Well, I realize it's been a long while. Though, not as long as it could have been. I still care a lot for this story, I've just got other projects going on that have been taking priority. One whopper of a story in the works, an original novel, and college. Also... a certain... web... comic... *cough* *cough*...

Anyways. This is the first time in many months that I've written in bed. I'm not sure what to say on that, except I find it a lot easier to write an exaggeratedly tired character when I myself am tired. Especially when I'm exhausted, I find myself thinking 'I suddenly don't care' far too often, and literally dropping whatever I'd been doing before. That's the sort of mentality Sam's got here, I believe. Only... a bit more intense than that. But, he's got about 8 days left. About, that doesn't mean exactly. It can fluctuate by how active he is, how much he tries to stay conscious, and how much he overworks his processors.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. I don't own Transformers.

I sat at the front end of the small ship, leaning into the railing and dangling my legs over the edge. It's dark enough out that I can be up here without it increasing my headache, but the rocking motions have me in a perpetual headrush. It's like my skull's either gotten smaller or my brain's gotten bigger. The rocking is everywhere on board, though. There's no escaping that.

The warm patch of skin under my eyes were so sore by now that I can't even honestly say that I'm tired. I could just as well slip under these railings into the cold water- probably isn't even cold -as easily as I could fall asleep now. There are clouds, but they're thin. I can still see plenty of the stars, and even the moon. It's only in it's third quarter phase, and I feel like there's something else I should know about it other than what time of the month it is, but I'm just too exhausted to try and remember what.

Sort of like how I should know something about that dark mass ahead of us on the water. But since I can't remember, and I honestly don't care to try, I just sighed and leaned forward so that my chest was pressing into the lower bar of the railing.

It slowly came closer, and I really feel like there's something important about it.

Behind me, some door shut and footsteps echoed over the deck. I didn't even flinch at each one anymore, like I had last time he came up for a break from his interrogation.

"Hey, kid. You're really freaking them out down there. They wanted me to make sure you hadn't fallen asleep and fallen off the boat." Simmons walked closer. "You still awake?"

"Yeah." I mumbled, not moving my eyes off the black mass on the horizon.

"The navigation equipment's starting to act funny now too, so we must be getting clo-" He stopped short, and that annoyed me. Why does that annoy me? Well, I wanted to know what we were close to.

"What?" I turned and looked up at him. But he was staring out to the horizon like I had. I followed his gaze back out to the black mass. "What is it?"

"That's Diego Garcia." He gasped. "That's the island, why didn't you say something, kid? Jeeze, come on!" He started running back to the door that lead down into the hull. I didn't move, just turning to look back towards the black mass. Obviously it's an island.

Moments later- when the mass had gotten significantly larger -the sound of vehicles pulling up onto the deck reached me. I finally pulled myself up to a stand, my joints groaning at the strain that put on them. Ratchet wanted me to walk around every hour, but I don't think I've moved since I sat down there. And who knows how long ago that was.

Optimus transformed and stretched in relief. He sort of contrasted with the motionless and quiet scenery that I've been staring at. More vehicles pulled up the ramp and transformed, reveling in the opportunity to stretch their limbs in probably a far more satisfying way than I had hours ago.

"We're almost there." Prowl mused happily, walking to the bow of the ship to see better. Someone scooped me up from behind, but I barely took notice.

"Almost where?" I yawned.

"Diego Garcia." That's what Simmons kept saying, and now Bumblebee is too. Diego Garcia...

"Sounds Spanish." I mused, looking over at the mass. "Doesn't look like a Spanish island."

"The government base." Bumblebee gave me an odd look. "For the Allspark."

Almost as if the headrush actually stopped for a second, things clicked for me. "Oh." Right. No, I know Diego Garcia, I know what you're talking about. And we're almost there? Great!

"Ironhide, contact the twins. Tell them we're there." Optimus instructed without looking away from the mass- the island on the horizon. It's got to be the middle of the night and we're deep in classified waters; keeping hidden is a moot point now.

Another door shut, and the human footsteps cut out after only a few steps. Then, there was a whistle.

"So this is the real you, hu?" Simmons looked like a kid on Christmas. "I've been waiting for this for thirty-odd years, and I never really expected this."

"Like you haven't seen them before." I groaned, rolling my eyes. Get over yourself, you don't need to make a big deal about this.

"I haven't. They've been trucks since we met, remember?" Simmons addressed me specifically.

"Right." I passed it off. Simmons has been sticking around forever, and he hasn't seen the real them at all yet? It seems like years that we've been on this boat.

