A/n: This is a great step for me! I can't plot anything! It's like choosing what to have for lunch, wtf there's so many things to choose from! I'm tryyyying! but muahaha, I like suspense too;)

If it seems like a servant/superior sort of thing, then no...no servant. I want for Soundwave to look upon her like a tool, not servant. You know, like your mouse:D That gets explained a little more here. I think. Is that different? haha.

I've always loved to overuse commas. How else do I illustrate a dramatic pause? Seriously? Any writers know?

Also, I LIKE discovery, but instead of human/mech fics where the human discovers that 'oh the robots are so like humans!' attitude, I kinda want to turn it around and make it like, 'oh! the humans are so cybertronian!' kinda...eh..for...whatever.

Also, I'm making up Lasorbeak's history.

Thanks for all the reviews, favs, follows, you guys rock!:D I loove constructive criticism too. I'm not a writer, I'm just a fan. ~K ;)

Ch 14: Lost in Space

Soundwave made his rounds in the ship, checking to make sure things were going to plan. Weapons were being charged, repairs were being made. Even though the human's technology posed no threat to the Decepticon armor, the fact that they had started to build Cybertronian weapons actually did pose a threat.

It was all a trade-off. MECH got their wish to share the alien technology for their own agenda. The top world governments get to share Mech's advantage of having the weapons for political pull. And it came around full circle, the Decepticons get to have a free-ride in air space and land consumption for their energon mining without interruptions. But all that was going to change once they rebelled against MECH.

Who would have thought that the world's top governments were corrupt and greedy, allowing the Decepticons a free ride only to betray their cooperation in the circle. But it was too late to take back the technology now, they needed to play ignorant until the right time, that's where the Decepticons always had the advantage. By not playing keen on Mech's operations, they were allowed to confirm their theories without being discovered, all in the meanwhile, plotting to strike against them.

Soundwave felt a surge of energy suddenly and headed straight to the nearest computer on the bridge. He started typing considerably fast. From his chest, two tentacles reached out to connect to the servers below. He was focused and centralized all of his communications exertion into one big mass of power to break a code being transmitted from one point in space, to another. Soundwave caught it, and stole it.

"What is this, Soundwave?" Megatron walked up slowly from behind him, "Another interception from our adversaries?"

Soundwave nodded and started decoding the bits of broken information from the energy burst.

"This may be a crucial part of their plans to down our ship, wouldn't you think?"

Soundwave kept working and swiftly pieced together the bits and pieces of broken code. The result was a very random sequence of numbers and a portion of...images? Soundwave was taken aback by the letter's message. He brought up the information on-screen so that Megatron may look at it.

"Interesting...can you decode it?" Megatron said flatly to him. Soundwave stood very still, calculating the amount of time it would take him to decode the sequence of numbers, his forte. He came up with a reasonable time plan, but decided not to show him just yet. He was unsure about the images. They were illustrations of indigenous plant life, leaves, organized in a fashion that was not indicative of any kind of pattern stored in his memory.

"Soundwave." Megatron insisted. "I assume with your delayed response that you are indicating that this won't be an easy task." Megatron walked to stand beside Soundwave, an unspoken action of respect that Megatron occasionally exchanged with him. Soundwave lowered his arms from the keyboard he typed away at and stood noiseless at his side. He could decode half of it in a short amount of time. It was the other half...

Soundwave knew that Megatron hated commanding the assistance of Kirsten to pass their own boundaries, but that's the reason why he had convinced Megatron to keep her aboard the ship, for these very reasons entirely. Soundwave was good at what he did, numerical patterns and aligned sequences, and she was good at what she did, everything that Soundwave couldn't do in a reasonable time length. Sure, he could decode it, but it would be a gamble to take for the amount of time they had left. There was a .0000000001% chance that he'd get it right on the first try.

So, Soundwave did what he knew would work the best. He would take care of the number sequence and Kirsten would take care of the organics.

Megatron peered at him from the side, looking down at Soundwave's large shoulder blade. Their race had come so far, they had lived a long time, and he wasn't about to give that all up now. He regretted his decision to partner with MECH. He regretted a lot of the past but all he could do now was move forward, with a renewed vision for their future on Earth. That's just how they operated. They were treacherous, powerful, and elusive.

Megatron spoke to Soundwave so low that it was almost inaudible, but to Soundwave it was like a megaphone. "Soundwave. You have the interests of the Decepticons in your processor and I trust that your judgment will be an accurate representation of what we stand for. You and I both know that the Decepticon foundation is rebellion for a just cause. While I must put aside my demonization of the human accomplice we've adopted, in reality, she represents everything that we do. Rebellion against the faculty of the Earth and those who want to betray us." He chuckled deeply, "What better way to ensure our rebellion than to keep employing her assistance. It will send a message to those who are synonymous in misleading us in the future."

