Transformers Prime – New Cybertron

The seventh chapter of the New Cybertron story.

As always, any errors are mine, the intellectual properties belong to Hasbro/Taraka.


Chapter Seven

"I'll miss you."

Arcee knelt down and gathered Jack into her arms, giving him a heartfelt kiss. "I'm only sorry that Stasis doesn't work on humans." she said. "It'll only be a blink for me, but..."

"I know." Jack whispered. "Unless things go wrong, I'll be here for you when you wake."

"Thank you." Arcee said, releasing Jack and standing up. Stepping backwards, she entered the pod and nodded.

"Ready."

"See you in a week." Jack said as he pressed the activation button, a tear trickling unnoticed down his cheek.


"Is Arcee safe?" Carlson asked as Jack entered the Bridge. At Jack's nod, he turned to the screens.

"Ark command ready. Status?"

"Justice Blade, all cybertronians safe in stasis, ready for Jump."

"Justice Spear, same and same."

"Justice Shield, also same."

"Then prepare for Jump. All hands, this is the captain. Man your stations, prepare for acceleration. Jump in one minute. All hands to stations, this is not a drill."

"All stations report readiness, all personnel suited." a woman reported from the side of the bridge and Carlson nodded.

"All that we need to do is return to New Cybertron with our cargoes and new allies. We have done too much, come too far to fail, so let's make sure that we do this right."

Jack leaned back as the grav-generators in the Ark started to whine as they fought against the massive acceleration provided by the engines. Ahead of them, the starfield seemed to distort and shatter, turning into familiar blue lines.


Jack sat on the bench in his dreams and smiled as a familiar figure approached.

"So, we underway?"

"We are, and I thought you were in stasis?"

"I am." Arcee replied, catching Jack in a hug as he rose to greet her. "At least, I remember entering the pod and you looking at me as you pressed the button, then I was here and you appeared. Is my pod still working?"

"It was when I went to sleep." Jack said. "I checked it personally. Hmmm, you are... you, aren't you?"

"I think so." Arcee said with a frown. "I mean, we've established beyond doubt that we share our dreams. I wonder if this is another of Vector's gifts?"

"The ability to dream in stasis?" Jack asked and Arcee smiled.

"Why not? Stasis pods slow us to less than a millionth of our normal operation speed. Leave us in a stasis pod for a year, and less than a moment has passed from our viewpoint. Although how my processor could be... could I be using yours?

Jack blinked. "What?"

"My processor will be going really slow, but we have the link. Perhaps when you fell asleep, my program jumped into your brain or something. I've seen Ratchet's scans of human brains, you'd be amazed at how much spare processing power you have. You humans use it so haphazardly, I can believe that you evolved rather than were designed."

"Thanks... I think."

Arcee laughed and briefly squeezed him as they started walking along the now-familiar beach. "You know I didn't mean that as an insult, my love."

They continued their walk in companiable silence for a while, then Arcee suddenly groaned and shook her head.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"We got married, and Miko wasn't there. She'll never forgive us for this, we'll never hear the end of it. Raf'll probably understand, but Miko..."

"We'll face her down together." Jack said. "Besides, I'm the one who should be worried. You're far larger than her, and metal. I'm the one that needs to worry."

"If the worst comes to the worst, I'll turn into a bike, you jump on and we get away from her as fast as possible." Arcee said with a laugh. "I'm nimble enough that not even Bumblebee will be able to keep up."

"Sounds like a plan." Jack said, relaxing again.


"Sir? You may want to see this..."

Jack looked over at Carlson, who was examining some readouts with a quizzical expression. Walking over, he found himself looking at a set of familiar readouts.

"That's Arcee's pod."

"Yes, sir. And if you'll watch this? It's at ten-to-one compression."

As Jack watched, the slow flickers on the readout suddenly spiked, but only the processor readings, and in a pattern Jack had never seen before.

"What the... when did that happen?"

"Last night, sir. Caught the end of it this morning, but diagnostics show nothing wrong with the pod itself. I'm still not fully up to speed on cybertronian tech, I was wondering if you had any ideas."

Jack looked at the readouts and replayed them, his mind working fast. After replaying them again, he looked up with a wry smile.

"I think that Arcee was dreaming."

Carlson looked at him, confused. "Do cybertronians dream?"

"Not as we do, normally." Jack said. "But Arcee was upgraded by Vector Prime. Part of what he gave her was the ability to share my dreams. I was unsure if it was really her last night, but this proves to me that it was. Arcee will be fascinated to hear this, I'll probably tell her tonight."

"I... see." Carlson said, slowly. "That's... incredible. I knew you two were close, but sharing each other's dreams? And from stasis? wow."

