"I was a construction worker before they sent me here," a mech was telling Megatronus. Mecha here didn't normally like to talk about their pasts, but pasts fascinated Megatronus, so he kept asking, and eventually a few of the others had started to open up. "I ran out of work, though, and I had heard there was always work in Kaon, or at least that everyone had energon. I thought I'd help build buildings or something… but I ended up in debt, and when the collectors came around and I couldn't pay, they sent me here. That's where most of us come from. The upper city of Kaon is better than down here, but to tell the truth, if you live up there, it's only a matter of time before they send you to the mines."

Megatronus had tried to imagine the city, but he had nothing to base it off of. The sun and the stars also, were a mystery to him, though he knew what they were. He hoped he'd be able to see them before he was offlined, but he knew it wasn't likely.

"Shouldn't Kaon be empty then? If they send everyone to the mines?" he asked.

"Thing is," the mech said. "Kaon's got work for everymech, and energon for everymech. Cheap, free-flowing high-grade too. So more mecha come from other cities. And they spread around lies too, that you can get rich in Kaon, that energon's so cheap you don't even need to pay for it. All lies. It's a big trap. Of course, then there are some criminals who get sent here. They hand you a ticket to Kaon sometimes, instead of a death sentence. Because why not? Clench will pay a few credits to anyone who sends him a mine worker, and then they can claim they aren't killing as many. And he's got deals with all the big important mechs in the Councils anyway."

"What kind of deals?" Megatronus asked.

The other mech shrugged. "I don't know. Deals deals. I'm just telling you what I heard."

"So you don't actually know?"

"Who do you think I am? I've never even met Clench or even any of the mine supervisors or anything. I'm just telling you what other mechs told me before I got sent here."

"Oh."

"You're the one who doesn't have memories, isn't that right?"

Megatronus nodded. "I can't remember anything before waking up here."

"That's glitched," the mech said. "I guess there's no way to find out who you were now."

"No," Megatronus said. "You think it's possible any of us will get out of here?"

"I doubt it." The mech said.

"So before Kaon, where did you live?"

"I lived in…"

A sudden shout was followed by an enormous sound that drowned out everything else. Megatronus was knocked off of his pedes by something he couldn't see and a wave of blistering heat washed over him. If he'd had any paint left on his back, it would have been burned off.

He got to his pedes and turned around, trying to see what had happened. One of the drills was in pieces all over the place, and there was a jagged hole in the wall where a cave of energon crystals had been.

Miners got up, moaning, many burned and some leaking. Photodraft had been a little closer than Megatronus, and hadn't gotten to his pedes yet. Megatronus hurried over to help him up.

"Photodraft, are you all right?"

Photodraft nodded, then surveyed the scene.

"All right!" Spiral called from farther away. He hadn't even been knocked over by the explosion. "Gather the dead. Drag them out here. Any mech who can't stand up gets left behind at the end of the shift. I need a helm count."

Megatronus took a step forward, but Photodraft grabbed his arm. "Where's Rivet?"

Megatronus looked out over the standing mechs. None of them were small enough. He shook free of Photodraft's grasp, and rushed toward the center of the explosion, looking for a frame that was Rivet's size.

"He's here!" Treadline waved Megatronus over, and he and Photodraft rushed to Treadline's side. Rivet lay, leaking energon. He was missing half of an arm, and the rest of him was burned and melted almost beyond recognition.

"No…" Photodraft knelt beside him. "Rivet… Rivet, you can't do this…"

Megatronus knelt as well, and Photodraft carefully rolled Rivet over so he was face-up and started trying to tie off the smoking energon lines in his arm.

"Hey!" Spiral called. "What's the hold-up over there! Get moving!"

"You two go," Photodraft said.

Megatronus and Treadline left. They dragged a few bodies over to the sidelines, then went back for Rivet and Photodraft. Photodraft had stopped the leaking, but he still looked very worried.

"Ok, now get back to work!" Spiral shouted. "Move it! We've got to make up for that lost pocket of crystals. Clumsy idiots!"

"Come on, Photodraft," Treadline said. "We have to put him with the others."

Photodraft shook his helm.

"There's nothing you can do," Treadline said. "If you don't get back to work, Spiral will come over here and take him away. Let's put him with the others, and then we can take him back with us when the shift's over, all right?"

Photodraft picked his little brother up carefully, and walked with him over to lay him next to the other bodies. Rivet's optics flickered and came online. He was still alive.

Megatronus stared at the line of dead frames. They had lost nearly half of the group. He knew some of them by their designation.

Everyone who could walk got back to work. Then, at the end of the shift, they stepped over the pile of the dead. Not all of them were all the way offline, but none of them would be getting up again without help.

Megatronus hesitated, then reached down to help a barely-online mech up to his pedes.

"None of that," Spiral said. "If they can't walk, they can't work."

"You don't have to replace them if you don't leave them here," Megatronus replied. "Some of them will be able to walk after some rest."

Spiral came over and shoved Megatronus. Already supporting another mech's weight, Megatronus couldn't stop himself from stumbling. The other mech cried out and Megatronus let him go.

