Bella looked at the red Ford GT with the white stripes. She had talked to the parking lot attendant, given him ten more dollars, and Raoul now had a place to keep the car for the rest of the week. Bella knew Paul, the guy from the parking lot. He was a student at the U, too.
"Just park it in the back," Paul had said when she had gone to fetch the bag.
"Will do."
Now she studied at the sports car, briefly wondering about her sanity, then she nodded at it.
"Hi. I'm Bella. Raoul's friend. I guess you know that already since you've known him for a lot longer than me."
For a second she thought nothing would happen, then the door clicked open. She hesitated another two seconds, then slipped inside. The door closed, but it didn't lock.
"Thank you for letting Raoul stay the night," a rather male sounding voice said. It was a pleasant voice, deep and calm.
"No problem. You're Drift, right?"
"Yes."
"Okay, Drift. Paul says you'll have to park in the back. The cheapo spots. You think we can fake that?"
The engine started with a soft rumble. "No problem."
Bella grinned and took the wheel while Drift drove to one of the back parking spots. He killed the engine when he had backed in.
"All right. That went well," she declared. "I'll get his bag and we'll see what we can do about the whole mess tomorrow, okay?"
"If I may say so, you're remarkably calm about this, Bella," Drift said as she grabbed the bag from the back.
"Hey, I'm the next generation. We play cool video games about alien invaders, watch sci-fi, read the internet… and my brother's an alien UFO freak." She shrugged. "You shock me less than little green men would."
It got her a hum.
She smiled. "Anyway. We'll talk this over later. I guess Raoul's dead on his feet and I need to shop for a man in the house. I know he could eat a house back in the days. I guess he hasn't changed."
It got her something that sounded like a chuckle. "No."
Bella looked around the car. "At least he keeps you tidy."
"I object to food wrappers, crumbs, sauce, bottles and cans," Drift replied.
"Good for you." Bella got out and closed the door gently. "You have my cell number?"
"Yes."
"Call if anything happens. You know, someone showing up. Bad guys and stuff."
"You can't help me, Bella. You are human."
"Which is a great advantage sometimes. RPG fanatic talking." She smiled tightly. "Just… call, okay? Don't run. Raoul would be crushed."
The car shifted uneasily. "I couldn't hurt him, Bella. He's my friend."
"Then let a friend help. You rest. Need any kind of fuel?"
"No, thank you."
"Good. See you later."
And with that she walked away, somehow aware that he was watching her. Part of her was a nervous wreck. She had just met an alien life form! Another felt strangely at ease.
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Raoul was out like a light on her couch and since he looked comfortable enough, she let him sleep. Bella dropped the bag next to the couch and went downstairs again. She took her bike, a much beloved trekking bike she used to get to and from the U, and headed for the closest supermarket.
With enough to feed a small army she came back an hour later and lugged it all upstairs. Raoul was still sleeping, so she grabbed her laptop and settled down.
For next three hours she did some internet surfing, even went to the sites her little brother liked to frequent. There were so many stupid and hilarious alien videos on the sites he had mailed her links to, but one site was a bit more realistic. At least it had the whole collection of Mission City caps and videos, as well as more amateur films about various 'sightings' of robots.
Bella finally switched it off and looked at Raoul.
Alien robots.
Wow.
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Eight hours later, with Raoul a lot more awake and alert, Bella was bursting with questions. She wanted to know and she needed to know, and Drift was willing to answer them.
"Where do you come from?"
"A planet called Cybertron."
"Where's that?"
"In a system your kind hasn't even discovered yet. It's very far," was the answer.
"And who created you?"
"We all come from the Allspark."
"Uh… some kind of machine?"
"The Allspark isn't understood."
Bella looked at the red Ford. "So it's not some kind of factory?"
"No. Our sparks rest within the Allspark and are given to a protoform."
"That sounds… weird. And you look like that on your world?" She gestured at the car.
"No. All of us have camouflage circuits. We transscan an object on the world we need to blend in and transform into that object."
"So what do you look like?"
There was a moment of silence and Raoul smiled. "Show her, big guy. In for a penny, in for a pound."
Bella knew she was gaping. She was gaping at an alien robot who had just a second ago been a car. To see it… see the transformation… it was so incredible, so mind-boggling, so….
"Oh my god…" she whispered. "This is fantastic! And he looks hot, too."
Raoul blinked, then laughed. Drift made a quizzical noise. The red optics glowed softly and he didn't look really scary. Okay, so he was big, sixteen feet at least. And while he was bipedal, the face wasn't human. It wasn't too alien either. The red armor contrasted with the silver 'body'.
Smooth and cool and really fantastic.
"Underneath the armor is the protoform, the core of all of us. On my homeworld, many don't really transscan, only add shape to the form," Drift explained. "Warriors usually choose a transformation."
She had so many more questions and they were burning on the tip of her tongue. Bella fought with herself not to gush, but it was hard.
Raoul grinned at her. "I felt the same the first time. Drift is used to it."
She nodded. "I want to know so much…"
"Even more questions?" Drift teased.
