Sari and Chandra spend their first night together, in Farside Beacon One's sick bay. Many things lie ahead for both.
"Good morning, Sari!" said Firestar, coming in to her room at Farside Beacon One's sick bay. "How did you two sleep?"
"Oh, just great!" she responded. She looked down at the little technorganic cradled in her arm. Chandra was still asleep. "She was up a few times to be fed, as expected," she smiled. "Chandra? You awake, sleepyhead?" Chandra yawned.
"It's time for her first Autobot check up," said Firestar. "Let's get her ready."
Sari took her to the table and got her changed and dressed. "Ratchet would like to join us, if that's OK," said Firestar.
"Oh, of course! He's been my bot medic all these years – wouldn't want him to miss out!" And they headed over to the examination room.
"Good morning, Sari! And good morning, little Chandra!" said Ratchet. "Mind if I watch?"
"You mind if Ratchet watches, Chandra?" Sari asked her daughter. "No?" Sari looked back at Ratchet. "She says 'no prob, Doc!" and laid the baby on the examination table. Firestar smiled, Ratchet raised an optic at this unfamiliar - to him - mother/baby dialog.
"Better take her onesie off," said Firestar, and Sari undressed Chandra for the exam. She then laid her back on the table.
Unfortunately, Chandra did NOT like the cold room, cold table and bright lights! As soon as Sari put her down, she began to fuss and cry.
Firestar began the examination, undisturbed by the baby's crying. "Oh, poor baby!" She cooed. Sari held Chandra's hand, talking to her throughout the exam. "It's OK, sweetie, it's OK."
Ratchet cut in. "Geez! How do you two put up with all that racket?" he complained.
The two ladies turned and gave him a withering glance. "She's just a baby!" They said in unison. Firestar and Sari then gave each other a knowing look, tut tutting. "Mechs" they said to each other.
"OK, let's have a look at her Spark chamber," said Firestar, and put a sensor over her chest. A crisp real-time image of Chandra's Spark came up on the overhead display. "Oh!" Said Sari, putting her hand over her mouth, seeing the image of her daughter's tiny little pulsing, shimmering Spark for the first time.
Firestar turned away from the monitor and looked at Sari to see her tearing up. "You OK, Sari?" she asked.
"I'm alright," she said, wiping her eyes. "It's a human thing. Looking at that little Spark pulsing inside her, it's an awe inspiring sight. An old bot friend of mine said humans possess a 'wonder' mod."
"Jazz?" asked Ratchet, putting a servo on her shoulder.
"Jazz," replied Sari, nodding.
"Well, everything looks good - clean bill of Autobot health!" Said Firestar. Ratchet smiled and patted Sari on the back, "Congratulations, Mommy!" Sari smiled back at her two Autobot friends, "Thanks, guys!" She picked Chandra up and put her back into her onesie, and waved goodbye to Ratchet and Firestar.
"OK, Chandra, let's go visit some friends," said Sari, and headed off to the Farside Beacon One's control area.
"Hey, Bee, thought we'd stop by," said Sari.
"Sar!" said Bumblebee, walking over. "And is this the little one?" Everyone got up from their chairs to have a look at the baby. "Oh, how cute!" they said.
"Yep! This is Chandra. Chandra? This is Bumblebee and his friends."
"Can I hold her?" he asked. And Sari gave her to Bee to hold. He picked Chandra up gently, and looked into her little face. "She's so beautiful, Sari! So, THIS is what you looked like, eh?" he winked. "No wonder your Dad fell in love with you!" Sari blushed.
Bumblebee started making silly faces. "Chandra? Chan-dra? Goo goo goo!" Chandra looked up at Bee and smiled. "Hey! Sari! She smiled at me!"
"Well, she's still a little too young to smile at faces," said Sari. "That was probably gas," everyone laughed.
"Well, Sari! Good to see you up and about!" She turned around to see Jazz entering the room. "Jazz! I'm so glad to see you!" she said.
"And I'm so very glad to see you!" he said.
"I'm sorry about my behavior on the trip here," Sari apologized.
"No worries, my friend," he smiled. "I'm just happy for you and Chandra. I was very concerned after you screamed and fell. On the ride here, I kept trying to reach you with P-O-M, even up to the point when Ratchet arrived with his EMP, but you kept pushing me out. You are indeed a very powerful Cyber-Ninja."
