Alien 4
Alien
Chapter 4
[Transformers, 2007 movie] The defeat of Megatron and the defense of earth has left everyone the chance to relax a little. Now, if only that was all that was out there...
Characters/Pairings: Sam, Mikaela and Autobots, OCs. Gen, but features a little Sam/Mikaela for canon reasons.
Ratings and Warnings: OC-heavy, a very little violence and language, psuedoscience, PG-13/T for safety.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
FFnet Link
Alien: Chapter 4
Author's Notes: Many thanks to CaravanKa for pointing out some stupid mistakes I made last chapter (not too mention furnishing me with more fic recs than I could have ever dreamed of), and more thanks to Epona Harper for serving as Evil Muse Extraordinaire. She’s the inspiration for an entire section of this chapter, in fact.
oOoOoOo
Secretary of Defense John Keller was on the phone. “Yes. Yes. No… That won’t be necessary. Just the one.” There was a pause, and then he spoke a verification code into the mouthpiece. “No, that’s all. Wait-I want the Mexican border watched… No, it’s not the immigrants, I don’t want any plants going through. Yes, you heard me right, it’s why I want the biology team… Yes, I know that I’m not the Secretary of Agriculture, and I do believe it’s not your place to question me. I’ve been charged with protecting the lives of American citizens, and believe me, this is, most definitely, a matter of national security. …no, not in a figurative sense. Or a non-immediate one. -You know that high rank you’ve managed to achieve? The one that’s giving you the balls to talk to me like this? Consider it revoked. Put your immediate superior on the phone. …No, I don’t care that he’s in a meeting right now! Put the man on the phone!”
A few minutes later he hung up with a sigh.
The secretary that had slipped into the room while he had been talking spoke up. “Mr. Secretary? The Brazilian government has sent its response.”
Keller looked at the paper blankly. “The translation’s underneath it,” said the secretary after a brief second.
“Thank you, Johnston,” he said with a sigh. “It’s been a long day.”
“Yes, sir.”
He scanned the paper quickly, then put it down. Excellent. “The following is a message to be relayed to radio designation Prime. Dictation, please. Start message. Proceed as planned. Government not opposed. US involvement uncontested. Home base will be located at abandoned ex-Brazilian base 27. Report directly to the front gate with the verification code agreed at during our last meeting. Space will be provided. Further instructions will be relayed on arrival. Attached is the relay from Brazil. End message.”
“Yes, Mr. Secretary,” the secretary said after a minute. “And should I add in the Brazilian transcriptions?”
“Yes, please. And if you’d do a few more things for me… I’d like as many Portuguese translators as we have available, plus ten, added into the convoy. And extra basic field rations. Have someone download, organize and save-let’s see-ten different copies of all the data we have pertaining to plants, animals, rainforest ecosystems, bio-weapons, eco-terrorism, biological research and, uh, alien activity. If a set of that could be fitted to laptops, that would be better, but I want them to be secure. I’m also going to install a new coding relating to this incident… The area circled on this map is now going to be known as Area Zero, and I want constant satellite surveillance, with someone watching in case of changes, any changes-”
oOo
Sam and Mikaela were both asleep, which was just fine, despite the fact that Mikaela was “driving.” That was merely to lessen the chance that they’d get pulled over-Bumblebee didn’t have a holographic ‘driver’ of his own-although it had been Mikaela’s turn to drive. She’d double-checked that Bee would take over, then fallen asleep.
And, really, nobody had noticed Bumblebee driving around on his own, when he’d first landed on Earth, so it was unlikely that anyone would notice that Mikaela was asleep at the wheel. He’d just need to wake her up before they got to the border, and they’d be golden.
They weren’t far from Mexico now, in fact, but it was a lot of empty nothingness at the moment. Bumblebee hadn’t even seen another car for half an hour, coming up on 45 minutes. No, wait-there were headlights coming up behind him.
A minute later they car had pulled even, and Bumblebee had honked his horn, a cheerful hello-it was Ironhide. The truck pulled in front of the Camaro, and Bumblebee revved his engine playfully and drew in close to his bumper before drawing back.
“Don’t give me any reason to use my guns,” said Ironhide over the communications network they all had, sounding irrationally gleeful.
“The humans have a phrase for you condition!” replied Bumblebee brightly. “It’s called being trigger-happy, if I recall.”
The other Autobot snorted. “It’s been boring. Earth’s a weird planet, but there’s been nothing to do.”
“I’m translating that as ‘nothing to shoot.’”
The trail end of a laugh trickled into the communication. “It’s Optimus. I’m already over the border-maybe you’d be faster if you stopped chatting so much, hmm?”
“Where’s Ratchet?” asked Bumblebee.
“He’s maybe 50 miles behind you, with one of the new ones-Landslide. You haven’t met him yet, Ironhide, so I’m sorry in advance. They both needed to find alternate shapes.”
“The new one I understand,” said Bumblebee, “but why Ratchet?”
“He’s a medical vehicle only recognized by the United States. It would look out-of-place, if not outright suspicious, once we crossed the border.”
“I see,” said Bumblebee.
“What else can you tell us about the situation, Optimus?” said Ironhide crisply before the yellow Autobot could continue.
“The Brazilian government is turning over full investigation to the United States, with the understanding that our progress will be monitored. They’ve heard reports-village rumors, mostly-of something in the deep jungle, but they’ve dismissed it as silly gossip and backwater superstition. Solarity’s the best eyewitness, excluding the human woman and child he rescued from an overcome village, and he has a small amount of poor quality footage, but that’s been undisclosed to the Brazilians, seeing as we officially don’t exist.”
“Solarity?” questioned Ironhide further.
“The second of our new arrivals. He’s considerably less-abrasive,”
“Yeah,” said Bumblebee feelingly.
“Where is he?”
“With Optimus Prime,” cut in a new voice, sounding vaguely amused.
“Hey, Solarity,” Bumblebee said agreeably. “Hang on, I’m gonna go. I want to wake Mikaela up before we’re to the border…”
“We figured it would be easier than figuring out air traffic and rules and such,” explained Prime.
