[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Transmission (Open)

[Raf Esquivel]

Ep 2.5 Week 1, Day 5


It had been a very long week.

Raf sat in his desk at school, writing out the last of the instructions from his teacher on the homework he would have to do later. He already had most of it figured out - the lesson today had been very easy to understand. He would just need the time to actually write it out for his teacher. It was something he would probably do after school on the couch in the Autobot base, if Miko wasn’t being too loud today.

On the floor near his desk, sat a large trophy. It was a bronze work of art - stylized as a molecule of carbon, sitting on a dark wood base. The golden plaque on the front read: All State Science Fair, First Place Winner, Rafael Esquivel.

The week-long science fair had been the most fun Raf had had in a long time.  He had gotten a chance to fly in a plane with his mother, and visit another state. There he had competed against other kids for the grand prize.

Raf had been worried, at first. He was going to be dealing with other children his age, and older. And he...well, he didn't have a great track record with most kids his age. They all thought he was a complete nerd, and most pushed him around.

But these kids, when he met them?

They were just like him!

They had loved science and computers and other things as much as he did! He didn't have to pretend he was dumb to try and get along with them! They talked about things that not only did he understand, but he could contribute to the conversation.  Even the older kids, the teenagers, had been nice to him.  No one had called him names or pushed him around!  It had been great!

He had even made some friends!

Raf wished he had been able to talk about the Autobots with them. He was sure they would have understood, and been as amazed as he had been!  But he understood he couldn't.  Maybe some day, if the world ever did find out about them, then he could say he knew them!  Until then, well...it was a nice dream.

But he had gotten some awesome pictures of them, and exchanged emails!

Raf had won a large cash prize, and that massive trophy.

He couldn’t wait to show it to Bumblebee!

The school bell rang just as he finished writing out his homework note, and as the other kids jumped up and dashed to the door, Raf neatly put away his notebook and text book, tucking away everything he owned into his backpack.

For a second, he paused, reaching into his backpack, making sure the new pieces of electronics he had recently purchased were there. That was something he would be putting together later, maybe at home tonight. Or he might work on it at the Autobot base. It was just a radio...of sorts.

Kind of.

He finished packing away his things, and stood up. Carefully slipping his heavier-than-normal packback onto his back, he bent and struggled to pick up the trophy.

His teacher, Miss Johnson, stood up from her desk, and took a step forward, “Are you ok with that, Raf? Do you want some help?”

Raf shook his head, then realizing she wouldn’t be able to see - the trophy was taller than he was when he was holding it up, spoke, his usual soft voice drifting out from behind the trophy.

“No Miss Johnson, I’m ok. It’s just a little awkward. I’m fine.”

Raf pivoted in place, and stumbled awkwardly out of the room, into the hallway, and on toward the main doors of the school.

[Deleted]

Outside the main doors, a cool afternoon breeze drifted through yard. It was a pleasant afternoon to be out and about Jasper. Rafael wasn't the only student making his way out but the crowds had thinned a little. The trophy had slowed his progress just enough that he wasn't caught in the mad rush of students fleeing for freedom. Some lingered in groups, chatting with friends about their days and making plans for the rest of it. The murmur of conversation bubbled a little more excitedly than usual however, normally at this time, it was calm and languid. The atmosphere held...an edge of amusement?

Yep, people were laughing a bit more than usual.

Paper would rustle under Raf's foot as he walked. A flyer. Several of them in fact. If he looked down, he'd see that they were all the same. Black on both sides. Someone had spent a lot of money on ink. The flyers were facing front side up and three simple words were printed on them in the travesty that was known as comic sans.

"THEY ARE HERE!"

Should Rafael be curious enough to put down his trophy, pick one up and turn it over, he'd find a logo and some contact details in white text; a phone number, website, email address and numerous social media accounts.

It was the same name branded across them all.

