trans_9 | Test Drive

"....I guess not." Kyle watches the...vehicle....transform, and stand up. The brief glimpses he caught of the robot's inner workings has already got him thinking, planning. It must be possible to do that with every vehicle, though no doubt it would also require an advanced artificial intelligence, as there was no person inside.

Any respect he might have felt, though, gives way to something halfway between fascination and amusement as he watches it disinfect itself. "You know, I don't think Stacy can give you diseases or anything," he points out reasonably, "unless in whatever universe you're from, transforming robots are susceptible to bacteria and viruses."

"I'm not taking any chances of cyber-contaminants affecting my systems. Besides you hu-mans, the last organic contact I had tried to melt me with their acid-spit and eat my spark core!"

"I'm sure Stacy wouldn't spit acid at you. And if that's so, why are you still walking around inside her? What's stopping these contaminants from getting onto your feet?" The word 'germaphobe' isn't exactly right, but it's approximate.

"Spark core?" If that's a mechanical part, it's one he's never heard of before. "What's that?"

"Because Autobots don't fly, of course." He rolls his optics. "Disinfection procedures are made regularly, but that's all I can do."

He seems to pause a bit, crediting the organic for interest in cyberbiological principles. He thumps an open servo against his torso-plate. "My spark is what makes me me. It's what you hu-mans might call a 'soul'. Exoframes, or 'bodies' as you would know them, can be exchanged, reformatted, upgraded, even totally scrapped, but the spark is the essence of any Cybertronian or similarly evolved life-form."

"Nobody ever thought to make themselves turn into a hovercar or airship?" If they even had those where the robot came from; it certainly sounded as though wheeled vehicles were far more common.

"So, as long as your spark is intact, the rest of you could be blown apart and you'd be all right? Does it need sustainment or energy of some kind? What happens if it's destroyed?" Kyle's practically overflowing with questions, more than he'd usually ask. Then again, there's usually no easier way to get him to talk than to show him some mechanical device he's not familiar with. Like this one.

"We've got those technologies, but they're still not as energy-efficient as land-bound transport; especially in the case of strong heavy-duty bots like myself." Sentinel thumped his torso plate proudly.

"Energon's a precious enough resource as it is, so being form-efficient is an evolutionary imperative." Sentinel examines the hu-man carefully. All the attention was rather flattering.

"Well, there are limits. Physical trauma affects one's processors, so that ends up leading back to the spark as well. Our spark is sustained just like the rest of us, with energon. If our spark is mutilated, or we're damaged too much it just... fades. Exposure to certain kinds of energy can mutate it, make us go crazy, or.... change." He twinged at some of the old oil-fire stories from his own time in Autoboot camp.

"Funny that you'd say that. Where I come from, they're the most energy-efficient. We haven't had wheeled vehicles in over a century." There were probably still a few in some old garages or museums, but none on the streets - those only had room for pedestrians. All hovercraft flew about higher up. Kyle grins a little at Sentinel's obvious pride. Someone's going to knock him down a peg sometime.

"Is energon your main power source?" It sounds like there's very little of it to go around, and yet it can power a transforming robot, so it must be very powerful. "And I assume you have extra armor over wherever your spark core is kept?" Which would put it in the chest, most likely; more armor could be placed on the chest than on the head, and it's easier to defend than, say, a foot.

Sentinel turned his head at the bit about technology. Better for hu-mans maybe. Autobots had managed just fine with externalizing their flight technology. "Non-sentient tech we manage just fine. Ships with trans-warp engine, hover platforms, and the like. It's deemed too high a risk to support systems for one's spark to place such high-demand systems in one's exoframe."

He folded his servos across his torso, raising one to gesture as he spoke. "Energon is what we process all kinds of energy into for consumption, for ourselves and our systems. It's also what we are" Another torso thump. "Rarified energon is the basis for all Cybertronian life; it's what our sparks and bodies are made of. It's why recycling used up 'frames and protecting our sparks is so important."

"Of course. I imagine that would take a lot of power to maintain. What does a trans-warp engine do?" And more importantly, can he replicate it? Kyle knows the hover platforms his world has, although they're used for fairly mundane things, like cleaning high-up windows.

"So you can use any energy source? Electricity, solar power...?" At the bit about their frames being made of rarified energon, Kyle gives him another curious look. "You mean that's not metal?" It certainly looks very similar. The torso thump makes him want to grin again. The robot is so proud he can practically feel superiority radiating off him.

"I'm Kyle," he adds, more than just a little bit late. "Do you have a name?"

"Faster than light-speed travel, with potential chronal displacement capabilities as well. All made possible by Autobot ingenuity." Sentinel expounds, before going on to explain energon.

"Energon is the form we process it in, but we can extract the raw energy from just about any source. Rarified energon is a solidified energy. It's transient nature is what allows our bodies to reformat as necessary. There's only a finite amount of it in the universe though, so far as we know."

