CHAPTER 6

Puzzles


Starscream thought about what to do the next two hours before he would be allowed to leave the medbay and try flying. He looked around mere minutes after Ratchet had left him on his own, checking if there was anything nearby he could occupy himself with. Finding nothing, he looked down at his talons and rubbed the sharp edges. They seemed to function as weapons just like his weird arm guns. They were currently tucked inside his arms, apparently only appearing when he lifted his arms in a specific way. He wondered if it was the same for the other bots as well.

Still fidgeting with his talons, Starscream subconsciously started tapping the floor with his pede. Ratchet said he should stay in the medbay, but he hadn't told him to just sit still. Perhaps he could at least stand up and walk around a bit? He decided against it, as the medbay was very small, and those cables attached to him, while hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the semi-room, would probably still get tangled up on him.

Still, it was hard for him to sit still for some reason. He wanted to get up and pace around, not just sit still and think in silence. He had a strong urge to go outside, his wings flapped demandingly behind him, he wanted to go fly. Despite not really remembering how to fly, his instinct told him he needed to fly. Being trapped inside this small command center, not to mention this even smaller medbay with limited room, it felt wrong to him.

He looked up at the ceiling, suddenly getting a bit dizzy over how close it was to him. He looked from side to side, seeing just how small the room he was in was, how close the walls were to him. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but it almost looked like the walls and ceiling were getting closer. His venting started to grow faster, panic rising in him.

Starscream shook his head and looked up and around him again. The room hadn't shrunk at all. It had just been his imagination.

Having shaken off the strange panic, Starscream looked out of the medbay to the rest of the command center - well, as much of the command center as he could see, anyway. There weren't a lot of bots present, from what he could see and hear. It didn't seem like there were any humans either. No one currently present seemed to pay him any mind.

"Morning, Starscream," a small familiar voice sounded below him.

Starscream automatically looked down and saw the girl called Amy standing in front of him by his pedes. Now he noticed just how small she was. She was barely as tall as his pede was long. She could probably fit in his servo.

"What are you doing here?" Starscream replied quietly. "Do you live here with the Autobots?"

"Not really," Amy replied with the same smile she always seemed to wear. "I live in the city above this base. I saw you getting caught by those army guys and I followed. I hid myself from their sight until they locked you up in the dungeon and left you alone. Then I went into your cell."

Starscream hummed and raised an orbital ridge. "Why did you want to speak with me?" he asked curiously.

"Those guys thought you were dangerous, and you did kill some of them," Amy's smile finally seemed to fall for a moment, but it was quickly back, wider than ever. "But I think you're pretty. I wanted to get to know you. Red, blue and white are my favorite colors."

Again Starscream raised an orbital ridge. "You're wearing pink though. Also, I'm silver, not white. Or, maybe I am white. I'm not sure."

"How about silver-white?" Amy suggested with a grin. "That way, everyone wins." She giggled.

Starscream sneered, not sure if he should find her funny or annoying.

"You're strange, little one," Starscream commented. "At least that's the feeling I get. I feel like your approach isn't normal."

"I guess not," Amy said and shrugged, starting to walk away. "Most people are scared when they see guys like you. I don't know why, I think you're all pretty cool. Even those Decepticons, even if they are bad guys."

Just before she left the medbay, she paused and looked back at Starscream with a crooked smile.

"Also, my dress is pink because it's my fourth favorite color," she said and started moving again. "Well, gotta go. See ya later!"

Starscream didn't try to stop her. He simply watched her go, until he couldn't see her anymore. It almost seemed like she vanished into thin air, that's how quickly she went into hiding. She was good.

Starscream sighed and returned to fidgeting and tapping his pede on the floor having nothing else to do.


An hour had passed since Starscream woke up, followed by Ratchet's examination of the Seeker and explaining about Energon and Sparklings, Amy's reappearance and then forty minutes of nothing but fidgeting, tapping on the floor, rocking back and forth, trying to ignore the feeling of the walls and ceiling closing in on him. He had considered calling one of the Autobots just to have someone to talk to, but for some reason found himself unable to make the call. So he just sat and waited for someone to take an interest to him, only occupying himself with his servos and pedes.