Car Truthers.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf peered at the flyer under his sneaker curiously. Seeing others flying past on the breeze, his first thought was that his principal was going to be anger for whoever had littered on the school grounds. The last time someone did that, a bunch of teenagers were trying to advertise they were starting a band and were looking for a drummer. They had had to pick up every last flyer and take them to be recycled.

Raf lifted his foot, and noticing the flyer seemed to be stuck to the bottom of his shoe, he leaned over, carefully putting his trophy on the ground, and peeled the flyer off. Adjusting his glasses some, he looked first at the back of the flyer, then at the front.

“Car Truther?”

What was a Car Truther? It sounded sort of like some indy racing group, maybe? Like, cars were a way of life?

He squinted at the logo, not really being able to pick anything out of that either. The bit at the bottom kind of looked like a car seat…the middle one like someone trying to give a hug…and the third was…no idea.

Raf squinted a little, turning the flyer on it’s side.

Nope. Still nothing.

He turned it over, looking at the three bold words again. They are here? Who is -

A chill suddenly ran up his back.

Oh no.

Raf had plenty of experience on the internet. He had seen more than his fair share of crackpot sites, where people posted videos of supposed alien autopsies, UFO’s flying over the White House flashing lights, and reptillian overlords in business suits spotted in diners. The websites usually consisted of weird icons, like this one, and people dedicated to finding “The Truth”, sure that “The Man” was trying to hide it away from everyone for reasons extending from wanting to make reptillian-human babies to complete control of the universe.

YouTube was flooded with them.

If that’s what this was….if this was one of those groups…and really, what else could it be, with “They Are Here!” plastered over one side of this flyer…then there could be trouble. Because this time, they were actually right.

He had already spent time online hacking into sites where people had uploaded various images of the Cybertronians, caught in rare moments of battle or weakness, and replaced them with dancing monkies and chickens. It wasn’t all that hard.

But if this was an actual organized group, well…this could be bad.

Keeping the flyer in his hand, Raf lifted his head, looking around the school grounds. How long had the flyers been there? Maybe he could catch a sight of whoever it was. If he was really lucky, it might be just some kids who had nothing better to do...

[Deleted]

It would be obvious now without the trophy to obscure his view, what the other students were laughing about. Some had the flyers clutched in their hands, others had whipped out their phones and were looking up the websites. Rafael's time on the internet would have made him very familiar with the content they were seeing.

Paranoid rantings about mysterious visitors living amongst humanity. They took the shapes of cars! Think that's just an old hatchback sitting in your driveway, think again! That car probably reported back to an unknown power beyond human comprehension. Sometimes, you might spot a car driving by itself with no one in the driver's seat. It was called the ghost car phenomenon.

And Jasper? Jasper Nevada was a hot spot for ghost car sightings!

Rafael would recognise the picture posted here. It was one of Bumblebee, in vehicle form. The quality wasn't great, snapped by a phone in poor lighting. And it looked like there was no driver in the seat but one could easily argue that it was simply a bad photo that made it look this way. Raf had taken it down himself, scrubbed the image from where it had been posted on an obscure forum. But obviously whoever the original poster was, they had a local copy that had been shared again, in private.

So Car Truthers had taken it upon themselves to come to Jasper to uncover the truth and show humanity that there were extra-terrestrial visitors living amongst them. The group was going to make a documentary of everything they saw and everyone they spoke to. Jasper's locals were encouraged to seek the group out, make contact and speak about their experiences living in a ghost car hotspot.

Most of the students were laughing it off, not taking the material seriously. Some looked intrigued but that was because they were bored teenagers and this promised to add a little bit of excitement to their lives.

If Raf looked a little further, he'd find that opposite the school, across the road, two people were sticking up flyers onto the poles of street lights. They were both young adults, looked like college students in their early twenties. The lady was wearing a cheery green sundress and a spill of straight, brown hair peaked out from under a broad floppy hat. She was currently tapping a flyer to a new pole. The man standing back wearing a bright red T-shirt and a pair of black shorts has his phone whipped out and was taking a video of everything in sight.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf stood and stared in shock. They were here.  Right now.

