(Based on the Transformers Prime Universe) (WARNING THIS IS MORE LIKE A MINI NOVEL!)

     The night had been long, and the journey tiring. A distress call had been issued by an unknown source, and Optimus Prime had taken it upon himself to investigate. Someone else would have done it more than willingly, but the rest of the Autobots were recharging, and he just happened to be up at the time.

     The mech found his way easily, staying on track with the beacon that shown on the data-pad he held. Soon the location was found, and a stasis pod shown, the moon shining on the metal exterior. It had no symbol, and seemed to have been uncovered by an avalanche of the nearby cliff, many trees had been knocked down in the process, creating a sort of clearing. Optimus hesitantly moved closer, on alert for any Decepticon activity. Once he came close enough to examine the pod, he found it to be to small for any grown Cybertronian. Using a servo he wiped away some dirt, revealing a single letter and number: S-107 Whether this was important or not, he did not know, but he did know that, one way or another, he had to get him and the pod out of there before any Decepticons arrived.

     The pod was small enough that he could carry it with both arms, and he did so, carefully. He made his way out of the woods, and started his journey back to the missile silo that was the Autobot base. The going was slow, and much more tiring than when he made the first journey, but he made it back before sunrise. He was greeted by Ratchet, the medic.

         "What in Primus' name is that?" He asked forcefully.

Optimus set the heavy pod on the medical berth, dirt coming off in chunks.

     "A signal had shown itself on the screen, I went to go investigate and found this."

     Ratchet started examining the small pod, and found it to be, not a stasis pod, but a sparkling escape pod.

         "This dates just before the war started, apparently someone had thought ahead... and sent their sparkling far away from Cybertron."

Ratchet started tinkering with the pod, though nothing seemed to reveal how it would open. Soon he became frustrated, mumbling that the darn thing could stay closed for all he cared. Optimus asked if he could try, to which Ratchet didn't object, since his efforts seemed fruitless. The grumpy medic expected the same with Optimus, even if he was a Prime.

         "What's with all the grumbling?" Arcee said, rubbing her helm. She had planned on recharging for longer, not having to deal with patrol that morning, but the tinkering and grumbling wouldn't let her.

         "Optimus found a sparkling escape pod, but the darn thing won't open." Ratchet grumbled again.

Arcee came over, now fully awake, and curious to why a sparkling escape pod had landed on Earth, especially since most that were sent out were destroyed...

     Optimus had uncovered a small dial pad on the metal surface, and tried to see if it had power. It didn't.

         "Are we sure it's not just a Decepticon trap?" Arcee speculated.

         "No," Ratchet answered, "This is authentic, and why would they put up a beacon in the middle of the night?" He made a good point.

Optimus was about as successful as Ratchet, and took a step back to examine the entirety of the pod. The only thing that shown as odd was the S-107 on the side. It wasn't originally part of the escape pod, and was painted on in a hurry with the bright white, now a faded light brown.

         "May I try?" Arcee asked.

         "Please," Ratchet started, "If not even Optimus can open it, I doubt you can."

Arcee rolled her optics and started to examine the pod. Optimus kindly gave her room. 

     She checked the dial pad, and nothing happened. She started chipping off the dirt and grime to see if anything else showed itself, when her digit found a small crevice, overlooked by the two mechs behind her. She started to pry at the crevice, and the dial pad activated.

         "Try the marks on the side," Ratchet pointed to the faded white paint.

         "There's no 'S'," Arcee pointed to the dial pad.

         "Then just '107' might do."

Arcee entered the prime number, but nothing happened. She sighed, and tried just pressing buttons, but nothing seemed to work.

         "Hang on..." Arcee tried another number, and the pod opened.

         "What did you enter?" Ratchet asked, astonished.

         "The only other prime number on the pod," She said softly, "701."

     The hissing of the small door penetrated the silo as it slid up, revealing a sleeping babe inside. It was no more than 3 orbital cycles old (about three months), from what Ratchet could tell. It slept soundly as the three stared, not even stirring. It was so silent, one could have mistook the sparkling as offlined.

         "I'll go prepare some energon for when it wakes up..." Arcee left in a hurry, and came back almost as fast, only with a small container of liquified energon, a hole in the flat metal top for the sparkling to drink from.

     It was another half an hour before the sparkling woke up, just as silent as when it was asleep. Arcee was the first to act, and picked the sparkling up from the pod. She found the tiny thing to be a femme. The femmeling started sipping the bottle of energon slowly as it rebooted her system. She was painted a light, dusty purple with small streaks of dark blue.

         "What are we going to do with her?" Arcee asked, watching the tiny thing.

         "I think I'll do a small check-up when you're done with her Arcee. I want to make sure she's fully operational." Ratchet said, already preparing a couple of things for said check-up.

Optimus looked over Arcee's shoulder, watching the young one. Her big, bright, royal blue optics getting brighter as she refueled. Those optics showed wonder, and mystery beyond compare. Hopefully the mystery will soon be exploited, and replaced with understanding.

     Ratchet had finished the check-up, and was surprised on how little the sparkling squirmed. In fact, she was completely silent...

         "If I didn't know any better I'd say she was Soundwave's heir." Ratchet commented as he checked over some test results, one being the femmeling's parents, but nothing came up.

         "Let's not judge her by common knowledge, but rather the thought of the unknown, old friend." Optimus advised.

Ratchet merely huffed in response, looking over to the sparkling, who was just sitting on the medical berth, rolling the now empty container back and forth, looking rather... bored. Taking a break from the vexing computer screen, Ratchet decided that now might be a good time to get the last three up and going, since they still had yet to show themselves. While Ratchet left to do this, Arcee watched over the sparkling.

         "Hi there little one." She spoke softly. The tiny thing looked up at her, and then started to roll the container again. Sighing, the two-wheeler sat on the medical berth, simply making sure the sparkling didn't do anything foolish.

         "You need a name..." She said to herself. S-107 was certainly not going to work, and no name had been found in the pod, nor a letter of any sort, telling of the sparkling's short background, or even why she was sent to Earth.

