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I'll be taking the month of November off from all unnecessary screentime, so that means I won't be updating during that month, so as a treat, you guys get weekly updates for the remainder of October to tide you over.

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Chapter 4: Speech

"Good morning."

Silk's optics onlined, looking up into Velocity's face.

"I did some work on your vocal processor, so let's start slow. Just make a quiet sound to start, like this." She made a quiet humming sound. "Just see if you can control your voice a little."

Silk moved her mouth, feeling it move a little before she quietly hummed.

"Very good!" She sat down, looking around. "Everyone else is on patrol right now, so we have some time to work. Hopefully by the time they get back you can talk a little more.

"Uuuuh."

"Upp, I said let's take it slow."

The groundbridge swirled to life as the rest of the team returned to the base.

"I think they're back." Velocity came out of the medbay. "Hi everyone."

"Is she awake?"

The femme nodded. "And talking."

"What!?"

"Come inside."

The bots came into the medical bay to see the little femme, glancing over at them with her optics, but they could see her trying to move her head a little. "Hhhhhhi."

"Hello, little one." Elita walked over to her, a warm smile spreading across her face. "We are glad to see you awake and doing better. Now, can you tell us your name?"

"Si-si-sillllk Sp-p-pinnnnner."

"Silk Spinner?"

"Uh huh."

Elita smiled, glancing back at the others who smiled as well. "It's nice to meet you, Silk Spinner. My name is Elita One. I'm sure by now you know your doctor, Velocity."

"Mmhmm."

She stepped back as the other two femmes stepped closer. "Hi! My name is Moonracer!"

"I'm Nautica! We're so happy you're doing better! I'm making you some stuff to help you recover."

Silk smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

"By the way?" Moonracer grinned, "Can we call you 'Silk' or 'Silky'?"

"Nnnno S-s-silllllkyyyy."

"Ok, so Silk then. We're happy to have you, Silk!"

Kup stepped past them, looking over the curious youngling. "Name's Kup."

"Don't let his grumpy face fool you," the green mech came forward, leaning on Kup's shoulder, "he's a softie inside. Name's Hound. Nice to meet you, Silk."

"Who are you calling grumpy!?"

"With that resting face, you always look like you're going to yell at someone."

"Shut up!"

Silk silently giggled as the red seeker stepped in front of them as they began to playfully bicker. "I'm Star Saber. We are all so happy that you're alright."

Silk couldn't help but smile wider.

This greeting was so much better than any interaction she had with Flamewar or anyone on Team Stream.

Elita turned around to everyone. "Now, I'd like to talk a little with her. Saber, you and Velocity stay here. The rest of you can come back a little later." She looked over, seeing fear immediately surface in Silk's optics, the youngling instinctively curling up on herself. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you, we just want to talk and find out a little more."

Waiting until the others left, Elita sat down. "I know talking is hard, but we want to know why you were with the Decepticons. Were you there by choice?"

"Y-y-yes…" Her mouth opened to speak more, but only a few squeaks came out.

She wanted to say more.

"Slow down. Relax." Saber gently put a hand on her shoulder plating. "You were in the medical bay when Elita found you, strapped down and hooked up to a cortical psychic patch. Did you choose that?"

"No."

"You were their prisoner?"

"Y-yes."

Velocity's optics softened more. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about explaining details. We will wait until you can speak more."

Velocity looked down at her. "We might be able to get her voice back to nearly perfect working order by tomorrow. Mentally, she still has capabilities of speech, and just needs to warm up that processor. If any gaps appear in her memory in regard to speech, we will help, and continue to do some mental therapy to make sure she's back to full strength. Sound good, Silk?"

"G-good."

"Is she up yet!?"

"What? No hello?" Star Saber laughed as his children jumped out of Hound's alt mode.

"Hi, Dad." Patty smirked. "Jan's been talking about that youngling all day."

Saber shook his head. "Would you like to see her?"

"Is she awake?"

"She is."

"Cool!"

The mech held down his hand for the kids to climb on before carrying them into the medbay. "Velocity, I've brought some people to meet our new guest."

"Great!" She looked at Silk. "I mentioned that you're on a planet called 'Earth'. Would you like to meet two of the locals?"

"Yes."

Silk smiled as Saber walked in, carrying two small fleshy creatures in his hand. They were so cute!

The smaller one grabbed Saber's finger, grinning excitedly. "You're ok! That's awesome!"

"H-hello, I'm S-Silk."

"Nice to meet you, Silk! My name is Jan! This is my sister, Patty!"

"Nice to meet you."

The mech holding them, looked at her. "These two are younglings as well. They're actually my younglings."

