Peanut Gallery3

Joe coughed and spluttered as he walked through the airfield. The very sound of planes, er, space ships was making him queasy. He looked up with weary red eyes to see the long line of soldiers feeding into the ships, wearing that ugly 90% American looking flag on their back that was supposed to represent the United Planet. What bull, the planet was about as united as ants and ant lions.

He heaved his suitcase up again and tried striding to the ships. Hobbling was about as dignified as his aching body would allow. Suddenly Jason jogged up next to him.

They entered the space ship eventually and were hauled into a small, overcrowded chamber. He ended up sitting on the floor as no one wanted to share a seat with him.

He realised that they were going to be stationary for a long time as he heard an officer yell that there was ‘room for another damn thousand, knucklehead!’

He eyed the dreary thunderous faces of the soldiers. Some looked terrified. What for? They were just fighting a bunch of malicious lawnmowers. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up to see a cheerful Jason.

Joe really wasn’t in the mood, but he didn’t want to put out the only bit of sunlight in this pit of despair.

"Er, a toothbrush, a towel, paint remover, nausea pills, a small bucket…uh…underwear, cigarettes, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a pack of cards."

"Didn’t you pack bandages, soap, clothes, a pocket knife, a mini radio, a pee constraint?! You do realise we’re going to be in suits?"

There was a sudden noise that sounded like a hippo in labour and they all looked towards the doorway, where a big, fat Sergeant stood. He grumbled and grunted and had half his suit wrapped around his knees. It didn’t look like it would go any further.

The sergeant turned to fetch a crate just outside the doorway but never made it 180 degrees. From what Joe could see through the forty odd pair of legs was that his bum wouldn’t allow it.

The next sound they heard could have been defined as a mouse having a cow as the Sergeant squealed in his twisted position. He grabbed the crate and slowly edged his way out of the doorway. Once free he turned, rather flustered, to face them. He opened the crate and pulled out a suit. The crate was full of them.

"Ok men, once I’ve left the room you will help yourself to an oxygen suit. You’ll all have one, there’s the correct amount in each crate and one size fits all."

Joe noted that this couldn’t be as the Sergeant tripped on his unravelled suit on the way out and came crashing to the floor. He swore violently but no one took any notice. Instead they lunged for the suits, each one trying to get the dark grey ones as opposed to the black ones, which wasn’t as camouflaged and had a bigger EA flag on the back of it. Joe sighed and decided he’d just wait. His headache was getting worse and having it bashed in by forty fear -powered disgruntled oafs was not going to help.

He curled up in a ball and took out a cigarette; only to have it whacked put of his hand by Jason, who had returned with two suits, both black.

"God Joe! This place is stinky enough as it is, don’t smoke now or it’ll never go away, and besides, you’re not allowed to."

Joe’s heart sank and he suddenly felt all the symptoms of a pre-war flight. He felt sick, claustrophobic and desperately unhappy.

It was a slightly skinnier version to the suit Neil Armstrong wore. To think they now had toasters that spewed your finished toast onto a plate and buttered it for you but they hadn’t improved the 1960’s version of a space suit. Or was it older? And the suit was black. Well, he slept pretty much all day through pretty much everything so he was more than lightly to go roaming around at night where he’d at least be more camouflaged. He silently praised himself for being a little brighter in spirit for once.

A cry of panic rose up from the soldiers and Joe burped. Jason seated himself behind Joe and folded his arms. He looked about with an accepting smile.

"No, we’re going to war." Joe muttered and crawled under the bench and lay face down. Sleeping was a good way to combat nausea.

"But it is still exciting to go visit another planet. New cultures, new religions!"

Joe closed his eyes and let Jason waffle on incessantly. He knew very well all these things but quite frankly, he didn’t care.

Rattrap awoke from a peaceful slumber feeling better than ever. He opened his eyes and stepped out of the CR chamber, fully repaired, polished and fed. He blinked as his optics slowly adjusted to the white walls of the medic room.

A female human turned and smiled. She was wearing a white dress with a red cross over her chest area.

Around her the walls were lined with basins, cabinets and tables as well as CR chambers. It looked well organised and he had to admit the humans hadn’t done a bad job on him. These CR chambers were new and improved and instead of just switching them off so repairs could take place, they disabled all feeling sensors so he could drift into a nice, dreamless sleep.

He spotted a two -way translator device by her ears and wondered briefly why the rescuers didn’t have the two way ones.

Rattrap looked down at the short femme. He smiled smugly. Her child-like fascination was amusing.

She delicately touched his arm, feeling the little groves and bolts as if it were an object from the heavens.

