Technical Difficulties :Ch. 2:

Chapter 2: Little Wonders

Trey tried.

He tried his absolute hardest…but there was just nothing he could do.

No matter how much he tried he just couldn’t get Ava’s legs to move. It was almost as though they were stuck in place. It didn’t matter how many times he would tug at her or tell her they needed to go, she just would not budge.

Her eyes remained fixed on the darkness; on the shadows in the corner. Her terror physically visible as her arms and legs trembled.

Trey couldn’t deny it. He was scared too. He could feel the hairs on his arms standing upright and his heart pounding in his chest.

But even still, he knew that he couldn’t be afraid. He needed to be brave for Ava.
In an instant, the rains finally came.

Sheets of water poured out of the sky, falling horizontally as a gale came up, howling through the streets.

Thunder rolled across the horizon, and lightning lit up everything outside.

Trey’s attention was drawn to this as he held Ava’s trembling body close. They couldn’t leave now.

Looking at Ava, Trey tried as hard as he could to make his voice sound cheerful and brave. “It-Its okay Ava. I’m sure whatever made those sounds was just an animal or something looking for a place to go. I mean…I bet you anything that what we heard was just a kitty trying to get out of the rain, just like us.”

Looking up with her face still in his shirt, Ava’s eyes were moist with tears, her body still shaking, but only slightly. “R-Really?”

Trey smiled his voice soft and warm. “Yeah. I’m positive that it was just a stray kitty cat or something needing a warm, dry, safe place too.”

Ava looked away for some time, thinking about what Trey had said. She then looked back up and smiled. “Do you think the kitty is nice?”

Laughing as he sank to the floor with his feet out in front of him, Trey shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Letting a soft, tired, genuine smile fill her face, Ava beamed. “Why don’t we find it? Then we can all be safe and dry and warm together! We can maybe even be friends.”

Suddenly another booming clap of thunder rolled across the sky, casing Ava’s smile to disappear and her body to fall to the floor next to Trey’s. Trey held her, rubbing her back. “It’s okay Ava. It’s just a little thunder.”

Slowly looking up, Ava exhaled slowly, then sat next to Trey; holding his hand tightly.
It tore Trey up inside knowing that Ava was so frightened. It seemed like all of her fears where being wrapped up into one tonight. The dark. Thunder.

It just wasn’t fair.

Looking to Ava, Trey suddenly had an idea. “You know Ava, thunder really isn’t anything that you need to be afraid of.”

Looking up at her brother, Ava was rather quiet. “I don’t?”

Trey just laughed. “No way. Didn’t you know that thunder is actually just God’s angels bowling, and that lighting is really just angels playing with flashlights?”

Ava looked at Trey with wide intrigued eyes. “Really?”

Trey nodded. “Uh-huh. The bowling balls hit the top of the clouds so hard sometimes that it makes them tickle…and then they laugh so much that they start crying. That’s why it rains.”

Scowling with her bottom lip jutted outward, Ava huffed. “That’s not true!”

Pulling her into a hug, Trey laughed even more. “Aww, come on Ava; would I ever lie to you?”

Ava thought long and hard about it. Then looked up tiredly with a smile. “No.”

When the next boom of thunder came through, Ava didn’t seem to jump nearly as much, and she didn’t look away. This made Trey happy.

This place they had chosen may not have necessarily been that warm, but it was at least dry and as far as they knew; safe. And for the first time this night, the two children seemed content.

Ava even seemed intrigued with watching the sky. So much so that she leaned against Trey and yawned.

Trey on the other hand looked around the building, peering into the darkness. As he sat there, focusing, he could vaguely make out shapes in the dark. Old barrels, stacks of wood, paint cans, pallets…the things you would usually expect to see. Every so often though, the lightning would flash outside and momentarily light up the room.

It wasn’t until Trey’s line of sight ventured to the far left of the space, in the way back corner that something caught his eye. That was the darkest part of the room, and very hard to see…but even with the darkness hampering his vision, he was still fairly certain he saw something.

Something big.

Turning his body only slightly, Trey squinted his eyes, staring into the black.

Ava looked up at him, unsure of what it was exactly that he was trying to do. “Whaddya lookin’ at?

