Reproduction
You halt your movement and stare at Perceptor for a moment. Perceptor seems to notice your stopping and turns to look at you. The look on your face would say a lot to a human, but Perceptor doesn't seem to understand.
"Is something the matter?" Perceptor asks curiously.
"You are studying the pleasures that are stimulated from sex?"
"Sex is the act that occurs for reproduction to take place, so yes?"
"Uh, why?" You ask, completely dumfound.
"You don't find that to be of interest to humans?"
This causes you to laugh. "Oh, the pleasure that occurs is something that all humans are intrigued by, but why do you want to know?"
"Because we do not feel it." Is the matter-of-fact response.
This revelation hits you and you realize, sex is marketed, so no wonder someone who can't feel it would be interested in the subject. Then you look at the box of flowers. "Are those your test subjects?" The two of you continue your trip back to Perceptor's lab.
"These are Begoniaceae or Begonias. I want to study their pleasure responses to reproduction."
"I don't think they're going to help you." You say, trying to remember this isn't common knowledge for the Cybertronians.
"Why not?" Perceptor looks from the box to you.
"Well I'm not sure a flower feels the same way we humans do about reproduction and if they did, we don't speak a language they can understand."
Perceptor ponders this for a moment while walking. "Okay, so I've done small mammals, they didn't seem to have the same type of pleasure I see in those movies, Rewind watches."
"Do I want to even ask?"
"Something called adult entertainment. Rewind was given a box of movies from Spike and the movie happened to be in the box. So along with Sunstreaker and Sides, Rewind watched the movie. Parts of it ended up on various computer screens. The humans looked to be enjoying it, so I became curious."
The expression on your face blossoms out into an all out cackle. You crack up so much it hurts. "You were watching porn? That is way too much!"
"That is not something you use as a tool to teach, it does seem rather educational?"
"The movie you watched is considered almost taboo in some societies, but it has a rating on it that's too high for younger people to watch." You say, wiping tears from your eyes, and blocking the mental thought of Perceptor hunkered over a computer and watching the movie.
"Well the rabbits I used had a response, but I don't think it was the same response as the people in that video." Perceptor stopped and entered a code into a key pad. The door opens up into Perceptor's lab.
You walk in and look around. The place is sparse, but there are quite a few books and charts. You see the cage of rabbits over in the corner. There are at least 25. You also see a microscope that is projecting an image onto the wall. The slide is showing cells, that are in the process of reproducing.
"You might want to separate those rabbits, or they'll continue to multiply." You say, taking in the lab.
Perceptor puts the box of flowers on the table and walks over to the cage. "Why?"
"Rabbits tend to breed rather quickly and if they aren't in a controlled environment, they'll populate too quickly." You think of the Tribbles on 'Star Trek'.
"I may just let them go. Especially if I'm not going to get the information out of them that I want." Perceptor says, then walks back to the flowers. Carefully, the flowers are being placed on the table, in color groups. You watch as Perceptor takes great care in dealing with the flowers. Reminds you of the nurses in the neonatal unit at the hospital.
When the flowers are separated, Perceptor then places them in rows, the ones with the most blossoms toward the back and the ones with the least in the front. You laugh quietly, thinking of someone with OCD, like Melvin Udall on 'As Good as it Get's'.
"Well if you don't think I can learn from these, then maybe I should give them back to the nursery." Perceptor says, pondering what to do with the flowers.
"You can learn from them, just not what you're studying right now. Why don't you keep them and use them at a later time?" You suggest, thinking Perceptor would probably find something to use them for when this insatiable curiosity about sexual pleasure passes.
"Right you are." Perceptor claps you on the back, sending you reeling forward and catching yourself on the table. "Sorry. Forget my own strength at times around humans." Perceptor walks over to a botanical light and brings it over to the flowers. Within moments the soft hum of the light is heard throughout the room.
"Hey, you're human, why don't you tell me about the pleasures induced during sex." Perceptor asks.
For a moment you think your face must have gone seven shades of red at the request. Then you remember that an alien species might not know that some consider this topic to be taboo. Even though your face went red, this subject isn't taboo with you.
"Well, I'm not sure how to answer that question." You say, trying to see if there was even a basis of comparison someone had mentioned on your day of learning. You are unable to recall such a topic. "That's kind of something that is different per person, I guess. It's not really something that can be put into words."
Perceptor walks over to a computer and turns on a camera. "I hope you don't mind my recording your answers."
This prompts you to think and you make sure there are enough tapes in your bag. "I don't mind, as long as I get to record our conversations. I've already learned about your reproduction, I just assume since you're asking, there isn't some sort of pleasurable thing that you can do with one another." You dig in your bag, looking for more tapes.
"Not true, it has been told to be extremely pleasurable to be bonded to a person, almost like finding a missing piece of yourself." Perceptor answers you.
"You'll have to give me more information on that." You say, still digging through your bag.
"I do not have the knowledge to give you an accurate answer to your question, I am not bonded with someone." Perceptor says, coming to stand over you and watch you dig around.
"Does anyone on the Ark have a bond with someone else?"
"That isn't something that is usually talked about. Many of the younger Autobots haven't had a chance, the older ones don't usually want to discuss it."
"That's okay, I'm sure if I have an opportunity, someone might tell me." You get frustrated and decide to dump your bag over. Out falls a couple dozen tapes, some granola bars, various pens and a couple of things you weren't expecting.
You pick up the unknown about items and look at them. "What are you looking at?" Perceptor asks.
