The Children Chapter 17

Ghost in the Arc

Hound edged through the clearing, he didn't want to enter at full speed for two reasons, he didn't want to damage the forest more then it already had been and he didn't want to risk the security systems starting up on them.

"Everything ok?" Penny asked rubbing the jeeps door with her palm; Hound's hesitation wasn't helping her nerves in the slightest.

"Just taking it easy" The disembodied voice responded his tires crunching as he road over some twigs and entered the clearing. A familiar wave washed over them and the large orange spaceship came into view, Penny held her breath as Hound approached the gaping hole that made up the entrance. There was a moment of silence, and then a robotic voice boomed from within.

"AUTOBOT SIGNATURE DETECTED: WELCOME HOUND" Penny let out an audible sigh as they entered the Arc. The inside of the entrance had significant overgrowth, there were vines hanging from the ceiling and moss on the walls, Years of leaves and dirt had been kicked in leaving the ground soft and loose, this caused Hounds tires to spin a couple times as they lost traction.

"W-WE-WELC-WEL-bzzt-AUTOBOT" The computers voice started getting gargled up like it was malfunctioning.

"Hound...is that normal?" Penny asked looking up at the ceiling wearily. Before Hound had a chance to respond Sparkplug spoke up.

"No, this isn't, keep moving Hound. I don't want to overstay our welcome right?" He smiled and patted Penny's shoulder, if it was meant to be reassuring it didn't work so well. She pulled the offline Ratchet closer to her chest.

"SI-SIG-SIGNAT-Hound is that you?" A male voice came over the speaker; it had a British accent and sounded very familiar.

"Perceptor?" Hounds voice emanated from within his chassis.

"By Primus! It's been ano-cycles; I doubted that I would be seeing another Cybertronian for some time. Well of course seeing is in the figurative sense I can't SEE you through these sensors its more like-"

"Perceptor" Hound interrupted

"Uh...yes?" His disembodied voice paused, like he hadn't realized that he had gone off on a tangent. It was rather uncomfortable to be between this conversation, Penny's brain kept trying to find the source of their voices. She went to speak up but once again Sparkplug interrupted her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Let them talk" He whispered, so she focused her attention out the windscreen. Just in time to see a bulkhead was at the end of the hall they were traversing.

"Where are you?" Hound continued, he stopped moving at the foot of the large metal door.

"That's a little hard to explain, uh here allow me to..." The bulkhead made a loud screeching noise as it lifted up from the ground exposing its contents. Penny's eyes widened as they swept the large room, there were consoles that towered well over her head, chairs that looked like they were made for giants and rather curiously some small scaffolding that created more human sized steps and catwalks up to each console. Hound pulled through the threshold stopping near the center of the room.

"Sorry for the mess cleaning hasn't exactly been an option in my...condition. I recognize that biopattern! Is that you Sparkplug?" Perceptor asked as Sparkplug opened the drivers side door and stepped out onto the near spotless metallic floor.

"In the flesh!" He exclaimed as he walked to a wide console with circles indented into it. Penny stepped out of Hounds passenger side holding Ratchet to her chest like a baby.

"I'm also getting some other faint autobot signatures...and..how curious" Perceptor stated. Penny followed Sparkplug just in time to see him put all his strength into pushing a large button beside one of the indented circles. An audible crack sounded and he grasped his back.

"I'm getting too old for this," He grumbled leaning over and placing his hands on his knees.

"You ok?" Penny asked frowning at the older gentleman's pain. She placed Ratchet on the ground and climbed the scaffolding until she was standing beside him. He straightened out and rolled his shoulders a few times, a couple more cracks came from his back and he nodded.

"Just my body arguing with me, give me a hand?" He said indicating towards the button. Penny nodded and together they pushed the button into the wall. The large circle indent made a loud screeching noise as it slide out from the wall to reveal a long flat surface that vaguely resembled a bed. Smaller more human sized platforms on the side folded out, the entire place seemed to have been modified for human operation.

