Optimus Prime immediately shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous, even if we wouldn't destabilize the gate."
Knight looked calmly at him. "You can't keep me from volunteering, Prime. And maybe, just maybe, a Sentinel won't be affected by it. I'm also not Interfaced, which could be another benefit."
The Autobot leader shook his head again. "Entering the gate is a negative, Knight, and that's final. The danger is too great for anyone to get lost."
"As lost as Hot Rod and Grimlock are?" Knight asked.
Hesitation flickered in Prime's optics. She had him there. They had to do something, anything, beside measuring energy waves.
"It is worth a try," Kup said carefully into the silence. "We could secure her in case something happens."
"Like a cable or something," Knight volunteered.
Prime was still silent, then he nodded slowly. "All right." He looked seriously at Knight. "Be careful."
"I always am."

*

"Any change?" Spike asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking at First Aid. There was a worried look on his face.
The medic shook his head. "No. She remains unconscious, though there is no reason."
"Coma," Jill McKennan said softly. "I guess the shock of Hot Rod's disappearance was so great that she was pushed into a coma." She straightened and massaged her shoulders. "Any idea where he went to?"
Jazz, who had returned from the meeting with Optimus Prime and Perceptor, shook his head now. "No idea. Perceptor believes he was pulled through a gateway, and with him Grimlock. No clue as to where they went."
"For Shanygn to go into a shock like that and to feel the disappearance like a death," Skywolf said slowly, "this gate has to lead somewhere she can't feel his presence. And I'm not talking about the other side of the galaxy. A simple separation by distance doesn't affect someone like this. I know that Archer was a bit depressed when he was on Earth and Mike was back on Alean, but he never went into shock." And rubbed his chin. "Most peculiar."
"If he's no longer here...." Spike began. "Where is he?"
"I wish I knew," Skywolf answered. "I wish I knew."

*

Knight looked at the assembled Autobots and Sentinels, then nodded. A strong steel rope was connected to her body, anchoring her firmly to the wall of the room she was in right now. She had a leeway of several feet until the rope would go no more. Skywolf had told her that this was enough. They didn't want her to run around the other side of the gate, just have a first look.
"All right, all set!" she called and everyone tensed visibly as she walked slowly toward the still smaller growing hole. It was large enough to admit her if she ducked a bit.
Knight carefully stretched out one hand and touched the orange colored apparition. A slight tingle spread through her, but nothing harmful or unpleasant. She pushed against the slight resistance, then her hand went through. And then she was sucked in. She didn't even have time to be surprised as something grabbed her and ripped her from the room. It was one hell of a rollercoaster ride and then, all of a sudden, she was standing in a street. Before she could so much as take one step a dwarf-like figure appeared in front of her, floating in mid-air. It was costumed like a joker, but it didn't wear a friendly expression.
"You are not invited!" it told her with a scowl. "Wait your turn to play." It popped out of existence again.
Knight felt the same forces that had brought her here grab her again, then she was rushed back along the tunnel. The next thing she knew someone was kneeling beside her, calling her name.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she warded off her worried friends.
"What happened?" Optimus Prime wanted to know, audibly shocked by her sudden dis- and reappearance.
"I don't know. Something grabbed me, then I stood in this weird street with all those black buildings in it. And then this creature appeared, telling me I was not invited and should wait until it was my turn to play. Now I'm back." Knight shrugged.
"Play?" Kup asked. "Play what?"
Knight shrugged again. She had no answers.

