The Day We Hailed The Heavens

Chapter 22

She was about to ask him about it, in spite of her better judgement, when Simmons interrupted.

"Hey, Doc?" the intolerable agent's voice suddenly blared from the speakers. "Simmons here. Look, the President's just called for an all-out evacuation of Mission City to get the civilians outta the way, so prepare for a lot of vehicles coming in the other direction."

"A wise decision," Ratchet remarked approvingly. "And how does your President plan to explain Unicron's presence over Earth, Agent Simmons?"

That was something that hadn't really occurred to Rose. The rest of the world must be in absolute hysterics with this massive, smoking sphere looming over the planet, and none of them knew or understood what was going on. People all over the world would be cowering in terror - probably locking themselves into nuclear bunkers - and wanting someone to tell them what was happening. People in her own country. People in America. People everywhere on the planet.

People... who were in danger.

Simmons seemed to hesitate before he replied. "We've decided that it'd be best for him to do an international television and radio broadcast, explaining what the hell's going on," he informed the medic through the radio. "It's got to happen in the end. This is just too big to ignore. We'll have to tell them that there are aliens on Earth, and they're helping us fight it off. There'll be witnesses to this, even if we evacuate the city... and bribes won't be enough to cover it this time."

"So every human on the planet with access to a television or radio system will be aware of our presence on Earth," Ratchet repeated, and Rose could sense the dread in his voice. "And if we win this battle, Agent Simmons... what will we do after that?"

"You'll have to lie low - same with your human buddies. It shouldn't be too much of a problem - you've lived in California for three years, right?"

Ratchet made a small 'hmm' of agreement, and Rose raised an eyebrow. She hadn't even received an inkling, since she had been in California, that she was sharing the neighbourhood with alien robots... not until Starscream had given the game away, anyway. "I suppose it will be relatively straightforward to find an area where we will not be disturbed by humans."

The agent sounded enthused by the positive response when he replied. "That's the spirit. Listen, we're pulling over at the service station on the outskirts of the city for some provisions. Dunno about ginger in there, but I'm starved, and so are my men. You got any issues with that?"

Rose narrowed her eyes at the radio system, hoping that he could feel her displeasure from his big, shiny, 'I-must-be-compensating-for-something' SUV. "I am not ginger," she muttered resentfully, folding her arms. "It was called 'warm red', actually."

She was ignored by both of them, and she pouted to herself cantankerously as Ratchet replied to the maddening agent in an understandably world-weary tone. "No, Agent Simmons. I will follow you when you indicate for me to do so and allow Rose to purchase whatever victuals she requires for the rest of the journey," he said in a subdued manner, and Rose raised an eyebrow bemusedly.

Victuals?

Simmons clearly didn't understand either, if his puzzled response was anything to go by. "... Right. Uh... over and out."

Now she came to think of it, she was pretty hungry. The last time she'd eaten had been very early in the morning, and she was starting to wonder if she'd imagined the tiny bowl of cornflakes. Apparently she had, because Ratchet informed her so when he spoke again.

"Rose, my scanners indicate that you have not consumed sustenance for thirty-one hours," he scolded her gently, and her eyes widened in complete surprise. Thirty-one bloody hours? No wonder I'm famished... "I highly recommend that you obtain plenty of fuel for yourself when we stop - you will need a great deal of energy for the coming day. I am surprised that you have managed to stay conscious for this long. Why on Cybertron are you ignoring your basic human need to eat?"