"I was just notified a medical berth was activated... uh Sparkplug what was the purpose of your visit? Is Hound functioning properly?" Perceptors voice echoed slightly through the walls as the two humans climbed down the scaffolding.

"I'm functioning as well as I can be" Hound said slight amusement leaking into his voice.

"We have a couple extra... Crew members of yours functioning." Sparkplug responded picking Ratchet up from where Penny left him and bringing him up onto the 'medical berth'.

"Get the others" Sparkplug continued directing his hand towards Penny sitting down on the edge of it.

"I need a minute" His face scrunched up as he stretched his back a bit more. Penny nodded as she turned to head back to Hound she found him driving towards her. He parked beside the berth and opened his door; Penny smiled and patted his side.

"That... was supposed to be impossible. Or more so improbable the likelihood of... I need to make some calculations" Perceptor finished with a click and the Arc went silent. Penny leaned in to Hound to gather the other autobots. Frowning slightly as she realized Jazz had joined the others in stasis lock. That explained why he had been so silent about the current circumstances. She instinctively grabbed Blaster and Sideswipe then paused placing Blaster back down and lifting Sunstreaker instead.

I can't play favorites She thought to herself heading over to the berth.

It didn't take Penny and Sparkplug long to get the autobots hooked up to the berth and start them on IV medical grade energon. Hound helped by instructing them as to where the lesser used minicon instruments were. The ones stored with the medical berth were way too big to use on the tiny autobots, even the minicon ones were really pushing it, the only one they really fit was Sky Lynx. They had also hooked Hound up to normal energon to prevent him from ending up like the others. All things considered Sparkplug really knew what he was doing. Penny and Sparkplug sat on the edge of the berth Penny's eyes were focused on the screen above the berth. It showed the status of each autobot, spark rate, energon flow status, cranial unit functions basically everything that made them who they were.

"Don't worry" Sparkplug said placing his hand on Penny's thigh.

"They'll be fine" He smiled at her and she shyly smiled back. He had such an optimistic attitude it was hard not to react to his kindness.

"Sorry to interrupt, I'm receiving data from the medical berths and adjusting the sensors accordingly" Perceptor's voice reappeared over the speakers; he had been silent during the entire endeavor until this point.

"Sparkplug, your friend..." He continued

"Her names Penny, she's the one who's been taking care of the others until this point." He gently clapped his hand on her shoulder as he said this. She winced slightly from the impact though it didn't particularly hurt.

"Ah yes, much appreciated. May I borrow her?" Perceptor finished sounding rather uninterested.

"I think that's something you should be asking her" He said a confused look passing over his face.

"Penny, was it? Would you come with me?" Perceptor responded as a bulkhead on the other side of the room opened. She went to stand up and Sparkplug grabbed her arm.

"That's pretty far for her to walk, maybe I should go with her" Sparkplug responded releasing his grip on her arm to climb to his feet.

"She seems able bodied, and I'd much prefer to speak with her alone" Perceptors voice seemed more stern but still terribly distracted. Penny patted Sparkplugs arm and spoke.

"I'll be fine" She smiled and climbed to the floor. It took her a good five minutes just to reach the bulkhead Perceptor had opened. Before entering the new hall she turned back looking at the medical berth longingly.

"No need to be concerned, I'm monitoring their condition" Perceptor said making Penny turn around and step through the threshold. The hallway was lined with what appeared to be doors but there wasn't anything particularly unique about it just unending orange.

"Keep walking, I'll inform you as to when you need to stop." Penny just nodded and started down the hallway. Looking up on occasion when there were inscriptions on the doors, they were in a language she didn't understand.

"So, if you've been here all this time what made you stay?" Penny asked tracing her fingertips along the cool orange metal as she walked.

