Doctor To Doctor

Pharma comes knocking on the door to Ratchet's office, hoping his colleague is there. He's been wanting to talk to him for a while, but things have been pretty busy as per usual. But for now there finally seems to have been a lull in the volume of patients, so he takes the opportunity to pay Ratchet's office a visit. Unless he's out partying or something...

After a rough night at Maccadam's Oil Pub, Ratchet spent a good part of the morning doctoring /himself/ moreso than any patients that wandered into the medical facility. Needless to say, he was thankful that the volume of patients decreased today. He found himself needing a nap ... and more high-grade to combat the ache in his processor he had now. But he didn't take any to drink. Instead, he tried to focus on work.

At least until Pharma came into his office.

He leaned back in his seat, looking over some diagnostics from the last patient that visited him: Kup (just for a follow-up). "Hey Pharma," he greeted. "Haven't seen you in a while. Well, I've /seen/ you, but .. you know."

Pharma nods. "Yes, yes. We've all been busy as slag." He lets himself in and sits down in front of Ratchet's desk. "Which is why I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you about a discovery I made!" He grins, looking excited. "You know those Insecticons? The wild hives?"

The other doctor puts a datapad down on the desk, containing all the data he's managed to gather on Kickback thus far. "I found one that -talks-. Well, talks like -us-. And transforms, and everything."

Ratchet looked a bit skeptical as he picked up the datapad and looked it over. "You ... /found/ one," he repeated. "And it's here ... in our facility?" He shuddered at the thought. Where was Pharma keeping it? What if it escaped and started eating everything or attacking them? Still, Pharma's discovery was intriguing. If they could speak and transform, how different were these Insecticons from them? They just had a different form...?

"What has it told you?" he asked.

Pharma laughs and shakes his head. "No, no." He knows what Ratchet is thinking, with that look on his face. "I know what you're thinking, you're afraid it'll get loose and cause some crazy havoc. But no need to worry it isn't here." The datapad contains several scans and images of Kickback, a fully mature Insecticon with a transformation cog and everything. According to the data collected, the bugs communicate with each other through EMF fluctuations that are actually quite complex--it's just that Kickback had learned to speak Cybertronian as well. Certainly intriguing.

"It's at a state facility where I've been working on and off. I think you'd find it fascinating, there are some pretty interesting projects going on there."

In response to Ratchet's question, Pharma shrugs slightly. "You know, the thing was surprisingly cooperative. I convinced it to lie still and everything, didn't even struggle one bit or put up any kind of fight. Apparently it's loyal to someone it calls its 'queen'. I assumed loyalty was the final call on everything."

Ratchet relaxed upon hearing that. As long as it wasn't at this facility. That's all they needed ... a giant bug wreaking havoc with the already grumpy patients. That would look /great/ in the news. Now he could focus on Kickback himself. Seeing his schematics, the medic's optic ridges raised in interest. "Incredible," he enthused. "Do you think they're all like this? Or is this one a mutant of some kind...?"

A state facility. He would have to check it out someday soon. Maybe join the research team or something. "EMF fluctuations," he repeated, stroking his chin as he leaned forward against his desk. "No wonder we can't understand some of the gibberish they say. And it's loyal to its ... queen? Who or /what/ is that?"

Pharma shrugs again about the queen, leaning back in his seat casually. "I'm not sure about it being a mutant...from what the bug said it sounded like all of them at least had the potential to do the same thing. But it's never been observed before. I have no idea about mutants or not. I should ask it sometime."

A pause, and he straightens back up. "Well actually maybe -you- should talk to the bug yourself. Honestly Ratchet, you should come pay us a visit sometime, at least consider lending a hand. We're breaking so much new ground over there, I think you'd enjoy it. It's a nice break from taking care of mechs who've definitely had a bad solar cycle all the time."

Ratchet thought about it for a moment. "You know what? I think I /will/ head over there sometime. I'd like to meet this bug. Who all works over there in that facility?" He was thoroughly interested now and Pharma made it that much more enticing bringing up the pessimistic patients they usually dealt with. Mechs were all the same. Now Insecticons ... that was something truly novel and Ratchet was a scientist at spark.

Pharma and slaps his friend on the back. "Now that's what I like to hear." he says, grinning. "I'll let them know you'll be paying us a visit. Just think of potential applications all of this could have to our work here at Deltaran....it's crazy!"