Squinting his eyes even farther, Trey scowled. “I don’t know. I think there’s something back there.”

“Where?” Ava said, turning around to look the same way.

“There, way back in the corner.”

Trey pointed.

Ava just scowled and yawned. “I don’t see anything. Trey, are you just trying to scare me again?”

“No!” Trey huffed, looking at Ava. He then looked back and slowly rose to his feet.
Ava chided. “Maybe it’s the kitty?”

Trey shook his head. “No. It’s too big to be a cat. I think it might be some kind of tractor or something. You know… something they would have used while this was still a stock yard.”

Trey then took a few steps forward…towards the darkness.

“Trey, don’t go over there! I have a bad feeling.”

“You always have a bad feeling.” He said, not once pulling his eyes away.

Ava didn’t say another word after that as Trey slowly approached but stopped half way. It really was dark back there.

Suddenly the lightning flashed.

The light from it gleamed off of what looked like metal.

There was another flash.

…

Trey froze in pure, unfiltered horror.

The lightning had revealed what looked like…a body.

A giant. Metal. Body.

His eyes felt like they couldn’t go any wider.

His heart felt like it was pounding up through his throat and his stomach was in his chest.

His legs were completely numb, and nothing he did could make them move.

…

Suddenly, two large, bright glowing blue eyes were staring at him.

He felt his blood run cold.

His body was shaking.

“Trey? Trey?! What’s the matter??”

Running to her brother, clinging to him, she stared up at his face, trying to see him in the dark. “What are you looking at?”

Ava’s eyes followed Trey’s…and she too froze. She was completely petrified right where she stood.

Trey thought they should run, he KNEW they should run. But he couldn’t.

But then, somehow, Ava found the strength.

Grabbing Trey’s hand, Ava slowly started to back up, only managing a whisper. “I told you monsters were real.”

“I am not a monster.”

Both children froze again.

The being…it spoke.

The large figure never moved. Not once.

It simply sat there, watching them…studying them.

“You two have no reason to be afraid. I will not harm either of you.”

Trey’s breath was short. His heart pounded as the adrenaline coursed through his body.

The being, saw this and receded back closer to the wall behind him.

At first, the being’s movements started the two youngsters, but…when Trey noticed he was moving back away from them, he felt a slight brush of relief.

Falling to his knees and then to his rear, Trey just sat there, watching…or rather…staring.
Ava slowly sat behind him.

…

For a long time, nothing was said. Not one word was spoken by the children or by the being in their presence.  

They just sat there in the dark, staring at one another.

The silence seemed a little unnerving for the larger being…but with the circumstances being what they were, he wasn’t all that certain he knew what to say to them.

“What are you?”

The larger being’s attention suddenly snapped back to the boy. He was amazed that the small human finally managed to vocalize an entire sentence…even if it was only three words.
“I am an autonomous robotic organism. An Autobot.”

“Auto-bot?”

The large being slowly nodded.

Crossing his legs slowly, the boy stayed where we was…being careful not to break eye contact. “Do you mean, you’re one of those…aliens…from…the Battle of Chicago?”
Again, he nodded.

Trey was at a loss for words.

Several months ago, he had remembered seeing the news at school. Teachers and students alike watched images of buildings burning, ships flying around and giant humanoid machines fighting one another on the television. School all over the country was canceled early that day. Everyone would later call that event The Battle of Chicago.

Swallowing hard, Trey could feel his voice breaking. “Are you…gonna kill us?”

To speak in truth, the being was rather surprised to hear those words come out of the young humans mouth. But…at the same time, he admired the boys straight forwardness in wanting to know the truth.

With a deep sigh that sounded more like an air brake release. The being looked at the boy, his deep voice low, but gentle. “No. You…and your sibling are innocent human beings. You have not done any harm to me. So no harm shall come to you.”

“I don’t understand.” Trey breathed softly. “I thought all of the alien machines that came to earth wanted to hurt humans.”

Taken back by this, the large being…in some respects…growled at the statement.
This took Trey by surprise, making him very uneasy.

The being looked away and huffed then looked to the boy. “Not all Cybertronians wish harm upon humanity. Just the Decepticons desire the destruction of your kind. Autobots believe that the freedom of living is deserved by all sentient beings…not just those of Cybertronian origin.”