* * *

Peter coughed and tried to force his lungs to get some more oxygen into his system. Around him was hell. The heat was unbearable and dense smoke made it impossible to see more than a few feet. His eyes hurt and tears were streaming down his cheeks. He staggered over something, nearly falling to the ground. Someone steadied him and he felt Hot Rod's hand close around his right arm. The other man pulled him along the burning street. Peter didn't think that Hot Rod could see more than he did but his instinct told him to trust the other man. Anyway, it might be his only chance.
"In there!" Hot Rod coughed, shoving Peter towards a black something that turned out to be a room.
Peter gasped for air, collapsing against a wall, not minding the grimy wallpaper still sticking to it. "What .... the hell ... do we want in here?" His throat was dry. He had inhaled too much smoke and had difficulties to talk.
"Wait until the fire burns out," Hot Rod answered and closed the door behind him.
Tears were streaming down his cheeks, his face smeared black and his clothes slightly singed..
"How many years did you plan to spend in here?" Peter rasped. He blinked tears out of his eyes and looked round. "Nice room. Maybe I'll come here again for my next vacation."
Hot Rod coughed again, wishing he was in his robot form. Heat and smoke wouldn't bother him that much then, even though he would be hindered by it. And he wouldn't need to breathe and he wouldn't feel burns and blisters.
Outside was another explosion and dust and debris fell from the ceiling of the room they had fled into. A second explosion followed, this time closer, and a third. Everything happened very fast. No-one had any time to react. The third explosion seemed to be right in front of their door. The shock wave smashed Peter against the wall. He slid down onto the cold floor, barely conscious.
Hot Rod, who had been closer to the door than the psychologist, was hit by the door which had been blown out of its hinges. He felt a hot pain in his shoulder as he hit the ground. Dazed, he stayed down, unable to move. When his head finally cleared he felt someone touching his shoulder.
"Who ....?" he murmured, trying to get up.
"Stay down," Peter ordered and pushed him back.
Still, Hot Rod tried it again. His right shoulder was full of blood and he couldn't feel his right arm. Something must have hit him. He didn't feel any pain, which was strange, because he thought that a human body would relay pain signals, but he was sure he'd feel it soon enough -- when the immediate shock was over. The sight of the blood made him dizzy. He was really bleeding..... This was so strange, so frightening.
"Looks like the fire's out," Peter said calmly, bandaging Hot Rod's shoulder with pieces of cloth Hot Rod identified as a former, black T-shirt. "How do you feel?"
"Fine," he lied. "How'd you wanna know the fire's out?"
Peter gestured vaguely towards what had once been their door. Now it was a piece of shattered wood which couldn't cover the entrance any longer. Most of it had been blown away. "Can't hear or see anything anymore."
Hot Rod tried to sit up and felt a first surge of sharp pain. He bit his lip, but couldn't help moaning softly. Oh, god! He had never thought that a body could feel that much pain. His robot body could feel pain, but it was never like this, never threatening to overwhelm him.
Peter tied the last knot and sat back on his heels. "Bad?"
Hot Rod wanted to deny it, but another wave of pain made him blanch. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to stop. His breath was coming in ragged gasps. "How do you stop this pain?" he whispered.
Peter smiled dryly. "You can't."
"I hate this body," Hot Rod muttered, trembling with reaction.
"You can't go on," Peter stated. "Not with this injury."
The other's eyes snapped open and there was a determined light in the dark eyes. "If you really think I'd stay here, you're dead wrong!"
"You lost a lot of blood, Hot Rod. You need medical help."
"And where do you want to find a doctor?" Hot Rod fought against the pain and Peter's stubbornness. Especially the latter. He wouldn't stay here!
He climbed laboriously to his feet, swaying dangerously. The world seemed to suddenly tilt sideways and then start spinning. Nausea washed over him and he moaned. Peter grabbed his arm to keep him from toppling over. Breathing heavily Hot Rod leaned against the other man, grateful for his assistance. Peter lowered him to the floor again.
"This is .... I don't understand it ....," Hot Rod whispered in pain.
"What?" Peter asked gently.
"My body ... it shouldn't be ...... so fragile....."
Peter frowned, remembering that Hot Rod thought he was a robot ... had been a robot before the Player had kidnapped him. Maybe, just maybe, there was a grain of truth in it. Maybe in his world, wherever he came from, Hot Rod could not be hurt by fire or flying pieces of wood and glass. Maybe he was like Superman, the man of steel. Now there's a thought, Peter mused with dry humor.
"What do we do now?" Hot Rod asked weakly, still trembling.
"Right now we won't do very much. You can't stay here alone and you can't move."
Hot Rod stared angrily at him "I'm not defenseless, Peter."
"Oh, sure, you'll fell everyone with your evil stare, right? But what if I find a way out of here? You'd have stay here."
"I'll find a way."
Peter shook his head. "No go. Either we go together or no-one goes."
Hot Rod leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. "Give me some time to get my strength back, then we'll go."
Peter decided it was no use to further discuss the matter with the other man. He, too, leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Seconds later he was asleep.

