The Spires of Altihex

Chapter 4

Some part of Skyfire had expected the door to Starscream's quarters to be just as attention-grabbing and abrasive as the seeker himself, and was guiltily surprised when he saw that it was no more obtrusive than the threshold to his own dormitory.

As he strode the corridors leading to the domestic part of the building complex, the white shuttle had been lost in thought, barely even noticing the busy, bustling scientists passing by him on their business. Predominately, of course, was the nagging question of why; why would he want to chase after his lab partner, when he could expect nothing but harsh reprimands and cruel insults? Why should he waste his time trying to reach out to, trying to befriend someone who wanted to remain alone?

And, of course, he was only assuming that Starscream had disappeared to his quarters, when, in reality, he could be anywhere – there could be any number of lonely, secretive hideaways for him to retreat to, and, as Skyfire somehow kept overlooking, the tetrajet was a flier. If he had taken to the skies, well, Primus only knew where he was. So why waste the minimal energy it would take to make the trip to the seeker's room?

Logically, there was no satisfactory answer. Logically, he should back off, lick his wounds as it were, give up, resign himself to going back to coldly greeting Starscream at the start of each orn before working through the cycles in uncomfortable silence. Logic could not help him deal with a being that was as highly-strung as the tetrajet scientist.

Mostly, he was curious as to why Starscream seemed to hate him so intensely – why Starscream seemed to hate everyone so intensely. While he had heard of mechs who were programmed to rebuke all offers of companionship, Skyfire thought that such a mindset in a seeker, who were always, without fail or exception that he yet knew of (other than, of course, Starscream), stationed in threes down in Kaon, was counter-productive.

Here he was, now, and he was damned if he was going to turn back. Steeling himself for whatever rude rejection Starscream would doubtless throw, and hoping only that he wasn't about to irreparably worsen matters, he knocked on the dulled silver door with a spotless white fist.

"What do you want!?" screeched a recognisable voice from within, rude and peevish. At least Starscream was in his room, though from the sounds of it he was well past irritation.

"It's me," said the shuttle calmly. Instinctively, he jerked his head back at the sound of a clang on the door – it sounded as though Starscream had thrown something at it.

The shriek from the other side of the reinforced metal was high enough and loud enough to make his audio receptors burn minimally from the frequency. "Go away!"

"Starscream, I just want to talk –"

"I don't want you here, I don't want to talk to you! Leave me alone!"

Skyfire heaved a long-suffering sigh from his vents, laying one hand against the door as he summoned up the courage. For the good of a healthy, constructive working relationship, this apparently irrational rift had to be repaired. "Look... I know you've decided you don't like me for whatever reason, but I... I think I offended you back in the tavern, and I want to apologise for that."

The door slid open partially, revealing a sliver of dark gunmetal cheek and one fiery red optic that stared suspiciously up at Skyfire. The shuttle had the presence of mind to curl his fingers around the side of the door, hoping he could use his strength to keep it open.

"Well?" snapped Starscream through the gap. "Let's hear this apology, then!"

"I'm sorry."

"Good, now get out."

The tetrajet moved to slam the door shut, and, thinking quickly to avoid having his fingers crushed, Skyfire yanked it back and planted his foot in the way of its path to closure. Howling in indignation and frustration when he could not close the threshold to his safe-house, Starscream glared up at his taller research partner, a wild and unnervingly dangerous glint in his optics.

"Hold on just a moment," Skyfire demanded calmly above the tetrajet's loud complaints. "At least tell me what I've done wrong, so I know not to do it again. I'm not a mind-reader, and you're not exactly being helpful."

The cool blue gaze was met by a burning red glare, but there was nothing Starscream could do; no matter how hard he tried to force the door closed, Skyfire refused to move his foot.

"You're so blind. You're so naïve!" snarled the grey-faced seeker, disappearing from the door so abruptly that Skyfire, taken by surprise, had no time to stop exerting his strength in trying to force it wider with one hand, and the shuttle almost sprawled to the side in an ungainly heap. The door flew open and Skyfire adjusted himself in time to see Starscream recline bad-temperedly on his berth... but at least the jet was letting him in.