         "What about... Stargazer... no..." Arcee picked the femmeling up, leaving the bottle behind, "How about Crossfire?" But this name didn't seem to fit either.

Arcee had run out of ideas far to quickly for her liking, and frowned as she rocked the sparkling back and forth.

         "How about Moonbeam?" Optimus suggested, "When I had found her pod, the moon shone quite beautifully."

Arcee smiled, and looked down. Moonbeam fit perfectly.

     Soon a loud tromping sounded from the hallway closest to the exit. It was Bulkhead, making his way to the main area, sleepily.

         "What's this I hear about a sparkling?" He asked, stretching his back as he reached for the ceiling.

         "A sparkling?! Where?!" Suddenly Smokescreen wasn't so tired anymore as he burst from the same hallway, causing Bulkhead to stumble. "Did you really find a sparkling?!"

Optimus nodded and Arcee walked over with the curious femmeling, her royal blue optics staring at the excited mech.

         "We're calling her Moonbeam." Arcee announced as Bumblebee made his appearance.

     The day went on as any day would, only the Autobots often had to watch where they stepped. They soon found out that Moonbeam was rather active, and silently so. She could be in the medbay one minute, and under the computers not two seconds later, silently nomming at a wrench that had fallen during one of Ratchet's many projects. Somehow Smokescreen had caught her on top of the computer, pushing buttons.

         "Oh no..." He quickly snatched her up before she could press another button. "Hey Ratchet... you might want to check the computers..." He called, hoping Moonbeam didn't do anything to tragic to the system.

         "What did you do?" Ratchet asked accusingly, to which Smokescreen answered with a digit pointing to Moonbeam, her optics glued to the computer screen. Ratchet instantly went to the computers and checked everything, from the simplest data file to the mainframe itself... but nothing seemed to be amiss. "Was she pulling at cords underneath?" He asked.

         "No... she was tapping buttons. Don't ask me how she got up there, only Primus knows that answer." Smokescreen stared at the endless code that passed by the green tinted glass.

Ratchet sighed as he double checked the systems.

     Later, it was time for the kids to be picked up. Arcee had been taking care of Moonbeam at the time, and had to go, so she put the sparkling in Ratchet's care, much to his chagrin.

         "You are much more suited for taking care of a sparkling. Wouldn't it be easier if Bumblebee simply picked up Jack as well?" Ratchet said, already holding the femmeling.

         "I promised Jack a day ride. Besides, if something goes wrong... well, you are the medic." Arcee disappeared before Ratchet could protest.

The old grump sighed as he looked down at the tiny thing in his arms. She looked up in return, her faceplate emotionless and plain. So far she had won the affections of every Autobot except Ratchet, who stayed as stubborn and strict as ever. Even Optimus had been seen picking her up and sneaking an energon snack to her, though Ratchet had created a strict diet for the sparkling.

         "How am I to work with a sparkling always under my pedes?" He grumbled, placing Moonbeam on the floor. She soon started crawling away, but he redirected her with a tapping of his pede to her side. The sparkling grabbed hold of the pede and hung on as he lifted it. She clung on like a Scraplet to scrap metal.

         "Honestly." Ratchet huffed, and put his pede back down. Moonbeam kept hold, and didn't climb off, so Ratchet scooted away to the computers, careful not to knock her off.

     Once the team made it back, Ratchet had found the computer system both updated and memory expanded, allowing for more updates and alterations.

         "I see your medical expertise wasn't needed." Arcee joked, seeing the now recharging sparkling still on his pede.

         "Yes yes, it helps she never let go of my pede."

Arcee thought this absolutely adorable, and wished she could have taken a picture. Her wish came true as Miko took a snapshot with her phone.

         "Where'd you guys find her?" She spoke softly... for once.

         "Optimus said he found her in an escape pod out of base." Bulkhead answered.

         "Does she have a name?" Jack questioned.

         "Moonbeam." Arcee informed.

Upon hearing her designation, Moonbeam started to wake from her short recharge, yawning ever so cutely. Miko found it hard not to just run over and give the sparkling a huge Miko style greeting, but thought better of it as she just jumped up and down in her place by Bulkhead.

         "Who are her parents?" Rafael asked from the platform.

         "It is uncertain... I had run some tests but neither her sire nor her carrier showed itself." Ratchet replied, bringing up the results as proof.

Miko described it as a mystery, and Jack an oddity, while Raf found it concerning.

     It was found that a sparkling at 3 Orbital cycles old was the equivalent of an overgrown man, though maybe a bit taller, and that Moonbeam found that humans were the best adventuring companions. She roamed the halls with Miko and Jack, Raf wanted to play games with Bumblebee, so he hadn't joined them.

         "That's the vault for a mean Decepticon, and that's an empty vault, and that's an empty vault!"

         "Miko, it's not like she understands you." Jack informed out of jest.

         "Hey it's never too early to learn! That and who says she's not remembering all this stuff?" Miko argued playfully, tapping her head as she walked alongside the silent sparkling. Jack had brought Moonbeam's silence to attention earlier, but Ratchet assured that it was nothing to worry about.

     They had toured the entirety of the base, and were playing in the main area, when the sparkling revealed her sudden exhaustion with a long, silent yawn. Raf had, by this time, become enthralled with the sparkling, playing small, simple memory games that he knew as a toddler. Taking the four cups off the floor, he revealed the ball on the far left.

         "Hey Ratchet," Rafael called for the medics attention, "I think Moonbeam needs to recharge."

         "Yes, you are probably right." The old mech paused for a moment, then swore under his breath as he realized the lack of sleeping quarters for the sparkling. He then looked over to the medical berth, where the pod still sat, and had an idea. "Raf would you be so kind as to occupy Moonbeam for a little longer?" He asked, to which the younger human gladly said 'yes'. With that Ratchet left his current project to work on cleaning the sparkling pod, converting it into a sort of makeshift crib. While this was being procured, Miko and Bulkhead decided to join Raf with Moonbeam.

