I am so sorry about the extremely long wait. I have been working on a book I hope to publish, and planned to get back to this story after I finally got settled with my book. You know, have a few chapters that I can go back and read again and not want to completely change it. But, the tablet I was using to write broke and down the drain went all my work. So... so much lost!
So, I've come back here to update. Everyone can thank Kottori for this, you definitely motivated me to get back on this story. Honestly, I had no idea I left it at such a cliff hanger. Just finding out Sam has seventeen days to convince his parents to hand over custody, go back to Earth, and find the Allspark before his spark gives out? Yes, if I were a reader and not the writer here, I'd want to give the author of this story a piece of my mind.
Onward to the story! I sincerely hope you like it, and hope it was worth waiting soooo long to read. I don't own a thing save for the plot.
I didn't wake the next morning until Mom came in to wake me. With her sitting at my bedside, hand on my forehead, I wanted her to go away so I could go back to sleep.
"Sam, you're burning up!" Mom felt my cheek, getting worried.
"I'm fine." the events of the day before started to come rushing back, and my first coherent thought was, 'sixteen days'. Just over two weeks, is it enough time?
"No, I'm serious Sam. You have a fever. You aren't going out today, I want you to stay inside." she didn't seem too off-put about that, however. Not going outside meant not going to Bumblebee.
I moved to sit up, pushing her hand away. My eyelids were still heavy, but I knew enough now that I couldn't keep sleeping. "I've got to go out."
"You don't have to do anything. Let me go get you some medicine." she insisted, trying to make me lay back down again.
"I've got to get up. I already know I'm sick, and Bee's going to help." I couldn't possibly tell her everything here and now. She'd freak out and I'd never get past the bedroom door.
"How could that alien possibly help? You just need some rest- hey!" she objected when I got to my feet. I hadn't even bothered to change last night, but I wasn't too worried about wearing fresh cloths today either. That was the least of my worries, as I went for the door. My suit was laying in the corner, rendered useless.
"You'll see. You and Dad need to come too. We've got to tell you something important." But Dad was nowhere to be seen in the living room, or the kitchen, or any of the main rooms that I passed on my way to the air lock. "Where is Dad?" his suit is hanging right there, so he hasn't gone out.
"Checking in with Earth. They're giving us a status update with the situation on Mars." Last time I heard about that, I'd not paid any attention to it and merely wanted to be home; on Earth. Now, I couldn't help but to wonder, what if it's Decepticons on Mars? Nevertheless, I switched directions and headed straight for the conference room. It's on the other side of the house secluded so that distractions don't become a common thing. Usually I only send in my reports and progress, but I never care to look through a screen to a place I want to be. It's like putting a kid in a candy shop with all the sweets behind glass, then telling him he can't have any.
"Don't go in there." Mom caught up to me. "They're talking classified stuff."
I ignored her and walked in. Both the man on the screen and Dad looked at me in surprise, stopping short of whatever conversation they were having.
"What are you doing in here now?" Dad demanded, looking no short of annoyed.
"You haven't told them, have you?" I asked, sure that would be a bad thing right now. No idea why.
"Not yet."
"Told us what?" Lennox demanded, confused. I've always kind of liked him, even if he did bribe me into living on the moon.
"Get out of here, Sam. We're discussing some very important things right now." Dad brushed me off.
"We need to talk. Now. Bumblebee and I have something to tell you two, and it can't wait." I insisted.
"It can, and it will." Dad insisted, but Lennox's startled look caught my attention. I looked at the screen.
"What?"
"Bumblebee? Is that a code name? No one else went up there with you three, right?" he was confused.
"Right." I said, maybe too quickly.
"I've got to go." the video chat cut out without any better warning, leaving Dad with no excuse not to go outside.
He stood, groaning. "This better be good." he turned the video feed off and grabbed his jacket. They both always complain about how cold it is outside on the moon, but it's not really that bad. But, then again, I'm not human to compare what I feel to what they feel, am I? "So where's the fire?" he asked as we joined Mom by the air lock. She was already suited up, as Dad reached for his.
"Where is your suit, Sam?" I yawned and blinked.
"My room." I didn't even bother to give them an excuse, I just walked into the air lock, let the interior door shut before they could pull me out, then felt it as the air all left the room. Mom and Dad, the latter half way into his suit and looking ridiculous, were freaking out and banging on the glass. I walked outside and looked back, shrugging. The exterior door slid shut, awaiting another exit or entrance.
Letting out another yawn, in the very low air level here, was more like just flexing my throat and raising my chest, very unsatisfying. But I couldn't dwell on it much, because Mom and Dad were upon me, both in their suits, grabbing onto me desperately.
"Sam! Get inside, what are you doing?" Dad pulled, but I yanked back.
"I'm fine. This is actually what they wanted to talk to you about." I glanced around for Bee, knowing I wasn't stupid enough to just walk out there again. He nearly had my head the first time. I seen him walking from around the side of the house, and started towards him. They say a sparkling is attached to their caretaker, I don't care. All I know is I didn't want to be here, I wanted to be there.