He frowned and smiled at the same time. It was kind of weird having an organic examining him like this. But it made him feel superior and special.

He decided he’d give her something better to gape over. He stepped back and away and transformed into his beast mode. She gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

He looked up at her and let his two wheels slide out so that he was in vehicle mode.

She was slow to respond. "Oh yes, but only on TV and on pictures. But never a real one, and with a beast mode and all." She explained.

"I’m a human nurse. I’m pretty sure they’re going to need help too. But I have studied the biology of your species." She chuckled softly and he cocked an eyebrow. "When you transformers were discovered, er, I mean when you discovered us, there was a lot of chaos on earth. Religion, really. The fact that there were others other than humans who has glowing, beautiful sparks as souls made a lot of people uncomfortable. Studying you guys was banned until recently, so I’ve been restricted to reading books. There are a few young doctors who worked on Cybertron and studied the medical side here, so they’re the ones who’ll take care of the injured." Rattrap blinked slowly. Man, and he had thought his planet was stuffed.

"Oh. Gee, dat ain’t nice. We were lucky enough that you guys were in our bible." He said and started looking for an exit.

"She was taken to intensive care. But she’s fine now. Just a little tired, I think."

He looked up at a chart monitoring her and realised that she was indeed stable. But plainly very tired.

She nodded. "Yeah. Just real tired is all. Glad to see you with two arms." She noted.

He looked at his new arm gratefully. Somehow they had managed to replicate his arm and rebuild it.

"Hey baby." He said, patting his arm. "Missed you!" He added and stroked it lovingly.

Tourmaline rolled her eyes and sat up weakly. "Any idea where we’re going?" She questioned.

He shook his head. "My guess is dat we’re goin’ ta other scrapped cities ta look for survivors. Dat is if we’ve left. We may still be in Nystrin."

They were all gone. They may not have been his two favourite people but he still didn’t want any harm to come to them.

A human doctor slipped in and looked at the two dreary transformers. Millions of dollars worth of equipment to fix them and they couldn’t even smile afterwards. He strode over to them and gave them a nudge.

"Hello. My name is Doctor Wycliff and I was the fellow he repaired you. Well, technically the chambers did that, but you get the point I’m sure."

"Both of you are fine, though you lost a lot of mech fluid, mister. And you," he said pointing to Tourmaline, "Passed out three times and woke up three times in three minutes."

"Anyway, we’ve done a thorough scan over Nystrin and there were only 80 survivors out of a city of 80 million, I think it was. Five of those have died and 53 are critically injured. Most have been moved to the bigger medic ships to be repaired, but I think we still have about 15, including you two, onboard. We’re now headed for Surnbalade, though seeing that atomic like bomb erupt from the heart of the city…well, I’m making no promises. If you’d like to proceed to your quarters, follow me."

It was quite a lot to take in one go and Rattrap and Tourmaline exchanged shocked glances. Eighty. No, 75, maybe less in a few hours had survived. Just…75…

Rattrap stood and helped her to her feet and they followed the doctor. They went through a long passageway, turned right into another and went into an elevator.

They arrived on another landing and the Doctor pointed to the door dead ahead of the lift.

"We’re short of rooms so you’ll have to share. There’s two beds so it shouldn’t be a problem. Unless you two fight like my wife and I! If you’ve got any problems, press the buzzer by the door. I’m afraid you are going to have to tag along for the ride ‘til we find a suitable city. They’re all under siege at the moment." He said, turned and walked into the elevator and left.

She pushed inside and he decided he didn’t want to watch her sob her heart out. Now that he had time on both his hands, he decided to go and explore this strange ship…

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Scarlet looked at Diamond who was sitting under the stable holding her knees, rocking back and forth. They were in the bedroom and she was sitting on the couch, quietly contemplating all that was. They still didn’t know what caused Diamond to erupt so violently, and she had been crying for hours. They had gathered that something had happened to her father and that the grief and despair might have driven her to that moment of insanity. They’d put her in the bedroom with Scarlet as her ‘nurse’ and had switched all the lights off. This seemed to calm her, but only slightly.

Now she had sobbed herself into silence and hearing her speak logically for the first time in hours shocked her a bit.

In the distance they could here the sound of gunfire. Another riot had broken out into the streets. Angry Maximals attacking angry Predacons, all related to the happenings in 20 cities. Why? Scarlet still did not know. She was living fine under Maximal rule, just fine…

Oh she hated being Predacon right now…

A high-pitched whistle followed by a distant explosion made the building tremble.