* * *

Strange looking devices and machines stood in front of the still further shrinking hole in the wall. Spike watched Perceptor and Skywolf make last minute adjustments, then both stepped back from their innovation.
"If I'm right we'll be able to channel enough energy into the gateway to open it further," Perceptor said, cocking his head to look at the machine.
"If You are wrong it's going to blow up around us," Skywolf added teasingly.
"Very reassuring," Kup commented.
Perceptor looked at Prime, who merely nodded for him to go on, then went over to the controls and began to adjust the beams.
"Okay, here we go." He switched on the beams and five thick and very bright streams of light hit the gateway.
First nothing happened. Then everyone felt a soft vibration running through the floor. The vibration got stronger. And then the black hole widened again. Everything happened very swiftly so Perceptor had no chance to adjust the streams. The black hole turned orange and started to swirl in front of their eyes. A heavy wind blew through the room and whipped at Spike's hair. He lost his balance as the winds turned stronger, turning into a hurricane. Someone caught him and he gave Optimus Prime thankful smile.
"Something's coming!" Skywolf called and pushed against the wind.
And then the others saw it too, but couldn't identify it. The hole exploded into bright light.

* * *

"You don't have, by any chance, a way you could reach your friend?" Egon asked. "Some kind of communication device, maybe telepathy? Empathy?"
They had been in the Limbo for some time now. Egon guessed it were hours, but it felt like days. He had consulted his watch but it had stopped.
Grimlock shook his massive head, floating several feet away from Spengler. "No. If Grimlock were still Dinobot he could reach Hot Rod."
Suddenly the Limbo began to turn red. First it was very inconspicuous, then the colors increased, getting stronger. Patches of yellow and red ran together and formed new patches of every shade of orange. The new patches met in a swirl dark red. And the two prisoners were being sucked inside.
"No!" a voice yelled which Egon identified as the one of the Player. "No! That's against the rules!"
Everything turned deep red now and the Player appeared. He seemed very enraged. "It's against the rules!" he repeated.
"That's it!" Egon finally had an idea what was happening. "That's our way out of here!"
"What?" Grimlock stared at him as if he had lost his mind.
"It's our way home," Egon repeated. "I think someone is manipulating the gateway through which we have come. It has been reactivated."
Grimlock looked into the swirling red thing which was sucking them inside. "Look strange," he muttered.
"No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!!!" screamed the Player. "No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!! It's against the rules!!"
Then they were sucked inside and red enveloped them.

* * *

Peter woke from nightmares. Confused he sat up, a bit confused. As he saw his somber environment he remembered where he was and what had happened. His clothes were wet and he felt miserable. Turning his head, he searched for his companion and saw Hot Rod lying on the floor beside him, still asleep. The young man looked very pale and there was a feverish touch to his face. Peter stood up, swaying a bit, and stretched. The feeling of gnawing hunger returned and he tried to ignore it. He stepped up to the destroyed door and looked outside.
First he thought he was dreaming. That just couldn't be! He stepped outside and stared at what had been a burned down street when he had fallen asleep. Now everything had changed. Everything was gleaming in a uniform black. The buildings had disappeared, making way for a slippery looking and slightly curved wall that was everywhere. It looked like some kind of tunnel without a ceiling. There was no trace of the ruined houses or the pavement any more. Peter rubbed his eyes but the sight stayed the same. All that remained of the street of last night, showing him he hadn't gone completely mad, was the house they had spent the night in. Instead of the houses which had been at its side the last night, there were corridors, leading away from the tunnel-like street towards an unknown point. Where there had been a building there was now a silver or black square with a number painted on the shiny surface.
"What ... happened?" a weak voice wanted to know.
Peter turned and saw Hot Rod, leaning against the door frame and looking decidedly too pale. Only the soot that covered him from head to toe - just like Peter - gave him some color. He was trembling badly with fever and his shoulder was soaked with blood.
"I don't know," Peter confessed. "But we are no longer where we were last night."
Hot Rod stared a the completely transformed scenery. "Yep. That's a way to put it."
"How do you feel?"
"I felt worse after a Decepticon attack," Hot Rod evaded a direct answer.
"But I think you looked better then." Peter shook his head. "It would be better if you sat down again."
"We have to go on," the other man insisted. "Grimlock and your friend Egon are still somewhere in this crazy city."
Peter bit his lip. He hadn't forgotten about Egon -- just the opposite -- but Hot Rod's condition wasn't something to take lightly. He was too weak to walk on his own two feet and Peter had no intention of leaving him. Hot Rod had lost a lot of blood and was exhausted. Even the determined look in his burning eyes couldn't cover that.
"No," he finally decided.
Hot Rod's eyes narrowed. Peter frowned at challenging look in his eyes and Hot Rod studied the suddenly hardened features of his companion, realizing that Peter would keep him down with force if necessary. And somehow he was right. Hot Rod knew he was in no condition to go any further.
"But I don't want to remain behind," he said.
The Ghostbuster studied him silently for a long time. Then he sighed silently. "Do you think you can ...."
"Yes," Hot Rod interrupted him and pushed away from the door frame. He swayed dangerously and had all hands full not to loose balance. Peter knew immediately that he would not be able to move more than ten feet.
Hot Rod came as far as three feet when they suddenly heard a distant rumbling noise, coming closer. Fast. Peter cocked his head, trying to distinguish the source of the noise. Suddenly a huge, silver, gleaming ball appeared at the end of the transformed street.
"What the hell is that?" Hot Rod gasped and his dark eyes widened.
"Rien ne va plus, messieurs!" a neutral voice announced. "Nothing goes."
The ball gained speed and raced towards the two men. Peter had the feeling as if the whole world was starting to move, him included. As if he was sitting on a turning table. He staggered against Hot Rod who was unable to compensate the other man's weight and both fell down. Hot Rod couldn't surpress a cry of pain as he fell onto his injured shoulder. Their fall brought them on one of the silver squares with a number. It was number 13. Hadn't there been their house just seconds ago? The ball thundered towards them.
"Thirteen, silver," the neutral voice said. "Thirteen looses."
"What?!" Suddenly Peter knew what was happening. This was a game of roulette!
The ground disappeared beneath them and both men fell into a bottomless, black hole. Peter cried out in rage and helplessness, trying to grab something to hold on to, but the wall was slippery wet.
"Thank you for playing, gentlemen," the bodiless voice echoed over the empty roulette wheel. The silver square closed again and the number disappeared - as did the rest of the game. Seconds later nothing bore witness of what had just happened.

