An attempt is made to see if a return trip can be made.
"OK, Professor, we're ready at this end," said Ratchet.
Sari and Team Prime were anxious to see if the experiment being tried would work. Ratchet, Raf, Isaac and Bulkhead had been working diligently on coming up with a way for her and Jazz to make it back to their dimension. Bulkhead had supplied Cybertronian parts and sent them over, which Ratchet had installed on his ground bridge. Raf had made the delicate calibrations on his laptop. To perform the experiment, they were going to send over one of Raf's radio-controlled toy cars.
Raf stood near the ground bridge with his RF controller. The little yellow toy car was pointed toward the ground bridge. "I'm ready, Ratchet."
The ground bridge powered up. Blue, yellow, and green rings formed, and smoke began emitting out of the tunnel.
"Send it in, Raphael!" Raf pulled the joystick and the car sped into the tunnel and disappeared.
Tense seconds passed.
"Anything, Professor?"
"Just a minute, Ratchet. I'm getting something. The orb at this end is pulling it in."
"Here comes something," said Bulkhead. "Uh oh!"
"Oh my!" Said Isaac.
Team Prime heard a series of crashes from the speaker, followed by the sound of an extinguisher.
"What? What happened?" said Ratchet.
"Well, the good news is, Raf's car came through. The bad news is, it came through in flaming pieces. I'm afraid that something in the transference must have not only disassembled the toy, it caused it to heat up and burst into flames."
"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I'm afraid we're back to the drawing board."
"Acknowledged, Professor," said Ratchet, "we will keep working on it at our end."
"Aaargh!" Yelled Raf, and angrily walked away down the hall.
(Raf? Raf?) Bumblebee walked after his friend.
Driving back to the Darby's, Sari was very quiet. June, concerned, noticed her looking out the window.
"Sari, you OK?"
She turned to June and smiled. "Sorry, June. I'm afraid I'm not very talkative. There's an important date coming up for me, and I was just thinking about it."
"What date is that?"
"Every year about now, I plan a trip to the Autobot Mausoleum. It's where I go to pay my respects to the remains of Prowl, my very close friend and first Cyber-Ninja trainer. This coming Monday will be the first time I've missed visiting him since I was sixteen."
"And you were hoping this latest test of the ground bridge would be successful so you could get back to your world and make it in time," said June, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."
"Thanks," she replied. "I know they'll figure it out eventually. I'll just pay my respects a little late this year," she sighed.
Jack was sitting in the back seat, listening. He had an idea. When they got home, he got on the phone to Miko.
"Hey Miko. Sari's feeling a little down in the dumps about that ground bridge failure today. Maybe we can do something to cheer her up."
"I know, let's take her out to dinner tonight. I know just the place."
Miko, Jack and Raf decided to take Sari to "Hachi", Jasper's only Japanese restaurant – at least, the only one Miko would go to.
Jack wasn't sure about Miko's restaurant choice. "What's wrong with the Japanese restaurant in the Mall?" he asked.
Miko scoffed. "Oh give me a break! That's an American chain! This place is as close to the real thing as you're gonna get in Jasper. For starters, it's run by Japanese expatriates, not kids who couldn't make it at KO Burger."
Jack rolled his eyes. They entered the restaurant, and as soon as they saw Miko, the Sushi Chef yelled out "Miko! Irasshaimase!" followed by the entire staff yelling "Miko! Irasshaimase!"
Miko bowed to the Sushi Chef and said
["Good evening, Mr. Hiroaki! I bring my friends for dinner tonight."]
["Excellent, Miko! Please, seat your friends at the round table!"] and he motioned toward the large table in the corner.
The waitress came to their table and took their drink orders.
"This is a really nice place, Miko! Thank you for taking me here," said Sari.
"Hey, we knew you were disappointed by the ground bridge thing today, so we wanted to do something. This is my favorite place."
"I'm not surprised," said Jack.
