"Don't try to fix me I'm not broken
Hello I'm the lie living for you so you can hide
Don't cry'

Evanescence - Hello

"Is 24 here?" Asked the lame Winterstar.
Ratchet shook his head in annoyance as he rushed her to an examination table and made her lay down on it, he was glad that she was cooperative- like Robin. The question she had asked him of course had been the same question that she had been asking him ever since they stepped off of Omega Supreme, and it was getting old real fast.

"No." The medic snapped as he began getting his tools ready for the operation. "You can see 24 after you've had your operation."

Winterstar suddenly sat up, her sunny yellow optics filling with tears again. "B-but- this is *important!* I have to see 24! Don't you understand that my life depends upon it!"

"I've heard before." The medic retorted and came back over to the young fembot with his tools on a trolley. When he reached her he stuck out his hand and gently but firmly pressed her back down. "Now you listen to me, I'm sure you can handle waiting a few more hours before meeting this- *24*. Right now your health is more important. I'm going to have to turn you off-line though."

Fright filled the femme's optics as she watched Ratchet worriedly. "A f-few *hours?!* B-but I only have a few hours!"

Ratchet fixed the fembot with his stern gaze, one metalical band lifting up slightly, "Not if I can help it. Now be quiet while I switch you off."

"B-but ... !"

It was the last protestant word she got out of her mouth before Ratchet opened up a panel on the back of her head and disconnected a wire, putting her off-line. Winterstar immediately shut down in mid sentence.

Ratchet sighed as he picked up his laser scalpel and made ready to cut open her chest piece and see what damage may have been done by the ice and snow. His detector onboard Omega had alerted him ahead of time that something was also wrong with her internally so he planned to figure out what. At that moment that he was delicately opening her up, Robin poked her head in and asked anxiously, "Is she going to be okay, Ratchet?"

Ratchet stopped himself from jerking at her sudden voice and carefully backed away but immediately he turned a devil-eye-glare on the fembot and a furious frown. "What were you thinking?! I could have just killed her if I'd been inspecting her CPU or other vital boards and wires!"

Robin's face fell at his angry tone. "I was just wanting to ..."

"Get out! Out!"

Robin's bottom lip fell at his tone and her optics got large too. Sad-faced she made herself scarce by disappearing beyond the door. Ratchet sighed in growing irritation as he turned his work back to the new fembot. Honestly! They'd just gotten back from Antarctica, did she really expect him to have her finished in less than three Earth minutes?!?

Carefully, and with a practiced hand, Ratchet cut open her chest piece and removed it. He was fully prepared for anything that he would see, having seen a lot through his years, but what he actually saw stunned him beyond words. It was unlike anything he had seen before. He had seen Robin's inner workings when he had fixed her up and because of that he had seen her shard chamber, which was very similar to a spark chamber except it held a crystal shard instead of a spark. Just like a spark he found the shard of an Everum to be beautiful and unique, but what he saw in Winterstar's shard chamber both amazed him and scared him half to death with fright. To say the least he found out what was wrong on Winterstar's insides that he had detected on Omega Supreme-

Her shard chamber was completely burnt black while in other areas through her body wires, chips, and motherboard had burnt out or blown up. It became obvious to him that she had, a long time ago, overexerted the limits of her abilities and powers, and her shard chamber stood as the number one example of this. Her shard was shattered. There was nothing left of it but varying crystal shards of the once larger piece. Of course, Winterstar should have been dead if her shard had shattered but somehow she wasn't- she was still functioning, and the cause for Ratchet's astonishment was this- the crystal fragments were trapped within solid ice that had formed inside her shard chamber over millions of years. And that entire ice/crystal shard glowed faintly like the fading pulsing of a spark beat. Ratchet knew that she was dieing but somehow- somehow she was already dead.

"This- this is impossible!" Ratchet gaped. But the medic quickly shook himself out of his shock and addressed this immediate situation. Shakily he began attaching tubes to the zombie femme, hooking her up to machines that would tell him exactly what her current state was and keep him updated if it changed ... for good or worse. After he had that done he sat down for a second, trying to stop his hands from shaking. He was nervous to work on the fembot now after realizing how critical her situation was. She was only alive by a freak accident and that if he did one thing wrong anywhere near her shard chamber, it could kill her. Also, the constant reminder that he had failed to save others with her problem didn't help his confidence. After a few minutes he managed to calm his nerves down enough to stop the shaking and stood up. It was then that he noticed that it was rather hot in the Med bay.

"That's not good." He told himself aloud while checking his internal heat controls and comparing it to the temperature in the room. "If it gets to hot the ice holding her shard pieces together could melt and then-" he dared not think about the consequences. Just knowing that the melting of the ice in her shard chamber could kill her was enough. "Teletran, lower the temperature in Med Bay." Ratchet ordered, Teletran-1 obeyed and within a few minutes the temperature dropped from room temperature to cold but not freezing. "That should be good enough." Ratchet confirmed and addressed his patient once more. At least he wouldn't have to worry about that for the time being.

