Dying Embers 2
Warmth
A Transformers Prime Fanfiction
There was a sudden growl and stutter and the tent was filled with silence. With a thick curse a man in a parka walked over and began restarting a rusty generator. Jack wondered idly why such a tactically important base didn't earn better equipment but the flickering lights on the control panels drew his attention. He jumped down into the pod and began scrolling through a quick diagnostic.
June examined the small forms in the pod closely. From what Ratchet had told her they were smaller than the average for Cybertronian young; each no larger than a good sized watermelon. They were curled up in fetal positions. Round silver heads with large shuttered optics rested on little fists. The largest had a thick coil like a lobster at its caudal end, but the smaller two were simple bipeds. Staring down at them June felt old instincts stirring, things she hadn't experienced since Jack was very small. They were, cute, she realized with a smile.
"Power is at twenty percent," he called up, "and dropping fast. The atmospheric entry did a lot of damage. Fortunately none of the main lines ruptured on landing, but there are a lot of minor energon leaks. I can't find it! There are too many missing screens." Jack growled in frustration.
"Can't find what?" Mrs. Darby asked.
"A diagnostic on them," he waved at the still forms with their shuttered optics. The young man paused to think for a moment, then glanced quickly over at the soldier tending the furnace. His mother nodded in understanding and walked over to the machine.
"Do you need any assistance?" she asked with a smile.
With the only witnesses distracted Jack carefully pulled off his thick gloves and rested a hand on the warm metal head nearest him. With a deep calming breath he closed his eyes and reached out with the other sense. A small bright star glowed out from the core of the little one. The human let out a gasp of delight at the beauty of the spark. It was almost painful to tear his awareness away to look at the others. He rested his hand on each in turn, amazed anew at the wondrous light they emitted. Something whispered at the edge of his awareness, something was wrong. Jack shook his head and came back to the dim light of the cold tent.
He signaled his mother to come back. She left the soldier to his work and climbed carefully down into the pod.
"They are alive," he whispered softly to her. "But they're hooked into the pod's systems pretty intricately. It will take me a while to get them free. If I don't, I think they will die with the pod," Jack's voice broke at the end.
Mrs. Darby smiled at him reassuringly and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure you can do what needs to be done," she whispered in return.
Jack nodded and turned to the task. He ran his fingers over the screen, grimacing when they picked up an odd orange stain. Finding a glyph he recognized he scrolled through command after command. Hours slipped by as he became engrossed in the task. He didn't notice it start to warm up when the furnace began to roar again. Finally he let out a cry of triumph. Valves hissed and cables fell away from the small forms. The Russian mechanic gave a shout of fear and pulled Mrs. Darby back from the scene as six little optics snapped open with fearful chirps.
Jack stared in fascination at the brilliant blue optics of the smallest of the sparklings. The little one stared back at him with trepidation on its face.
"I'm going to help you," the human whispered softly stretching out a hand.
A small whimper came from the little bot as Jack gently touched him. The human stroked the little mech's head and the sound faded as it shuttered its optics. A soft purr rose up as the young man continued to speak soothingly and touch the little one. A chirp to his left distracted Jack and he turned to see the largest sparkling staring at him intently. Both of the others were now he realized. The one he'd been petting let out a disgruntled chirrup and clutched his hand.
"Huh, you liked that did you?" the human asked with a grin.
The sparkling returned his smile. Jack carefully reached down and scooped the little one up. The pod was letting off warning noises now but Jack ignored them. The sparklings were in no danger from it. The creature curled up into a ball and leaned into Jack with a delighted chirp.
The human reached out to the largest one who was wriggling and beeping indignantly. Seeing the treatment its sibling was getting it wanted in on the action. The young man stumbled a little as he took the weight of the second child. The long caudal structure suddenly uncoiled into an impossibly long centipede like tail and wrapped itself around the human's waist. As disturbing as that was at first it served to balance them better. The third was actively wailing now and reaching out for him. Jack knelt in front of it and carefully juggled the other two while he pulled the third onto his lap. He sat there a moment to get his balance. Now that all three were together and touching their new protector they seemed content. The smallest started to purr happily and soon the other two picked it up.
Jack smiled and tried to stand up. The folly of that hit him a second after gravity and inertia carried him over and introduced his back to the many sharp pokey things on the damaged consol. The three sparklings chirped in concern.
"You see the American fool released the beasts and now they are devouring him!" A voice with a thick Russian accent distracted Jack from his predicament.
"Mr. Smith!" a commanding voice boomed out. "Are you okay?"
Jack managed to get one arm free and give the assembled a quick thumbs up.
"I'm fine. Just testing to see if they obeyed the law of gravity," he quipped through gritted teeth. "They do!"
He heard someone scramble down beside him and his mother's voice began crooning softly. The largest of the little Cybertronians unwrapped its tail from around his waist and he felt a weight lifted off his chest. Strong hands lifted him up and he blinked in a strong light.
"Let me take that larger one Private," the American commander ordered.
Jack reluctantly handed over the other biped sparkling. But the soldier was gentle and soon had the little one comfortable. Jack was just about to ask where he'd come from when the older man glanced sharply at the display on the pod.
"Is it supposed to be doing that Smith?"
Jack glanced down at the screen and felt his stomach lurch. He reached out and began running the fingers of one hand over the display.
"It's self destructing!" he called out in exasperation.
"We've got to evacuate the island," one of the soldiers said.
"No!" Jack protested. "Not that kind of destructing. I mean something is destroying the data internally; wiping the memory. It must be a failsafe."