“Right. Solarity, huh?” Ironhide’s voice was vaguely threatening.
A private line between Optimus and Ironhide opened up. “Don’t threaten to shoot him,” said Optimus flatly.
Ironhide just growled wordlessly. He didn’t bother denying that he had been about to.
oOo
A few hours later the sun was only starting to gray the horizon, and Mikaela was awake again-Bumblebee had woken them both up for the border, and they’d both slipped back asleep again soon after that particular obstacle had passed. Sam was still dozing fitfully, although Bumblebee guessed that he would be waking up soon, but Mikaela had been jolted back to awareness by a pothole ten miles down the road.
“Mind pulling over quickly?” she said, after a few minutes. Wordlessly, the Autobot pulled to the side of the road.
After a quick glance around to see if any cars were coming, she had crouched carefully behind the car, hit the tire and muttered that he ‘had better look away’ and peed, ignoring how awkward it was, along with the fact that what she was doing should be a lot more uncomfortable than it was, considering she was hiding behind her best friend, who identified as male at the very least.
A minute later she was up and rummaging through the cooler they had put in the conveniently popped trunk, eventually coming up with something suitable as breakfast.
She was trying to reach one of her energy drinks-they had ended up wedged behind the cooler-when she was startled by Bumblebee honking his horn at a set of two cars as they went by. Slipping back into the driver’s seat, she said “What was that about?”
“Ratchet and Landslide,” replied the car.
“Ratchet?” she said, surprised.
“Nnngh,” said Sam. He was definitely waking up, but not there yet.
“He was the hummer, then?” She frowned. “I guess he’d need something other than an emergency vehicle to get across country borders…”
“I could be brown, I could be blue, I could be violet sky-” (1) sang the radio, before the radio dial made a little flicker between stations, leaving it on static shortly-what Mikaela and Sam had come to recognize as a verbal shrug-before returning to the first station few seconds later to play “I can be anything you like,” before shutting off.
“So Landslide-that’s the sulkbot, right?-must have been the green SUV.”
The sound of snickering laughter filled the car. Mikaela smiled at the him.
“You know, I dated someone a lot like Landslide when I was 13…” said Mikaela thoughtfully. “Moody, irrational, hated the world-I guess robots really do come in 14-year-old boy form. Although, if I remember correctly, Lance didn’t turn into a car. He did have a green jeep, though…”
“What?” said Sam, his voice a little hoarse with first-thing-in-the-morning disuse.
“The green SUV in front of us is the grumpy Autobot from the government area back in Nevada,” explained Mikaela. “The car in front of him is Ratchet.”
“Makes sense,” Sam said, craning his neck in an attempt to get a better look at the red Hummer-a slightly different model than Ratchet’s old one-in front of them. “And it’s-Landslide, right?”
“A highway in Washington was totally blocked by a landslide today, aggravated by the continued rains the region has been experiencing-” said the car radio. Sam blinked slightly.
“Huh. You know, I find it hard to believe that all that’s just out there, conveniently saying what you need when you need it,” Sam said. Bumblebee huffed aggrievedly.
“Anyways, good morning, Bee. Morning, Mikaela.”
“Morning,” Mikaela said, leaning over to press a kiss to Sam’s lips. “I got you some breakfast.”
“Hey, thanks!”
oOo
It had been quiet for a while, Bee driving and Sam and Mikaela cuddling, when Bee’s inter-Autobot comm. set crackled into life; only he could hear it-it wasn’t set to play on the car speakers.
“This is Landslide,” the other car introduced. He was directly in front of Bumblebee, with Ratchet ahead of him, and Ironhide leading; Optimus Prime and Solarity were a ways ahead of the group, although the gap was closing.
“Hey,” said Bumblebee in greeting, a bit warily.
“What’s the story with the two human-things you’re with?”
Bumblebee bristled slightly, the hum of his engine taking on a slightly more threatening note. “I was charged with serving as Sam’s guardian when I first came to Earth, and we came to know each other well during the fighting. I grew to know Mikaela as well. I was severely injured during the final fight against the Decepticons, but Sam only left my side to get the Allspark to safety, at my request, and he was the one who ended up defeating Megatron; Mikaela stayed with me, despite the risk to herself. He also negotiated my release by the human government when I was captured saving him. I asked to stay with him at the end of it all, and it was agreed to.”
“That little squishy killed Megatron?” came the reply. Bumblebee’s engine revved a little louder. Sam and Mikaela were looking slightly concerned.
“It’s nothing,” he said to the two of them alone before switching back to the conversation he was having with Landslide.
“What do you mean by that?” Bumblebee said.
“He’s unimpressive, even by human standards. I don’t know how you stand dealing with them-having them in you, living with them, letting them drive you around.” Landslide’s voice was illustratively horror-stricken.
It was a good thing they were in another stretch of deserted road.
Bumblebee’s engine revved loudly and he veered sharply out until he was driving alongside the other Autobot, matching his speed; he began to turn inwards, until Landslide was close to being forced off of the road entirely.
“Maybe you should think twice before speaking,” Bumblebee says, voice fierce, heated. “And understand that there are some things you don’t understand-assuming you’re capable of understanding them, that is.
“And it could be worse,” he finished. “I could be living with you.”
Bumblebee backed away from the SUV and accelerated, moving in front of Ratchet and then Ironhide and continuing on at a fast pace, leaving the other three cars in his wake.
“Whoah,” said Sam, eyes wide. “What was that?” He slowly relaxed his death-grip on the door handle, and Bumblebee’s internal sensors showed that they both had an accelerated heart rate, indicative of surprise or fear. (Or sexual arousal, but he knew enough about human culture and the two of them to rule that out, at least.)
He replayed the conversation over his in-car speakers, so that Sam and Mikaela could hear it.
“Thanks, Bee,” Sam said softly, gently running a hand along the back of the seat. “Not that I care what some asshole of a robot thinks of us, but I appreciate it all the same.”
