Chapter Four
13th December, 2005
"Can I go now? I mean, seriously, Aid, how long do I have to be stuck in here? I'm fine! Run a systems check if you don't believe me!!"
"Its not that I don't believe you Sunstreaker, its just your linkage took a rather large jolt from the force of your fall… as strange as such a small fall could cause such a big jolt… but none the less, I just want to keep you at least one more rotation to be sure that whatever issues you had don't flare up. And, as I recall, you were having trouble with initiating your recharge cycle, and that your sensors were acting up, so at least now you're here I may as well look into those queries".
The young doctor looked over a pile of digipads as he stood at the end of Sunstreaker's berth. The golden twin just sighed, crossed his arms over his chest plate and slumped backwards into head of the bed, which was sat up at a 45 degree angle. He had to admit it was pretty comfy, and he was getting out of patrol, which lately had been very, very mundane given the 'Cons had so many problems of their own they hardly had the time to go gallivanting around the smouldering remains of Autobot city.
"Well, I'll be in the next room; I've got to start sorting out the stock. We received a whole host of supplies today and I can't wait to see what's in it!!"
"Oh, right, great, have fun, doc".
Sunstreaker seemed less then impressed. The doctor left him to his thoughts and exited through a side door.
The twin stretched his legs out and wriggled what would pass as toes as he noticed how boring it was to be conscious in this place. At least when Ratchet was alive the surgeon was so riled up that every second in spent in repair bay was exciting and amusing… of course, it was only actually when he, or his brother, or one of the other "regulars" that Ratchet got riled. Whenever Bumblebee or Perceptor or Skyfire got injured it was the best of care with at least a watered down version of Ratchet's trade mark bedside manner. Sunstreaker grinned to himself, placing his hands up behind his head as he recalled an event where he and his brother, while injured and laid up in Ratchet's repair bay, managed to magnetise every medical instrument the surgeon had and then take turns throwing it at the cantankerous doctor.
Sunstreaker picked up the remote that was sitting on the bench next to his berth and he flicked on the TV. The satellite connections hadn't been finalised and repaired yet, so the med bay still only got human channels and none of the good stuff from other mechanical words. He found himself mindlessly flicking through the fleshy stupidity that passed and "prime time television", he thought the phrase was rather amusing, and for the longest time believed it actually had something to do with their former leader, turned out it didn't. There were only three channels he got with sparkling clarity and another six that were blurred beyond comprehension, but had sound, and four more that had some visual but whose sound was rather garbled. He settled for one of the clearer pictures, a news show that was talking about some war that had started in some human nation that had been started by the Americans. He was not one to follow human politics given he thought they were all stupid little blobs who weren't worth his time… okay, so Spike was okay, and Carly was pretty cool, Chip was a total nerd, but his brains had saved their arses on a few occasions… Sparkplug, well, they had their differences, but at least he was fully mature and weren't a complete idiot or a pansy, Spike and Carly's offspring… Daniel… well, that thing was just strange. One of the humans was harping on about how the war was unjust and that there were no super weapons of any description in said country that had been invaded and another human was saying they were there, they just had to look hard enough and another human was going on about how regardless of super weapons, democracy was needed.
"Primus, humans sure have squeaky voices".
He said to himself as he flicked over to one of the other clearer channels. It was a cartoon, there was a very ugly little human boy, hanging out with a blond haired surly looking girl and a character who was from human mythology known as the "grim reaper". He couldn't remember the name of the show, but his brother absolutely loved it. The golden twin managed all of five minutes of it and then finally, he gave up on it. If he thought the humans who were ranting about the war had squeaky voices, these little hand drawn humans were even worse!! Though, the beating the grim reaper dolled out on that ugly little boy was rather amusing. He uttered a chuckle before flicking back to the war discussion. The fattest human, harping on about the unjust nature of the war, was half way through a rail about oil when the TV suddenly went dead.
"Oh great! Now how will I ever function without knowing the outcome of this debate?"