"Leave them here," Spiral said. "That one too!" he shouted, and Megatronus turned to see Photodraft carrying Rivet.

"Please," Photodraft said. "He's my brother, please."

"He was already a waste of energon. Leave him here, he's dead."

Megatronus would have liked nothing better than to strangle Spiral. But he couldn't.

"What do you want?" he asked instead.

"What?" Spiral narrowed his optics.

"What do you want in return for letting Photodraft take Rivet back?"

"You don't have anything to give me," Spiral said.

"You want a promotion?" Megatronus asked. "I've heard you talking about it. I can make it happen."

"No you can't," Spiral said. "Shut up and get back in line before I decide to kill you again."

"Ok," Megatronus said. He turned and walked away. He put an arm around Photodraft's shoulders as he came to his friend, and led him the way the rest of the group was going.

"I said put the dead one back!" Spiral shouted after them.

"I'm not going to," Photodraft whispered.

"Don't worry," Megatronus said. "We're not leaving him here. He'll be fine."

Photodraft shuddered.

Spiral didn't shout after them again.

Megatronus had expected the others to be angry with him. A lot of them knew each other. Some of them had even begun talking to each other, and now nearly half of them were gone. But the mechs around him didn't seem angry. They didn't even seem sad. They had gone back to what they were before, except for the few that had been almost friends with Rivet and Photodraft, who all looked sad. None of them expected Rivet to live, did they?

That irked Megatronus, that they would have so little faith in Photodraft's abilities. Megatronus knew Photodraft, and knew he would do anything for his brother, and that he wouldn't give up. Rivet was going to be fine.

They got back to the place they recharged and Megatronus and Photodraft sat down in their usual spot by the wall. He could feel everyone's optics on them as Photodraft listened to Rivet's internals and gently ran his fingers over the little mech's deformed faceplate.

"Well?" Megatronus asked at length.

Photodraft shrugged, but didn't say anything. That must mean he didn't feel like talking, or that there was something he didn't want to say.

They sat there, while everyone else slipped off into recharge, and waited for Rivet to wake up. They watched him as the next shift approached, listening to the broken, grinding sound of his engine, and thanking Primus for each breem that it kept making noise.

Rivet finally did wake up near the beginning of the next shift. He un-shuttered his optics and tried to sit.

"Lie still," Photodraft told him, gathering his little brother into his arms. "Just lie still, Rivet."

"Photo… Photodr…draft?"

"Yes," Photodraft said. "I'm right here."

"What ha… happened?"

"There was an explosion. You were hurt, but you're going to be all right, ok? You're going to be just fine."

Rivet smiled. It was wavering and it stretched his warped faceplate in strange ways.

"You're going to be fine," Photodraft said again, rocking back and forth. "I promise. Just rest for now, and you'll be all right."

Rivet shuttered his optics again and didn't say anything else, but Photodraft kept rocking, and kept promising him he'd be all right, until Spiral showed up to get everyone up.

Mechs stood, and stretched. A few came over to ask if Rivet was still alive.

"We're going to need to leave him here," Megatronus said to Photodraft. "Just set him by the side."

"What if they take him away during the shift?" Photodraft asked.

"Well, they'll take him away if we bring him," Megatronus said. "I'm certain of that."

Photodraft carefully laid Rivet by the wall and then followed Megatronus out into line. They were the last two

"Rivet needs energon," Megatronus said quietly. "What are we going to do about that?"

Photodraft shrugged, glancing back again at where his brother lay.

"We can't keep the container. They make sure we don't, I've seen them counting."

"We'll figure something out," Photodraft said, but he sounded… hopeless.

"Hey," Megatronus said. "Rivet's going to be ok."

"What if he's not?"

"Don't say that. He'll be fine. He's made it so far."

Photodraft nodded. They got through the line and were faced by several of the other mechs, regarding them seriously.

"What?" Megatronus asked.

"Here," one of them held out an old, tarnished metal bottle. "We all pitched in a little. It's for Rivet."

Photodraft took the offering and looked into it, then poured about a quarter of his energon in and handed the bottle to Megatronus. It was about halfway full of energon. More than one shift's rations. Megatronus followed Photodraft's example and poured about a quarter of his in, then drank the rest and handed the bottle back to Photodraft.

"Thank you," Photodraft said, then looked down, shaking with emotion.

"It's the least we could do," the mech said, and Photodraft subspaced the bottle. They went down to start their shift.

It seemed to last longer than a normal shift—stretching on and on while Rivet could be dying. But finally, eventually, it was over. They all walked back quickly. Megatronus could remember a time when the only reason these mechs noticed Rivet was to steal his energon. Now they cared about him, even the ones who wouldn't admit it. It was proof that that was possible, proof that Megatronus wasn't wrong, and that caring was really more powerful than fuel.

Rivet was conscious when Photodraft knelt over him and pulled out the bottle of energon.

"Photodraft?" he said. "Photodraft, it's too hot in here."

"Shhh," Photodraft picked Rivet up.

"Where did you go?"

"I went to work. But I've come back, and you're going to be all right. I have some energon for you."

Rivet shook his helm.

"You will take it," Photodraft said.