“I get the distinct feeling that he’d be a Decepticon if he didn’t hate them so much,” said Mikaela. “Scary thought, considering we’ll be working with him.”
“We can hope he improves…” said Sam doubtfully.
Bumblebee grumbled around them, speeding up a little more.
“I guess dealing with aggression by driving too fast really is universal,” laughed Mikaela.
oOo
“Idiot,” said Ironhide firmly, opening up a line between himself and Landslide.
There was a moody silence from the other end of the ‘conversation.’
“Bumblebee’s not easy to piss off. He’s the nice one.” There was a tangible threat to the comment. “And he’s not the only one with a vested interest in the two humans. Optimus Prime owes the boy his life. Others have gotten to know other earthlings.” Ironhide himself tended to find himself dropping in on Captain Lennox, Sarah and baby Annabelle on a fairly regular basis, but he wasn’t going to mention that.
This time there was more of a response from Landslide, but it was still only a snort.
“So unless you want to find yourself at the wrong end of a gun some evening, I recommend you try to do better with some of the other members of the group. Ratchet, for example, assuming it’s not too late. I hear it’s bad luck to piss off the medic.”
There was some indistinct muttering.
“Good to hear you understand.”
“…Yes, sir,” came the response.
oOo
It was hours later; Sam was driving, and Bumblebee was getting a little bit bored, to be honest.
There was only so much scenery he could take.
The six Autobots (Ironhide, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Landslide and Optimus with Solarity, in order) had all met up and were traveling at more-or-less the same speed, forming a convoy, of sorts; any ordinary human would have just seen a string of mismatched cars (even if they were all excellently maintained and in tip-top shape) heading in the same direction, but the order had been pretty carefully chosen. Optimus Prime was in the lead, of course, and Solarity was stuck with him. Ironhide had been instructed to bring up the rear, his usual position-it gave him more maneuverability in case of an attack, when he wasn’t hemmed in on all sides. Ratchet was serving as the buffer between Bumblebee and Landslide-he was marginally less likely to go after the new Autobot than Ironhide was, and considerably less likely to lose it than Bumblebee, for once.
Solarity had commed in a request to talk to “one of the earthlings” about an hour back, and he and Mikaela were talking.
He was, apparently, endlessly curious, despite his fairly reserved introduction. He was certainly friendlier than Landslide-but then, there were probably Decepticons that were friendlier than Landslide.
Currently, Mikaela was struggling to explain gender roles and sexism to a race without genders.(2)
“-so why are the females the ones discriminated against?”
“Well, they-we-tend to be physically weaker, and less aggressive… And then, women are the ones who bear children, which leaves them in a delicate state for nine months-especially the last few-and that means that, traditionally, we’ve needed protection during that period, and we’re less independent and capable of independent survival and self-defense… And we’re the ones, well, built to care for the children-feed them, certainly. Really, there has to be someone who can give you better answers than this, you know. I’m no expert.”
“No, this is fascinating,” Solarity replied. “What can you tell me about childbirth?”
Mikaela sighed. “This is about to get embarrassing,” she muttered before continuing. “Well, um-
“You know, I have no idea how to go about this. Basically, once a woman’s pregnant, she needs to get all the nutrients the child needs, plus a lot more calories, and there’s a lot of complications that can arise-like a genetic defect, or a miscarriage, or more than one baby-in fact, there are human doctors who specialize just in childbirth. Ob-gyns-obstetricians and gynecologists. And then when they’re born, they need a lot of care-they’re helpless, basically, and really delicate.”
“Huh. How long does it take to reach maturity?”
“Well, talking’s usually around one year or two-I think-and walking’s around there too. School starts at five or six, or as young as four. You’re a legal adult at 18 or 21, in the U.S., but that can change. Culturally, it’s been a lot younger in the past, in most places. We’re both 17 years old.”
“Like 13, 15 or 16,” cut in Sam. “In Japan, it’s 20.”
“For a long time, in a lot of places, for girls at least, it’s been when they reach-sexual maturity,” said Mikaela, brushing bright red. Bumblebee was snickering at her-and also Sam, who was blushing just as heavily as she was at her words.
The conversation was interrupted by Optimus Prime.
“We’re nearing Brazil, and I want to go over this well before we’re in the danger area again,” he said. “If we’re attacked by anything, stay close by-we don’t know what it is-but as a whole we should try to move away from human settlements. As always, Bumblebee, your main charge is making sure Sam and Mikaela are safe.”
“Understood,” chirped the car.
“Ratchet, stay out of things as much as you can, in case of emergency-we don’t want to lose the only medic we have. Ironhide, give backup wherever it’s needed the most-you’ve got the most firepower. Landslide, cooperate with others. Other than that, everyone do what you can.”
There was a chorus of affirmative responses. Sam and Mikaela traded wry grins.
“This will be our default until we’re at the base, unless otherwise noted. Also, John Keller wants me to remind you all that we would be ‘classified information if the government acknowledged you existed at all,’ so to keep actions discreet.”
“Sam adds that ‘discreet’ does not mean what happened in his back yard,” interjected Bumblebee, laughter in his voice. Mikaela was giggling, but it was still too painful a memory for Sam-he had his head buried in his hands, trying to keep from reliving the experience. Of everything that had happened, that had probably been one of the more stressful situations he’d been in.
“Duly noted,” said Ratchet dryly.
oOo
They were well into Brazil, and only an hour-half an hour if they were lucky-away from their final destination. Sam and Mikaela were both looking at the scenery; they were into the rainforest, now, and neither of them had ever seen anything like it.
They both paid attention, though, when the radio flicked on.
It was Optimus Prime. “This is Optimus. We’re at the base, and we’ve been joined by another Autobot-Gyro. Ratchet has vouched for him. Once you’re inside the area, head for Hangar 3-a debriefing will take place there. Most of the military convoys have already arrived.”
“Another one?” said Mikaela, sounding bemused. “There’s been a whole rash of them lately…”
“And none of them know each other, not like you guys did,” added Sam.
