Thank you for the reviews and responses to the first chapter of this one. As I said it will have three more chapters, including this one. I hope you enjoy it. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Arcee and Jack arrived at the base and pulled to a stop in the main control room. Arcee transformed and looked down at Jack.
"Remember when we were talking about what Cybertron was like when I first came online?" she asked.
"Sure," Jack grinned. Her descriptions had sounded great.
"Ratchet has made a holographic room where we can actually be on Cybertron as it was," she told him. "I thought you might like to try it out with me."
"Yeah!" Jack said excitedly. Maybe it would even get his mind to let go of the images that were constantly there of a dead hulk of what had been.
"The room is specially designed to take into account what would be happening if you were actually in vehicle mode, so the images will be moving with you. What will appear like movement on your part will actually be the hologram extrapolating and you are moving in place. The flooring is specially designed to make it feel normal," Ratchet told them as he came up to the pair.
"That's incredible," Jack marveled at the description.
"It is indeed," Optimus Prime said as he came into the control room. "I am pleased that you will be able to see our planet when it was as it was meant to be. I am only sorry you had to see it as it is now, a remnant of an ongoing war."
"Ready?" Arcee asked him.
"Definitely," Jack said and then followed her down the corridor.
They took a lift down a few levels and emerged in a large, cavernous room. A control stand was to the side which Arcee moved to. She called up several displays and input some commands. A few images popped up on the holographic screen. She looked down at Jack.
"Kaon was captured by the Decepticons three thousand stellar cycles ago," she told him. "How would you like to see it when it was an independent city?"
Jack nodded in agreement. The images he had been having the most difficulties with were of Kaon and the grey, dismal atmosphere that pervaded the ancient city, especially with that massive statue of Megatron acting as a sentinel above the entry gates.
Arcee smiled and pressed the correct icons. The large room seemingly melted and morphed into a new image, this time of Cybertron. This Cybertron, though, was full of color and seemed alive somehow. The two moons were brilliant in the sky. In the distance there was a blue lake of pure energon.
"This is about 500 kliks from Kaon," Arcee explained. "This'll give us a chance to see the sights along the way."
"When was this?" Jack asked as Arcee transformed and he climbed on.
"About 1,000 stellar cycles before Kaon fell," Arcee told him. "The war was still on the other side of the planet at that point."
Arcee began the journey to Kaon, her memories guiding her perfectly. It really was like coming home, but this time to a home she wanted to remember, and also one she would enjoy showing Jack. For the next hour she spent a lot of time pointing out certain landmarks and cities, but also how the roadways and bridging worked to integrate the planet at all levels. When a certain lookout point approached Arcee pulled into it and let Jack get off of her, then she transformed. She walked to the edge and the pointed.
"That's Crystal City, the most beautiful city on Cybertron before it was destroyed by Starscream and his fighter wing," she told him. "All of the best artisans and their work was there."
Jack looked in the distance and gasped as he took on a city literally made of crystal. The light refractions and patterns were breathtaking, encompassing the entire visual spectrum, at least the spectrum visible to human sight.
"We should go there someday," Jack mused.
Arcee looked down at him. "Are you asking me out on a date?" she asked, giving him a smirk, letting him know she was giving him a hard time, despite their growing feelings for one another.
Jack decided to be a bit direct about his feelings. "And if I am?" he asked.
Arcee didn't lose a beat. "Just name the time and I'll be there, Smooth Operator," she told him.
Jack looked a bit shocked. "Seriously?" he asked, not quite sure he had heard her correctly. Had she just agreed to a date?
Arcee thought for a moment. It would be awkward, to say the least, but she was sure that there was something between them. Jack had certainly proven himself to her many times over, and never more so than on Cybertron, and the feelings she had were real.
"Seriously," she replied, and then transformed. "Ready to continue on to Kaon?"
"Yeah," Jack said, climbing on, still trying to fathom that he had an actual date with Arcee. He decided not to tell his Mom about this development for the time being. She was having a hard enough time accepting the fact that he'd been to another planet and was involved in a millenia old war that started on that other planet.
For about another hour they rode in relative silence, each thinking about the change in their relationship that was developing. Both were happy about it, but each were also aware of the gravity of it. The differences between their two species was something that was so apparent as to need no explanation, and then there was the fact that others may not be too accepting of it.
Arcee decided to show him something important to her. She gave a command sub-vocal in Cybertronian and the bridge seemed to come alive and branch off seamlessly before them. She took the branch off and sped down the lane towards a large building that seemed to stand out before them. Twenty minutes later they came to a stop in front of the large building. Images of fighting figures were all around, and the elegant, angular Cybertronian script labeled each image. She transformed when Jack got off.
"This is the place where I was taught martial arts," she told him, keeping her voice in somewhat of a reverent tone. This place was almost sacred for her, as with all who trained here.
"Prowl was your Sensei, right?" Jack asked, trying to remember the stories she'd told him.
"The greatest martial artist in Cybertronian history," Arcee told him. "Come on," she directed as she walked towards the large door. She punched in a code and the door slid silently open. They entered and the door closed behind them.
A/N: I halted there so I could keep dividing the story into chapters with each one developing a single item. This one I wanted to have the tone and atmosphere set right for the trip in the holoroom. I hope you enjoyed it. Gregg.