Desert Flight

« Find Your Fate Junior #5 »
"Desert Flight"
Publisher	Ballantine Books
Imprint	Find Your Fate Junior
First published	1986
Writer	Jim Razzi
Illustrator	William Schmidt (interior pencils and cover painting)
ISBN	ISBN 9780345330727 ISBN 0-345-33072-2
Page count	73

Desert Flight is a multipath adventure in Generation 1.

Featured characters

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Cosmos Smokescreen Powerglide Optimus Prime Tracks Beachcomber	Dirge Hook Megatron Ramjet Thrust Laserbeak	Buddy

Synopsis

Completely optional events are italicized.

Cosmos is sent to investigate an explosion that seems to indicate Decepticon activity. He discovers a secret Decepticon base where they are developing a weapon they once tested on Cybertron, the anti-gravity gun.

Cosmos is captured, and Hook builds a replica of him with a powerful proton bomb inside to send back to the Autobots. Cosmos escapes and must make a desperate flight across the desert to reach his comrades in time, then prove which of them is the real Cosmos!

The Autobots engage in a hellish attack on the base, stymied by its many defenses and defenders, in order to destroy the weapon before it can be used to send all life on Earth flying off into space.

Chance brings Buddy, a boy from a nearby town, to them. His ideas and not-exceptionally-heroic actions help them win the day.

Desert Flight has two main story "threads", turning it into either a Cosmos solo adventure or a team-up with the plucky human Buddy. Buddy is completely absent from Cosmos's story thread, which includes the title escape across the desert (which also graces the cover) and should probably be considered the "primary" sequence of events.

Notes

• Smokescreen calls Powerglide by the nickname "P.G.". We'll just assume it's an abbreviation and not his rating.
• A notable scene has the Decepticons getting drunk on gasoline.
• This story also features the Anti-gravity base and Magna-mike.
• When Laserbeak's blasts hit the beam from the anti-gravity gun, the force of the two blasts rips open a hole in time and space!
• Cosmos is able to catch Buddy in the soft chair of his cockpit, saving him from a fall in midair. That means he must have the ability to pop open the whole top of his saucer mode, the disk which forms the top of his torso and contains his head. Said cockpit has controls that allow Buddy to pilot him, which is odd considering his alt mode isn't an Earth vehicle.
• This book was available individually, or as part of a six-book box set with the other five "pre-Movie era" books in the series.

External links

• Review on Demian's Gamebook Web Page