“Probably used the pre-existing meteor shower for cover,” explained Bumblebee. “More subtle, so it’s better when you’re not in a hurry.”
“Your voice sounds like it’s doing better today,” said Mikaela off-handedly.
“That was a non sequitur,” said Sam.
“It comes and goes,” said the Autobot. “The components still shift around a lot.”
“Oh.”
“That must suck…”
oOo
The seven Autobots and three humans-Sam, Mikaela and Keller-were all crowded together at one end of a huge airplane hangar. Gyro, the new Autobot, had turned out to be small-though larger than Frenzy had been-with the alternate form of a tri-colored motorcycle in chrome, cherry red and black, and with a sense of humor in permanent over-drive in reference to just about everything.
“What we’re facing,” said John Keller, “is, essentially, a total unknown. We have a short clip of footage-” He paused, so a few seconds of grainy video could play against the white wall behind him, “-and the eyewitness account of one villager and her child. She claims that the jungle came alive and ‘ate’ the town. This is similar to Solarity’s account.” The named Autobot nodded in confirmation.
“We’ve got a team of scientists currently settling in, but ready to start work immediately after that,” continued the Secretary of Defense. “They’re all at the top of their fields, and they’ve been given all the information we currently have relating to the situation. However, they are unaware of your presence, as is the rest of this settlement-especially the refugees we’ve had taken in from the near-by villages. We plan on keeping it that way.”
He drew a breath to continue, but before he could start the sound of talking could be heard from outside the hangar door. He frowned.
“Is this it?” said a voice from outside, the words muffled but still clear. “It’s got the right clearance for where we’re meeting, and it’s about the right area, and it says it’s in use-”
Before anyone could move, the door was swinging open to reveal a small cluster of eight mismatched, wide-eyed humans.
“Holy fuck,” said one, a curvy blonde woman. Most everyone else seemed to be frozen, including the Autobots.
John Keller sighed loudly. “This would be the research team. Ladies, gentlemen, would you please step inside?”
The group consensus seemed to be to not move, except for a slight, shuffling and subtle attempt to back away a little.
The blonde woman was still muttering obscenities under her breath.
The newest Autobot, Gyro, was apparently attempting to stifle mad giggles in one of the corners.
“In, people!” demanded John Keller finally.
They cautiously moved inside, shutting the door after another reminder, although they all stayed huddled near it, eyeing the aliens with doubt.
“What the hell is this?” said the blonde woman (she seemed to be the loudmouth of the group) after a minute. There was a general murmur of assent-they wanted explanations.
Heads across the board, from Autobot to human, swung to Keller.
“These are the Autobots,” he said, when it was clear that all explanations were up to him. “They’re responsible for saving the earth from another faction of similar robots, the Decepticons. I’m sure you heard about it on the news. They’ve kindly offered to help with the situation. In fact, one of them is the only reason we’re aware of this threat at all.” Solarity grinned slightly.
“Didn’t the government say that they returned?” said another scientist, a dignified-looking older gentleman.
“I haven’t trusted the government since my father got elected as a U.S. Senator,” said a voice from the back-Sam thought it was a brown-haired woman in her late twenties or early thirties, looking faintly shell-shocked.
Her comment sent Gyro into new throes of silent laughter.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening to me,” muttered the youngest person in the group, a muscular man in the early side of his twenties with light brown hair and a demeanor that screamed ‘jock’ at the top of its lungs.
The third and final woman just shrugged, as if to say “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”
John Keller nodded to Optimus. “I am Optimus Prime,” he said, ignoring how several of the new humans jumped as he started speaking. “Leader of the Autobots.”
“Ratchet, the medic.”
“Ironhide. Weapons specialist.” It was only a timely glare from Prime that kept him from demonstrating.
“Bumblebee.”
There was a brief pause. “Wait, us too?” said Sam. “Sam Witwicky.”
“Mikaela Banes.” The two of them, who were sitting twined together on Bumblebee’s shoulder, got several odd looks.
“Solarity.”
“Landslide,” said Landslide finally, but only after Solarity had jabbed him in the back of the neck with his finger once or twice.
“Official pain in the ass,” muttered Ironhide.
“Gyro,” said the newest one finally, still exuding the sense that he was utterly amused by all of this.
There was another pointed look from the Secretary of Defense, this time aimed at the human group.
“Kristine Christopherson,” drawled the blonde one with the mouth. “Biologist.” She jostled the bag she was holding into the side of the man standing next to her, prompting him to speak.
“Toni Martinez,” he introduced himself. “The zoologist.”
“Irene Gray,” said the brown-haired woman at the back of the group. “Botanist.”
“William Curtis,” said the elderly man. “Also a botanist.”
“Keats Anders,” said a middle-aged black man. “Biologist.”
“Louise Brant,” said a woman somewhere between 40 and 50. “Lab assistant.”
“Evan Fitzgerald, botanist,” said the jock.
“And George Tanaka,” finished the final person, another male, of Japanese descent and in his late twenties. “I’m the other lab assistant.”
There was a moment of silence.
“What do you need to get started?” said John Keller finally.
“Well, we were trying to find the lab…” said Toni Martinez sheepishly. “Didn’t turn out right…”
“Samples,” snapped the blonde woman, Kristine Christopherson. “What do you expect us to do with nothing but a few seconds of video and the panicky impressions of untrained villagers in the dark?”
“I’ll go get some,” said Solarity brightly.
oOoOoOo
(1) Grace Kelly by Mika. (For both of the clips in that paragraph.)
(2) I know that canons other than the 2007 movie get fuzzy on this, but I’m not following them, which means I’m free to make up my own gender rules-ones that make sense to me.
And those rules are are: one gender, with the default in English usually working out to ‘he,’ though it’s technically possible that a Transformer on Earth could decide that they like ‘she’ as their pronoun of choice. Gender is just not something that’s an issue on Cybertron, either way. But do keep in mind that this is personal opinion because canon doesn’t have an answer-at least, not yet. Future movies may do away with this, I don’t know…
Chapter 4
[Transformers, 2007 movie] The defeat of Megatron and the defense of earth has left everyone the chance to relax a little. Now, if only that was all that was out there...