Trey was quiet for some time before he finally managed the courage to speak again.
“May I ask you something?”

Again the being nodded.

“What’s your name? You- do have a name, don’t you?”

The being…or rather…Autobot bowed his head. “I do.”

There was a pause.

The Autobot then spoke. “What about the two of you? Do you both not have names?”
Trey nodded. “My name is Treyton Mitchells…but…everyone calls me Trey and this is my sister Ava...”

Swallowing hard and then licking his lips nervously, Trey spoke again. “So what is it? What’s your name?”

The Autobot raised his knees, placing his arms on them, and as he lowered his face, his voice was still deep and gentle. “My name…is Optimus Prime.”


---


The two of them tried to stay awake as long as they could. But at the same time, sleep did not come easy with a massive metal being sitting only yards away.

Still, as the hour grew later, sleep eventually came to the two exhausted youngsters.
It was a curious thing, or so Optimus thought.

Given most circumstances, he would have assumed that two small human children would have been absolutely terrified of him. And in most reasonability, they were. But he never thought that they wouldn’t run. Come to think of it, most adult humans would run. After all, fear of the unknown is a powerful motivator. But these two…did not. It could have simply just been a lack of the fight-or-flight response on their parts, or it could have been something completely different. It was a curious thing.

There could have been any number of reasons why. Optimus’ best explanation was that more than likely, with the storm raging outside, they truly felt they had nowhere else to go. This was rational. Though he was not of the same species, he still knew enough from previously living among and working with humans that; he knew drastic changes in atmospheric phenomena –in other words, weather, could negatively affect a human’s health. In simpler terms, getting caught in a potential down-pour could cause a human to get sick in any number of ways.

But the real question buzzing around in his processor was: Why were these two humans out here to begin with?

The oldest human, the boy, just from looking upon him couldn’t have been any more than ten solar cycles old. The girl was half that age at the very least.

There were still things about this planet that even now Optimus did not know. But one thing that he did discern for certain was that most human youth are not left to fend for themselves, and are often accompanied by adult humans to whom they share genetic material. These two humans where far too young; too small to be on their own. There was something disturbing about this entire situation.

But the children’s reason for their presence was only half of the problem. He had been seen.

Even if, it was only by two human children, they still possessed a means to reporting having seen him to authorities. They knew who and what he really was; what was to stop them from telling other humans about his presence in the city?

The reality was daunting, even for him.

After careful consideration, he reasoned that given the current turn of events, he had one of three options:
One, he could leave this place here and now and leave the city all together. This way, the children will not have seen his full appearance thanks to the darkness, and he could possible move on to a new location.

However, the children now knew his name. They could still report his presence to authorities triggering a high alert for the entire Midwestern area. Moving about would seriously be hampered by this, and odds of being found again would rise exponentially. He could threaten the children that if they said anything to anyone that there would be consequences, but once he left, what guarantee was there that they wouldn’t speak anyway?

The second option would be the same as the first, only it would include eliminating the source from which humanity could discover where he was.

It sounded far less cruel when worded like that.

Looking down at the sleeping duo, Optimus could feel his spark grow heavy.

These two humans, regardless of what the adults have done to him and his kind; had done nothing to him. They didn’t deserve to have their lives taken away so soon, when they themselves had barely started living. They were innocent in all of this. They just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Optimus couldn’t bring himself to even consider it. He vowed he would never harm an innocent sentient being. He would not break that vow, not even now.

Then there was option three.

Regrettably, with all things considered, this choice by far was the only one revealing itself to be fair on most fronts. Optimus’ presence would remain unknown. He would be able to stay in the city longer even if it was only slight; and the children would be able to continue their lives. There was just one stipulation, and in all truth, Optimus wasn’t so keen on the idea…but what other choice did he have?

If he wished to keep his presence a secret from the existing population of this city, while at the same time ensuring his own personal and moral beliefs were met so that that secret could be kept, then there really wasn’t any other choice to choose.

Still, the task now facing him seemed far more daunting now than it did before.

Resting his index and thumb digits on the bridge of his olfactory plating, Optimus released a drawn out sigh. Complications were truthfully less than desired at this point.