Jack nodded and turned round.

"Glad I could help. Anything else?"

"Not at this time." Carlson said, looking slightly distracted. Jack looked at him for a moment, then shrugged and moved across to his dias. Seating himself, he activated his console and checked the maintenance logs to ensure that everything was still holding.


"...so this is a proper shared dream." Jack finished and Arcee nodded.

"Good to know. I'd hate to think I'd forget this when I emerged from stasis. Or not have remembered it, or... well, you know."

"I do." Jack grinned, running his fingers lightly down Arcee's side. She twitched and Jack's eyebrows rose.

"Arcee, are you... ticklish?"

"Am I what?"

Jack grinned and ran his fingers lightly up her side. As Arcee twitched away from him, he moved his hands to under her arms, fingers moving lightly and Arcee squealed.

"Jack! I... stop that... hahaha... this is... stoppit! I don't... I'll get you when you... no, I surrender! Stop, I surrender!"

Jack stopped tickling and pulled Arcee to his chest, his arms draped across her shoulders. Arcee let out a humm of pleasure and leaned back against him.

"That was... I didn't know I was ticklish."

"Probably not something that comes up often." Jack said, resting his cheek against her head. "I wouldn't dare to try it in the real world, the way you were twitching and squirming, I'd probably get an accidental flying lesson."

Arcee snorted in amusement and they watched the sun slowly descend towards the ocean.

"I wonder if this place really exists on Earth." she said after a while.

"It does seem familiar." Jack mused. "I wonder if it's a beach I visited as a child?"

"If it is, maybe we can visit it when we reach Earth." Arcee said. "How long to go?"

"A couple of days." Jack said with a smile. "We were able to use the scan-data out to plot a shorter route back. Explains why you lot developed the Space Bridge, having to rely on autopilot and stasis pods must be had on your nerves."

"Circuits." Arcee corrected gently. "Yes, historically we mainly used the Space Bridge for colonists and starships for when the supplies were too big to bridge."

"Well, I guess starships will become popular now you have us organics to pick up the slack." Jack laughed. "True, it'll mean life-support and hydroponics and plumbing and all the rest..."

"It's worth it." Arcee stated. "It's worth it."


"Prepare for reversion. All hands man your stations, defence crews to weapons."

Jack sat down as the tempo of work around him rose to a higher pitch and Carlson glanced back at him.

"Five minutes to reversion. All bay personnel to your seats, disengage stasis pods on my mark."

Jack looked round, then looked at his console. In the corner, a small button glowed, protected by a flip-up shield. Next to it, a small readout showed Arcee's status in her pod.

"Four minutes. All personnel confirm ready."

Jack swallowed and looked round. Behind him, a lieutenant was strapping himself into the seat just by the release panel for Hot Rod's pod.

"Three minutes. All stations confirm readiness, scanners and shields on stand-by, ready for activation."

"Two minutes."

"Sixty seconds to reversion!"

"Thirty seconds!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, reversion!"

The rippling tube of FTL seemed to shatter and reform into blue streaks which shortened into a starfield.

"Reversion complete! Disengage stasis pods."

Jack flipped up the cover and pressed the button on his console. The readings next to it froze, then started to change and Jack began to unfasten his saeatbelt as a hiss from behind him indicated Hot Rod's emergence from stasis.

"Scanners report no hostile ships, navigation confirms Earth system. Stand down weapons."

"We home?" Arcee asked from the doorway and Jack spun round, his jaw dropping.

"Wha... how... huh?"

"I think it's another gift." Arcee smiled, glancing at where Hot Rod was sprawled in his pod, looking at his hands and giggling. "Fast recovery... ummm, Rod?"

"I'm a little gearwheel..." Hot Rod sang, somewhat off-key, before falling over.

"Oookay... I know I was slightly loopy last time, but not that loopy. I wonder..."

Jack looked at her and she shrugged. "Just a thought, maybe the total readjustment is the same, but the shorter recovery time means you seem crazier for a bit."

"Ooh, ooh, I know this one, 42!" exclaimed Hot Rod. For a couple of seconds everyone just stared at him, then returned to their tasks.

"We have a communication request from Elita-One." said the rating at the comm station. "She says welcome back, and asks for a mission report, especially our extra ships."

"Put her on the main screen." Jack said. "And fire over the mission summary on a sub-frequency."

"Putting her on now." came the reply and the main screen flickered, revealing a familiar face.

"Welcome back, Jack, Arcee." she said. "I'm afraid Optimus is currently caught up with some... negotiations with several human leaders at the moment regarding human/cybertronian equality, but I'm sure he'll be back as soon as the meeting concludes. If you can enter lumar orbit, we'll get you down as soon as possible."