Chapter 34 - Separation
(MPOV)
I woke up on high alert, there were vibrations in the ground, trouble. Out of the tent and running in seconds, I came to a screeching halt beside Jetfire.
We stood in absolute silence, on guard.
"Five miles out," he rumbled softly.
"Can you loan me some of your neural fibres?" I murmured just as softly. "I can't build weapons out of my flesh."
Jetfire's spark rumbled for a second before a long string of fibrous wire hung beside me. I took it gently and it fell limply into my hands.
"Thanks," I murmured, quickly pressing it to the base of my neck. A few moments later, it sat coiled around my forearms, glowing faintly in the light of the quarter moon. My senses sharpened. I could feel the night.
"Two miles," Jetfire murmured softly.
"Can you tell how many?" I asked quietly.
"One, a scout. Sounds like it's tracing the energy signals coming from the farm."
I nodded grimly.
We stood silent, my bare feet dug into the sand, feeling the unnatural vibration of something moving in the ground.
Soldiers began shouting as sand erupted in waves thirty feet in front of me.
A metal scorpion burst out at twenty. My arm swung up as I looked it in the optics.
It wanted nothing but murder. A shot of plasma erupted from my hand, catching it in the spark. A bright explosion and it flew backwards, laying still and dead on the sand.
"Good shot!" Jetfire enthused blackly. I dug my feet a bit deeper into the sand.
"Can you feel any more of them?" I asked quietly.
We stood in silence amid the cacophony of tanks roaring to life and orders being shouted. I walked over and looked into the gaping hole of a former spark chamber, nodding.
"Nay," Jetfire finally murmured softly.
"What the hell is that!?" Colonel Baldwin shouted.
"Burrowing scout," Jetfire rumbled calmly, giving the deactivated pile of metal a kick. "It were running quiet, Mikaela deactivated it before it could send out a target signal. You can stand down, there aren' any more in the area. Look at the pitting in it's armour. This one has been here for a while, and fired upon by your weapons."
"Did a deactivation signal go out?" I asked in a wary tone.
"Blocked it," Jetfire stated calmly.
"Nice one," I nodded.
"What the hell is going on!?" Baldwin shouted. I looked at him and coiled the neural fibres around my forearms, walking toward him slowly.
"Everything is alright," I said in a calm voice. "That scout wanted to take out the tower. We stopped it. You can stand down, there aren't any more scouts in the area."
"Bogie didn't even pick up on our radars!" Baldwin exclaimed in an upset tone.
"It were running quiet, did'na even pick up on me sensors," Jetfire shrugged.
"Then how the hell..."
"Did'na pick up on me sensors," Jetfire repeated himself calmly, "tha's no' the only thing I use tae hunt with. Be a pile o' scrap 'fi did tha'."
"Then how..."
"Infiltrator, remember? Seeker. It's m' job t' find things," Jetfire rumbled with a laugh. He looked down at me. "This one though, this one seems ta be growing intae a Prime, if tha's even bloody possible." he scowled and shrugged. "Strange times," he murmured, looking into the distance, "strange times indeed."
"Aw crap," I muttered.
"Hmn?" Jetfire looked down at me.
"What's wrong!?" Baldwin almost shouted again.
"Prime's gonna be pissed if he knew a scout got anywhere near me," I grumbled. "Damn, that'll take a bit of explaining." I walked over to a barrel laying on it's side and sat down, burrowing my feet into the sand and idly playing with the neural fibres. I glanced down at them. "You want these back?" I asked Jetfire calmly, looking up at him.
"Neh, kip 'em."
I nodded and closed my eyes, listening with the rest of my senses for any movement.
"You good if I recharge for a few hours?" Jetfire asked quietly.
I nodded in silence. He transformed and taxied to his newly emptied spot, his spark lowering in volume as he rested.
"Wait, he's sleeping, what happens if-!" Baldwin asked worriedly.
"He's on alert," I said quietly, "I'll be keeping watch for the next few hours while he recharges. Get some rest Colonel. It's been a long day."
The sounds of soldiers walking away and muted conversations reached my ears.
"Friggen weird man," one of the soldiers whispered, "I mean, you see those wires wrapped around her arms? It's like they're alive!"