"In what way?" He questioned somewhat shakily, vainly trying to stomp down the embarrassment that the little tetrajet, so deceptively strong for his size and build, had almost sent him toppling over.

"You don't even know when you're doing it, do you?" Starscream was drawling the words now, disgust written over his dark face. "You have no idea!"

"Doing what?" Skyfire pressed, his patience once again wearing thin (Starscream always seemed to bring out the worst side of him) as he took a step into the tetrajet's quarters, waiting to be ordered out immediately. When no rejection came, he closed the door behind him quietly and loitered near it, still respecting the seeker's privacy and ready to leave if it became uncomfortable.

Now that he had a chance to look around the seeker's quarters, Skyfire took the opportunity – and almost gasped aloud; the small private quarters were a haven of destruction. The personal computer screen was smashed and fragments of it still glimmered between buttons on the keyboard and the warped remains of a metal desk were hurled up near the door. By far the worst, however, were the walls, where, here and there, deep erratic lines had been gouged out.

It looked like laser fire. It looked like the scene of a struggle.

Starscream sneered, either not noticing or just ignoring Skyfire's badly-hidden shock. "All right, then, let's try it another way. When you look at me, what do you see?"

"I see an intelligent but socially-inept scientist."

The sneer melted rapidly into a scowl at the answer. Starscream shook his head and glowered at a point far to the left of Skyfire. "No, you're speaking as someone who's talked to me before. Now try it like you haven't met me."

"I see a jet-transformer who has an ugly frown on his face and a bad attitude to match it." Skyfire sighed again. "Where are you going with this?"

"No!" All of a sudden, Starscream made a violent gesture with one arm, the inbuilt small weapon on which whirred ominously. "You're still doing it wrong!"

"I don't –" He meant to say that he didn't understand but broke off prematurely. In all honesty, Starscream's weapons scared him; with little experience of mechs not native to Altihex, Skyfire's knowledge of the military and those with inbuilt-weapon systems was limited indeed. The whirring of the weapon... was that it charging to fire? Would Starscream use it on him?

"The first time you saw me! You said it then! What's so hard about saying it now!?" Vengeful ire flashed through those piercing red optics, and Skyfire tried to remember.

"I asked about you, I think... referred to you as a seeker, didn't I? I asked the mech showing me around about you because I was surprised, and he said you were an anomaly."

That seemed to be the key. Finally, it seemed that Skyfire was making progress. At the term 'seeker', Starscream stiffened up, the look on his expressive thin face turning resentful and bitter.

"That's right." His high, grating voice was quiet but there was an underlying anger and possibly even hurt hidden within it. "You asked what I was doing outside of Kaon."

"I was surprised!" protested the shuttle, holding his hands before him in a gesture of innocence. "I'd never heard of a seeker outside of Kaon before! I certainly didn't expect to see one at Nova Cronum, as a scientist. Seekers don't –"

The large shuttle fell into a stunned silence as the heat of a laser beam passed by his head; Starscream had fired at him, and the jet looked livid – he had thrown himself from the berth to his feet, ready and seemingly itching to fight.

"Stop it! Stop saying that word! You see, you're just as blind as everyone else!" The tetrajet's broken voice had risen to an infuriated howl as he vented at his lab partner. "You don't even see me as a real person! What, so just because I'm a seeker means I have to stay in Kaon? As a mindless drone of a warrior? Am I not allowed to be a scientist?"

"I didn't say that!" Skyfire realised his mistake even as he desperately tried to placate his raging partner. In retrospect... yes, he had been a fool, hadn't he? On the other hand... it was only natural to assume that a seeker would serve a purely military end, as they were built -- and programmed -- to be efficient aerial soldiers, fighting the deterioration in the Cybertron badlands.

"You may as well have said it!" Shrieked the fiery-tempered jet, discharging the second of his twin weapons into the wall by the other side of Skyfire's head, causing the shuttle to flinch reflexively. There was a sizzle as the blast melted away part of the metal; the acrid smell was almost overpowering in the close proximity, and the shuttle had to cut power to his olfactory sensors.

