After her experience rescuing the students and faculty of Detroit College, Sari learns she needs to attend an orientation session: her first time in a real classroom situation her whole life! Not only that, our technorganic is now a teenager. What could possibly happen?
Sari learned she must attend a two-week orientation class at Detroit College. The session meets three times a week for three hours, and she will be in a classroom with about 30 other incoming freshmen.
She decided to arrive early on the first day, before the class starts. Standing at the back of the classroom Sari felt a little awkward, being the only 16-year old in a class of 17 and 18 year olds. She picked a chair in the back as the class began to fill up.
"Is this seat taken?" a voice asks. Sari looked up to see a boy standing there. He's tall, with light brown hair, and the most beautiful deep blue eyes she's ever seen. "Uh, no," she says.
"Is it OK if I sit here?"
Sari catches herself still staring. "Huh? Oh, no, please, go ahead."
"Hi, my name's Adam," he says.
"I'm Sari."
"Nice to meet you Sari. Did you go to school here in Detroit?"
"Yes, but I was home schooled."
"Hey, me too," said Adam. "I just got my GED. I feel a little weird starting college, since I only turned 17 last week."
Sari laughed "You too? I'll be 17 in a few months!"
"No way!" said Adam.
The instructor entered the classroom. "All right, can I have everyone's attention, please? Let's settle down, people!" And so began Sari's first day of college.
After class ended, Adam asked her if she'd like to get some lunch in the college food court.
"Sounds great! Oh, but my Dad's coming to pick me up. Let me talk to him first." They left the building to meet Isaac in his car.
"Hey, Dad, this is Adam," said Sari. "He's in the orientation class with me."
"Pleased to meet you, sir!" Adam shook Isaac's hand.
"Oh, hello! Nice to meet you, Adam," said Isaac.
"Um, would it be OK if Adam and I go have lunch in the campus food court?" asked Sari.
"That's fine, Sari." He said. "I'll be back in an hour to pick you up. Enjoy your lunch."
The Detroit College food court offered the students lots of options. "Oh my gosh!" yelled Sari. "They have a mini Burger Bot!" Both students got burgers and found a free table.
"So, Sari," said Adam, munching on his burger, "what kind of tutors did you have? I had my mom; she's got a Ph.D. in physics, so I learned a lot of science stuff."
"Oh, I had tutor bots. My dad runs Sumdac Systems," said Sari. Sari wasn't sure how much to tell Adam about herself.
"Wait! You're Sari Sumdac? Are you the one that took down that gunman here at college?"
Sari gulped. The cat was out of the bag! "Um yeah, that was me," she said nervously.
"I read about you in the newspaper! You're an Autobot?" asked Adam, his eyes wide open.
"Well, not exactly," said Sari. She took a deep breath. I'm what's called a technorganic. I'm half-human, half-Autobot. Right now, what you see is my human side. I hope I'm not freaking you out?" she asked nervously.
"No way! This is too cool!" said Adam. So when you took out that gunman you were an Autobot?
"Yeah. I call it my bot mode. I have weapons and shields that I can use. That's how I was able to rescue those wounded people."
"That's pretty awesome."
"But that's enough about me," said Sari, hoping to steer the conversation somewhere else. Tell me about yourself. Your mom's a scientist?
"Yeah, both she and my dad. They work for the Biggles-Jones Solar Fusion Plant," said Adam. They're hoping I'm going to follow in their footsteps. How about you?"
"I'm not sure yet," said Sari. I might go into something more like diplomatic relations."
"Ooh, sounds like a tough major," said Adam. "How are you with languages?"
"I'm pretty good with them," Sari said shyly.
Just then, Adam's cell phone rang. "Excuse me, Sari," he said, picking up the phone. "Oh hi, Mom. Yeah, I'm just finishing lunch. Meet you outside in a few."
"Wanna come outside with me and meet my mom?" he asked. Sari nodded.
They left the food court and waited outside. "It was nice meeting you, Adam," said Sari.
"Me too," Adam replied. "Same time Wednesday, same seats?"
"Sounds great! Is that your mom?" Sari spied a car pulling up with a lady waving.
"Yep. Let's go over. "Hi Mom! I'd like you to meet Sari. We're going to be in the orientation class together."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs….oh, Adam, I'm sorry, I didn't get your last name!" Sari blushed.
"Witwicky," said Adam.
"Mrs. Witwicky," finished Sari.
"Nice to meet you, Sari," said Adam's Mom, smiling. "Do you need a ride?"
"I'm OK. My dad will be here in just a few minutes. Thanks!" she said.
"OK, Sari, see you Wednesday!" said Adam as he waved goodbye.
"Bye Adam," waved Sari as the car drove away. "Bye Adam's eyes. Nice hair, too," she sighed.
