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Market Commodity	By : Scienceteacher Category: Transformers > G1 > Round Robins Views: 11586 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Do not own the Transformers, am not making anything from this story.

Chapter List
- 38
- 39
- 40
Chapter contributed by : LadyStarscream

A/N: yeah, I've been reading this one, following it for a while. And I just couldn't resist the urge anymore. My muses kept bugging me. I'm not trying to be dramatic with the main chara's situation, it's just this stuff does happen to people. Andthe apartment is based off what I can remember of an actual apartment I had back when I was 19. :-)

Also, no smut this chapter. Sorry. I'm just setting it up. I still have to figure out a way that the clone's owner would let him stay with her. This is only the beginning.

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Rayann sighed as she turned the corner onto the street where she lived. She sighed. Another day of waitressing at the local restaraunt, men leering at he and making rude comments after she'd walked away, and when they though she couldn't hear them over their beers at the bar. She wished she could do something different with her life. She had tried, sure. But instead of doing what she'd wanted, having a family and all that, she'd ended up living down the road from her parents in a way-too-small upstairs apartment, working two jobs.

She had had a family, sure. Once upon a time. Till her husband left her. Though, she mused as she walked further, it wasn't that bad without him. Sure, he'd come see her once a month or so. And his parents were taking care of their son, at least she hoped they were. There was no way of telling that, either, since they only brought him up for her to see every month and a half. She wished there was a way to get him back, but without two parents and a stable income, and the means to care for him, there would be no way. It wasn't like she had wanted it to be that way. No. Her husband had stood on his parents's porch watching as his parents told the children's services lie after lie, telling them she was homeless. Hah! she was homeless because they had kicked her out. Locked the door on her, and wouldn't let her back in. And what did her husband do? nothing. He told the police exactly what she had heard his mother telling him to. She sighed, shaking those thoughts out of her head. It hurt too much to think about.

she couldn't even aford a car around the rent payments and other bills. She barely had time for anything around work at the restaurant and her housekeeping job, vacuming and scrubbing toilets for a local business-cleaning company. The kind of places that hired people to clean office buildings and stuff like that. At least the money kept her bills paid, and bought enouogh food, and cigarettes, and beer for her to forget her troubles.

She reached the darkened parking lot behind the building and paused, spotting the almost miniature-sized Porsche sitting there. She stopped, wondering who it belonged to. Nobody around here had the money for an expensive car. Unless they were a drug-dealer or a politician. And either were REALLY rare in a tiny town like Collinston.

She stared at it for a moment, with it's pristine white paint and blue racing stripes, wondering if it was some kind of new model. She'd never seen anything like it before. Though it did resemble some of the older Porsche models. Well, there were new hybrids out. Maybe someone was rich enough to buy one. She walked around front and looked up at her windows, the uppermost story of the two-story bulding, hoping they were still off. She'd made some enemies in the past, nobody rich enough to own one of those newer model cars, though. But then again, they said things about friends settling vendettas for friends. And it allways paid to be carefull.

She slipped her hand into her coat pocket for her pepper spray. She wished she had bought it a long time ago, but had been stupid enough to not be paranoid, and... well, let's just say the man who came out of the dark as she was walking to her friend's house had left her wishing she had been more careful. No, that wasn't revenge, it was merely some drunken idiot who wanted to get his jollies and didn't care what woman he got his hands on.

Sadly, not even her pocket knife helped her. "A weapon is only usefull if you know how to use it." she lamented, easing open the creaky front door. She glanced cautiously around the foyer of the apartment building, even glancing under the curving steps that went up to the upper apartments. Nope. Nobody around. Just the sound of music drifting down from the neighboring apartments down the hall.

"EE!" she screeched as a gust of wind slammed the front door shut behind her, resisting the urge to bolt up the stairs and into the relative safety of her apartment. she sighed, taking her hand out of her coat pocket, though she kept her pepper spray in her hand, finger underneath the protective lid to the spray button.

She eased up the steps, listening carefully for any sounds out of the ordinary. She had lived here for about a year, now, and had learned the sounds her neighbors usually made. From the arguing to the music, to the parrot of the neighbor down the hall adjacent to the stairway landing her apartment was off of.

