Chapter Twenty-two - Altihex

In the decacycles following, Steeldust did a lot of exploring. Altihex was quite different than Praxus. And different from what he remembered of Polyhex.

Even the mecha were different.

In Steeldust's opinion, a lot of Praxians were a bit snobby. And the mecha he remembered from Polyhex were fairly friendly. But here, well, he wasn't quite sure of his opinion of the mecha yet.

The youngling had noticed that this was a lower caste section of Altihex, so maybe that was why some mecha just seemed to be a little untrusting.

Not that he blamed them.

Something almost everyone knew, or those that cared to know.

The lower your caste was, the lower the quality of life was. And it was harder, sometimes even impossible, to get a good job.

Often enough, mecha would end up on the streets. Homeless.

Other mecha would sometimes try to take advantage of their predicament and steal what little the poor mecha had.

So why wouldn't they not trust anyone?

Steeldust was left by himself while Jazz was working, so he'd often leave their apartment and explore. Jazz had by now taught him quite about how to protect himself and felt confident that Steeldust would be fine on his own.

"Just remember," the investigator had said. "If yer in over yer helm, just run. Ah doubt anyone could catch ya an' the surprise o' yer speed would give ya a head start anyways."

Steeldust smirked as he remembered the conversation. Running fast was never a problem for him. He always had dominated any game that involved a chase.

If someone decided to give him trouble, it wouldn't be any different. It'd only be another game that Steeldust would win.

The more challenging thing for the navy and black speedster would be to find a friend.

He had tried to talk to a few younglings here and there, but they mostly had either been afraid of him or told him to get lost. The latter kind already had their own friends and didn't want to accept a stranger. The former group had likely inherited their creators' fear of other mecha.

Or at least Steeldust hoped that was the case. He didn't think he was scary. No one had ever seemed afraid of him before. Maybe a little intimidated when he was angry, but not scared enough to run away.

Well, except for Wildrider. But Steeldust didn't think the crazy youngling counted.

Neither did the various cybercats and the petrorabbit he'd tried to befriend on various occasions.

The young speedster shrugged. He would just have to keep trying. He hadn't been here that long yet. Not time to give up. Surely, he could win someone's trust.

And if not, he could skip on over to the sector where he'd be going to school.

The youngling frowned, raising an optic ridge. That was a little farther than Jazz said he could wander.

Steeldust would have to wait and see what his guardian thought of that idea.

Until he could ask, he would just keep wandering where he was told he could.

"I-wonder-what-it's-like-to-live-like-a-wanderer," Steeldust thought to himself. "I've-heard-about-mecha-that-do-that-all-the-time. I-think-they're-called-nomads. They-never-settle-down-anywhere. I-bet-they-see-lots-of-cool-stuff. Maybe-to-the-lower-layers-of-Cybertron-even!"

They probably got to travel around the planet with their best friends too.

"I-miss-Blue-and-Smokey-already.

"I-bet-the-loners-that-wander-are-lonely-a-lot. I-don't-think-I'd-like-being-a-wanderer. Not-for-a-long-time-anyways."

Steeldust suddenly stopped. He glanced around him, frowning. He hadn't been this far in this direction yet. He was sure of that.

Quite unsure of everything else about it, however.

The change was almost like someone drew a line, making a strange border through the city.

The difference was almost like oncycle and offcycle.

"This-must-be-where-the-next-sector-meets-this-one," Steel thought, studying the area that began several yards in front of him. "I've-never-seen-anything- Or-anywhere-like-this."

And it changed so-

Immediately.

The buildings across the invisible line were much more worn down and deteriorated. So was the street itself. Steeldust didn't have an alt mode yet but figured that it would be hard to drive on the street.

What was even more strange, was how empty it looked.

Over here, in the sector that Steel lived in, there would be mecha. Sitting out on the sidewalk in front of their house or shop, a few using the road, or just casually walking around like he was. A couple mecha, likely really poor, perhaps homeless, begged from anyone passing by.

Over there, it was completely empty. Completely silent.

It was as if everything and everyone just stopped. Right there at the invisible line.

"Maybe it's some kind of forcefield-shield-thing. Maybe there's something different on the other side that someone is hiding," thought Steeldust, inching closer. He cautiously stepped over to where the two sectors met, waiting for someone to jump out and tell him to go stick his olfactory sensors elsewhere.

No one did. No one appeared.

Stopping again just in front of the line, Steeldust studied it carefully. Up close, the line wasn't as defined as it had looked farther away. But it was still there. The street did suddenly change.

Throwing a look over his shoulder, Steeldust considered what he should do. "I could go ask some mecha if they know what's over there. Maybe they wouldn't know though. Maybe I should just wait and ask Jazz. But I'm allowed to go farther than this, I don't think he'd mind about that..."

Turning back, Steeldust took one more look at the line. Then, he crossed it.

Tensing up, he paused, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

He looked around again. Nothing had changed. It was still dark, gloomy, and a bit on the creepy side.

