Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday

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Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday
Publisher	Del Rey Books
First published	March 28, 2007
Story concept	David Cian
Writer	Alan Dean Foster
Continuity	Movie continuity
ISBN	ISBN 0345497988 ISBN 9780345497987
Page count	286

In 1969, shortly after the Apollo 11 moon landing, the clandestine organization known as Sector Seven tests their first Ice Man-derived spacecraft with disastrous consequences.

Synopsis

As the Apollo 11 craft launches into space, all eyes are on it. Almost all eyes, anyway. In the Arctic Circle, Sector Seven is preparing to launch their own ship, the Ghost 1. As the Ghost's crew launch into space, some Sector Seven workers—including Thomas Kinnear—are worried. The captain of Ghost 1, Samuel Walker, silently worries about the mission. He knows that he has to return to Earth, but he's not sure that he'll make it. He gives his crew a speech, and they rocket towards the Sun.

Down at the Sector Seven High Arctic Base they took off from, Kinnear has been ordered to move the Ice Man from the base to a secret location close to the more recently discovered Cube, something he's not happy about. In space, Ghost 1 reaches unpredicted speeds and is sucked into a wormhole, causing the crew to lose consciousness.

Meanwhile, the Nemesis is continuing its search for Megatron and the AllSpark, when the Decepticons receive indications of wormhole travel. Since Cybertronians are the only ones who use wormhole travel, Starscream orders them to investigate. However, Optimus Prime and the Autobots detect the same energy signature, and takes the Ark to investigate. The Nemesis arrives first, and the Decepticons cannot believe what they are seeing. It appears to be a Cybertronian vessel of Decepticon design, but it's too crude to be one of theirs, along with the organic lifeforms inside. Blackout believes they should destroy it, as anyone capable of wormhole travel is sufficiently advanced to be a threat. To regain the initiative, Starscream decides they will investigate. Before they can, Barricade detects the Ark's reemergence from wormhole travel, and the Nemesis manages to hide behind the moon of the planet the vessel reached. As the Autobots arrive, Ironhide assumes the vessel is Decepticon, but further analysis shows that it can't be.

On board Ghost 1, the crew regains consciousness, and upon seeing the Ark, become concerned. They deploy the ship's weapons, but when the Autobots take no aggressive action, the humans decide to set down on a nearby planet. Bumblebee follows them down, but no sooner has he left the Ark, than the Nemesis shows itself. Starscream heads down for the planet as well, and in his absence, Blackout decides to lead the rest of the Decepticons in an assault on the Ark, the only objector being Barricade. On the planet, Walker records a message to broadcast over the communications equipment on Ghost 1, in the hope it'll reach Earth.

Back on Earth, Kinnear is aware Ghost 1 is missing, however Walter Simmons orders him to accompany Ice Man on the trip to Nevada and leave Lieutenant Colonel Nolan in charge of the Ghost 1 mission. There's the possibility that Soviet agents may have infiltrated the base, so Kinnear's supervision of the transport is essential. During preparations, they receive the recorded message from Ghost 1, and establish the ship is somewhere well outside the solar system.

Bumblebee approaches Ghost 1, but before he can make contact, Starscream attacks him and he's forced to flee. Starscream takes the opportunity to mislead the Ghost 1 crew into believing that the Decepticons are peace loving and the Autobots the aggressors. He also learns that Ghost 1 was reverse-engineered from what they call the Ice Man, which Starscream privately recognizes as Megatron. High above, Optimus, Ironhide and Jazz face Blackout's forces, eventually repelling them back to the Nemesis. Bumblebee finds some artificial-looking pillars, but doesn't have time to study them before the ground gives way and he lands up in an underground cave system. He's not alone.

Nolan meets with director of communications Christolph Smythe and they manage to make contact with Ghost 1, and are shocked to find the ship has reached another star system. They're even more so when Walker reports "the Ice Man has a family". Nolan has no answers as far as what they should do next.

