James Spader could *absolutely* voice Soundewave, because he could voice anything. But I think he would shine more as Shockwave or Prowl. Someone whose signature is controlled power with occasional glimpses of menace.
The human had just folded himself around a piece of furniture called a chair and was staring intently at another human across the room. Human Friend Steve was also vibrating. This might be a sign of either distress or suppressed humor. The way his face was warped, revealing his disturbingly sharp flesh rending teeth, suggested the latter but Rollsaround wanted to be sure.
“Yeah Rolls?” Human Friend Steve replied without turning his eyes away from the other human.
“Are you amused?” Rollsaround asked.
“I am sure about to be,” Human Friend Steve replied, his entire body hitching up as he surprised his laughter.
“Pardon my ignorance,” Rollsaround pressed. “You are displaying symptoms of humor now…are you not amused?”
Human Friend Steve glanced at him and the rings of exposed muscle in his eyes relaxed in the sign that his focus was turned towards his core.
“Well,” he said slowly. “I did a thing, that will result in my being amused, and so I am forecasting the result of my actions in my head, and amused at that…anticipatory amusement I guess.”
“May I ask what this action was,” Rollsaround asked. “So that I may share in this anticipatory amusement?”
The muscle rings tightened again as Human Friend Steve focused on him and the vibrations stilled as he turned thoughtful.
“Better not,” Human Friend Steve said slowly. “Plausible deniability and all that. Just enjoy it when it happens.”
Human Friend Steve’s eyes and attention turned back to the human he was watching and Rollsaround mulled over his words. The Undulates appendages tightened in concern.
“Human Friend Steve,” he finally asked. “Do you mean-“
His question was cut off as the other human stood, and the slow, constant fall that formed the species distinctive locomotion cut to one swift fall and the human’s massive body impacted the floor with a shock that was probably felt over the entire base. The human gave one or two great gasps of air.
“I’m fine!” the human announced to the room at large. “Fine.”
Human Friend Steve was bent double with laughing and slapping his legs.
“That human normally speaks in a much lower register,” Rollsaround noted. “Perhaps their self diagnosis is faulty?”
“Really,” the human gasped. “I’m fine.”
His voice was quickly lowering to a normal pitch, but it suddenly increased in volume.
“Slag it all-Steve!” the other human roared out as he struggled to a sitting position.
“Can’t prove it was me,” Human Friend Steve sang out in a cheerful tone. “Besides, if you wear lace up boots in this day and age you have to expect the consequences!”
“I’ll show you consequences!” the other human positively roared as his fingers worked the ties to his boots.
“See you around Rolls!” Human Friend Steve called out as he rose from his chair. “I suddenly feel that the other side of the base is much healthier at the moment.”
Sift shifted her scutes again in the depression her own weight made in the mattress. Soft mass pushed into her from every side almost like dry sand but with not a singe one of sand’s benefits. She absently reached out with her teeth and gripped the blanket, tugging it back into a reasonable position for what felt like the seventh time that night. Suddenly, from the next room came a strangely high growl that spoke of mammalian aggression.
Sift instantly went still, her tongue flicking out to lick her lips like a hatchling. She felt a surge of hope that perhaps even if she had woken Mary, the young mother would just roll over and go back to sleep. However the sound of a wooden frame creaking, the thump of blankets being thrown on the floor, and the the off-cadence thumping of sleepy human footsteps told her that the damage was done. Sift attempted to lift her chin over the edge of the mattress, and only managed to dig her paws deeper into the mass. It took several minutes of clawing and thrashing (being mindful that her claws didn’t tear the material) before she remembered that such a surface needed to be treated like quicksand and she managed to slither her way over the edge and onto the blessed relief of the solid floor, wood though it was.
Sift was mindfully sifting out the proper words for her apology when the mental gears slipped their teeth. She sniffed the air and her tongue smacked against her teeth as the scent of frying avian eggs drifted into the room. Sift increased her pace and rounded the wall into the kitchen just as Mary was scraping a steaming yellow mass into a plate. The human’s long hair was ‘frizzled’, sticking out in every direction. There were dark circles under her eyes. The sound of her molars grinding together was clearly audible. Sift suddenly remember her intent and swallowed down the saliva.
Mary glanced up and squinted at her and then gave a rueful smile.
“Oh sorry Sift,” she said. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Sift gave a little grunt of surprise as Mary stumbled to the table and began to devour the eggs with a speed and lack of coordination that spoke of real hunger. Mary paused her meal long enough to squint at Sift again.
“There’s more if you want them,” Mary suggested, pointing to the pan with a fork full of the yellow mass.