It looked like something out of those horror holovids that Smokescreen would watch when his creators weren't home.

"I guess there isn't a forcefield thing," mumbled Steeldust. He tentatively kept moving, keeping an extra careful watch for anything dangerous.

"Maybe-Prowl-was-right. Maybe-we-do-watch-too-much-on-the-holoprojector."

After wandering a ways down the street and seeing nothing different, Steeldust decided that he would investigate a building.

"They are abandoned," he said quietly, venturing up to the door of what had maybe been a hotel at some point. "I don't think anyone would care if I did."

Finding the door was unlocked, Steeldust snuck inside, leaving the door open a crack behind him. He paused a few astrokliks, letting his offcycle vision get used to the dark interior.

It did look like an old hotel. The room Steeldust was in was large and spacious, with a huge desk off to the left. A staircase was up ahead a little bit on the right. Garbage littered the floor here and there, gathering along the desk and in the corners of the room.

"I-wonder-how-long-it's-been-since-anyone-was-here-last," wondered Steeldust. The youngling made his way carefully and silently down the hall.

He didn't find much. Just a bunch of empty rooms. Empty except for more garbage and lots of dust.

After exploring the whole ground floor, Steeldust moved to the next one. He was starting to get that eerie feeling again, but curiosity won, and he kept going.

"Huh-I-wonder-why-the-stairs-weren't-very-creaky," he thought. "Maybe-I-just-missed-the-spots-that-are-creaky. Or-I-went-too-fast-and-they-didn't-have-time-to-make-any-noise. Is-that-a-thing-you-can-do?"

Reaching the first door in the hallway, Steeldust tried to open it.

It wouldn't open.

Tilting his helm, he looked the door over, twitching his doorwings as he did.

These were an old style; they actually didn't have a keypad and buttons beside it. They had a weird looking knob that you had to turn. And then the door opened inwards instead of sliding into the wall.

The whole building had these kinds of doors. Even the entrance one was like this. But none of them had been locked or stuck so far.

This building, maybe the whole sector, must be really old.

Placing one shoulder against the door, Steeldust pushed against it as he turned the doorknob.

Nothing budged.

"It-must-be-locked-for-some-reason."

Thinking quickly, the youngling looked about him. Spying a thin piece of wire among the pile of stuff along the opposite wall, he ran over and snatched it up. Returning to the door, he slid the wire into the hole beneath the doorknob.

No clicking sounds.

Wiggling the wire around, Steeldust listened. He'd never tried to pick one of these kinds of locks before but figured it should be easier than the normal kind.

He'd probably get in less trouble for it too.

After a few kliks, the locking mechanisms gave in. With a grin, Steeldust withdrew his piece of wire, sticking it into a chink in his servo plating in case he needed it again. He turned the doorknob and opened the door.

His smile dropped and optics widened at what he saw inside.

Several pairs of optics stared at him.

Steeldust was too shocked to do anything but stare back.

There were five adult mecha in the room, three mechs and two femmes, all huddled in a circle on the floor. Between them, was a large container of some sort with fire in it.

The mecha had almost no paint left on them and looked malnourished. One looked sick. Really sick. Steeldust wasn't a medic, but he somehow knew she probably wouldn't last much longer.

The group stared at the youngling in the doorway, surprised at his sudden appearance.

"Uh, hello?" Steeldust said nervously, finally finding his words. "I'm-sorry-I-I-didn't-know-anyone-was-in-here."

"Did you forget to lock the door when you came in?" one of the mecha hissed lowly, glaring at the one beside him.

"I'm sure I locked it," the accused mech hissed back.

"Then how did he get in here?" grumbled one of the femmes, eyeing the youngling warily.

The second mech shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure I locked it."

"Why didn't we hear him coming?"

"How the pit am I supposed to know?"

Steeldust's helm turned this way and that as the mecha began to argue. Only the sick one stayed quiet, just watching the young stranger.

"He's probably going to go and tell someone we're here. Then, we'll have to find somewhere else!"

"Him? He's just a youngling! Look at him, he doesn't know what to do. He's just standing there."

"Yeah, I see him. See how he actually has all his paint? He's not from around here."

"Which means he's higher caste than us. You know what that means. So are his creators. He might not tell on us, but they will."

"Maybe we can get him to stay quiet."

"Pfft. Younglings blab everything to everyone. We shouldn't let him leave."

"This one doesn't seem that talkative. And how would we keep him here? What would we do with him?"

"Did you hear him before? I couldn't understand a word he said. Was that some different language he was speaking?"

The first mech swatted the third mech in the helm. "No, idiot. He was just talking really fast."

"Did you understand him?" retaliated the mech, rubbing his helm.

"He said- Uh- Umm-" the first one muttered, glancing away.

The sickly mecha looked away from the youngling, facing her companions.

"I understood him. He apologized. He didn't know we were here," she said weakly.

