Chapter Text
“It appears that you have broken it, Not-Crew.”
Mark glares back at the floating bot that has been watching him the whole time; “yeah well, I can fix it.” Teletraan-X doesn’t look convince – as much as a bot without farcical features can be anyways – but went back to monitor the solar panels outside of the Hab. “Should have left you in that crater where you crashed.”
“But you didn’t.”
Mark could only scowl because he couldn’t argue back against that; instead focus on trying not to set himself on fire again. You would think a member of the Autobots should be able to get in contact with, well, anyone but with the ARK stuck in defense mode means that not even X can get in contact with his people. Which means they are both stuck here without any way of getting home.
“It appears another storm is in bound, Not-Crew.” X goes flying by to another terminal. “It’s coming from the North, just like the last one did. Strange, that’s not the weather pattern that your computers had recorded from over the years.” X went flying by again, almost knocking into Mark, before returning back to the original terminal. “However, the new patterns seem to be in line with a lost artifact.”
“Artifact?”
Just as Mark spoke the word; an explosion launches him back into the wall and crash harshly to the ground.
…
“Oh good, you are awake!” X only moves out of his face when Mark gently pushes the bot away. “You have been out for ten minutes but don’t worry, I’ve managed to put out the fire.” The bot went flying out of eye sight.
It takes a few minutes for him to get to the kitchen and takes a seat to take a break before continuing on trying to make water. He couldn’t help watch X rush around the Hab in search of something; going from computer to machine to another computer before doing the whole thing again.
“So, what’s on Mars that the ARK sent you here instead of Earth?” Mark asks; causing X to shatter for a moment before continuing his looping. “I mean, aren’t all the Autobots on Earth or something.”
“You aren’t wrong, Not-Crew.” X had come to a stop at one of the closer computers. “However, the last known location of the nearest Autobot Lab was here on Mars before they had left. Not everything had left Mars, there are still Cons and…other creatures roaming around.”
“Wait, are you saying that there is life here?”
“Not quite the same as Earth but yes, there is life on this planet.” X’s eye goes green for a moment before the computer shows a few metal creatures that looks close to the Transformers that Mark had seen a few times. “They survive on Engeron, much like myself and any other Transformer. Mars and Earth are quite bountiful of the stuff which is why we had come here first until the Autobots were ran off the planet due to the Cons that had remain here.” X pulls up an image of what looks like a giant metal scorpion. “The only Con that they know about is Scorponak but there is another here as well.”
“Another Con?”
“No, an Autobot.” A new, blurry picture pops of another giant Transformer that’s towers over the mountains of Mars. “Fortress Maximus.”
“Are they anywhere near here?” Mark asks.
“Luckily, no. They are on the other side of the planet at the moment, close to the landing zone of Ares 4 but they’ll have moved away by the time humans come here again.”
Mark wants to ask more but X already closed out everything and return to his looping of the Hab. He takes a second before standing and leaving the room to do another log; wanting to get his findings out there and figure out what had happened to cause the explosions.
…
“You are a real thorn in my side, X.” Mark haven’t been paying much attention to the movie playing; mostly listening to the storm ranging outside. Faintly, he can hear something like metal clashing together but always gone by the time he gets X’s attention. “Can’t you get your own spot.”
“I believe this is the best place to recharge, Not-Crew;” X keeps blocking Mark’s view of the TV due to the bot next to him.
“Right…” It’s just another night waiting to see if the potatoes will actually grow or not. X has been keeping track and even stated that they are growing but until Mark sees green than he won’t believe it. “What is your goal, X?”
“To find Crew and reinstate the ARK…” X shifts slightly causing Mark to glance down at the bot. “And maybe return home.”
Home…Mark wonders about what’s happening back on Earth; his parents are the biggest thing he thinks about. Mostly because he promised to be back in one piece but now, they would have been told that he’s died like the rest of the world. He wonders what his funeral was like. Was it boring with long winded speech about Mark helping science? Probably, sound like NASA.
“What are you expecting to find when you get home?” Mark asks. “You have robot kids? A robot wife?”
X didn’t say anything; only leaving the room.
