For The Race-Prime Protector.
Chapter Eight.
A/N: Slang terms for male genitalia beyond this point. You have been warned...
As several seconds passed, and Sam realised that the ground was not going to be obliging and grant her wish, she looked up from her feet (where her optics had been staring) back to Optimus' face. The mech seemed to be waiting patiently, and Sam wondered idly how long he would wait. Being a long-lived race, she supposed Cybertronians were more patient than the short-lived humans they shared this world with. Then she remembered that Optimus was waiting for an explanation, an explanation of, well, yeah, THAT, and pulled her processors back to that embarrassing task.
"Um, yeah, well, Bumblebee and I were talking and the subject moved to anatomy. I'd found my, well, you know, my armour down there, was removable and I just - asked if it were true of mechs as well." She decided to omit Bumblebee's act of 'show and tell', his friend had stated it was considered bad manners and she didn't want 'Bee told off, or worse, banned from seeing her. She spread her hands. "I was just curious, I mean you've all grown up knowing your own bodies, but all this is new to me!"
Optimus took a step forward and crouched to bring her head closer to Sam's own level, as one hand touched her shoulder reassuringly. Optimus had been doing this more recently, little reassuring, almost unconscious touches to the arm, hand, shoulder or back, and Sam found she didn't mind this at all.
"Sam, curiosity is natural. I am not going to expose myself to you, it would be bad manners, but I am happy to answer any questions you may have."
Sam was glad that Optimus had chosen to keep his 'equipment' to himself. She had already decided that if Optimus had made any move to get it out she'd be out of the room and running like Hell by the time Optimus had undone the first clasp.
"So...Bumblebee said you mechs had something called an interface rod down there. Is it, like in humans, you know, sensitive? Is that why it's hidden, to protect it, or is it just a decency thing, or what?"
"It is softer than the rest of our bodies and it is mobile, so yes, it is sensitive. The crotch plate serves mainly to protect it, but also to keep it out of the way and to conceal it from public view."
"Yeah, cricketers wear a plastic cover called a 'box' over their bits in case they get hit by the cricket ball in the goolies, so to speak. So, I guess kicking Starscream in the nuts isn't a valid method of getting him to take his double-thumbed hands off me, just like he couldn't disable you likewise." she said.
Sam suddenly had a weird-out moment about the entire conversation. 'Here I am, a robotic female asking a robotic male about his robotic penis, like it's the most normal thing in the world!' she thought. She supposed she'd have to get used to a lot of new things now she was a Cybertronian and a femme, she just hoped they wouldn't all be this embarrassing!
Sam heard a soft repeating noise from Optimus, and realised she'd managed to make Big 'Bot laugh.
"No, kicking Starscream in the crotch plate would not even slow him down, but if you really want to know things that will, grit in the joints or a punch up one thruster should, although the latter carries a risk of burning or melting. Threatening his wings should also make him think about backing off, but Ironhide would be in a better position to teach you a Seeker's weak points. Ask him once he's finished his anti-warp field."
Sam nodded, and then decided to take the plunge.
"Without reproduction like we do it, having two sexes seems a bit silly. Is it a choice or is there a reason for the distinction. After all, the AllSpark created you, if that was how you had babies, why have femmes at all? Is their function purely decorative or can they..." she swallowed, and finished her sentence, "you know, reproduce?"
Optimus sighed. "Yes Sam, femmes can, in the absence of the AllSpark, combine their Spark with a mech and create a new Spark, or sparkling, although it was a rare occurrence on Cybertron, for femme-birth was seen by many as blasphemous."
"Blasphemous? Why?" Sam said. Optimus stood up, and walked back behind his desk. He drew two cubes of energon, sliding one across to her. "You may wish to sit down, Sam, it's a little complicated. Like Earth, Cybertron played host to a number of religions, but the dominant one held that a supreme being, called Primus, created the AllSpark in order to create our kind. Some say that the original First Thirteen, seven of whom were Primes, were the very first Cybertronians, their Sparks called forth from the AllSpark by Primus. Others say that our race did exist first, and reproduced as you do,but then Primus gave us the AllSpark, beginning Cybertron's first Golden Age. There are many opinions on the AllSpark's origins and role in our society, but those two are the two main religious views. As a result, femme birth became regarded as undesirable, and at least twice in our history, an attempt was made to purge the planet of femmes entirely."
"But that's ridiculous! If the AllSpark didn't want femmes, it wouldn't have created them!" Sam cried.
"Yes, indeed, but back then, reason didn't always compute. They were seen as glitches, aberrant, accidents, but I digress. Femmes have usually, as a result of this view, been fitted with a contraceptive that can only be deactivated by a trained medic, to prevent accidental creation. However, this was an invention of the mechs long ago. AllSpark-created adult femmes – and this includes you – do not have this. I have a theory that the AllSpark wanted mechs and femmes to share in the joy of being able to create, otherwise why make them capable of creating, and in the case of the femme, carrying and bearing sparklings?"