From his trolley he picked up a canister of pure water that he had in stock for Robin if ever she needed an emergency supply while in the Ark, and fed it into the life-support machines instead of energon, which he typically fed into it when he was working on the other "bots, but sense Everums didn't run on energon, they ran on pure water, he had to install that instead. The liquid raced through the machine, through the tubes, and began to steadily feed the Everum, keeping her alive. Ratchet was pleased when the dim, slow pulsing of her ice/crystal shard began to burn brighter.

So far so good.

"Yet another easy task accomplished my old friend," Ratchet told himself as he placed the empty canister down and picked up his laser scalpel and addressed his patient once more. "Now comes the hard part, trying to figure out why you're repeating."

The white and red Autobot went around to the back of her head and examined the opened compartment he had revealed earlier. Slowly he drew in a breath of nervousness and released it as he pulled up a chair and sat down on it. Then he addressed her and the complex circuitry and chips that made up her CPU. He could see from just looking at it where some of the chips were fried and a wire here or there burnt out and where the result of the melted chips or sparking wires had destroyed several motherboards. In other words, her CPU was in ruins.

Subconsciously Ratchet bit his lower lip as old memories flooded back to him of past patients that had shared her problem- past patients he had let down-

***

(Flashback, Cybertron 7 million years ago)

A stray missile streaked by overhead and exploded somewhere close behind his back. Ratchet ducked for cover, shielding his head as shrapnel was blown everywhere by the Decepticon missile. Most of the harmful debris flew by, only a few striking him but nothing serious, hitting other unfortunate Transformers engaged in combat around him. One such hapless "bot nearby let our a horrendous scream and collapsed to the ground, a large metal fragment protruding from the back his metal skull. Sickened, Ratchet looked away as the backside of the mech's head sparked and exploded, smoke snaking up from the ghastly wound.

Of course the battle raged on despite this poor mech's fate. After all, that was one of the many fine points of war, somebody always got hurt and the war couldn't hold up just to help that one Transformer no matter who they were.

Being a medic it was Ratchet's duty to attend to those Transformers that were wounded by war and as such, he knew that he should at least see if this poor mech beside him still functioned, of course Ratchet's hopes for the mech weren't that strong.

Carefully he crawled along the war torn metal surface of his home planet, which had long since lost its golden luster and was now nothing more than a dull, muted steel grey, the energy that had once flowed beneath its surface giving it its golden glow almost dried up. Once he reached the mysterious mech's side Ratchet identified him as an Autobot by the red brand slapped right across his chassis, however the he didn't know the name of the poor mech. The white and red Autobot was just beginning to pull out his laser scalpel to remove the mech's chest piece and see if the spark was still alive when a scream reached his audios above the noises of gunfire and stomping feet.

"ROADWIND! NO!!"

Ratchet's head snapped in the direction of the voice and saw a smaller yellow and green Autobot scramble up out of a pile of scrap metal and stumble over to the duo. Even before he had reached halfway he crumpled to his knees and let out in a rasp voice, "No- Roadwind you idiot!"

"You know him?" Ratchet asked calmly as he resumed his work on the "bot, very much attempting to divert his optics from the head wound. The metal spike that had pierced his head had pierced the other side through his optic sensor.

The small Autobot bobbed his head mutely, his optics never leaving his companion. "He-he was my best bud. H-he shoved me down and covered me before the missile struck- (sob)- Roadwind you selfless, noble, idiot!"

"Perhaps you should return to the battle." Ratchet suggested to the Autobot. He really didn't need small Autobot distracting him as he worked, besides it looked like the Autobots needed more fighting force out there before Prime arrived, and an Autobot with a vengeance was typically welcomed as long as he knew how to control it. What was keeping Prime and the reinforcements anyway?

The yellow and green mech just continued to stare at his companion mutely, this time not even bothering to nod his head. Ratchet glanced at him and realized what had happened, he was overcome with shock and could do nothing. The medic sighed and glanced around until he spotted someone nearby.

"Cliffjumper! Gears! Get over here!" The medic shouted.

The other two smaller, red Autobots looked over in his direction before rushing over. They ducked and ran, dodging and zigzagging their way through the laser fire until they reached Ratchet.

"Yeah, what is it?" Gears asked immediately either choosing to ignore or not noticing the wounded mech the medic knelt over, however Cliffjumper made a face and let out a soft "ouch!'

"I need you Cliffjumper to escort-" Ratchet broke off and glanced at the fellow Autobot, realizing he didn't know his name, however he shrugged and continued to say, "*him* off the battlefield. He's in shock, his buddy here is wounded and he can't fight. Give him cover as you drag him out."

"Yes sir!" Said Cliffjumper with a quick salute before he raced over to the other mech and grabbed him by his arm, lifting him up. "Alright you, come on." Mutely the Autobot allowed Cliffjumper to drag him away, still staring wide optics at his downed friend.

"As for you Gears, I need you to give me cover while I try to save this guy."

"Yeah sure, allow I think this fellow's already joined the Matrix." Gears commented as he took up stance between Ratchet and the oncoming fire from the Decepticons and began firing.

"We'll see." Ratchet muttered as he finally removed his chest piece. "We'll see."