"Samuel's processors are shutting down non-vital quadrants." Ratchet said to someone behind us. "His memory seems to be slipping."

"Hmm." I hummed, letting that slide. All I've heard from him is about how I'm falling apart. Pretty soon, I guess I'll be a pile of fake skin and bolts. I guess I don't remember much before this frantic race began, but I'm pretty sure that it's lasted forever. And I'm pretty sure that it will last just as long. We still have to find the All-thingy.

I yawned. "How many days left?"

"One and a half." Bumblebee answered, knowing exactly what I was talking about. "But we'll get the Allspark long before then."

"What are you two whispering about?" Ratchet stuck his nose in on our conversation.

"Bee's going to let me take a nap in one-and-a-half days if we don't get the Allspark by then." I answered easily.

"No he isn't." Ratchet glared at Bumblebee. "Recharging now would serve no purpose other than reducing your energy. Your spark doesn't have enough energy to keep itself active, let alone recharge your systems."

"He said, and I'm tired." I shrugged. That's all I know, that's all I'm looking forward to.

"Would it reduce his time?" Bumblebee asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure, but it would give a reverse-jump start and push his offlining process further along the line. Not much."

"Then he gets a nap." Bumblebee insisted firmly. "We'll get to it long before then anyways. Diego Garcia's right there."

"Don't relax yet. You know that means nothing until we actually have it." Ratchet growled, glaring out towards the island.

"Have what?" I asked without thinking. They both stared at me, and Bumblebee gave a worried look to Ratchet. "What?"

"Nothing." Ratchet shook his head and quickly walked away.

Simmons was landing the ship, docking it, whatever, within the hour. Optimus and Prowl were talking about the best way to locate the Allspark while Ironhide and Bumblebee were talking about something else; I really wasn't paying attention. Ratchet was the first off, walking up to the ancient guard building like he was home.

"There's someone else already here." He announced, making everyone else stop.

"What do you mean? This is a classified island, I don't even know how we came in so easily." Simmons hefted his shoulder bag. "There's high security everywhere."

"I passed off the signal when we approached." Optimus brushed that explanation off easily. "You did say that there's a ship that comes here every few months."

"And it passed through a week ago." Simmons answered confidently. "I've been monitoring this island like a teenage girl watching the tabloids." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "There shouldn't be anyone here."

"And yet." Ratchet pointed to the huge building up ahead, which obviously had lights on in the third or fourth floor. It's a cement and steel building, obviously built to last, and it obviously wasn't a residential home. It doesn't look very welcoming at all.

"It would really suck to live there." I wrinkle my nose. Bumblebee glanced at me and laughed for some reason. I ignored him.

"They're human?" Prowl asked importantly.

"Obviously." Ratchet scoffed.

"Let's attempt to locate the Allspark before entry, then. Chances are, it isn't even inside." Optimus decided. "Simmons, if you'll stay at the boat-"

"No way." He crossed his arms. No one said anything at first, before Optimus shook his head.

"Be careful then. Why don't you stay with Prowl and Ironhide, to scan the south side of the island? The maitenance ventelation shafts may have caved in or the humans may have even blocked them off, but none the less, insure you check them throughoughly." Optimus moved on quickly, not looking to stall any longer.

They turned into vehicles, which doesn't really make much sense because they aren't vehicles. They're people. But I let this inconsistency in the reality of things slide in favor of listening to Optimus's second set of instructions, which he was already giving.

"-straying too far away from Ratchet for close observation. We'll conduct a series of scans over the northern and western parts of the island. Perhaps it's recreated itself underground in the armory there. That would serve well in enough space, and be closest to the mainland."

I furrowed my brows, unsure if that really made any sense. The mainland? "Aren't we on the mainland? How much more mainland do you get than Asia?" I looked around us, somewhat thrown off by the fact I was so high up. When did Bumblebee pick me up?

"Samuel, we just spent an entire day on a boat coming here." Ratchet answered me simply, as if my slowness was only to be expected. Well excuse me, I must have fallen asleep during the ride here.

"Right, whatever." I shook my head, increasing the massive throbbing but not really carrying.

"Focus, Sam." Bumblebee's voice hit me, which was familiar enough by now that I didn't even bother to investigate the direction it was coming from. "What's your name?"

"Sam. I'm not that far gone." I rolled my eyes, tipping backwards a little too far. Something solid hit my back and leaned me forward again.

"What's your last name?"

"Mmmhh... Witwark."

"No."

"Wally."

"Not even close." He sounded both amused and disturbed, which was an amusing tone to me. I snorted.

"What was the question?"

"What's your full name?" We were bobbing slightly, because he's walking behind Ratchet and Optimus. Why aren't we going towards that building over there?