She reached the top of the stairs and poked her head quickly through the doorway to the hall to make sure nobody was their, either. Thank goodness her neighbors weren't nosy like some poeple's neighbors. They didn't notice her. She put away the pepper spray and turned the key in the lock, sighing as she flicked the lightswitch, and the lights came on. She shut the door and put the chain across, locking it as usual before turning on the bedroom light and smiling down at the small cage in one corner. The guinea pig squeaked, happy to see her. "Hiya girl!" she opened the cage and lifted the tortoiseshell-colored animal out, carrying her with her to the fridge. The small creature oinked happily, and Rayann scratched behind it's ears, earning her a happy purr.

"You hungry?" she asked, prying the fridge open and pulling one of the lower drawers open to rip off a peice of lettuce. She set it on her arm and the guinea pig happily munched away as the strawberry-blonde nudged the drawer shut with her foot. She walked back to the bedroom and checked the paper and food supplies before depositing the small animal of the floor. "There ya go." she smiled. The guinea pig grabbed her lettuce and ran into the small brown-colored wood house the young woman had made for her. It stuck it's head out of one of the circular 'windows'. Rayann grinned and adjusted the newspaper under it. "Well, at least you can be house trained." she joked, shoving aside a mental image of her husband throwing his work vest and tie across the back of the couch, and leaving his sneakers in the middle of the floor.

She made sure the food and water trays were on the newspaper as well. She knew the animal only did it's business next to wherever it's food was, so it made it easier to clean up after. And since the food and water trays were square containers, it wasn't like the little guinea pig would spoil it's own food. She gave the guinea pig another scritch on it's angular little nose and stood. "I gotta go get me some food now. I'll be back."

The guinea pig oinked and ran over to her playhouse as the young blonde woman left, shutting the door behind her so it wouldn't get out. Rayann smiled as she crossed the living room to the open kitchen. On the left was the fridge, and the stove beyond that, and to the right a small table. On the far wall was the sink and some cupboards. She opened the top cupboard and got out a pack of ramen noodles, and a bowl. The guinea pig, Cleopatra, oinked loudly at the sound of rattling plastic. "Hey, who's got who trained here?" Rayann laughed jokingly. She filled the empty cool-whip container with water and dumped in the noodles, sticking it in the microwave. Then she went ot the fridge and rummaged through the vegetable drawer, gathering a bit of celery, some carrot-tops, and she grabbed a handfull of the new stuff- what was it called? oh yeah, collard greens. "I hope you like this new stuff I bought you." she called jokingly. "Heaven only knows, I think it's bitter as crap." she added under her breath.

She opened the bedroom door to find the little cavvy sitting right in front of the door looking up at her, as though she were the mistress of the house having called on her handservant for her evening meal.

Rayann sighed, shoving the stuff into her vegetable and greens holder. "Who's the most spoiled rotten pig on the planet." she petted the caramel-colored head and received a purr that sounded almost like a laughing-purr. She shook her head. "I must really be getting lonely. I'm talking to a guinea pig." another purr. Rayann shook her head and went back out to the kitchen, this time leaving the door open. She knew the rodent wouldn't go far. The little apartment only had three rooms, and she could see into every single one of them from the living room. Well, four rooms if you counted the kitchen alcove. But it was only about eight feet wide and ten feet long. The bathroom was even smaller, and the bedroom was the size of a walk-in closet. but, for three hundred bucks a month, it had to do.

She looked around the place. There wasn't much in the way of furniteure. There was one yellow-tan colored run-down loveseat with both it's arms gashed all the way down that she had stitched shut, as well as the gash down the back of it. a shipping pallette on some stacked boxes served as a table in one corner, and a small chair she had put a board under the seat of, so she wouldn't go right through when she sat down on it. But then, there was her couch. That made her smile. Her georgeous, beautiful, brand-new royal blue couch with very puffy back cushions and arms with wood inlaid in the front of them. She had found it outside the local furniture store. It had been in the trash, apparently because it had rained ont it, leaving a large watermark on the back pillows, and the fabric under the cusions was torn. Nobody had wanted it, and it was in the trash. It was overstuffed, anyway. But it was just perfect for her. And almost totally clean, except the waterstains.