(Return to normalcy)

***

Hours passed by in slow, aggravating minutes. Three times Winterstar's shard chamber threatened to give out and had to be jolted. It was turning out to be just as frustrating as a normal serious injury that he'd sometimes get with the other "bots. Robin and some of the other Autobots around the Ark had decided to drop in multiple times during those past few hours, further driving him mad until finally he had locked the door. His trouble didn't just stop with her shard chamber though, the problem with her mind was proving equally tricky. He'd already run several scans and removed enough melted chips, motherboards, and wires to cause him to worry that her mental satiability may already be shattered or seriously messed up. If she survived the operation he had no doubt that a good portion of her memory would be whipped out and she may not be completely sane.

The hours continued to slip away as he labored into the night, disturbed only when someone came banging at his door. Of course these became fewer and fewer as news spread around the Ark that anybody going anywhere *near* Med Bay would receive a good long lecture from the medic plus a threat to throw them into the brig if they continued to pester him. This job needed serious concentration, as the only other times that Ratchet had performed such surgeries had failed miserably. He was determined to see that this time that didn't happen. So determined was he that Ratchet didn't stop as the night began to grow old, he labored at her constantly, only stopping now and again to rent out his frustration on the walls or check something up on a nearby monitor.

Finally Ratchet heaved a sigh and slumped back in his seat and looked at the large collection of burnt chips, wires, and motherboards that he had pilled on the trolley beside him. The medic shook his head and looked at what was left of her CPU, which admittedly, wasn't much. It turned out that she was a worse case than the last patients he had worked on with this same case. He had to install Transformer chips, wires, and motherboards that he had to spare into her to make up for the missing ones and prayed that, when it finally came down to reactivating her, that something didn't blow up. After all, he'd yet to mix Transformer and Everum parts together and wasn't sure if the two alien technologies would even compare with the other. He hoped so, or else he could just kiss Winterstar bye-bye.

Ratchet rubbed a tired hand down his faceplate and checked her life signs once again. They were stable for the moment and he'd done about all he could for now. Tiredly he decided he'd catch a bit of rest and started to close his optics. Only the silent humming of the Ark's machinery and a constant "beep' from the life-support machine filled the medic's audios as he began to slip into recharge.

Beep-- Beep-- Beep-... Beep-...

"Well,' he thought as his optical lids finally closed down over his optics, "at least she's still functioning.'

Beep- Beep- Beep- Beep-

"Wait-' Ratchet's optical covers half opened before closing shut again. "Is it just me, or is that "beeping' sounding a bit-'

Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep..

Ratchet's optical bands flew open and he turned to stare at the readings on the life support machine with worry. That irritating beeping noise only grew louder and more constant by the nanosecond.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Ratchet took one glance at the monitor and confirmed his fears. "Slag!" It was the only word he got out of his mouth compartment before he heard that fatal ...

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!

"Son of a glitch!" Ratchet cursed among a multitude of other colorful words as he quickly jumped up and pressed a button, which jolted her systems. It didn't work. "Damnit, girl! Don't you fragging die on me now!" He jolted her systems again. The constant beeping stopped and returned to normal.

Beep-- Beep-- Beep--

Ratchet sighed with relief and plopped back down, glaring daggers at the fembot even though it wasn't completely her fault. "I see how it is." Ratchet muttered darkly at her. "Your going to try and die on me while I'm sleeping is that it? Well, if you want to play that game you'll find yourself the loser." Naturally her deactivated body didn't respond, much as he expected, if it had, well then he would have decided that *he* needed medical attention.

Suddenly there came a quick rapping at his door. "Beat it before I call Prowl and have him escort you to the brig!" Ratchet snapped through the door.

"Ratchet, its me Wheeljack! Let me in!"

"Oh." The medic got up and unlocked the door for his friend. As the med bay door slid aside he saw the Autobot in question standing beyond the door looking worried. "What do you want?"

Wheeljack peered beyond the medic towards the femme and said, "I heard the noise, how is she?"
Ratchet glared at the mech and was about ready to lock the door again, but wished that he could slam it shut instead. His finger hovered over the lock button as he replied, "She's still functioning, which of course you won't be in the next few Earth minutes if you don't beat it!"

Wheeljack faced the medic, the bands on the side of the inventor's face flashing blue for a few seconds in consideration. Finally he said, "Your tired Ratchet, would you mind if I looked over her while you got some rest?"

Ratchet thought about this for a few seconds then glanced back at the immobile fembot. "Well, I guess you could. I need some rest since I haven't gotten any proper recharge in a few days. I mean, on Monday Sunstreaker was hit by Laserbeak out scouting, then on Wednesday Bumblebee and Cliffjumper were used as target practice by the Seekers while out on duty, then Thursday ..."

"-there was the skirmish we had with the Decepticons and now, Saturday, we discover that there's another Everum and she needs serious medical care! I know Ratchet, I was there. Now why don't I just stay the night with the little she-bot, hm? I've helped you care for the "bots before, I don't think a little waiting through the night jolting her systems if they go off is to complicated for me."

Ratchet studied his friend with wearied optics, finally he gave in and nodded agreement. "Okay, but only because I really need to recharge."

"Hey! You can count on me, Ratchet buddy!" Wheeljack said giving his friend a kindly slap on the back as they strolled into Med Bay. "Its not like I'm going to blow her up or anything!"