"Optimus headed back to the Lunar Colony," he explained. "He'll meet you there after you and Chandra arrive and have a chance to get settled. Mrs. Witwicky says she can't wait to see you and the little one, and she told me to tell you that everything is arranged for you two to stay there."
Jazz smiled and stroked Chandra's cheek with his digit. "A beautiful child."
"Hey, is this where the party is?" Captain Nakadai walked in.
"Hey there!" said Sari. "Come on in!" Nakadai walked over to Mom and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sari, I'm glad you're better!"
"Oh, yeah, about that," she said meekly. Sorry about my little breakdown."
"Eh, I was a cop on Earth, I've seen worse." Nakadai shrugged. "No worries. Let me see the baby!" Sari gave Chandra to her.
"Aw, she's beautiful, Sari! What's her name?"
"Chandra."
"Hey there, Chandra!" Nakadai held her little hand. "So, she's a clone of you?"
"Yep."
"Well, let me tell ya, you were one cute kid!" Nakadai looked down at Chandra's face and smiled. "You're a cutie pie, aren't ya?"
"So anyway, Sari, I brought a special baby carrier with me from the Lunar Colony. That way we can safely transport Chandra from here to my shuttle, and from the shuttle into the colony entrance."
"Oh, thanks, Captain!" said Sari.
"Hey, we're friends now, right?" she said. "Call me Miko."
"So whenever you two are ready, we can secure her in the carrier and be on our way." So Sari bid farewell to her friends in Farside Beacon One and left with Miko. They put Chandra into the carrier and once it was secured, she carried it to the shuttle.
The trip around to the other side of the moon - at a leisurely pace this time - took about 2 hours. The cabin was pressurized, so Sari was able to feed Chandra on the way and change her. "By the way, I hear Dr. Witwicky has something for you," Miko told her.
They arrived at the Lunar Colony, and Adam, Mikaela, Julie and Ron were waiting for them at the bottom of the elevator. "Sari! Welcome back!" said Adam. "And welcome, little Chandra!"
It was a glorious welcome! Mikaela had brought a newborn baby stroller for Chandra, with nice, cozy blankets. "I've saved all of Julie's baby clothes; we'll go through them when we get home," she told Sari. Julie was ecstatic. "I want to babysit!" she said. "She's really cute, Aunt Sari," said Ron. But Adam saved the best for last. "Sari, I wanted to give this to you," he said, and presented her with an official Birth Certificate, with the Lunar Colony seal on it, made out to "Chandra Sumdac."
Sari held the certificate in her hands. "Oh, Adam," she said. "I can't tell you what this means to the both of us!"
"As you know, I appeared as a technorganic in my father's lab, and grew up in Sumdac Tower. I always thought I was a normal human girl and that I'd been born. But one horrible day, I learned the truth that I was not fully human, that I had no birth certificate, nothing to show that I even existed!"
"It wasn't until much later, when I was granted Cybertronian citizenship that I could lay claim to a place to truly call home – and now, Chandra has one from birth. Thank you! Thank you so much!" She reached over, and with tears in her eyes, hugged Adam. Everyone cheered!
"Hey, Sari, I've got to head back to the surface. I'll see you and Optimus tomorrow."
"OK Miko, thanks for everything," and Sari gave her a hug.
"See you all!" And she took the elevator back up top.
With Chandra snug in her stroller, the group headed over to the Witwicky residence. There, Mikaela had prepared a "Happy Birthday, Chandra" party / shower for baby & mom, and invited the neighbors. Everyone had a great time!
After the party, Sari and Mikaela were sorting through Julie's baby things. "I think," said Sari, "I want to relocate here to the Lunar Colony."
"Really? That would be wonderful, Sari! It's a terrific environment for kids."
"And it would be so good for Chandra to grow up near you, Adam, Julie and Ron," Sari responded. "That's the most important thing to me."
"Well, listen, I can help you. Let me make some calls. My friend is a real estate agent; she'll find you a place nearby, and I know a terrific nanny! Oh, this is great, Sari! Julie will be ecstatic!" So the two spent the rest of the day making plans.
The following day, with Julie babysitting, Sari, Optimus, Jazz and Miko met with the Lunar Colony and Farside Beacon One leadership to brief them on their findings. After they had dropped Sari off at Farside Beacon One's sick bay, the remaining three had returned to Starscream's lab to complete the exploration. They found 32 protoforms and the 4 remaining sparkling protoforms, as well as various bot parts. These were all cataloged and the list was presented to the group.
