Chapter 7
Urgh. My head.
Alexis shuffled with the others down the huge passage into the hall. The lights this morning seemed far too bright. Her head was pounding and her throat was dry. Beside her, the others winced and groaned as they made their way into the vast space.
A young man named David drew level with her.
"How are we bearing up this morning?" he murmured, rubbing his bleary eyes, the ghost of a grin on his face.
"Rough as a badger's arse," she whispered back. He snorted with laughter, then winced and rubbed his head.
"You should have got painkillers when you brought back all that booze, Alexis."
"I'll put it on the list for next time," she moaned.
It had been a week since Starscream had allowed her to go out with the others to choose food for herself and the slaves. She still couldn't believe he had let her. That night in the quarters, people had gasped in delight as they rummaged through the bags to find not just food, but new clothes, sweets, toiletries…
At first they hadn't dared to wear the things in front of the decepticons, certain they would snatch them away. But nothing had been said, and slowly, people had replaced their rags with soft, loose, new sweats and t shirts, pulled socks onto their cold bare feet…
He must have noticed. He may not pay the humans much attention, for he still treated them as if they were unworthy of it (which was fine by them). But he wasn't stupid. Alexis watched warily for the cruel bully in him to emerge, as slowly, a change began to come over his slaves. Their faces were cleaner and brighter, they still moved quietly and flinched at the sight of the robots, but occasional small smiles began to replace the pinched visage of misery and fear they had worn before. But the days went by, and if Starscream had noticed, he had, amazingly, let it pass.
The alcohol that Alexis had brought had lain untouched for a while, the others shaking their heads at her sheer audacity in bringing it back. But last night corks had popped, and the mesh of the cages had served nicely as a bottle opener... the sounds of laughter had rung through the slave quarters, for the very first time. If you had ignored the surroundings, Alexis had thought to herself, you could almost believe you were back in the pub at home… as people joked and snuggled together, discussing football teams, and arguing the merits of real ale against lager…
Enslave us if you like, she had thought happily, in a red wine mist of contentment. But we find ways to endure and thrive.
Only this morning, it wasn't feeling like it had been such a great plan.
They emerged into the hall, and moved towards the piles as they always did, to begin the salvaging. As Alexis wandered towards a pile, noticing with idle interest they had brought in a London Tube train for them to dismantle, she caught sight of Starscream standing down the far end, his minicons cleaning his armour. He caught her gaze, and beckoned her over imperiously.
She groaned. Not today, Starscream. If you pick on me today, my head will explode…
Starscream watched her approach down the large hall. She was yawning, her eyes still full of sleep. He noticed she had changed her garments- she was wearing black leggings and a large sweater that swamped her. On her feet were woollen tubes, her toes peeping out. Her dark brown curls were messy.
Starscream knew humans were, by and large, social animals. They huddled together in groups, seeking whatever pathetic comfort they could. That surely is what comes from being such a weak species, he thought to himself amusedly.
Oh, he certainly hadn't failed to notice the change she had wrought since she had been dragged here and thrown into slavery. She somehow had a knack, more than other creatures of her kind, to reach out to others, to make allies, no matter what the circumstances. He had seen the way the other humans looked at her, with admiration and friendliness. He had never even bothered to closely observe the creatures under his command here, yet they cowered and shrank from him, even when he was on the other side of the room. But Alexis… he had nearly crushed her on more than one occasion, taken away her freedom, threatened her friends and family… and still…
She annoyed him, she enraged him, she fascinated him…
As he watched her reach the metal ladder, she paused with one hand on the bottom rung, and groaned as if an epic mountain climb lay before her. Finally she emerged on the table top, frowning and rubbing her head.
Alexis sighed, and gathered she would be joining the minicons in their cleaning task today. A huge vat of greasy stuff was on the table. Better get to work. I'm never drinking again…
His voice sliced through her aching head like a blade, making her jump.
"You don't seem yourself today, Alexis."
His tone was obscure. Alexis squinted up in Starscream in surprise. Like you care?
"I… I'm… fine, Starscream."
Just really, really, really hungover.
Then a huge hand appeared in front of her, palm up. It was quite a few seconds before she realised he wanted her to get on. She stared at him. Whenever Starscream had wanted her at optic level, he had simply grabbed her, and not gently. Since when do you politely offer your hand?
"Get on," he growled impatiently. Alright, maybe 'polite' was pushing it a bit…
Hastily she seated herself on his palm, legs dangling. He raised her until she was level with his fearsome stare.
Alexis fidgeted nervously on his hand. She was beginning to wonder what this new game was, when a red light blinded and engulfed her, thin lines moving over her body. She jumped.
"What… hey!"
He was scanning her. She didn't even know he could do that! Oh shit, can he tell I'm hungover? Do transformers even know what a hangover is? Why does he want to scan me?
"Slight dehydration…" Alexis held her breath. He grunted and lowered her to the table top. "You'll live."
It was impossible to tell whether or not he saw this as a good thing.