He experienced the deer-in-the-headlights feeling for a second. What was he going to do? This wasn’t just scrubbing some images from a website, this was different. They were actually here, recording and stuff! And how much equipment did they have? They kinda looked like college students, maybe, around that age but….if they had really good equipment, and knew how to use it, what if they could record the Autobot’s frequencies and listen in!?

For a second, Raf forgot to breathe.

Taking a deep breath, sure his face was the color of a stop sign, Raf ducked his head, fixing his eyes on his trophy.

Ok.

OK.

Think.

His first thought was to go straight to Optimus. They had to know, after all. They had to be warned, that someone was actually in the area now, and trying to film them! And Bumblebee wou-

Oh no! Bumblebee!

He’d be by to pick him up at any time!

Scooping up his trophy, Raf turned, and half ran, half staggered back into the school, pushing his way through the heavy doors. The first thing he needed to do was put his trophy somewhere. He couldn’t carry it everywhere with him if he was going to be on foot.

Lumbering into the library, he put the trophy behind the door, where it would both be out of the way, and out of sight. He could get it later.

The next step was to warn Bumblebee.

He pulled out his phone, and texted Miko. She’d tell Bulkhead to let Bee know that he couldn’t be picked up today. He didn’t give a reason, just said that he wouldn’t be able to go to the base today. Raf didn’t want to alarm anyone. And he was hoping, really really hoping....he could diffuse this situation all by himself.

Snapping shut his phone, he then hauled out his laptop, and putting it on a nearby table, booted it up and got online.

When the Autobots were going to go out and either fight the Decepticons or even just go check something out, they always had a plan. Find out everything they could, first, about what they were getting into.

The very first thing he did, was make a dummy email account. The LAST thing he needed was to have anything come back to him. It would risk the Autobots, himself, and his momma would kill him.

The next thing he wanted to know was how much they really knew. Having a fuzzy picture of Bumblebee was one thing. If they had a lot more information, well….that could be a big problem.

Phase one - information.

Raf’s small fingers flew over the keyboard as he started typing.

“Hi, I live in Jasper. My child brought home your flyer and I knew I had to email you right away.

I HAVE SEEN THEM!

But I’m not sure I trust you. How do I know you’re not just the government and you’re not going to try and kidnap me and brainwash me and turn me into a mindless zombie slave-”

Raf paused. He was spending too much time with Miko. That was too obvious.

He went back and deleted several words, then continued on, “- brainwash me? How can I trust you?”

He signed it, “A Concerned Jasper Parent”, then sent it off.

There. With any luck, they would think they had someone who felt the same way they did, and he could start talking to them. Then he would find out just how much of a threat they really were.  And maybe even find out some information about them, like how well prepared they were for this.  He doubted they'd give out their names or anything, but he might be able to see if they were just working from their garage or had a real base and everything.

Quickly packing up his laptop again, he ran back outside, to see if they were still there, and look as much like just another kid waiting to go home as possible.

As he passed out the door, he glanced at the clock. He'd soon have to actually start walking home, he couldn't stay here forever.

[Deleted]

A few students cast a curious look Rafael's way. It wasn't often you saw a trophy run off, after all. The sight of his backpack bouncing up and down stirred a few memories.

Hey, didn't that kid get picked up by a car like the one in the picture on this crazy website?

Yeah, could swear that he did.

Hmm…

More laughs were exchanged. Maybe they'd send some information in and see what the Car Truthers did. But interest was fading as their minds turned to other things, sports practice they needed to get to, part time jobs, etc. They'd follow it up later.

As Rafael headed back inside, the two people continued their work. The man was keeping a watch on traffic, his head turned curiously as every car drove past. The hand not holding a phone was held out towards his companion. A pair of scissors sat in his hand and a roll of sticky tape hung off a finger. Two bags sat of their feet, crammed full of paper and stationary supplies. The woman finished taping the flyer and they picked up the bags and moved on to the next pole which sat at the corner of an intersection.

