Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Authoress: So...hiya?

Starscream: *optic ridge twitches* Femme! It has been over thirty solars since you last updated and left all of your readers on a cliffhanger, and 'hiya' is all you have to say?

Authoress: *shrugs* I'm human. It comes with the territory.

Starscream: *growls* You and I need to have a little talk Authoress.

AN: And here is where I answer the review that I could not answer through PMs.

bunnyxstar: Thank you so much for the review! I thought it would be fun to start with a new chapter for this, though I do apologize for how long it has taken to get the next part out. I'm glad I was able to make you happy and I hope that this new chapter has done the previous ones some justice. Also, I hope you have a good year too!

Chapter 42: Recovery

Paul's 1st P.O.V.

It had been two weeks now, and I had barely had a chance to talk to her. Pandimala...I should have recognized the name from Lizzie's time in her old dimension. It was her original character. One of the main focuses of her stories. She was Lizzie's way of placing herself in the stories. Pandimala as a character and Lizzie weren't the same. However, I should have seen it. Pandimala. It felt like Lizzie had tried to communicate who she was to me. Yet, I couldn't see it. I had seen only Pandimala the Decepticon, one of the enemy...one who had captured Lizzie.

I had felt no pity or remorse as Pandimala had been panicking on the floor. She had been terrified, her wings must have just popped, and I had simply stood there thinking that she deserved it. For what her faction was doing to Lizzie, I felt like Pandimala had been afforded too many privileges here at the base. I had felt like Miko was justified in constantly berating and threatening Pandimala.

And, then Wheeljack had set off his largest explosion ever...and it had done the least physical damage of any he had ever set off before. Somehow, the lone-wolf Wrecker had pieced together who Pandimala was. He had stopped us from causing irreparable damage. Pandimala had been in processor-shock. If any of the Autobots, even Wheeljack, had touched her, the reaction would have been immediate, and the damage from the stress and uninitiated contact would have been permanent and deadly.

Saying her name had snapped her out of her panic and had placed the rest of us in an awkward spot. At first, I couldn't believe it. He had to be suffering from the hit on the helm he got. That Decepticon couldn't be Lizzie. But, as I delved into some of my remaining power and scanned the femme's spark signature, it was apparent that it matched Lizzie's lifeforce.

I knew that her being around the Decepticons would cause her pain. I had warned her not to trust them. But, even though I felt like she had argued part of what she did to keep herself safe from the other organic, I also knew her leanings towards the Decepticons before I hired her. Part of what she said I knew she felt. Not enough to turn her back on me and the mission, but enough to cause her decisions to be easier for her to accept.

Now, she had no argument to defend them with. They had, in essentiality, killed her. Lizzie Val was dead. Now, Pandimala stood in her place.

Of course, I needed to ask her how the Decepticons changed her. We needed to make sure that this never happened to anyone else. The ramifications would be disastrous.

That was what I was currently waiting for. That, and something that had just happened. Finally, the guards around Pandimala's quarters had left for an energon break. This would be my chance. I knew the vents in the base would allow me quick access into her room, but her guards would hear me trying to gain access from there if they were standing beneath the vents. But, they were gone now. So, I needed to make my move.

For these past weeks, Pandimala had refused to see me since her wings popped. Outside of Wheeljack, only Balm, Ratchet, Zarron, Cliffjumper, and Blaster, along with his symbols, had earned Pandimala's ok to be alone with her. It was slightly infuriating. She knew that we needed to set aside the small argument we had before and work together. The Autobots were not faring well as a team. We were disjointed and I felt like the Autobots would crumble at any moment if we were not careful.

But, with the division in our team, I feared that certain Autobots, and the Decepticons, given Pandimala was now Cybertronian, could try and force information out of her processor. I could not allow either side to learn all that Pandimala had in her helm. It would be too great an advantage to one side. While I could wait for Pandimala to permit me to do this, her hesitant feelings toward me at the moment stopped me from asking her, there were forces in the Autobots that could act before I could do this. She would understand.

For the safety of my plans to save this universe, Pandimala's processor needed to be blocked. I could do this, and only I could undo this. If any tried to get into her processor after this, then they would be met with a force that would force them out, or damage them permanently. I could not let this information fall to anyone that I did not want to know.