         "Guys! You won't believe this!" Raf started the memory game over again, rolling the cups around on the floor to try and confuse the still silent and seemingly emotionless sparkling. Once he stopped he told Moonbeam to point to the cup with the ball in it.

         "No way she's going to figure that out Raf!" Miko announced, "I can't even tell!"

For a minute Moonbeam made no move, but then pointed to the inside left cup. The boy lifted it to reveal the ball.

         "How in the world did she do that?" Miko looked up to Bulkhead.

         "I don't know. Maybe it was just a fluke?"

Raf tested this theory, though he had before, and received the same result, the ball being revealed in the rightmost cup.

         "Try it again Raf! No way this kid can do it a third time!" Miko assumed, but was proved wrong as the femmeling chose the left most cup revealing the ball once again. "How'd she do that?" Miko looked on in amazement.

         "I don't know... but I think her mind may have developed while she was in stasis! Her body's just stuck in the sparkling form!"

         "Preposterous!" Ratchet claimed as he walked by, "When one is in stasis both the body and the mind are locked in that state."

         "Well then how do we explain her high intelligence level?" Raf questioned.

         "She might just be used to your game. It is rather primitive."

         "And I'm assuming you have a harder game to test how smart she is?" Miko shot at the medic, who only sighed in response, and went back to cleaning the pod.

     By now Moonbeam had become bored, and laid down on the floor, laying her head on her arms as she started to fall into recharge. The voices around her being a soft lullaby, until Ratchet hollered a shrill cry of:

         "BULKHEAD! I NEEDED THAT!"

Moonbeam became sharply aware of her surroundings, and shot up to her pedes, standing perfectly in a defensive position. The Autobots present, who happened to be Ratchet, Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee, stared at her in pure shock. The kids, by this time, had been driven home.

     Moonbeam brought herself up from the defensive position, and stood straight, her servos now dangling by her sides. She looked at the band of four with a blank expression as usual. She cocked her head to the left, as if confused that she shouldn't be standing at the age she was.

         "Preposterous..." Ratchet whispered.

Arcee bent down to pick the sparkling up, but Moonbeam shied away, not wanting to be held.

         "Ratchet... you might want to cue up an IQ test or SOMETHING!" Bulkhead suggested, slightly spooked by this femmelings intelligence and quick learning.

         "|: Maybe we should do simple tests first. :|" Bumblebee beeped.

         "I think she's over simple tests Bee..." Arcee said, trying to coax Moonbeam out from under a crate she had crawled under.

         "If she's learning this fast... or perhaps she already knows... there's a huge possibility that she's a sparkling prodigy!" Ratchet observed.

Arcee had finally captured Moonbeam, still as silent as ever.

         "That would also explain her lack of shown emotion. Either she traded emotion for knowledge, or someone forced her."

         "Forced who, for what?" Optimus came in through the front entrance.

Bulkhead claimed to be too tired to wrap his processor around the subject, and left, Bumblebee close behind as he too claimed to be too tired to quite understand. The only ones left were now Optimus, Ratchet and Arcee. Moonbeam too, of course.

         "We have reason to speculate that Moonbeam is a sparkling prodigy." Ratchet informed the Prime.

     Optimus stood silently, speculating the possibility. He stared at the sparkling, who in turn stared back, her royal blue optics a deep abyss of mystery. Moonbeam seemed to show the signs of a sparkling prodigy. The knowledgeable silence, the lack of emotion. The quick learning. Not many prodigies were created, due to the lack of emotion. The danger they posed to everyone was to great. They acted as mindless robots, and anyone who knew how to control them were often terminated, in fear that the power would be used for terrible, unforgivable things.

         "If she is truly a sparkling prodigy, then we must do our best not to allow her to fall into Megatron's clutches."

         "I highly doubt he'll know how to control a prodigy. They aren't controlled by fear." Ratchet pointed out.

         "No, but silence may attract silence." Optimus countered, referring to the infamous communications officer of the Decepticons.

         "Someone she can relate to..." Arcee peiced things together, "Someone who can understand her better than anyone..."

The three continued to talk. What will they do? How are they going to go about doing it? How will they keep Moonbeam a secret? How will they control her when she has free will?

     This last question had an inkling of an answer, but it was rather cruel. If Moonbeam only knew of what was inside the base, then she will most likely be uncomfortable with the outside world, and not want to leave. The only problem with that was making sure she didn't get a single clue of what the outside world was like. Miko, Raf and Jack would be the only exceptions, since most likely, with her overly sharp mind, Moonbeam would detect a possible plan to control her (even if she is so young) when she suddenly never saw the kids again.

         "Then it's settled then?" Ratchet questioned.

         "I believe so, old friend."

         "It's a shame she won't be able to see the sunrise... that's one of my favorite things about Earth..." Arcee pitied the small recharging being in her arms. She had fallen into recharge some time ago, and they all thought it would be okay to discuss things out loud then.

         "It is a shame, but for her safety, and our own, we must do what we must." Optimus reassured.

     Ratchet then took Moonbeam from Arcee, and gently placed her in the now refurbished sparkling escape pod. The once 100% metal interior was replaced with soft padding and blankets, and the pod shown a very bright bronze, the muck and grime washed off with great care. The 'S-107' was repainted white again.

         "Why did you do that?" Arcee pointed at the letter and number.

         "Well... it's the only thing that links her to her past... I thought that once she's grown, that it might help her to know that she did have a past... at one point." Ratchet said this with great sadness in his voice, and a deep pity for the sparkling.

Optimus put a servo on the old medic's shoulder plate.

         "It was a good thing to do."

         "Yes, well, at the time her being a sparkling prodigy hadn't even crossed my mind... but now it just seemed pointless."

         "It was not pointless. Perhaps her want to learn will prove you wrong." Optimus consoled. Ratchet only nodded, looking down at the peaceful being in her new, yet old, crib.