The lady picked the scisscors out of her companion's hand and cut a few strips of tape before placing it back. They were chatting casually, which bits of town they'd been to, where else they needed to go. A few cars drove past, two hatchbacks, a ute. They halted at the red light at the intersection. Nothing unusual about them. Disappointing but the ghost cars weren't going to be so easily found, the two people knew.

An engine sounded and the man's head twitched up at the sound. A black motorcycle drifted up to the traffic and halted at the head. It was a very nice sportsbike, a modified black Suzuki GSX-R1000. Didn't see very many of them around Jasper. Whoever the rider was, they were big and wearing plenty of black, armoured protective gear. The rider's head was covered with a tinted helmet that completely concealed their face, with a compact action camera mounted on top. There was a pattern that decorated the back of the rider's jacket. 

The man's face tightened unhappily for a moment. He said something to his companion and she looked up and frowned as well. The lights turned green and the traffic started moving again. The motorcycle continued through the intersection, turning down a side straight further up and vanished from view.

The pair exchanged a few comments, as they turned right at the intersection and started walking away from the school. They were done anyway, they'd put up flyers on all the poles here and while they had spoken to a few people in the street, they hadn't really gotten anything interesting. Today was a bust, they'd take a break, grab a coffee somewhere, maybe check if anything had come up online.

By the time Rafael raced out of the door, the man and the woman had moved on and were nowhere in sight.

[Raf Esquivel]

Rafael paused, looking up and down the street for the two people. Not seeing them, he felt a strange sort of nervous flutter in his stomach. He didn’t actually know if that was good or bad, but at least he didn’t feel like there was a giant spotlight on him anymore.

Letting out a sigh, he turned, and started walking along the street back towards his home. It was about a 40 minute walk, and his feet were going to be very tired, but at least he didn’t have to worry about Bee being spotted.

What to do?

Hitching his backpack up higher on his back, he walked along the sidewalk, lost in thought, only really aware of his surroundings enough to keep from walking into a light pole or tripping over a curb.

Raf knew he had to tell the Autobots. They couldn’t risk being seen, even if it was just some conspiracy people. Because who knew who might see it. MECH might accidentally happen upon it, and that would be bad.

But if he told the Autobots, they would have to really really limit what they did. And that meant Bee wouldn’t be able to come pick him up at school. Which….it was better if he didn’t, rather than get caught or something, but still…

Raf pressed the button for a crosswalk, still thinking.

If he didn’t tell them, and something happened, well, it would be his fault. And he’d feel terrible if something happened!

The crossing light came on, and he trundled across the road.

If he did tell them, what would they do? Well…they might have a better chance of shutting down the website. If Optimus told Fowler, Fowler could use his position to shut down the website, but….to conspiracy people, that would just tell them they were on the right path.

And he still kinda felt bad. Because they were right. There were giant alien robots on earth. He didn’t want to cause trouble to them when they were right.

But he had to protect his friends.

By the time Raf got home, he was confused and tired, and his feet hurt. His mother was upset he hadn’t gotten a ride home with his friend in the yellow car, but he told her he hadn’t felt well so had decided to come straight home. His mother instantly put him in his pyjamas, stuck a thermometer in his mouth, and made him soup, chastising him for not calling her so she could find him another ride home.

So now he had lied to his Momma too.

The soup was good though.

After he did his homework - it had actually been done even faster than he had thought - he opened up his laptop to see if he had received any information back yet.

[Deleted]

There was, if Rafael cared to go looking, a wealth of information available to him about the mystery truthers. A website, their own forums, social media… there were plenty of avenues available to him to look them up and they were all right on the back of that flyer he'd picked up.

Mysterious? These folks were anything but.

