Arrival: Doctor in the Hou... Er, Zoo

[First Aid]

First Aid is working very hard at keeping a sense of perspective about his day. All right, so he got yelled at by a grieving father and is a bit concerned by the man’s lack of respect for his daughter’s decisions, but Ms. Morgan is a very capable person, and First Aid is sure she can handle herself or get help if she needs it. He’s glad to have been able to help her. Any day where helping someone goes so well can’t be completely irredeemable.

The fact that he’d apparently managed to short circuit badly enough that his central processor shut itself down on its own is worrying, but, he thinks as he powers his optics back up, he had come back online, which is always a good sign.

…Possibly the violet sky and the oddly designed, very deserted, very strikingly orange surroundings are rather less of a good sign.

First Aid stands up, running a few internal diagnostics and looking curiously at the very dead animal in the alcove on the right side of the broad avenue he’s found himself at the edge of. All right. He didn’t short out. That’s good. This is distinctly not Earth, as insane as that is. Not good. There used to be people here. Good. The people evidently either all died very quickly or left just as quickly – no one would simply leave their animals to rot like this unless they had no choice. Neither option is encouraging.

Oh well. From what he can see where he’s standing, the place – be it zoo, which seems most likely, or farm, or possibly some configuration he’s unfamiliar with - hasn’t been looted, the damaged structures nearby don’t look as though they’ve been bombed at all, let alone recently, and whatever cataclysm befell its builders seems unlikely to get him too. At the very least it won’t get him immediately, and that makes staying in this relatively sheltered spot a bit silly.

He steps out into the middle of the avenue, and (it seems such a long shot as to be totally ridiculous, but it is procedure, and procedure is important) opens up a comm channel. //This is Autobot First Aid reporting. Is anyone receiving? Please respond. Repeat: This is Autobot First Aid. Is anyone receiving? Please respond.//

He takes the time to try to gauge how long since his surroundings have had any maintenance while he waits. If he gets no response within five minutes, he’ll rotate frequencies and try again – not so much because he thinks he’ll get anything, but because if he were lost, alone, and injured on an alien planet, he’d want someone to keep trying.

(Never mind that the only one of those that doesn’t apply to him is ‘injured’. He’s a doctor, he doesn’t count.)

OOC: First Aid is right out in the open, and Omega Supreme or either of the zoo search teams should be able to spot him.

[Airazor]

Airazor groans as she starts to come to. "...Tigatron...?" When did she black out? ...And when did she transform? She had been flying in beast mode above Tigatron, and now she's lying on her front on...orange metal? She blinks in confusion before pushing herself up and looking around. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

She starts when she sees legs nearby. Large legs. That lead up to a large body. Complete with a red sigil that hadn't been used in centuries.

"By the Matrix..." She murmurs, staring up at the Autobot.

[First Aid]

First Aid is still a bit taken aback by getting an answer to his broadband hail. The voice from the general direction of down and forward is even more startling – someone’s still here? A possibly hurt someone, if the groan's anything to go by.

He looks. He holds his hands up, palms out and flat, and takes a step back. I’m not a threat, don’t worry. “Hello,” he says mildly, “Are you all right? I’m a doctor.”

[Airazor]

"I'm fine," Airazor replies as a quick diagnostics check comes back all green.

She quickly kicks off and activates her jets, hovering in the air around face-height for First Aid. Immediately she relaxes a tiny amount. She's far more comfortable in the air, plus she isn't straining her neck by trying to look up at him. However, she doesn't relax too much. She's in an unfamiliar place with someone who should not be around. "You're an Autobot. How...? There haven't been any Autobots for centuries!"

A notice catches her attention: she is no longer in a jamming zone and her radio can be used again. She accesses a frequency she rarely uses and puts out a message. //This is Maximal unit Airazor calling anyone. Please respond. Repeat: this is Maximal unit Airazor calling anyone.//

[First Aid]

First Aid holds himself still as he watches Airazor delightedly – she’s good in the air! There’s a lightness and quickness to her movements he doesn’t often see in fliers who can take to the air in robot mode. “I’m glad you’re not hurt,” he says happily.

“Yes,” he says, “My name’s First Aid – And I'm sorry - I think you're even more lost than I am." He says that last as gently as he can. At least the first voice he heard was a familiar one.

[Airazor]

If First Aid thinks she's good at flying just from the little bit she's done, he should see her when she really gets flying!

She gives First Aid a smile. "Thank you. As you've figured out, I'm Airazor."

[First Aid]

Blades always says it’s the fine control that shows a good pilot! …Usually followed by grumbling about hot shot jets who think they’re all that just because they’re faster, but that’s beside the point.

"Pleased to meet you," he says, and gives an embarrassed little shrug. "You have a distinctive voice - it's nice.”

He considers. Three ways they could head, and he’s got maps. “Do you mind which way we go?”

[Airazor]

Airazor tilts her head thoughtfully. "I don't have a preference. If there's someone you know that you'd like to go to, that's fine."

[First Aid]

"Mmm," First Aid says, "Wedge and Firebolt are keeping an optic out for us - let's head over their way."

On the assumption that the decision has now been left to him, he starts to walk in a Wedge and Firebolt-ish direction. It really doesn't hurt that they're also in the general direction of the emergency triage station - Kup may have re-directed them because the bomb turned out to be a bluff, but First Aid has been the Autobots' primary medic on Earth long enough now to feel better if he's at least heading towards the vicinity of the center of medical operations.

"If you don't mind my asking," he says, "Do you know much about your engineering?" Probably not, most Transformers don't, just as most humans don't know much about their internal anatomy, but it seems worth asking. "And I hope you'll be all right with me giving you a full physical when we get a chance - I don't think anything's going to happen you can't fix, but it always might and I really don't want to try to repair your systems without knowing how they're supposed to work."

He puts his right hand more or less over his laser core. "I'll be careful."

[Airazor]

Airazor transforms into beast mode and flies alongside First Aid. There's air under her wings, and that feels good no matter what else is going on. She allows herself to zoom her vision in on Wedge and Firebolt to check their heading, then clicked her vision back to normal so she could see her immediate surroundings.

She shakes her head at his question. "I wouldn't know." First Aid would possibly be less than thrilled to learn that the medical profession had been at least partially replaced by CR tanks and chambers.

"Alright," she agreed. While physicals are never fun for anyone, he did have a logical point. Besides, there were some injuries that beast modes just couldn't really fix.

OOC: Head into Wedge and Firebolt's thread?

[First Aid]

First Aid's gait falters for a moment in surprise when Airazor transforms. She's not just shaped vaguely like a bird, she actually - oh, oh wow. So, so cool. Deep in his geeky lasercore he's rather glad that she's not an engineer. It gives him a good excuse to take a through look at that tech!

"Thank you," he says, "I really do appreciate it. I have to admit - I'm curious, too."

OOC: Sounds like a plan to me!

[Airazor]

Well, she did say she was a transformer! And what else would a bird-shaped 'bot turn into except for a bird?

"Curious about what?"

She notes the two other Autobots as they approach. "There they are."

OOC: Cross-posting to Wedge and Firebolt's thread!