"Oh, clam it," said Miko. "Mr. Hiroaki's family runs the place. His brother manages the books, his wife works in the kitchen. See the kid working the tables? That's his son, Akio."
Mr. Hiroaki's 11-year old son was working there that evening, bussing tables, and stopped by to say hi. He saw Jack sitting next to Miko, and innocently asked,
["Hey, Miko! Who's your boyfriend?"]
["Aaargh! Akio, he's not my boyfriend!"]
This made Sari burst out laughing! This got Akio curious as to why Sari would start laughing all of a sudden.
["Hey, what's the matter with your Indian friend?"]
["Uh, Akio, she knows what you said. She speaks Japanese."]
Jack was listening and observing all of this, not knowing what was happening, and said, "Will somebody please tell me what's going on?!"
Sari, still laughing, said "the owner's son thought you were Miko's boyfriend."
Jack face blushed. Horrified, he said, "What?! No!"
That got Raf laughing! Akio, though, was very apologetic.
["I'm so sorry, Miko, Miss! I didn't know!"]
Sari soothed his worries. "It's OK, Akio, we're all friends here. Thank you for a good laugh though – I needed it," she told him. Then in Japanese, she said,
["My name is Sari."]
["Very nice to meet you, Sari. Your Japanese is excellent!"]
["Thank you, Akio! I look forward to enjoying your family's food."]
Sari and the kids had a very enjoyable evening! Mr. Hiroaki prepared wonderful sushi and sashimi, tempura and yakitori. Even Jack enjoyed it, although he'd never had sushi before. He preferred the California Roll to the raw fish, though. "Wimp!" teased Miko.
For dessert, Miko ordered everyone Anmitsu. Jack stared at his. "What is that stuff?"
"Anmitsu is made of small cubes of agar jelly," explained Sari.
"And…what…is agar jelly?" Asked Jack, pointing at it with his fork.
Sari looked at Miko. "Should we tell him?"
"A white translucent jelly made from red algae - or seaweed," said Miko, loving every minute of Jack's reaction.
"What!?" Jack's facial expression was priceless.
"Try it, Jack. It's not bad, really!" said Raf.
Jack took a tiny piece and tasted it.
"Well?" asked Sari.
"OK, OK, tastes pretty good. Still sounds nasty though."
Miko chuckled.
After dinner, Sari bowed to Mr. Hiroaki.
["Thank you, Mr. Hiroaki for a delicious meal! We all enjoyed it."]
["Sayonara, Sari! So glad you and your friends had a good time. Matane, Miko!"]
["Matane, Mr. Hiroaki!"] said Miko, bowing.
The next day, everyone was back at Autobot Outpost Omega One. Miko hooked her phone up to her amplifier and started playing some of her favorite MP3 songs through the speakers. Ratchet came over and complained about the "noise."
"What in the name of all that's good and gracious is that racket?!"
"Hey! I can't help it if you don't know good music!" she groused.
When the next song came up, Ratchet listened for a few seconds. "Now, wait, wait a minute. What is that?"
"Oh come on, Ratchet! You oughta like this one! It's about a robot!"
Ratchet sputtered. "What…a robot! You call that a robot?! What in the world is wrong with his voice box?"
Just then, Sari, in "bot" mode, walked into the command center after having had a conference with Optimus. She ran up the stairs and over to Miko. "Oh! Oh! Miko, I LOVE this song! Play it from the beginning!"
Ratchet turned to the Technorganic and was flabbergasted. "Sari! How could you LIKE this song? I refuse to believe that's a robot… or if it is, his voice box is seriously damaged!"
Miko stopped the song and got ready to replay it. "Hold one second, Miko," Sari asked. "I understand, Ratchet. Let me explain."
"You see, when I was eight years old, and found out I was part robot, I was very upset. At first, I thought I was the victim of some crazy experiment - that my Dad had put robot parts into me. Then Prowl helped me to understand that in reality, I was actually half human, half Autobot. But at first, I had a hard time accepting my Autobot half – after all, up to that point, I thought I was 100% human. Then one day, I found this silly little 1966 song on the internet, "The Mechanical Man" by Bent Bolt and The Nuts. It's about a robot boy looking for a robot girl. I downloaded the MP3 and played it over and over again on my juke box! In a way, it helped make me feel better about myself, and helped me accept who I am."