…
“What are we looking for exactly?” X asks while the landscape moves past them.
This area of Mars has been marked early on as a no safe zone by both NASA and X but Mark ignores them both and starts making the trip out to find Pathfinder, maybe the only thing that they get them back into contact with someone that could help them. It’s also the perfect test to see just how far he can push the Rover before making the real trip to Ares 4.
“It’s called Pathfinder or better known back on Earth being the Sagan Memorial Station,” Mark said. “It’s meant to learn more about Mars before we lost contact with it shortly afterwards, even though the smart guys back on Earth attempted to get it to work again but never ended up happening.”
“Interesting;” X floats closer to the window which Mark had to move the bot out of the way.
Mark pulls the Rover to a stop and went about getting his helmet back on before getting out. X didn’t waste any time with rushing out of the Rover and went about scanning the area while Mark got out the shovel and whatever he might need to dig this thing up. It takes a moment to even find Pathfinder and takes even longer to dig it up.
“What?” Mark’s voice startle X out of his rest mode while he went about brushing away more dirt to find some strange capsule with glowing markings that shifts like its breathing. “X, what is this thing?”
X flies around it while scanning the thing until suddenly stopping and floating down slowly; “it’s a Sparkling capsule.”
“Sparkling?” It sounds familiar but Mark isn’t sure where he had heard the word before. “And what’s that? What is this thing?”
“Human would call them babies;” X’s own markings appear to match the breathing glowing ones on the capsule.
Mark looks around the area in the hopes that Mom isn’t close by. “Did its mom make her nest here or something? You know like one of those creatures you were talking about earlier?” X has been explaining some of the creatures that came from Cybertron and ended up here by accident, most are harmless but not all of them. Specially with Scorponak and Fortress Maximus making their way across the planet. “We should leave it here before its parents come back.”
“There are no parents,” X suddenly said; almost like he’s afraid Mark will abandon it. “It was most likely sent here to become a Mini-Con for research but something must have gone wrong.”
Mark left X to handle the capsule so he can load up Pathfinder and its Rover. The capsule has been brought into the Rover where Mark had to hook it so it doesn’t bounce all over the place. He did freeze for a moment at the small pulse like feeling that almost follow his own heart before he pulls away and quickly got into his seat.
“Let’s get home, X.”
…
Setting up Pathfinder had to wait until the next morning due to a sudden storm. It rattles the Hab more than before and Mark finds himself turning up the movie that he’s watching in the hopes of drowning it out. X had taken to charging in the bunk across from him that Mark had cleaned out Sols ago but his eyes land on the capsule in between them on the floor.
Resting his hand on the cool metal, Mark takes slow and even breathes which is quickly matched by the capsule.
Transformers have been a huge part of many peoples’ lives when they had made themselves home back in the eighties. Mark remembers seeing these giant alien robots on TV for the first time and thought they were the coolest thing to have happened since…well, forever. His parents didn’t feel the same but never shown it until he was a teenager.
“X?” Mark calls out. “What will happen when this thing hatches?”
X takes a few seconds to boot up but doesn’t take off like he normally does; clearly going back into recharge after answering.
“It’ll need a shell and then a purpose…we can figure that out later, Not-Crew.”
A shell and a purpose. Mark turns away to stare at the bottom of the top bunk but never pulling away from the capsule. X only briefly explain what a Mini-Con is but if they are meant to become some kind of tool or something. Frankly, he wasn’t actually paying much attention since he was making sure they weren’t going to be killed.
…
In the morning, Mark had sent up Pathfinder before going around looking for any kind of Cybertronian Metal that X had scanned forever ago. It’s probably makes the most sense to use that instead of patching something together. Mark did check the rover that came with Pathfinder and saw that – somehow – was made from the same metal that he has been collecting. Which doesn’t make any sense if Transformers only arrived on Earth in the eighties.
“Is this enough, X?” Mark laid out the metal before checking if Pathfinder had moved at all which it haven’t. “There might be more farther out.”
X went quickly between the pieces; “no, this should be enough for a Mini-Con.”