Characters/Pairings: Sam, Mikaela and Autobots, OCs. Gen, but features a little Sam/Mikaela for canon reasons.
Ratings and Warnings: OC-heavy, a very little violence and language, psuedoscience, PG-13/T for safety.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
FFnet Link
Alien: Chapter 4
Author's Notes: Many thanks to CaravanKa for pointing out some stupid mistakes I made last chapter (not too mention furnishing me with more fic recs than I could have ever dreamed of), and more thanks to Epona Harper for serving as Evil Muse Extraordinaire. She’s the inspiration for an entire section of this chapter, in fact.
oOoOoOo
Secretary of Defense John Keller was on the phone. “Yes. Yes. No… That won’t be necessary. Just the one.” There was a pause, and then he spoke a verification code into the mouthpiece. “No, that’s all. Wait-I want the Mexican border watched… No, it’s not the immigrants, I don’t want any plants going through. Yes, you heard me right, it’s why I want the biology team… Yes, I know that I’m not the Secretary of Agriculture, and I do believe it’s not your place to question me. I’ve been charged with protecting the lives of American citizens, and believe me, this is, most definitely, a matter of national security. …no, not in a figurative sense. Or a non-immediate one. -You know that high rank you’ve managed to achieve? The one that’s giving you the balls to talk to me like this? Consider it revoked. Put your immediate superior on the phone. …No, I don’t care that he’s in a meeting right now! Put the man on the phone!”
A few minutes later he hung up with a sigh.
The secretary that had slipped into the room while he had been talking spoke up. “Mr. Secretary? The Brazilian government has sent its response.”
Keller looked at the paper blankly. “The translation’s underneath it,” said the secretary after a brief second.
“Thank you, Johnston,” he said with a sigh. “It’s been a long day.”
“Yes, sir.”
He scanned the paper quickly, then put it down. Excellent. “The following is a message to be relayed to radio designation Prime. Dictation, please. Start message. Proceed as planned. Government not opposed. US involvement uncontested. Home base will be located at abandoned ex-Brazilian base 27. Report directly to the front gate with the verification code agreed at during our last meeting. Space will be provided. Further instructions will be relayed on arrival. Attached is the relay from Brazil. End message.”
“Yes, Mr. Secretary,” the secretary said after a minute. “And should I add in the Brazilian transcriptions?”
“Yes, please. And if you’d do a few more things for me… I’d like as many Portuguese translators as we have available, plus ten, added into the convoy. And extra basic field rations. Have someone download, organize and save-let’s see-ten different copies of all the data we have pertaining to plants, animals, rainforest ecosystems, bio-weapons, eco-terrorism, biological research and, uh, alien activity. If a set of that could be fitted to laptops, that would be better, but I want them to be secure. I’m also going to install a new coding relating to this incident… The area circled on this map is now going to be known as Area Zero, and I want constant satellite surveillance, with someone watching in case of changes, any changes-”
oOo
Sam and Mikaela were both asleep, which was just fine, despite the fact that Mikaela was “driving.” That was merely to lessen the chance that they’d get pulled over-Bumblebee didn’t have a holographic ‘driver’ of his own-although it had been Mikaela’s turn to drive. She’d double-checked that Bee would take over, then fallen asleep.
And, really, nobody had noticed Bumblebee driving around on his own, when he’d first landed on Earth, so it was unlikely that anyone would notice that Mikaela was asleep at the wheel. He’d just need to wake her up before they got to the border, and they’d be golden.
They weren’t far from Mexico now, in fact, but it was a lot of empty nothingness at the moment. Bumblebee hadn’t even seen another car for half an hour, coming up on 45 minutes. No, wait-there were headlights coming up behind him.
A minute later they car had pulled even, and Bumblebee had honked his horn, a cheerful hello-it was Ironhide. The truck pulled in front of the Camaro, and Bumblebee revved his engine playfully and drew in close to his bumper before drawing back.
“Don’t give me any reason to use my guns,” said Ironhide over the communications network they all had, sounding irrationally gleeful.
“The humans have a phrase for you condition!” replied Bumblebee brightly. “It’s called being trigger-happy, if I recall.”
The other Autobot snorted. “It’s been boring. Earth’s a weird planet, but there’s been nothing to do.”
“I’m translating that as ‘nothing to shoot.’”
The trail end of a laugh trickled into the communication. “It’s Optimus. I’m already over the border-maybe you’d be faster if you stopped chatting so much, hmm?”
“Where’s Ratchet?” asked Bumblebee.
“He’s maybe 50 miles behind you, with one of the new ones-Landslide. You haven’t met him yet, Ironhide, so I’m sorry in advance. They both needed to find alternate shapes.”
“The new one I understand,” said Bumblebee, “but why Ratchet?”
“He’s a medical vehicle only recognized by the United States. It would look out-of-place, if not outright suspicious, once we crossed the border.”
“I see,” said Bumblebee.
“What else can you tell us about the situation, Optimus?” said Ironhide crisply before the yellow Autobot could continue.
“The Brazilian government is turning over full investigation to the United States, with the understanding that our progress will be monitored. They’ve heard reports-village rumors, mostly-of something in the deep jungle, but they’ve dismissed it as silly gossip and backwater superstition. Solarity’s the best eyewitness, excluding the human woman and child he rescued from an overcome village, and he has a small amount of poor quality footage, but that’s been undisclosed to the Brazilians, seeing as we officially don’t exist.”
“Solarity?” questioned Ironhide further.
“The second of our new arrivals. He’s considerably less-abrasive,”
“Yeah,” said Bumblebee feelingly.
“Where is he?”
“With Optimus Prime,” cut in a new voice, sounding vaguely amused.
“Hey, Solarity,” Bumblebee said agreeably. “Hang on, I’m gonna go. I want to wake Mikaela up before we’re to the border…”
“We figured it would be easier than figuring out air traffic and rules and such,” explained Prime.