"Leaving would be...quite complicated for me I'm afraid. No matter you will see soon enough." Perceptor responded. Penny just nodded to herself; this entire situation was becoming rather perplexing for her. Was it possible that, similar to Hound, Perceptor no longer had use of his transformation cog? But if so and the cartoon was accurate then his alt mode still had mobility. He didn't need to stay in the Arc and even if he wanted to stay in the downed autobot spaceship he could have come to greet them when they arrived.

"Stop here" Perceptor said as on of the orange doors clicked and slid open with a whoosh.

Penny's jaw dropped when she saw what was on the other side. The room was lit with blue and yellow lights coming from consoles lining the wall. At the center was a cylindrical machine and leaning against its base was Perceptor, full size and in his robot form. Something was wrong though, his chest plate was open and had wires going in and out attaching to the machine and in the center a glowing blue orb. It mesmerized her, the center was almost white and it pulsated with a rhythm similar to that of a heart.

"Per-Perceptor is that-?" She took a few steps into the room and the door snapped closed behind her making her jump.

"Me? Yes quite unfortunate circumstances I'm afraid" He was still responding to her through the Arcs communication system. Penny approached the downed autobot slowly allowing herself time to take in his appearance. He looked... so much like the cartoon, red body, black helm and the microscope mounted on his left shoulder. He had black scorch marks on his body, there was a blackened area around where his chest piece used to be, and his microscope was bent slightly. The hardest part was looking at his face; with his optics off she couldn't even tell what colour they were. He looked...dead.

"How?" She asked placing her hand on his, the size difference was amazing. Her hand looked like a newborn babies compared to his. She wanted so badly to reach up and touch his spark but considering how uncomfortable it made Hound when she touched just the chamber... it was probably a bad idea.

"That's not why I brought you here. You see the sensors in my body are stronger then the Arcs at close range. Something that comes in quite useful while out in the field." Perceptor mused to, Penny could only assume, himself.

"Now I apologize as what you're about to witness is rather unpleasant." Perceptors voice faded and a loud gargled wheezing sound came from his body causing Penny to take a few steps away from it. Perceptors body sounded like its vents were filled with liquid, then his optics lit up and he raised his head. Turning to look at her with his bright blue optics, his microscope made a horrid squealing noise as it painfully turned to look at her as well. He paused for a moment then a thin trail of energon leaked out of his mouth causing his body to begin convulsing in what Penny could only describe as a giant robot coughing fit. Energon splattered from his mouth with each movement.

"Perceptor!" Penny yelled moving towards him, she placed her hand on his chest and he turned his head. His optic met her eyes for a moment then they went dark and his body went limp again.

"Perceptor?" Penny asked a sense of urgency in her voice she stared into his darkened optics a sense of dread washing over her. His voice hadn't come over the Arc's speakers yet either, Was he dead? Her eyes shot to his exposed spark which she only just realized her hand was terribly close to. Pulling it away she examined the spark. It was still there, pulsating a little faster but seemingly stable.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you. You may go now." He said the door to the hall reopening.

"I would prefer you didn't share this, you understand?" He continued, Penny looked between the door and Perceptor's body. She shook her head.

"You really expect me to leave after that?!" She exclaimed, not moving from her spot beside his body.

"I don't see why-" She interrupted him

"I can't just leave you like this..." This is when Penny realized her hands were wet looking down she saw a thin layer energon covering her hands. She rubbed it and it didn't burn or hurt at all.

"There's... nothing you can do, the procedure is too complicated." Perceptor responded, this was the first time his voice sounded somber.

"Can you at least tell me what happened? The others haven't spoken to me about it at all." Penny's voice was almost pleading. If she could get any information about how the autobots went from full size to toys on her shelf she wanted to know.

"I'm afraid I can not speak on the behalf of the others" He responded.

"Just what happened to you then?" There was a long pause and then the door to the hall closed.