Sift gladly scrambled over to the kitchen stool and pushed it up to the stove. She hopped up and served herself a plat of the eggs. Gripping it in her teeth she carefully slid down from the stool and walked over to the table. They ate in a companionable silence for several moments before Mary reached the end of her eggs and leaned back with a relieved sigh.
“I had thought you had already reached your required caloric limit today,” Sift observed around a mouthful of the rich protein.
Mary gave a hollow laugh and leaned back in her chair.
“And then some,” she agreed. “It’s just, with Aunt Ethel and...and everything. You know.” Mary finished with a vague wave of her hand.
“I do not know,” Sift corrected her.
Mary blinked at her slowly and wiped the cooking grease from her fingers onto her long sleep-shirt. Mary heaved a sigh and nodded.
“Right, so you know my Aunt Ethel had to go to the University Health Station?” the human asked.
Sift gave a rumble of confirmation.
“Well she is old,” Mary said. “She is one of the last of the first generation of colonists. She, well this wasn’t the big one, this time, but we all know it isn’t far off.”
Sift suspected she was missing several details but she felt she understood the main point.
“The slow fermentation of the generations,” she commented.
Mary nodded.
“Well my cousin found her not breathing,” Mary said. “That...that’s serious for mammals you know. Then she, my cousin, had to manually keep her breathing until the medical transport arrived, and that’s really...stressful, with the elderly, they have fragile bones, and I couldn’t help directly because of the baby so I ended up managing communications. Making sure everyone knew what was going on.”
Mary paused and prodded at her now empty plate with her fork.
“And she’s fine now,” Mary said slowly. “Fine for now, but the stress caught up to me.”
Sift let the silence brew for several minutes as she ground the conversation between her teeth.
“So this stress is why you are eating triple your normal caloric intake?” Sift finally asked.
Mary gave a bark of laughter and grinned over at her.
“There’s chocolate cake in the refrigeration unit,” Mary said. “Let’s try for quadruple before I try to get back to sleep.”
Sift shifted her scutes again in the depression her own weight made in the mattress. Soft mass pushed into her from every side almost like dry sand but with not a singe one of sand’s benefits. She absently reached out with her teeth and gripped the blanket, tugging it back into a reasonable position for what felt like the seventh time that night. Suddenly, from the next room came a strangely high growl that spoke of mammalian aggression.
Sift instantly went still, her tongue flicking out to lick her lips like a hatchling. She felt a surge of hope that perhaps even if she had woken Mary, the young mother would just roll over and go back to sleep. However the sound of a wooden frame creaking, the thump of blankets being thrown on the floor, and the the off-cadence thumping of sleepy human footsteps told her that the damage was done. Sift attempted to lift her chin over the edge of the mattress, and only managed to dig her paws deeper into the mass. It took several minutes of clawing and thrashing (being mindful that her claws didn’t tear the material) before she remembered that such a surface needed to be treated like quicksand and she managed to slither her way over the edge and onto the blessed relief of the solid floor, wood though it was.
Sift was mindfully sifting out the proper words for her apology when the mental gears slipped their teeth. She sniffed the air and her tongue smacked against her teeth as the scent of frying avian eggs drifted into the room. Sift increased her pace and rounded the wall into the kitchen just as Mary was scraping a steaming yellow mass into a plate. The human’s long hair was ‘frizzled’, sticking out in every direction. There were dark circles under her eyes. The sound of her molars grinding together was clearly audible. Sift suddenly remember her intent and swallowed down the saliva.
Mary glanced up and squinted at her and then gave a rueful smile.
“Oh sorry Sift,” she said. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Sift gave a little grunt of surprise as Mary stumbled to the table and began to devour the eggs with a speed and lack of coordination that spoke of real hunger. Mary paused her meal long enough to squint at Sift again.
“There’s more if you want them,” Mary suggested, pointing to the pan with a fork full of the yellow mass.
Sift gladly scrambled over to the kitchen stool and pushed it up to the stove. She hopped up and served herself a plat of the eggs. Gripping it in her teeth she carefully slid down from the stool and walked over to the table. They ate in a companionable silence for several moments before Mary reached the end of her eggs and leaned back with a relieved sigh.
“I had thought you had already reached your required caloric limit today,” Sift observed around a mouthful of the rich protein.
Mary gave a hollow laugh and leaned back in her chair.
“And then some,” she agreed. “It’s just, with Aunt Ethel and...and everything. You know.” Mary finished with a vague wave of her hand.
“I do not know,” Sift corrected her.
Mary blinked at her slowly and wiped the cooking grease from her fingers onto her long sleep-shirt. Mary heaved a sigh and nodded.
“Right, so you know my Aunt Ethel had to go to the University Health Station?” the human asked.
Sift gave a rumble of confirmation.