Ratchet nervously laughed, recalling his work he'd done on her CPU and replacements done in her body. He really hoped it wouldn't explode like one of Wheeljack's many inventions. "Okay, I'm off." The white and red Autobot decreed as he slipped out from under Wheeljack's arm and walked into his side office to get some much needed rest.

***

Prime decided to stop by Med Bay and have a check on the new Everum. He had heard from Wheeljack that morning that the she-bot was being very difficult with Ratchet. Already her shard chamber had threatened to give out four times and once more on his watch last night.

'Its like she just doesn't want to live or doesn't has the will to try, Prime." Wheeljack had said to his commander, holding up his hands helplessly. Then he had touched his chin, his metal bands at the side of his face flickering. "Hmm- but then, perhaps that's just me thinking that. She is in critical state though, and the look on her face!" Wheeljack shook with a case of surges as he remembered it. "It just gives me a bit of the creeps! She seems so depressed, even lying there."

"Thank you Wheeljack. Perhaps I should drop in for a visit." Prime mused aloud.

"I'd be careful!" Wheeljack warned. "Ratchet's in one of his foul moods! He'd probably have *you* thrown into the brig for going into Med Bay!"

Prime had chuckled at that as he went on his way. This news wasn't good at all however, and if Winterstar didn't improve then they would loose not only the knowledge that Winterstar possessed, but Robin would be devastated. Also Ratchet would loose confidence in his abilities, as this would be the third time that he lost a patient to a case like this, well sort of. He hadn't actually lost the second case, in fact that Transformer had survived, the only problem was that his personality had changed completely. Prime knew that Ratchet blamed himself for that and sadly counted that case as a case lost, for the fun-loving, prank playing Autobot that everyone knew and loved had become bitter and cold, sometimes the Autobots around the Ark called him soulless. For awhile Prime's thoughts dwelled on that Autobot impeticular until his thoughts finally turned over to Winterstar. Prime knew that Ratchet could save her, his only concern would be her personality once she was reactivated. Would she remain the same as she had when they met her, depressed and shy, or would she become as the other Autobot had? Would she become a cold, emotionless warrior?

Finally he arrived at Med Bay and realized that the door was locked. No problem. He typed in his top security access code and unlocked the door. Cautiously he entered the room. He found Ratchet sitting over the fembot's head busily inspecting and repairing her damaged CPU. Prime froze and watched him for a second and then glanced at the pile of burnt out wires and melted chips and motherboards that he had taken from her head. Beneath the mask Prime bit down on his lower lip, Wheeljack hadn't mentioned this! Prime also noticed something else about the Med Bay that was unusual; his internal temperature readouts said that it was below the normal setting, enough to not cause ice to melt. Prime pondered this as he watched his friend. Obviously Ratchet must have noticed this and mildly wondered why he hadn't reported it. Was there a blown gasket in the air vent somewhere? The Autobot Commander waited while the busy medic tinkered with her CPU and didn't disturb him, (reasons for being that a sudden voice or sound could damage the Ever-teen) until he drew away.

"How is she coming along, Ratchet?"

As Prime had expected, Ratchet jumped at his sudden voice and glanced up, then suddenly frowned at him and presented a dangerous gleam in his optics. When it came to repairing his comrades up Prime knew from personal experience that it was just best if you didn't get hurt or else you'd have to feel the wrath of Ratchet's sharp tongue, not even *he* could escape it.

"How the slag did you get in here? I thought I locked the fragging door after Wheeljack left!"
Optimus was only mildly amused by Ratchet's behavior. The Autobot leader nodded back towards the unlocked door. "I think you forget that I have the access to unlock any door onboard the Ark."

Ratchet sneered at his commander as he returned his attention back to the damaged Everum. The medic carefully removed the last burnt out chip from her head and placed it off to the side for examination later. After all, the Everums were alien to the Transformers and he couldn't afford to throw out anything yet that maybe of value later, even if it was burnt out.

"Look, just beat it Optimus. This is turning out to be a lot more complicated then I thought."

"So then you don't know the cause for her repeating yet?"

"Repeating? Repeating! You think that's the *worst* of her problems! Oh no, no, no!" Ratchet spat with sarcasm and pointed at her opened chest compartment that revealed her inner rods and cables, and her ice/crystal chamber that pulsed rhythmically. "Take a look at that!"

Optimus hesitated a moment before coming closer and glanced inside her chest and saw what Ratchet had meant. Prime's optics grew wide and glowed brightly with surprise when he laid eyes on her shard chamber. Ratchet continued to watch his leader as he explained, "Remember what Robin's shard chamber looked like?"

"Yes. The shard hovered in the center of the chamber; glowing brightly and pulsating like a spark or a human's heart. But hers- what happened to hers? Its shattered and filled with ice!"

"I told you before that I thought that Winterstar was already dead, remember?" Ratchet explained a bit tiredly. Prime nodded, he recalled what the medic had said in Antarctica. "Well, I was partially correct. I think that Robin's singing somehow reactivated because that's when she appeared but I'm not sure, and the reason why she's "alive' as it was, is because the ice is frozen around all the critical shard pieces. I think that somehow, the ice is acting as a thread for the blanket, if you get my human term." Prime nodded, understanding what Ratchet meant.
"So if the ice inside her chamber melts, then she's dead."

"Yes."