The website had started as an offshoot of a broader alien conspiracy website. Crop circles, Stonehenge, the pyramids, Area 51, you name it. Then the ghost car theory made it's way to the website and a small group of dedicated members gathered around it.

The interest in the ghost car phenomenon had stirred - not with the shoddy photos of Bumblebee being posted around the internet but with what happened to them. A ghost in more ways than one, not only were the subject of the pictures unusual -cars that apparently drove themselves- but the pictures themselves would soon vanish, removed by some unknown hand. People who posted and shared the images soon found them replaced by a tap dancing monkey. An urban legend soon grew.

The validity of the photos, those were a bit harder to prove (movie props maybe, bad photos, we aren't that far off the age of self driving cars you guys, was one of the more sensible, saner arguments). That the photos were vanishing, that smelled like a cover up (maybe Silicon Valley is pissed off that you keep posting pictures of their top secret prototypes, someone snidely remarked at one point). What was the meaning of the tap dancing monkey? It was clearly the enemy, striking at those who dared to share images of the ghost car phenomenon on the internet. A small group of interested members formed around the conspiracy, eventually splitting away from the main website to create their own based purely around the topic.

Thus, Car Truthers was born.

It was a small website. If one had the time and inclination to go poking around, they'd find that there was about 4-5 dedicated members who posted nearly daily, with a scattering of casuals who wandered in and out. There was a small surge in the number of new registrations over the recent week, no doubt caused by the flyers that had been shared around Jasper.

Perhaps the most interesting thing, should Rafael take a look, was the planning about the documentary that they'd come to Jasper for. It pretty much amounted to them all agreeing that it was a fabulous idea and they should make their way to Jasper and do it but had very little on the actual technical aspect of shooting a documentary. They clearly had not thought that far ahead. One of the members already lived here apparently and was hosting but the rest of the hard-core members lived interstate. They had slowly trickled into town over the past week and a bit, unable to neatly line-up their schedules. It had taken time to get themselves sorted and settled in (read: they were extremely disorganised and didn't have a very good idea about what they were actually going to do to make this documentary happen).

Disappointingly, they didn't post much about what they had been up to in Jasper. This was probably because now that they were all here, they didn't really need to use the website to communicate.

The reply to Rafael's email came soon.

"Dear Concerned Jasper Parent," it read. "Thank you for getting into contact with us! We understand that taking a step into the unknown and admitting that the world is not as it seems can be terrifying. We congratulate on taking your first, bold step!

It is also easy to look at those who are also on the path of enlightenment with fear and suspicion. Your world has just gotten bigger and it is difficult to tell who is friend or foe. Do not be afraid, we are humble truth seekers like yourself. If it may put your mind at ease, please feel free to visit our humble website. There you will see that we are able to freely discuss and talk about the ghost car phenomenon and we have a proud history of questioning the false narrative that they want you to believe.

We hope that in time you will come to see that you have found peers and allies and will join us in our battle to uncover the truth. When you are ready, please reach out to us and share what you know. But do not take too long, our time here is unfortunately limited. We look forward to hearing from you again, fellow brave warrior.

Best wishes,
Car Truthers."

[Raf Esquivel]

Rafael sighed tiredly. Ghost cars? He wasn’t sure if these Car Truthers thought the cars were alive themselves, or somehow being driven by ghosts.

Well…at least it didn’t look professional or anything, so he didn’t have to worry. If it was MECH or something similar, it would be far more advanced.

He relaxed a little. For now he wasn’t going to answer the email. Just let it sit.



Classes the next day went well, as usual, and he was pleased to see no one had even bothered with his trophy. He was waiting for a ride to the base with Jack’s mother, when both Jack and Miko came to warn him about the new “Car Truthers” people that had shown up. Jack, being the sensible one, had let the Autobots know what was going on, and everyone had been heavily warned to make sure their holograms were working fine. There could be no vehicle going around the city without a clear driver. Bumblebee, especially, was given warning, as it was his photo cropping up on the site more often than not. At least the pictures were badly taken - from a cell phone, it looked like, and he was in motion, so things were somewhat blurry.

