I woke up with searing pain in my head, or is it helm now? Whatever it is, I clutched it hoping to find relief. My vision was now completely green with traces of code running over my view. Ratchet heard my pain, and turned away from his work to take a quick scan. He took a look at the information and grunted. He walked over to a table and picked up a syringe.

I was never one for needles, so when he came at me with it...

[~]

"Lot, you're more mature than that, now come out," he called to me as I pulled the door shut to one of the large cabinets. I was a bit taller than my earlier six-foot self, but not tall enough to reach the handle to the door. Lucky for me it was slightly open and only required a little pulling.

"Nuh uh," I responded to the muffled voice outside my sanctuary. "You have a needle, and a that's the one medical instrument I have no care for."

"Listen, I bet you're in pain, and this'll help." I didn't answer. "Lot, I am your commanding officer, and I order you to come out of there." I didn't answer. "Very well. I shall go fetch Optimus then," he said with a sly smile on his face plate. I sure wasn't going to go against Optimus' orders. I actually respected him, so I pushed the door as hard as I could, and it slowly opened.

"As long as you're gentle," I said cautiously. Then, he grabbed my body, picked me up, and put me back on the berth rather harshly if I do say so myself.

"Gentle? I've never been the word," he said as he picked up the syringe and injected me with pain relief medicine. I groaned as it was withdrawn. "Now. That wasn't so bad was it?" he asked me.

"Well... You'll need to define bad again," I said as I rubbed my arm. The pain subsided and so did the pain in my helm. Jack entered the medical bay and walked up to me.

"You're looking more like a borg every day," he said getting a good look for the first time in my half Cybertronian body. Apparently, Ratchet had explained my condition to the children, which was good, considering, one, I didn't want to, and two, I probably didn't know what was going on well enough to give a good explanation anyway.

"A borg?" I asked. I had never encountered that word in the human dictionary I had studied.

"Oh, it's a- never mind. How you doing?" he attempted to make small talk.

"I'm doing well, if you don't acknowledge my awkward body mass and size at the time. I'm not really used to this," I replied.

"Don't bother getting used to it, you'll keep getting larger and more Cybertronian as time progresses. It's best to wait for the final outcome before attempting to grow used to this form," Ratchet called over from his workplace. "And... I apologize I could not remove the information in time, Lot. If I were to do so now in the process of the transformation, it could have devasting consequences to say the least."

"I understand, Ratchet. And it's not your fault. Quick question though: do Cybertronians always see things in green?" I asked him.

"What?" he said. Apparently they didn't.

"Well, my sight's gone completely green and there's code all over the place. I guess you don't do... that... then," I explained.

"No, we do not. It must be an effect of the information currently occupying your CPU. Let me know if you start saying random things, or weird images or thoughts pop into your helm," he said turning back to his previous position.

"I'll do that," I answered. Then I turned to the young adult, "Jack, I'd offer to play a game with you, but I think my condition would make it a tad unfair, my head being half computer and all."

He laughed. "Maybe another time then. Let me know if you need anything, alright?" I nodded and he exited the room.

"So Ratchet, can I get out of this bed. It's not like it's helping any," I asked the CMO.

"I suppose. Just don't go far," he said not even bothering to turn his head. Whatever he was doing, it was probably pretty important. I wandered out of the medical center and off to my quarters. I took the scenic route, and went around the base the long way. I was going to enjoy stretching my legs after a day cooped up in a berth. They really weren't that comfortable. I stopped for a second after I heard my name called by the femme in the Autobot ranks. I turned around to see her walking up to me.

"Hello, Arcee," I greeted.

"Hi, Lot. Out of the med-bay I see?"

"Nah, I'm still there in spirit. I had to promise Ratchet at least that much. So how are you doing?"

"I'm doing well. You're looking... interesting," she said with a look of laughter in her optics.

"Yeah, yeah. I've been better. Ratchet said I should be getting taller soon enough. I must look funny like this and only this tall," I responded as I continued walking, gesturing for her to follow with a wave of the hand.

"Not really, well, maybe a little," she let out a chuckle. "So what brings you around these parts?" she asked me.

"I just got out of the med-bay and I decided to take a walk to my quarters. You're welcome to join me if you wish," I replied.

"I think I will. But you do know that your quarters are the other way, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I decided to take the scenic way around, if you call this scenic," I drifted off.

"So where are the kids?" I requested.

"They're probably off in the command room playing their video games," she said. A curse rang out through the base, startling us both. "Yep, that'd be Jack. Probably playing Mass Effect." She put a digit to her helm and nodded. "Well I'm needed in the command room. It was nice talking to you, Lot," she said before she changed directions and walked back the way we came.

"See you later," I called after her. After a good ten klicks I arrived at my quarters and punched in the unlocking code to the door. I paused for a second, then turned around and walked over to Optimus' quarters and knocked on the door.

"Enter," he deep monotone voice said from inside the room.

"It's kind of hard to do that when the door's locked," I called through the door. I heard foot steps and a click as the door was unlocked.

"I apologize, I do not remember locking it. Is there something on your mind, Lot?" he asked me.

"Well, I was wondering if there were any data pads you weren't using. I'm kind of in the mood to read something and my shelf is pretty empty. Is there a library in the base somewhere, or... something?" I stared up at the large mech in front of me.

"Indeed. I shall remind Ratchet to show you to it for I am occupied at the moment." He walked over to his bed stand and picked up an active data pad. "Take this in the mean time. It contains an overview of Cybertronian history. It would be best if you became acquainted with it now that you are in the process of your transformation," he explained.