"They are alive," I said calmly.
"Shit! She can hear us all the way over there!?"
"High alert, gentlemen," I chuckled, lifting my arm. "They are alive in a sense, they've become an extension of my nervous system. Sound is vibration, so is light, I don't need any sort of fancy sensor to pay attention. I can feel the movement, hear the sounds two miles out while I'm hooked up."
"Can I have one?" one of the soldiers asked in fascination. I opened my eyes and gestured him over. A group circled me.
"In theory, yes," I said calmly, activating the neural fibre again, making it glow. "However, when you realize that these are, in fact, running on an alien energy that I began producing several months ago for some bizarre reason none of us have figured out yet, and function by connecting directly to my nerves, I think you'd agree that you'd prefer a sonar." I flashed him a half smile. They looked in shock at the tracery of glowing red beneath my skin, and the bright blue of the metal emerging from my wrists.
"Holy shit, yeah, I'll definitely pass," the soldier shuddered.
"It does take some getting used to," I said gently. "I promise that these won't become a fad, our Medical Officer is constantly frowning about the damage they do."
"Yeah, definitely pass, but thanks for the heads up," the soldier grimaced.
"Get some sleep," I smiled, closing my eyes again. "If anything big starts coming our way I'll wake Jetfire, and the amount of noise he makes waking up will no doubt raise the entire farm from the dead."
"Right," the man nodded. Another sat down beside me.
"So just how sensitive is this thing? And why are your eyes closed?" he asked curiously.
"Well, my eyes are closed because it increases my other senses. I'm listening for errant movement." I murmured, "As for sensitivity, there's a large hare three hundred and ten feet two o'clock."
"Holy shit!" the man whispered. "Would you be offended if I bagged him for stew?"
"What's your calibre?" I asked quietly.
".22 silenced for game," he murmured.
"May I?" I grinned, opening my eyes and automatically tracking the hare.
"You a good shot?" he whispered, handing over the gun.
I weighed it for a second and tracked the hare's movements, not looking directly at it. It thought it was camouflaged perfectly. No fear.
I fired and it fell down, one kick and still.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, I handed him his gun and he ran to the hare, picking it up by the feet. "Fucking head shot!"
"Fresh meat?" another soldier called out with a broad grin.
"Rabbit stew boys!" the first laughed, "compliments of the girl! No seriously! Look at that, one shot!"
"No shit, look at that," a third said in a quiet tone, gesturing to the scorpion now covered in a sand coloured tarp. "One shot."
I closed my eyes with a small smile.
"I am still human," I said calmly.
"You're sure about that?" the third asked skeptically.
"You have a knife on you?" I asked patiently, opening my eyes again.
He handed me a military utility knife. I pulled a lighter from my pocket and heated the blade for a moment before lightly slitting the back of my hand. The soldier quickly collected the small amount of blood before the nanites began sealing up the cut, retrieving his knife.
"How-!"
"You know how on a bunch of sci-fi movies they talk about nanites that'll heal stuff?" I chuckled, keeping my hand in plain view of the dim light, "that's how these guys heal, nanites fed on energon seal and repair any damages. Ratchet re-programmed the ones I play host to to repair the damage that connecting to the neural fibres causes. As a bonus? I heal quickly," I held up the hand where a reddened line denoted where the cut had been. "And once we figure out how to controllably use them on you guys, that is definitely going to be shared around." I smiled and closed my eyes.
"So when I look at your blood..."
"You might see some microscopic robots that will disintegrate once the energon leaves the blood sample. I very much doubt they've changed my genetic makeup, otherwise Ratchet would have removed them."
"Fair enough." the first soldier laughed. "C'mon guys, let's leave her be, I don't know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to listen to people speculating if I were a freak of nature or not."
"Oh but I am," I retorted with a laugh, "We all are in a sense, what gives a squishy compilation of water, carbon, calcium and proteins the ability to walk, communicate and alter it's surroundings? Either nature loves to play with the primordial ooze, or the gods love to create. If you're not going to use it I call the hide on that thing."
"You got it!" the first said with a low laugh, "anything else?"
"It's brains?" I asked with a small grin.