Coming out of the vent, I studied the femme as I moved closer to her helm. She seemed to have less tension in her right now. That would be good for putting the block up. I might even get away with putting it in without her noticing. With how cold she had been toward me lately, not telling her until we could reconnect would be best for me.

Though, as I placed my hand on her helm, I felt a shiver journey through me. The feeling alone made me want to stop and let her be. Something was not right. But, this block was essential. If she did have Stockholm Syndrome, then she might try to offer the Decepticons information about what was going on. Everything. Pandimala seemed unstable enough to do just that. I couldn't have her risk upsetting my plans because of her rebellious need to defend the Decepticons. Her strange loyalty toward them had unfortunately grown due to her circumstances.

While I still didn't know what caused Pandimala to appear on the Nemesis instead of in Jasper, I needed to increase her loyalty toward the Autobots. Having loyalty with the Autobots would help to sway the femme to trusting me again. I needed her to trust me again. But, in case she didn't, then blocking her processor was necessary. Vital even.

So, I closed my eyes and focused my energies around her memories. I needed to block them. All of them. After a few minutes, I was done and so made my way back to the vent. As I climbed inside and away from her, I let out a sigh of relief. Now, I was back in control of this mission, no matter what the brainwashing the Decepticons put on Pandimala made her do. We were safe.

Breakdown's 1st P.O.V

I shook my soliform's head as Starscream stayed latched onto Pandimala's arm. Even though three weeks had passed since Pandimala's wings had popped, all the seekers, especially Starscream, and Vox had been attached to Lizzie's side whenever they were here when she was able to visit.

That first night when she arrived, I had been at the bar with Starscream worrying about the spark reading. While it had gone down to the point where Lord Megatron did not send us to raid the base, and Starscream and his trine reluctantly backed down from just disobeying and launching their suicide mission against the Autobots. But, we all knew that the three of them, and possibly Vox, might not wait too long if we didn't hear anything from her.

Thankfully, she was able to make contact...though the shape she was in didn't help much at first. And of course, I had been at the bar when she arrived...and I wasn't alone.

Flashback

The yelling of the drone soliforms at the entrance caused me to bolt up. They were trained well enough not to get excited. Next to me, Starscream's soliform was already moving from our seats on the sofa and toward the commotion. Well, it was best not to leave Starscream alone...soliform or not. While Pandimala's spark rate had gone down enough where the seeker wasn't threatening rebellion to go take her back, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Vox were still on edge.

So, I stood and moved after him. As we grew closer to the sound of the disturbance, I could hear the panicked hesitation in the voices of the drone soliforms, and in a few barely restrained anger. Something was very wrong and, as the officers on duty here at the bar, we needed to keep order and make sure that we were not discovered by the humans as being anything but human.

Finally making it to the main doorway, I felt my soliform's eyes widen, and my actual spark rate pick up, when I saw the cause of the yelling. Standing in the doorway to the bar was Michael Lincoln, and clinging to him was Pandimala's soliform. She was shaking and her soliform's eyes were darting between all of the drones, and I saw that she would move closer to the human as the drones seemed to get more emotional.

"All of you get back," Starscream snapped at the other soliforms. I jumped as did the drones, and the change in the mood of the room seemed to affect Pandimala immediately. She seemed to cling to the human less than she had been a second before. "Make yourselves scarce, and one...and I mean only one, of you contact Mr. Truman and let him know that Michael Lincoln has brought Lizzie is here. Nothing more and nothing less." It didn't take the drones long to leave the room. I had a feeling we were going to the lounge to sit and so I hoped the drones figured that out too. Otherwise, I was sure that Starscream was going to find their chassis and disembowel them. Slowly.

It didn't take the four of us long to arrive in the lounge and I was already surprised that Lord Megatron had already arrived with Knockout. "We were in the area when James called us." So, one of the barkeepers was chosen to call Lord Megatron. Bet that made his solar. I made sure to pay attention, however, as Lord Megatron continued to speak. "What happened?"

We all moved to sit down, and I was surprised when Pandimala's soliform moved next to Starscream and leaned against him, burying her face in his shoulder. Must be a seeker quirk. Knockout was the medic on Earth with the most knowledge on seekers, which was probably why Lord Megatron brought him with him.

