Author's Notes: This was done for the lj comm tfic_contest's challenge, Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Humanity.
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Ratchet looked up from his work as Maggie Madsen limped into his med bay. He lifted an optic ridge as she glared up at him.
"What is it about you guys?" Maggie growled.
Ratchet made no reply but offered his hand for her to step onto. She accepted the silent offer and rode up to the counter Ratchet had been working on. She stepped off and sat down, looking down at her feet.
"May I ask what the problem is, Ms. Madsen?" Ratchet asked.
"It's these stupid heels. I've wrenched my foot trying to keep up with those…men! And these shoes cost me a lot of money and they're Manolo Blahniks and I love them!" The last was a wail as Maggie clutched her precious shoes to her chest and ruefully gazed at her injured foot.
Ratchet gently took her foot and ran a scan as he carefully moved it to and fro. "You do realize, of course, that shoes such as that pair are not meant for you to walk on over long distances or for allowing you to keep up with men wearing much better footwear."
"I know that Ratchet, but it's so stupid to change shoes. I mean, I'd have to have at least six pairs in the trunk of my car to do that. It's just easier to keep these on."
Ratchet was wrapping her foot and leveled a look at her while doing so. "Better to take care of your feet now so they will still be useable in the future. You are well on your way to many problems, Ms. Madsen, and it would be better if you were taking care of your body." He finished wrapping the foot and ankle, telling her, "You've strained the tendons of the foot. No high heels for the next two weeks rest it often; keep the compression bandage on for the next three days, ice at the point of pain as soon as you get home. For the future, may I suggest a single pair of running shoes for these occasions, kept in your car for times when you need to be able to walk around."
"Oh. Yes, I guess a pair of sneakers would work. Well, I was supposed to stay here for the next couple of days to help with some of the satellite encryption, so I wasn't going home."
"Excellent." Ratchet turned and strode across his medbay, stopping at the human sized refrigerator and pulling ice out of the freezer before returning to Maggie and handing her an ice bag. "Use this now, and your tour of the base is cut short." He moved Maggie to a recliner, helping her place the ice bag on her foot and holding her bag as she pulled her laptop out, then plugging cords in for her. Once she was settled, Ratchet returned to his work. Smiling, Maggie immersed herself in her work and quiet reigned over the medbay for the next hour.
Eventually, Maggie needed to use the facilities and Ratchet helped her untangle herself from the computer. She found that in the time she'd had her foot elevated she'd gotten good and sore, the foot throbbing every time she stepped on it. She confessed her problem to Ratchet once she'd come out of the small room and he offered anti-inflammatories, apologizing for not offering them before. Maggie waved his apology off and resettled herself, Ratchet hovering over her and offering help as necessary. Once she was comfortable, a glass of water in her hand, she rolled her head around and looked at Ratchet.
"You must think humans are absolutely insane."
"Why would I think that, Ms. Madsen?"
"Please, Ratchet, call me Maggie. Ms. Madsen is my mother and I can't tell you how unsettling it is to have you call me that."
Ratchet cocked his head for a few seconds, then responded, "All right, Maggie. Is there anything more I can do for you?"
"Can you spare a few minutes to talk to me? I'm done with what I can work on, and I don't want to just sit here. May I ask you questions?"
"You may, although I may not answer them."
"Fair enough."
"It's just that you must think humans are idiots compared to you guys. I mean, what could you learn from us?"
Ratchet looked at her for a long moment, until she started to fidget, then replied, "We have all learned something from humanity, Maggie. You are a young species, but your future is very bright."
Maggie was stunned, "Like what?" Waving her hands around, she elaborated, "What have you learned from us? You're so old; you know so much, what could you learn from us?"
Ratchet settled himself, preparing to tell a story. "Well, take Bumblebee as the first example…"
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Bumblebee watched Sam race off, Ironhide and Ratchet moving to flank him and offer some protection. He made a mournful noise, wishing with his entire spark that he could be the one going with Sam, but with no lower legs, he was helpless. At least Mikaela had recognized his dilemma and had found a way to get him out of the battle zone they were currently in. She finished hooking up the chains, Lennox urging her to get out all the while, and ran for the front of the tow truck. Slamming it in gear, she escaped just as another battle erupted behind her. She drove away from the explosions and turmoil and found a quiet alley, driving down it and finally stopping, leaning her head against the steering wheel and sobbing. Bumblebee waited patiently, glad she had waited to have her emotional break-down until they were away from the fighting. He wondered where they would be going, where Mikaela was thinking of taking him.
She finally raised her head and looked at him, and he nodded at her, trying to communicate that he understood. She turned back and matter-of-factly slapped the truck into gear and stomped on the gas pedal.
