#4 – Settling In

Emily woke up feeling sore and hot. The lava heated the metal ship easily and kept it cooking. There were cooling systems and shields to keep it from melting, but it was barely enough for her. At least the helmet kept her head cooler. She stood and left her room to find her guardian.

She wandered the ship, trying to learn where things were and where the main gathering areas were. Terrorsaur was bound to be here somewhere. She found the storage room from yesterday where the glowing cubes were, but he wasn't there this morning.

She found her way back to the hallway her room was in and noticed for the first time that there were a few other doors. She decided to try searching the rooms. Each room was very plain and very empty. There were two beds in each room, maybe a few nondescript personal items, but nothing more. The whole place was so dreary. No wonder everyone was never in a good mood.

-x-

"Are you ready to proceed yet, Megatron?" Tarantulas questioned. "I'm getting rather anxious to continue. If we wait too long-"

"I understand the risks as well as you do, Tarantulas," Megatron interrupted. "But this was my plan from the start and you will only continue at my pace, understand?"

"Yes, sir." The spider glared back at his leader, his clawed hands curling into fists. He knew there was no arguing with Megatron here, but he would have the last laugh. He always did.

-x-

Emily found her way back to the storage room. This time, she saw Terrorsaur and Waspinator sitting at a table with those glowing cubes in their hands. It appeared that they were draining the cubes of the glowing contents. She wondered again what those were.

The fliers soon noticed her standing in the doorway. "I spy with my little eye something fleshy," Terrorsaur said and made a snarky grinned. Waspinator giggled. Emily attempted to smile back. He certainly seemed in a better mood than he had been yesterday.

"Good morning," she greeted and came towards them. "What is that you're eating?"

"This? Oh, it's energon," the red mech answered and took another sip. "I wouldn't touch it if I were you, though. Might burn your flesh clean off."

She had no intentions of touching the cubes. She joined them at the table and looked from one mech to the other. She suddenly felt slightly awkward.

Waspinator finally set his now empty cube and entered the conversation. "What Fleshy-botzz eat?"

Her stomach clenched longingly as she recalled all the foods she used to eat. "Lots of stuff," she replied. "But right now I eat fruits, nuts, and berries."

"Wazzzpinator likezz berriezz too."

Emily smiled. Why couldn't Waspinator have been her guardian? He seemed so much more pleasant and agreeable.

It wasn't long until it was time for Waspinator to go about his usual duties and for Terrorsaur to take Emily out so that she could take care of her needs. This time, he had brought a data pad with him to read while Emily went around and did her own thing.

Having eaten all the berries she could find on this bush, Emily looked back at her guardian. He seemed to have fallen asleep. She smiled at the lop-sided expression on his face. She climbed up and sat beside him on the boulder he was lying on. She looked at the data pad hanging limply in his hand. She wondered what he had been reading.

Curious, she reached for the pad. She gasped when his other hand grabbed her arm. She looked to see his fiery optics on and glaring at her.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Her face flushed seeing as she was caught red-handed. "I-I was just, um," she struggled to put a sentence together. "I was just w-wondering what you were reading." She smiled innocently.

"Oh..." Terrorsaur let go of her and sat up. She scooted away from him and wrapped her arms around herself. "It's just a manual on the mechanical makeup of the ship's engines and other related systems."

"Wow... why would you be reading that?" Emily asked.

He shrugged. "I find it interesting. I am a bit of a mechanic... or at least I was on my home planet."

"So, that was your job?"

"Yeah. I used to work at this old shipyard. That's how Waspinator and I met."

"Did Megatron find you there too?"

"No, we actually met him at a bar after work one night."

"I guess you didn't expect to end up here when you joined him."

Terrorsaur grimaced as some distant memory flashed in his optics. He abruptly stood, jumped from the boulder, up into a nearby tree, and out of sight. He felt like a fool. He had spoken so openly to the girl.

Emily frowned sadly. She must have said something that upset him. She hadn't meant to. She wanted to apologize, but her guardian had disappeared. She slid down from the boulder and went back to foraging.

-x-

Emily tried apologizing on the way back to the base that evening, but Terrorsaur said nothing. When they arrived, Terrorsaur left her at the door once again before taking off towards his quarters.

At last, he was alone. Just how he liked it. Alone with his thoughts. Now he could process things better.

Today for instance. How had that flesh bag opened him up so easily? He never talked so openly with someone after only knowing them for a few days. Yet, she just seemed so easy to talk to. It was almost scary.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Slag it!" He violently slid open the door. "What do you want?!" he demanded of the figure on the other side. He relaxed slightly at seeing it was Waspinator and not someone else. "Sorry... what is it?"

Waspinator flinched at the outburst, but held his ground. "Wazzpinator juzzzt want to recharge with Terrorzzaur tonight," he said. "Wazpinator hazzz mizzed Terrorzzsaur zzince fleshy-bot zzhowed up."

Translation: he had a nightmare and didn't want to sleep by himself.

Terrorsaur sighed and rolled his optics. "Come on then," he grumbled and stood aside for him to enter. Waspinator grinned and rushed past him into the room. He curled up on the berth and almost immediately went into recharge.

Terrorsaur sighed again and pushed Waspinator aside just enough so that they both could fit on the berth. Waspinator snuggled into the wall and Terrorsaur lied on the edge. Almost as long as he had known the green flier, this had been a norm. Even back on Cybertron, he would find his apartment and sneak inside and sleep on the floor. He wished he would still sleep on the floor.

He tolerated it. He hated to admit to himself and would never say so aloud, but he liked the contact. This was the closest that he had ever dared come to anyone and he wanted to leave it that way.

-x-

Emily wandered to her room and sat alone in the dark. She felt bad for upsetting Terrorsaur. She wondered why he hadn't accepted her apology. Perhaps he had, but just hadn't said anything. She still wasn't convinced.

Dejected, Emily settled onto the floor and did her best to get some sleep.