"Agreed. Do you suppose, when you're free, we could have another go at making contact with the Conians?" I asked him.

"Of course. I must return to my work now. I hope you enjoy the history of my- our, people," he caught himself. I guess he wasn't quite used to me being part of his race now.

"Thank you, Optimus," I said. He nodded and turned back to his desk. There were papers all over the it, probably mission reports. There was a half drunken cube of energon on the desk as well. Speaking of energon, it was looking more appetizing day after day, and normal food really wasn't. Must be an effect of the transformation, I thought to myself. I walked over to my quarters and entered the open door. I sat down on my berth and took a glance over the data. It was in Cybertronian, which made me frown. After a few seconds, the data pad rearranged its information to form Teth, the home language of the Conians. Smarter than I thought it was. I started reading. I was always interested in history on Conia, because if you know the mistakes of others, maybe you won't repeat them yourself. Something my mentor had told me orns ago.

The information contained records of the Golden Age of Cybertron up to the evacuation on the Ark. It was all very interesting. Apparently, the ark wouldn't have escaped the planet if not for a sacrifice of a dear friend of Optimus'. I thought deeply on how most of the 'bots on the base had probably lost someone dear to them in the war or they had just been separated in the evacuation. I double tapped the word Ark and read more about that. It was the final ship to escape Cybertron after the fall. Most of the others had been shot down, leading to a battle between Optimus and Megatron atop the ark. The battle was fierce, and many mechs died trying to save their race. It sunk in my sparrk how terrible the war was and just how evil Megatron was. He was shooting down ships that had no defense and whose only wish were to leave. Optimus even offered to let Megatron have the planet, knowing it was uninhabitable, but he rejected the offer.

Back in the present, I was appalled by Megatron's actions, and I didn't want to read anymore of his war crimes, so I placed the historical data pad over on the shelf and lay down on my berth. Suddenly a flash came my mind and random symbols appeared out of nowhere. The visions stop and I sat back up with a startled jump. I think this warrants a visit to Ratchet. I swung my feet over the edge of the berth and pressed the button to lower it. I was getting taller but I still wasn't high enough to efficiently get on and off of my bed. I did a slight jump off and went over to the door, and entered the code: 2683. I walked out of my room and started to the med-bay. About half way there, my legs gave out and I collapsed. I tried pushing myself up with my arms but it was no use. I rolled over on my back and got a good look at my body. It had silver colored metal sprouting from it all over my arms and somewhat on my legs.

"I guess that'd explain why I can't walk that well," I sighed. Lucky for me Bumblebee was walking my way and saw me. He ran over to me and picked me up.

"Primus, Lot, what happened?" he buzzed. It was strange, I half understood him, and half of it was beeping.

"Heck I don't know, I just collapsed – probably has something to do with the metal coming out of my legs. Do you think you could carry me to Ratchet? It's a little hard to walk at the moment," I asked him.

"Sure thing. Hey wait a minute, how do you know what I'm saying?" He asked. I reached up and felt my ear to find it was comprised of metal and the other flesh.

"Well that explains it," I commented to myself. "Looks like only one of my ears is Cybertronian. It'll probably come up in conversation with Ratchet later," I said

"Right right. To Ratchet," he said. He was pretty excited about someone else finally understanding him barring Raf and the other 'bots.

[~]

Mean while in med-bay, a large robot from the planet Cybertron was carrying a small half-robotic humanoid body with metal coming out all over it, must have been quite the sight.

"Heya Ratchet, about those random thoughts popping into my head? Would a symbol count? Also, I can't move my legs," I called over to him.

"Also, it appears that you are a foot taller than you were when you left the berth. What do you mean about symbols?" he asked.

"Well, if I had a writing utensil and a piece of paper, I could show you," I explained.

"Very well. Use this," he said as he handed me a data pad designed to write slash draw on. I mimicked the image as well as I could before returning the pad to him. "This... cannot be correct," he said in amazement.

"Well, for those of us who are stupid, what does it say?" I was getting impatient. I wanted to know what knowledge my head had offered us.

"As most of you know," he said, gesturing to the small crowd of Autobots in the bay, "energon is comprised of E1H2, or Energy one Hydrogen two, as a chemical composition. This appears to be a formula to be able to synthetically produce the type of solid energy needed for the bonding of the molecules."

"Uh, Ratch, for those of us who don't speak nerdeese?" Bulkhead asked impatiently.

"In essence, Bulkhead," the medic replied with a slight annoyance in his voice, "the key to producing synthetic energon," he said slowly, making sure the large mech understood him. Everyone in the room stood still for a minute, then Bumblebee threw his hands in the air and started rejoicing. It's not that it was uncalled for, but it was a little over the top for the scout.

"Indeed, Bumblebee, we are fortunate," Optimus said standing beside the young bot.

"Hup, hup, hup. Nobot get too excited just yet. The formula is incomplete, and requires more of the equation for it to even start coming together, which I trust Lot will provide as- if," he corrected himself, "it is provided to him," Ratchet said to the group. "But... it is a promising start."

A/N

So. I could make the chapters longer, and take a little more time to update, or I could make then 1000-2000 words or so, and update ever other day or so. I'd like input. Until then!

... Turns out, fanfiction won't let me upload this to my doc manager, and I can't post it. Well, if you're reading it, it's been resolved, but sorry if this delayed it for a couple of days.