She sighed again as the microwave dinged, and turned on the television. At least her husband had left her with something. Well, that and the vcr.

She paid half-a mind of attention to the newest reports of clones that were getting so insanely popular, and how there were now Autobot-clones. Apparently, the two companies were in competition with one another, or something of that nature. "Yeah right, like I could ever afford one of those things." she switched the channel. "I wish." she turned the tv off. "I reeally do." she went over to the small stereo on the kitchen table and turned it on. "At least I'd have someone who can make intellegent conversation with." she glanced at the bedroom, snickering under her breath about the antics of one spoiled pet. she didn't even notice the report about how one of the clones had attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge. What was his name? oh yeah, Tron. It had been in the newspaper. Boring. The young woman snorted, continuing to talk to her pet, who was still happily munching away on her carrot tops and collard greens. "You know, if I had one of those things, I wouldn't treat it like crap. I sure as hell wouldn't make it wanna jump off abridge. That's for sure." she shook her head. The clones certainly were interesting. They were starting to have personalities, according to the news reporters. even putting their lives... or would that be programs (huh?) on the line when that bridge collapsed. The strawberry blonde stuck a cd in the player and hit 'play' She turned up the volume as Bon Jovi's "Crush" album started to play. She sighed and went to the closet nto the left of the front door, carefull not to hit the tv with the door to it. she pulled out her keyboard. "Well, two good things I still have. My keyboard, and you." she called to the guinea pig, who ignored her anyway. She sighed. "Yeah. Aren't I so lucky."

She set it down on the couch and ripped open the flavoring packet for the noodles, mixing it up as she hunted around the room. "Now, where did I put that power supply?" she wondered aloud, pulling open a small set of cardboard drawers, which was little more than knee height. "No, not in there. Oh! I know where it is!" she ran over to the kitchen sink, plopping her container of noodles on the counter, and yanked open the cupboard door next to the ones under the sink. "Aha." she pulled out a bucket with some miscellaneous electronic junk in it. "Let's see.... batteries, power supplies, spare phone... aha!" she pulled out a white power supply and jogged over to her keyboard. She dropped the transformer on the couch and ran back to grab her noodles. Then she plugged it in. She looked at the door as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "That's strange, they sound almost... metal." she mused. She smirked at the though of how one of the stores that sold the clones had lost one of their display models. According to the security cameras, it just... walked out. But they weren't supposed to be activated till they had an owner. "Humm. I can only wish so much with my overactive little imagination." she mumbled, as though saying it pout loud would keep it from ever having a chance of coming true.

Suddenly, someone knocked on her door. She sighed. "It's almost midnight. That had better not be Lynn." she thought, peeking through the peephole.

She blinked. She couldn't see anything. Suddenly, whatever was blocking it moved away and she could see a dim outline. Her jaw dropped when she saw who... or rather what it was.

Was that... the car from earlier? from the parking lot? it couldn't be, could it? with a start, she realised the news report on the 'runaway clone' had shown a mech who looked just like this one.

She unlocked the door, but kept the chain across. Yeah, right. Like that would stop a robot. With a start she realised "What if the clone had gone beserk and had escaped in order to go on a giant killing spree?" but it was too late. The door creaked as it opened slightly. She knew he had heard it. "Besides." she tried to reassure herself. "This is a clone of an Autobot, and Autobots don't go on murderous rampages." Well, at least she hoped so.

The clone didn't know where he was, or why he was drawn here. It was the noises... melodious noises. His meta told him it was called music. A light shone through as the door opened a crack, and a single blue eye regaurded him, framed by yellowish colored hair. "Ummm, can I help you?" the feminine voice asked him. At first, the clone was startled. "What am I doing here? Why did I run away?" for an instant, confusion flooded his processor. He didn't know why he had run way from the store. Then he remembered, it was so dark, so lonely. The humans had turned off the lights and all left. The darkness, the silence. The music they were playing had stopped as well. It was like he had been deactivated. Oh dear! What if they had found out he had escaped!? he was a bad clone! he had run way! certainly whoever his owner was would come looking for him, and then deactivate him for being such a bad clone!