Rafael was content to just let the others worry about that, so he could do what he wanted to do.

Work on his transmitter.

He had purchased the parts with his cash winnings, and hopefully, he would be able to put together something that would let him home in on MECH frequencies and listen in. He had an idea of what to look for - he had been able to get a small sample of their work when they fried his last laptop.

His plan was to put together a transmitter that would scan all the frequencies in an area, and listen in. You could buy things like that, called “Scanners”, but they actually cost a huge amount of money, and had preset channels. It was almost impossible to change them. With the one Raf was making, he could easily add and remove certain frequencies to this, and see what was going on.

This afternoon he knelt on the floor by the couch, random bits and pieces on the coffee table, quietly working at assembling them. It was nothing to see Raf working on this or that at times, so he hardly stood out. Assorted tools lay about, his small soldering iron not yet plugged in. On the couch beside him, Jack and Miko were too deeply engaged in trying to best each other in a game to pay him any attention. His large trophy was perched on the corner of the table.

[Skirmisher]

Having spent the time utilizing data pads to read up on and study both the Treaty along with other issues including events of the world surrounding them, led him to realize how much of a threat some of the humans could pose. While the presence of militaries and even First Responders in the world hadn’t been that far different than those on Cybertron, the realization that the dominant species on this planet had discovered nuclear technology by intent rather than by accident in on their earlier wars called World War Two concerned him. The use of nuclear technology hadn’t posed that much of a danger, at least as far as the radiation to Cybertronians as it would organic beings the heat and the EMP produced by nuclear detonations had the capability of rendering unshielded electronics to little more than expensive paperweights. It hadn’t been a fate he’d wanted to have known, and if he’d been able to help it he would have avoided nuclear weaponry entirely. The humans had managed to deal their world blow after blow, often in mortal exchanges with other human tribes bent on belligerent tendencies over land or wealth or even oil, which had been something very common though with the resources switched when it came to the Great War. The species held more in common than they would have admitted, but were far alien to each other and while he’d remained on the planet Skirmisher had been intent on learning what he’d been able to without harming the local population.

Saving the contents of the data pads, he’d pushed off the side of his bunk managing to his pedes and stepped out into the corridor beyond. The door had parted for him, and when it had sealed behind him he’d submitted the locking code before having made his way down the corridor towards the Control Room. He’d have to return the data pads to the library for others to use, and hadn’t felt it had been his place to have hogged much needed resources. His thoughts centered on the concerns raised by the all-too-eager at times belligerency of the human species waged between nations, regimes, even villages or towns within their own borders although the more aggressive ones in the current year of the so called Anno Domini calendar had maintained those archaic practices while the more so called civilized nations had condemned those actions. With the data pads carried firmly in one hand, his pedes carried him down the corridor careful of any other mechs or even the so called humans he’d heard about.

[Raf Esquivel]

The parts were going together rather well, what he could assemble with tiny screwdrivers and other tools. He would soon have to start using his cold soldering kit to attach the computer components. With any luck, he might have his scanner up and running by this evening.

Raf was deep into his work, oblivious to Miko and Jack arguing over the controllers and who would be player one. Miko had grabbed the controller and was pretty much lying on top of it, while trying to use it at the same time. Jack, irritated, was threatening to leave the game entirely if she didn't share.

Raf kept working, concentrating on the motherboard on the table.

What did pull his attention from his work, however, was an unknown heavy tread moving up the hallway towards the Control Room.

He was used to the tread of many of the Autobots, but he knew there were others around that he hadn't met yet, either because of conflicting time schedules - him being in school for most of the day - and that new Autobots had arrived at the base.

Rafael was curious about the new 'Bots. He had been gone for a full week, though it didn't seem much had changed. He knew there was still a truce going on - which was wearing on everyone's nerves - and that energon was dangerously low - which was also wearing on everyone's nerves.