"OK, now that you guys know what it means to me, go ahead and play it." And Miko cranked it up.
The Mechanical Man
by Bent Bolt and The Nuts
(1966)
I'm a mechanical man
I was built in a factory
My serial number is 084567123
I'm designed in the USA
And manufactured in Japan
Does anybody here know a robot girl
Who wants to meet a mechanical man?
I was made out of stainless steel
To protect my frame from rust
There's a vacuum cleaner fit into my chest
That automatically picks up dust
I am 5 foot 8 inch tall
And as strong as a moving van
Does anybody here know a robot girl
Who wants to meet a mechanical man?
I can fix an automobile
I can put up a Christmas tree
I can milk a cow, I can mow a lawn,
I can pour you a cup of tea
But I'm looking for someone
Who could help me to charge my coil
And fill me up with batteries
And feed me my daily oil
I would not care at all
If she looked like a garbage can
Does anybody here know a robot girl
Who wants to meet a mechanical…
…chanical…
[slows down]
…chanical…
…chanical…
[volume gets lower]
...chanical…
…chanical…
…chanical…
…chanical…
…Oh no!
[robot falls down]
The song ended. "Well, that all there is to it," Sari explained. "Silly, silly song, I know. And no, Ratchet," she smiled, "that's not a robot singing. I found out later on, that it's something known as a vocorder, which is an electronic device made to mimic human speech, kind of like a very primitive voice box."
"I understand, Sari," said Ratchet, "and I'm sorry I was so grumpy about it before. If that song means something to you, that's good enough for me."
"I always liked it because it was weird and wonky," said Miko. "But I'm glad you like it too Sari!"
Raf walked up to Sari and held her servo. "Sari? I'm so sorry we haven't yet figured out how to get you home." He looked down, his voice quivering slightly. "I've been trying, really hard…"
Sari knelt down and hugged him. "Oh, Raf, I know you have! You guys will figure it out, I have faith in you!"
He looked up into her optics and smiled. "It's just that, Jack told me about how you miss visiting your friend's burial site. I feel bad our experiment didn't work this time."
"It's alright; I'll get there when I get there, OK?" Raf nodded.
Sari got up and turned to Miko. "Hey Miko, what's the next tune?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this one!" and she cranked it up. Sari turned back to Raf and held his hand. "C'mon, Raf, dance with a robot girl!" And they started dancing to the music. Ratchet covered his audio receptors and sighed. "This is what I've got to put up with."
That night, Sari meditated in her room at the Darby's. Soon, the walls of her room fell away. She left her body, and she was in a formless, white void. She became aware of a presence.
"Sari."
"Prowl?"
"Yes. I'm glad I found you."
"As am I, Prowl!"
"You are far away, yet near."
"I am in another dimension. There was a transporter accident. I have Autobot friends here, and human friends."
"The AllSpark is with you, Sari. There are no accidents."
"The Autobots here need me?"
"Yes."
"Then, I have a mission."
"Yes. What it is, is not clear, but you will learn it in time."
"Prowl?"
"Yes?"
"Will I come home?"
"Of course, Sari."
"Thank you for being with me, Prowl. I will honor this mission. Farewell"
"Farewell, my friend."
Sari returned to her body, and the walls of her room reassembled around her. She got up, and realized: "I don't need to visit Prowl at the Mausoleum, I just did."
So Sari learns that the Well of AllSparks transcends all dimensions. She also learns from Prowl that, unsurprisingly, there are no accidents; the AllSpark had a purpose in sending her to the Transformers: Prime dimension. What that purpose is, remains to be discerned, but Sari will come to see it in time. Until that mission has completed, she will be here, but she will eventually return to her world.
Thanks for reading! Please review.