Prime glanced around the room at all the empty air. "So, that's the reason why it's so cold in here? Because you're afraid the ice will melt?"

"Exactly." Then suddenly Ratchet glared at Prime once more and said sullenly, "Now out. I got a lot of work still to do!"

"Okay, okay!" Prime jibbed and started to leave but before he left a dark mood settled over him and he paused in the doorway, his hand on frame, and turned around to face the medic. "Ratchet, tell me straight, do you think she'll make it?"

Ratchet met Prime's gaze before falling again to Winterstar's removed parts on the trolley beside him and at another pile of busted rods and burnt out cables that Wheeljack had removed for him last night. The inventor had replaced the old ones with Transformer replacements. (Ratchet would have to check those later.) Ratchet glanced at these and then at Winterstar and back at him again. His face was grim and Prime already knew the answer before he said it.

"Not likely Prime, and you can tell Robin that too! I'm not setting Winterstar's chances very high."

"But there's still hope?" Prime asked, trying to be the optimistic.

Ratchet sighed and grumbled, "Yes there's still a chance, a very *small* chance. But from what it's looking like to me if I did somehow manage to save her, her mind would be very unstable. She lost a lot of her memory and pain acknowledging chips and burnt out all her pain receiving chips and wires too. Of course the melt down or explosion from those wreaked havoc with the rest of her CPU, which would explain her repeating process and her low level of recongization for the outside world. It was pretty much the only things left undamaged besides a few other little memory chips here and there. And with her shard chamber being so weak she can't undergo a lot of stress or exert herself too much. It could kill her, and she can't go out in direct sunlight or else the ice might melt from the heat buildup in her body." Just then Ratchet fixed Prime with a piercing stare and said sternly, "Prime, its not a wise idea to reactivate her with her few remaining memory chips. Being as devastating as they are they could drive her mad."

"What are you saying, Ratchet?" Prime asked questioningly.

"I'm saying that I'm probably going to have to erase her entire memory core clean or lock up the memories. Either way when I reactivate her, Prime, she's not going to remember anything- not even her name."

Prime lowered his head, sighed deeply, and rubbed his tired optics. After a pause he said, "I don't think that's what Robin will want to hear. She really had her heart set on learning about the Everums from Winterstar."

"There's nothing I can do Prime." Ratchet explained mournfully, practically upset with himself for being unable to do more, "There's nothing I can do."

Prime continued to rub his optics as he started to turn away and out of Med Bay. "Then that's it? She'll be as clueless as a new spark?"

"Yes."

"So I guess her case was worse then-." Prime's voice trailed off as his optics jumped to Ratchet's. He quickly regretted bringing up the subject of the last Autobot who had the "repeating' problem as he noticed Ratchet's gaze drop and his shoulders slouch. Quickly he changed the subject. "Well, at least we know a bit about her from our encounter in Antarctica. At least we know her name and the name of a few other Everums like this Raptilla and 24." Ratchet nodded.

"I suppose."

"I want you to go with the lock down for now, Ratchet. I don't want her memory core whipped clean."

Ratchet nodded again. "Understood. I'll do that immediately."

Prime hesitated before leaving Med Bay again. He turned back around, dropping his hand from his face as a thought came to mind. "Ratchet, how close are you from finish repairing her?"

"Probably a few more hours. I still want to run some tests before I reactivate her."

Prime nodded, considering this. Then said as he left, "I'll go tell Robin."

Unawares by the two Autobots, Ravage had listened in on the entire conversation and others like it for the two whole days since they had brought the Ever-teen in. He decided that now would be a good time to sneak out of the Ark and report back to his master.

***
(Later at Decepticon HQ, the Nemesis)

Megatron fell into deep thought after Soundwave finished playing Ravage. Initially he had sent Ravage to spy on the Everum Robin after stumbling upon the interview with her, but this news was much more rewarding. The Autobots had found another Everum and she was in critical state, and even better if she even was reactivated she wouldn't have a clue about anything, plus she was forbid to go into direct sunlight!

"Yes." Megatron exclaimed, drawing the word out as he rubbed his chin. "I can already see a few games that we could play with the Autobots with this Everum- what was her name again, Winterstar?"

"Yes Lord Megatron." Soundwave confirmed in his monotone voice.

"And what do you have in mind, mighty Megatron." Starscream sneered in his shrill, taunting voice as usual. The jet stood nearby, standing proud with his arms crossed over his chest. Soundwave stood just a few feet from him on his left. Before them sat Megatron in his throne at their underwater base.

Megatron sneered at the jet, his second in command, and replied, "Laserbeak is to sneak into the Med Bay carrying Soundwave. Once inside the Med Bay I want you, Soundwave, to find some way of releasing this she-bot's memories."

"Wait." Starscream said, catching onto the plan. "You want to kill her? What good will that do us?"

"Of course I want her dead you fool, but not before she gives us some vital information."

"What information? About 90% of her CPU is fried! You heard what the medic said, she won't remember anything, not even her own name!"

"Ah- but Starscream you forget, there were some memories that were untouched by the damage done to her CPU and those memories could be vital to us. She may even know where other Everums are."

At this news Starscream scoffed at Megatron and stated, pointing a finger at his *beloved* leader, "And what makes you think there are other Everums here on Earth?"

