Explanations 2
A Transformers Prime Fanfiction
Six hours ago at the Autobot base.
Ratchet winced and rolled his eyes as Bulkhead swung into the Autobot base with a squeal of tires. The walking forces of chaos had returned. The smaller force exploded out of the larger, unleashing a series of small explosions. What… the red and white Autobot turned toward the small human quizzically, medic instincts alert. Those noises she was letting out were out of the ordinary from what he had seen of humans. But his train of thought was derailed by the bulky green warrior striding up to him and demanding, "Hey Ratchet! You got anything to clean my interior? Miko leaked all over on the way in today."
There was a series of poorly suppressed snorts and coughs form the humans' area. The medic caught the furious look Miko shot in that direction and sighed. He carefully handed a sonic mesh cleaner to Bulkhead and warned his dourly not to break it, but his attention was on the human female.
"Miko come over here for a moment would you?" The girl was already halfway up the stairs to her friends and turned to look at the medic. He held out his hand and she climbed slowly in. Ratchet felt a twinge of worry for the first time. In his experience unquestioning obedience was rarely a good sign in someone of Miko's temperament. He gave her a careful visual examination and then ran his scanners deeper.
The medic humphed and set her gently down by her now slightly worried looking friends.
"I think Miko needs to see a human medical doctor immediately," he stated firmly. There was a chorus of worried murmuring as the Autobots gathered around the humans' area, that was quickly interrupted by an explosive, "NO!" from Miko followed by a string of sneezes. Jack handed her a suspicious looking rag to blow her nose on. After a few loud blasts she continued.
"Whad, oo know boud humans andyway? I jus godda code."
"Look Miko," the medic growled, "as an Autobot medic it's my duty to be able to help every one of the members of my unit. I've been researching human medical conditions since you showed up here. In addition to what general knowledge I've found, I keep personal records on each of you, and you are well out of the bounds of a normal healthy human."
"I'm fide!" Miko insisted. The medic gestured towards where Bulkhead was still running the sonic cleaner over his interior.
"Oh really? It's normal for humans to spew liquid contaminants all over their friends?" Optimus Prime bent over at this point and spoke gently to the girl.
"Miko, Ratchet has dealt with many species over the years, organic and mechanical alike. If he says you are in need of medical attention, it would most likely be wise to heed his advice."
"I'm just find!" Miko threw herself into a chair and crossed he arms firmly across her chest. The Prime glanced at Jack who seemed about to speak, but Ratchet beat him to the punch.
"While your temperature is within normal limits, it is on the high side, your skin is inflamed, your internal membranes are inflamed and producing copious amounts of mucus, and your internal water content is dangerously low. This looks like the effect of a virus." There was a worried murmuring around the group. The girl hunched her shoulders and tried to sink into the chair. Bulkhead came over and extended his hand.
"Common Miko, let's go. We can listen to your favorite songs on the way." The warrior offered coaxingly.
"Whoa, everybody. Let's back up a step here." Jack finally interrupted the Autobots. "I'm with Miko on this one." Everyone turned toward the oldest human in surprise. "Ratchet," he continued, "My mom is a medical professional so I know a bit about this. There is no need to take Miko to the hospital. There's just not that much they could do. This is just a common cold virus." Jack saw the worry in the robots' eyes and hurried to assure them. "Look, this isn't the Cybonic plague. The hospital my mom works at has been seeing a lot of these cases, and all they can do is tell the infected to go home, get lots of rest, eat right, and drink plenty of liquids. Her immune system will handle it naturally." Jack paused and handed Miko another rag. "It usually clears up after about seventy two hours. So she could either go back to her host parents house or stay here I guess." Ratchet frowned a little deeper.
"Well, what you say does confirm some of my research, but doesn't your being in proximity put you and Raf in danger?"
"Well not me. I never catch colds." Jack glanced at the younger boy. Raf quickly shook his head. "I've already had this bug. Remember I stayed home last week for a day." Bumblebee whistled in conformation. "It wasn't that bad. Mom let me watch cartoons all day and I drank a lot of Seven Up." Miko glared, blurry eyed at the boys.
"I hade oo both. Oo and your imude systems doo! I ged awfull codes ebrey year."
"What did she say?" asked Arcee.
"She hates us both, and our immune systems too," Jack said with a smile. Optimus reached out a hand and gently touched the girl on the back.
"Don't hesitate to ask if there is anything we can do to help," he said. Miko nodded and slouched back in the chair.
"Just leave everything to me," Jack said. The Autobot leader nodded and turned back to his tasks. "Bulkhead, Bumblebee, there are a few new energon signatures I'd like you to examine today." The three Autobots walked off toward the ground bridge controls with Bulkhead throwing a last worried look over his shoulder. Raf trotted over to commiserate with Miko over the cold. Ratchet stared at the two of them for a moment then held out his hand silently to Jack. The human climbed up and the medic carried him over to the monitor. Arcee followed.
"Are you sure there's nothing we can do for Miko?" the medic asked softly. Jack glance up at the old bot in surprise. Worry was etched across the wide planes of his face. The human shook his head.
"I didn't say that, Ratchet. Just that there wasn't much the hospital could do. We can make her as comfort as possible, make sure she eats right, gets plenty of water, avoids sugar…There are lots of ways to fight a cold. Mom says just to treat it like an invasion, support the defense forces and the rest will take care of itself." The medic seemed to brighten up a bit.
"So what do we need?" Jack thought about the question for a minute and then nodded toward the computer bank.
"Can that thing put a call through to Japan?"