Bee balanced himself as they went around corners. He became confused when the sounds of battle grew louder. Wasn't Mikaela taking him away? She turned onto a street and the battle was in front of him, some distance away. He ached to help.
Mikaela stopped the truck and yelled out the window at him, "I'll drive, you shoot!"
Bee's processor scrambled to reinterpret her words. Wait, did she mean they were skirting so close to the fight that he should use his weapon? That was counter to all his tactical training – there was no reason to draw attention to themselves, and their escape would be easier if none of the Decepticons noticed them.
Mikaela, meanwhile, had put the truck in reverse and was speeding up the street, toward the battle between Lennox and the tank. Bee finally realized that she'd come BACK into the battle when she didn't have to do anything of the sort, and she was offering him the chance to fight back. He started firing his solar powered energy gun, his shots taking the attention away from the military men and toward themselves. Mikaela was prepared and was zigzagging down the street. Bee used the stumps of his legs to shove cars out of the way as she careened up the street. Finally, Bee got in a lucky shot and hit the tank right over his spark chamber, dropping him in his tracks.
Later, when they came to where Megatron was dead and Optimus alive, and Sam, dear Sam, wonderful, brave Sam was there, Bee couldn't stop himself asking to stay with the bravest being he'd ever met. A human, slight and squishable and so easy to kill, taking on the Decepticon overlord, the terror of the Autobots, killer of stars and civilizations and winning. Both Sam and Mikaela were showing him the best of the human race, the indefatigable desire to take on insurmountable odds and do their utmost to beat those odds. Bumblebee felt his spark swell with an unknown emotion as Sam beamed when accepting Bee's request to stay with him. Courage was something these small aliens had in abundance, and he wanted to know more about them.
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"OK, I could see that," Maggie told him as she ate her meal, Ratchet drinking the weird fuel the Autobots consumed, "but what else could you have learned from us?"
Ratchet smiled briefly, "As I said, we've all learned something from your people."
"Right, sure, what could Ironhide have possibly learned from us? He's a walking army all by himself! I'm sure he has tactics we've never thought of in his processor, and ways to take an enemy out that haven't even occurred to us."
"Ironhide has learned much from Major Lennox."
"Like what? I mean, really, Major Lennox is a nice guy and all, but Ironhide's weapons really would put a small country to shame."
"Perhaps, but Ironhide went home with Major Lennox after Mission City, and…"
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Ironhide pulled up to the small farmhouse with a crunch of gravel and a cloud of dust. Major Lennox hopped out of the passenger side and strode toward the structure, his pace quickening as he got closer. A female human came out to meet him carrying…a sparkling! Ironhide checked his references – human young were called babies or toddlers – and the female was called a woman. Her pump's rate had increased at the sight of Major Lennox, and she presented him with the baby. He took the young one, then pulled the woman into his arms and held her close to him.
Ironhide watched the emotional reunion, watched Lennox wrap himself around the two femmes and hold them close, then move with them back into the structure. Ironhide settled himself on his tires and prepared to wait. He and Lennox were to join the other soldiers that had been involved in Mission City in three days at Nellis AFB. He figured from where they were it would take him about four hours to get to get to their destination, and in the meantime, Lennox had asked for a short leave to go see his mate and their offspring, since he hadn't seen the youngling before.
As he sat, Ironhide set his sensor net wide, the open areas making him nervous. Until he understood more about this planet and its people, he would worry about Decepticons sneaking up on them, and possibly after he understood, he would worry. The 'Cons were sneaky and underhanded, and at this point, Ironhide felt it was his duty to protect Lennox while the human had his guard down.
Over the next two days, the weapons specialist watched as Lennox spent time with his daughter and with his wife. After mid-day on the third day, Lennox came out dressed in his uniform and threw a duffle bag into Ironhide's cab, then returned to the house to say good-bye. His wife trailed out of the house to wave him off.
Lennox climbed into the cab. He was in the driver's seat, but didn't make the mistake of attempting to drive Ironhide, who turned in the drive so Lennox could wave goodbye to his femme.
As they drove toward the highway, Ironhide asked him, "Does it bother you to leave them behind?"
Lennox settled into the seat a bit and answered, "Of course it does. But Sarah knew what I was and who I was when she married me. It's…I love my wife, I love our daughter, but I love my country. I chose to join the military, and it is my duty and my honor to serve it in whatever way it sees fit. If that means I don't get to see them as often as I would like, it's what has to happen. Sarah understands and she wouldn't have it any other way."
"But there are people on your internet that do not like the military forces of their country and say so."
"Didn't happen on Cybertron?" Lennox asked with a grin.
"They're called Decepticons, and I shoot them." Ironhide told him.