You don't answer the question, just try to remember who used your bag last. Then it dawns on you. Of course, your brother used the bag. No wonder there was a box of condoms and lubricant. This'll teach you to run out of the house without looking through your bag.
"I'm a little embarrassed here. I left in such a hurry, I didn't check my bag before leaving." You say. Perceptor seems to be more curious about your possessions than the fact that they are slightly embarrassing.
"Why are you embarrassed?" Perceptor leans down and grabs the tube from your hand. "What is 'lubricant' for?"
"Well," Then you stop. You remember a phrase one of your college professors said at the beginning of class. Most people are kinesthetic learners, not auditory or visual. Sure people can learn just by listening or seeing, but what better way to teach someone than by physically showing them.
You look up at Perceptor and try to see if this mech would find it inappropriate for you to suggest a scientific experiment, like the one the college you went to had. The memory of Hound telling you about the water from the planet Traal and its ability to take away the physical shell and reshape the soul into something else.
You ponder that for such a long time, Perceptor starts to get worried. "Are you okay?"
"I am, but I was wondering how much you would do in the name of science?" You ask, eyes wide.
"Well as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, anything or myself, I would do anything for discovery." Perceptor answers, not quite understanding your meaning.
"When I was in college there was a study done, a sexual study. You had to be completely unemotional about the whole study, since emotions and sex generally go hand in hand, even for people who don't think there are emotions involved."
"Did you participate in the study?" Perceptor asks, curiosity taking over.
"No, I was sixteen, but a dorm mate did. Basically the study was to check the brain waves on people who are given or giving sexual pleasure. They were to get together with people of the same and opposite gender and basically do what those people in the porn video you watched do."
Perceptor looks at you for a minute. Then walks over to a shelf and takes down a canister. Then walks over to a tank of some sort and fills the canister with the liquid in the tank.
"I see where you're going with this line of questioning." Perceptor says, after filling the tank. You watch as the tank converts the water into vapor. "You want me to use the Traalian liquid and change myself into a human. Then you want to teach me what the responses are?"
It takes a moment for it to sink in that Perceptor actually will be willing to do this as a scientific experiment. You nod and Perceptor takes that to mean that you too are willing to help in the learning process.
Perceptor looks at you and then at the canister. "Should I be a human female or a male?"
Jokingly you reply, "Well if you want the whole experience, then you've got to be both male and female, so you'll have to be one first, than the other second. Oh, and remember to break the hymen or it could be painful."
"Good idea." Perceptor goes to the books and grabs one off the shelf. Then reads a couple of pages rather quickly. It doesn't take long for Perceptor to use the spray, then look at herself in a mirror. "Is this okay?" She asks.
You are speechless. Standing before you is a girl, about your height. She is completely naked from head to toe. For a moment you can't even move.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asks you.
"Just give me a moment for this to all sink in?" You say, unable to take your eyes off of what you just saw. It took only a few seconds, but where Perceptor had been standing, a full twenty feet tall, now stands a human girl.
So lost in all that is happening, and due to your lack of sleep, the next twenty minutes pass in a blur of, almost, nonexistent learning. You feel as if you are on pain medication that alters the senses, blocking out all that happened between you and the very receptive Perceptor, in both male and female form.
By the time the lesson is finished, you are hardly aware time has passed at all. Perceptor looks at you quizzically, in the nude male form.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"I'm not sure, let me get back to you on that. I'll have to send you some literature to explain all that just happened."
You and Perceptor stand up and you quickly dress. Perceptor changes back into normal form.
"Well I can honestly say I've never done anything like that in my life. It was a pretty eye opening experience." You say, packing all of your stuff back into your bag.
"I look forward to getting the literature you said you'd send me." Perceptor says, heading over to the computer and removing the lock.
"I think it'll be more than one book and I'm sure they'll explain a lot." You look at your watch and realize it's close to 4:00. "My how the day has flown." You say. "I didn't really learn anything that I can put into a paper from you, but it was a learning experience none the less." You say, heading toward the door.
Perceptor looks at you with mild curiosity. "Thank you for putting your research on hold for me. I doubt most of my comrades would be as gracious."
"I think you underestimate some of them." You smile and walk out the door, pushing all thoughts about what you just did out of your head, after all, it was for science.
You walk down the hallway, toward where you think the lounge is. It doesn't take you long to get lost again. Slowly you turn around, hoping to hear noise that would indicate someone moving. You hear nothing, so decide to continue on.
After a few minutes more of silence, you hear movement behind you. You spin around and get a wide grin on your face. Wheeljack is walking toward you, a merry blue color blinking from the lights.
"Now don't tell me you got lost? Swoop said you were with Perceptor." Wheeljack says, getting down on a knee.
"I was, but there's a lot to do in the few hours I've got left. My plane leaves in six hours and I need to be back at the airport an hour before the flight leaves, so that gives me three more hours." You say, indicating your watch.
"Well what is your plan now?" Wheeljack asks, still from a crouching position.
"I didn't come with a plan. I'm just winging it, as they say."
"Well how about you come with me and we can check out my new suspension. I'm hoping it lets me jump farther in Lancia mode without breaking my undercarriage. I also installed some nitrous oxide into my energon line, hoping it will make me drive faster."
"Sounds like fun." You say. Wheeljack stands up straight and the two of you head toward the front of the Ark. "What exactly are you?" You ask. "I mean, your function, I guess."
Wheeljack transforms into alternate mode and opens a door. "I'm a mechanical engineer, or in other words an inventor."