For a dragging klik that lasted far longer than it needed, both scientists stared at each other, Starscream trembling in a barely-controlled rage and Skyfire frozen still with shock that his partner, while unpleasant and somewhat arrogant, could be violent enough to shoot at him.

With another scowl at Skyfire, Starscream turned his back and sat back on the berth. "Leave me alone."

"Starscream, I..." Skyfire sighed yet again, turning his azure gaze to the floor in a guilty shame. "I'm sorry. I was wrong. It was foolish of me to stereotype you."

"Whatever." Shrugged the tetrajet, who seemed to have burned his anger out and was now staring at nothing in a sulky resignation. "Everyone does, it's not like it's a hard thing to do. I'm the only seeker outside of Kaon at this time, and we're all built to kill and follow orders." A sneer passed over his gunmetal features. "I hate it! I hate it, when people just assume that I'm stupid and violent and only good for a military end!"

"I..."

"You shut up! Don't you preach at me, you hypocrite!" Starscream pointed a blue finger accusingly at the shuttle. "You were surprised to see me at Nova Cronum! You thought I couldn't be a scientist, and why? Just because I'm a tetrajet! Just because of my alt-mode! You judged me as easily as anyone else; you have no right to say anything."

Skyfire stood uncomfortably as Starscream stiffened and turned away, mulling over the jet's words... which did ring true, after all. He had judged, even if he hadn't meant to.

The situation... was awkward at best; the white shuttle could see, far too easily, why such assumptions would be made about anyone bearing the seeker model. After all, the reason that the tetrajets had been so mass-produced was for the efficiency of their build as fighters in the air, and as soldiers good for following orders. And to make the assumption of violence... after the stories so frequently told about Kaon, well...

Starscream was unusual among the seekers, then, in that he had an ambition past that which he was programmed to be. This, in itself, meant that he was, on some fundamental level, rejecting his programming while, at the same time, fighting a deep-rooted mindset of superiority and casual arrogance that resided amongst the majority of Cybertronian population when they thought of the 'seekers'. Skyfire knew how easy it was to fall into that trap of assumption. He'd just done it himself, without even realising.

... and that reasoning fit perfectly with Starscream's attitude in the deca-cycle since being introduced to Skyfire; the way he balked at being referred to as a seeker but was fine if people called him by name while spreading their gossip, no matter how bad it was... that he was adamant he, and not a senator, would present his thesis even if it meant rejecting official funding...

He sought attention, desperately. He sought praise, and associated it with individuality. He sought recognition for anything past what was expected of him as a seeker, even if it was notoriety or infamy rather than from any good means. He sought...

"I'll show them," the jet was growling, glowering at the wall without really seeing it, "I'll show them all, I'll make them see me as Starscream instead of just another seeker, everyone will know who I am! I deserve it, I'm better than that!"

His tone was dismissive and final, the conversation closed.

Skyfire could have left then. Perhaps he should have, now that he had said his piece and learned the reason, or at least one of the reasons, for his disagreeable partner's hateful behaviour to all others. Instead, however, for whatever reasons he could not work out in his own mind, he loitered and did not leave. There was still something of a relationship to repair, if they had to work together. It could not carry on like this.

"May I sit down?" He asked, making the effort to establish familiarity. Starscream shrugged, and Skyfire took that as a good sign, sitting on the berth next to the antisocial seeker. At least he wasn't being pushed away entirely.

"What do you want?" snarled the lithe jet after a very short while of uncomfortable silence. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

Taking advantage of the lack of hostility, Skyfire decided to try for a longer and more extended conversation, hopefully that would allow him to better understand the enigmatic jet. "Actually... well, I was wondering about Kaon. What's it like?"

"Kaon?" It was enough to shock Starscream out of his sulk, and he turned to light Skyfire with a suspicious red-eyed glare. "Why do you care? You must have heard the stories about it."

"I think everyone's heard the stories, but I don't know how many of them to believe. Apart from off-world explorations, I've never really set foot outside Altihex before. You lived in Kaon, right?"