The next day they were all yet again trawling through the heaps. Alexis' mind was turning over and over, and it wasn't from another night of excess. Starscream's behaviour yesterday… it was odd, to say the least. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought it was perhaps the closest a decepticon could come to consideration for another, and this was Starscream, who had destroyed half a city in his pursuit of her and Sari, crushed a person under his heel right in front of her, not to mention conquered and subdued an entire continent, perhaps the world…
That was a query that was never far from people's minds- how widespread was the invasion? Was it the entire planet? They had no way of knowing, having had no media for months, no way of communicating except through gossip, being an island they couldn't even easily get to mainland Europe… although people whispered about ferries trying to leave for France, or people setting off on foot through the Channel Tunnel… and not getting far. Rumours, rumours, that was all they had.
"My thought is that it is the whole world," said Hugo gloomily as they dismantled a motorbike between the two of them. "I mean, no one's come to help us or fight back, have they? At least, not humans…" he dropped his voice and leaned closer to Alexis- "Do you think these autobots exist? Have you ever seen one?"
She opened her mouth to reply, but just then spied a small, red, boxy figure haring across the room towards them, weaving between the towering legs of the tables and work-surfaces. It was Frenzy. He sprinted right up to them, vaulted a pile of broken car parts and slid down the pile to join them. Around him the group stared, warily.
"Hi guys," he gabbled. "I just thought I'd come over here and see how my human buddies are doing…"
"Frenzy? You alright?"
Frenzy was no threat to the humans, being so small, he was regarded with contempt by the other decepticons, and as such, Alexis felt a faint sense of camaraderie with him, even if he talked enough for two... He had never approached the area where the humans worked before though.
"Oh, yeah, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good…" Frenzy grabbed a spanner. "So, what does this do?"
The ground trembled, and Frenzy's optics suddenly dilated in terror. "Oh…."
"Shit?" supplied Hugo helpfully.
Frenzy's mouth moved helplessly. "…Yeah…" he managed.
"FREENNNNNZYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Frenzy yelped in terror and clung to Alexis. "Help me!"
"Wha… get off me!"
"No no no you see this makes sense because he actually seems to like you don't ask me why because you're a human no offence what I'm saying is he might not crush me if I'm attached to you…"
Frenzy was truly living up to his name, babbling at top speed, whilst the ground shook again, then Starscream appeared in the doorway. He spotted his quarry amongst the humans. "FRENNZZY!" he roared again.
Alexis blanched. "Whoa. You've really ... made him... angry... Shit!"
As Starscream thundered across the room, the humans scattered, terrified, although Frenzy was clinging to Alexis so tightly she really didn't have much of a choice but to stay with him. In seconds the Decepticon towered over the pair of them, optics blazing.
"WOULD YOU CARE TO REPEAT WHAT YOU JUST RELAYED, GREASE STAIN?"
Frenzy eyed Starscream beseechingly. "Please boss, I'm just the messenger, just the messenger… Aaargh, no!"
Starscream plucked the casseticon from Alexis' arms, and now straightened up to his impressive height, the unfortunate Frenzy dangling from his thumb and finger by one spindly leg.
"Oooh, this is high up, this is really really high up…." he whimpered.
"I DON'T WANT THAT TURNCOAT SLIME-SUCKING EXCUSE FOR CIRCUITY ANYWHERE NEAR ME!" roared Starscream.
"Megatron's orders!" squeaked the upside down bot, swinging helplessly.
"Well, you should have made it clear that I wouldn't be receiving him," hissed the seeker.
"I can't challenge Megatron! He... He'd scrap me!"
"Which is exactly what I'm going to do," snarled Starscream, tossing the bot from one hand to the other, ignoring his shrieks. "Looks like you just can't win, eh Frenzy?"
And with that he let go, and Frenzy plummeted back down to the floor, landing next to Alexis in a crashing heap.
The jet dusted off his hands, casting a contemptuous glance down, before turning on his heel. The floor shook as he stomped away.
Slowly people re-emerged from wherever they'd hidden, wiping away the cold sweat. Alexis lowered her arms from where they'd been wrapped around her head, and turned to Frenzy, who had amazingly picked himself up, along with a handful of small parts that had come away on his landing. She held out her palms in front of her. They were shaking.
"Well, that could have gone worse," Frenzy said happily.
"Could have gone… are you insane? He could have killed you!"
"What… Screamer? Nah, he's done worse, and he always gets bored of bashing you about eventually…"
"Give me strength…" Alexis leant against the wall. "What was all that about, anyway?"
"Hmmm? Oh, Thundercracker is visiting, any day now… but Megatron has sent along Sideways to oversee something, and he and Screamer don't exactly get along... something about a progress report... blah blah blah, I don't know, I don't get told important stuff…"
"Thundercracker?" Alexis shivered. "He sounds like a real sweetheart…"
"Well, he's OK," chirped Frenzy, the sarcasm whooshing over his head. "Sideways is another tank of space barnacles completely though." He glanced at Alexis. "You humans had better watch yourselves when he arrives." He trotted off with his arms full of bits to re-attach.
"I don't think my heart can take much more of this…" a nearby woman panted, hand on her chest.
Alexis nodded in agreement, staring into space. Her mind reeled from all there was to think about. "I need a drink," she said.