Megatron let out just the tiniest hint of a smile before saying, "She was here wasn't she."

At that Starscream went quiet, thinking intently on the matter. Yes, she had been here, and she had been ordered to sacrifice herself for something, but the question was, what? And why?

Suddenly Megatron continued speaking, explaining something else to the jet, "Now Starscream, ask yourself something. Why was she even here to begin with? What did her people find interesting about this mudball planet that they would travel halfway across the universe from Gorgon galaxy to the Milky Way just to fight a war here?"

"Why are we here." Starscream retorted.

Megatron's smile faltered and he frowned at the cunning jet. "We crash landed here on accident. What are the odds that the same thing happened to their people? I find it highly unlikely, and if it is so then their ship would still be here somewhere." Suddenly the silver tyrant stood up and towered over his two minions. "They were here deliberately and I bet whatever the reason it was something very important. I want to know what it is!"

Starscream remained quiet, stepping back into his original position and crossing his arms over his chest. Mentally he thought Megatron was a fool. They were just wasting time with this.

Megatron turned to Soundwave and commanded, "You are to leave for the Ark immediately. Unlock the femme's memories and discover what they are. I want to know if there are any other Everums here on Earth and why they were here in the first place!"

"Yes Lord Megatron."

After a quick bow from Soundwave, the telepath departed, leaving for his new assignment. Starscream was about to follow when Megatron's gravel-tone voice suddenly cut across the silence of the throne room.

"Starscream."

The seeker paused and slowly turned around, half wondering if he was going to be slagged for questioning Megatron's rule. As it was Megatron tossed something at him and the jet, only momentarily surprised, still managed to catch it. The silver tyrant exposed a wide smile to the backstabbing jet.

"I want that analyzed." He commanded, pointing at the small piece of light metal that Starscream now held in his hands. "I want to know its strengths and weaknesses, but most importantly I want to know if it can be duplicated or tracked."

Starscream just stared down at the small, rectangular piece of metal for a moment before nodding mutely. It was then that he was finally allowed to leave the throne room without another interruption from Megatron.

***

As Starscream traveled down the darkened purple hallways of the Nemesis he flipped the small piece of metal over and over again in his hands, trying to remember why it looked so familiar to him.

The rectangular metal piece was about as big as Starscream's hand was high and about two inches (in Transformer terms) thick. On one side of the metal plate it was smooth like glass but stained a light brown color while on the other side a fine layer of blue crystal covered the entire backside. It too was smooth and reflected the dim light strangely in the corridors, causing it to glitter in Starscream's crimson optics, and somehow raise his need for power- and at the same time another foreign feeling he hardly felt anymore- contentment and happiness.

While he held this small metal piece in his hands he felt at odds with himself, he craved power, a power he thought was emanating from the crystal side, and at the same time felt contented, happy, and at peace with his world, which also emanated from the crystal side. One moment he wanted to charge off in search of this great power, to make himself more powerful, yet that contented happy feeling kept him from doing so.

By the time Starscream reached his lab he didn't know if he wanted to destroy the damned thing or keep it for himself. Simply having it in his possession was driving him mad!

"No wonder Megatron gave it to me.' Starscream thought bitterly as he typed in the entry code to his lab and stepped inside. "He didn't want to deal with these confusing feelings himself!'

"Light on!"

The light for his lab switched on and for a moment Starscream was blinded by the brighter light source, however within a few moments it wore off and the scientist was able to see again. Idly he glanced back down at the small metal piece in his hands and suddenly realized where he had seen it before.

"That Everum!" He gasped, shocked. "This was that piece I blasted off of that fem-bot!"

***

(Later that night, outside Autobot base: 11:45 P.M. Earth time)

The trip to Autobot base was easy enough, they met no resistance and no Autobot alarms were triggered as Laserbeak swooped into the volcano and expertly navigated his way through the Ark. He had done this so many times before that the mechanical bird didn't really need to think about it, well that was until they entered the Ark and landed carefully inside an empty command room. Quickly the bird released its baggage and hopped away, allowing Soundwave room to transform. Once in his alt-mode Soundwave turned and opened his chest compartment, commanding Laserbeak to return. Once Laserbeak had transformed into his cassette mode and entered his chest cavity the large blue mech turned and addressed Teletran-1. He had no idea where the Med-Bay was and thought that perhaps he could find out by accessing the supercomputer. He glanced up and down the monitor screens, wondering if the Autobots installed a secret code for its activation, when he noticed that someone had left a monitor opened. Quickly Soundwave sat down in the chair in front of it and began pressing buttons, accessing the map of the Ark and hunting down the Medbay. It didn't take long from there, he found it easily and quickly uploaded its route from the command room to the lab into his motherboard. Next he accessed the computer and discovered who was on skeleton crew tonight and who wasn't. He discovered that one Autobot was in Medbay, obviously Ratchet, while it seemed that most of the rest of the Autobots were snoozing in their quarters. There was a skeleton crew present but they were nowhere near his current facility.