"Yes, I was assigned there, of course." Starscream drawled with a derogatory sneer, but at least he seemed to have calmed down. Although he shifted away from Skyfire on the berth a little, he seemed strangely pleased at the chance to speak about his home city.

"Kaon..." he began thoughtfully, an almost feral glint in his eye. "I don't miss it. Quite frankly, it's a slagheap and a hive of illegal activity. The senators there don't do anything about it because each pushes responsibility onto someone else, and the emirate does nothing because he is scared of the criminal underworld there, which is huge and well-networked." Starscream glanced at Skyfire. "Suffice to say, if I wanted you dead in Kaon, then you would be dead within the orn and I would have a perfect alibi."

Skyfire stared.

"The seekers are stationed there to combat the underworld, mostly." Starscream shrugged, more talkative than the shuttle ever remembered him being, perhaps because of the vile nature of the subject. "There's been a lot of terrorism an' bodysnatching an' kidnappings recently." He paused and then tilted his head to the side. "Seekers are always stationed in threes, I bet you heard that before. Know why?"

"N-no..." The stunned answer was all he could give. He had heard of Kaon being a city of ill repute, but this was... this was amazing!

"Partially it's because of all the Empties there, they do anything for energon, so the trines serve the purpose of, say one of us is injured, one can sort out help and secure the area while the other stays with him to prevent his body being dragged away and melted for scrap by those begging Empty scum. That one's mostly a hypothetical scenario, seekers don't get injured easily and especially not by ground-pounders. Mostly it's because of the main profit artery in Kaon." Here Starscream smirked a very worrying expression.

"And that is?" Breathed the shuttle, almost afraid to find out the answer.

"Robot trafficking." Starscream flashed a cruel grin. "The abducting and selling on of a robot, and I don't mean drones. These are robots with free will. Transformers."

"Prostitution?" Skyfire had heard of such practises before, when, in poor areas with little income, mechs sold their bodies to others, engaging in careless sexual acts, sometimes of notorious depravity that one would never suggest to a respected partner.

The look on Starscream's face was as a gambler who had yet to play his trump hand.

"Not prostitution. Pit-fighting."

This took Skyfire by some surprise; while he had heard of prostitution, pit-fighting was an entirely new concept to him. He questioned further even while thinking that he didn't want to know. "What?"

"Pit-fighting. It's a sport that's rife around the Kaon countries. Two robots are made to fight in an arena to audiences, and it's usually to the death." Starscream still had that smirk on his face and, had Skyfire given any thought at all to it, he would have come to the conclusion that the tetrajet was taking pleasure from the horror he felt at hearing such stories.

"Fighting... to death? To termination?" Azure optics widened. "That... surely that's illegal!"

"Of course it's illegal, but who's going to stop it?" A cobalt hand waved in dismissal of Skyfire's naïveté as Starscream's optics flared. "The senators? Ha, no, they benefit from it. I hear there's a good profit to be made being involved in the gambling side of it. Placing bets on which one will win, who will fall, that sort of thing. And the emirate is too much of a coward to get involved."

For a moment, Starscream tilted his head at Skyfire and was silent, studying his taller partner. Then, as the white shuttle was still trying to digest the information about the criminal underworld of Kaon that Starscream had been created to fight, the jet laughed, low and quiet.

"Don't you ever go to Kaon." He warned, regarding Skyfire with critical acclaim, laughter still playing at his voice. "You're too eye-catching. All white and fragging huge. You'd be taken off to the fights in an instant, and not just as unarmed prey like most of them. I reckon you'd do pretty well as a gladiator."

"Don't joke about that." Skyfire stared directly at Starscream, awkward but deadly serious. "I'm no fighter. I'm a scientist. I could never take a life."

Starscream scowled and turned his head away, and, if Skyfire had thought to read his silence, he would have understood. Don't look down on me for what I was created to do, the tetrajet was saying through his body language.

When nothing more was said even when an uncomfortable breem had passed, Skyfire stood and took his leave, though there was no response from the jet to his quiet goodbye as he closed the dormitory door behind him and set off down the corridor, running the information he had gathered through his mind.