Imagine it, one moment all your senses – touch, smell, taste, hearing, sight – didn't exist and the next moment all of them at once surge into your consciousness. That is the best way I can describe coming online for that first moment of consciousness that a Cybertronian comes to life. Things are a bit confusing at first. Optics adjust to the light coming into them, hearing adjusting to the sound around you, the feel of the table under you, the smell of medical bay, even the taste of residual energon in your mouth that was put there by those that activated you. Once you get past those sensations, there are movements that those around the table insist you do before they even let you sit up. Then there's the accessing your programs too. Around me I can hear others speaking similarly to other forms that I can only presume are newly activated Cybertronians. For me though, this process of movement, doctors hanging around telling me what to move, accessing programs and all that is old hat. I've been through it once before, back on Cybertron.

I wonder aloud, "How long has it been?"

Ratchet steps over, barely recognizable to me in his new form, but that chevron on his helmet and that voice tells me exactly who he is, "Too long. Somebody forgot where they put your spark let alone your neural net."

There is an indignant, but also recognizable, voice in answer to that accusation, "I didn't forget, just took this long to find them."

I just smile, "Yeah, right, Wheeljack." Moving my head around in ordered fashion.

I can hear tapping on a data pad behind me, a mumbled, "Cervical rotation checks. You may sit up slowly please." Comes from the youngest of the medical staff, First Aid, who sounds older and more mature to me.

I do as ordered, taking a moment to look around. As I noted before, others were around other tables around other forms. I recognize their orders to be more like when I first came online.

"Slowly sing around so the lower legs hang off the table." First Aid says, "Then raise…"

And on it goes. Eventually I'm allowed to stand, to take steps around the table. By that time, the newbies are just sitting up themselves. The two tone blue mech has a wide chest with a lot of glass and speakers in his lower legs. My programming tells me it is an Earth form called a dual cassette radio player. Next to a table on his right I see four smaller forms, it takes me a little while but my Earth forms recognition programming pops up: horse, fox, ostrich, and bear. Their designs made to fold in such a way they take on a cassette tape shape.

"A tape guardian?" I ask First Aid.

He nods, "Blaster needs help with Soundwave and his boys."

Made sense to me. Off to my left was a bright orange and yellow femme. By her lower legs and torso I could tell she was some sort of hatchback car. Beyond her is another femme, two tone brown, grumbling quite vocally about the repair mechs touching her. That niggled in my neural net as being a bit odd. New life wouldn't have opinions like that. So I ask First Aid, "Am I the only one that's not newly created?"

Firs Aid nods, "You are, Shark. You check out. Ironhide will talk with you and get you set up with a room and all."

That just made me grin, "I'll do that."

Heading out of the door, I pause a moment to look at those that awoke with me. It'll be a year at least before they see serious stuff, I cannot help but feel just a hint jealous.

Ironhide was a sight to see, again I barely recognized him. These new Earth forms everyone has is giving my new recognition program issues. He catches me up to speed on what happened after the crash on Earth. I feel so much older after we was done, even if my memories were that of a mech a few hundred years old. The shocker of how much time had passed, how long it took to find my spark and neural net, plus a locating a couple of suitable Earth forms to kit bash together. I almost wondered why they had bothered. I never really had the best relationship with the old timers. Mostly cuz I acted a bit like a Con with how I operated back home. But I had proved myself invaluable more times than they probably wanted to admit. Ironhide shook my hand, gave me a card key to my room and showed me to the door. On the other side were all the newbies.

"Ah good timing." Ironhide drawled, "This here is Shark, he woke up with you all." a pause before he continued, "So I need your names so I can get you all situated."

Being curious, I stuck around to learn their names. The orange and yellow femme spoke, "I am Tracer," gesturing to the blue mech, "That's Bebop. His cassettes are Austera," pointing to the horse, "Struthia." the ostrich nods, "Ursa Thylar," a growl from the bear, "and Vixica." obviously the fox, "Lastly is Barracuda."

Ironhide peers at the data pad, "Hmm… oh!" he grins, "Yes, says here Barracuda and Ursa Thylar will be doing underwater detail once you all are adjusted." a significant look at me, "Guess you got yourself a couple dive buddies."

Barracuda looked affronted, "I am not his buddy."

"Good, cuz I work best alone." I snip, then I got out of there, I've a room to find and possibly decorate.

Time passes, as it has a knack for doing, rather quickly. A day, a week, a month, then a year. It's the year mark that kicks things off here. First, the rookies I woke up with are cleared for real battle action. Second, it's really hard for rookies to nail down what's going on in regards to the femmes. Four cassettes and two humanoid femmes in their first year of cyber estress are just a bit moody and you don't smell them. Nope, smelling that will take a couple more years and those years come and go without much incident. The year when Hydrobase was finished and the rookies, including myself, got assigned there with another rookie group that happened to be a combiner gestalt that just came online the year before. I found it a hint ironic that Bebop and I were the only mechs in the base. But it made some sort of logical sense. Asking us two to go away a week was easier than 11 femmes locking themselves in their rooms when cyber estress time came around.

Another year passes and the group of us are jelled pretty well – except for Barracuda who flat out won't get along with me or Bebop cuz we are mechs. The commander of Hydrobase took us aside before sending Bebop and I off for the week. Explained why she thought Barracuda had mech issues. Now I don't believe she is right that being a junkyard car left to rot by uncaring male humans and all that had anything to do with such an attitude. I suspect it is a program glitch that will either work itself out or get worse. By Primus I hope it doesn't get worse.