"Umm..uh, I... heard your music?" he tried. The human female on the other side of the door blinked and paused for a second.

Rayann wasn't sure what to make of this. So she blurted out the first question that came to her mind. "You're not an escaped clone that's planning on going on some murderous rampage are you? cause I'm pretty sure you have to be truthful with me, don't you? I mean why did you come here? and where are you from?"

The clone blinked. "Uhh. heh heh... he stuttered, then started laughing. "Hee hee, ha hayou think I'm a murderous. hee hee no, I'mn not, I'm just..." his laughter trailed off into something that sounded like trying to use laughter to cover some other sound. An almost... dismayed sound.

Something Rayann couldn't identify. "I'm lost." the clone finally said, looking at the welcome mat.

"Hang on." Rayann shut the door and unlatched the chain, swinging it open. "It's not much, but you can come in." She shut the door after him, keeping a wary eye on the primarily white and black robot. "Ohh, music!" the bot suddenly exclaimed, pouncing on the stereo. "Hey, hey! leave that a-" he had allready changed it to the radio and turned on one ofthe local rock channels. "Yeah." his charcoal-colored helmet bobbed in time with the music. Rayann edged over to the bedroom door and eased it shut so cleo, the guinea pig, wouldn't get out (and possibly stepped on), the entire time keeping her eyes on the robot.

He was bobbing his head in time with the rythm of the music, humming softly. Rayann racked her memory for information. What was this one called? oh yes, it was a clone of the one called Jazz. A musician, if she remembered correctly. But why her? why would it come to her, of all people? She had wished she had enough money to buy one, but any of them were too expensive. Especially a top-of-the-line model such as this one. It was one of the best-sellers. Her wandering mind led her to think about the 'display model' that had escaped.

Oh no! what if they had a tracking device! What if they found him- it here, and thought she had stolen it!

"Why are you here?" she asked, backing off when it turned to gaze at her, sky-blue visor never so much as flickering with the slightest hint of amusement. She took an involuntary step back.

She glared. The clone thought she might let him stay here. At least till the humans came back to the store. When they turned the lights and the music back on. When they unlocked the doors and let the poeple who would buy drones back in. He loved to perform for them. He loved to dance and sing to the music they played for him. But for some reason when the sun set, they all left. And they turned off the music and the lights, and they just... left him there. All alone in the darkness and the silence. The loneliness. He couldn't stand to be alone. Maybe it was programmed somewhere in his meta, maybe that was it. But he wanted to be liked, to be the center of attention.

"Your music-maker." he pointed to the box. "I heard music." The human blonde nodded slowly, as though not quite understanding him. "I was in a place where they sell drones, there was music, and lots of people." He took a step forward. The human took another step back, almost as if she was afraid of him. His meta whirled. Why was this human afraid of him? humans should not ever fear clones, he wanted to be her friend. Clones allways obeyed their human masters. Yet she was afraid. "When the sun went down, they turned off the lights and the music and they all left." he looked out the window at the pitch-black night beyond it. "They left me all alone." he turned back, so fast the human started. "I like having people around. I have to have... other people." he tilted his head slightly. "Never alone. I like to perform, to make others happy."

"You mean, you like being the center of attention?" Rayann replied, lifting one eyebrow. Now she really was confused. Didn't this... drone have an owner?

"Yeah, that's it!" a broad smile split the clone's features. Rayann simply nodded. "So... you have an owner, then?" The smile dissapeared, replaced by an almost melancholy look. "Yeah. But when my owner left me in da store..." he looked back at the stereo for a moment. "I didn't know what ta do. My orders were to stay there. But it was so quiet! I tried turnin on some music, but couldn't figure out how ta make the tvs turn on. Then there was an alarm..."