Soundwave turned his head slightly towards Megatron, acknowledging that he was listening but made no other sounds or movement. He needed to tread delicately around him to make sure he understood, allowing for Megatron himself to figure out Soundwave's needs. It was just like when he employed the help of Laserbeak. She hadn't always been his pet, animals on Cybertron were regarded as lower lifeforms. She was a stray, lost in the battles on Cybertron. Megatron had forbid any non-Decepticon identities on the ship. But, when they had found each other and he saw the advantage he could have with her sharp optics, superior reception, and acute communication for a small beast of her type, he had convinced Megatron otherwise. Never had an animal been labeled a Decepticon until she came along, and Soundwave proved her as a useful tool. He provided security for her, and treated her well in return for her services.

Now, he wanted to do the same with Kirsten, she was a useful indigenous tool with advantages. He finally lit up his visor and showed him the progression of their adaptive performance in the past, using other planet's resources and cultivation, it's what they had always done. Earth seemed to only be more uncontrollable than previous planet's they had visited, a lot more advanced than most, but unrefined in their ways.

"Fine." Megatron said to him. "But I again warn you." His fiery eyes were glowing dim, "You must already know that humans are not like animals, she is not like your beloved Laserbeak. She is like us, not a pet. She has thoughts and feelings and..." he paused for bearing, "..she is also female." Megatron admitted his true reason for his apprehension. They were a lot like the Cybertronians in ways that Megatron didn't like agreeing to, more so than he'd like to expose. Megatron closed his eyes and let out a long, thoughtful sigh, and that was it. He walked away in silence, hands clenched behind his back.

That's all Soundwave needed to hear. He bowed behind Megatron and began his stride to the gateway room. Megatron didn't say anything that he didn't already know, but to ensure Megatron's trust and approval, Soundwave needed to feel like he let Megatron get the advantage by making the decision for him.

When he returned to the gateway room, he found Kirsten collapsed on his large keyboard, half on and half off, as if she had suddenly experienced a brief episode of narcolepsy. He approached cautiously, but she stirred and moaned softly. "Mmph...Ten foot swell...perfect lines..." She wasn't asleep, she now looked as if she was in mourning, falling to her knees dramatically slow.

She heard Soundwave's footsteps behind her and turned her head quickly to him. 'Always, always, has to catch me in a stupor!' she thought and got to her feet.

Soundwave noticed she had something open on his screen, it was a map of the Pacific Coast and a report on wind, waves, and direction. He had heard of this 'surfing' things that humans did, among their many activities to waste time. No, it didn't look interesting at all to him, skimming the surface of the face of a wind-induced water current for the sake of going back out and doing it again, and again.

Soundwave erased the screen and brought up the message that he and Megatron were discussing. He pointed to it and then turned to her. Kirsten lifted an eyebrow at the message, she had never seen leaves as a code before, seriously?

"Wow..." she whispered and her mouthed twitched slightly. She wasn't good at identifying leaves, she could barely tell the difference between a roma tomato and normal tomato at the grocery store.

"This is the message?" she asked Soundwave, almost not believing that Mech and the UN was serious. Soundwave nodded his head, barely visibly. His shoulders raised and he let out a slight vent from his neck and then his shoulders relaxed back down. He then raised one long arm and pointed to the leaves, circling them with a motion.

'Egh...' Kirsten whimpered in her mind. Soundwave crossed his arms in thought, and looked back to the screen. This was definitely going to take some time, and a lot of luck.

Yep, it was going to be a long day. Soundwave split the message into two parts, one for him, and one for her. She stepped quickly to her laptop and the message was being downloaded to her own files. She bent herself over and placed her elbows on the small desk, moving the mouse around the screen to zoom in at various places.

Soundwave was actually somewhat interested in the way she would approach this puzzle. He maneuvered in such a way that he could see her computer screen and her eyes at the same time he dipped his head low.

Kirsten was almost touching the screen with her nose, trying to get the best view possible. Resting her chin on one of her hands as she lifted her straight legs onto her toes and back down again, feeling the stretch in her calves, she felt his presence beside her. She glanced her eyes his way but then looked back at the screen.

"Do you want me to explain what I'm thinking?" she asked him. He acknowledged her with a gesture of his head. "Okay...um..." What she really needed was some time to think it over, she had no idea where to get started. "Well leaves are... uh...so they're foliage of trees and plants..um.. they..." Kirsten suddenly had a huge mind block. How was she supposed to think with Soundwave's face so close to her?