"As long as they want to, right?" Sam asked uneasily. Optimus nodded.
"As long as both the mech and the femme are willing, yes." Optimus said. "Forcing another is taboo, although it seems that some of the Decepticons have chosen to abandon that taboo."
"So, how does it happen? Creating a Sparkling without the AllSpark, I mean?" Sam asked hesitantly.
"It has been pointed out before that humans and Cybertronians are very similar, and the actual reproductive process is much the same, except that the couple also unite their Sparks, opening catches in each other's chests to allow their Sparks to combine. The fluid released by the mech has several functions, it may provide extra energy, and metal molecules to form a small hollow ball to enable the energy inside to coalesce into an independent Spark. This is called a Sparkling orb. This goes in the femme's reproductive chamber, inside her chest."
Sam looked down at her shapely chest plates and slender form. She was suddenly assailed by an image of her body swollen much like that of a pregnant woman, and asked in a small voice "How big does it grow?"
Optimus must have guessed the direction of her thoughts. He chuckled again, took a mouthful of energon, and shook his head.
"Sam, our kind's sparklings do not expand inside the femme. Unlike humans, it is only the Spark, not an actual body, that is carried by a femme. When it is ready to arrive, it will exit via the femme's port – the opening in a femme – and a new body, or something to put the Spark in, even temporarily – is provided by a medic. The Sparkling orb breaks upon contact with any surface, and the new Spark migrates into the provided body or space. If none is provided, it swiftly dissipates."
"You seem to know a lot about it. Ratchet I'd expect to know, but you?" Sam said.
"Elita, the femme I planned on bonding with, and I, decided to ignore tradition and popular religious opinion, and tried having a sparkling of our own twice before the war began. The first time it came early and we had no suitable body. The second survived its birthing but perished in the war."
There was an awkward silence as Sam absorbed this information, then she got up, surprising even herself, and went over, putting her arms around the Prime's neck and shoulder.
"Ah, shit, Op, that sucks. I'm really sorry about that." she said. Optimus' own hand rose to clasp Sam to him. For a moment they stayed like that, Sam comforting the bigger mech, but then Optimus gently started pulling back.
"Sam, it is in the past. Do not distress yourself about it, for I know that the past cannot be changed. However, we can use the lessons of the past to affect our decisions in the present and the future, and that is what we must concentrate on now."
Sam felt quite uncomfortable, knowing that Optimus' plans for the future probably featured her bearing sparklings at some point, and decided to direct the conversation onto slightly safer, if potentially painful, ground. She had the feeling that Optimus didn't often get the opportunity to discuss painful subjects. She may not be a counsellor, but perhaps getting him to talk about it would help.
"Why didn't you bond with Elita?" she asked, and put her arms around his neck again as he slumped back towards her. Again, his hands clasped her, but in the manner of someone needing support, not caressing or stroking.
"In the lead-up to the war, I was always so busy, and then when war began to loom, we both decided to wait until the tension had passed. Had I bonded with her, had I made the time to do so earlier, I would know what happened to her. Circumstances of the war physically separated us, and I fear she perished in the civil unrest the war created. I had to leave to pursue Megatron, and the AllSpark, and have heard nothing of her since. I fear she is either dead, unable to contact me, or separated by too much distance."
Sam's arms tightened as she supported Optimus, his arms tightened about her and then the moment turned from comforting to being awkwardly sexual, both Sam and Optimus suddenly aware of each other's arms about each other. Sam suddenly tensed, and buried her face in Optimus' shoulder, fearful of what might happen next, but Optimus merely moved his arms and shifted his own and Sam's body until it was he who was the comforter, holding Sam around the shoulders and stroking the back of her head. As the newly-platonic hold registered with Sam, she relaxed and released her hold. Optimus gave her a last stroke and a squeeze of the shoulders before releasing his hold on her, allowing her to step back and go back to her chair.
"I have called Bumblebee to accompany you again, I believe he promised you a tour of the rec-room? Remember that if you need to recharge, you come here and I will watch over you to keep you safe. I will take the opportunity given by your absence to recharge myself." As the door opened to admit Bumblebee, Optimus nodded slightly.
"Thank you for waiting back, Sam, I hope you found what I had to say useful, I know I found your comments to be of comfort."
"You're welcome, Prime, I did find it a help," she said, ignoring Bumblebee's curious glances. She did com the yellow scout, saying 'It was private for us both and it's staying that way' as she went out with him.
Once they had left, Optimus shuttered his optics and sighed through his vents. It was progress, of a sort, but it looked like being a lengthy business. He still remembered how pleasant it had been to feel Sam's lithe, slender body pressed against his own, the feel of her arms tightening around him. It had taken a supreme effort to pull back and change the nature of the hold, but he knew that had he not, he would have lost Sam's trust for good. He had to take this slowly, but Pit, it was frustrating!
Oh well, he'd have to deal with his arousal as he had the day before. Sighing through his vents again, Optimus reached for the releases of his crotch-plate.