When All Lights Go Out I (TFP)

Chapter 34

"Right, right." Azura chuckled a little as she knew she pretty much broke the concentration. "But a signal in the Arctic seems odd, like you said, Ratchet."

Ratchet was still surprised that Azura had said something, and it was clear she was tired. He looked at Optimus. "Maybe you should go and give her a bath to help her settle down, Optimus. She really needs to recharge."

"I will in a moment, Ratchet, but I wish to know what could possibly be under the ice at the north pole of this planet," Optimus responded gently as Azura huddled against his chassis wearily. "There were a lot of things sent away from Cybertron, so it is possible that the gravitational pull of this planet caused something to plummet into the far north of this planet."

"I am surprised that the cons haven't picked it up with all their technology on that ship," Arcee remarked in a snarky tone. "Unless they don't see the need to travel there to investigate."

"That is most likely the case, Arcee. I think the cons do know it is there, but have no need to investigate." Ratchet rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Someone needs to go searching for it."

"Uh, but...it's sub zero temperatures," Azura said slowly as she listened. Ratchet looked at her as she spoke. "Can we survive that level of temperature? Well, maybe I can't, but when I am older, maybe..."

"While it is true that we fair better against sub zero temperatures than humans, our systems can shut down from the extreme cold if we linger for too long," Optimus explained to Azura gently. He looked at the screen for a moment than looked back at Ratchet. "If you believe that this needs to be investigated, I think Bulkhead and Bumblebee should be able to handle the task."

Azura was thinking for a moment before looking up at Optimus with worry. "But...it is still winter in the Arctic, even if we are heading towards summer..."

"Yes, why does that matter?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"It is just that whenever it is winter at either the north or south pole, it gets very dark and very cold for so many months," Azura explained gently. "Is it really necessary to go looking when it is the coldest part of the year? Why not wait until it is warmer?"

Bumblebee was happy that Azura was concerned. "It is so sweet that you are concerned about us, Azura. But these sort of things cannot wait to be found. If the cons do know of this, they could also plan on waiting and we would either be too late, or fight the cons for what is under the ice."

She still thought it was not a good time of the year to go looking for something at the coldest time of the year for the Arctic. "Bee is right, Azura," Ratchet said gently with a smile. "Like it or not, we don't exactly have the luxury of time when the decepticons still outnumber us. Even if Starscream never chooses to locate it, we don't want to give them that chance. And it was by chance we even discovered this signal anyway."

"It will be alright, Azura," Ratchet said to the girl in a reassuring tone. "I think it is very sweet that you are concerned about our wellbeing. But you may find that even if I send Bulkhead and Bumblebee to the Arctic to locate what this is, they will not be there too longer. Mostly because I'll make sure they will be back before their systems get too cold."

Azura still wasn't sure about this. If the bots can still be affected by sub zero temperatures, and they could freeze to death, that still worried her. "If I had better control of my abilities, I could..."

"I don't believe you would be able to change the temperature of the Arctic, Azura," Optimus interrupts the girl gently with a smile. "I also think it would be wrong to change the temperature of the Arctic, it is a place many animals live and I believe causing the ice to melt would be bad for the planet."