"Awesome," the first chuckled.
"Wait, what?"
"Every animal has just enough brains to tan it's own hide," I stated in a serious tone. I could feel the man nodding.
"I like her," the third voice said brightly, "anyone who takes out a threat, bags some dinner and makes a joke about shit like that is okay in my books."
"Where you going?"
"I wanna see the tiny robots before they disintegrate."
"Sea monkeys all over again," I murmured with a laugh as a half dozen sets of footsteps raced after the third voice.
In an hour the night was quiet, I listened to the vibrations of night creatures, the steady pacing of soldiers on watch. The hum of Jetfire recharging.
The two of us opened our eyes as dawn stained the sky.
"Get a bit o' rest," Jetfire murmured calmly. I nodded and rose, walking to the guest's tent and laying on my cot. I closed my eyes and dipped into an hour's sleep.
(OPOV)
Optimus stood at communications central.
Frozen.
The only thing keeping Ratchet from demanding if he'd glitched: he was still scowling. Lennox was rubbing his face tiredly, and Optimus could not blame the man. Across the world, governments were rising, organizations searching, and the politics?
They were all searching for Kae.
"What we're hearing from the German Government is that the world-wide broadcast was a satellite hacking, the Military has just told us they have assumed condition delta which is the highest level we have been at since 9-11, President Obama is being flown to a bunker somewhere in the middle of the United States in the face of the worst simultaneous attacks ever around the globe. The aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt goes down off the east-coast, all hands lost. World-wide casualties are in the neighbourhood of seven thousand but that number could climb. It's still too early to tell what we need to ask now, is who and why."
On other frequencies, the broadcasts of the FBI, CIA, Interpol... Every agency calling the humans to arms, to look for the femme.
"As yet, there has been no confirmed sighting of Miss Banes-"
"Of course not," Simmons snorted. "She's Quantico trained, they ain't gonna find her 'till she wants to be. Which means we gotta move fast. If we take too long-"
"Then even the seekers won't find her again," Wheelie broke in with a frown.
"What gives you that impression?" Optimus rumbled through his scowl.
"They didn't find her before," Wheelie shrugged.
"She did not have an energonic signature before!" Ratchet growled, not bothering to look up from the servo he was repairing.
Not repairing, more he was sitting and staring at it.
"Ratchet?" Optimus rumbled as gently as he could manage.
The old medic finally looked up.
"I want my assistant back," Ratchet stated quietly. Arcee rolled over to him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. Ratchet nodded to her, and relaxed somewhat as the femme crawled onto his legs, leaning against his chest.
"We all do," Will stated quietly.
(MPOV
I opened my eyes as fingernails scratched lightly on my tent.
Baldwin and a native american stood outside as I walked out calmly. His footsteps indicated it was the soldier who had sat beside me.
"Brought you the skin," the native said with a grin, handing me a small bundle of fur.
"I wanted to make sure you're alright," Baldwin added quietly.
"Thank you, both of you," I smiled. "I don't suppose you have any spare fatigues in stock? This really isn't desert wear," I held out my arms to showcase the now badly torn shirt.
"On it, I'm Bear by the way," the native grinned, I shook his hand firmly before he jogged off.
"Right, unfortunately, seeing as you're a civilian I'm going to need to limit your movements to the tarmac when you're talking to Jetfire and this ring of tents. I can see that you've been well trained at some point, but right now I'm frankly terrified of having you crushed by a tank or something. By the sound of it, your leader is already pissed way the hell off, and will be more so if you aren't actually safe here. But I'd appreciate it if you and Bear could keep the watch when your Jetfire is resting."
"Yes sir," I nodded firmly. The colonel relaxed enormously.
"I was terrified that you'd protest," he said in an easier tone, "I have no idea how to argue with a civilian female who's best friends with..." he trailed off and glanced in the direction that Jetfire was parked.
"Autonomous Robotic Organisms," I supplied with a small smile. "Auto-bots for short.
"Thank you, where was I... best friends with a load of auto-bots, has been half-kidnapped, dragged around the world and threatened by a damned tank not twelve hours ago."