     The next day, Moonbeam found herself in the arms of Smokescreen. He was trying to do his best to make her smile. Poking her, tickling her, making funny faces. But nothing seemed to work, and he just couldn't figure out why.

         "Hey Ratchet," He called, the femmeling in his arms, "How come 'Beam here won't show anything but blankness on her faceplate. She won't even crack a smile!"

Ratchet turned from his work on the computer screen, obviously perturbed.

         "You apparently weren't listening earlier this morning. Moonbeam's a sparkling prodigy, she probably won't ever show emotion."

         "So we got ourselves a mini version of the silent Con?"

Ratchet whacked him upside the helm, then, pointing to Moonbeam, explained that she was hearing them.

         "Knowledge is dangerous when given to the wrong being." He explained.

Smokescreen got the hint, and said he wouldn't talk about the outside world, or the 'Cons. He left to get Moonbeam some energon, since it was about that time.

     On the way he passed Bulkhead, who was just about to go on patrol.

         "You think you can keep a lookout for energon signals? We're gonna need more to keep 'Beamer on her diet of doom." Smokescreen joked.

         "Heh, yeah, always do. Oh, her new bottle should be with her blankets. Ratchet was able to make a real one so she didn't have to deal with the one Arcee made." Smokescreen nodded in thanks and soon found the bottle, but once he gave it to Moonbeam, she wouldn't drink the energon given.

         "Come on. Ratchet will throw a fit if you don't drink it..." The mech thought for a moment, then thought Moonbeam might not know how to use a regular bottle, but then he remembered she was a prodigy, so showing her would only make him look ridiculous. Instead he tried to bring it to her, but she wouldn't open up to drink, resulting in energon being spilt on her faceplate. It wasn't much, but enough to have to wipe off. Smokescreen huffed, at a loss for what to do.

         "You're being a lot of trouble for such an emotionless squirt." He claimed. He set Moonbeam down on the table, next to her supplies. There were extra blankets, extra changing materials for when she had extricated her inner waists, and her old bottle, to which she crawled to with great speed, and held it up, the flat metal top gleaming in the light that shown from the ceiling.

         "You want that thing? But that's way harder for you to drink from..." Then it clicked: Moonbeam liked the challenge. Smokescreen quickly transferred the energon from the new bottle to the old bottle, and gave it to the sparkling. She immediately started to sip at the open hole near the edge.

         "You're an odd one, I'll give you that." He breathed, going back to the main area.

     Ratchet immediately noticed that Moonbeam wasn't drinking from the new bottle, and questioned why. Smokescreen gladly explained, saying Moonbeam didn't like the other bottle, because it didn't challenge her.

         "She truly is a wonder." Ratchet sighed, going back to his work.

Optimus came in the room not to long afterwards. Moonbeam had finished her bottle by this time, and was giving Smokescreen no response as he dangled a hanging block in front of her, trying to get her to bat at it. He touched it to her faceplate, her arm, but she gave no response, and simply stared at the metal block with a mild disinterest.

         "Perhaps try an advanced learning game." Optimus suggested, "She might not be so bored then."

         "Learning game?" Smokescreen didn't really know any...

         "A memory game would most likely do. If you look on a data pad you might find one." With that Optimus walked off, his air of leadership lingering in the room. It was hard not to respect the Prime. He didn't ask for allegiance, but one can't help but give it to him.

     Smokescreen soon found the suggested data pad, finding a game that Moonbeam might like to play. He pulled up the icon that activated the program, and gave it to the femmeling, who took the flat, see-through surface with interest. Once it loaded, the game commenced. Smokescreen watched as her digits tapped. It started out easy, apparently to easy as Moonbeam easily found the matches to the shown shapes under different symbols. But, as all games do, the coding called for harder levels as she progressed. Soon she was remembering different algorithms to match to broken codes. In the end, she finished the game in a mere half a megacycle (about 1.3 hours).

         "That game was supposed to last until you were at least 16 stellar cycles old..." Smokescreen scratched his helm, bewildered. (A stellar cycle is about one year)

Moonbeam held the data pad out for him to take, tired of the repetitive game. He tried looking for something else for her to play, but they all seemed rather primitive after that reveal of cognitive ability. He finally chose another game, a puzzle game. Moonbeam never failed once as she looked at the screen, made one move, then started to solve the complicated puzzle with ease. Soon even that game was finished, the puzzles becoming repetitive.

         "Well, scrap kiddo... Keep going at this rate and all these games will just be repetition for you!" Smokescreen joked, chuckling a bit. He found another game, this one being a graduate level strategy game, but chose not to give this one to her, thinking that maybe warfare wasn't the brightest thing to teach her... He continued to search the datapad's memory, and soon became so engrossed in his search that he never noticed the soft padding of pedes walking away from him, nor did he notice the sudden absence of the loud silence of Moonbeam. Instead he kept searching, wondering how in the world he was going to occupy the femmeling as time went on, and games became few.

     Moonbeam knew she shouldn't walk off, just like she knew not to chew on wrenches that fall on the floor, or walk in general, but that doesn't mean she won't do it anyway. She found herself walking into the training room, Arcee and Bumblebee sparring. Arcee ducked while Bee took a swing at her helm, and the femme countered with a kick to Bee's backplates, enough force to make him stumble, but not enough to cause damage. Bee whirred in slight defeat, seeing his battle plan ruined.

         "Well if you had a plan 'B' you wouldn't have that problem would you?" Arcee pointed out, proud of her slight pun.

Bee whirred again, and stood in a battle ready position, much like the cliche ninja we see in our fantasies.

         "|: One more time! I'm not going to lose this round! :|" Bee said defiantly.

Arcee shrugged, and started her attack, being blocked by Bumblebee as she forced him into the defensive.