He sighed sarcastically as he put the remote down on the side bench.
"Piece of slag".
He crossed his arms over his chest and lent back against the head of the berth.
WHAM!
The whole head of the bed slammed back against the support structure, leaving the golden twin flat on his back.
"What the hell?"
"What's the matter? What's happened? Are you okay? Sunstreaker?"
The medic appeared in the door looking flustered.
"Nothing, Aide, just the crappy equipment you got here!"
"Excuse me?"
He asked, not offended, just concerned.
"Well, first your TV crapped out on me, and even before it only got three channels".
"That's odd, the TV worked fine this morning, and you should be able to get at least 50 human channels with clarity".
"Well, you're welcome to try… see… look, nothing!"
The twin held the remote at the TV flicking a few buttons, nothing happened. He handed it across to the doctor who pressed a button bringing up a screen with two humans engaging in pre-interface behaviour.
"Now, I know you're bored, Sunstreaker, but could you find some other way to amuse yourself. Perhaps you could rest some more, actually, I recommend it".
The doctor said as he flicked through several channels, all of which were working perfectly.
"Do you want your head up a notch?"
The surgeon asked as he placed the remote down on the small bench.
"Yeah, sure".
The twin replied, a little grumpy, but at least the TV was working.
The doctor adjusted the berth, smiled politely and then left.
Sunstreaker picked up the remote and aimed it at the TV, he flicked it through channels of static, several of which had been fine when the medic was present.
"Oh, stuff this!"
He growled, as he lent over to turn it off manually and then placed the remote on the table.
--
"…and reduce the company to four main brands, this of course, will mean plant closures throughout the United States, angering workers' unions".
Sunstreaker's optics flickered online and he sat up to see where background nose had come from.
"…some believe this is another step closer to bankruptcy and share holders are angry at not having information about this merger and disillusion of brands prior to the announcement".
The TV… but he'd turned it off.
The medic was no where to be seen.
"First Aid?"
Nothing.
"Doc?"
Silence.
"You there?"
"…the governing board has reported that if people want this company to retain its iconic status in America and not move all operation overseas, then this is the best option to take".
"I don't care what you say, Aide, this TV is rubbish, but I guess the saying is true, you get what you pay for".
He grumbled as he turned off the TV again.
He hadn't even lay back when it flicked on again.
"…I know he was your life partner, Josh, but he's gone, you have to move on, he'd want you too! And I want to move on with you!"
"What the…?"
The twin turned it off again at the actual machine.
But sure enough as soon as he was back against the berth it flicked on.
"…and the Tigers trailed by five at half time, only to come back in the second and claim the Woodlyn trophy".
This time Sunstreaker got off and actually pulled the plug out of the wall.
"…but you made one big mistake, Mr. Gotten, the chewing gum, you left it under the table and we were able to get both a print and the unique imprint of your tooth… you're going away for the rest of your life, Mr. Gotten".
"What. The. Pit?"
Sunstreaker stood there holding the power cable of the TV while the thing continued. What got him was that when you turned the TV off and on again it would remain on the last selected channel. Something was really wrong. He flicked the cord down and went to the TV.
Or it was battery operated.
If he had blood, it would have chilled when his scans revealed no battery, no remote receiver and not an amp of power passing through its primitive circuits.
Suddenly the TV flicked off just as the doctor walked in the room.
"What are you doing up Sunstreaker? Now, I may not be as strict as some of the previous medical staff but I wont' tolerate you up and about until we've cleared you medically, understand?"
"But Aide, your TV its totally…"
"Totally cheap, yes, I know, I've already had three complaints from Springer, Rodimus and Jazz as to the poor sound and colour quality of this thing, but its all I've got. Feel free to donate one if you'd like, now back on the berth".
He pointed, trying to be stern, but failed. However, the twin did concede and climbed up.
First Aid plugged the TV back in and then left to work in the side room again, the twin tried to settle back into some form of recharge, if only to escape the weird television.