Once again Microdigit found himself cowering under a lab table in the Elite Guard science lab, scared half to death. Sentinel Prime had been teasing him again, about the usual things—how he was an intern for Perceptor, who was a huge nerd too; how his "vehicle mode" was a video game console; how he spent virtually all of his free time in the science lab; but to be honest, the science lab was the only place he really felt at home.
Right now he was working on a cure for a certain dangerous computer virus that was running rampant on Cybertron. Not exactly the Cybertronian plague, but still something to be concerned about. He felt good when he was working on experiments, like nothing else mattered. He remembered what Perceptor always told him—"Make me proud."
Perceptor was like a father to him, especially because his parents never wanted him to go into science. His father was an energon farmer and his mother a stay-at-home mom, and neither of them had any interest in the sciences. While Microdigit could respect this, he could not stay in a place where nobody paid attention to his obvious calling—science. So he ran away from home, hitched a ride on the Elite Guard ship, and gave himself the name Microdigit. (In his family, he hadn't been given a name yet, since he was still young.)
The only reason the nerd-bot could stay on the Elite Guard ship was because Perceptor was very impressed by his scientific prowess and his interest in creating a cure for the newest computer virus—and perhaps even that stupid Cybertronian plague while they were at it. So Microdigit became an intern, hoping each solar cycle that he could become a real scientist too someday, just like his idol, Perceptor.
This also meant, of course, that he had to endure a lot of teasing, mostly from Sentinel Prime. Every single thing about Microdigit was nerdy—there was no denying it…but was that a bad thing, necessarily? After all, nerds are the ones who come up with new technology, new inventions, and cures for possibly fatal computer viruses. No one listened when he tried to explain this, though. He was no stranger to teasing—he endured even more of it back at home on the energon farm. Nerds were the ones everyone liked to tease, no matter how smart they were. Come up with a cure for all Cybertronian viruses and what do you get? That's right—more teasing.
"Microdigit? You in here?" Microdigit recognized Perceptor's voice. Right now though he didn't feel like talking to anyone, so he just stayed silent.
"Where are you?" asked Perceptor. "I know you're in here."
Microdigit stood up and walked over to the scientist he worked for. "I was just continuing to work on my cure. I think I know now what's causing the virus but I can't get rid of it. It's multiplying, almost like space barnacles."
"Well, just keep working on it, I know you'll figure it out," said the microscope, then looked down at his intern again. "What happened? Was Sentinel teasing you again?"
"I guess." Microdigit shrugged. "It doesn't matter…I was always teased at home. You get used to it."
"Just remember what all the nerds say," Perceptor told him. "Someday, they will rue the solar cycle they tied us to a flagpole near school and let us stay there for a good megacycle or two, laughing cruelly as they did so."
"That happened to you, too?" asked Microdigit, shocked.
"Yes it did, multiple times, so don't give up hope," said Perceptor, clapping his intern on the shoulder and then leaving the lab.
Microdigit's hopes were raised slightly as he got some test tubes out of the cabinet. Those jerks he knew from school would regret all the humiliating things they had done to him, he thought.
Again he found himself thinking of their big school dance, one of the last school-organized events he endured before he finally couldn't take it any more. He went to a very small school, which meant everybody knew who had a date and who didn't. (Gossip always spread like wildfire in schools like his.) Microdigit did not have a date, and everyone had been making fun of him for that, too.
He didn't have a date because the femmes in his school weren't interested in nerds. They were all interested in handsome mechs who everyone loved even though they were all huge jerks. The kind who turned into big trucks or muscle cars; the kind who always had a pack of beautiful femmes surrounding him asking, "Would you take me for a ride, handsome?"
"Just after I tie this impossibly nerdy video game console to a flagpole again," the jerk would say.
Then he and his femme of the week would find a flagpole with the Autobot flag flying from it, and before he knew it Microdigit would be, once again, helplessly tied up and unable to escape.
"You will rue the solar cycle you did this!" he would holler, but no one would hear.
He remembered what his parents would say to him, over and over again: "Get out of the science lab! Go to a party and get drunk, interface with someone you don't know, commit a crime, just do something!"
Microdigit winced at all his bad memories. He didn't get why the femmes he knew from school weren't interested in nerds and scientific things. Science, according to him, was fascinating. What could be better than spending all your time cooped up in the science lab, working on experiments that could benefit everyone?
Well, maybe being able to hold real conversation with a real femme would be nice. He had talked to Elite Guard femmes before; and he had a bratty sparkling sister back home; but other than that, well…let's just say his skills with the other half of the Autobot race weren't quite as perfected as his science skills.
…
Microdigit blinked groggily as he lifted his head up from the lab table. He had pulled another all-nighter. Usually he didn't even notice he was drifting off into stasis until he woke up the next morning with a test tube stuck to his faceplates. At least he was getting closer to the goal of his latest scientific project, though. That was what mattered.
He recognized Sentinel Prime's boastful laugh and quickly turned himself into a game console, hoping somehow that this would lessen his chances of being teased again. Unfortunately, the hope was in vain.
"Why, if it isn't Microdigit the Nerd-Bot," said Sentinel haughtily, standing over the smaller mech. "Pull another all-nighter in the lab?"
Just don't answer him, Microdigit told himself, staying in his game console mode. The more you respond, the longer he will stay.
"I've known some big nerds in my time, but you really break all records," Sentinel continued. "I mean, seriously, you're such a nerdy little wimp. I don't know why Ultra Magnus let you stay on the ship."
Microdigit wanted to say, He let me stay on the ship because I'm smart and actually care about how others FEEL, unlike YOU, Sentinel, you big mean glitch-head, but he caught himself just in time. He knew better than to respond to Sentinel's taunts by now. If he just let Sentinel talk himself out, eventually he would go away; but if he responded, things would only get worse.
"Well?" asked Sentinel. "Aren't you going to answer me, nerd-bot?"
Don't be intimidated, Microdigit said to himself. Just wait for this huge-chinned idiot to go away.
After a long silence, Sentinel Prime finally said, "Whatever. I've got better things to do than try to talk to some huge nerd who lives in the science lab."
As soon as he was sure Sentinel was gone, Microdigit turned back into a robot and whispered, "Yes!"
Microdigit started setting up his science tools to experiment again, but as he did so he was still thinking. Mostly, he was glad that he was away from school. Sure, Sentinel teased him a lot, but that was better than what he had to endure back in his solar cycles at school.