"Well, rather than arguing with me, you could point out where I would find coffee," I smiled, "and if at all possible, I'd like to get kitted out again, I feel frankly naked without a knife at the moment."
The colonel stared at me for a second before bursting out into a hearty laugh.
"You, are making this far too easy, is there anything else? An instruction manual?"
"I'm so sorry," I said with a mocking frown, "I left my instruction manual at home, I guess the main one would be if I start pacing about just let me be, I don't have any of my tools, so if I start going stir crazy I'll probably be pacing around the tents. When that happens I'll be no use to anyone save for keeping the watch."
Baldwin grinned.
"That, makes babysitting you an absolute breeze," he chuckled. "Welcome to SOCCENT, the coffee is in that tent over there. Now what the hell are you going to do with that thing?" he asked as I set the rolled skin in my tent.
"If the cook has any stale tea I'll borrow a bucket and soak it once it's been scraped. Crap, are there any tent pegs or spikes I could borrow for the day?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, Bear'll help you out, he's taken a shine to you, anyone who asks for a part of the beast he takes down that he can't use he adores." Baldwin chuckled, waving the native over as he searched for us.
Bear jogged forward and threw a friendly arm across my shoulders then flinched back, apologizing.
"They don't hurt." I shrugged, playing with the filaments around my wrists. I looked up at the soldiers in the mess tent staring at the wire emerging from my arms and couldn't hold back a laugh.
"Two ways to look at them," I announced with a grin. "Number one they're an extension of me, not sentient by themselves. I control them absolutely." I stated calmly, causing the wires to twist themselves in intricate, frankly pretty designs before they wound themselves delicately around my arms again. "And if that bothers you just think of them as a new-age style of jewelry. Fashion meets function."
Bear stared at me and burst out laughing.
"So what do they run on anyway?" He asked with a broad grin, poking the neural fibre wound delicately around my forearm.
"For some reason my ATP breaks down into energon, the same thing that these guys run on, but here's the thing, energon alone doesn't make 'em. The energon is an extension of the mind and soul. So these are a part of me." To pound in the point I extended the neural fibres to collect a cup of coffee.
"That is actually cool," Bear grinned as I took a sip, I felt my stomach begin to recoil slightly as I surveyed the food.
"Thank you," I grinned none the less, "Now I'm told you're the man I need to see about a knife."
"Oh what, you got those and you still want a knife?" a black man grinned at me from the nearest table.
"Hey, can't help habit." I snorted, nodding to the server with a small smile as he plopped a couple of slices of mystery meat on my tray. "Thank you," I smiled, pulling my tray back slightly.
"This is the desert girl!" the server growled at me. "Your body-"
"Loses a great deal of salt along with it's water reserves," I stated calmly, lightly picking up a water bottle. "Eating too much food in the desert increases your need for water for the purpose of digesting." I smiled up at the man and set my tray down, leaning against Bear with a bright grin. He stood easily head and shoulders above me. "I'm not gonna fight you man, but face it, tiny person, tiny portions."
The soldiers stared at us in silence until Bear burst out laughing.
"Fair enough, that's all you're gonna eat anyway, ain't it?" the man stated in a deadpan tone.
"Yes sir, unfortunately it's all I can manage," I nodded with a half smile and nodding my thanks as he waved me away. I turned and surveyed the tables, a young man grinned and waved at me, indicating the free space beside himself. I walked over and breathed a quiet sigh of relief as Bear cheerfully followed me.
"Hey," the young man smiled at me, I returned it, the smile of a friend. "Corporal Jackson Taylor, at your service marm." He offered me a hand.
"Texan," I smiled at him immediately.
"The accent?" He asked with a shy grin, starting the flirt. I released an inward sigh and decided to play a bit, drawing on Paddy's lessons in reading people.
"The handshake, haven't once yet met a texan who don't offer you his hand," I grinned at him, plopping down between him and Bear. "No matter what amount of dirt, grease or wires I had on my hands."
Jackson grinned and bowed his head.
"Northerner," I added, cocking my head at him.
"Accent?" Jackson asked hopefully, looking at me.
"Cowboy," I winked at him, nudging his shoulder playfully. "Somewhere around the Amarillo area am I right?"