As the heavy tread continued up the hallway, Rafael put down what he was working on, and approached the rail that lined the area where the couch, TV and table sat.

Pushing himself up on tiptoes, grasping the rail and pulling himself upright, Raf peered up the long hallway to see who was approaching, pushing his glasses up onto his nose.

[Skirmisher]

The tall nine meter thickly armored mech crossed into the Control Room with his pedes thudding as they made contact with the packed concrete deck passing the raised dais, with the various platforms and the elevator shaft marking the center of the deactivated missile silo. His thoughts had been centered on how changed the world of Earth had become during his state of dormancy from when bipedal and quadruped beasts he’d recognized from his more recent studies as dinosaurs had tread to how almost every household lay host to a computer that according to human standards had been in an ever changing state of advancement yet compared to even a Cybertronian data slug had been barely even basic.

During his studies in his quarters, he’d read how humans in some of the more developed and industrialized countries had developed space capable assets ranging remote satellites to less than several handfuls of attempts by manned missions into orbit with the farthest having touched down on the moon’s surface. The one thing that he’d actually found surprising, more along the lines of it being close to Cybertronian in nature, had been the list of laws from countries ranging from the United States of America to the Russian Federal Republic, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and even China. While many of the laws had been fairly ridiculous in nature, especially the ones that couldn’t be enforced ranging from how in one of the regions or states in the United States of America that it had been illegal to eat a confection known as Rootbeer Float on a day in the week called Sunday to it being illegal to have tied one’s giraffe --an animal with a rather long neck -- to a light pole, he’d found the more important ones to have been rather easy to understand and to have warranted being enforced such as driving under the influence while intoxicated to vehicular manslaughter. Those types of laws had equally been enforced on Cybertron, intended more to show the one responsible the consequences of their actions regardless of how strict or grim while protecting the public at large. There had been an old saying, one that came to mind which held that the more things changed the more they remained the same.

His pedes carried him into the Control Room, but he’d been entirely occupied or rather pre-occupied to have noticed small almost unseen movement off to his right and out the corner of his optical visor. His motion sensors had been trained to have detected the mammalian burrowing quadrupeds and other organic life during his assignment with his previous Garrison that his optical visor had detected the small movement which brought Skirmisher to a halt, and had been reason for him to have turned his head without pivoting his frame to look in Raf’s direction. A small unarmored life form? How were they able to survive without an armored chassis? the armored mech asked himself on seeing the rather tiny life-form at the railing.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf's eyes got bigger as the large mech walked into view, "Whoa." The Cybertronian that he was looking at was heavily armored, and with a thick visor covering his face. This was definitely a new Autobot to him, he would have remembered this one.

The military-style coloring only seemed to add to the strength of the mech he was looking at, and he wondered what he had done back on Cybertron.

Probably in the military. Did they have a military on Cybertron? Or was that later?

He glanced over his shoulder at Miko and Jack, who were now pretty much wrestling on the couch for control of the player one console and not in the slightest bit aware of the new Autobot. Well, their loss.

Raf adjusted his glasses, blinking a little as the large mech turned his head and seemed to look right at him.

He felt oddly...awkward. He had never met a completely new Autobot all on his own before, and a part of him realized just powerful these beings were. He made a note to try and keep off the floor as much as possible.

Cautiously, awkwardly, and shyly, Raf lifted a hand and gave a slight wave, "Um...hi."