     Moonbeam watched, undetected by the two grown Cybertronians in front of her. She watched with her usual blank expression, every once in awhile copying a defense position, or mimicking a punch or parrie. She was briefly committed to learning this, and soon was coming up with a fight style all her own. She decided that she should watch the others too, and find how they fight, therefore adapting her style to come up with a hypothetical trump card. She planned to be able to best every one of them when she was older. Soon Moonbeam was even bored with this, and started to roam the halls once again. She found useless scrap metal lying on the floor, and loose nuts and bolts that either fell or weren't picked up. The femmeling collected these, finding them useful in some way, though she didn't know what quite yet, but prodigy instinct told her that she would need some of these items.

     At one point she had somehow gotten her tiny servos on a mini torch, or what a Cybertronian would call a mini torch. It was the perfect size for a human. Moonbeam decided that this was enough miscellaneous metal for now, and that she could go hunting for more later. The only problem was putting all this stuff in a safe place where it wouldn't be found. The sparkling continued her walk, until she found a small room, obviously made for human access only. She tried the door to find it unlocked and empty. This was now her secret stash room.

     Moonbeam quickly organized her useless treasures by size, putting the torch at the corner where it couldn't be seen if someone happened to find her treasure trove.

         "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HER?!" Was Ratchet's angry cry. Moonbeam quickly closed the door and started to run quietly to the main area, where she found a very furious Ratchet.

         "I was looking for a game on the data pad, and she was sitting right there! I swear!" Smokescreen tried to defend himself, pointing to the small expanse of platform the little sparkling used to occupy.

Moonbeam was now hiding behind some crates, close to the space she once was. Silently she devised a plan to get back up there. She saw her plan as flawless, though the only flaw that could appear was if the two currently fighting noticed her... Moonbeam took her chances, and dashed up to the platform closest to the elevator. Her chances of not being seen were slim, but she made it, and had to wait until both Ratchet and Smokescreen looked over in astonishment, which was quite a few minutes later.

         "How the... Ratchet check her for a stealth mode." Smokescreen drug a servo down his faceplate, obviously exasperated.

The devious sparkling only cocked her head to the side, showing innocence, but knowing more. Much more. And she planned on learning all she could as time went on.

     Time flew by faster then Starscream running from an angry Megatron, and the three humans were briefed on how Moonbeam would be raised. They didn't like the idea, and made that apparent, but they lost the argument after Optimus stepped in.

         "If she is accustomed to the outside world then she might not stay with us. Her want to learn more will be far to great. Prodigies are almost uncontrollable."

         "You say that as if she's more powerful than Megatron and his reign of terror!" Miko complained.

         "That's because she IS Miko." Ratchet informed bluntly. "Her cognitive ability is far beyond even that of Optimus."

         "Heck, even that of Alpha Trion! And he was the best of the best!" Smokescreen added.

         "So... we can't talk about the outside world... or the Decepticons..." Raf cleared up.

         "I still think it's rather unfair to Moonbeam." Jack argued again, but it was agreed upon that the outside world remain as if it doesn't exist.

         "Wait a minute... Where is Moonbeam?" Miko wondered.

         "She's taking a nap," Arcee answered, having put her down for a small recharge herself, "She should be awake by now actually..." Arcee went to retrieve the sparkling, but was stopped by Bee.

         "|: Can I go get her?! :|" He beeped excitedly.

Arcee said 'sure' and Bumblebee tramped off to Arcee's berthroom. Moonbeam's crib had been moved there since A) Arcee was a femme, and B) Arcee seemed to have a better handle on Moonbeam's wandering tendencies. He came back with a yawning sparkling in his arms.

         "|: She was just waking up when I walked in! :|" Bee whirred, careful not to drop his precious cargo.

         "She's so cute!" Miko squealed as quietly as she could.

     Moonbeam looked down with mild interest. She would much rather go back to bed, but she liked roaming with the two humans she saw below. The smaller of the three she really liked. He was smarter than the other two, and experimented his hypothesis' without fear, as long as the experiment was harmless. Moonbeam thought he would make a good engineer of sorts. A scientific engineer perhaps?

         "Hi Moonbeam!" Raf waived, and to everyone's surprise, he got a waive back. Bumblebee set the femmeling down on the floor, who stood perfectly straight, making the three humans step back in astonishment. She then sat down and stared at them, waiting for someone to say something, or do something, whichever came first.

         "I think she wants to play..." Raf suggested.

         "How can you tell that?! She's emotionless!" Miko argued.

         "Well... She does look rather bored..." Rafael pointed out. Indeed Moonbeam was bored, but she found the interaction between these three lower species entertaining.

         "How about you guys occupy her while we go out and patrol for some energon, yeah?" Arcee said, transforming then driving off, followed by Bee, Smokescreen, Optimus and even Bulkhead, the only one left being Ratchet, as per usual.

     The two older kids stared, dumbfounded by the fact their bots just left them, while Raf lead a crawling Moonbeam to the gaming console up on the platform.

         "Let's see how well you do with a racing game!" He beamed, making sure that his current companion didn't fall as they climbed the metal stairs. He hooked up two controllers, and turned on the game.

         "This allows you to move the car left and right, this acts as the gas pedal, and this acts as the brake, but we don't usually use that." Raf explained, giving Moonbeam the controller. It was slightly small in her sparkling servos, but she found a way to hold it so that she could control the digitized car on the screen.

         "Raf I don't think she'll be able to figure that out."

As if, just to prove Miko wrong, the game started, and Moonbeam instantly started playing like a pro. Moonbeam silently moved her digit to steer, and try to bump Raf off the road. Miko stared, her jaw slack as she became silent, for once. Moonbeam won, then huffed, as if to say 'Oh ye of little faith'. No one noticed her forced exhale of air, as they were to busy asking Raf for a turn to go against the sparkling prodigy. Though who would expect such a simple thing from an emotionless being? She showed no smirk. Her faceplate was as blank as ever, and her optics were fixed to the TV screen. She listened to the three kids quarreling beside her. When it became silent she looked to her side, finding Miko in Raf's place.

         "Bring it on kiddo!"

The game restarted, and Moonbeam had the obvious lead. Raf and Jack bet on how long it would take for Moonbeam to beat Miko. Both lost as Moonbeam forced Miko's car off the road in only one minute.