But not knowing how much time had passed was driving him bolts. After an hour, his tapping on the floor evolved into stomps, first careful, but then louder as there was no response. Still no response, he started ramming his elbow into the wall behind him, trying to make as loud noises as he could.

Eventually someone did enter the medbay to see what the commotion was about. The bot entering was Ironhide.

"What in Tarnation are you doing?" Ironhide asked annoyed.

"How much time has passed?" Starscream asked impatiently.

"What are you talking about?"

"How much time has passed since I woke up?"

"I don't know, I just got back from patrol."

Starscream sighed annoyed. "I'm bored. Do you bots have anything I can do while I'm waiting for Ratchet to say I can go outside?"

Ironhide didn't answer him right away, instead he was thinking.

"You'll probably have ta speak to Wheeljack for that," Ironhide finally said. "He's the engineer and probably knows more than I do. I'll get him fer you, if you want me to, that is?"

"Sure, why not," Starscream replied, starting to fidget again. "But make it quick."

Ironhide sighed and turned away from the medbay. "Could say please, at least," he mumbled before he left Starscream's hearing range.

Starscream didn't think about anything, simply sat and waited, trying to stop his fidgeting. He managed to stop and sit still for about ten seconds before he started swinging his legs again. He felt nothing like he did yesterday, except for the lack of memories, of course, but he was starting to remember a few things, as well as learning some other things. Those things were mere basics though, he still had not remembered anything about himself yet.

Other than the lack of memories, he felt completely different from yesterday. Rather than exhausted, he was now wide awake, instead of sluggish, he was full of energy and ready to expend it. Finding himself unable to expend that energy the way he was apparently intended to - through flying - he had no choice but to fidget and swing his legs to let out just a little bit of that energy. Even pacing would have been better. But sitting still for so long with nothing to do, it was beginning to stress him out. Not a lot, but it still irritated him quite a lot.

It only took a few minutes before the bot called Wheeljack appeared in the medbay. Ironhide had elected not to return with him.

"Ironhide said you needed me?" Wheeljack asked.

"Ratchet told me to stay in the medbay for a few more hours before I can go outside," Starscream informed the engineer. "But I don't know how much time has passed since then. I don't even know what time it was when I woke up. So now I'm bored and I have nothing to do for a long time. Ironhide said you could help me with that."

Starscream continued to rub his servos while talking to Wheeljack, his gaze shifting between Wheeljack and his talons.

Wheeljack listened to Starscream's plea and thought on it. "Well, Ironhide was right to suggest me," he said after a few nano-cycles. "I think I have just the thing, hang on a moment."

Wheeljack reached behind his back and pulled something out. Then another thing out. Then a third thing. Every thing he pulled out, he put on the small mobile table between the two operating tables, where Ratchet put his tools when in use. Starscream stared in wonder.

"How do you do that?" Starscream asked curious as Wheeljack pulled a fourth item out from seemingly nowhere.

Wheeljack paused as he put the item down. "Do what?" he asked.

Starscream made gestures. "You know, the thing where you pull something out of your back. How do you do that?"

Wheeljack was silent for a few seconds, then realized what he meant. "Ohhhh, that. Yeah, that's just my subspace. All Transformers have 'em. It's a small dimensional pocket that allows us ta store items without havin' ta take up space on our bodies."

Starscream hummed in fascination. "Can anything fit in there?"

"That depends on the bot. Optimus for example can fit his entire trailer in there, but, well, he's Prime, so he probably has a bigger subspace than the rest of us. Most of us can't really fit anythin' larger than ourselves in there though. Some can store bots, though they have ta have special subspaces to do that. I think Swindle has one 'a those."

"Who's Swindle?" Starscream asked.

"He's one 'a the 'Cons," Wheeljack replied. "A Combaticon, to be exact. Never trust that guy, he lies like a...well, like a liar. And swindles, deceives, he's a real 'Con."

Starscream tried to follow, but Wheeljack's explanation didn't make a lot of sense to him. He frowned at the poor explanation. "I don't get it," he simply said.

Wheeljack shrugged. "Eh, doesn't matter. You shouldn't trust any Decepticon, they will lie to you and deceive you, maybe beat you up a little bit, and they may also capture you against your will. That ain't what we Autobots do though. We're the good guys. Just so you know."