He drooped noticeably. "I think..." he looked up at her, blue visor dimming sligtly. "Maybe I broke somethin. I went to the front a the store and there were cop cars outside. I thought they were gonna take me away an..." he muttered the last two words, but Rayann caught the "deactivate" part of it. She took a step closer again. This clone, he wasn't some psychopathic killer. He was lonely! "Your owner... he?... he sounds like he wasn't very nice to you." The clone's head shot up. "Oh no! He was!" the mech put his hands up in front of him in a waving motion. "He let me dance and sing for all the people, I could do anything I wanted, show off ma stylinest dance moves." his grin reappeared. "I jus don't know why He'd leave me there. I mean, I was supposed ta go recharge before dat, but I got so caught up in my dancin'. Next thing I knew, everyone was leavin'."

Rayann nodded, walking up. "Maybe he wanted you to go into recharge so you wouldn't know the people were gone, so you wouldn't be lonely." she suggested, voice understanding.

"Yeah." The clone looked at the carpet. "I disobeyed 'im. I ran away, I broke his music-maker an then ran when they sent the cops after me." Rayann blinked. "If they sent the police to the store, I don't think it was because you were bad.

"Really?" the clone looked up at her. So innocent, so trusting. So sad, right now.

"Yeah. I think they might have thought someone broke into the store, that's probably why the police came. The alarm went off." the clone gave the young woman a curious look, like he didn't understand. "Look." Rayann led him over to the couch and motioned for him to sit. He sat on the very edge of the couch, like he was about to get up and bolt. "The alarm system probably calls the cops automatically when.. I don't know. When one of the storerooms or the front door is opened." she shrugged. "I doubt it wasn't anything you did." she explained.

"Really?" the mech asked.

"Oh my word! not only is he cute, but dumb as a box of rocks, too!" she giggled inside her thoughts. "Cute in an innocent way, of course." she added to that thought silently.

"But... I ran away! I've been a bad clone!" he jumped up. "I have to get back there..." he swayed on his feet slightly. "Hey wait!" Rayann jumped in front of him before he could start for the door. "Where is this place, where you came from, anyway?"

"Sears."

Rayann facepalmed. "No, no, I mean what city is it in."

"Oh." came the dumb reply. "Uhmmm... I don't know. Nobody ever told me."

Rayann nodded and tried not to sigh yet again. "Well, what's your owner's name?" she asked, hoping she could find the store. She wished she had paid more attention to the news earlier, now.

"My registered owner is Kent Mills 121 Archibald Avenue, Columbus, Ohio."

"Okay, then." Rayann was glad he'd memorised that information. At least she knew where to start looking. "So, the store you were in, do you think it was in Columbus?" she asked.

He couldn't remember. He was activated at the store. And his opinion didn't matter. So he answered matter-of-factly. "I was activated at the store."

A light bulb went off over Rayann's head. "Then that's the store's address. Maybe." she replied, grabbing a phone book off the kitchen table. She sat down, flipping through it. "Tell you what, why don't you recharge for a while, and I'll see about finding your owner, okay?" The robot sat back down, but pouted. "But what if he's angry at me for disobeying him? I've been a bad clone! I'm not programmed to disobey! His processors suddenly filled with guilt. Regret. With dread. "What if... what if he hates me for running away?"

Rayann patted a shoulder. "I doubt that'll happen." she tried to smile reassuringly. "In fact, he'll probably be happy to know you're safe and alive... well, that you're allright." the clone nodded, wondering what she meant by alive. He wasn't programmed to argue with humans, though. No clone was. But he knew that he was not alive. He was merely a clone. A robot.

The blonde pulled out a chair and flipped through the yellow pages. "So," she sked as she turned another page "Do you have a designation?"

"Yes." he brightened slightly. "My designation is Sears robotic clone model 001." Rayann snorted. 'Is something wrong?" the clone asked. "Oh no, no, not at all." another page turned. She shook her head and muttered something his audios didn't wuite pick up on. "Do you have a name, or just a designation?"

His processor whirled. According to his meta, a name was the same asa designation. But he was not supposed to argue with or correct the human. So he answered as best he could.

"Yes. My name is Sears robotic clone, model zero-zero one." Rayann's hand holding the right half of the book dropped and she pegged the clone with a look. Seriously. Was he for real? Was he really this stupid? She was tempted to head-desk, or head-table, in this case, but restrained herself. Instead she settled for the annoyed look she gave him.. it.

"Did... I say something wrong?" the clone asked fearfully.