         "Darn it... If you would have held out for just 30 more seconds I would have won Miko!" Raf said, a smile on his face.

         "WHAT THE HECK GUYS?! Jack what did you guess?"

Jack scratched the back of his head, "Um... three minutes?"

         "Well at least SOMEONE had faith in my gaming skills!" Miko complained as she threw the controller at Jack. He took Miko's place and restarted the game. Moonbeam knocked him off the digital road in less than 30 seconds.

         "Well at least I know I'm not the most terrible!" Miko said triumphantly.

     Moonbeam set the controller down, bored once again, and no longer interested in the game. She got up from her spot on the platform and jumped down to the floor.

         "MOONBEAM!" The three hollered as they watched gravity steal the femmeling away. She landed on her pedes perfectly, and looked up at the three who were staring down at her, worry evident in their faces.

         "What in Primus' name is going on here?" Ratchet emerged from where ever he had disappeared to.

         "Moonbeam jumped off the ledge!" Raf said, already clamoring down the steps to make sure she was alright. Ratchet practically pounced, kneeling down to pick Moonbeam up, but she dodged his cumbersome servos, showing that she was completely fine.

         "Why did you let her jump... WHY WAS SHE EVEN UP THERE?!" Ratchet hollered, making Moonbeam cover her audio receptors.

         "Well it's not like you were here to tell us no! FOR ONCE!" Miko shot back.

         "Well excuse me for thinking you kids would have common sense! FOR ONCE!" Ratchet countered with even more force than Miko.

         "GUYS!" Raf hollered to get the two's attention, "You're making Moonbeam want to run."

They looked over to the still emotionless sparkling, her servos covering her receptors as she slowly backed away. She had her optics closed as she retreated slowly.Raf walked over to her and touched her elbow joint, making her look down. She looked with interest, and sat next to the worried Raf.

         "Let's not fight, okay? I'm sorry Ratchet, it was my idea to bring her up on the platform. I-I just wanted to play a video game with her. I won't do it again, I promise." A single tear rolled down Raf's sweet face, as he apologized. Moonbeam, intrigued, wiped the tear from his cheek, and inspected it as it rolled around on her digit.

     Ratchet sighed. Perhaps he was being a little to hard on them, considering Moonbeam wasn't your tipicle sparkling. She was a prodigy, though it was hard to not treat her like a normal sparkling, having been deprived of the sweet innocence for so long. He could hardly remember the last time he heard the laugh of a sparkling. Ratchet was saddened that he may never hear that laugh again, even with a sparkling with them now.

         "Alright, just make sure to be careful. VERY, careful." He advised before returning to his previous work.

The two kids, still on the platform looked over to Raf as he sniffed. Moonbeam had let the droplet fall on the floor, and was now getting back up onto her pedes. Looking down, she saw Raf's face, and knew he was sad. She did not show compassion, but she did poke him.

         "W-what is it Moonbeam?" Raf looked up to the sparkling's faceplate, which was as emotionless and plain as ever.

She picked him up with both servos, much to his surprise, and stared at his face. She found it interesting how this tiny thing could leak so much. Using her thumb, Moonbeam wiped away some of his tears once again.

         "Oh, those are called tears," Raf sniffed again, "Humans do that sometimes. It's really just salt water, kinda..."

The prodigy had figured this much out already, she had scanned the first tear.

         "You okay Raf?" Miko asked, now back on the floor with Jack.

         "Yeah... Guess we have to be more careful." The 12 year old noted.

The three agreed, and decided to go on a walk around base, taking Moonbeam with.

     By the time the Autobots came back, all four little ones were taking a nap. Moonbeam had wandered off on more than one occasion, which wore her out, and the chase to try and find the sparkling prodigy had made the three humans more than overly tired. Moonbeam decided that the perfect place to recharge was right under the computers, where all four were still quite dead to the world. Moonbeam was laying on her side, one arm acting as a pillow. Jack was leaning against her arm, his head laying on the sparkling's helm. Miko took the spot atop her side, where she snored softly as she dangled. The best sight to see though, was Raf, curled up in the nook of Moonbeam's midsection, a sparkling arm wrapped around him. Ratchet had decided not to wake them up when he found them, and shushed the newly arriving Autobots.

         "How long have they been like this?" Arcee asked, a small smile on her faceplate.

         "Oh, not very long. I would assume only a few Earth minutes." Ratchet replied, a little tired of the fact he couldn't do much on the computers.

Optimus went down on one knee plate, and gently stirred Moonbeam, knowing her crib would be much more comfortable than the hard concrete floor, but she gave no response.

         "I believe Moonbeam has worn herself out beyond her capabilities." Ratchet observed.

     After another half an hour, by Earth times, it was decided that the four should be woken up. Ratchet tried, and failed. Optimus tried, but had little luck. Bumblebee received a small whimper from Raf, Bulkhead an angry groan from Miko, and Smokescreen a wave of Jack's hand as he turned so that his back was facing the team. Then Arcee tried, but she didn't try to wake the kids.

         "Moonbeam," she said softly, "You need to wake up."

The sparkling slowly opened her optics, the royal blue becoming brighter as she woke up even more.

         "There we go. Rise and shine little one."

As Moonbeam got up, she woke the three with her as well. Jack almost fell on his head when his support vanished, Miko fell as her bed became upright, and Raf slowly woke up as he became suspended in the air like a sort of teddy bear. Moonbeam had a firm hold around Rafael as she sat up. The still tired sparkling yawned as she rubbed her optic.

     Miko groaned as she rubbed her eyes clear of lingering sleep, and Jack rubbed the back of his neck, thinking whiplash to be a definite problem at that moment. Raf was now wide awake, and smiling as Moonbeam held him.

         "Hey guys! Glad to see you back." He waved.

         "|: Glad to see you're not being squished... At least we know Moonbeam likes you! :|" Bee chirped.

         "Yeah," Raf chuckled, "But how do I get down?"

Moonbeam heard his question, and put him down.