"... Very well"

Penny lay down on the medical berth staring at the ceiling; she had a lot to think about after her meeting with Perceptor. He told her that after the inciting incident that had caused the transformers to become small and harmless the Arc was attacked. Perceptor and Hound were the only two autobots allowed to stay at full size, but they were going to be put into a form of stasis lock. So, if something ever went wrong they could be awoken. Hound had already been put under when the attack occurred, Perceptor was really sparse on the details, but his fight with the intruder had left him with severe damage to his chest cavity. The only way he could protect himself and the Arc was to hook himself up to its systems. Teletran-1 kept his body from shutting down and his spark dying out while he made sure the computer was operating and helped it understand things it wasn't programmed to understand. They had a symbiotic relationship, without anyone to do the repairs Perceptor required he would need to exist in this state. Penny took a deep breath and sighed, if only Ratchet wasn't so small...

"You going to tell me what the two of you spoke about?" Sparkplug asked nudging Penny playfully pulling her away from her thoughts. He had been giving her an expectant look ever since she got back to the main room.

"It was really nothing of consequence," Perceptors voice responded through the intercom.

"I wasn't asking you, now was I?" Sparkplug stated, this could have been taken as rude but his tone of voice gave away his true feelings. Penny waited until she was sure her new disembodied friend wasn't going to respond to that before sitting up.

"It really wasn't that important of a conversation. He wanted to get a better scan of me for some reason, of which he has yet to explain, but that's all." Penny interjected; with everything that had happened in that back room the entire point he called her back there had slipped her mind.

"You simply have a vey interesting physiology for a creature of your stature." Perceptor didn't seem to want to share his findings with the rest of the group. Not like it mattered, whatever he found on the scans Penny assumed were normal. If they weren't it was only a matter of time before she found out, between Perceptor and Uncle George one was bound to spill the beans. She rubbed her arm where her 'uncle' had drawn her blood, the fact that two people had now taken an interest in her personally made her feel weary.

"... Should I be concerned?" Penny finally asked looking between Sparkplug and the ceiling like Perceptor could actually see her.

"I doubt it" Sparkplug interjected almost immediately.

"Perceptors always been a little too curious for his own good. Not many human females hung around the Arc, other then Carly, he's probably never had a real look at how they worked." He continued smirking, this was probably meant to lighten the mood.

"I find that quite insulting" Perceptor responded, his voice genuinely sounded offended. Sparkplug must of bruised the scientists ego by assuming he hadn't studied the planets indigenous life in detail. The monitor the other autobots were hooked up to beeped before the conversation could continue, Blaster's section of the screen was showing a spike in brainwaves.

"It appears Blaster is... how to simplify... prematurely reactivating" Perceptor continued still in a bit of a huff. Penny scrambled over to where the small red tape deck was laying, being the first of the autobots to come online originally it was odd that he would reactivate first. Hound hadn't even woken up yet and he was able to drive them here.

"Prematurely is bad isn't it?" She asked putting her hand gently on the side of his helm. Pulling her hair behind her ear she watched his optics, the fact they lacked their normal light bothered her even now.

"Prematurely is a choice" Sparkplug responded moving over to sit beside her. Penny's glanced at him her brow furrowing for a second then looked back down at Blaster. His optics began to glow brighter and his venting increased, soon his optics came fully online and a weak smile spread across his faceplate.

"Hey babe" He said his optics locking with Penny's eyes, causing them to tear up. She smiled back down at him relief washing over her.

"Hey Blaster"

Authors Notes:

Got another one done in a not so ridiculous amount of time, so that's exciting!
I've been doing all of my typing on a Blackberry Playbook so I apologize if there is the occasional error or word used wrong, Docs To Go has a very limited spell check and I can only read over my own writing so many times. ^^'

Anyway,
I hope you enjoyed this chapter,
I've been debating over whether or not to bring Perceptor into the story in this manner for some time but I finally said 'screw it' and went with it xD
Please R&R I read every single one of them and take your words into consideration when writing the story :)