The human shifted the sparkling from one arm to the other trying to work the controls.
"Give little one to me," the mechanic said curtly.
Jack seemed reluctant to surrender the last infant. The man gave an understanding grin.
"Ja, is okay. I have one of my own at home. I know what I do!"
Somewhat mollified the young man handed over his burden and turned to address the flickering lights. A sudden piercing wail filled the tent. Jack turned in surprise. The littlest sparkling was reaching out to him with all its might and crying out in distress. He looked frantically up at his mother who was soothing the other two. But it was the mechanic who came up with the solution.
"Here! You will be an Eskimo Babushka," he yanked the hood of Jack's parka dawn and carefully set the sparkling in the pouch it formed. The young man reached back and stroked the little head, feeling the suddenly quiet creature snuggle into the back of his neck. Once he felt balanced he went back to examining the dying Cybertronian craft.
"They must have imprinted on Private Smith," he heard his mother whisper.
"Okay," Jack called out, "here's the deal. We have two problems. One; there appears to be some kind of virus destroying the data from within. Two; the pod itself is dying, leaking energy like a sieve. It's going to be a race to see what fails first but we don't have much longer to access the data. Get me a camcorder and I'll pull up as much information as I can before it crashes."
"Neyt! All electronics are dead," the mechanic protested.
"Then what?" Jack looked around in frustration.
"Well Private," drawled the commander in amusement. "We just happen to have a revolutionary new recording system here that is virus proof!" The man pulled a yellow pencil and pad of paper out of his pocket.
Jack gave a short laugh and turned back to the flickering display.
"Now read kid," the commander ordered.
The young man ran through the systems as fast as was possible. Translating what he could, skipping what was too difficult. Despite the massive gaps this left a picture began to emerge and the human felt a ball of rage growing in his stomach. Starscream had been performing experiments on the sparklings from the moment they had climbed out of the Well of Allsparks. What exactly the seeker had been doing was impossible for the human to say, but it had stunted the little one's growth. While Jack talked at least three soldiers were taking notes as fast as they could.
Suddenly with a sputter and a cough the last of the energon drained out into the snow below the pod. The last lights died leaving the tent oddly quiet. Jack leaned back and sighed, stroking the sparkling's head.
"That's it," he called up. "There's nothing more I can do from here."
A sudden screeching filled the tent, emanating from the furnace. The mechanic examined the device the suddenly ripped of the control box.
"All the fancy electronics are going crazy," he growled. "I fix this good the old fashioned way."
"We'll upload this to both governments," the commander said shaking his head in amusement.
"No, you won't," Jack said quietly.
"Excuse me, Private Smith?" the commander growled, putting emphasis on his rank.
"There is no encryption on this planet that is safe for that data," the young man explained, staring firmly at the officer. "It is policy to send any data such as this hardcopy. If you broadcast that I can guarantee you we'll have a heap of trouble raining down on our heads in no time."
The officers conferred for a moment, then the commander reluctantly nodded. It made sense, but the implications were terrifying.
"You don't need to worry about the virus being airborne," a woman's voice suddenly grabbed their attention.
"Come again?" the commander asked as he helped Jack out of the pod.
"This is a milder variation of something called cosmic rust," Dr. Green explained, holding up a orange stained glove for them to see. "It is only spread through direct contact and breaks down quickly in the absence of sufficient quantities of the proper metals."
"I see, then our usual quarantine protocols will work. That's a relief," the commander said, "but it leaves us in a sticky situation here on the islands."
"I think I can help with that too," she replied, "as long as we can still broadcast a message."
Mrs. Darby carefully wrote out a concise message on a piece of paper she got from the commander. He took it and promised to send it from the American base which could still send and receive. A steady thrumming let them know that the mechanic had made good on his promise. The inside of the tent began to warm again.
"I think it is still too cold in here for them," Mrs. Darby said after awhile.
"The furnace will not make tent any more hot," the mechanic said apologetically.
"Do you think you could get me a bigger parka?" she asked," and another for Mr. Smith?"
"Ja, I will get you the biggest!" the mechanic promised with a smile.
"What do you want that for?" Jack asked once the man had ducked out of the tent.
"You'll see," his mother said with a smile, gently cradling the sparklings to her chest. "You'll see."
Soon the mechanic returned with two bulky parkas as promised. June quickly removed hers while the man held the grumbling sparklings. Jack had to bite his tongue when he saw the level of attention every man in the tent was paying his mother's figure. She reached out for the largest infant. It chirped happily as she took it in her arms and wrapped its long centipede like tail around her waist. Carefully she pulled the parka over them both and zipped it up. Jack grinned and carefully doffed his own parka. He took both of the smaller ones and the mechanic helped him secure the coat over them. Each of the sparklings eagerly clung to his ribcage. Jack sat down beside his mother to wait.
In due time the commander came back looking relieved.
"They say they are sending a currier out with the decontamination process. He'll be here in about two hours. But you two need to be gone by then. They want you on your way back to your base yesterday. Apparently your boss is eager to see the, sparklings, did you call them?"
"Yes I imagine the good Doctor would be eager," June said with a smile.
"But how will we be traveling?" Jack asked with a frown. "I thought all the machinery was breaking down."
"Ha! You Americans," Boris laughed. "So dependent on the machines. You are lucky we are here to save your tuckouses! Come you will meet Laika! She will get you home safe!"
Jack looked at his mother who only shrugged. Carefully holding onto their burdens they followed the Russian out into the snow.