“Right. Solarity, huh?” Ironhide’s voice was vaguely threatening.
A private line between Optimus and Ironhide opened up. “Don’t threaten to shoot him,” said Optimus flatly.
Ironhide just growled wordlessly. He didn’t bother denying that he had been about to.
oOo
A few hours later the sun was only starting to gray the horizon, and Mikaela was awake again-Bumblebee had woken them both up for the border, and they’d both slipped back asleep again soon after that particular obstacle had passed. Sam was still dozing fitfully, although Bumblebee guessed that he would be waking up soon, but Mikaela had been jolted back to awareness by a pothole ten miles down the road.
“Mind pulling over quickly?” she said, after a few minutes. Wordlessly, the Autobot pulled to the side of the road.
After a quick glance around to see if any cars were coming, she had crouched carefully behind the car, hit the tire and muttered that he ‘had better look away’ and peed, ignoring how awkward it was, along with the fact that what she was doing should be a lot more uncomfortable than it was, considering she was hiding behind her best friend, who identified as male at the very least.
A minute later she was up and rummaging through the cooler they had put in the conveniently popped trunk, eventually coming up with something suitable as breakfast.
She was trying to reach one of her energy drinks-they had ended up wedged behind the cooler-when she was startled by Bumblebee honking his horn at a set of two cars as they went by. Slipping back into the driver’s seat, she said “What was that about?”
“Ratchet and Landslide,” replied the car.
“Ratchet?” she said, surprised.
“Nnngh,” said Sam. He was definitely waking up, but not there yet.
“He was the hummer, then?” She frowned. “I guess he’d need something other than an emergency vehicle to get across country borders…”
“I could be brown, I could be blue, I could be violet sky-” (1) sang the radio, before the radio dial made a little flicker between stations, leaving it on static shortly-what Mikaela and Sam had come to recognize as a verbal shrug-before returning to the first station few seconds later to play “I can be anything you like,” before shutting off.
“So Landslide-that’s the sulkbot, right?-must have been the green SUV.”
The sound of snickering laughter filled the car. Mikaela smiled at the him.
“You know, I dated someone a lot like Landslide when I was 13…” said Mikaela thoughtfully. “Moody, irrational, hated the world-I guess robots really do come in 14-year-old boy form. Although, if I remember correctly, Lance didn’t turn into a car. He did have a green jeep, though…”
“What?” said Sam, his voice a little hoarse with first-thing-in-the-morning disuse.
“The green SUV in front of us is the grumpy Autobot from the government area back in Nevada,” explained Mikaela. “The car in front of him is Ratchet.”
“Makes sense,” Sam said, craning his neck in an attempt to get a better look at the red Hummer-a slightly different model than Ratchet’s old one-in front of them. “And it’s-Landslide, right?”
“A highway in Washington was totally blocked by a landslide today, aggravated by the continued rains the region has been experiencing-” said the car radio. Sam blinked slightly.
“Huh. You know, I find it hard to believe that all that’s just out there, conveniently saying what you need when you need it,” Sam said. Bumblebee huffed aggrievedly.
“Anyways, good morning, Bee. Morning, Mikaela.”
“Morning,” Mikaela said, leaning over to press a kiss to Sam’s lips. “I got you some breakfast.”
“Hey, thanks!”
oOo
It had been quiet for a while, Bee driving and Sam and Mikaela cuddling, when Bee’s inter-Autobot comm. set crackled into life; only he could hear it-it wasn’t set to play on the car speakers.
“This is Landslide,” the other car introduced. He was directly in front of Bumblebee, with Ratchet ahead of him, and Ironhide leading; Optimus Prime and Solarity were a ways ahead of the group, although the gap was closing.
“Hey,” said Bumblebee in greeting, a bit warily.
“What’s the story with the two human-things you’re with?”
Bumblebee bristled slightly, the hum of his engine taking on a slightly more threatening note. “I was charged with serving as Sam’s guardian when I first came to Earth, and we came to know each other well during the fighting. I grew to know Mikaela as well. I was severely injured during the final fight against the Decepticons, but Sam only left my side to get the Allspark to safety, at my request, and he was the one who ended up defeating Megatron; Mikaela stayed with me, despite the risk to herself. He also negotiated my release by the human government when I was captured saving him. I asked to stay with him at the end of it all, and it was agreed to.”
“That little squishy killed Megatron?” came the reply. Bumblebee’s engine revved a little louder. Sam and Mikaela were looking slightly concerned.
“It’s nothing,” he said to the two of them alone before switching back to the conversation he was having with Landslide.
“What do you mean by that?” Bumblebee said.
“He’s unimpressive, even by human standards. I don’t know how you stand dealing with them-having them in you, living with them, letting them drive you around.” Landslide’s voice was illustratively horror-stricken.
It was a good thing they were in another stretch of deserted road.
Bumblebee’s engine revved loudly and he veered sharply out until he was driving alongside the other Autobot, matching his speed; he began to turn inwards, until Landslide was close to being forced off of the road entirely.
“Maybe you should think twice before speaking,” Bumblebee says, voice fierce, heated. “And understand that there are some things you don’t understand-assuming you’re capable of understanding them, that is.
“And it could be worse,” he finished. “I could be living with you.”
Bumblebee backed away from the SUV and accelerated, moving in front of Ratchet and then Ironhide and continuing on at a fast pace, leaving the other three cars in his wake.
“Whoah,” said Sam, eyes wide. “What was that?” He slowly relaxed his death-grip on the door handle, and Bumblebee’s internal sensors showed that they both had an accelerated heart rate, indicative of surprise or fear. (Or sexual arousal, but he knew enough about human culture and the two of them to rule that out, at least.)
He replayed the conversation over his in-car speakers, so that Sam and Mikaela could hear it.
“Thanks, Bee,” Sam said softly, gently running a hand along the back of the seat. “Not that I care what some asshole of a robot thinks of us, but I appreciate it all the same.”
