Transformers Prime: A Sparkling Issue

Sunday evening...

"What did you say they were called again?" Miko asked.

They were finally back at base after a long drive as there had been no one to operate the ground bridge. Although they had found that trying to contain four little squirming bots in a truck cab was no easy task. Bumblebee kept smashing his face plate up against the window trying to watch the scenery and Ratchet was fussy because Bulkhead was nearly sitting on him due to the cramped space. The kids had barely been able fit themselves, Miko and Jack were squished into the corners and Rafael had been stashed atop the dashboard. Optimus had had quite a time just trying to stay on the road as his steering wheel kept getting bumped into or grabbed. All the while baring the constant discomfort of small treads and servos digging and pushing into his doors, seats, floor, and dash. And more than once his horn had accidently gone off which Miko apologized for each time. Never had the Prime been more ready to transform back into bot mode and stretch his aching parts after finally being able to unload his passengers.

He now stood by the platform, watching Rafael type on his laptop having connected to the Autobots' main terminal. The relic sat next to the young boy hooked up with wires running to the computer panel. For the last hour or more they had been trying to determine exactly what it was or how it worked. So far there hadn't been much luck. Meanwhile, Jack and Miko had been entertaining the four little bots on the ground floor.

Optimus turned briefly to the girl as he answered her question. "In Cybertronian culture they are referred to as 'sparklings'."

"Oh yeah." She waved a hand at the green mech. "Hello little sparkling Bulkhead." Bulkhead giggled and mimicked her wave. "Awww! How cute!"

"Exactly how old would they be?" Jack asked. He rolled a soccer ball to Arcee who happily swatted it back.

A corner of the Prime's mouth pulled back slightly. "While I am far from being an expert in matters of this sort, judging from their behavior and size I would estimate them to be approximately a few weeks old."

Miko clasped her hands under her chin. "They're practically newborns! Just very big newborns."

It was true. Even if only young sparklings, they were large compared to the children. Bulkhead was the biggest of them, literally the same height as Jack.

"Well after all Miko, they are Cybertronian so of course they'd be big even when little," Jack said. He chuckled when Arcee squeaked while batting a servo at the ball. The ball rolled off in another direction and the little femme quickly crawled on all fours after it with Bumblebee and Bulkhead scooting after her.

"I think I've got something." The young boy's voice brought Optimus's attention back.

"Good work, Rafael. What have you found?"

"Well, I've been going through records in the computer data regarding Cybertronian history and its different known artifacts and relics. They talk a lot about the ones we've already been able to collect, but there wasn't anything close to this or what it did." The boy gestured to the object in question. "So I expanded my search to myths and legends and came up with this." Rafael's finger taped on the laptop keyboard and an image appeared on the large monitor from his screen for Optimus to see. Jack and Miko leaned in to get a better view. The screen had Cybertronian script all over it that the kids couldn't read along with a computer diagram of a triangle-shaped object that looked very similar to theirs. The Prime looked at it easily as though it were all in English.

"I have heard of this relic the legend speaks of," Optimus said after a moment of scanning. "Though I admit, I never took the account seriously."

Miko waved a hand with a waggled of her head. "Um, hello? Some of us can't read alien you know. Translation please?"