4. In which the AllSpark got his lady

"So, do you already have a place in mind that you want to observe, or a specific religion that you are interested in observing, Sam?" Saori got down to business pretty fast.

"Er…" Sam was heading to autobots base this weekend, and he was planning to just catch a church service on base; he thought the military aspect of it would be interesting and hopefully it would impress markers. But that plan was not looking so great with a partner. So he said, "I was going out of state this weekend and just thought to catch some church services where I am staying, but obviously it wouldn't work now. I am good for anything really."

"Oh," Saori looked mildly interested and she asked, "May I ask where you were thinking of going?"

"This military base," Sam said with a little laugh, "I have a couple GI friends."

"I see. A church service in a military base, that would be interesting," Saori nodded with a smile.

"What of you? Any plan originally?" He asked.

This time it was the girl's turn to hesitate, before saying ruefully, "I too am heading out this weekend, and was going to catch something while away. But I guess we need a new plan; a place where we can both attend."

"So, where were you going to go?" Sam was just curious, but Saori seemed a little hesitant about answering.

"Oh come on," Sam said good-naturedly, "I told you where I would be going, right, thought it sounded stupid."

"Oh no, it certainly did not sound stupid! I think it would allow a great paper," Saori protested. She paused a second, then said, "Well, I am going to Vatican this weekend, so I was hoping to just watch their mass."

Sam stared a minute, then, "Right, you are worth billions."

"But we of course need a new plan," She said, "Maybe just a church service somewhere near campus? I am so very pressed for time this week."

Well, between heading to autobots base for various businesses, and a date with Mikaela at the base, and more homework, Sam was pretty busy for the weekend. He dug into his bag for his phone which contained an electronic calendar, and saw Saori pulled one out at the exact same time. They looked at each other, and then broke out laughing together.

"Oh the tragically busy lives of modern college students!" Sam said.

"Absolutely," Saori sighed, "I can get back from Vatican Sunday evening. I know there is a Buddhist temple that runs service Sunday evening near campus, can you do that?"

Sam looked at all the tasks listed on his electronic calendar, did some quick mental math, and then said, "Is six o'clock too late?"

"That'd be perfect," Saori said with another smile, and promptly texted him the date, time and address for the temple. "I have another class coming up, and I still have to make some phone calls, so I really have to run. Is there something we still need to sort out before Sunday?" Seeing Sam shook his head, she added, "See you at the temple then."

A smile, a polite nod, and then she was gone. Sam looked at his watch; apparently they talked for a total of thirteen minutes. He could not help but whistle: good girl, so crisp, so professional and business-like, left absolutely no possibility for someone that might be interested. Guess what, he was totally right about the virgin-goddess thing.

After that observation session at the Buddhist temple, they saw each other rather frequently. There were the library meetings, brainstorming over coffee, drafting a paper in his dorm room, etc. Sam quickly began to understand why Saori Kido drew conspiracy theories like a flame drawing moths. Despite all her subtlety, he could still tell that the girl was weird.

Sometimes she stared at her book, her laptop, or even the wall a little too intently. She would laugh and say that she just had an idea and therefore "zoned" out, but Sam could swear those were not zoning out looks. Instead she looked like… she was talking to someone in her head. She once answered her cell using Greek. Sam had a Greek grandmother so he actually understood a little, and he heard her say, "You are two hundred sixty something years old, I thought you would know about this… I am sorry." Then she saw his shocked eyes, and quickly changed to a language he didn't understand. To top off all those wonderful oddities, was something that really frightened Sam. Whenever their hands or arms brushed, Sam could see blue light and sparks. They both dismissed those as static, but Sam just had this really bad feeling in his gut.

And the AllSpark really wasn't helping. Sam was seeing strange alien symbols again with alarming frequency, and his fingertips just always seemed to leak electricity. He could feel the fervent desire of the AllSpark to get out… out to what? Not knowing left Sam confused, scared, and very much unhappy. Frag it, if the AllSpark would only tell him exactly what it wants!

At his last session with Saori on a Friday afternoon, Sam felt a bit happier. After this paper he could safely stay the hell away from this woman. She can keep her oddities, and he would keep his. But unfortunately, he fainted three pages into the editing process.

He woke up lying tangled on the ground, with Saori Kido right on top of him, hands on his chest, surreally beautiful face inches from his own. It would've been every adult male's dream, but all Sam could think of was oh my God, Mikaela will kill me.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He croaked and tried to push her off, only to find that he couldn't really move.

Saori let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank Father Zeus; you are awake," She said breathlessly, "You just collapsed, dropped dead, if I may say so. Your heart stopped! Don't move; I'll call paramedics right now."

What kind of crazy idiot administers CPR first and then calls 911? Sam thought with much annoyance. Saori stood up and reached for her purse, rummaging furiously for her phone. Sam pushed himself up slowly, just in case there was something really wrong with him. Yet strangely, other than feeling heavy-limbed, he was pretty much okay. He looked up at Saori and was about to say something when he suddenly noticed the glowing blue lines on her arm.

Sam froze. He stared hard for a minute, only to see the pattern of blue lines growing brighter and more complex.

Shit, shit, what the hell is going on.

"Your arm, Saori, what's wrong with your arm?"

Saori started, and then looked at her arm. Upon seeing her arm glowing blue, she frowned, looking confused, then shot a worried glance at Sam. "Probably spilt some glow gel ink on my arm," She said, "I am not the one with a stopped heart; let me call ambulance."

Spilt gel ink? Sam felt his jaw hit the floor. This was no gel ink, and he was neither blind nor stupid! This was the AllSpark doing strange things and Sam knew it. The problem was how to get this overly calm girl to realize the problem and go with him to see the autobots.

"Trust me, that's no gel ink!" Sam grabbed her wrist, looking closely at the glowing blue pattern, "You know what, you really have to come with me and see a few people."

He barely finished his sentence when bright blue-white light engulfed both his hand and her wrist. Lights above them flickered on and off, on and off, and then went dark. Sam let go of the girl and scurried back. Saori's entire body was glowing. When the light finally died down Sam heard a flurry of clicks and whirs and beeps.

Saori's laptop shook, then flipped open, parts shooting away and resettling in different positions, until it finally became a butterfly like creature with the original webcam as its single eye. Sam's own laptop did something similar and was now shooting bullets at the ceiling. Cell phones on many legs sped out from their bags, zooming around like lunatics.

Shit, oh shit. That was Sam's only thought.