"Family ranch in Channing," Jackson grinned at me. "You from there marm?"
"Nah, well, got an uncle out there somewhere," I shrugged with a small smile. "Never been out there myself though."
"Alright, you got Jax, now try me," Bear grinned in challenge, I turned to him with narrowed eyes, remembering his footsteps.
"Hopi on one side," I muttered, the slight glint of shock in his eyes. "Father, no mother's side. Father is..." I muttered, reading his body language.
"Dude, is she reading his mind?" one of the soldiers whispered.
"Father isn't Navaho, Havasupai?" I asked curiously.
"Holy shit," Bear muttered. There was silence in the tent.
"Now try to guess what I am," I grinned at him. He stared at me incredulously for a long moment before the tent burst out laughing.
"Okay," Bear grinned, narrowing his eyes at me.
"I got this one," one of the men smirked. "Dutch."
"No, look at her eyes man, Chinese," another added indignantly.
"American, come on, listen to her talk," another snorted.
"Native American," Bear protested immediately, "Look, that's a Lakota nose!"
I began laughing at the debating soldiers.
"NO! POOL!" The server shouted, grinning broadly and flourishing a piece of paper. I began laughing fully.
"And supposing I'm gone tomorrow, how do you intend to get any fun out of the pool?" I demanded of the man. I crooked a finger and he handed me a piece of paper and pen. I began drawing a family tree as several people leaned in closer.
"Oh come off it you cheating sots!" I stated indignantly, playfully shoving the men away, "Soldiers don't do inside betting!"
There were laughing groans as soldiers turned their backs. I covered my writing and quickly sketched out the tree, tightly folding the paper into a lotus flower. I handed it to the server with a grin.
"Yo, twenty Lakota," Bear grinned, tapping the pad as the swarm began.
(OPOV)
Optimus paced, his arms crossed irritably as delay after delay passed through the lines of communication.
Kae, his Kae was stuck in a military base, sleeping in a tent with no EM field and over half of her planet having already declared her a wanted fugitive.
And Director Galloway was running toward him again. Smelling of anger and fear.
Again.
Optimus wanted his Kae back, she was a brilliant ambassador, she knew how to deal with the... he stopped that process ruefully, thinking of what she'd say about name calling.
He wanted his Kae back.
"Before you even think of declaring some other thing that will hold us up from getting to my reliant, recognize I am very, very seriously thinking of ignoring my own rule of not harming humans." Optimus growled at the man before he even opened his mouth.
"Like I said, Director," Lennox stated in a weary tone, "we're leaving tomorrow come hell or high water. These guys are very, very serious about protecting the people who depend on them. Whatever you have to say, say it now and get the hell back to your bunker."
"Um... hell or high water," Director Galloway squeaked softly.
Optimus scowled at the man.
"I, um, that is... the President wants your word that..."
"That your cities will not be destroyed," Optimus growled, "we have discovered what the Fallen is after, he wishes to destroy your sun to harvest energon and we will do our best to ensure that that will not happen. If you intend to do anything useful, pray."
(MPOV)
I grinned at Bear as he kitted me out, handing over a nicely utilitarian knife and some decent clothing. As usual, there weren't any boots small enough for me. We walked back to my tent, chatting cheerfully.
"So you've been assigned as my babysitter?" I asked with a wry grin.
"Volunteered. Easy bloody task if you ask me," Bear laughed, carrying the large pail of stale tea for me. I laughed and caught the feel of an animal pacing. I held up a hand and walked on silent feet, Bear setting down the pail and following just as silently.
We caught sight of a dog of some sort, glazed eyes and frothing at the mouth.
I crouched down and sent the neural fibres into the sand. I took a deep breath, caught the scent of illness and sighed.
"Rabid," I murmured sadly, rising carefully and holding my hand out toward Bear.
He carefully pulled out his .22 and handed it to me. I sighted carefully as the coyote made to go into my tent and dropped it.
"What a waste," I sighed sadly, handing Bear his gun and walking toward the dead beast. I knelt down beside it. "Forgive me brother," I murmured, "may your suffering be at an end, and your spirit freely walk the lands of your ancestors."