Once we were all settled, Michael looked up at our Lord. "I was just driving around town when Lizzie called. She was so panicked that she barely got out where she was to me through the muttering. When I got to her, she was cold and shaking," So, the soliform program held together even though Pandimala's processor was not stable at the click, "I drove around with her for a bit, trying to get her warmed up some, and got her to calm down this much. Said that there was some sort of misunderstanding at the place she was staying about a fight that happened. Shook her up real bad. She snuck out and called me to pick her up."

While it seemed weird that Pandimala didn't call one of us, I realized that maybe, in her panic and soliform state, she called the only being that had a similar look to her soliform. I wasn't sure about that but it was the only reason I could think of at the moment.

Our Lord looked at Michael before he gave the human a nod. "Thank you, for bringing her to us. I would like to get to know you better, Mr. Lincoln. Would you join me upstairs to talk?"

"Will she be alright down here?" Michael didn't even hesitate in asking that, and his question caused Starscream to throw a glare at the human.

Our Lord gave the human a look. "Of course. I would not have suggested her stay down here if she would not be in capable hands. Now come. We have much to talk about." He then stood, the human following his lead, and the two made their way upstairs.

After they were gone, I glanced at Starscream and Pandimala. "Is she alright?" It felt like the right questions to ask the second in command. Even in this state, I was sure that he would be able to answer that.

"She will be. But, I think she may still be on the edge of processor shock. I need to stay calm and make sure I reassure her right now. That's what she will need until she can manage the information that her wings are giving her." He gave me a very pointed look at that.

And while I wasn't as smart as some of the bots on the ship, I could see that meant that I needed to leave and give the two of them some space so Starscream could help her calm down. Since I figured that the rest of the ship knew that Pandimala was a the bar right now, I would go and answer the questions that I could for them.

End of Flashback.

"Pandimala, do you think that you are ready to interact more with the Autobots yet?" Starscream asked the femme.

Her soliform looked between the two of us at that before she grew nervous. "I'm not sure if I am ready Starscream...but I can't keep hiding. I need to face them...and him...and the longer I hold off on that the harder it is going to be later."

Of course, the he that she was talking about was Paul. Even though we knew he was Primus, I had never seen so many bots ready to risk damnation to go tear him to shreds after hearing the cold way that he treated Pandimala before it was revealed who she used to be. Then, once he found out, he had tried to get closer to her as if he had never hurt her. From what Pandimala talked to us about, the Autobots had to keep telling Paul that he couldn't see Pandimala, and he kept on trying.

"Be careful around him Pandimala," Starscream looked tensed as he spoke. "Just from how he is acting now, he seems desperate. And if he tries to hurt you again, I swear to Pr...well, I swear on my spark that I will make him pay for it."

"Thanks, Starscream," It slightly bothered me to see Pandimala so subdued like this but, given what Knockout and Starscream said about the panic that the Autobots caused for her, it would take some time to return to normal. "But, I had better get back now. If I am going to be leaving my room there, then I want as much time as I can to let the Autobots lead me around their base. There will be questions." And she was going back. Even more, she was going to try and talk with the other Autobots outside of the ones that helped her during her panic attack.

As she went upstairs to go back to her chassis, I realized that I was with Starscream on one very important thought. If any of them, even the god of order himself, tried to hurt her, then I would bring my hammer down on them.

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

I gulped as I steadied myself. This was it. I was about to venture out of my quarters since my panic attack. Frag it all I was nervous about this. But, I knew that it needed to be done. If I wanted peace in this world between the Autobots and the Decepticons, then I needed to interact with the Autobots. It didn't matter that one of them was responsible for the attack against me when I was human...nor that a certain three of them tried to frame me for attacking Wheeljack. There were many more Autobots on Earth than those, and I knew that Wheeljack and his allies were on my side.

So, I knocked on the door leading to the hall. "Pandimala, are you alright?" Even after the reveal that I used to be Lizzie, Wheeljack had listened to me when I said I wanted to be called Pandimala, instead of my old name. That had helped me more than he realized.

"I...I think I'm ready to come out." He knew what I meant by that of course. They had all been waiting, on Ratchet's medical orders after he checked me over, on my okay to start interacting with me.

Immediately, the door opened to reveal Wheeljack and Zarron standing there. Since they were two of the six bots that I trusted right now, it made sense that they were the ones stationed at my door, though I didn't doubt that there were more who were assigned this duty.