         "Well that works." Raf smiled one last time at Moonbeam before scampering off to go with Bumblebee. Jack and Miko did the same, new found energy coming back. This left the prodigy with nothing to do, and a want to go hunting for more odds and ends that her processor might deem useful in the future. She began to get up and roam, until the strong arm of Optimus Prime swooped her up from the floor.

         "We can't have you roaming the base all by yourself, now can we?"

Moonbeam knew this question to be hypothetical.

         "It's about time for your energon ration isn't it?"

Another hypothetical question, though Optimus wasn't wrong. Moonbeam starred in the direction of her cup, finding out that she was quite hungry.

     Once Optimus had given Moonbeam her improvised sippy cup, the two went to his berthroom, where he relaxed his leader facade just a bit, and started to read on a data pad while he held the seemingly famished sparkling in one arm. He read, and read, and all the while Moonbeam was reading too. The tiny words going by made sense to her, each one being of her home's language. Optimus did not think she could read, a mistake on his part as he read of a famed relic one of the original 13 primes used. Moonbeam hadn't caught which relic he was reading about, but continued to read anyway. It was something to do, something to make the time pass. Soon her energon was gone, and Optimus was still reading. Tapping the Prime's arm, Moonbeam showed him her empty cup.

         "Ah, I see." He took the cup away, and placed it on a small shelf beside him. Then, sitting down on his berth, he started to read again, Moonbeam still in his arm. When she started to squirm, he looked down, and asked:

         "What is it Moonbeam?" He loosened his hold, allowing the wiggling sparkling to squirm out of his arm, and soon placed herself in his lap. She pulled down the data pad in his servo, and started reading again. Optimus watched as she drug her servo across the screen to turn the "page", and silently scolded himself for not thinking that she could read. He thanked Primus that he wasn't reading anything that pertained to the war of Cybertron. He made a mental note to tell the others that Moonbeam could read, and to be careful when she was around. Optimus sighed. The restrictions were piling up, and Moonbeam was showing more inteligence by the day. He started to think that there mission to protect themselves and Moonbeam would prove to be in vain as time went on.

     Optimus was brought from his thoughts as Moonbeam tapped him.

         "Yes?"

She pointed to the screen. Since he was not paying full attention, Optimus had not realized that the prodigy he held had magnified a passage on the screen. It was not part of what he was originally reading. Indeed it wasn't even on the data pad's memory. He knew this because no where on this particular data pad was there a file marked: S-107. He read with interest.

Sparkling Program --- Operation Prodigy

Designation: S-107

Age: 1 Orbital Cycle

Conversion Status: Success

Moonbeam zoomed out with her digits, and let Optimus read on.

WARNING: Test subject is prone to tinker when not being looked after. Will often roam (crawling) and has no regard for personal safety, be it her own or other's.

S-107 has developed a high cognitive ability. Has amazing memory and exemplary motor skills (though cannot transform). She does not respond to scoldings or praises, but seems to become uncomfortable when others are fighting each other. S-107 will challenge herself at will, but becomes "bored" easily and will move on to another project or task, though if a project is deemed important enough she will follow through. S-107 also has a tendency to disappear.

Upon reading this, Optimus looked down, thankful to see Moonbeam still in his lap.

Will often look for her Carrier, though she has been told she was not wanted.

This angered Optimus. No one should be told that at such a young age.

Though she has no emotion, S-107 has a sort of charm to her. Already several scientists have claimed to not be able to continue with the experiment. Their reasons vary...

S-107 has now turned 2 orbital cycles old. She is now walking and much more active. She refuses to talk to anyone, though she has been seen talking to walls and small toys she herself has created. We have marked it as a sort of delusional malfunction.

So, she could talk, was Optimus' thought as he read. But she didn't speak to others. Perhaps Ratchet could remedy that with a recording device in a toy he might be able to manufacture.

Will often show a form of emotion, though real emotion is quite improbable. S-107 will make her wants known by a sort of body language only a select few seem to understand, and it's different every time. She has been found testing battle stances and trying stances all her own. Also she listens well to Femmes, while Mechs she will outright ignore if she so chooses, though not often.

We have now taken away her self made toys as they have started to show signs of a far greater plan then just innocent play. S-107 showed no signs of defiance as we took these toys, which unsettled many of the scientists and workers helping with the clean-up. They said "She had stared, and seemed to show a conniving nature as she watched with a dull interest." Some say they swore they had seen a smirk. Though this is improbable, as S-107 cannot have emotion, therefore she cannot show emotion.

The more Optimus read, the more Moonbeam's mysterious past dissolved, but it was replaced with a mild creepy feeling. He dared to read on, knowing that the next passage was about the acquired toys after they were taken.

We are dismayed to say that the sparkling play-toys have acquired a life of their own. It would seem that S-107 has more than exemplary cognitive and motor abilities, but also seems to hold the power of Primus himself. More research is being put into these supposed toys, now dubbed as Sparkling-Spawns.

We are bewildered. The Sparkling-Spawn show free will, but also the will to serve only S-107 through a series of code that no one can unravel. They do not have a Spark, so we cannot say they are living. S-107 has somehow made another one, and confides in it. We are not able to record these "talks", due to some sort of scrambler in one of the Sparkling-Spawn's systems, but we can hear them. This is one of her rants:

"They think I'm dumb. Yet they know of my intelligence level. They call you Sparkling-Spawn as if you are some sort of Scraplet born demon. They activated your code when they took you all away, so they themselves are to blame, not you."

S-107 reasons with these toys of hers, as if they might turn against her. Once again we have labeled this as a delusional malfunction. Though we have reason to believe that she may be simply having a want for some sort of friendly contact. We have found through these "talks" that she sees us as enemies.

Optimus did not blame Moonbeam for seeing these scientists as enemies. They weren't cruel, yet they were. They treated her as the experiment they saw her as, and most likely kept her in a sort of solitary confinement, especially if she was in want of "friendly contact".