* * *

Spike blinked and tried to banish the colorful spots dancing in front of his eyes. The sudden explosion of light had left them all half blinded, even the Autobots and the Sentinel, their sensors overloading. None of them had witnessed the arrival of the two figures in the danger room.
"Grimlock!" Skywolf exclaimed.
The Dinobot leader lay on one side, not moving. At Skywolf's exclamation he shook his head and got to his feet, looking around. "Me Grimlock have headache again," he rumbled. "Me not like this game."
"Grimlock, are you all right?" Optimus Prime asked, slightly worried.
Grimlock looked down his body and then nodded. "Me Grimlock now all right again. Me have body back."
"What?" Perceptor wanted to know.
"Me Grimlock not like flesh body," the Dinobot said as if this explained everything.
"Flesh body?" Prime echoed.
But Grimlock ignored him and looked down. "You all right?" he asked the second new arrival, a tall, blond human, who looked both confused and intrigued.
"Where are we?" the human asked.
"We back home," Grimlock answered, gesturing with his small arms.
"I'm not so sure about that," the human muttered.
"Who are you?" Optimus Prime wanted to know.
"Dr. Egon Spengler," the blond human explained. He looked up at the tall robot with raised eyebrows.
Spike walked toward him, smiling reassuringly. "My name is Adam Witwicky," he introduced himself. "You are a medical doctor?"
"A physicist," Egon replied. "May I ask where I am?"
"You are in in the Autobot City Metroplex," Optimus Prime answered.
Grimlock choose that moment to transform and for the first time since his arrival Egon Spengler showed something akin to shock to his new situation. "Very fascinating," he muttered.
"He never heard of Autobot," Grimlock told Prime. "Him believe I was ghost." He sounded mightily amused.
"Ghost?" Perceptor echoed.
Egon's gaze fell on the machine in front of the now disappeared hole. "A prototype of a semi-automatically reproducing proton-plasma-generator with various inputs for the mass changes in the main chamber." He rubbed his chin. "Very simple construction."
Perceptor stepped up to him. "What do you mean by that?" he wanted to know, sounding a bit piqued.
"Ray and I did some experiments in this field a few months ago." A rueful smile passed over his lips. "We eliminated half of the lab's wall and Peter's chair in the process."
"You did experiments with it? Why have I never heard of that? Where do you work?"
Egon turned away from the machine and scrutinized the whole group. "I work with the Ghostbusters."
"Who?" Spike wanted to know.
"He say guy who kidnapped us is ghost," Grimlock rumbled.
Optimus Prime frowned.This was getting weird.
"Hot Rod!" Grimlock suddenly exclaimed, looking around. "Where Hot Rod?"
"And Peter," Egon added. He looked around as well. No Peter in sight.
"Who is Peter?" Spike asked.
"He is my colleague. Dr. Peter Venkman. He was sucked into the dimension of the Player with me."
"We activated the beam to widen the shrinking gateway," Perceptor explained. "We didn't know that it would get you here at all. The machine deactivated automatically as you arrived."
Egon went over to the large machine and looked it over. "We have to get Peter and your friend Hot Rod out of there. They are in grave danger."
"You think you can adjust the machine so it can single out Peter and Hot Rod and bring them back?" Skywolf asked with interest.
Egon nodded.
"Then we should not lose any more time."