"So, where are you wanting to go first?" Wheeljack asked me as I stepped out into the hall. Immediately, my wings started to pick up the drafts that the hallway seemed to have. It helped ease me with the fact that we were enclosed in a giant hollow rock.

Also, with that awareness, I realized that my chassis was filthy. "Um...if you mechs wouldn't mind, I think I could use a trip to the washracks. I haven't had a chance to wash down my chassis since before I got here." And that was true. It would have been just before I did that training exercise with Thrust. Thank everything that I was not on the Nemesis at this exact click. Knockout and Starscream would be on my aft about not taking care of my chassis.

Zarron motioned down the hall away from the main room before leading the way. "I'll contact Balm and ask her to come down to help you with the areas you might not be able to reach." I was grateful for that. While I had gone to the washracks with the mechs on the Nemesis, since, as far as I knew, I was the only femme up there outside of Laserbeak, I trusted the mechs up there for the most part.

Down here, though, that wasn't the case. Even though I trusted Wheeljack, I didn't even think I was ready to share the washracks with him yet. While I didn't know Balm as well as I did Wheeljack, her being another femme would help me relax...hopefully. "Thank you, Zarron."

He nodded and seemed to be making that call. While he did, it seemed that Wheeljack wanted to talk. "So, just to let you know, most of the bots are out of the base right now. I think the only ones here outside of the two of us are Prime, Balm, Ratchet, Springer, and Arcee." That was good. That meant that there wouldn't be as many bots to deal with.

Before we could even finish that conversation, we stopped in front of a door that I guessed lead to the washracks. This was going to be weird. I was used to the halls of the Nemesis and taking longer to get to my destinations. Here, everything seemed so close together. That was going to take some time to get used to.

"Hey Pandimala," I turned and saw Balm walking up to our group.

"Balm," I greeted her back. While I trusted her, I didn't know her well enough to be casually social like I could with Wheeljack.

The femme in question was soon next to me before she turned to the mechs. "Make sure you keep everybot else out. Have to make sure we can talk about you mechs without getting overheard." And before they could respond to that, she pushed me through the open door and shut the door behind us. "Phew. Had to make sure that they didn't get to talk. Sometimes they, especially Zar, can talk forever." She then moved us to two spickets next to each other before turning hers on.

I followed suit and started to clean myself off. Frag this felt amazing. I hadn't hit the washracks in a while and it was great to get all the dirt that had built up off of me. "Thanks, Balm."

She glanced over to me before she smiled. "No problem. While there are a few of us femmes at the base, I don't get to talk to the others much."

"Why not?" I asked her as I started to scrub at dirtier spots on my chassis. Not the information that I thought I was going to get, but this might give me an insight into the Autobots that talking to Wheeljack wouldn't hope to give me.

Balm stood under her water for a few nanos. "Arcee and I don't see optic to optic on most things, I'm pretty sure Flamewar would try and offline me if we were alone like this," I could see that. Flamewar reminded me too much of Airachnid. Way too much. "And Chromia usually hangs out with Arcee so back to that. Not much there for some quality femme time."

"Yeah, that would make it difficult," I laughed a little. "But hey, at least you didn't have Airachnid as the only other femme on this ship. She actively tried to squish me when she thought she could get away with it."

"So, you were still human when Airachnid was on the ship?" She immediately covered her mouth with her servos. "Sorry! You don't have to answer that! It just came out!" She looked panicked at that.

And it was the panicked look on her faceplate that snapped me out of the memories her question had brought up. Memories of the ground bridge incident and how vulnerable that had left me to her and Astrotrain. While that was something personal, I could share a little about that without endangering anything with the Decepticons. So, I smiled and placed a servo on Balm's shoulder. "It's fine. You just caught me off guard for a nano. It's not an easy subject for me to talk about at times. Yeah, I was human while Airachnid was on the Nemesis. She and Astrotrain for the most part. This," I motioned to my chassis, "happened around the time that they were removed from the Decepticons." Yes, because both tried to kill me right before I changed, and we were sure that Airachnid adding in her dose of dark energon to the energon from the Autobot blast was what caused me to change.

"Oh. That must have been scary." Balm muttered though I noticed that the atmosphere around her seemed to have calmed down some.