Starscream make some steps in his communications with the creatures. Learning of the Ice Man, he is amused that Megatron is now held prisoner by primitive organics. Having successfully convinced the crew that he's a friend, he makes a deal with them — if they'll help him destroy the Ark, he'll do everything in his power to help them get home. The Autobots, meanwhile, have noticed Bumblebee's disappearance, and Optimus heads out to investigate. He locates Bumblebee and helps the smaller Autobot fight off the giant worm-like creatures that inhabit the planet. Starscream, noting Prime's mission, orders the Nemesis crew to attack the Ark.

The Ice Man convoy crashes spectacularly in a remote snowy region of Canada. Kinnear's leg is badly broken. They set up camp, and locate the driver of the lead truck, who claims to be Peter Hodgson, but under interrogation admits to being KGB agent Sergei Tasarov, and that he crashed his truck on purpose to give the Soviets the opportunity to try to snatch the Ice Man. Unfortunately, Tasarov's crash has done more than just derail the convey. The Ice Man's cooling system was damaged, and he'll thaw within a matter of hours. The spy secured, they work on some way to keep the Ice Man frosty.

Optimus and Bumblebee emerge from the ground, and are immediately fired on by Starscream and Ghost 1. Suspicious that the Autobots didn't make any aggressive moves, the Ghost 1 crew tell Starscream that their ship needs to recharge before the coming battle, and he leaves them to it. They attempt to take off, but the ship runs into trouble and crashes into one of the caverns. Starscream turns up briefly to gloat, however they're found a short time later by Optimus and Bumblebee, and the misunderstanding is cleared up. The humans reveal the fate of Megatron, and Optimus realizes that if the Decepticon leader were to re-emerge from stasis, he'd slaughter the entire planet. In space, the Autobots are succeeding in holding off the Decepticons, but Starscream's return forces them to retreat back to the Ark.

Nolan learns of the convoy crash and, collecting Staff Sergeant Martin and his men, heads out to help. The Russians find the convoy first and attack it.

Starscream refuses to answer the other Decepticons' questions regarding what he learned from the Ghost 1, leading Blackout to issue a leadership challenge. Starscream deals with it. The Ghost 1 crew have more contact with Earth—it's been realized that if they return to Earth now, they could well lead the Decepticons there. They therefore resolve to help the Autobots in any way they can.

Tasarov gets loose, and attacks Kinnear. Kinnear kills the Russian, but not before he himself is badly wounded. In another piece of bad news, the Russian attack has allowed the Ice Man to thaw, and he comes to life. Around the same time, Nolan's forces arrive to help fight off the Russians, and Nolan hits the Ice Man with a truck.

Optimus, Bumblebee and the Ghost 1 join the battle between the Nemesis and Ark. The humans are surprised to receive a message from Earth overriding the earlier command, and telling them to return to Earth. However, Walker makes the decision to stay and help the Autobots instead, much to the disappointment of the rest of the crew. As the battle rages on, Starscream, having learned that Megatron and the AllSpark are on Earth, frantically orders the Decepticons to destroy the humans before anyone else can learn of this.

Kinnear goads the Ice Man into picking him up, before detonating the backpack of explosives he is wearing. The blast stuns the Ice Man enough that Nolan is able to use liquid nitrogen to refreeze him, though Nolan expires of his own injuries a short time later. The remaining Sector Seven personnel prepare to complete the mission and take the Ice Man to Nevada.

In a distant solar system, Starscream prepares to terminate Optimus Prime. The Ghost 1 crew maneuver their ship in while he's distracted and open fire on the Decepticon, causing a fair amount of damage. Starscream turns and obliterates the spacecraft, killing the entire crew, before ordering a retreat. Somberly, the Autobots return to their own ship and resume the search for the AllSpark, which they now believe might be somewhere on Earth.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"If Megatron has allied himself with these life-forms, you're going to get your Spark handed to you. Painfully."