"How are you breathing?" Mom wondered, terrified for me.
"Same way I am." Bumblebee took me up. "Samuel says he's adopted?"
"Yes, what about it? There's nothing wrong with that, he's still our son!" they were very defensive.
"Nothing, but, we have reason to believe that Sam isn't human at all." he waited for their reactions. None came. They didn't believe him for a second.
I yawned again.
"Look, he doesn't need to breath like a human. He doesn't care for food because he doesn't need it, and he used to be more energy-filled than normal children? Learn faster, great memory? That's because our processors work more like a computer than a human brain. But, lately he's been slipping, right? Falling grades, slower reaction, less energy?"
"He's a teenager." Dad shrugged. "They all do that."
"Not Sam. We believe he is a sparkling of our origin. Sparklings may survive for three deca-cycles before they need energon. Fifteen Earth years. After that, they go into spark arrest. Before the war, they received energon regularly for an entire vorn. But, Sam's sixteen Earth years and he's never had energon. He's very close to having his spark give out."
"You've got to be kidding me. I think I'd know if my son isn't human. You've done something to him, that's how he's breathing!" Mom exclaimed. "Come on, this is ridiculous."
I was getting comfortable, now satisfied to be back with Bumblebee.
"Sam isn't human." Bumblebee insisted. "He needs proper care. He had to have been created by the Allspark, which means it's intact and it's on Earth. Please, Ron. Judy. We need to get Samuel some energon before his birthday."
"I can't believe this. This is all just some elaborate scheme to get home, isn't it? Sam, it's only forty-two days until we go back. You can't just wait a little bit longer?" Dad objected.
"We wait forty-two days, I'm dead." I responded, not missing the fact that he had a count down going already.
Bumblebee flinched. "Some of the others have arrived. They're at Moon Base Three right now." he started again. Moon Base Three? What happened to Two and One? "Our chief medical officer is among them. If you want him to explain it all, we can go there now. He can tell you exactly how a pretender works, and how Sam can appear so human, because I don't know all the specifics."
"You're serious?" they finally started to catch on. We both nodded. "This is real. My baby boy is an alien?"
"We need to find the Allspark. Will you two accompany us to the base?" Bumblebee asked formally.
"If Sam trusts you..." Dad began, looking nervous. The urgency of the situation was starting to get to them.
"I guess we will too." Mom finished. "I just can't believe this. How are you supposed to find this sparkler thingy to save Sammy?"
"Sam." I grumbled under my breath as Bumblebee let me down. I took the spot where the driver's seat would be if this were a normal car he transformed into. Mom and Dad stayed together in the back, looking nervous and worried.
"Sam, are you alright?" Mom leaned forward to put a hand on my shoulder. I looked back and nodded.
"I'm... as fine as I could be right now." shrugging, I turned forward again. I knew this giant crater like the back of my hand by now. Over there is the cave full of rock formations that would have crumbled from the unstable position they'd been a few months ago. Along that ridge is a number of tightly packed hills like a ripple, filled with so many small holes, the rock must have liquefied and frozen again in a matter of seconds.
That direction is the flat plane where I first met Bumblebee in this form. I knew every corner of this place except for where the walls get tallest, and the interference is strongest. When my camera blacked out, it must have been from the base here. Which is also the reason they couldn't map this area via satellite. Their stuff obviously works out here; his camera, the one I watched him beat up those Decepticons with, it worked fine.
"So, this whole area is an alien base?" Dad asked, looking out the window.
"I networked some tunnels through the natural walls of the crater, the actual base is closer in on the crater heart." Bumblebee answered. That direction is the only place I hadn't gone yet. I'd have to camp out for a few days to get any work done out here. Well, unless I've got a friend that's a car... But, I'm probably not going to be doing much scouting anymore, am I?
I yawned, again.
"Don't go to sleep, Sam." his voice was coming from a speaker where the radio would be in a normal car.
"Why not?" it was Dad that objected.
"Because, when you sleep, your spark uses less energy. In his condition, it doesn't quite 'wake up' with him. It stays on the low-energy output." Bumblebee answered willingly. "This is all my fault, I'm so sorry Sam."
"It's your fault I'm a transformer that needs energon?" I asked, tired.
"No. I've been waiting for Optimus's say on what to do for so long... I should have run scans. I should have seen this earlier, we would have had more time."
"Who?" Mom demanded, not liking to be left out of the loop.
"Our leader. He awaits us at the base." which was coming up pretty quickly now. We were beyond the area I knew now, and he was starting to slow. Just up ahead, the walls on either side of us curved inward to meet. Here they were huge, bubbling out with an odd, non-moon rock color. The source of the impact, it still remained.
"Here we are." he came to a full stop and opened the doors. Mom and Dad stared at Bumblebee as he transformed, faces full of amazement, but there was something else there too. A vague, implacable, familiarity. I knew the feeling; like you've seen this happen plenty of times before, but never in this life time. Maybe a dream in a dream years ago, or maybe in a past life.