“Great.” Mark takes a seat on a rock with a groan from overworking himself again. “What about a name? How does that work because I don’t want keep call it Sparkling the whole time.”
From what X had figured out so far, the Sparkling is close to hatching soon which means that they had found it before something else could. X said that’s a good thing but didn’t explain any further than that. However, without Teleaan-1, X has no idea how much longer they have. It could be in the next few days or a couple years from now.
“It’s a P-124,” X said. “It’s a researcher Mini-Con so we can call it P-124.”
“No,” Mark states. “We’re not calling a child a letter and a couple of numbers. There are Transformers with names like Bumblebee and Optimus; can’t it has a name like that?”
“Bumblebee used to be called B-127 but gained a new name from a human named Charlie.” X stops flying around to face Mark. “Optimus Prime used to be called Orion Pax but I don’t have the origin of where his original name came from nor what he was before that. They were both given a name; you can do the same if you want but its not necessary.”
Mark looks around – double checking if Pathfinder had moved – but there’s nothing here but sand, dirt, and red. A whole lot of nothing. Other than the Hab and…
“Pathfinder,” Mark said. “I mean, that’s where the Sparkling was found.”
“Pathfinder.” X nods. “I’ll log it so others will know when we meet up with them.” Suddenly, X went flying past Mark which makes him get to his feet to follow. “It’s working!” The two rush over to watch the camera rotate until stopping.
…
Using Pathfinder – the machine, not the Sparkling – Mark managed to get in contact with NASA but only briefly between sand storms. They appear to be growing worst with no end in sight, though X had started researching more into what could be causing it. There’s nothing to show for it yet but that’s not what’s important.
“Careful, Path.” Mark wince when he kneels down but ignores it in favour of catching the Sparkling before she falls. “There we go.” Surprising, Pathfinder is quite light thanks to the mix of metals that she has chosen from when forming. “Let’s go see if the storm has passed yet.” There’s a soft sound of agreement as Mark moves to the window…and only see the sand still raging outside.
It’s been about a month since getting in contact with NASA and Mark only managed to ‘speak’ to them a total of two times. They had a plan on how to make things easier to communicate but was cut short due to the storm.
“Still sandy out…”
“Sandy!”
Mark laughs; “yeah, sandy!”
…
“Not-Crew, why is Pathfinder repeating ‘sandy’ over and over again?”
“Don’t know, maybe you should ask her.”
“Negative, she only says ‘sandy’. I have asked multiple times.”
“Then I don’t know what to tell ya, X.” Mark stops writing his report and leans back into his chair. Pathfinder have been making paper stars – something that Mark doesn’t even know where she had learned – while X have been attempting to get her to say something. “Are you trying to get her to say something in Cybertronian?”
X freeze for a moment before nodding; “Yes, a term used for caregiver.”
“Oh, like dad or mom?” Mark only thought briefly what Pathfinder might end up calling him but he always waves the thought away; not wanting to remember that he’ll never live to see that day. “Well, give her time, X. She’ll say it on her own time.”
…
“Not-Crew?” X comes flying over from the Rover with Pathfinder running him, giggling all the way. “I have read something from your Crew’s media journals.” X moves down to allow Pathfinder to lean against him and tap against his metal plating, earning even more giggles when his own markings light. “Would you love me if I was an Earth worm?”
“An Earth worm?” Mark asks; having been watching machine Pathfinder almost the whole day. “Would I love you if you were a worm?”
He hasn’t heard that question since his first girlfriend in high school – the only other girlfriend he really had was in college, who had broken up with her last boyfriend to be with him for some reason. She was a bit older, he was a bit stupid; they both ended up with broken hearts. But that’s not the here and now.
“Yeah, I probably would still love you if you were a worm.” Mark chuckles. “I’m a botanist, remember? My whole thing is caring about plants, which means worms as well.”
X nods after a second – maybe processing what Mark said – before taking off.
Mark easily scoops up Pathfinder, who went into nap mode quickly after settling down. X believes – due to being a Mini Con – that she’ll be able to gain her altmode shorter, though unsure on what she’ll pick since it’s different for all of them.