—Blackout reminds Starscream about how ruthless Megatron is.

"Starscream, I'm here for you."
"Then come! I've maintained a special file that is devoted to nothing but anticipation for this!"
"Your wait is over."

—Optimus Prime and Starscream exchange taunts.

"Time to repeat a lesson you seem to have forgotten." [cuts Blackout's weapons systems off] "A short memory can be fatal. Here is lesson number two: Pain hurts." [fires into Blackout's chest, then punches him in the face] "Lesson number three: Pain continues to hurt even when you wish for it to stop."
"Don't... You prevail. I concede utterly. You are the leader. I withdraw my challenge."
"We are not quite done yet. Here is the last and most important lesson: Pain is an excellent teaching tool that should be practiced by all leaders and recognized by all smart-mouthed soldiers." [shoots Blackout again]

—Starscream teaches Blackout a few lessons. He was so abused as a kid.

Notes

• The novel was originally announced as being written by David Cian, but after turning in a (self-admittedly^[1] rushed) first draft, he was replaced by Alan Dean Foster, who then rewrote the novel to an unknown extent. Foster's is the lone name on the binding, while Cian receives a story credit inside.
• The book as published only marginally resembles Cian's description of the one he was writing and features a much more defined scope and focus.^[2]
• The term "protoform" is used in the same manner as "mode". For instance there is reference to Transformers having cometary protoforms and Bumblebee is said to have a bipedal protoform.
• Autobots and Decepticons alike speak in a more stoical, "robotic" fashion than they do in the films, something Alan Dean Foster retains for the movie novelization and The Veiled Threat.

Continuity notes

• Now, of course, we know Apollo 11 was also a Transformer-related government conspiracy that Walter Simmons was in on!
• The reason the Cube cannot be moved, of course, is because it has the dangerous possibility of animating all mechanical objects within its vicinity as detailed in the 2007 film.
• Bumblebee's throat injury at Megatron's hands at Tyger Pax is brought up, as shown in Movie Prequel issue 1. Unlike in the movie, he can talk to his fellow Autobots without using soundbytes.
• Autobots can turn into their cometary protoforms to land on planets, then reassume pre-selected terrestrial forms.
• Autobots can fly under gravity.
• Starscream learns that both Megatron and the Allspark are on Earth (but not the location of Earth) from the humans. He keeps that information to himself.

Real life references

• The Ghost 1 crew refer to Maria Gonzalez as "Uhura" of Star Trek fame, since they're both the only gals on their ships.
• Much of the plot takes place on a planet reminiscent of the setting of Dune—desert environment, pillars with glyphs carved into them, sandworms, etc.
• Christolph Smythe owns hardcover copies of the books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Proto-typical weirdness

• Understandably, being a prequel to the first installment of a film series, there are a few details in this story that don't jibe with later stories.
• Cybertronians get about via wormhole travel, instead of standard sci-fi lightspeed or Transformers' preferred transwarp.
• All of the Decepticons from the film are on the Nemesis... except Brawl, who's a no-show.
• The Cybertronian war is said to have lasted "thousands" of years. While at the time this was a pretty reasonable assumption to make (and pretty conservative given most continuities have the war last millions of years before getting to Earth), later installments make this unlikely.
• Bumblebee has no idea what humans or Earth are, when The Last Knight had him be active on Earth during the 1940s.
• The Ark and Nemesis are hoping to track the Allspark via an energy pulse it occasionally gives off. It does so every few thousand years, which is why Sector Seven haven't learned this in all the time it's been sitting in their basement.

International printings

Japan

• ISBN 4150116229
• ISBN 978-4150116224
• Date published: July 15, 2007
• Publisher: Hayakawa Publishing Corp.
• Translator: Tsukasa Kaneko
• Pagecount: 431

References

1. ↑ Brief Note about Ghosts of Yesterday
2. ↑ Talking Transformers Movie Novels with Alan Dean Foster

External links

• Product page at Del Rey Online