"Sam Jamesual Witwicketity." I breathed, rather confident.

"Samuel James Witwicky." Bumblebee corrected.

"Samuel James Witwicky. I've known that my whole life, you think I don't know that?" I scoffed.

"Well, what's my name?" He challenged.

"Bumblebee. Bee. Obviously." I gestured vaguely towards his door wings. He nodded, not even looking at me as we went. He's looking around, but he keeps asking me questions.

"Alright, where are you from?"

"Earth." Du.

"Not what I meant..." He glanced at me, then away again.

"Oh, huh. The moon. I've been there, we just came from there." I pointed upwards.

"What is your hometown?" Ratchet asked, interjecting into our conversation.

"Tranquility, California." I shrugged.

"Where are we right now?" Bumblebee just won't quit with the questions, will he?

"We're in India. Trying to find that reporter guy!" I crossed my arms in annoyance. "I'm seriously not that far gone yet."

"Not at all." Ratchet looked back at me sarcastically. "Aside from the fact we left India a day ago, and we're now on Diego Garcia."

"Sounds Spanish." No one answered me this time, and I briefly wondered why they were ignoring me. It's dark out, and we're the only ones around, and yet they seem irritated with me for some reason. I frowned and sighed, blinking.

"What are your parent's names?" Bumblebee asked me, jerking me out of my own fixation with the inside of my eyelids.

"Who?"

"What are your parent's names?"

"Ronith and Judald."

"Ronald and Judith." He corrected. "What are their names?"

"Who's?"

"What are your parents names?" He repeated for the millionth time. I groaned in irritation and snapped at him.

"Ronald and Judith! Jeeze."

Bumblebee gave me a look, but it wasn't the irritation I'd been expecting. "His memory is worse than when we left the boat."

"We've only been here a few minutes." A familiar voice came from ahead of us, which drew my attention towards our surroundings. As if just waking up, I realized that wherever we were was somewhere new. It doesn't look right, as if we weren't supposed to be here.

"This place looks familiar." I mused.

"He should still have over a week's worth of processing left, but I couldn't say exactly how long. Nevertheless, the fact he's still upright and functioning coherently means he's got a long ways to go to go offline. The worse he gets, the quicker it will progress. And restarting his processors to prolong this decline may have shortened his span." The voice was talking, but I don't think I fully understand all of what he just said. Thankfully, he wasn't talking to me.

"Well that's inspiring. And if he were to go into recharge?" Bumblebee questioned.

I was watching the building to our right, which appeared to be working and I wondered why we weren't heading that direction. What could possibly be anywhere out here that isn't there?

"I have no idea, but undoubtedly it would cut his time significantly." The voice answered. "His processors are faltering and lagging. Keep him thinking."

"Sam, how old are you?" Bumblebee had turned his attention back to me.

"A hundred and seven." I said the first number that came to my mind, recognizing his need for a numerical answer but not really caring enough to listen to the question.

"Your age, Sam. How many years have you been alive?"

"Less than a vorn." However long that was. In my head, I heard several different voices saying that word. Vorn, vorn, vorn... One of them is the same voice Bumblebee was just talking to.

"And how long is that?"

"I don't know." I shrugged, still staring at the building. "What's over there?"

"That's the main building." He answered patiently.

"For what?"

"Diego Garcia."

"Sounds-"

"I swear to Pit, if you say that 'sounds Spanish' one more time," Ratchet turned around and glared directly at me. I blinked, startled by the sudden change in volume.

"Ratchet." Optimus put a hand on the medic's shoulder, stopping him there. "We're above the armory."

"Good."

I heard both of their voices in my head, saying 'vorn'. Vorn... what kind of word is that?

"What are you doing now?" I objected as Bumblebee put my back on the ground.

"We're trying to open the hatch down into the armory." He moved several feet away to help the other two clear something away on the ground. It doesn't look like grass over there. Which is weird, because everywhere else there's grass. Why not there? I tried to get a better look, and someone pushed me along the ground back away.

"Stay." Ratchet pointed at me.

"But-"

"Stay." He repeated.

"He's not a dog." Bumblebee objected.

"He's a sparkling that clearly isn't going to be comprehending explanations anymore." The voice answered. I pouted and crossed my arms, turning away from them.

"Why don't you squirt him with water while you're at it?" Bumblebee grumbled. "We've almost got the Allspark, he's going to be fine."

"I wouldn't recommend jump starting his processors with cold water again. He may get burned out."

"I didn't mean literally!"