"No..." Rayan realised she was glaring.

She went back to the book, shaking her head. After a moment of staring at it, she closed it and looked over at him. Why was he acting so afraid of her? She wasn't exactly sure how to ask it, but it was apparent his owner, no, his previous, no, wait, scratch that, it was apparent his owner had not treated him well in the past.

"So, if you did break something, what would your owner do?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could, fiddling with the phone book.

"Well..." the clone looked thoughtful a second. "I would have to clean up the mess I made, and apologise. Then go and get a replacement from the stock room." she noticed the sudder run through him at this. "And... what else is back in the stockroom?" she inquired, quirking an eyebrow. "nothing." came the reply. "Too quickly." Rayann thought. "You answered too quickly."

"So." she continued, pleased with herself at having gotten this good at this. She used it on her husband innumerable times. And it was how she had found out about his cheating. By asking him the same story in several different ways and comparing all the elements.

"There's nobody else back there? Nobody that, oh, I dunno, dislikes you or whatever?" He looked up at her at that. "No. I just get the item and replace it." came the flat answer. Somewhere in his meta, a little red light was screaming at him that it was WRONG to lie to a human. Any human. He looked at the carpet. Curse his programming! He knew she would never let him return to his owner if he told her. His owner would never believe him. His owner though he was only a robot. A belonging. An item placed in the store to advertise other items. "But," he told himself, "You are only a robot. Plus master gives you music! dancing! people to perform and dance for! that is what matters! Master does not leave you alone!" his thoughts whirled. "I go

t a box dropped on me, once." he forced a chuckle out, as though it were a joke. "Humm." Rayann had worked retail. She knew how much one of those boxes could weight. "Really? how big?" she imagined a box with waving arms and legs and squashed the image before it could become any more outrageous. "Three feet by two and a half feet by three feet." he recited the dimensions. Rayann blinked. "Full of pillows, I hope?" she halfway asked, trying to be joking. "no. Electronics. Cds and Dvds. Master was very cross that the accident happened. I should not have walked under that section of shelving. I walk too heavy footed, and made it rattle so much it collapsed." he looked away. Rayann suspected this was the story his owner had told him to make him think it was his fault instead of the fault of the stupid (RETARDED!!!) worker who overloaded the shelving. Even she knew that certain shelving would only handle so much weight. "I guess it served me right for taking a shortcut through the clothing department."

Wait, what did he just say? not only was it put on less-than adequate shelving, it was put in the wrong section! unless some idiot ran out of space and decided to put the stuff in the next section over, all of three or four feet. She shook her head, deciding against saying anything. "Well, don't you worry about it. Everything's fine now. Everything will be better tomorrow." she said.

"Really? ya think so?" the clone looked up, blue visor shimmering in the light. Rayann nodded. "Uh-huh. I'm sure. Now, go ahead and recharge."

hE looked around. "You can stay on the couch. It's fine. There's an outlet right next to you." she moved the keyboard over to the pallette-table in the corner. He nodded and laid down. "Uh, ma'am?"

"Yes?"

"May I leave the music-maker on, please?"

"Of course you can. And it's called a stereo."

"Yes ma'am, stereo." He turned up the volume a little and plugged in to the outlet.

Rayann sighed and looked for the number. She was half-tempted to keep the clone, but that would be stealing. And there was no way she could afford to buy him. So she had to return him to his rightful owner. She didn't want to get arrested for having him. Even if she did get caught with him and said he came to her, the store owner probably had loads of money from all his sales of these things, and could hire a better lawyer than she would ever be a ble to afford. It was also dishonest. And Rayann knew if she did anything dishonest, it would be her luck to get found out or something. She didn't know, but didn't want to find out. Besides, she had allways been raised to be honest. And she was no thief. She wished there was a way she could keep him, but knew it was impossible. She sighed and wrote down the number for the Sears in Columbus. She made a mental note to call them first thing in the morning. Then she sat down on the loveseat and drifted off to sleep. She didn't want to go in the bedroom to sleep, because if he decided to leave while she was asleep, well, there went any reward that had been offered. And though she instantly denied that she was thinking it, any chance of possibly keeping him.
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