"Wow." was all Dad had to say. Bee crouched down to offer a ride to more than just me. He easily placed me on his shoulder, but my parents hesitated, unsure. "Can't we walk?"
"Our ships are designed for Cybertronian usage, not human. Everyone on board is used to humans being around, but here, it is easier and faster to move this way." Bumblebee insisted logically. Unsure and still hesitant, they relented and climbed up. He didn't put them up to his shoulder as he had me, but I could understand why without asking; I seemed to have this natural ability to balance up here perfectly. I assume I did this a lot, probably with most of them and not just Bee, but I could tell how difficult it would have been to get used to.
I'd already been in here a bit, but that didn't prepare me for seeing it all like this. The clustered group of halls and rooms. It wasn't a very big space, I realized, for many of them to live here. This had to be a detachment from the main ship (Didn't he call it the 'Ark' the other day?) or a smaller ship all on it's own.
"This is where Sam used to go all the time?" Mom remembered the same conversation as I did.
"Oh, no. The Ark is probably making rounds near Cybertron right now. This is my scouting vessel." Bee answered easily, going through the rooms. "But, he did come here a few times too."
As he said that, I caught a glimpse in one of the rooms we passed, and I swear I seen a small clutter of dusty human things.
"Okay, I'm hearing a lot about past lives and how you already know us and all that," Dad started, getting all our attention, "but I'm getting the vibe that it didn't end well. I hate asking this, but, how did Sam die, exactly? And, will this happen again?"
Mom stopped her frantic look to take in everything, as Bumblebee flinched at the question. After a moment, when he didn't answer, I decided to speak up.
"You don't have to answer that." he looked to me with relief, and I couldn't help my own curiosity at the answer.
"Sam! What if this is all just going to happen again? Obviously something bad happened, we wouldn't have thrown them off planet if nothing happened." Since he does work with the government, he would know better than the average citizen. "I want to know if it will happen again, and if you're in any danger."
"It won't happen again." Bumblebee answered with conviction. "I can tell you with certainty, it won't happen again." but he didn't elaborate from there, leaving both my parents unsatisfied. I just wanted to know, what horrible end did I come to last time?
But Bumblebee wasn't going to talk quite yet. His free hand came up to rub my head, but this time it seemed to be more for his comfort than mine. I yawned and closed my eyes for a minute. He poked me in the ribs.
"Don't go to sleep."
"Yeah, yeah." I tried to wiggle away, but he didn't attack again. Mom and Dad were looking up at me, worried. They believe Bumblebee by now, I think, but they really don't want to.
"If Sam is an alien," Mom began, looking to Bee now, "How come he looks nothing like you?"
"Sam was sparked as a pretender. Pretenders are transformers whose alternative forms are organic in appearance. Sparklings are small enough to pass as human, no matter the protoform build." he answered easily. "But until he gets some energon, his systems are all going offline, so he is unable to do most things a healthy sparkling could."
"How many others are here?" Dad wondered, interrupting Mom's train of thought.
"Six." he stopped in front of a closed door and opened it up. They were all standing around the monitor, blocking it from view. I only knew it was a monitor they were all staring at because this was one of the two rooms I'd already been in. In the corner, there was another exit into a rocky tunnel. The door shut behind us as we came in, and Bumblebee let my parents down on the counter that went along side of the group, then curved between them and the screen. They walked closer, hesitantly, but Bee just stepped into the crowed.
"There you two are." Sunstreaker greeted. "It took you long enough."
"We brought guests." Bumblebee turned to speak with him, but I nearly fell over forwards, staring at the now visible screen that Ironhide and Optimus were talking to.
"Will?!" I heard Dad gasp in surprise from the other side of the group.
It's a little short, but I'm sure that's better than what I've been updating... nothing. New developments around every corner here. Sam's having trouble staying awake, the parents are upset, but they're starting to believe, and Ironhide is (kind of) reunited with his human friend. Wait, what now? How long has this been going on? Hmmmm... Guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter for some answers. I do hereby swear that you will not have to wait two years for the next update. Not even one.
I do hope that my writing style hasn't changed too much since I last updated, because I have been writing countless tries on my book. If you notice it has changed, I certainly hope for the better. I also hope that I'm back into the right 'feel' for this story, and that it doesn't sound too forced. I know I have most of this story written down in a notebook, which is actually just one more chapter from where I left off, but from now on I'm ignoring that story. It was sort of anticlimactic and unworthy. You guys deserve more after waiting for so long, and so, I give you a new twist that promises for more excitement.
If you do want to know how the original of this story ended, keep reading. If you think that it will ruin this story, stop now. It doesn't have anything to do with where I plan this story to go, save for the general idea, but I'm not giving spoilers away.
***Sam's parents hand him over easily, the Autobots go to Earth and find the Allspark. That's pretty much it. Great, right? No conflict at all, no climax, and very boring.
R&R Reviews are magic chapter-bringers.