"Yeah, that's what he said," the first mech nodded.

The group turned their attention back to the young intruder.

Who was now right beside their circle.

Startled, they all jumped.

"What was that for? Why are you sneaking up on us, youngling?"

"Why are you even here?"

Steeldust looked at them in turn, then at the one who had asked the last question. "I- I was exploring and- I'm sorry if I scared you. Who- Who are you?"

"None of your business!" one of the mechs hissed.

"Calm down, I don't think he means us any harm," said the healthier of the two femmes, shooting the mech a look.

Steeldust shook his helm rapidly. "No, I don't. I promise."

"So, you're not here to steal from us?" asked the first mech, looking at him suspiciously.

Steeldust shook his helm again.

"Good. Now go away. Before I decide to offline you for snooping around."

"Okay."

Steeldust bolted, leaving in a blur of navy and black.

The mecha stared at the spot where he'd stood only an astroklik ago, listening to the clattering sound echoing throughout the building as the youngling ran down the stairs. The front door closed with a loud slam as the young intruder vacated the building.

"What- What was that?" asked one of the femmes.

"He just vanished! I think he was a ghost!"

"A noisy ghost if he was."

Steeldust ran all the way home, not stopping until he was back in the apartment. He locked the door behind himself and leaned against it.

He didn't know who those mecha were, but he didn't think he'd ever go back there again.

It wasn't necessarily the mecha that had freaked him out. Although the one mech, likely their leader, had threatened to offline him.

It was more the whole experience.

Steel knew that some mecha were really bad off. He'd heard it before. The mecha in his sector weren't doing great or anything. But he'd never met any like the five in the abandoned hotel or seen anything like them for himself.

Never seen someone that close to offlinement before either.

Except for his creators.

Sliding down to sit on the floor, Steeldust wondered if there were more like them.

There had to be.

Why was life so unfair?

Steeldust hadn't realized how different the castes were. He wondered what a high caste mecha looked like. Or how they lived.

How many more new things would he learn in Altihex?


"Bluestreak! There's someone here to see you!"

The grey and red youngling flicked his doorwings. "Must be Smokescreen," he thought.

"I'm coming, Carrier!" he yelled.

Bounding down the stairs, Bluestreak ran through the house until he got to the front door. His carrier was waiting for him, smile wide.

"He's outside waiting for you, Blue'," she said, gesturing to the door. "Go ahead, he's already spoken to me."

"Okay."

"Smokescreen usually comes right in. I wonder why he's waiting outside," Bluestreak wondered. "Maybe it's not Smokescreen. Carrier would have said it was."

Confused, he walked over and opened the door.

"Hey Blue'."

Bluestreak's faceplate lit up as he launched himself off of the front step, tackling his visitor.

"Steeldust! You're back!"

"I'm back," laughed Steeldust, struggling to get out of the tight hug his best friend was giving him. "Blue', I'm not gonna disappear, you can let go! Ow, you're squeezing me!"

Bluestreak let go and stepped back. "Sorry, Steeldust! Why are you here? I mean, it's not that I don't want you here. I'm really glad to see you!"

Steeldust crossed his servos and smirked down at him. "It's your ninth creation orn in a couple orns. I wasn't gonna stay in Altihex for that, silly."

Launching himself at the speedster again, Bluestreak practically yelled, "So you're staying in Praxus for a few orns?"

"Yeah. Jazz and I are staying at Prowl's house-"

Bluestreak let go of his friend again and ran inside. "Carrier! Steeldust is here and he's staying for a few orns."

"I know, Sweetspark. He told me already," the femme said from the kitchen. She smiled, shaking her helm as Bluestreak bolted back outside.

Steeldust twitched his doorwings and dodged the oncoming Praxian. "Wow, Blue'. How many energon sweets did you eat this orn? You're more hyper than me."

"I'm glad you're here!" Bluestreak said, practically bouncing in place. "It's been decacycles and decacycles since you left."

He then stopped, thinking of something.

Steeldust tilted his helm, knowing the look on his friend's faceplate. "Blue'?"

"We have to go tell Smokescreen!"

And with that, Bluestreak was off, running down the street.

Watching him for a few astrokliks, the small speedster tilted his helm, optic ridges furrowed.

"Hey Bluestreak! Smokescreen lives in the other direction!"

"Oh! Right! I forgot!" came the reply yelled back.

Steel shook his helm and grinned. He'd missed Blue'.

Internally, he wondered if Smokescreen would be this excited. If he was, he probably would show it differently.

Bluestreak came bounding back and the two hurried off. This time, in the right direction.

The whole way, Bluestreak talked about all that had happened while Steeldust had been gone. The speedster was quite content to let him do the talking. He had missed Praxus and didn't really have any interesting things to tell Bluestreak about Altihex.

At least, not ones he felt that Blue would like to know. Or that he himself wanted to tell.


Thanks so much for reading!

Credit Song: Sorry all, couldn't think of a good one.