"Huh?"

Patty looked up at Saber. "Our parents were killed by Decepticons when we were little."

"I adopted them after that. They're my family, so they'll be around a lot when they're not at school. And since they're probably an equivalent age to you, I'm sure you'll have fun with them when you're up and moving around."

"Even before! We can watch movies."

"When Velocity says it's fine." Their dad looked down at them. "Now you two have homework."

"Aww!"

Patty sighed. "Can't we talk a little more?"

"She needs to work on regaining her voice. She just started talking again this morning. When you're done, then we'll see if she wants to talk more. But she might be tired."

"Ok."

Saber carried the kids out, Silk looking after them. "Wh-what are th-they?"

"Humans." Velocity glanced back. "They're the dominant species here. Patty and Jan live here at our base, and we have other friends you'll meet later. They're off on their own mission right now. And we have connections with a government group as well; that's partially why Elita wants more information from you. She has to report to that group."

"Oh."

Silk looked over the room. She'd had all day to study it, and she noticed the small details on the walls long ago.

"L-lottie, did hummmmans make th-this place?"

"They did." She looked at the walls, specifically at some tiny carved details in the stone walls. "We're in a secret shelter in a cliffside." Tapping the walls, she leaned against it. "You can hear the ocean on the other side if you listen carefully to the walls. Let me show you."

Gently moving the bed, she lifted Silk up, leaning her against the wall.

"Listen."

Leaning back, offlining her optics for a moment, she listened.

…

…

A smile crossed her face as she heard the waves. She'd seen the oceans on Eukaris where the Wave Walkers lived. Ever so often, she'd go to the cliffs above the ocean and listen to it.

"Do you have oceans on your home?"

"Yes."

"You're from Eukaris, right?"

"Yes."

Helping her back to the berth, Velocity nodded. "I thought as much. Your alternate mode is unique. Nautica, Moonracer, and I are from Cybertron colonies as well. Moon is from Velocitron; Nautica and I are from Caminus."

"I-I'm a F-fate Weav-ver."

"A Fate Weaver?" The medic sat down, listening carefully.

Silk sighed. "W-we see thhhhhe future a-a-a litttttle."

The future!? "Is that why the Decepticons had you hooked up to a psychic patch?"

"Yes."

That explained a lot.

"I'll tell this to Elita." She looked carefully at the youngling. "You said you were with them by choice; did you know who they were when you went with them?"

"No. I-I thought-t-t they w-were nice. I-I saw an o-oracle of Fl-Flamew-war."

"Did you use this 'oracle' to help them?"

"Yes." Silk averted her optics. "I-I didn-n't know they h-hurt-t-t others-s."

"You found out later?"

"Yes."

"Is that when they hooked you to the psychic patch?"

"Yes." Coolant welled up in her optics. "I-I n-never want-ted to h-hurt-t anyone!"

Standing up, Velocity pulled her into a gentle hug. "Shh. It's ok. You didn't know. It's not your fault that they used you. All you can do is move on. You're safe now." She could feel the coolant dripping onto her shoulder as the youngling cried. "Get some rest. I'm going to tell Elita what you told me. Would you like to see Jan and Patty?"

"No. I-I want t-to be al-lone."

"Alright." Laying her gently back onto the berth. "Get some rest. But, if you want to have someone, just call out, but don't strain your voice."

"Ok."

The medic quickly left the room.

She could see the two humans working on homework as Saber and Kup sparred a little. Nautica was nowhere to be found, nor was Moonracer or Hound.

Going down the hall to the individual quarters, she could hear where the others were.

She could hear banging coming from Nautica's room. Most likely, she was trying to finish the equipment for Silk's therapy.

Hound could be heard playing some sort of game with Moonracer. Sounded like some sort of racing game.

Elita's door was slightly open, so Velocity knocked. "Elita?"

"Yes?"

"Silk talked with me about what happened to her."

Elita put down her datapad, looking up attentive. "What did she say?"

"So, she can see the future. That explains why I saw my face on the screen. She was having a vision of me." Elita held up the datapad. "I can do some research on the Fate Weavers before my meeting with the council tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Well, that will be fun."

"I know." The pink femme sighed, leaning back. "At least the little one is safe."

"Agreed. I'll go back to check on her. She was upset when I left, though I'm not surprised."

As Velocity left, Elita looked to her datapad, thinking.

That poor little femme.

How could anyone do that to a youngling? She kept seeing that image of her own face on the screen. That image of her might have been the first sign of hope she'd had in so long.

And she would not let that hope diminish.

She would defend that hope as long as she could.

Remember! Weekly updates this month!

Hope you enjoyed!