Bella was stunned for a second, then laughed. "Yeah. So many. I can't even get them into order my head!"
"Well, right now we have some time," Raoul conceded.
Bella grinned. "Well, if that's not an invitation… So how did the two of you meet?"
Raoul looked suddenly embarrassed and Drift hummed with amusement.
"He tried to steal me."
"What?"
"I was thirteen," Raoul muttered.
"Thirteen?" Bella echoed, aghast. "You never told me you were a car thief!"
"I didn't steal any cars!"
"I stopped him," Drift remarked wryly.
Raoul couldn't believe his luck when he saw the spiffy sports car parked in a dark side street. There were a few other cars around, but they were wrecks and not worth a thief's attention. If he wanted to join the gang, he had to steal something hot and cool. Miguel, the gang leader, had told him that if he wanted in, he had to bring him a sports car. He had to show them that he could do this, that he would be a useful member of the Street Wolves.
His mother had talked to him again and again about gangs and about standing up for oneself, not giving in to the pressure, attending school and getting a degree. She had hopes for him, that Raoul could become a mechanic because he loved cars. His father's scrap yard had been his playground and he had learned a lot about mechanics. But the gang promised so much more. They promised friends and money and support. They would take apart the cars they stole and would sell the parts, then the money was split among the members involved in the car business.
Raoul wanted to be one of the involved ones. He wanted the money. Money could get him everything.
The car he had chosen would really impress the gang and he would become a member tonight. Raoul was sure of that.
Taking out his tools he briefly scanned the street, but there was no one. So he set to work. The door was easily opened, much easier than he had expected it to be, and he slid into the interior.
"Cool," he muttered.
The car had everything and it looked brand new. Raoul started to manipulate the plastic cover underneath the steering wheel, but when it came off there were no cables. He frowned.
Damn. What kind of make was this?
He tried breaking the ignition lock next, but the tool broke off.
Cursing softly, the teen hit the steering wheel in anger.
The doors suddenly clicked shut.
"What the fuck…?" he muttered and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
He pushed against it, tried again, but it remained locked.
"Damn car!" he exclaimed.
"I beg your pardon?"
Raoul yelled in surprise and looked around in panic. There was no one but him in the car. It had to be some kind of new alarm system.
"Open door," he commanded. Maybe the rest was voice-activated, too?
"Why should I?"
He stared at the dash. That sounded… not recorded.
"Open! Door!" he called.
"I'm not deaf, human. I won't open the door. Are you trying to steal me?"
Panic broke out for real now. "What are you? Is this remote? It's not a recording right?" Raoul blabbed. He pushed harder and harder against the door, which didn't budge.
And then the engine came to life.
"What…? What are you doing? Stop! Stop this!"
He drummed his fists against the window, jiggled madly with the opening mechanism of the door, and even tried to move the steering wheel, but the wheel didn't move at all – while they were driving around a corner! What kind of devil car was this?
The car suddenly accelerated and Raoul screamed in terror as they shot through the empty streets, too close to buildings, walls and other parked cars. The demon car suddenly made a 180 degree turn, wheel screeching, and Raoul was flung to the side.
"Stopstopstop!" he begged.
The car came to a sudden stop and he whimpered in relief.
"What is your name?" the voice of before demanded.
"R-r-raoul," he stuttered. "Raoul Vega."
"How old are you?"
"Thirteen," he answered meekly.
"You tried to steal me, Raoul Vega, thirteen years old. Why?"
The engine rumbled deeply, then seemed to grumble at Raoul when the boy didn't answer. He flinched and cowered back into the seat.
"I… it… it was… I wanted to join the Street Wolves."
The machine seemed to chuckle. "Those misguided children? Why?"
"They're cool," Raoul tried to argue and it sounded weak in his own ears. "They have money and they do cool things…"
"Stealing is cool? Hurting others is cool?"
"I never hurt someone!"
"You wanted to steal me, Raoul Vega."
"Who are you?" he cried.
"My name is Drift. I am from Cybertron."
Raoul stared at the dash. "Cybertron?" he repeated finally.
The door suddenly clicked open and Raoul took the chance offered to him. He scrambled out of the car and ran away a few feet, then turned when he heard a strange noise. It was like metal brushing against metal, parts shifting, a strange hum…
And he stared.
He made a soft noise of disbelief, terror and fear… and fell against an old trash can. Before him stood a gigantic robot. The car had turned into a robot that was looking at him with red glowing eyes.
"I nearly shit my pants," Raoul said, looking at Bella with a small smile. "Hell, I guess all of me. I was so terrified."
"I'm glad you didn't," was Drift's wry comment.
"Thing is, as afraid as I was, I also didn't want anyone to share this secret with me. Drift let me go, but I returned. Every day. And he got me back to school, away from the Street Wolves, and while I didn't leave school with a degree, I had learned so much from him by then, I easily got a job and later my shop."
Bella gazed up at the mech, who smiled almost proudly. "You should start social working, Drift. You're good at it."
He chuckled. "Hardly. But Raoul turned out okay."
"Thanks," was the sarcastic comment.
tbc...