Soberly the Autobots removed fragments of tortured steel from the cargo boxes, brushing away the sticks of straw. Perhaps to fit the mood these metal pieces had been transported old-school style, packed tightly down with straw inside boxes of pale wooden planks. The sides were marked with the word 'Fragile' beneath the Autobot insignia.
These were fallen pieces of Cybertron, the planet laid to waste by a war between sentient robotic organisms. An implosion had destroyed most of the Autobots' former world, but fragments of it had fallen in a perceived meteor shower all over the Earth. Confiscating this foreign material, some nations secretly kept them for study while others respectfully sent them on to NEST, the international military force that worked with the Autobots to protect the world's peace. They knew that for the Autobots they had no other home left except Earth. Finding the remnants of Cybertron was akin to finding the remains to a gravestone.
Somewhat ironically, that was exactly what the Autobots planned to make. They had procured a small piece of land near the main NEST base to turn into a memorial site, where graves for their fallen comrades both human and robotic would be buried. At the center of a circle the Cybertron remnants would be used to erect a marker. Inside the base, surrounded by his comrades and open boxes, Optimus Prime sat in grave silence. In similar poses the Autobots were also frozen as they gazed upon the home that would never be again. Cybertron had been reduced to worn, useless pieces of metal. With a sigh Optimus rose from his seat with the fragment in his hands. Bumblebee, who was closest to him, gave a faint start as if surprised by the movement. He also stood with his own armful of Cybertron pieces. One by one, they all did.
The humans who watched couldn't say anything. What could they say? Imagining what it would be like in the Autobots' shoes, they thought of nothing appropriate to speak out loud. The Autobots may have a new home on Earth, surrounded by friends and allies, but it would never be the same as the planet they came from, the one that war forced them to give up and destroy. The sun was actually beginning to rise at this hour. Grayish casts of blue, lavender, and orange were fading with the very last of the stars of the sky, and stubbornly the moon remained for just a while longer. Optimus led the way along a path stripped of greenery towards a circle of white marble pillars, each set on the edge of a round platform pressed into the ground. The memorial was set in a field of pale grasses and most appropriately forget-me-not flowers with their vivid blue petals. Along the sides of the path humans stood looking on in quiet.
It wasn't a formal ceremony, the Autobots had desired none. The people who were there had chosen to come, strictly for the sake of the friends and family they had lost in the Autobot-Decepticon clashes, and also out of respect for the Autobots' lost home. They had come as friends and allies that wished to give them emotional support. Optimus appreciated that, for it was a great comfort to have more than just military comrades. It also bolstered his faith in humankind.
Piece by piece, the Cybertron fragments were laid together in a design that resembled a combination between the Autobot and NEST symbols. Jolt and Ratchet took care of the welding, and their combined work allowed the memorial piece to be steadily erected in one go. As each Autobot gave up their Cybertron parts, they stepped back to allow others to go forward. The wood and straw of the packing boxes had been laid before the memorial piece. The plan was to use the Matrix of Leadership to light a fire, one that would be kept perpetually burning. A simple mark would also be made on the main part of the memorial piece. To do this only Optimus remained within the circle of pillars. He opened his chest and brought out the Matrix of Leadership, gleaming with a particular silver-blue in the weak morning sunlight. It slowly revolved as it levitated from Optimus' hand to the kindling. First the mark, then the fire. Optimus carefully clenched the Matrix in his fingers to make that line.
The tip of the Matrix was pressed against the memorial piece. Optimus put in the pressure necessary to make a mark, and prepared to pull the Matrix down to create the line.
He got as far as tilting the Matrix at an angle. That's when the sparks began to fly, and longer branches of lightning energy drew out to slide one end along Optimus' front to the sides of the memorial piece. Onlookers would have cried out if Optimus hadn't jerked back his hand. Clearly this was not supposed to happen.
Optimus! said Jazz. What's wrong? I don't know, came the rapidly spoken reply. The Matrix is acting on its own! Optimus couldn't touch it without being struck by the branches of energy that stung and rejected him. Visible waves of energy were being generated by the Matrix of Leadership. They blurred the fine lines of whatever lay in a person's field of vision as if their eyes were open underwater.
The ground and sky began to rumble. They could feel it, they could hear it. The crowd of humans began surging away from the memorial, partly ushered along by the Autobots to prevent a mass panic that would lead to casualties. They also acted as shields in case the branches of energy got out and were destructive.
Optimus, get away from there!
Bumblebee! Away, away, away! Get to a safe distance, hurry! Hey, what's going on! When we know then you'll know!
Optimus wondered, Is the Matrix reacting to the Cybertron remains?
The Matrix of leadership was spinning now, and it only went faster with every second. It became a blurred sphere of dull silver and electric blue, threatening to snap off the part of anyone who touched it. The energy branches were drawn in to the main part of the memorial piece until it was glowing the brightest, palest blue ever to strike their eyes. Panels of the same color shot out between the marble columns and evoked cries of panic as they washed over the Autobots and the human crowd, first going from toe to head and then reverse. The waves promptly snapped back to their source, the spinning Matrix of Leadership. They fired a single beam into the main part of the memorial piece.
That's when the trembling of air and earth became especially intense. Even Optimus could feel the heat, and had to be dragged away by Jazz and Ratchet. The rest of the Autobots braced themselves for an explosion, for what else could that fierce rumble mean?
And there was an explosion of sorts, really just a powerful shockwave that rolled in all directions with a flat THOOM. It shook the pillars of the memorial, the earth, and the NEST base in the distance, moving the cars and transport planes parked outside. Miraculously nothing broke; the greatest extent of damaged was some fractured glass.
When eyes were on the Matrix again, they saw it more slowly spinning in midair. With every turn the lines of bluish light were drawn further out, weaving together a blueprint grid that held a three-dimensional human form. Autobots and humans watched in stunned silence as the model was fashioned from the inside-out, drawing in transparency the parts of a typical Autobot, then laying on exterior armor attachments. The final layer was a human form, roughly that of a young adolescent male. The main part of the memorial piece liquified. It was drawn as a formless blob into the center of the chest area, where it was spread out to fill in the innermost parts. Like the weaving lines the Cybertron fragment filled in the model at the center and worked its way out. At the completion of the task they had the sculpture of a human male dressed in a shirt, tie, pants, and shoes scanned off the humans attendees. Coloring came next. Also scanned off the humans that had been there, the Matrix gave the model bushy dark blond hair, Caucasian white skin, golden eyebrows and lashes fringing the eyes that were the last to be done. After the whites the irises were painted a bright, laser-blue color that matched the eyes of the Autobots. The Matrix emitted a soft white flash that caused the eyes to briefly glow, and the two lips parted to let out a breath. Both shoulders slumped at the same time. The modeled boy abruptly fell over with a muffled 'oof!'.
Ratchet blinked and looked over at Optimus. Bumblebee poked his head out from behind Sideswipe in a curious gaze, now that whatever danger there had been was gone. The Matrix of Leadership lazily floated back to Optimus, who without thinking took it back into his chest. With wordless grunts the boy picked himself up. He swayed on his feet, unsure of his balance, only now learning to stand. He was in danger of falling over again, so Optimus quickly extended a hand and the boy toppled against his jointed fingers instead, holding them with both arms. In surprise the boy raised his head. Staring at Optimus for a short moment, the boy pushed against the Autobot's hand and windmilled his arms to gain a sense of balance. He managed to gain one, more or less, and lifted his eyes again while holding his arms out a little in wary precaution. The boy and Optimus stared at each other for a long time.
Then, inexplicably, the boy's face split into a happy, innocent grin.
'He was the first of his kind', and so we thought.