"Ratchet, Bumblebee." Optimus cut in and they all fell silent. I heard them pulling at something behind me, but I decided to take a small walk around. Like I had been on the boat- or was it on the boat? I don't know where else we've been, but I'm not sure it was on the boat. Was I walking around there?

I can actually hear my knees creaking with each step. That disturbed me quite a bit. I don't think I heard that before. It sure hurt before, but I don't think I could hear it.

A noise caught my attention. I stopped where I was and stared towards the building with wide eyes. I can't see very far, just the lights on the third or fourth floor, but I can't really tell how far it is away. It's really dark out.

"Sam!" Bumblebee hissed my name, not raising his voice too much. I snapped out of it, looking back. My neck creaked just the same as my knees, as if something inside were crunching. I shivered. "Come on."

I walked forward, to see they'd opened up a hatch into the ground. It was huge, but I guess so are they. As I came closer, Bumblebee scooped me up and was the first one to start climbing into the ground. I looked up as we descended, clinging to his shoulder with a sick taste in my mouth. My fingers feel like spaghetti left out for a week, gripping his armor like this. And the steady jostling from left to right didn't help at all.

One came in after us, and once they reached the bottom, another joined us. They pulled the opening above closed, and it only took a moment to get the lighting on down here.

"Hey, where'd the others go?" I wondered, only counting three of them. Bumblebee, Ratchet, and the leader- Optimus. Optimus. Bumblebee, the medic, and Optimus.

"We split up when we got off the boat." Optimus answered as he walked past Bumblebee and I. Bee was taking me down off his shoulder, and I got that weird feeling again. Ratchet was scanning me.

"Cut that out." I moaned, shrinking back.

"I'm not picking up on the Allspark yet." Ratchet completely ignored me. "Not any more than I had from the surface, at least."

"We'll follow these tunnels around to Wheeljack's lab, and contact the others then. If its down here, it's probably going to be hiding behind one of the armory barriers. Check each one." Optimus pointed to a series of slabs along the walls that were different from the walls themselves. They probably served some important purpose, but they just looked like a funny pattern to me.

"What are we looking for?" I wondered, picking up on what was going on as Bumblebee pulled each slab up, one after another. Several had large rooms with black spots inside like explosions had taken place. Others had guns, both tiny and huge.

"The Allspark."

"And why would that be here?" I'm just trying to figure this out here, alright?

"The Allspark's the only thing that could spark a youngling such as yourself, and this island is where you were found as a baby. We need the energon it also produces." Bumblebee had an extremely patient voice, as if I were a child.

We're here because of me. Obviously. It always seems that way, doesn't it?

"Why don't we ask then?" I sighed, figuring this thing wasn't down here. We've looked into about fifty of these things, and there's obviously someone here on the island. So why not ask if they've seen it?

"I doubt they'd be all too willing to help us at the moment."

"And why not?" I challenged. You won't know unless you ask.

Bumblebee was silent for a minute, until we'd moved on from the hall with so many slabs on the wall. We followed the other two around the corner and through a rather heavy door into a hallway.

"Where are you from?"

"The moon. We just landed from there, a year ago." I was easily distracted. I know what he's doing; he's trying to keep my brain working.

"That statement in it's own contradicts itself." Ratchet threw the words back at us.

"How long ago has it been since we landed from the moon?" Bumblebee ignored him. Alright, so a year is the wrong answer. Longer or shorter?

"Two years."

"Other way." He hinted.

I closed my eyes and tried to think, tilting my head upwards. Someone tapped me on the back of the head, however, and I blinked my eyes open to glare. "Two weeks."

"Closer." He allowed. "How long were you on the moon?"

"One week."

"Longer. When did you arrive there?"

"A year." I took a shot in the dark, getting irritated with this game. A wave of exhaustion was hitting me. I've been perpetually tired this whole time, but I've been so tired that I didn't really feel tired anymore. Now, I want to sleep again. Does that mean I'm a little more awake enough to be tired again, or I'm even more tired than being so tired I'm not tired? "What was the question?"

"You already answered it. Correctly." Bumblebee shook his head. "Now where are we?"

"I don't know. Underground." I moaned.

"I'll give you a hint, it sounds Spanish." Bumblebee stated as if it were some inside joke. Ratchet glared at us for some reason.

"Spain."

"Oh my-" The medic started flying off the handle, and Optimus stopped him again.

"Calm down. Try to remember where we are, Samuel."

I sighed and hummed, giving in. Alright, so where are we? What places do I know? The moon, because we just talked about it. I was there two years? No, one. One year. Now we're here, but where is here?

"Oh, the Earth." I popped my head up, forgetting the pain of such quick movements. Especially with my head.