*

Egon Spengler leaned back and looked at the construction in front of him. He had just changed the machine's beam and now the machine should be able to adjust the intensity automatically when locking on to the person it was programmed to search for. With Perceptor's help he had programmed Peter's biorythm and Hot Rod's code files into the computer and fed the information to the machine. He turned to Perceptor who was working on the controls. The large robot looked up.
"Ready," Egon said.
He had easily adjusted to the so different being at his side. Perceptor and everyone else in this city seemed to be robots, but not in any way Egon had ever seen robots before. They were individual, sentient beings, intelligent and with differing abilities, personalities and appearances. That they all transformed into one mode or the other was of great scientific interest to Egon, but he had had no time to inquire any further. The few humans he had seen moved easily among the giant robots. Egon decided that since they now had some spare time, he should get his scientific curiosity satisfied.
"Perceptor?"
"Yes, Dr. Spengler?"
"As far as I have been able to judge this situation you and your kind move among humanity freely and everyone seems to know who and what you are. Your presence is a known factor. I just theorize about why I never heard of you....."
Perceptor looked at Egon for a long time. Then he asked: "You have never heard of the Autobots before?" The ease with which Egon had worked alongside him had made Perceptor believe that Spengler had either met Autobots before or knew about them.
The physicist shook his head.
"Or the Decepticons?"
Again a shake of the blond head.
"I think we need to talk to Optimus Prime," Perceptor said gravely.
Egon nodded. His mind reeled as his theory started to approach a hundred percent certainty.
"We need about 20 Earth minutes to charge the main streams," Perceptor continued. "That should be time enough."

*

There had been no change in Shanygn's condition. If anything, she had started to get worse. First Aid had hooked her to a monitor to record her life signs, and it didn't look too good.
Jill sighed. "I can't explain it! If Hot Rod is no longer in this universe, but still alive, why is she getting worse?"
"Maybe because whatever happened to Hot Rod is affecting her in a strange, new way," First Aid theorized.
"Or because whatever happened to him, it's threatening his life as well," the humanoid Interface answered darkly.
First Aid had to agree that this was an option also, an option he didn't like.

*

Optimus Prime listened to Egon Spengler as he told him about the Ghostbusters, Gozer and everything else. When Egon had finished he was silent for a long time, looking at the assembled Cybertronians.
"Dr. Spengler, I have to confess that I never heard of either Gozer or the Ghostbusters before. And we do have a very good net of information." Prime allowed himself a swift smile, which only showed in his eyes. "And I guess that you don't have any idea who or what the Autobots are because you have never heard of us in your world."
"I see you have the same theory."
"What theory?" Jazz wanted to know.
"Dr. Spengler is not from this world."
"Come again please?!" Jazz and Knight asked nearly simultaneously.
"I guess that Peter and I have been sucked into the dimension of the Player from a parallel dimension - ," Egon started to explain, " - which seems to be just like your world with some major differences - like robots from another planet. In my world, my dimension, there are no beings like you, just like there are no ghosts in yours."
"Oh, man!" Jazz muttered.
"That's a way to put it," Egon smiled.
"And now?" Spike asked, confused by the whole situation.
"Now we will free Hot Rod and Peter from the Player's dimension. Afterwards Peter and I have to return to our home."
"And how do you want to manage that?" Skywolf wanted to know.
"The same way we get Hot Rod and Peter here. We just have to change the beams again."
"And now we should do just that: get Hot Rod and Peter back," Optimus Prime decided.
Egon nodded. "The machine should now have sufficient energy. Let's try it."

