Chapter 3

It didn't take very long for Lilith to learn and remember the names of the Autobots around her. The state of confusion and new demeanor had been deemed authentic—not a trick—had been theorized as amnesia, and a catch 22 situation. On the one hand, the violent blonde alien they had met was gone, leaving a tame and very loving being in her wake. On the other hand, this meant they had lost their opportunity to question her.

Sam, Mikaela and Lilith sat around a burning campfire, while the Autobots conversed in their native tongue as not to disturb the smaller beings of the group. Though the opportunity to question the young lady had passed, there was still much to discuss about her.

Lilith Carnella was not human, true, but it was more than obvious she had spent time with Earth's military. The fact she had identified Ironhide as an NBE and had attacked immediately after the accusation. There were many things within her body that fueled Ratchet's curiosity but what had caught his attention most was the metal chip embedded in her spinal cord in the back of her neck. It appeared to be designed to let out an electronic charge when activated via remote control. On top of that, her skin and organs were scarred with precisely mapped out procedure oriented cuts and her bones showed signs of multiple fractures, all of which were long since healed.

Even though Optimus Prime opted for giving the humans the benefit of the doubt, the facts presented before him was making that a hard feat indeed. Lilith had been made a prisoner—an experiment—trained to obey the military, and trained to destroy the larger species of extraterrestrials on the planet. However, with no proof, there was nothing anybody could do.

While the Autobots debated over the matter, Mikaela held a long, thin, stick in her hands, writing letters on the ground, saying and pronouncing each letter as she went, letting Lilith then mimic her. By nightfall Mikaela had her speaking like a four-year-old and Sam had her adding and subtracting basic arithmetic problems. Even the Autobots had pitched in teaching her after a while—their holograms coming quite handy to explain words they couldn't find an example of; zebra, for example. Where were they going to find a zebra to show her? Actually, something as simple as a dog was hard to describe without the aide of a hologram.

Lilith's upbeat will to learn didn't falter nor diminish as the night progressed. Her progress was amazing. Even after Sam and Mikaela had rolled their sleeping bags out over the twig-covered ground, Ratchet continued to teach her using a combination of audio and visual stimulation. Most of Lilith's night was spent sitting next to the CMO, staring at the cleared ground in front of her where his projections hit, nodding whenever she had finished studying the content—which happened to be about every five seconds. After receiving aforesaid nod, the subject matter would continue or change all together. The other Autobots spent their night in their alternate forms as they recharged with their two human friends.

When three o'clock hit, Ratchet paused and spoke quietly as so not to wake the others, "Lilith," she looked up at him, blinking in question, "are you retaining this information?"

She smiled, "Yes, I am. Thank you, Ratchet." She paused, "Do you want to stop? You may recharge too, if you wish."

Ratchet's face rearranged into something Lilith had come to identify as an Autobot smile and recast his projector on the earth in front of her, "We'll continue." Her eyes returned to the image and gave the same, curt nod to signal she had studied it.

Time seemed to escape both beings left awake. It wasn't until Sam bolted upright from a dead sleep screaming about "fiendish rabbits" did they realize day had begun to break over the treetops. Lilith tore her eyes from the projection on the ground and crawled over to Sam, peering curiously about what had him so startled. His eyes focused on her and almost instinctively he clutched his blanket to his chest, looking around nervously.

"Lilith." He said, his voice squeaking.

"Sam." She responded evenly, nearing his face little-by-little, "Are you alright? Your heart is beating much faster than average."

"Wh-what?" Sam stammered, backing away from her, "Wh—"

"I can hear it," she stated, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He insisted, "Nothing's wrong—Ratchet—Lilith—Ratchet—what did you do to her? You can hear what?"

Lilith let Ratchet reply first, "I didn't do anything to her," he shrugged, "I taught her, as I offered to."

"Your heart." Lilith responded now that her teacher had answered the nervous boy, "So, what is wrong, Sam?" her head cocked to the side, "what are fiendish rabbits?"

"Fiendish rabbits?" Sam questioned before a dismissive snort of laugher, "Oh, it doesn't matter. It was a dream. Look," he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back about six inches, "it freaks people out to find someone in their personal space—you can hear it?!"

At realizing her mistake, Lilith sat on her knees, posture perfectly straight, "Yes. It was a soothing sound to study with. Mikaela's too; hers and yours make a rhythm that's very relaxing. Do the fiendish rabbit scare you?"

Sam sighed, clapping his hands over his face, "Lilith it's too early. Let's not wake the others, okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about us; we're only trying to sleep." Mikaela's annoyed voice mumbled from under her pillow. Lilith shrunk back, moving closer to Ratchet, feeling safe in the shadow of the gigantic 'bot.

"Sorry." She whimpered.

Mikaela sighed and sat up, looking at her watch, "Six-fifty-one. Don't be, Lilith. You weren't the genius eating peanut butter before bed." The brunette tied her hair back into a ponytail before giving Lilith an honest smile, "You've learned a lot in just a few hours. Did you get any sleep last night?"

Any unease Lilith might have felt disappeared when the compliment hit her ears, "No, and I'm not tired either." She smiled, "This...world is so full of amazing thing's I'd love to see. The history is...fantastic...but violent. It makes me feel..." it took a few moments to think of the word for the emotion, "sad, knowing the terrible things people have done..."

Ratchet nodded, "We spent half an hour discussing the American Civil War and the second World War. War isn't a concept she grasps easily."

That half an hour was tear-filled on Lilith's part. To imagine the pain, suffering and turmoil both mental and physical the people in the wars felt was heartbreaking. People being persecuted because of what color their hair or skin was unfathomable—the thought of brothers warring against one another struck a nerve in her heart.