"I think, in light of what was discovered, that we should deem ownership of all items to the Autobots," said Governor Martin. Captain Brigham agreed, as did the Lunar Council. Braver and Bumblebee were tasked with making the arrangements for Cybertron Intelligence to come and retrieve the contents of the lab.
"What about the technorganic that was brought to Farside Beacon One with Sari?" asked Captain Brigham.
"I have spoken with The Autobot High Council," said Optimus. "They have granted initial custody to Sari, pending a Council appearance and final determination."
After the meeting, Optimus and Sari got together in a separate conference room. "I'm very confident that the appearance at the High Council will be just a formality, Sari."
"I hope you are right," she said. "I've really bonded with her."
"So I understand," said Optimus. "What's going on?"
"Do you remember when I was about 16? I went for my very first human physical. My father recommended his physician, Dr. Atwood. I learned that my human half was capable of conceiving and bearing children."
"Then, a little while later, I had that incident with Adam and Mikaela, and I realized that, as a technorganic, I should never, never think about trying to have something resembling a completely human life, with a husband and a family. I've accepted that, but at the same time, I've always had the wish that, someday, somehow, I could have a life that was close to it. When, all of a sudden, this incident with the stasis pod happened and Chandra came into my life, all those past feelings suddenly burst back into my Spark."
"Maybe bonding with her was a mistake, but it all happened so fast. Oh, Optimus, if The Autobot High Council doesn't grant me custody of her, I don't know what I will do!"
"Well, as I said, I believe it will be a formality," he said. "In the meantime, let us prepare to go to Cybertron. I have asked Ratchet and Arcee to accompany us. They have had enough experiences with technorganics to help with any questions."
Shortly afterwards, Sari, Chandra, Optimus, Jazz, Ratchet and Arcee headed to the space bridge. Sari switched to "bot" mode, and held Chandra in her space carrier.
At a conference room in the Metroplex, everyone met with Alpha Trion, Cliffjumper, and Perceptor. As senior partner, Optimus presented their findings.
"Sari, when you decided to use your mod to enter the statis pod, your experience was completely different from other times," said Perceptor. "You say that instead of entering the pod circuitry, you made contact with the sparkling protoform."
"Yes, Perceptor, that is correct. I was completely unprepared for that. It was as if the sparkling protoform pulled me in and melded with me. We then began sharing common proto-memories. I have since come to believe that I was once one of those sparking protoforms, and that we were engineered by Scalpel to be part of some Decepticon army."
"And yet, your statis pod arrived on Earth, in the human Isaac Sumdac's laboratory," said Alpha Trion. "How is that?"
"I don't know," said Sari. "That is still a mystery."
"In addition, the sparkling protocol in the stasis pod did something else," Sari continued. "It entered my Spark chamber, and took a copy of my human DNA – the very same human DNA that I had copied from Isaac Sumdac – my 'Earth father'. The result of this was the sparkling protoform turning into a clone of me."
"I see that Optimus has submitted a request on your behalf Sari," said Cliffjumper. "You wish custody of this new technorganic?"
"Yes, Cliffjumper," said Sari. "I believe that I am uniquely qualified to raise this technorganic, and when the time comes, help her learn to properly use her mods."
"I am inclined to agree with Sari," said Alpha Trion. "Ratchet and Arcee, you have joined us at this meeting because you both have significant experience working with Sari. What are your opinions on this matter?"
Ratchet spoke first. "I have known Sari since first meeting her when we met the Earth humans 25 stellar cycles ago. I watched her advance from a young human girl to the mature technorganic Cyber-Ninja she is today. I also believe from the bottom of my Spark that she would make an excellent mentor for this new being."
"I have known Sari for fewer stellar cycles than Ratchet," said Arcee. "However, I had the privilege of being able to use my teacher bot skills to mentor her when she was a young technorganic, shortly after the defeat of Megatron. I can attest to her deep Cybertronian loyalties, as well as her strong human capacity for love and caring of this new life form."
"Very well," said Alpha Trion. "Thank you both for your testimonies. "The Autobot High Council will take these into careful consideration and we will announce our decision in one megacycle."
Arcee held Chandra in her carrier, while Sari paced back and forth in the waiting room as the High Council debated. "Sari, try to calm down," said Optimus. "Let her pace," said Arcee. "It's a very crucial decision for her."
The signal came in before the megacycle was over. "That was sooner than I'd expected," said Ratchet. "Good news, perhaps?" Everyone entered the council chamber.