Megatronus watched as Photodraft carefully lifted Rivet's helm and poured a trickle of energon past his lip plates. Rivet coughed and Photodraft waited for him to swallow, then gave him a little more. Rivet did look a little better after he'd consumed about half the energon in the bottle. He even sat up for a few breems. He asked where the energon had come from, and when Photodraft explained that all the other mechs in the group had pitched in a little, he insisted on thanking them all personally. Then he slipped back into recharge. Photodraft curled up around him, and Megatronus kept watch by himself until the next shift.

Rivet was well enough to walk when Spiral came to wake them all. He got in line behind Photodraft, and got his own energon. By the time they got to where they were working, Rivet's stamina seemed spent, but Megatronus and Photodraft encouraged him to keep going because if he stopped he'd be in trouble.

Megatronus carried him back at the end of the shift, and then—having missed recharging twice—wasn't able to stay awake to keep watch again.

The next time Spiral got them up for the beginning of their shift, they had twelve new mechs. Some of them had the newness of mechs from outside—others had just been transferred from other teams.

Rivet wasn't doing so well. He didn't want to get up, but Photodraft dragged him to his pedes and into line, because at this point Spiral was likely to just have him killed if they left him behind.

Some mech—one of the new ones—stole another's energon. Megatronus was too far back in line to do anything.

Rivet collapsed halfway through the shift and wouldn't get up again. Fortunately, Spiral was too busy shouting at the new mechs who didn't know the routine, to notice. Megatronus had to carry Rivet again when they went back.

The mechs who'd started opening up were backing off again, especially now that there were newcomers. Megatronus was too busy worrying about Rivet to care. He was too warm to the touch, and barely conscious when they got back to the place they recharged.

Photodraft took the temp plating off of Rivet's half-missing arm. Underneath was a mess of discolored energon and rust. Photodraft cleaned it out as well as he could, but Megatronus could see the fear in his optics.

Rivet tried to say something, but it didn't make any sense. Something about brothers and pain. Photodraft held him, rocking back and forth, for the whole time in between shifts. And about ten breems before Spiral showed up, the light went out of Rivet's optics, and his engine stalled and went silent.

He was gone.

"All right, you slagging scrap heaps!" Spiral said. "Get up!"

Photodraft clutched Rivet more tightly to him as Megatronus got to his pedes. He wasn't sure whether to drag Photodraft up as well or not.

Spiral came over, and stood beside them, looking down at Photodraft coldly. Megatronus held out a hand to help him up, but Photodraft ignored him.

"Take that thing away from him," Spiral said, and then the other guards came over and shoved Megatronus out of the way.

Photodraft fought them, holding Rivet tightly. He wouldn't let go, even when they kicked and pulled. Megatronus wanted to step in, but something—maybe the scars on his back, or how low his energon levels were—kept him back.

They finally managed to drag Rivet away from his brother, and Photodraft screamed and struggled as one of the guards carried the little lifeless frame from the room.

Then Photodraft went limp, sobbing, broken.

Spiral got his energon whip out. "Get up," he said coldly. The whole room was watching, but no one made any move to help.

Spiral brought the whip cracking down on Photodraft's shoulder, and Photodraft didn't even respond.

Megatronus couldn't hold himself back anymore. He stepped in between Photodraft and Spiral, and reached down to lift his friend from the ground.

"Please don't," Photodraft said. "Just leave me here, Megatronus."

Megatronus hesitated. If he lost Photodraft he'd be alone again. He hadn't thought about that, but he was suddenly terrified. "No. Get up. I need you."

Photodraft sighed and stood on his own.

"Don't get in my way," Spiral warned, and snapped the whip at Megatronus's back. Megatronus got in line, this time making sure he was close enough to the front to stop anyone from trying to steal anyone else's energon. Of course, he also had to make sure Photodraft drank his.

Photodraft was listless, almost lifeless as the shift progressed. Megatronus felt the same way, on the inside. He kept glancing up to look for Rivet, before remembering that Rivet wasn't there anymore.

A mech broke his arm during that shift. He was one of the new ones. He lagged on the way back and sat down as soon as he got in, cradling the damaged limb. As soon as everyone had come in and settled down, Photodraft got up and approached the other mech. Megatronus watched from his spot by the wall. The other mech seemed frightened at first, but Photodraft talked quietly to him, and he calmed down and let the other mech look at his arm.

When Photodraft was done with the repairs, he walked back over to Megatronus, still with that dullness in his optics.

"Photodraft…" Megatronus said. It was the first time he'd tried to talk to him since early that orn.

"I can't stop repairing them. Don't question it."

Megatronus understood. It was what Rivet would have wanted. Photodraft had chosen to keep living even though his brother had died, so he could keep repairing Megatronus and a bunch of other mechs who were also going to die—no matter how many times Photodraft fixed them.

This whole thing was utterly futile, wasn't it? Megatronus would either be offlined himself, or watch all these other mechs go one by one. Why had he tried to befriend any of them? Friends didn't get you anything but sparkache when they died and left you more alone than you were before.

Caring about anything was pointless. He was never going to see the stars. This would be his entire existence, and then one shift he wouldn't come back.

He slipped into recharge, starting to wish that he was dead already.