"We'd best burn him," Bear stated quietly after a moment, waving a rawboned soldier over. He walked like the third soldier from the night before.
"Rabid." Bear stated with a frown.
"Aye, lemme get some blood 'fore you burn 'im," the soldier growled.
"He was tagged," I stated quietly, pointing at the collar on the beast.
"Good, make it easier to figure out what areas he might have infected." Bear growled. He grabbed the desert wolf's hind leg and dragged it well away from the tents.
I shrugged and brought out my rabbit skin, noting with amusement that Bear had wrapped it's feet in with the bundle of fur, evidently the brain had not survived. I grabbed my knife and carefully trimmed the feet, burying them shallowly in the hot sand to let them dry. I staked out the hide and calmly began scraping it. There was a pall of greasy black smoke as the wolf was burned. Bear walked back toward me and sat down in the semi-shade, watching in silence
"Whatcha making?" he asked finally.
"Leather," I grinned up at him, ceaselessly scraping the hide until it was perfectly clean, both the inside and the fur. I picked up a large stone and weighed it down in the tea. I dug out the rabbit's feet and checked them carefully before burying them again in the hot sand.
"Is that all you do to them?" Bear asked interestedly.
"Hot sand dries them out," I smiled, "It's a good way to mummify something, I'd tan them properly but there's only enough tea for the hide."
We sat in comfortable silence for a long minute.
"Thanks, by the way," Bear stated suddenly.
"What on earth for?" I asked curiously.
"For sending the desert wolf's spirit on with dignity, it's always better when the hunter does it, rather than an onlooker," Bear stated calmly.
I smiled at him. He looked at me curiously.
"You do that with all your kills, don't you." he said quietly.
"I try to," I murmured, "but then I don't really make that many kills."
"Good girl," he murmured. We sat and watched the desert in comfortable silence for several hours, talking in the hunters' silence.
Eventually I checked the skin and noted the brown stain of the tea having made it all the way through. I pulled it out and began calmly working and stretching it over a stone. It slowly became soft. I cut it into a long spiral, stretching it more or less straight and cutting it in half as Bear grinned. I threaded the leather across my forehead to keep my hair out of my eyes as Bear did the same.
"I haven't had one of these in months," Bear groaned appreciatively.
"Gotta love the little things," I chuckled. We lapsed back into silence again, I dug my feet into the sand with a small smile and listened to the world go by. The rawboned soldier walked over and sat down on my other side.
"Did you get to see the nanites?" I asked with a small smile.
"Fascinating little piece of construction," the man snorted.
"Which is 'Bones' for 'they were friggen cool." Bear laughed.
"Bones?" I smiled at the rawboned man. "As in Lenard McCoy?"
"Only a Trekkie would get that," the man laughed, "Medic David MacAllister, at your service." he held out a hand, which I automatically shook.
"Biggest grump in a twenty mile radius," Bear added with a grin.
"Never trust a medic who isn't a bit grumpy," I smiled. "It's when he's being quiet that you need to worry."
Bones snorted beside me, crossing his arms just as Ratchet did anytime we tossed our usual backhanded compliments at each other.
I sighed and watched the desert. Missing my mentor.
"That sounds like you've got experience with medics," Bones grunted.
"My mentor, Ratchet, is 42 times my size," I said with a small smile, I glanced at Bones' crossed arms. "But he crosses his arms exactly the same way you do."
Bones snorted back a laugh.
"So when he gets quiet?" he asked with a grin.
"Then I keep doing my job as quietly as I possibly can and I stay alert for the second he tells me to do something. Because when he's quiet you need to get what he tells you to do done yesterday. Lives depend on it."
"Keep that in mind," Bones smirked at Bear.
"Duly noted," Bear snorted. I felt a vibration in the sand and frowned, digging my feet in and listening to the passing tank for a tense second before relaxing. Bear had a hand on the gun slung across his chest.
"Tank," I said quietly, leaning back again and closing my eyes.
"I thought Jetfire was on the watch?" Bear rumbled with a frown.
"This is the first time in over a month that I haven't had the steady hum of either Optimus, Ratch or Bee's spark close by." I murmured, heaving a deep breath. "You never really realize how comforting a simple sound is until it's gone."