"Does that sound Spanish?" Ratchet demanded.

"Ah... Tierra." I racked my brain. Bumblebee snorted, laughing as if I'd said the funniest thing ever.

"Does he even know Spanish?" Ratchet demanded. "I don't think he did before. Does he know Spanish now or does is decaying processors give him some sort of extra knowledge not previously accessible?"

Bumblebee suddenly sobered, and I tilted my head. "I think I took Spanish class. But... I didn't go to school on the moon."

"You went to school before you went to the moon. Right now we're on Diego Garcia. Newer knowledge will be the hardest to access as his processors slow because older connections will be easier to revisit." Ratchet was talking nonsense again and I decided to tune him out. He was still talking about memory or whatever, but I turned my attention down the hall we were following.

It's darker down here than it had been on the surface. But there were lights that seemed to be following us. As if coming from these guys themselves... oh wait. I think Ratchet is flashing a light from those headlight-looking abstractions on his armor.

Why are we stopping?

"Where are we?" I sat upright.

"We literally just went through this-" Ratchet started to complain.

"No." I brushed him off. "I mean, why are we stopping?"

"We're at Wheeljack's lab." Optimus explained. "During our time here, the armory and this lab were requested to be built separately from the main building for safety reasons. It is a completely independent establishment, all underground, with only a single underground port running from Wheeljack's office to the lower levels of the main building to allow for interior travel between the two."

"Ah..." I didn't even try to keep up with those words.

"I'm going to open the lab up. You three wait out here." Optimus insisted, opening a door that was randomly in the center of the hall. I had expected it to be at the end, bringing the hallway to a close, but it was along side. I leaned over to look down the rest of the hall, which I guess didn't actually stretch on much farther. There's two more, identical doors along the way. One on this side of the hall and the other on the opposite side closer to the end. The end of the hall actually has a screen on it, with a thin tray running under it to hold things. Both were dusty and broken down.

"Where did Optimus go?" I wondered, honestly trying to keep up. I just realized that whatever had just happened to bring our party of four down to a party of three hadn't been committed to my memory. Unless I focus directly on whatever is happening, it just flies in one ear and out the other.

"To check Wheeljack's lab for the Allspark." Bumblebee supplied. The Allspark... what we're looking for. I nodded.

It felt like we were waiting there forever, with no sign of the leader- of Optimus anywhere. I leaned back where I was- Bumblebee's cupped palms -and tried my hardest to exercise my memory. Vorn, vorn, vorn. What's a vorn again? When did that come up? And what sounds Spanish? A vorn doesn't sound Spanish, what's that all about?

All of the sudden, something caused Ratchet and Bumblebee to jolt forward in surprise. Ratchet called Optimus's name, and Bumblebee was bringing me farther down the hall. I looked around in confusion, feeling like I was missing something yet again. What's going on?

I was about to ask, when I realized that the old, cracked, dusty screen that hung where I'd expected the door to be was lit up. It glitched along the top corner where the crack was, but the rest of it was an even blue color with black writing across the middle. Then, again, along the bottom was more writing in smaller font.

"What does it say?" I wondered.

"It's in English. You can't read it?" Bumblebee held me up curiously. I stared at the rather geometric characters strung together, but shook my head. "Forgetting even how to read. Oh, slag..." He muttered.

"Can you just tell me what it says?" I was getting irritated. There's really no need to drag this out.

"It's a base-wide message on every screen, sent from the security room." He pointed to the smaller writing at the bottom, then to the larger in the center. "It says, 'I know you're here and I know what you're here for. Meet with us in the main bunker to discuss'."

"Who?"

"The 'you' in question is going to be us." Bumblebee mused.

"And the 'us' will be whatever government agency that is in charge of this island nowadays." Ratchet and Optimus had returned. I hadn't realized Ratchet had even gone.

Optimus nodded in agreeance. "It only figures that they are aware of it's presence. I only hope they've learned enough not to attempt doing anything with it. I had wondered if they had been monitoring it here, but I have no doubt they couldn't have moved it."

"Are we going to just walk in there and talk to them? We don't have time for politics, Prime." Ratchet stated point-blank.

"But we'll need politics to retrieve the Allspark now. Contact the others, tell them to listen to this message. We're going to find the Allspark."

Who do you suspect to be there? Is it someone that's supposed to be there, or someone that isn't? And where do you think the Allspark is? Hmm, the plot thickens. Like potato soup with too much potato and not enough soup...

Please, review if any thoughts strike you while you read the chapter. Questions, comments, musings, objections, or thoughts of world domination. All reviews are welcome here.