I shook my helm at that. "Not as often as you think." I then realized that I was blabbing and needed to stop myself. "Now, enough about me. Why don't you tell me about how you became friends with those two out there while you help me with this spot between my wings?"

Balm smiled and nodded at that before taking the rag I was using out of my servos. Balm seemed to be quickly growing into someone that I could trust completely. Very quickly.

Wheeljack's 1st P.O.V.

For the first time in a while, I felt relaxed watching Pandimala interact with other bots. After the two femmes finished their time in the washracks, we made our way to the main hub and I was worried when I saw Ironhide and Blaster standing by the human platform, Raf and Jack standing there as well. While I knew that Blaster was one of the bots that Pandimala trusted, and we suspected that was mainly helped by his twins, Ironhide had mainly been a part of the group who didn't like the idea of Pandimala being at the base.

The same split also appeared between the two humans. Raf had sought her out to talk to her and from what I overheard, seemed to like Pandimala. Jack, though not as bad as Miko, had taken on his guardian's view of Pandimala and felt like she shouldn't be in the base as a Decepticon. This had caused both Miko and Jack to slightly keep at armlength from the kid.

And now, I wasn't sure how that was with the reveal that Pandimala used to be Lizzie; the human we had been trying to get information about from the Decepticons for months. I know that it hit some bots awkwardly. While Bulk hadn't seen the femme yet, he did ask me to pass on an apology for him for how he treated her. Of course, Paul and Miko had been trying to get in with the femme, but Pandimala kept refusing them. With how they treated her before it was revealed that she was Pandimala, I couldn't blame her. They were almost as bad as Flamewar, Sentinel, and Pitch with how they treated her.

Anyways, after a few awkward clicks, Ironhide had apologized to Pandimala. She had forgiven him and had started a conversation with him and Blaster. While I was a part of that talk, I did notice Jack leave the room. Guess the human wasn't ready to admit he was wrong. This seemed to be going pretty well, given everything that had happened.

Eventually, Pandimala moved from her conversation with the two mechs and was now in a conversation with Raf, Eject, and Rewind, the latter two who came into the room during Pandimala's previous talk. And that was where we were now. I was talking with Balm, Ironhide, and Blaster while Zarron was to the side, keeping an optic on Pandimala. This morning, Ratchet emphasized that Pandimala would still be feeling the aftereffects of her processor shock and that we needed to watch her if she left her room.

Zarron suddenly tensing caused me to look away from Blaster, who was talking, and toward Pandimala. Her optics were focused on the area behind me and her wings were twitching. This wasn't good. What caused her to start to freeze up like this?

Looking in the direction that she was looking, I immediately saw the answer. Cliffjumper and Bulkhead had just pulled up and out had stepped Miko and Paul. Both of them had been tough on Pandimala before they knew who she was and Pandimala still hadn't spoken to them. Now, they were here and she might be feeling trapped.

"Lizzie," Paul started while moving toward her. When she didn't answer, Paul let out a sigh. "Pandimala."

I watched the femme's optics as they followed the human who used to be her boss. "Paul," She then moved her optics over to Miko. "Miko."

"We have a lot to talk about," Paul started as he started to move up the stairs of the platform. Pandimala took a few steps away from the edge and closer, I noticed, to Balm. Either Paul didn't see this or he didn't think it was important that Pandimala was actively moving away from him. "But for now, I'm glad that you are safe away from the Decepticons."

"There is a lot we need to talk about," I noticed that she didn't agree with him about the second part that he said.

Paul's eyes then moved to where the Decepticon insignia was on Pandimala's chassis. "I'm sure Ratchet will take that off for you. I'll go and,"

"What if I don't want it off?" We all backed a step away from the femme when she growled that at him.

Paul's eyes narrowed at the femme. "Lizzie, they held you prisoner and who knows what else they did. You need to,"

"I don't need to do anything, Paul." While I could see where Paul was trying to come from, Pandimala might have a reason for keeping the insignia on her. "And it's Pandimala."

"I think we should talk in private." Paul didn't even flinch at the look that Pandimala gave him at that. Did he not see that she didn't want to talk to him?

Balm jumped in at this point. "Paul, Pandimala doesn't seem ready to talk to you alone yet."