“I get the distinct feeling that he’d be a Decepticon if he didn’t hate them so much,” said Mikaela. “Scary thought, considering we’ll be working with him.”
“We can hope he improves…” said Sam doubtfully.
Bumblebee grumbled around them, speeding up a little more.
“I guess dealing with aggression by driving too fast really is universal,” laughed Mikaela.
oOo
“Idiot,” said Ironhide firmly, opening up a line between himself and Landslide.
There was a moody silence from the other end of the ‘conversation.’
“Bumblebee’s not easy to piss off. He’s the nice one.” There was a tangible threat to the comment. “And he’s not the only one with a vested interest in the two humans. Optimus Prime owes the boy his life. Others have gotten to know other earthlings.” Ironhide himself tended to find himself dropping in on Captain Lennox, Sarah and baby Annabelle on a fairly regular basis, but he wasn’t going to mention that.
This time there was more of a response from Landslide, but it was still only a snort.
“So unless you want to find yourself at the wrong end of a gun some evening, I recommend you try to do better with some of the other members of the group. Ratchet, for example, assuming it’s not too late. I hear it’s bad luck to piss off the medic.”
There was some indistinct muttering.
“Good to hear you understand.”
“…Yes, sir,” came the response.
oOo
It was hours later; Sam was driving, and Bumblebee was getting a little bit bored, to be honest.
There was only so much scenery he could take.
The six Autobots (Ironhide, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Landslide and Optimus with Solarity, in order) had all met up and were traveling at more-or-less the same speed, forming a convoy, of sorts; any ordinary human would have just seen a string of mismatched cars (even if they were all excellently maintained and in tip-top shape) heading in the same direction, but the order had been pretty carefully chosen. Optimus Prime was in the lead, of course, and Solarity was stuck with him. Ironhide had been instructed to bring up the rear, his usual position-it gave him more maneuverability in case of an attack, when he wasn’t hemmed in on all sides. Ratchet was serving as the buffer between Bumblebee and Landslide-he was marginally less likely to go after the new Autobot than Ironhide was, and considerably less likely to lose it than Bumblebee, for once.
Solarity had commed in a request to talk to “one of the earthlings” about an hour back, and he and Mikaela were talking.
He was, apparently, endlessly curious, despite his fairly reserved introduction. He was certainly friendlier than Landslide-but then, there were probably Decepticons that were friendlier than Landslide.
Currently, Mikaela was struggling to explain gender roles and sexism to a race without genders.(2)
“-so why are the females the ones discriminated against?”
“Well, they-we-tend to be physically weaker, and less aggressive… And then, women are the ones who bear children, which leaves them in a delicate state for nine months-especially the last few-and that means that, traditionally, we’ve needed protection during that period, and we’re less independent and capable of independent survival and self-defense… And we’re the ones, well, built to care for the children-feed them, certainly. Really, there has to be someone who can give you better answers than this, you know. I’m no expert.”
“No, this is fascinating,” Solarity replied. “What can you tell me about childbirth?”
Mikaela sighed. “This is about to get embarrassing,” she muttered before continuing. “Well, um-
“You know, I have no idea how to go about this. Basically, once a woman’s pregnant, she needs to get all the nutrients the child needs, plus a lot more calories, and there’s a lot of complications that can arise-like a genetic defect, or a miscarriage, or more than one baby-in fact, there are human doctors who specialize just in childbirth. Ob-gyns-obstetricians and gynecologists. And then when they’re born, they need a lot of care-they’re helpless, basically, and really delicate.”
“Huh. How long does it take to reach maturity?”
“Well, talking’s usually around one year or two-I think-and walking’s around there too. School starts at five or six, or as young as four. You’re a legal adult at 18 or 21, in the U.S., but that can change. Culturally, it’s been a lot younger in the past, in most places. We’re both 17 years old.”
“Like 13, 15 or 16,” cut in Sam. “In Japan, it’s 20.”
“For a long time, in a lot of places, for girls at least, it’s been when they reach-sexual maturity,” said Mikaela, brushing bright red. Bumblebee was snickering at her-and also Sam, who was blushing just as heavily as she was at her words.
The conversation was interrupted by Optimus Prime.
“We’re nearing Brazil, and I want to go over this well before we’re in the danger area again,” he said. “If we’re attacked by anything, stay close by-we don’t know what it is-but as a whole we should try to move away from human settlements. As always, Bumblebee, your main charge is making sure Sam and Mikaela are safe.”
“Understood,” chirped the car.
“Ratchet, stay out of things as much as you can, in case of emergency-we don’t want to lose the only medic we have. Ironhide, give backup wherever it’s needed the most-you’ve got the most firepower. Landslide, cooperate with others. Other than that, everyone do what you can.”
There was a chorus of affirmative responses. Sam and Mikaela traded wry grins.
“This will be our default until we’re at the base, unless otherwise noted. Also, John Keller wants me to remind you all that we would be ‘classified information if the government acknowledged you existed at all,’ so to keep actions discreet.”
“Sam adds that ‘discreet’ does not mean what happened in his back yard,” interjected Bumblebee, laughter in his voice. Mikaela was giggling, but it was still too painful a memory for Sam-he had his head buried in his hands, trying to keep from reliving the experience. Of everything that had happened, that had probably been one of the more stressful situations he’d been in.
“Duly noted,” said Ratchet dryly.
oOo
They were well into Brazil, and only an hour-half an hour if they were lucky-away from their final destination. Sam and Mikaela were both looking at the scenery; they were into the rainforest, now, and neither of them had ever seen anything like it.
They both paid attention, though, when the radio flicked on.
It was Optimus Prime. “This is Optimus. We’re at the base, and we’ve been joined by another Autobot-Gyro. Ratchet has vouched for him. Once you’re inside the area, head for Hangar 3-a debriefing will take place there. Most of the military convoys have already arrived.”
“Another one?” said Mikaela, sounding bemused. “There’s been a whole rash of them lately…”
“And none of them know each other, not like you guys did,” added Sam.