[Skirmisher]

The tiny life form, capable of bipedal locomotion featuring spectacles of glass spoke, followed by a hand gesture and while Skirmisher hadn’t been able to understand the life-form’s language he’d understood the intent at least. A greeting, or at least as far as he’d been able to determine considering the life-form hadn’t attempted to take a shot at him or attempted to slam into a bulkhead. His audio receptors intercepted the life-form’s greeting, the inflections and even the pitch of the voice before requesting an inquiry to his cranial module with the built-in database of the Cybertronian vocabulary. In rather quick succession, the databanks approved of the inquiry and compared the words his audio receptors had detected to those in the Cybertronian vocabulary matching inflection with other subtle marks. Perhaps faster than the human brain had been possible, certainly the computers on this planet, the results had been sent to Skirmisher’s vocal processors and he’d fully known the meaning of the life-form’s words. He’d gathered, the Universal Greeting would have been out of the picture given that the life-form had been organic rather than Cybernetic, but he’d felt it wouldn’t have hurt either way.

“Bah-Weep-Grannah-Weep-Ni-Ni-Bon,” Skirmisher said before realizing the life-form may not have understood the exact greeting. “Forgive. I am starting to understand Earth languages,” he’d said, rather crudely in the life-form’s native tongue before the mannerisms had caught up to him. “I did not mean to startle you, or to make you uncomfortable. One can surmise from you and your…the other life-forms being present within the outpost that you are allies, correct? Might I inquire as to who you might be? I am known as Skirmisher. I am not to new to Earth, but your life-forms are new to me. You are mammals, yes? You are different than the burrowing quadrupeds we often had to insure had not chewed through vital cables and into equipment stores. You may relax. I am under Optimus Prime’s command,” He’d been able to ascertain after looking over at the two other life-forms pre-occupied in their game simulation to have even bothered looking in his direction height discrepancies compared to the life-form at the railing. “Do all of your species have varying heights such as Cybertronians?” He hadn’t grasped the finer aspects of the Earth language with the exception of the basics his own systems had gleaned from the inflection of the voice, and the life-form’s own body language.

He hadn’t felt anything belligerent in nature from the life-form, with the exception of an overriding curiosity or he wouldn’t have stayed held up by the railing.

“What is your species called, if one may inquire? I do not wish to offend. I feel I must explain that I can detect honesty, and I can detect when someone lies. You are being honest and truthful. I appreciate that,” He'd said, with a bit of a smile which had been more a measure to assuage the young life-form's anxiety. At the same time, the smile had appeared entirely natural and not really creepy. He'd reserved the "creepier" kinds of smiles for hardened criminals, or those that sought to take his head from his shoulders.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf's first thought upon hearing the Universal Greeting was that the mech had damaged something and needed to talk in a different way, like Bee. He was a little alarmed, because unlike Bee's beeps and boops, this made no sense to him whatsoever. Was there another basic sort of language the Cybertronians spoke?

Before he could ask the large mech to repeat what he had said, Raf found himself bombarded with questions and information. Although there was a great deal of information being thrown at him, it was apparent the large mech was at least friendly enough to approach and speak, and that put Raf at ease.

"Oh. Um. Yes, we're allies....and friends. My best friend is Bumblebee, do you know him? He's amazing! Me? Oh, I'm Raf. Rafael Esquivel, but you can call me Raf. And...yeah, we're mammals. Burrowing quadrupeds? Um...yeah, we walk on two legs, not four."

Raf glanced over his shoulder at Miko and Jack, the latter now holding the controller high over his head and still trying to play with it, while Miko was jumping widly, swiping at it. Raf felt embarrassed by their behavior in the presence of a new 'Bot, and looked back.

"That's Miko and Jack, and..um. Yeah, we're different heights. I mean, it's because of our ages. Jack is taller because he's older than Miko, and she's older than me. Momma says I'll get taller when I get older. I hope so. My Uncle is really tall, so...but. Um. Height for us Humans depends on a lot of things. Guys are usually taller than girls, but not always. Adults are taller than kids."

Another glance back at Jack and Miko. Still scrabbling over the controller.

Raf looked back, pushing up his glasses again, "Well...we're just humans. It can get a lot more complicated, but we're all humans."

Raf somberly looked into Skirmisher's face, "What do you do? You don't look like some of the other Autobots around here. You're big, like Optimus, and you look heavy, like Bulkhead. You must be really strong."