He looks down at the datapad for a moment, perhaps making a note of it, then turns back to Ratchet, studying him. Another smile creeps onto his features, and he chuckles. "Oh Ratchet...have you been out drinking yourself into overcharge again?"

Ratchet grunted. He wasn't sure what applications /bugs/ could have in Deltaran, but Pharma was right about the potential. "When's the best time to meet with you all?" he asked, looking through his datapad now to see if he had any scheduled appointments.

When Pharma brought up his drinking habits, he scoffed. "What do you expect me to do after work? Go home and /recharge/? Life's too short to let the good times pass by." And with the growing unrest, he wasn't sure exactly how long those times would last now.

"Oh, we'll let you know sometime in the next megacycle or so." Pharma answers, still smiling. He laughs a little when Ratchet scoffs, throwing his arms up defensively. "Hey, hey I didn't say it was a -bad- thing! I was just asking, because you looked it. Not exactly healthy but you're still young and strong so it can't hurt too much. And you're right. With these times, never know when a spark could get snuffed out at a moment's notice. We of all mechs would be -acutely- aware of that. At least we don't live in Kaon, though. That place is fixing up to be a -mess-. That is an even bigger mess than it is now."

Death /was/ something they were acutely aware of. Ratchet didn't know how much it affected Pharma, but for him it cut to his very soul. He had yet to lose a patient and he would try his hardest never to lose one. How long he could keep it going was up to chance and his skill. "Yeah, no kiddin'," he said in response to Kaon. "As long as it stays over there, they can do whatever they want, but they better not bring their problems over here or I'll blow a gasket."

He sighed and leaned back in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose as another wave of pain coursed through his processor. Even still, he had the nerve to say, "You should join me for a drink at Maccadam's sometime. All you ever do is work. At least, that's what it looks like."

Pharma sighs. "I don't know, Ratchet. I don't think there will be much we can do about it if they do send people over here." he shaks his head, sobering a bit. "I mean have you seen the news? With the number of troops they've sent out there you'd think they were preparing for a massacre or a full-on siege. Whenever it goes down, energon is going to run thick, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I should cut myself a break one of these cycles." A bit of concern crosses his face when he notices Ratchet putting a hand on his face. Sometimes doctors can't help but 'doctor' the other doctors sometimes. "You okay, Ratch? I know I said overcharging wasn't always a bad thing, but there -is- still a line that probably shouldn't be crossed, regardless."

Ratchet didn't like hearing that in the least bit. Were things really that bad over in Kaon? A full-on seige or massacre? It made him sick thinking about it and picturing all of those lives ... lost. Where had it all gone so wrong?

He found he didn't want to dwell on it right now. There was enough pain in his processor to start feeling pain in his spark, too. He flashed Pharma a little smirk and chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine," he assured his friend. "I'm probably going to head out soon and get some recharge. 'Should make me feel better." He paused. "Maybe I'll dilute my energon, too..."

"Anyway," he continued. "I'll be sure to head to the state facility when you give the word. I look forward to seeing the specimens you all've collected over there."

It's certainly a grave topic. But if you asked Pharma, with the intensity of the riots going on, what else could be done? They couldn't just let them continue. Someone had to put those unruly mechs down. And Primus, the pits. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Disgusting. But Ratchet doesn't seem to want to discuss these things at the moment. Rightly so, it isn't exactly the most pleasant of matters.

The winged doctor smirks as well, at the mention of diluting high-grade. "Ha! Have you lost your bolts? That'd be disgusting!" he laughs. Though of course, -some- people do like it. "Just take something lighter, you know?"

He laughs a little, but he'd noticed a bit of a disturbed air in his friend's countenance. "Hey," he puts an encouraging hand on his friend's shoulder. "You know if you ever need an audial, I'm here okay? I know there's a lot going on out there...we can't just ignore it all. But it always helps to have someone to hash it all out with." he pats him again, then moves his hand away. "I'll see you soon."

Ratchet chuckled. "Yeah, I'll likely /not/ dilute my energon. High-grade tastes too good." He'd take Pharma's advice and try something lighter next time, especially so he wouldn't feel so bad the next solar cycle.

When Pharma brought up the unpleasant atmosphere Ratchet had created, he smiled apologetically. "Thanks, Pharma," he replied, glad to have someone there whenever he /was/ ready to open up about this whole mess. Not just yet, but someday soon. "I'll talk to you later. Stay safe out there."