"Sari Sumdac, the High Council has considered the request, and we have unanimously decided to grant you official custody of the technorganic," said Alpha Trion.
"Thank you, Alpha Trion!" said Sari. "Thank you, members of the High Council. I will do my very best to raise her in the ways of Cybertron." Everyone in the chamber cheered!
"When you leave the Metroplex, please bring her to Dataminer for an examination," said Perceptor. "We would like him to regularly examine her as she grows, and maintain a record of her technorganic capabilities. If as you say, the sparkling protoforms were engineered to be a powerful Decepticon army, I suspect her mods may be different than yours."
After the meeting, Ratchet, Arcee, Sari and Chandra went to Dataminer's office. "Still looks the same after all these stellar cycles," said Ratchet, as they walked in. "Hello?" came a voice from the inner room. Dataminer walked out. "May I help you? Oh, hello there! What a nice surprise! Sari, Ratchet, Arcee, so good to see you all; what can I do for you today – and what is this you are carrying?"
"Dataminer, I'd like you to meet Chandra," said Sari, and unwrapped her blanket. "She's a clone of me.
"A clone! Oh my! Well, let us go into my office, everyone! You must tell me all about her!" And they sat down in Dataminer's office, where Sari explained the whole story. Dataminer took it all in with great enthusiasm. "Sari, this is indeed remarkable. You say there are four other sparkling protoforms?"
"Yes. Cybertron Intelligence will be collecting them, along with the 32 protoforms, and bringing them back."
"Amazing, truly amazing. The Ministry of Science will be busy, that's for sure! And I am so happy for you, Sari. You are the perfect mentor for this little one, that is, if this old bot's opinion still has any merit," he chuckled.
"Thank you, Dataminer," Sari said. "And Perceptor recommended that you examine her. He suspects that her mods are different than my own."
"Just so, just so," he stroked his chin. "That would make sense, if Scalpel was intending to engineer the beginnings of an army. He'd probably start out with some prototypes. My goodness, Sari, however it happened, thank the Allspark you wound up in your father's lab and not in some Decepticon workshop."
"At any rate, let's have a look at this little one, shall we?" And Dataminer gently picked up Chandra. He looked into her eyes. "A beautiful human baby," he said, laying her on his table.
"She doesn't like the cold table," Ratchet started to intervene, but Arcee reached out and gently put a servo to his shoulder. "Let Sari handle it," she said smiling.
Sari held Chandra's little hand while Dataminer ran his tests. Several three-dimensional models of various parts of Chandra's body appeared on large monitors, and a great deal of data began scrolling down others. Dataminer studied all of this with great interest. "Sari, a lot of this looks familiar; I've seen much of it before – can you guess where?" he winked. Sari smiled.
The examination ended, Dataminer shut down his equipment, and Sari picked the baby up. "Let us go back into my office," he said.
"Well, first of all, the basic Autobot anatomy and underlying structures are a 100% duplication of Sari's," he began. Presumably, the human side as well. In that regard, she is a clone. When she's full grown, it looks like we won't be able to tell you two apart," he chuckled. "However, Perceptor was correct; the list of mods is distinctly different. It's difficult to determine at this stage what they are capable of doing because she is so young, but I can tell you this: her growth will parallel yours, Sari. Chandra will begin getting some of her basic mods at around the time she is eight, just like you did when you first fired those orbs out of your hands. What those mods will be, we won't know until she gets close to that age."
"Then, she won't begin getting her full set until she turns sixteen, and after that, they will come on slowly as yours did, until finally, Chandra reaches human adulthood."
"So, same timeline as me," Sari said.
"Yes, precisely. However, there's something you will want to keep in mind," Dataminer continued. "Unlike you, Chandra will from a young age be growing up among Autobots. She will also be watching you transform back and forth from 'human' to 'bot' mode, and as a result, will start becoming aware of her own technorganic nature."
"Now, what does that mean? Well, consider this, Sari: you may have to prepare yourself for the day when suddenly you'll look to see a little 3-year old Autobot running around your home."
"Oh – my!" Said Sari.
Ratchet couldn't help himself, and laughed, "Now, THAT will be a sight to behold!" Arcee kicked him.
So Sari will have a new job as mother/mentor to little Chandra, but as she shared with Optimus, this is a vocation she's felt called to for a long time. She'll relocate to the Lunar Colony, and have a support network with the Witwicky family. I suspect Chandra's nanny may have unique challenges, though! Thanks for reading.