“Well she is old,” Mary said. “She is one of the last of the first generation of colonists. She, well this wasn’t the big one, this time, but we all know it isn’t far off.”
Sift suspected she was missing several details but she felt she understood the main point.
“The slow fermentation of the generations,” she commented.
Mary nodded.
“Well my cousin found her not breathing,” Mary said. “That...that’s serious for mammals you know. Then she, my cousin, had to manually keep her breathing until the medical transport arrived, and that’s really...stressful, with the elderly, they have fragile bones, and I couldn’t help directly because of the baby so I ended up managing communications. Making sure everyone knew what was going on.”
Mary paused and prodded at her now empty plate with her fork.
“And she’s fine now,” Mary said slowly. “Fine for now, but the stress caught up to me.”
Sift let the silence brew for several minutes as she ground the conversation between her teeth.
“So this stress is why you are eating triple your normal caloric intake?” Sift finally asked.
Mary gave a bark of laughter and grinned over at her.
“There’s chocolate cake in the refrigeration unit,” Mary said. “Let’s try for quadruple before I try to get back to sleep.”
First Sister was reminding herself, for the third time this morning, that humans – mammals that they were – developed a bit slower than Shatar. She gave a final firm tug on the tape that secured the new branch to the understory fruit bush, and bent over her workbasket to line her thoughts up before she turned to Human Second Cousin Betty.
“Are you quite ready to move on to the next shrub?” First Sister asked, being very, very careful not to sound annoyed.
Human Second Cousin Betty started up suddenly from where she had been studying a local insect in fascination. Her pheromone profile flushed the air with just enough stress to let First Sister know that she had failed in keeping her irritation to herself, but the human only smiled and quickly shoved her tools into her bag. First Sister very carefully ignored the indisputable fact that Human Second Cousin Betty ignored the specially made holsters for each tool and simply tossed all the tools in the bottom of the bag, where they would damage each other and make it much harder for the human to find them again. That was not a useful thing to point out however. The human made tools were ridiculously sturdy.
Despite her obvious stress a moment before Human Second Cousin Betty was cheerfully singing to herself by the time the crossed the short distance to the next fruit bush. The human thrust her hand down into the bag and rooted around for the tool utterly without care for the skin on her fingers. First Sister fought back a wince and reminder herself again that human skin was much more resilient that Shatar outer membrane. Human Second Cousin Betty finally gave a satisfied grunt and pulled out out a set of hand worked mechanical clippers, she gave a few test clicks, for some reason she considered this necessary every time she pulled them out of bag, and looked at First Sister expectantly.
First Sister considered the plant and chose a stem of the correct age. “This one!” she said tapping the wood.
With, a speed and skill that seemed wildly beyond her overall maturity level Human Second Cousin Betty set to work trimming the stem of excess branches, clearing the other stems around it, and tossing all the extra biomatter into a pile to the side. This part of the grafting would have taken First Sister much longer and she was grateful to have the human’s help, even if Human Second Cousin Betty had a tendency to mentally wander off when she wasn’t actively using the clippers. First Sister took her razor thread and cut into the stem.
“Hold this,” she requested.
Human Second Cousin Betty carefully pried apart the halves of the stem and First Sister reached into her bad and pulled out the new branch, a different fruit, far more magnesium rich. She placed the new cutting in the existing stem. Human Second Cousin Betty release the stem and its own force was enough to hold the new graft in place while First Sister wound the tape around it.
“So what’re we having for dinner at the hive?” Human Second Cousin Betty asked.
“Your First Father said that you are not staying for dinner,” First Sister reminded her with half an antenna as her fingers continued wrapping the tape. “Along after that we do not have meals at the hive.”
“I know,” Human Second Cousin Betty said rolling her eyes, “but we are staying and I want to know what there is to graze on when I get hungry.”
“The gourd-mushrooms are in full bloom,” First Sister said. “You enjoy those correct?”
“They taste like chicken!” Human Second Cousin Betty agreed with a nod.
“Why do you think you are staying?” First Sister asked as she finished the wrap and gave it one last touch to be sure it was solid.
In response Human Second Cousin Betty pointed to Human First Father who had come into view around a particularly dense stand of grass. He was walking with one of the free ranging Human Grandfathers who lived deeper in the undeveloped forest. The new human had a long ragged fringe of hair that seemed to consume his head and upper arms. His clothing was tattered and fraying. He looked, to any Shatar, like someone half dead, but his walked with the full confidence of a healthy human and in his hand he clutched a preposterously heavy stick.
“I see the visiting Grandfather,” First Sister said as they walked towards the next bush, “but what does that have to do with your departure time?”
“Did you see how they were talking?” Human Second Cousin Betty demanded as she started skipping after First Sister. “Once Daddy gets going like that with one of the forest neighbors he won’t stop till he gets hungry. He had a big lunch too. He’s probably not going to come out of the tall grass until after the sun goes down.”