As the tape deck continued to scan through the Autobot forces, he came upon a name that boggled his mind. He leaned closer to get a better view of the name written in Cybertronian and as he read it again his crimson visor flashed dangerously. "Nightbird' was the name scrawled along the list of other Autobot forces. This sent loops racing through Soundwave CPU. The Autobots had Nightbird? He had thought that after the battle with the Autobots to recover Robin that they had returned the ninja robot back to Dr. Fujiyama. Obviously he and the Decepticons had made a fatal mistake. Soundwave settled that, even if the mission was a loss, at least he had some interesting, yet dangerous news to tell Megatron when he returned to base. The Autobots had Nightbird!

The telepath continued scanning through the Autobot files when he finally noticed that an Autobot was heading back to the command center. Hurriedly Soundwave canceled out of the windows he had created and slipped out of the command room, following the corridor that would take him to Med Bay. No sooner had he stepped out of the command room then Prowl entered, unaware of the intruder that had been there a mere nanosecond ago, sitting in his chair no less.

***

Anxiety at being caught slowly amounted inside the blue tape deck the further he went into his enemies' base. He would rather be back at the Nemesis than here- alone. No, that wasn't entirely true, Laserbeak was with him, the amount of good that thought gave him. He not only had to worry about his life but the life of his creation inside him too. He couldn't get caught.

It wasn't long before he reached Med Bay, relieved so far that no one had seen him, however he stopped right outside the door, well aware of who lay beyond. He couldn't afford to be detected, his assignment required time not hurriedness. Carefully he thought about his course of action until he came up with a plan.

***

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Inside the Med Bay Ratchet lifted his head and glared at the automatic sliding door, almost cursing the heavy knocking and the unfortunate Transformer making them. His first reaction was, of course, the most common the Autobots heard around the Ark when he was working on a critical patient. "I'M WARNING YOU! LEAVE NOW BEFORE I CALL PROWL!"

From the other side of the door there came a short space of silence and then:

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Ratchet grumbled and got up from the stool he had been sitting on while he worked feverishly to complete Winterstar's damaged body and mind. He was nearly complete, all he had to do was weld her chest piece back on and do a test run of her systems before he could reactivate her, of that he was proud and would be prouder if everything worked.

As he stomped his way over to the door he grumbled loudly, secretly planning a good long lecture for the unfortunate fellow on the other side. As he stepped up and pressed the button that unlocked the door, he lifted his head up, mouth opened to give the Autobot the greatest lecturing of his life, when his voice caught in his throat, his optics going wide when he saw Soundwave.

Ratchet tried stumbling back, tried to scream for help or at least reach the alarm system but was put out of commission by a heavy and hard swing to the head from the communication officers fist. With a loud *clank!* Ratchet crashed into the nearby wall and then limply dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Well, that was easy if not the brightest of plans.' Thought Soundwave as he turned and locked the door, just to make sure no unwanted Autobots came in while he was here, then turned and hurried up to the prone Everum. He only had one shot at this and only a limited amount of time before the medic was awake again.

The telepath came and bent over the Everum's head, opening up a panel in her head and opening a panel on his chest, then he removed an extension cable from his exposed circuitry and attached it to her newly repaired CPU. In the next moment the Decepticon's crimson visor flashed as the few memories that Winterstar possessed were downloaded into his core processor.

Soundwave was just thinking how well this mission was going, and what fools the Autobots were for their lame security system, when the alarms went off.

***

Prowl raced through the Ark's golden hallways, skidding around corners and running through half open sliding doors, his photon gun clutched anxiously in his right hand and a single thought racing through his CPU. "How could this have happened?'

Of course he knew how it had happened. He had replayed the security cameras and watched Laserbeak's descent into the volcano, his flight through the Ark, and then ultimately his arrival into the command room where he released Soundwave-

Prowl cursed himself for a fool! What lousy timing he had to go off and get a quick energon drink, leave his post for only a few Earth minutes and look what happens! The Ark gets invaded by one of Megatron's inner circle Decepi-creeps who is, for some bizarre reason, enroute to Med-bay. This last bit of info he had also learned by watching the security cameras.

He was such an idiot! He knew he shouldn't have but it still remained that he had. At least he had activated the alarm systems and the Ark was now aware of the intruder.

Prowl dashed around the next corner, the next hallway leading to Med Bay, and nearly collided with Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Mirage.

"PROWL! WHAT'S GOING ON?" Mirage shouted to be heard about the blaring sirens.

"ITS SOUNDWAVE! HE'S IN THE BASE AND HE'S LOCKED HIMSELF IN MED BAY! RATCHET IS OUT COLD AND HE'S DOING SOMETHING TO WINTERSTAR!"

"WHAT? WINTERSTAR?! BUT WE ... oh good Primus!" Was all Mirage spat out as he turned on the spot and started back down the corridor with Prowl right behind him but the twins were already ahead of them and at the front door. As the two other Autobots started racing back down the hallway they saw Sunstreaker and Sideswipe raise their guns and fire at the door.

BOOM!!

CLANK-LANK-TAK!!

With the door to Med Bay blasted off its track, the two foolhardy twins rushed in, heedless of the danger inside. However, just as Mirage and Prowl were about to follow them through they heard gunfire, return fire, and then Soundwave's emotionless voice commanding, "Laserbeak: eject! Operation ruined! Retreat! RETREAT!"

A moment later they heard the shrill cry of Laserbeak and then through the sizzling smoke of the busted door came the mechanical bird himself carrying a transformed Soundwave in his grasp.