Diamond closed her eyes and if they could, tears would be streaming down her cheeks. She shivered and swallowed hard.

“Soldiers. Right. Now listen Dimes, this is hard on both of us but we’ve got to keep our wits about us if-”

“I’m a Lieutenant.” She said and a compartment slipped out of her shoulder and she picked up the shiny round, grey and gold badge. The symbol only a lieutenant could was wear clearly marked.

Diamond picked her sword and gun from the table and then chucked Scarlet her laser gun.

“I don’t care.” She left and Scarlet rushed after her. But when they got outside Diamond’s idea of leaving suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Armed Predacons were kicking down doors and marching out the Maximal occupants. Two looked up and saw Diamond.

“NO! Leave her, she’s a friend!” Scarlet cried and stood in front of her, pointing to the Predacon symbol on her own forehead.

Diamond turned and ran and a rapid flow of fire shot on either side of Scarlet. She could feel the heat of the beams, but the Predacons were careful not to hit her.

She turned to see Diamond scrambling down another hallway. Scarlet followed pursuit. She ran down the hallway and followed the sprinting femme to the end window. Diamond slipped outside and to her horror jumped. Scarlet ran to the window and realised the night was lit with explosives and gunfire. She looked down and saw that Diamond had only jumped two stories, not bad for transformers and she jumped too, more in utter panic than anything else. Even being a Predacon didn’t make her feel any safer. Diamond ran to the fence surrounding the hotel and jumped and clambered her way up. Scarlet, a war trainee and athlete herself didn’t find it too difficult to keep up and she was by her side immediately.

Ahead of them houses were on fire, buildings were alight with gunfire and bombs and angry voices screamed through the night. The stars above created a ghostly contrast to the pandemonium around them.

Diamond gasped for air and pulled herself up and over the fence. She wasted no time crawling down the other side and let herself crash to the ground. She stood wearily and pushed her sword into its pocket and took out her gun. Scarlet thudded by her side. Her eyes wide with fear, she scanned the area around her. Fires raged everywhere, males and females alike screamed in terror and ran through the streets, some missing limbs, some melting as they ran, a result of acid missiles. She looked left and right and chose to go through a darkened alleyway to her right.

She broke into a sprint and Scarlet followed her. At the back of her mind she was glad for the company, but at the moment she was too blinded by fear and anger that she didn’t realise the risk of bringing her along.

She came to the end of the alleyway and almost ran head into a group of Predacon thugs, broken bottlenecks in hand as well as daggers. Daggers with swirling, white liquid…

“NO!!” She screamed and suddenly felt something grab her and pull her into an opened doorway to the building.

She could see a dark figure holding her still, so much stronger than she. He was looking towards the entrance of the doorway and both could hear the sound of the angry Predacons. Wondering where the female Maximal had gone. She was dimly aware that Scarlet was standing by her side, panting in terror, but not afraid of the figure holding her down. He had his other arm around her but she seemed more relaxed for some reason. Diamond herself could have died in fright at the moment.

They heard the voices of the Predacons die away and after what felt like eternity the bot eased up and pulled his hand away from her mouth. It was only then she caught, in the firelight flickering from the building windows opposite, that he had a Maximal sign on his forehead like her. He put a finger to his lips and popped his head outside for a moment, before returning.

She realised they were in a small backroom and the door had in fact been broken down. It was very dark, save for the orangey light that poured in through the doorway.

He was big bot, but at the same time very gently in the way he’d handled them.

“My name is Dusk. I’m here to help you, as I know what the Predacons will to do you both when they find you.” He whispered.

“They’ll still kill you if they know you’ve helped a Maximal. That’s how sick they are.” He said, bitterly.

“Underground train station used in the Great War. The Maximals never did tell the Predacons. That’s how I got here, by using them. Lucky I know how to work the things. I’m not originally from here; I came here to help the Maximals out of the city before it went haywire. It seems I’m a tad too late. Follow me,” he said and turned and walked further into the building.

Diamond looked at Scarlet to see that she was about ready to do anything to get out of here and they both followed the stranger. They both turned on their infrared to see him crouching at the back of the room, opening a hatch in the ground. He slipped inside and descended down a ladder. They followed.

Once at the bottom they were standing beside a small, thin train. The lights were on inside the train and they could see frightened faces looking through the windows. “Come,” he said and pointed to a door. They approached tentatively and the door slid open.

“Get inside and stay there, I’m going to try and rescue a few more before we leave. Don’t make a sound, you hear?” He warned. Scarlet nodded but Diamond stepped away from the train.