We've now hired a sort of nurse-maid for S-107. Her name is ------------ and has seemed to come to a sort of agreement with S-107. Every morning she comes in to check on "Her Prodigy" and walks out later after feeding S-107 and reading her a story. Why ------------ reads outloud to S-107 we have not the slightest idea. A coworker asked once and she said this:

"It's not contact she desires. It's companionship. And I'm not what she wants. But we have agreed that I will do for the time being."

----------- said this with a sort of witty air. She seems to like being S-107's personal slave (that is what she seems to be in our optics) and has grown to like the odd charm "Her Prodigy" shows. We are becoming suspicious, and have reason to believe that some sort of plan is being devised. For what, we do not know.

The absence of this nure-maid's name bothered Optimus. Either it was removed by a 'scientist', or by Moonbeam herself. The Prime made a mental note to ask at a later date.

S-107 is now 3 orbital cycles old. Political unrest is calling for many of us to be taken away from our duties here, and we are now very low in staff. This is dangerous, considering S-107's intelligence has grown to the point that she even rivals that of Alpha Trion. We have reason to speculate that we have made a mistake.

Sparkling Program --- Operation Prodigy

Designation: S-107

Age: 3 Orbital cycles

Conversion status: Unknown

Optimus thought this to be the end of Moonbeam's past. But as he was about to set the data pad down, the sparkling, still sitting in his lap, pulled it back to her, and scrolled down to another passage, hidden from impatient optics that would have given up the scrolling, and moved on to another project.

If you are reading this then My Prodigy is safe, and she trusts you. Please give her a name that suits her. S-107 brings back very bad memories for her, and she hates being treated like a test subject, though she will not say anything about it. I was not given the specifics of the experiment, but I was told that she was delusional, this is not the case. She spoke to her creations as a form of communication to others. She knew they wouldn't listen other ways. I will confirm one thing: She does not have emotion, but she does have morals.

I have run out of time, and must send her to a far planet, where she is safe from being destroyed by the very mechs that claim to have created her. Don't be blind and assume My Prodigy has no morals, or Primus help you, you will regret it.

That was the end. Nothing more. No more hidden messages, not a single letter, or phrase could be found. Optimus put the data pad down and lifted Moonbeam from her spot so that she was now level with his faceplate.

         "You were saved by this nurse maid?"

The prodigy he held nodded.

         "Do you recall her name?"

She nodded again, but gave no answer to his implied question, and didn't say this rescuers name.

         "She taught you right from wrong," Optimus sighed, "But whose side was she on?" The Prime asked this question mainly to himself, but it was a very essential question. Was this Femme a Decepticon when the war began, or an Autobot? If only he had her name.

     Moonbeam patted Optimus' cheekplate, her blank expression still there. She then pointed to the data pad, which Optimus gave to her after setting her by his side. She flipped through some files, and found one of the war. That horrifying, planet dooming war that offlined so many, and what seemed to be for nothing. That energon boiling war, that was still raging today. Moonbeam magnified a passage. It was a small journal entry, made by a now terminated Autobot.

I've stopped counting the solar cycles. Each time a glimmer of hope produces itself, it's snuffed out by the gleaming axe of the Decepticons. They've depleted our supplies to the point that we couldn't even properly feed a sparkling. These war seeking Cons show no mercy. A comrade of mine was down, and his systems were failing him. Slowly, painfully, he became one with the Allspark, but those fragging Cons didn't even put him out of his misery. They watched as his Spark slowly dimmed, laughing as if his death was some sort of cruel joke. Megatron himself laughed as he surveyed the damage inflicted to so many innocents. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's the embodiment of Unicron himself. That mech is nothing but pure evil. He runs on hate, not energon. It's hard to believe he was once one of us.

Moonbeam did not go further as she yawned, the data pad set down by her side, still quite tired. She then reached behind her backplates, a small cavity revealing itself. Optimus realised what this cavity once was, and knew he would find a similar one mirroring the one he saw. These scientists, to ensure that their experiment did not escape, removed the wings that would have grown, revealing Moonbeam to have been a Seeker. How did he not see this before? These 'scientists' were truly monsters.

From this cavity, the sparkling pulled out a small, seemingly insignificant piece of metal. She stood up, and stepped to Optimus' shoulder plate, where the Autobot symbol glittered in the light of his berthroom. She held up the small metallic object, a perfect match. Taking it from his shoulder, she traced the outline with a digit.

         "Her name was Aquastreak." Moonbeams voice was that of a young angel, smooth as honey, and no higher than a songbird's soft tune. "She was an Autobot in the end. And was offlined just after sending my pod out. She gave me two things: The file," She looked to the data pad. "And this." She held up the metal symbol, so Optimus could see, then brought it back, placing it back into her empty wing cavity. "I do not have emotion, but I do have a means of winning your war."

     Optimus, for quite some time, did not respond. He stared at this enigma wrapped in mystery and a haunting past. His only move, was one Moonbeam had not expected. The Prime picked her up, and embraced her gently. A gentle hug from a gentle giant.

         "You are not a tool." He said, "You are not S-107. You are Moonbeam. And destined for more than just helping with this war. You might be a prodigy, but you are still a sparkling. You deserve to live carefree as many used to in the old days."

Moonbeam laid her helm on his shoulder plate. She knew of this showing of compassion. Aquastreak did this many times.

         "I'm afraid I cannot return your feelings." She said, knowing this to be a sign of love.

         "You do not need to."

     The next day, the painted S-107 on Moonbeam's crib was removed, and replaced with the Autobot insignia. No one was told of her and Optimus' conversation, and they probably never would. She began to speak only when she naturally was supposed to be able to. The only exception being when she would talk with Optimus, and those times were many as she grew. She told of the secrets of the scientists who experimented on her, and the 106 before her, who failed. S-107: the claimed miracle. They often called her the Prime, though many prime numbers were used, and had failed. Only Aquastrike noticed that 107 could be turned into a larger prime number: 701, and secretly named her the Double Prime. The closest Moonbeam ever truly came to emotion, was hugging Optimus back that night.