Starscream rolled his eyes. "I've heard this already. Now, what are those things you pulled out?"

Wheeljack facepalmed. "Right, those. Here," he said and handed something over to Starscream. "Try to get these apart."

Starscream studied the thing in his servos. It was a pair of small metal rods bending in strange ways. They seemed to be locked together, but at the end of each rod, there was just a tiny opening between the tips and the main body of the rods. Apparently, they were supposed to come apart somehow. Should be easy enough.

Starscream started moving one rod towards the hole on the other rod, but found the hole was too small for the rod to pass through, probably why they were so well locked together. He turned the rods so both openings were going towards each other. Only, he found that the physique of the rods prevented the holes from passing through each other. Starscream hummed and looked at Wheeljack, who still stood and watched for some reason.

Before Starscream could ask, Wheeljack spoke. "It's called a metal puzzle," he explained. "All four, wait..." He pulled another item out of his subspace and placed it on the table. "All five of these items are metal puzzles. You have to find a way to get them apart without using brute force, and once they're apart, you have to put them back together again. It's a way to exercise your processor and a good way to keep yourself occupied for some time."

Wheeljack backed off, seemingly ready to leave. "Well, I'll leave you to it. I'll go ask Ratchet what time you woke up, but otherwise I'll be in the command center. Holler if you need more puzzles."

"Holler?" Starscream repeated confused.

"Yell, shout, exclaim, call," Wheeljack listed. "You know what I mean. Call me if you need me."

And with that, Wheeljack left the medbay, and Starscream was alone once again.

Alone, but no longer unoccupied.

His attention returned to the puzzle in his servos, and got started, no longer fidgeting or even moving his legs or wings. All focus was on the tiny metal rods, all concentration into getting them apart without using brute force.

After several minutes, he finally managed to get the rods apart. His lips parted to form a smile at his small victory. Then the smile faltered as he remembered he had to put it back together again. Gazing at the other four pairs of puzzles, he decided to put the free rods down for later, instead picking up the next pair of rods to solve.

The second pair was pretty easy to take apart, as both rods were the same shape and required a simple move to get them apart. It was so simple, he immediately put it back together, then took it apart and put it back together again. After doing that a few times, he put the reunited rods back on the table and went with the third puzzle.

The third pair of rods was difficult at first, but once he found out how to solve it, putting it back together and taking it apart again was pretty easy. He put it back together and put it on the table with the other two solved puzzles and turned to the fourth puzzle.

This puzzle was significantly harder than the first one, and it took several minutes to take it apart, seemingly at random, and Starscream had no idea what he had done, so putting it back together would probably be even harder than the first one would be.

So instead he put the seperated rods on the table and turned to the last puzzle. This one consisted of two rods and a ring trapped at the bottom. The rods didn't seem able to come apart despite being movable, so it must have been the ring he was supposed to remove. This puzzle was also hard, though he eventually figured out to move both rods and then move the ring along the rods, then turn the rods again and move the ring further, until finally the ring was free.

Starscream held the ring for a moment of triumph, studying it. It was shiny and gray like the rest of the rods, but unlike the other puzzle pieces it didn't have an opening on its metal ends. They were completely closed, making it a legitimate ring.

As Starscream looked through the hole in the ring, suddenly something appeared in the middle of it. The texture of the walls and machinery in front of him seemed to make out a face, and a rather ominous one at that. The ring seemed to make out its head, some buttons became eyes and teeth, other buttons and crevices made out detailing he hadn't seen before but which looked familiar for some reason.

Suddenly he felt a sting of pain in his head and chest, just like he had the evening before. He put down the ring on the table and grabbed his helm and chest, whilst cringing and groaning, though without screaming this time. After a few seconds of agony, the pain subsided. Starscream vented and slowly removed his servos, first from his chest and then from his head.

What was that face he had seen? And why did he suddenly get such a surge of pain, seemingly at random? Perhaps Ratchet was right, he wasn't fully recovered yet and not fit for flying yet. Though he wasn't sure what required him to be 'fit for flying' as he couldn't exactly remember how to fly. All he knew was that he wanted to fly, he needed to fly.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Starscream returned his attention to the seperated puzzles, working on putting them back together again, waiting for Ratchet or Wheeljack to return.