…
It’s about a week later when X comes into the bedroom, easily finding his spot next to Mark while Pathfinder had taken the side closest to the wall. It’s a bit cramped some nights but it’s better than being alone.
“You love me?”
“Always have.” Mark nudges the bot, earning a confuse look. “Listen, we have our rough moments but I much rather be stuck on this planet with you than anyone else.”
“That is the same for me...” X trails off for a moment. “Thank you for being my friend, Crew.”
Mark thought about pointing fun of the bot for calling him crew but decided against it.
“Anytime, Crew.”
…
The Hub failed; ripping apart from the storm. Mark barely gotten his suit on before the whole Hub was destroyed and he went flying. Unable to even see where X or Pathfinder. Stars dance in his eyes while he lays in the sand that he fighting to stay above of, though it was a losing fight from the start. Overhead, there’s a rambling of what sounds like thunder with the sky lighting up briefly with images to giants over head. That was the last thing he saw before something hits him.
…
There’s a soft melody floating over him along with another sound that seems to answer it. Mark didn’t care, not after being left in the dark for so long. His eyes hurt from the flood of light in the center aisle – luckily, his little jail cell is dark which makes it only a bit bearable. There would be a bit where he would be nosy and look out but he could barely bring himself to move, let alone care.
Everything is a dull pain (when was the last time nothing hurt? Before Sol 6? Did he imagined a life before Mars?) even when he remains still. His mind keeps going back to Pathfinder and X, unknowing on what happened to them during the storm. Sometimes a flash of giants would appear in the dirt that he forces himself to ignore.
Suddenly, his cell shakes while coming out of the wall and down to the floor below where a giant stands well above him. However, it’s the weird spider rock thing that startles him out of his thoughts for the first time. Forcing him to sit up at the sight of the alien before him.
There’s more of that same melody from before which is coming from the spider rock in front of him. It’s not as big as the giant standing next to it, only coming up to the middle of the cell, and a beautiful blue-green that Mark had only seen in distance dreams. (No, they were real…or were they? Was there a lake so blue and clear that reflects the sky or was that a pointless dream he made for comfort?)
“…Martian.” The giant’s voice is light and uncaring when Mark finally understands the words spoken. “The translator should be working now but are you sure you want this one, Dr. Adrian?”
“It’s not what I would be chosen but the Martian would do.” Unlike the giant, the spider rock (Adrian) seems a bit more careful like she a handle someone like Mark before. “And the research mini-con? Are you sure our labs could use, question?”
“Yes…”
The words fade away while something sweet fills the air and the darkness wraps around him like a comfortable blanket.
…
Living on Erid is so different compared to Mars; food, water, warmth without fear of it all being taken away. The dream before Mars feels farther and farther away the longer that Mark lives in the Dome. Grace is nice enough but Mark doesn’t trust him, specially with claims of dying stars and a hail Mary. Instead, Mark keeps to himself and works in the greenhouse.
Sometimes he asks Adrian about Pathfinder, who has been taken to the labs, but didn’t get much of an answer. Because how does he explain what Pathfinder is to him? Maybe his daughter because he was there and raised her for two months before he was taken from Mars. There’s also the possibility that Pathfinder would be happier with the scientists. She’s a research mini-con, it was what she was made to do.
“Anything fun planned today?”
Mark looks from his cereal just as Grace suddenly appears next to him, grabbing some granola bar before going back to getting ready. Apparently, Grace is a school teacher and have taken up teaching here on Erid. Maybe he should look into some kind of job. Those taking care of the dome had given him a green house with plants that they managed to get from the merchants – which so happened to be Transformers. He has some notes but nothing worth sharing at the moment.
“Probably go to the green house,” Mark said; shrugging.
“Sounds like fun, I’ll see you after class!”
And Mark is alone for all of ten minutes before the door comes flying open and a small Mars rover comes barreling into the house. Ardian had attempted to catch the rover four different times before Mark easily scoops it up; only for it to transforms into – “Dad!”
“Pathfinder!?”
Pathfinder giggles and easily snuggles up against Mark; humming softly.
“She is yours, question?”
Mark looks down at the Sparkling – “yeah, she’s my daughter.”