* * *

Hot Rod was in some kind of Limbo. There was nothing but suffocating blackness all around him. He didn't know whether he was alone or had company. He had tried to find Peter but had had no luck, and the air seemed to get thinner and thinner by the minute. His human lungs heaved with the effort to get some oxygen and once again he was reminded how weak and mortal this body was. Of course, he had always known about the weaker construction of a flesh body; living among humans quickly told you so. But he had never thought it could feel like this. When he had been human, by force, several years ago, he had been shot and he had felt pain and had blacked out, but it hadn't been that bad. He hadn't thought then that he would .... die. Would be able to die. Now ..... now he wasn't so sure any longer.
Suddenly something bright appeared, racing towards him. Hot Rod held up his arms as the light got to bright. It engulfed him and he felt a tearing pain as if someone tried to separate his muscles from his bones. He thought he screamed as waves of pain rolled endlessly over him. Then he blacked out, unaware of the sudden change of color of the light.

* * *

This time there was no explosion of light. The machine hummed continuously and then a wavering field of energy appeared where the black hole had been. It seemed to hover above the ground, pulsing in an orange light. When the light suddenly disappeared they saw two humanoid shapes lying on the floor.
"Peter!"
"Hot Rod!"
Peter Venkman had wrapped his arms around his chest, eyes screwed shut, and he seemed to be unconscious. His clothes were blackened and torn. Multiple bruises and scrapes decorated every inch of visible skin. Hot Rod lay not far away, covered with soot, his right shoulder showing a deep wound, which was crusted with dried liquids. Egon knelt down beside his friend and searched for a pulse. He exhaled in relief as he found one.
"Peter?" he asked cautiously, brushing away heavy brown locks from Peter's forehead.
The psychologist stirred and tried to move away from Egon's touch. Egon shook him gently by the arm. "Peter!"
"E .... Egon?" Peter's voice was cautious and unsure. Hesitantly he opened his eyes and Egon saw how confused he was.
"Yes, Peter," he said gently. "It's me." He squeezed Peter's arm reassuringly.
Beside him three Autobots had knelt down at Hot Rod's side. The battered robot moaned and his optics flickered, life returning to him.
"Hot Rod?" Optimus Prime asked, worry shining through.
Hot Rod's optics lightened even further and a surprised expression crossed his features. "I'm back?" he whispered and struggled into a sitting position.
"Yes, you back!" Grimlock exulted.
"And I'm myself again!" Hot Rod exclaimed as he inspected his body.
"What?" Prime was a bit confused and now remembered that Grimlock had mentioned something like this as well. What had the Dinobot said? Flesh body?
"Hot Rod has to be moved to sickbay immediately," Skywolf said as he looked at the injuries. "And Dr. Venkman, too."
"Wha's'sup?" Peter muttered, his eyes drooping. "Wha's happ'n'd?"
"Stay calm, Peter. Everything's going to be all right," Egon told his friend.
That was the moment Grimlock entered Peter's limited field of vision. The psychologist's emerald eyes widened in surprise and fear as he saw the large, unfamiliar shape of the Dinobot. Egon squeezed Peter's arm again, reassuring him. "It's okay, Peter. He is a friend."
"Who ...?" Peter blinked furiously. He was loosing his fight against the threatening blackness of unconsciousness. "Hot Rod ..." he muttered.
"He is here, too. Try to relax."
When Peter was lifted onto a stretcher seconds later he was unconscious again.

*

Hot Rod sat on the examination table and worked his right shoulder joint. First Aid nodded, pleased with his work. "You might experience some stiffness for several days, but you are okay again. And there should be no aftereffects because of the full-body transformation, though I'd love to know how this was accomplished."
The Autobots' second-in-command shrugged. "Wish I knew myself. I only know it's an experience I don't want to repeat."
Peter Venkman stared up at the two large robots, shaking his head. He regretted it immediately as his headache began to pound more viciously. "I don't believe it. Robots."
Hot Rod smiled down at him. "I told you."
"Yeah, and how could I ever doubt you?" Peter asked sarcastically.
Hot Rod smiled. Then he looked up as he heard someone entering the lab. It was Optimus Prime, Peter thought that the Autobot leader was even more impressive as a figure, if not as a person. His deep, resounding voice was both reassuring and a mirror of his power.
"Hot Rod? How are you feeling?"
"Just fine, Optimus. It was really nothing."
"Uh-huh," Peter muttered. "Just heavy blood loss, exhaustion and a horde of ghosts after your hide. Nothing at all. Do it every day."
Optimus Prime gave the human a sharp look, then turned to his second-in-command. "Blood loss? Grimlock mentioned something about being 'flesh' and you said you finally had your body back when you arrived. Care to tell me what happened, Hot Rod?"
Hot Rod sighed. He had told First Aid about what had happened because the medic needed to know it, because of the wound that had been caused while he had been flesh and blood. It had been a different kind of injury than Hot Rod had ever experienced. He started at the beginning, how he had met Peter, seen the Player, the wall of fire, the explosions, the last game of roulette. Prime frowned, as far as you could see it, and rubbed his chin.
"This is a whole new experience."
Peter rubbed his neck. "Oh, come to New York and I'll introduce you to Slimer. That's a whole new experience."
"What will happen now?" Hot Rod asked.
"Dr. Spengler and Perceptor are trying to find a way back to the dimension of the Ghostbusters," Prime explained. "Until then we can't do much."
Peter sighed. "I just love it."