Diamond growled and decided to stick on the damn badge on her shoulder. And when he saw it, his expression changed slightly.

“I know, and I thank you for saving me. But I’m not so blinded by fear now. I will assist you.” She said determinedly.

But it was just then that an explosion sounded off and Predacons started pouring into the station.

“Maybe next time! Now move move move!” He screamed and hurled them both inside. He slammed the door closed just in and a Predacon slammed into it. The train roared to life and it was racing at mach 2 in a matter of seconds. Diamond was knocked to her feet again by the speed and she grabbed a pole. There was a gasp of surprise as the train rolled forward and the passengers grabbed hold of what they could. The train screamed away from the city of chaos behind and Diamond closed her eyes and panted. Seventeen years of war training to fight in these duels, to prepare her for a war and she was entering her second already. Stuff the duels; she was ready.

Scarlet pulled her up onto the seat and they both hugged each other, Scarlet whimpering softly.

Diamond patted her gently but was focussing on Dusk, who had stood and was holding onto a pole. He was cut all the way down his left side and badly grazed, a gash on his cheek a few days old still bubbled with mech fluid. His right leg was severed and he had multiple bullet wounds scattered on his chest. He shouldn’t be alive, she knew that. He was a miracle survivor.

He wiped a trickle of blood from his optics and she shivered, remembering her dream.

She could feel the heart beating in her chest and her feet were cold and numb again.

Thump, thump, thump…

She opened her eyes again and glanced over the fearful passengers. Some eyed her badge with a glint of hope in their eyes.

She felt sick. It was a badge, and only a badge. Right now she was as helpless as everyone else. She wasn’t a lieutenant without a force and a Captain to guide her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The first thing he experienced when he got to Cybertron was a tremendous slap on the face.

“Wake up Joe! We’re almost there!”

“Didn’t I ask you to wake me up when we get there?”

Jason grabbed his arm and pulled him from under the bench.

He was dressed in suit and all, gun in hand and his helmet in the other.

“Put your suit on, man! We can’t breath the air.”

Joe yawned and stretched.

“I live in the heart of San Francisco and you can’t breath the air there. But my lungs have adapted to almost anything you throw at them.”

Jason clicked his tongue and tossed the suit at him.

“You do know that as soon as we get there we’re going to fight? And, apparently, the city we’re fighting in, Jalen I think it’s called, is under heavy siege from the enemy.” Jason said.

Joe looked around for a toilet, not to change in but to have a pee. There’s nothing quite so bad as needing a pee during an action film, which he was going to be a part of. He couldn’t see one.

“Crikey, where’s a toilet, Jason?” He asked.

Jason grabbed his arm again and yanked him through the crowds of sweaty people.

They entered a hallway and he pointed to a door opposite them.

“There you go. And use the men’s one this time.” He sighed and went back in. Joe hobbled down to the toilet. His foot had been stepped on more than one occasion.

He pushed the door open and entered the bathroom.

It stunk of urine and he was reminded instantly of home. But he was hardly nostalgic.

As he did his business, he saw on the wall in front of him a kind of map drawn. Looked like a very professional battle scheme drawn with a blunt pencil and a few coloured pens. Some General was clearly bored.

It wasn’t finished he could see. Some of the symbols were plainly missing.

“Olphantex? Vixadonia? Triangles and stars? That’s what I see when I’m drunk.

Elephants, Vixens, triangle and stars,” he muttered to himself.

He then noted that this was a map of Cybertron, and the city Jalen was missing.

“Hell, we’re fighting in a city that aint even on the map!” He cried.

“That’s because that’s only a small section of Cybertron.” Said a voice.

He turned to see a soldier, no, a Corporal walking up to him and pointing at a section on the wall next to the map.

“Jalen would be about here,” he said, the wrinkles on his forehead folding over as concentrated. He then smiled and looked at Joe.

“You afraid soldier?”

“Very, sir.” He lied.

The Corporal nodded sympathetically.

“Try not to be. I know we’re fighting eight foot robots with weapons the size of your grandma with an army fifty times the size of our own, but you’ve got to be strong.” He said, clenching and raising his fist to emphasize.

“Yes, sir.”

The corporal patted him on the back and left the bathroom.

Joe rolled his eyes and zipped up his pants. There was a sudden shudder as the ship, he presumed, went through the atmosphere.

A little wave of panic went over him and he grabbed the suit on the floor. He stuck his left leg in and danced about as he struggled to pull it on.

This hopping which looked virtually like the mating dance of the jumping spider continued for about five minutes before he was all done up.