“Probably used the pre-existing meteor shower for cover,” explained Bumblebee. “More subtle, so it’s better when you’re not in a hurry.”
“Your voice sounds like it’s doing better today,” said Mikaela off-handedly.
“That was a non sequitur,” said Sam.
“It comes and goes,” said the Autobot. “The components still shift around a lot.”
“Oh.”
“That must suck…”
oOo
The seven Autobots and three humans-Sam, Mikaela and Keller-were all crowded together at one end of a huge airplane hangar. Gyro, the new Autobot, had turned out to be small-though larger than Frenzy had been-with the alternate form of a tri-colored motorcycle in chrome, cherry red and black, and with a sense of humor in permanent over-drive in reference to just about everything.
“What we’re facing,” said John Keller, “is, essentially, a total unknown. We have a short clip of footage-” He paused, so a few seconds of grainy video could play against the white wall behind him, “-and the eyewitness account of one villager and her child. She claims that the jungle came alive and ‘ate’ the town. This is similar to Solarity’s account.” The named Autobot nodded in confirmation.
“We’ve got a team of scientists currently settling in, but ready to start work immediately after that,” continued the Secretary of Defense. “They’re all at the top of their fields, and they’ve been given all the information we currently have relating to the situation. However, they are unaware of your presence, as is the rest of this settlement-especially the refugees we’ve had taken in from the near-by villages. We plan on keeping it that way.”
He drew a breath to continue, but before he could start the sound of talking could be heard from outside the hangar door. He frowned.
“Is this it?” said a voice from outside, the words muffled but still clear. “It’s got the right clearance for where we’re meeting, and it’s about the right area, and it says it’s in use-”
Before anyone could move, the door was swinging open to reveal a small cluster of eight mismatched, wide-eyed humans.
“Holy fuck,” said one, a curvy blonde woman. Most everyone else seemed to be frozen, including the Autobots.
John Keller sighed loudly. “This would be the research team. Ladies, gentlemen, would you please step inside?”
The group consensus seemed to be to not move, except for a slight, shuffling and subtle attempt to back away a little.
The blonde woman was still muttering obscenities under her breath.
The newest Autobot, Gyro, was apparently attempting to stifle mad giggles in one of the corners.
“In, people!” demanded John Keller finally.
They cautiously moved inside, shutting the door after another reminder, although they all stayed huddled near it, eyeing the aliens with doubt.
“What the hell is this?” said the blonde woman (she seemed to be the loudmouth of the group) after a minute. There was a general murmur of assent-they wanted explanations.
Heads across the board, from Autobot to human, swung to Keller.
“These are the Autobots,” he said, when it was clear that all explanations were up to him. “They’re responsible for saving the earth from another faction of similar robots, the Decepticons. I’m sure you heard about it on the news. They’ve kindly offered to help with the situation. In fact, one of them is the only reason we’re aware of this threat at all.” Solarity grinned slightly.
“Didn’t the government say that they returned?” said another scientist, a dignified-looking older gentleman.
“I haven’t trusted the government since my father got elected as a U.S. Senator,” said a voice from the back-Sam thought it was a brown-haired woman in her late twenties or early thirties, looking faintly shell-shocked.
Her comment sent Gyro into new throes of silent laughter.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening to me,” muttered the youngest person in the group, a muscular man in the early side of his twenties with light brown hair and a demeanor that screamed ‘jock’ at the top of its lungs.
The third and final woman just shrugged, as if to say “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”
John Keller nodded to Optimus. “I am Optimus Prime,” he said, ignoring how several of the new humans jumped as he started speaking. “Leader of the Autobots.”
“Ratchet, the medic.”
“Ironhide. Weapons specialist.” It was only a timely glare from Prime that kept him from demonstrating.
“Bumblebee.”
There was a brief pause. “Wait, us too?” said Sam. “Sam Witwicky.”
“Mikaela Banes.” The two of them, who were sitting twined together on Bumblebee’s shoulder, got several odd looks.
“Solarity.”
“Landslide,” said Landslide finally, but only after Solarity had jabbed him in the back of the neck with his finger once or twice.
“Official pain in the ass,” muttered Ironhide.
“Gyro,” said the newest one finally, still exuding the sense that he was utterly amused by all of this.
There was another pointed look from the Secretary of Defense, this time aimed at the human group.
“Kristine Christopherson,” drawled the blonde one with the mouth. “Biologist.” She jostled the bag she was holding into the side of the man standing next to her, prompting him to speak.
“Toni Martinez,” he introduced himself. “The zoologist.”
“Irene Gray,” said the brown-haired woman at the back of the group. “Botanist.”
“William Curtis,” said the elderly man. “Also a botanist.”
“Keats Anders,” said a middle-aged black man. “Biologist.”
“Louise Brant,” said a woman somewhere between 40 and 50. “Lab assistant.”
“Evan Fitzgerald, botanist,” said the jock.
“And George Tanaka,” finished the final person, another male, of Japanese descent and in his late twenties. “I’m the other lab assistant.”
There was a moment of silence.
“What do you need to get started?” said John Keller finally.
“Well, we were trying to find the lab…” said Toni Martinez sheepishly. “Didn’t turn out right…”
“Samples,” snapped the blonde woman, Kristine Christopherson. “What do you expect us to do with nothing but a few seconds of video and the panicky impressions of untrained villagers in the dark?”
“I’ll go get some,” said Solarity brightly.
oOoOoOo
(1) Grace Kelly by Mika. (For both of the clips in that paragraph.)
(2) I know that canons other than the 2007 movie get fuzzy on this, but I’m not following them, which means I’m free to make up my own gender rules-ones that make sense to me.
And those rules are are: one gender, with the default in English usually working out to ‘he,’ though it’s technically possible that a Transformer on Earth could decide that they like ‘she’ as their pronoun of choice. Gender is just not something that’s an issue on Cybertron, either way. But do keep in mind that this is personal opinion because canon doesn’t have an answer-at least, not yet. Future movies may do away with this, I don’t know…