*

Shanygn woke with a startled exclamation. "Roddy?"
"Shhh," Jill calmed her. "He's all right. Relax, Shan."
Shanygn's blue eyes searched for her friend. "He's ... all right?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, a bit battered, but nothing First Aid can't fix. You just keep calm and then we can arrange for a visit." The white-haired woman smiled.
"What happened?" Shanygn asked in confusion.
"I thought you could tell me?"
She shook her head. "I'm not sure. From one second to another there was this ..... pain." She shuddered. "He was ... gone."
Jill put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's okay now. Hot Rod's back and he's fine. Try to get some sleep and we'll try to puzzle this out later."
Shanygn shook her head. "No, I want to see Hot Rod now." She swung her legs out of the bed and carefully stabilized herself. She felt a bit woozy, but the exo-suit reacted perfectly.
"Shanygn..." Jill said.
"I'm fine," the woman answered dismissively and walked over to the door.
Jill gave up.
As Shanygn passed Perceptor's lab she saw the Autobot scientist working together with a stranger, a blond, tall man with red-rimmed glasses. Both of them were oblivious to their surroundings.
"I have a positive reading of 5.469," Perceptor said.
"Okay," the blond answered. "We re-adjust the beams to exactly 5.673. I want to keep the neutral force within point 478 and minimize the stream of protons in the exchange unit. This way we might prevent larger damage."
Perceptor looked up from his work. "I hope you are talking about property damage."
The human had a slightly humorous glint with serious blue eyes. "I hope it will be only property damage."
Shanygn didn't recognize the human from anywhere, but he and Perceptor seemed to talk the same language. She went further down the corridor, finally arriving in the sickbay, First Aid's domain. Relief washed through her when she discovered Hot Rod, looking no worse for wear, sitting on one of the examination tables. There was also another human she didn't know present. He was bit on the pale side and had dark hair and green eyes. There was a large bruise on his forehead which he had apparently tried to - unsuccessfully - hide by combing some hair over it, and some scrapes on one cheek.
"How large?" Hot Rod just asked in disbelief, looking down at the dark-haired man. "A Marshmallow Man? No chance!"
"Hey, you wanna call me a liar?" the man challenged, his emerald eyes glinting with amusement.
"Oh, I'd never dare to!" Then Hot Rod discovered his Interface partner. "Hi, Shan."
"Hi, Roddy. Who's your friend?" She walked closer.
"Dr. Peter Venkman, Andrea Shanygn. Peter saved my life."
Peter grinned. "A good deed every day."
"What happened?" Shanygn asked and sat down.
Hot Rod and Peter explained what they had experienced and when Hot Rod mentioned that he had been transformed into a human being, Shanygn's eyebrows rose perceptively. Then she looked at Peter with a scrutiny that made him squirm.
"Hey, what's up? Did I suddenly grow two heads?" he asked.
"You are really from another dimension?" Shanygn asked doubtfully.
"Yep!" Peter smiled. "What are you gonna do tonight?"
Shanygn was a little perplexed. "Tonight?"
"Don't worry, Shan," Hot Rod laughed. "He tried it with Jill as well."
Shanygn lifted one dark-blue eyebrow. "So I'm second choice?"
"No-no!" Peter tried to assure her hastily, shooting Hot Rod an annihilating look saying 'We'll talk about that later'. "You are my first choice any day!" He gave Shanygn one of his most charming smiles that could melt a woman's heart.
Shanygn chuckled softly, trying to stop when she saw Peter's look. "Sorry," she gasped and laughed again. "And Perceptor thinks he can send you two back?" she finally asked when she had herself under control again.
"I don't just think I can, I firmly believe it," Perceptor's voice answered her.
Shanygn turned discovered the Autobot scientist and the blond stranger which had to be Dr. Egon Spengler.
"We re-constructed the machine that brought us here from the Black City," Spengler explained. "If my calculations are correct we will return to the place where we started from: Ghostbusters Central."
"And if not we'll land somewhere in New York, right, Spengs?"
Egon gazed at Peter with an unusual seriousness. "I hope so."
"You hope so?" Peter echoed.
"Peter, it's our only chance."
"Hey, I trust you!" Peter returned the serious gaze. "But Central would be much better than New Jersey." He shuddered theatrically.
"Okay, let's try it," Perceptor announced.
They went to the lab where the proton-plasma-generator had been brought. Optimus Prime was already present and everyone watched in silence as Perceptor and Egon did last re-adjustments.
"What now?" Peter asked, glancing suspiciously at the machine.
"Just stand here," Perceptor instructed both Ghostbusters and pointed at a spot in front of the laser rifle-like construction. "I'll take over the controls."
Peter and Egon walked over and stood in front of the beams. "See you on the other side," Peter said calmly and leveled his gaze at Egon.
The blond man simply smiled.
"Good-bye, gentlemen," Optimus Prime bid fare-well to the two men.
Peter grinned and looked at Hot Rod. "It was nice meeting you."
"Likewise. And thanks for everything," Hot Rod smiled.
"Okay, beam us up," Peter called.
A bluish-white light enveloped the two men as Perceptor activated the beams. The Autobots shielded their eyes from painful brilliance. When they looked again Peter and Egon were gone.
"Did it work?" Hot Rod wanted to know.
Perceptor shrugged. "I don't know."
"Let's just hope it did," Hot Rod muttered and prayed that Peter and Egon had not been sent back to the Player's dimension.