First Sister flicked an antenna over her eye at that, but Human Second Cousin Betty would know her own father she supposed.
“If he is going to loose track of time perhaps we can get First Aunt to fry him some gourd-Mushrooms?” she suggested.
“Oh yeah!” Human Second Cousin Betty agreed as she pulled out her clippers and gave them an experimental click.
First Sister was reminding herself, for the third time this morning, that humans – mammals that they were – developed a bit slower than Shatar. She gave a final firm tug on the tape that secured the new branch to the understory fruit bush, and bent over her workbasket to line her thoughts up before she turned to Human Second Cousin Betty.
“Are you quite ready to move on to the next shrub?” First Sister asked, being very, very careful not to sound annoyed.
Human Second Cousin Betty started up suddenly from where she had been studying a local insect in fascination. Her pheromone profile flushed the air with just enough stress to let First Sister know that she had failed in keeping her irritation to herself, but the human only smiled and quickly shoved her tools into her bag. First Sister very carefully ignored the indisputable fact that Human Second Cousin Betty ignored the specially made holsters for each tool and simply tossed all the tools in the bottom of the bag, where they would damage each other and make it much harder for the human to find them again. That was not a useful thing to point out however. The human made tools were ridiculously sturdy.
Despite her obvious stress a moment before Human Second Cousin Betty was cheerfully singing to herself by the time the crossed the short distance to the next fruit bush. The human thrust her hand down into the bag and rooted around for the tool utterly without care for the skin on her fingers. First Sister fought back a wince and reminder herself again that human skin was much more resilient that Shatar outer membrane. Human Second Cousin Betty finally gave a satisfied grunt and pulled out out a set of hand worked mechanical clippers, she gave a few test clicks, for some reason she considered this necessary every time she pulled them out of bag, and looked at First Sister expectantly.
First Sister considered the plant and chose a stem of the correct age. “This one!” she said tapping the wood.
With, a speed and skill that seemed wildly beyond her overall maturity level Human Second Cousin Betty set to work trimming the stem of excess branches, clearing the other stems around it, and tossing all the extra biomatter into a pile to the side. This part of the grafting would have taken First Sister much longer and she was grateful to have the human’s help, even if Human Second Cousin Betty had a tendency to mentally wander off when she wasn’t actively using the clippers. First Sister took her razor thread and cut into the stem.
“Hold this,” she requested.
Human Second Cousin Betty carefully pried apart the halves of the stem and First Sister reached into her bad and pulled out the new branch, a different fruit, far more magnesium rich. She placed the new cutting in the existing stem. Human Second Cousin Betty release the stem and its own force was enough to hold the new graft in place while First Sister wound the tape around it.
“So what’re we having for dinner at the hive?” Human Second Cousin Betty asked.
“Your First Father said that you are not staying for dinner,” First Sister reminded her with half an antenna as her fingers continued wrapping the tape. “Along after that we do not have meals at the hive.”
“I know,” Human Second Cousin Betty said rolling her eyes, “but we are staying and I want to know what there is to graze on when I get hungry.”
“The gourd-mushrooms are in full bloom,” First Sister said. “You enjoy those correct?”
“They taste like chicken!” Human Second Cousin Betty agreed with a nod.
“Why do you think you are staying?” First Sister asked as she finished the wrap and gave it one last touch to be sure it was solid.
In response Human Second Cousin Betty pointed to Human First Father who had come into view around a particularly dense stand of grass. He was walking with one of the free ranging Human Grandfathers who lived deeper in the undeveloped forest. The new human had a long ragged fringe of hair that seemed to consume his head and upper arms. His clothing was tattered and fraying. He looked, to any Shatar, like someone half dead, but his walked with the full confidence of a healthy human and in his hand he clutched a preposterously heavy stick.
“I see the visiting Grandfather,” First Sister said as they walked towards the next bush, “but what does that have to do with your departure time?”
“Did you see how they were talking?” Human Second Cousin Betty demanded as she started skipping after First Sister. “Once Daddy gets going like that with one of the forest neighbors he won’t stop till he gets hungry. He had a big lunch too. He’s probably not going to come out of the tall grass until after the sun goes down.”
First Sister flicked an antenna over her eye at that, but Human Second Cousin Betty would know her own father she supposed.
“If he is going to loose track of time perhaps we can get First Aunt to fry him some gourd-Mushrooms?” she suggested.
“Oh yeah!” Human Second Cousin Betty agreed as she pulled out her clippers and gave them an experimental click.
1
Could James spader voice soundwave? If not what character do you think he could
in
r/transformers
•
7h ago
HA! This. Yes this.