He picked up the helmet and walked out the door. Only to almost get pushed back in by a horde of soldiers clutching their groins and racing into the toilet.

“Hah! Suckers!” He laughed and continued down the hallway.

The Predacons had been very successful ridding Maximals from the cities but Jalen was turning out to be a disaster. But now they another species to worry about.

David trudged through the ash of the burning city next to him and shook his head with contempt as he watched the ship come down.

Danzhire watched the ship with mixed emotions. He was interested to see the EA, but at the same time fearful and irritated.

Explosions sounded off around them and another, particularly tall building crumbled to the ground.

“This city,” Danzhire began, “Is five times the size of your human city New York.”

“Yeah. Don’t you watch the news? New York just had its biggest attack since the World Trade Centre. The place is a wreck!”

“Sergeant Gifring, get those soldiers down that street, now! Didn’t I tell you that five cycles ago?”

The sergeant nodded and opened his mouth to explain but though better of it. There was no time in war for conversations.

So David quietly slunk off to see how his men were doing. He didn’t expect they were doing well in the care of Corporal Numb Nut, (his real name was Corporal Nunt Nub) so he quickened his pace.

Danzhire turned to carry on talking to David when his attention was caught by the sound of screams. He turned swiftly to look behind him and saw the ship marked ‘For Peace in The Galaxy’ shooting great beams of red laser fire and zapping everything that moved. And everything that moved on this side of the city was Predacon.

“Oh Slag!” He cried as the ship hovered mere metres above the ground and fired continuously.

“The air force is fighting planes from Aswade on the East side of the city. There are Maximal planes and troops everywhere!” He screamed above the noise of incessant explosions.

“Well,” Danzhire began aggressively, “We now have a human warship frying the reserves in the South. Contact Captain Kixton and tell him that we need at least two jets down here pronto!”

Danzhire looked up and to his horror saw that there were no more reserves to defend. All who had been there had either become a smouldering piece of slag or had run away. The ship landed and he hid0 behind a still intact building. Four ramps shot out of the ship and doors opened.

He held his breath as he watched troops march out quickly, some still zipping up their suits and charging up their weapons. Not that they couldn’t take their time. They’d have to walk a while ‘til they found some live Predacons to shoot.

Black and grey soldiers streamed like dusty raindrops down the ramps and he turned and ran into the city, shouting into his COM as he did so.

“Sergeant Gifring. Cancel that order and bring all your troops to the south, I repeat, cancel that order and bring all your troops to the south!” He screamed.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the entire ship, the most interesting places were the bathrooms and the kitchen.

The bathroom because he’d never seen the human version of one before and the kitchen because he found a lump of cheese in the fridge.

Rattrap burped and left the kitchen. He been told by three nurses to feel at home and make himself comfortable. Which he did. He’d been exploring to take his mind off recent events, he hated dwelling on things. But there was only so much you can see in a medic ship. Only so many toilets you could flush continuously and only so many toilet rolls you could steal, though he no idea what he’d do with all of them. They just looked funny.

But now he was tired and he headed back, in beast mode, to the bedroom. They had since landed in Surnbalade and they had been stationary for a long time. He wasn’t sure if he’d be getting to somewhere safe so he might as well catch some rest while he could. He transformed and pushed the door open to his bedroom.

He was glad not to be met with rampant sobbing but instead saw that Tourmaline had buried herself under the blankets with a pillow held tightly over her head.

“Ah Tour…” He said and trailed off. He was no good with emotional femmes, but he could understand her misery.

“Don’t dwell on it. It’ll just make ya feel worse,” he said soothingly, well, as soothingly as he could.

“Rattrap, rolls of paper and cheese aren’t going to make me feel any better.” She said at last.

“Well I don’t seem ta make ya feel better, so I thought these guys might stand a better chance.” He said sadly.

“Primus! She smiles at last!” He cried throwing the sheet off as he sat up and flung his arms up.

Just then the door flung open behind them. They both swiveled round to see Doctor Wycliff, his eyes full of surprise.

“I hope I’m not intruding, but it seems we have found a friend of yours, Rattrap.” The doctor said.

When he got to the bottom however, the doctor said that the friend wanted to talk in private so he was going to leave them.

Rattrap shrugged and entered the medical lab, reading the sign on the door that it was a spare medic room, which is why it was empty.

There, sitting on the lab table covered in dust was Optimus, his eyes dark and saddened.

“And Vic versa, though you look dead. What’s up?” He asked warily, knowing full well that something drastic could have happened.

Rattrap vaguely remembered that she was his girlfriend, well, maybe more than that.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..