"Life..." she had said, "Life has no price! Life is precious, immeasurable, and...not one soul has the right to dictate who lives or who dies!"

For a moment all Ratchet could do was stare at her. He knew she was right; but he also knew that not everyone could see that simple truth. How she had come across the simple knowledge was beyond his understanding. So he asked, "Who taught you that?"

She looked down, unable to explain where such strong values had come from, "I did. I just...believe everyone has the right to live their life for as long as possible..."

The medic tore his eyes from her and looked to the sky, thinking. He agreed with her whole heartedly, but in war...on the battlefield, if it means taking one life to ensure more survive, it's a necessary evil that must be taken.

Explaining that to Lilith would be impossible until she could experience it for herself; he only hoped she wouldn't have to experience it—it was something no being should experience.

Lilith smiled at Mikaela and Sam, "I want to travel the world one day and bring peace to every land I touch. It's my...dream. I think that's the right word."

The two teens stared at her, unsure of what to say. To them, she was naïve—the chance of her bringing peace to the whole world was exceedingly far-fetched, especially since the world had found itself in extraterrestrial turmoil as well as humanly plight.

Mikaela smiled encouragingly, "That sounds wonderful, Lilith." Discreetly, she nudged Sam.

He winced only a little and nodded enthusiastically, "Y-yeah."

Struck with the idea of world peace, Lilith eagerly jumped to her feet a bright grin on her face, "Let's get started! Can we? Please? Come on, Sam! Come on, Mikaela! Everyone! Up!"

Upon her excited demeanor, the blue and red 18 wheeler began the process that captivated Lilith. Ironhide and Bumblebee followed his example. So many pieces were moving at once, and in such precision—Lilith was sure if she had woken up in a metal body with the ability to transform from robot to car, something would have gotten jammed.

As she was wondering just why she hadn't studied about the Autobots on Earth in history—why, if they were a part of the planet too, was there no information on them, she was alerted to a small growling hidden under the sounds of metal parts shifting together. "What was that!?" She jumped from the ground up to Ratchet's leg, clinging out of uncertainty.

"What is it?" asked Optimus once his transformation had completed. Everyone sat, silent, looking at her.

"A...growling...I think that's the word."

Eyes and optics turned to survey the area, searching for the source of the mentioned growling. Ears were pricked, straining to hear anything resembling a growl; audio receptors were fine tuned to hear anything within a 50 foot radius. A few moments later a long whine of a growl resonated.

All optics turned to Lilith. Lilith looked down at herself, "What is that?" she whispered.

Ratchet began to chuckle a little, "That is your stomach. You're hungry, Lilith."

"Oh." She thought about it for a second, placing her hand on her belly, "Oooh! So...I need food...right?" Ratchet nodded. Lilith sat there for a moment, contemplating the concept of food—she couldn't remember what food really was or what it tasted like.

"Bumblebee," Optimus looked at the smallest 'bot, "Mikaela and Sam need nourishment too; I trust you can handle taking them to the nearest town to refuel?"

Bumblebee nodded, and then began transforming into his alternate form in reply. Ironhide went to protest but was silenced when Optimus lifted a hand. The weapons specialist had no choice but keep his opinions to himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust Bumblebee with the task—if anything he had faith in the yellow Autobot—he simply didn't trust Lilith. To let her wander around town with humans could be dangerous.

Mikaela began to roll up her sleeping bag and had it tightly bundled up in just seconds, but Sam, on the other hand, was having problems. No matter how loose or how tight he rolled his up, the center would always slip out. Mikaela gave no signs of helping, but watched in mild amusement, earning a sheepish grin from Sam. Eventually, he gave up and decided to fold it instead.

Once it had been taken care of Sam got in the yellow Camaro. Mikaela held the door open for Lilith, who hesitantly looked inside. She shook her head and stepped back. "It's alright." Mikaela said, "He's perfectly safe."

Lilith smiled, "Oh, no doubt about that. It's just...Sam said people freak out when someone invades their personal space."

"Its okay, Lilith," Bumblebee chuckled, wincing only a little at his sore voice capacitor, "you can get in."

Lilith frowned for a moment. She could almost...feel the pain he felt when he spoke. But then smiled and climbed in, taking the back seat, marveling at how comfortable it was in there; she'd grown used to their hard, mechanical bodies.

Once the car started up, Lilith became painfully aware of a simple fact: small spaces made her uneasy almost to the point of panicking. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes, and tried to trick herself into thinking that rather her being trapped in a small space she was being hugged by the giant being. That certainly seemed to help a little.

After about an hour, they finally reached a small, old-fashioned town; most likely a tourist trap. Everything had a western theme to it; from the buildings—the old saloon, to the board walk and the posts to tie horses up at. When Bumblebee pulled to a stop in front of a small café, Sam turned to Lilith.

"It'd be best if you didn't let anybody see you...talking to Bumblebee, okay?"

"Why not?" Lilith questioned with her head cocked to the side in wonder.

Mikaela jumped in, "Well...Bumblebee and the other Autobots aren't...from this planet and only a few people know about them."

Lilith processed the information before slowly saying, "So, they're a secret?"

Sam nodded, "A national secret."

"Okay," Lilith nodded with a smile.

Sam grinned and opened the door, "We'll be back in a bit, 'Bee."


Lovins go out to: autumn sparrow and shadowchild880

o.o Was I the only one who felt like this chapter was a little on the cheesy side? –Runs and hides from the cheesiness- Hehe Oh well, this was just something to keep the plot bunnies satisfied.

As always, reviews are always welcome, loved, and appreciated .