"Right. Well, here we have freedom of speech, so you can say what you want within limits. You can't say something that's untrue, but you don't have to agree with the government, either."
"But why would you put yourself in an organization that was open to criticism from people who do not belong to that organization?" Ironhide asked the question from the truck's speakers.
"It's my own value system, Ironhide, that tells me that being in the military is the right thing to do, and if I'm in the military, there are things I have to put up with to do the right thing, like folks bad-mouthing the government or the military. Part of what I'm protecting is their right to say things like that without retaliation from their government."
"That…doesn't seem right, Will."
Lennox laughed, "No, sometimes it doesn't, but it is right. When our government was set up, it was an experiment, a different way of creating a government. It was put together by a group of very intelligent, very articulate people. The central ideas have been expanded upon, but it's still the job of the military to make sure those freedoms are available to everyone, without prejudice, without censorship, without fear."
As the discussion ranged over the idea of freedom, the kinds of governments Lennox could remember, the personal quest to Lennox had to find agreement with his values and with the reality he lived in, Ironhide came to a realization. Lennox was putting into words – duty, honor, values, freedoms – the very reasons he had dedicated his spark to the Prime lineage and to the Autobot cause. Lennox had given him the words necessary to put his fundamental programming in a way that would make sense to their human allies.
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"So Ironhide learned words from us?" Maggie looked doubtful.
Ratchet cocked his head and looked at her. "He found human terms for concepts he has struggled for millennia to define, and he found a human that 'walked the walk', as you like to say. Major Lennox lives his life by the principles and values he espouses and thus embodies the very meaning of those concepts. Ironhide respects that and has learned to evaluated humans by how closely they adhere to their own value systems, irrespective of any agreement with that value system."
Maggie absorbed Ratchet's meanings and finally clarified, "You mean, even if you don't agree with that person, if they live by the value set they say they do, you can respect that?"
"Yes."
"OK. Well, that's Ironhide and Bumblebee, what about you and Optimus Prime?"
"Ah, you are my example, Maggie."
"Me? Why me?"
Ratchet handed her the food he had prepared for her. She tucked in, surprised at her own hunger. After all, she'd just been sitting and listening to Ratchet, but she was starving. After finishing her meal, she handed the plate back to Ratchet. He busied himself cleaning up and then rejoined her.
"Right ho. Give, Ratchet."
He quirked an optical ridge at her, and she waggled her fingers at him. "Story, mister. You can't go around saying you've learned something from me and then not tell me what you mean."
"Maggie, how do you feel about Glen?"
Maggie sputtered at him, then visibly gathered her composure and asked, "What do you mean by that question?"
"Do you love him? Or is he a friend, a compatriot, what?" Ratchet continued, "Do you use him, or is the relationship mutual?"
Maggie sank back in the chair, taking deep breaths and thinking about Ratchet's questions. Finally, she answered him. "Glen is a friend. He's a genius, and I admire his abilities, and I like spending time with him. There is nothing more than that between us. I believe it's mutual; he looks at me as a friend and a fellow hacker."
Ratchet nodded at her as if this confirmed his own observations. "Yet you tolerate his foibles, continue to work with him, continue to seek his company?"
"Well, of course I do. He's my friend!" Maggie was indignant at Ratchet's implication that Glen was somehow unworthy of her time.
Ratchet made a soothing motion with his hand. "On Cybertron, the defective, the slow and the unable were deactivated. Glen is a…geek? Yes, by the newer definition, he is a geek. Since he's really only good at one thing and is not very well socialized, he would have been deactivated if his one superb function had not been found."
Maggie was horrified, "Do you mean that you simply killed anybody that wasn't perfect?"
"Yes. Do you know what I did before I was a medic, Maggie?"
"No, Ratchet."
"I was a diplomat, the Prime's liaison to the Council of Ancients. It was my job to try and find a peaceful solution to the outbreaks, and when I was unable to do so, I resigned and became a medic. That was when I learned what happened to…"
"Someone who wasn't perfect?" Maggie suggested.
"Yes. So what I've learned from you, Maggie, is that the human race is further along than we are when it comes to issues of compassion and tolerance. Your not-perfect people are part of society, not killed or shuffled off to some place where they won't bother the rest of the world."
Maggie patted him. "Ratchet, I don't believe you would ever terminate anyone, for any reason."
"Of course I would, Maggie. I would have terminated Megatron, and I would terminate Starscream or Soundwave if given the chance. But I wouldn't kill someone that I wasn't at war with, and I'm glad you understand that aspect of my personality."
"Well, I would also kill Megatron or any Decepticon if I was given the chance, but otherwise, I don't believe that war is a good solution to a problem."