"Sari? Oh, Sari... Hello?" Said Isaac in a sing-song way as he stood next to Sari. She hadn't moved from the spot where Adam and his Mom had driven away.
"Huh? Oh! Hi, Dad!" Sari said, as she suddenly noticed her dad next to her. "You're here!"
"You OK, my dear?" he asked.
"Me? Oh, I'm fine! Ready to go!"
"So, how was your lunch?" Isaac asked as they drove back to Sumdac Tower.
"Oh, it was great! Dad! They have a mini Burger Bot! Adam and I had burgers there."
"A Burger Bot! Well, what do you know? And Adam, he seems like a nice young man. I'm glad you met someone on your first day."
Sari looked out the window as they drove home. "I wonder where he lives?" she mused.
The next day, Sari switched into bot mode and went to the Autobot Earth Base. She noticed something about herself. While in human mode, she couldn't take her mind off of Adam. Ever since she had gotten in the car with her dad, he was all she thought about: his eyes, his hair, and the way he laughed.
Once she switched into bot mode, the feelings, especially the tremendous intensity of feelings, went away. It's not that she no longer liked Adam; the fondness was still there. "This is weird," she thought. She tried an experiment and switched back into human form. The human feelings for Adam came surging back like a torrent. "I need to talk to Ratchet," she thought, but first she switched back to bot mode to make the storm of feelings stop.
"I'm not surprised, kiddo," said Ratchet. "Human emotions are different than Autobot emotions, especially dealing with feelings between femmes and mechs on Cybertron and men and women on earth. Since you're a technorganic, you're going to have to learn how to deal with both."
"Well, the feelings you have for Arcee," said Sari, "You are very close friends? Forgive me if it's not appropriate to ask."
"No, that's OK," said Ratchet. "Arcee and I are very fond of one another. As mechs and femmes go, you could say our relationship is about as close as Autobots get."
"But human male female relationships, when they get to teenage and adult years, are much, much more complex than Autobot mech femme relationships, because human relationships involve reproduction. That's why the emotions get so much more intense. Autobots don't reproduce, so we don't get involved with those intense emotions. Our relationships are more like what on earth you would call a deep friendship."
Sari sighed. "Maybe I should just stay in bot mode."
"Well you can't do that, Sari," said Ratchet. "You're half human. If I recall, going through your teenage years is part of growing up human. We all have our responsibilities, and yours is to learn how to be a human as well as a bot."
"I know, Ratchet, you're right," Sari said. "That doesn't make it any easier."
"So, who's this human kid?" asked Ratchet. "What's his name?"
"His name's Adam Witwicky. He just turned 17, so he's about the same age as me. His parents work at the Solar Fusion Plant. They're scientists, and they're hoping he'll go on into the same field." Sari surprised herself at how detached that answer sounded from her human side.
"And what do you see in him?"
Sari had to think for a second. "Well, when I'm in human mode, I'm attracted to his blue eyes."
Ratchet raised an optic. "What the…his blue eyes?" He shook his helmet. "Humans." He caught himself. "Sorry."
Sari smiled. "No offense taken."
Later that evening at dinner, Sari confided in her father. "Hey, Dad, can I talk to you about something?"
"Of course, my Sari."
"Well, ever since I met Adam, I've been thinking about him all the time."
Isaac put his fork down. "Oh? Well, these kinds of feelings are to be expected, Sari. I mean, this is your first experience outside of Sumdac Tower. It's part of growing up."
"Yeah, but it sure isn't easy. The thing is, if I go into bot mode, those feelings go away. Ratchet says Autobots don't have the same kinds of feelings. He says I have to learn to deal with the human part of my emotions, that I can't run away from it by just staying in bot mode."
"Well, he's correct," said Isaac. "Every human teenager has to go through this experience. As a boy I had to learn how to deal with my emotions, and my body, and my growing up. It wasn't easy."
"But Adam seems like a nice young man. Did you meet his parents?"
"I met his mom. She's a scientist. Both his parents are. They work at the Solar Fusion Plant."
"Scientists! Well, I like them already!" said Isaac, smiling. "Let's see how things work out during this class you're taking. Maybe we can get together sometime down the road."
"OK Dad," said Sari. "Thanks for letting me talk things through."
"It's the best way to work through things, by talking about them," said Isaac. "Well, tomorrow's Wednesday, so you'll have a chance to see Adam again at your next class."
That night, Sari lay in bed, thinking about the last few days. Growing up in Sumdac Tower, she was sheltered from so many things. Of course she had to be, to keep the government from discovering her true nature. But it also meant she never learned many things about being human. Now she had a lot of catching up to do.
So, a technorganic's got a lot of things to learn, especially a teenager! Sari probably wishes she could skip the whole human teenage part, but I'm sure she'll be fine! Thanks for reading.