Miko then decided to jump in. "Paul's been waiting for weeks for her to be ready. Are you all sure that this isn't something that the 'Cons cooked up to keep you all from seeing whatever they did to her?"

"You haven't given me a reason to trust you." Pandimala hissed. She looked very angry…and this Wrecker knew not to get in the way of an angry femme if I could help it. "Funny, you talk about how the Decepticons must have done something terrible to me. That I can't know any better because I don't understand. And maybe I don't. Doubtful but perhaps I don't understand. However, what I do know is that when I first woke up on the Nemesis, I wasn't hated, and purposefully sought out by the entire ship, because I wasn't one of them. It didn't take long for them to treat me with respect enough for my situation. Can't say I can say the same about my experience here. None of you knew who I was, but a number of you actively sought me out to 'put me in my place'. I don't know much about this war. However, what I do know is that based on how they have treated me over you, I would rather be with them any solar of the stellar. Any!"

I risked placing my servo on the femme's shoulder as she started to calm down. "You alright femme?"

She glanced at me out of the corner of her optic before she nodded. "I'm fine. I knew this was coming. I just hoped the Autobots would be more open-minded and trust me. I want a peaceful solution to this and I'll put in the effort on my end to make that happen." She then focused back on Paul. "I'm willing to work with others who put in the same effort and consideration." To my surprise, she then turned to Zarron. "So, I've heard that you can put up a good fight. Want to spar with me for a little?" She then smirked. "I'll even go easy on you if you want." This seemed to be like her way of trying to leave the room without causing too much trouble.

Thankfully, Zarron didn't miss a beat and smiled. "For your sake, I hope you don't…Otherwise, your aft is going to end up on the floor."

"Lizzie, we aren't done here yet," Paul spoke sharply to his past employee.

Her emotions took a complete turn as she looked back at Paul. "Yes Paul, we are done. And my designation is Pandimala." She then walked up to Zarron. "So, care to show me the way?"

Zarron nodded at that before the two started to walk out. When Miko and Paul went to follow, I put a servo down to stop them. "You two have done enough for now. Take a breather and think about how she feels before you go and talk to her again."

I then moved to follow Pandimala and Zarron. But, as I followed them, I thought came to me. That interaction between Pandimala and Paul seemed to go deeper than it looked like. Pandimala looked almost betrayed when she gave her lecture comparing her time with us to her time with the Decepticons. Paul looked angry and desperate. Miko seemed to know what was going on, but I did notice that she backed down when Pandimala made her comparison.

Before, I wasn't worried about the little Wrecker hanging out with Paul because he seemed to be watching out for her. But, with Pandimala here, and Paul's anger toward her, I realized that Paul might influence Miko in a way that could hurt the girl down the road. I'd have to keep an optic on them.

Zarron: You are causing drama.

Authoress: I'm not doing anything. I'm just telling it how it happens. Not my fault that the Autobots are like a bunch of hormonal teenagers

Balm: *tries to argue*

Authoress: *sees argument and interrupts* That means you too Balm, or have you spilled the beans of your secret to Zarron and Wheeljack yet?

Balm: *runs out with Zarron and Wheeljack chasing her*

Authoress: *smugly* That's what I thought.

AN: And that is all for this chapter folks. Sorry if you weren't expecting the jump in time. However, I will be touching back to the hardcore events of that night through flashbacks as I did in Breakdown's point of view. However, I hope that the piecing together I started here was good enough. I did love having Balm and Pandimala start to bond over the lack of other femmes to connect with. Also, backtracking slightly, it seems like Michael has popped in again to give a helping hand and Megatron finally has a sit-down talk with him.

The next chapter should be a little more relaxed, though no promises. More bots will be coming in but, as I explained in past chapters, I need to get a large number of bots on both sides for a confrontation I have planned for the future. Most in the next chapter are cannon to the franchise but one will be an OC (and full disclaimer it is one of my personal favorite OCs).

Well, that's all for now. Here are the next chapter titles:

Chapter 43: A House Divided

Chapter 44: Training Habits

Chapter 45:...(find out next time!)

And that's all! Please drop a review, either to review or say hi! Oh, and if you haven't already, take a look at the poll on my page. One of the choices is in the lead by two votes only! The poll will stay open until this story finishes but I want to make sure you all remember that it is there. Until next time though, TTYL! *wondering if my heart is really two sizes too small*