"FIRE! FIRE!" Prowl ordered as he and Mirage began taking pop shots at the bird. "DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!"

At that moment Cliffjumper, Hound, and Tracks rounded the corner, after hearing the gunfire and coming to investigate, and just barely had time to duck and cover as Laserbeak flew over their heads, a trail of laser fire from their comrades following suit.

"HEY!" Cliffjumper shouted at the two apologetic Autobots. The small red Autobot stood up and glared at them, shaking his fist at the two. "WATCH WHERE YOUR FIRING OR I'LL ..."

"ENOUGH CLIFFJUMPER!" Hound shot out. "WE GOTTA CATCH THAT BIRD!"

"YOU SIX GO AFTER HIM," Prowl commanded, pointing to the three Autobots, Mirage, and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe who just leapt out of Med Bay, "I'LL RADIO PRIME AND THE OTHERS, TELL THEM WHAT'S GOING ON, AND SEE TO RATCHET AND WINTERSTAR."

The chosen six just nodded and raced around the corner after the fleeing bird and his master. Prowl wasted no time in watching them depart as he had a friend to check up on.

As the white and black Autobot stepped into the ruined Med Bay he glanced around, hoping that he wouldn't see pieces of Ratchet scattered all over the place.

"RATCHET?" He called softly at first and then louder, "RATCHET!"

"Oooohoo. My aching head!"

Prowl guided himself through the smoke, smashed or broken machines scattering the floor, and split fluids towards his the familiar noise. As he stepped his way carefully towards a corner of Med Bay he spied the medic in a corner where he was just sitting up and gingerly touching his head. The second in command rushed over and helped him up.

"YOU OKAY RATCHET?" Prowl shouted to be heard about the screaming alarms. "ANYTHING ELSE HURT BESIDES YOUR HEAD?"

"WHAT??"

"I SAID ...!" Just then the alarms were shut off and Prowl looked thankful. He took quick breath and said once more, "Anything else hurt besides your head?"

"No, no. I think that's it. I'm lucky Soundwave didn't decide to play surgeon with me, though. Wait, what was he doing here in the first place?"

Prowl nodded back over his shoulder towards the examination table where Winterstar still laid prone, a few specks of Soundwave's energy fluids dotting her face and inner rods and cables, plus several shot up life support machines (thanks to the twins) sparked and sizzled dangerously. Ratchet went from looking upset at the condition of his Med Bay to frightened due to the possibility that the machines could explode. "I saw over the security cameras before I came charging down here that he was doing something to her CPU. I don't know what but I suppose we have plenty of time to find out. Here, if you can stand why don't you attend to the machines before it starts a fire while I contact Prime."

Ratchet just nodded as he raced off to go shut off the machines and cut the power while Prowl busied himself with notifying Prime and any other Autobot of the situation. As it turned out Prime and a few others had already run into Laserbeak and Soundwave and the group chasing them, however the two Decepticons had gotten away. Although this brought a frown to Prowl's faceplate it was now his turn to further increase the frown hidden beneath Prime's battle mask.

"Optimus, Soundwave and Laserbeak were here in Med Bay doing something to Winterstar. Ratchet's trying to find that out right now."

"Affirmative. Sideswipe and Mirage already told me. I'll be there in a little bit."

"Alright. Prowl out." With that he cut the link and turned to address Ratchet and the rest of Med Bay. Ratchet had been quick in shutting off the computers and preventing any electrical fire from breaking out and was now trying to figure out what Soundwave had done to Winterstar. Prowl strolled over to his friend, glancing over his shoulder at a computer terminal, one of the few that hadn't gotten blown up in the cross fight, and scanned over what he was doing.

After a few moments his metallical eyebrows knitted together and he replied, "Well, what *did* he do to her?"

"Nothing it seems." Ratchet said with a relieved sigh, although he began the system for another scan through of the Everum's body.

"That doesn't seem logical." Prowl accessed. "Why would he risk his life to get in here only to do nothing to her?"

"Unless he didn't get the chance to do anything." Ratchet suggested as he awaited the results of the scans.

Prowl straightened up, crossing one arm over his chest and resting his other elbow on it and then holding his chin with that same hand. "Hmmm-. I wonder what he was here to do then."

"I don't care as long as he didn't do anything!" Ratchet spluttered and stood up, the scans once again showing no damage had been done to his patient and glad for it. Grouchily the medic threw his red fists onto his hips and looked around his devastated Medbay, a frown on his faceplate. After a brief glance over he turned and addressed Prowl, his sapphire optics narrowed at the police car. "*Who* fired in my Med Bay? And why in the Inferno would they fire around *those!*" To clearly define his point the medic pointed at the life support machinery and other blasted and destroyed computers that had been hooked up to the young Everum.

Prowl examined these as he explained without feeling, "Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

There seemed to be a flame that danced up into the medic's optics that caused Prowl to take a cautionary step back. Through clenched teeth the Chief Medical Officer growled, fists also clenched and his whole body stiff with rage that was barely controlled, "I'd like to see them in my Med-Bay- *now!*"

***

TO BE CONTINUED IN 'Dreams of Whispers' of the 'Lost Memories, Part 3' series. Don't miss it!