"Exactly. In fact, it's a waste of resources and should be the last resort of a civilized people. However, we are at war and I see no option but to continue until we defeat the Decepticons."
"I will take your word for it, Ratchet. So, I'm glad I was able to teach you something. What has Optimus learned from humanity?"
"Ah, Optimus. He's perhaps the most interesting case. Do you know how we came to your system, Maggie?"
"Uh, no?"
"We came on a ship, called the Ark. It's parked in the asteroid belt beyond Mars. We waited there until Bumblebee called for us, at which point we shut the ship down and boosted ourselves away from it, putting ourselves into protoforms once we were correctly oriented and going through Earth's atmosphere that way."
"Your ship is parked in the asteroid belt?" Maggie questioned.
"Yes. It's well hidden there, it can't be seen from Earth, and we can get to it fairly quickly. To continue, Bumblebee was the first sent down to Earth, since he is our scout, while we stayed in the ship and monitored Earth's airwaves for any relevant information. Bumblebee was tracking leads for almost two of Earth's solar cycles – ah, you'd call them years – so we had plenty of time to learn about Earth's culture from the information you throw into space. Optimus quite enjoyed something called the history channel, I believe."
"Yes, that's a cable channel." Maggie confirmed.
"Yes, well, Optimus really enjoyed the broadcasts, and he especially enjoyed the stories of two large conflicts. I believe they are called the American Civil War and World War II. He liked the idea that in times of crisis, a leader comes forward that was not expected, but through accident, training, or some manner of fate is the perfect leader for the times."
"Let me guess. Abraham Lincoln was one of those leaders?" Maggie was smiling at him.
"Yes. I believe the quote he particularly liked was 'the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.' He liked the idea that people still remember the sacrifice of the soldier."
"Lincoln was unappreciated by the American people at the time, although the world took better note of what he did. The Gettysburg Address is one we studied at university as an effect method of communication." Maggie was thoughtful as she remembered her time at uni.
"It certainly is that." Ratchet agreed.
"Who was the other leader Optimus liked?" Maggie asked.
"Ah. Someone named Winston Churchill." Ratchet told her.
"Oh." Was Maggie's response to his answer.
"Do you not like him?"
"Well, in Australia, where I grew up, he's remembered for the battle of Gallipoli and the loss of many of our young men and for no strategic purpose. So I'm prejudiced against him. One of my great-uncles died right on the beach, and my grandmother never forgave Churchill for that mess. I know he's thought of as a great leader in Europe and the US, but in Australia we have a different view of him."
"I shall have to learn more of the history. I'm sorry for your family's loss, Maggie."
Maggie smiled up at him in a burst of delight, "Very nice, Ratchet! That was very well done, and you didn't sound at all awkward!"
"Thank you, Maggie. I appreciate your coaching on these matters." Ratchet sketched a little bow toward her, then continued to help her toward the bathroom. Night had fallen, and Maggie was to sleep in the medbay tonight.
"Anyway, getting back on topic, which of Churchill's many speeches did Optimus really like?" Maggie wriggled back into her seat, impatient to hear the story.
"Let me see. It was one that had 'we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' There were others, but that one, he felt, really had meaning for the Autobot cause." Ratchet's eyes were flickering, indicating to Maggie that he was accessing the web to get the proper quote.
She told him, "That is a good one, a stirring one, and I suppose it helped the British during the Battle of Britain, but my favorite Churchill quote is more humorous than stirring."
"Oh? What is it?"
Maggie was grinning broadly, "Well, you see, dear Winston had a huge conflict with Lady Astor. They did not like each other and took every opportunity to put the other down, and she told him once 'Sir, if you were my husband, I would put poison in your tea!' and Churchill, without missing a beat, replied, 'Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it!'"
Ratchet's optics flickered wildly as he quickly researched the meaning of the quote, then he focused on her and told her, "But that would kill him! Poison is not to be trifled with!"
Maggie patted his knee and told him, "Ratchet, it's a joke. It's not a real quote, and it's told because it's funny."
Ratchet stooped and glared at her, "I leave you with this final quote, courtesy of Sir Winston, 'all the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.' Have mercy on me, please. I hope you have a good rest, Maggie." He propped her foot up on a pillow and tucked the blankets around her, then left the room and very soon, the lights flickered off. Maggie squirmed a bit, finding a comfortable position and smiled to herself. No, she hadn't gotten her tour of the base, but she had gotten something better – time with Ratchet and a very interesting conversation that made her feel on a more equal footing with the Autobots. Humanity had something to offer the Autobots, just as the Autobots had something to offer the human race. She drifted off to sleep, thinking muzzily that Glen would have also found this conversation interesting…
The End!