* * *

First, Egon Spengler was very confused as to where he was, then he recognized his lab, well, the remnants of his lab. It had worked!
"Uuuhhh."
The groan let him whirl round. Peter Venkman stood at his side, looking around the lab with widened eyes.
"Everything all right, Peter?" Egon asked worriedly, looking the younger man up an down. Peter showed no signs of injury.
"What a chaos!" Peter exclaimed and shook his head. "I just hope you don't want me to help you clean it, hm?"
"Yes, I, too, think it's good to be home again," Egon said with a dry smile.
Peter laughed. "Same here. Wait till Ray hears all about it. He'll burst with jealousy." He frowned. "That reminds me: if this transporter between dimensions really works that well, can't you send me back? I still have a date with that blue-haired beauty."
"Peter!"
Peter grinned broadly and looked round. "It is good to be home again! Nothing in the world would get me away from here!"
"What the hell happened here?"
The horrified cry made both men turn. Janine Melnitz stood in the doorway, looking around the lab in disbelief. While the other two Ghostbusters had been away she had driven over to her family to pay a short visit. Now her eyes fell on Peter and Egon. Especially Egon who looked like he had dated a wild cat.
"Oh, Egon! You are hurt!"
"It's only a scratch," Egon tried to ward off the worried secretary. Jill McKennan had treated most of his scratches, disinfecting them. It looked worse than it really was.
"Oh, thanks, Janine! Yes, I feel just great!" Peter muttered.
 Janine turned and examined the psychologist and after she had made sure Peter was no worse off than Egon she turned back to the physicist.
"What happened here?"
"It's a long story .....," Egon started.
"Which we would like to hear, too," Winston's voice said from the door. The black Ghostbuster shook his head. "Can't we leave you two alone for just a few days without someone trying to level the house?"
"Days?" Pete echoed. "We've been away for hours at most." He looked at Egon who was deep in thought.
"It must have been the other dimension." The physicist chewed on his lower lip.
"I'll go and make some coffee," Janine volunteered. They all would need some. In the meantime the other four went into the living room.
"Oookayyy." Winston dropped down on to the couch. "What's the explanation for all of that?"
"Well," Egon started. "It all began when the wall in my lab exploded ...."

* * *

The Player looked over the Black City. He had lost this game, but it wasn't over yet. He smiled. Maybe he should try another game, with more interesting players. Maybe one of the Decepticon robots, the Autobots' counterparts..... Now that would be a really interesting game.