"Light...they do photosynthesis...the-," she broke up, she couldn't work this fast. "You know..." she held up her hands in surrender and turned to face Soundwave's face, right in front of her own, not above, but in front. She jerked at seeing her own face so closely reflected in his glossy visor, but also being this close, she could see all the buffed out scratches in it, she continued, "I need some time to...think about it. It's really hard, with you there." she spoke her words delicately, trying to choose them in the most calm way possible.

He didn't feel that it was necessary to leave the beginning of the organic creative process. He tilted his head to the side and back, he indicated to continue with the quick thrust of movement.

"Honestly, I may need to mull this over and do some sketches and notes before I even begin to start." She furrowed her brow and ran her hand over the desk gently, kind of leaning on it since she wasn't in her chair.

Soundwave, just with the simple flick of her hand over the desk, was reminded of that very first time she stood at his large keyboard, so enthralled to use it, and so remarkably interesting to watch. Looking at her from a different perspective now, as a cognizant creature and further from being a, thing, his memory documented those simple mannerisms as characteristics.

"But I promise to show you my process when I HAVE something to show you." she spoke neutrally to him again. She stared at him, because he wasn't moving, he was staring back at her, or so she assumed. She didn't know where his eyes, or eye, or whatever, was directed behind that visor. She was perplexed and it was a little unnerving. She looked down at the long sleeved shirt she wore and roamed over it, wondering if there was something on her. She looked down to her pants but nothing looked especially interesting, her shoes may have been untied but that was just because she hated wearing shoes, but it was too cold to wear sandals. She didn't have any sandals up here anyway.

'Damn it!' What was he doing!? She was agonized by his deliberate watching.

Soundwave was also annoyed by the fact that she wouldn't just start working, what did it matter that he was there or not? It was inconveniencing for him to watch her too, but he wasn't able to convey the message correctly to her, not this time. There were no graphs to show, nothing that he could process that would tell her of their shared inconvenience and his irritation with her delay. He just...couldn't figure out how to convey a message to her that wasn't business. And it started to frustrate him.

Megatron was right, she was more complicated than Laserbeak. He couldn't persuade her to work faster even if he could intimidate it into her, processors and brains didn't work that way, in fact...

...He had an epiphany...

...in fact, they slowed progress when intimidated. If he were going to let her work as a human worked, then he needed to back off. But he didn't want to, his thirst for information collided with his need for an efficient work period and they competed for priority in his own mind. Suddenly, he felt an overload, a surge of emotions taking hold of his thinking process, he'd never been stumped by himself before, not lately at least, not since becoming one of Megatron's top commanding officers. Which decision held top priority? Learning new information, or abiding time wisely? Either way, one would surrender to the other and cause a set back. His fingers resting against the ground curled, leaving small scratches in the metal behind them.

Kirsten couldn't hold her gaze any longer, she turned away from him and bent over on the desk again, poking her nose into the light of the screen. Perhaps while he was silent, she could work. She may have reacted differently if she had been aware of the battle taking over Soundwave's processor.

Kirsten noticed the air around her feeling warmer. Soundwave's close presence emitted the warmth, she knew that, but it was stunningly more temperate than normal. She was nervous to ask permission to change into something cooler with him watching her so closely, if he was going to be there for a while.

But now she was completely off topic, she wasn't thinking about the problem anymore, she was thinking about how hot she was in her long-sleeved shirt which made her think about changing which made her think about how Soundwave would react, which made her think about how she wasn't thinking about what she was supposed to be thinking about at all!

Soundwave watched with fascination, the way her face changed colors right in front of him, usually meaning that she was under some sort of stressful emotion. It was a color that meant many things but adhered to the same basic principles that she move moved inside somehow. Was it him that was doing such things, he wondered. He had never documented her colorful episodes with Megatron or Knock Out. She was impressive indeed, and she understood him and his efficacy, and bided her time with him. He soon began to wonder why he was thinking about her so often.

Megatron's words came to him the moment he noticed that his processor was off-topic. The fact that she was female. That, he noticed, only recently. Anatomically structured, humans shared cybertronian character aesthetics more so than he realized, even the gender difference, like most animals, beings across the boundaries of space, it was just the direction of science and evolution. Were they really created so far apart across the universe? It didn't seem likely with the attributes they shared. Primitive though it was, Soundwave found himself not thinking on task. MECH had given him a whole new outlook on Earth and the creatures in it's habitat, less one creature. This one.

Knock Out seemed rather more competent than himself suddenly. He figured it out quicker than Soundwave. Well, not for long, Soundwave didn't like the idea of anyone figuring out new information faster than he, that's why he was who he was. Best to not let him become wise to Soundwave's impeded manifestation though. But, he found it strange, that all the technology he had incorporated in his long lifetime, had no less than limited his ability to find the simplest of all observations, the primitive comprehension of attraction, at the front of his doorstep.