He draws himself up to his full (although diminished) height. "Yes, I.." He postures, "..am Sentinel Prime. Field commander in the Autobot Elite Guard." He snaps his battle visor into place to emphasize his point.

Faster than light-speed? Definitely some funny effects with time. "So these ships' armor is strong enough to withstand impacts from particles at that speed?" When a ship was going faster than light speed, even minute particles of dust could utterly destroy steel hulls.

"Transient. You can emulate any vehicle? Can it change color, too?" He's itching for a chance to get a close look at the stuff, but holds back from being too pushy. Still, those are some interesting properties. It's unfortunate that there's only a finite amount of it; the potential of such a material could be great.

The posturing reminds him of those little action figures they marketed to kids, and he has to try to keep from laughing. "Nice to meet you. I'm just an engineer." Though he's not sure how much clout that title has here. "If you're an Autobot, is there another kind of robot?"

Sentinel waves dismissively. "I'm not one of those limp-servo'd science bots, so I can't tell you how it works, but I can tell you that it does work. As for reformatting, we can usually copy any vehicle we scan, but we can't go outside our own base abilities. An Autobot couldn't scan some hu-man flying machine and fly because of it, for example. Color gets displaced from however the bot looked before, but we can repaint ourselves without a problem."

He scowls at the last part. "Yes... the Decepticons. The scum of the universe. Theirs is the wretched grasp that reaches across stars to snuff out decency and honor." He pauses. "Oh, and the Quintessons, and a few others, but it's mostly the Decepticons you need to concern yourself with."

So there are limits to the reformatting, but not that much. "Isn't there a wide range of vehicles to choose from, given your reliance on them? Why one that looks...awkward?" Kyle has no idea what that giant shovel is for. "So you can't change color. Can you change the texture?" Otherwise, where did the seats go? And why would a transforming robot need to make a vehicle with seats, unless there was a smaller species that could ride there?

Sentinel's language might have annoyed him, if he wasn't so busy asking technical questions. It's the kind of overblown stuff that makes him want to laugh or shudder. "Do they look different from you? And...are there any on the ship?" That might be bad for peacekeeping.

Sentinel twitched in annoyance. "This form was chosen in order to blend in with other local hu-man vehicles when on a mission to 'Earth'. I of course rid myself of it when returning to Cybertron, but for some reason this blasted meatship reassigned it to me. I've yet to find anything else of sufficient scale and function to scan for a new vehicle mode. What do you mean by texture?"

He grimaces as the Decepticons are brought up again. "As a general rule? Bigger, uglier, and with more firepower. I've heard rumors of some of them being on this ship, but no confirmation... YET."

"Do you have to scan something? Why not just download the blueprints?" It looked very unwieldy, and hard to maneuver. "Texture. The way something feels? Unless you don't have sensors for those..." Which was a distinct possibility, given that Sentinel had metal fingers. "I mean, where do the vehicle's seats go when you change to this form?" Unless they were internalized...

"That could be bad, huh?" he remarks mildly. Given Sentinel's obvious distaste for Decepticons, it might prove disastrous should he come face to face with one. Supposedly, now that they were all on this ship, faction shouldn't matter, but it sounded like neither Decepticon nor Sentinel would care.

Sentinel widened one optic. "Blue...prints? What are those?" He exhaled. "As for the texture thing, some of our materials are softer or harder, but we don't concern ourselves with stuff beyond making sure our wheels get enough grip."

He grins as the Decepticons are mentioned again. "Oh don't you worry your tiny squishy head, hu-man. I'm in the Elite Guard. I can handle a few Deceptisleezes if I have to."

"Blueprints. Vehicle designs on paper. Drawings of the components and how they go together. It's like a 2D deconstruction of a 3D object. Could you scan something in the sensoriums?" He's just full of ideas today.

"Then what happens to the seats? Do they fold inside or just...change?"

Kyle rolls his eyes a little at the smugness, although he has to grin, too. "If they're built anything like you, I could take them apart and rebuild them with their exhaust pipes where their heads are."

"Seats?" Sentinel looks himself over. "Oh... those holding receptacles for the hu-mans. They're internalized, somewhere..."

The idea of scanning something in the sensorium possibly has merit. Sentinel is glad he thought of it.

He then narrows his optics at the final comment. "And what are you implying about me then, hu-man?"

They must have folded up and disappeared into the robotic form, then. Possibly they broke into segments first...

At the almost-challenging question, he raises an eyebrow. Best to be honest, considering it's a little late to back out. "That if you ever pissed me off enough, I could do the same to you? And if I felt like it, I might also be able to make improvements, or new weaponry." The last bit's worth mentioning. He doesn't exactly have an EMP grenade or gun on hand at the moment, so pissing off the robot might be bad.

Test Drive

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