PART III: LOVE OF SPROCKET AND OF JUAN

chapter 2

 

            Katie had talked Sprocket to going into his alt-mode and they had drove to the lookout over the ocean. It was just a few minutes up the road, and she felt at peace here. “Sprocket,” she said, taking off her bathrobe and boots. “It’s too hot in here. You don’t need to keep the heat on full-blast,” she said, laughing. “I’m starting to sweat!”

            “Sorry," he said, and the young girl inside breathed in a big gulp of sea air. He had turned on the vents, and the moist, rainy cold felt so good. “It’s getting rough out there,” Sprocket said. Katie shook her head. “No, the ocean just looks bigger when it gets hot inland. Juan’s inland, you know. We should visit him sometime.” Sprocket paused. “Wait, how does the ocean look bigger when it’s hot over there?” He couldn’t fathom this concept and confusedly flicked his rear-view mirrors a bit.

            “Well, in Redding, if it gets real hot, it pulls the moisture up off the ocean and then the moisture causes fog, which rolls inland. That’s why we have redwoods here.” Sprocket chuckled. “Earth life sure is amazing,” he mused.          

            “So is Cybertronian life. Sprocket, I—” Sprocket interrupted. “Don’t feel bad for asking me about me. I’ve said what I needed to say, and I feel I can start to make peace with myself a bit better. We have stories so we can retell them. When we retell a personal story, we grow; not just the storyteller, but those who listen, too.” Katie nodded. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” She took off her glasses and buried her face in a hand, tired and tearful. “I’m so lucky I haven’t lost Juan. He could have ended up a lot worse.” Sprocket nodded, if only it was mental nod. “We should see him. Get Bertha, go up to Redding. It’s his birthday soon, isn’t it?” He asked. “Oh my gosh, that’s right! Boy…turning twenty-one in the rehab ward…that’s tough.”

            “It won’t be so tough if he has friends.” Katie put a foot up on the dashboard, thinking. “You think she’s out there? Nox, I mean.” Sprocket harrumphed. “That she may be.” Nox, of course, was the submarine Decepticon who sometimes was reported to have come up from San Francisco, where the main fighting took place between the Autobots and Decepticons fifteen years ago. “But I have a feeling she’s not up for a fight, if she is.” Katie slid her foot down. “Why do you say that?” she asked.

            “Because there’s no one worthy to fight here.” Sprocket said with a chuckle. “But you’re here!” Katie began to protest, but then the sudden start of the engine disputed that theory. “Hey, where we going?” she asked. “Dial your phone. Leave a message. Say, Sprocket had to go and see Bertha for a while, be back later in the day.” Katie grinned. “No way!” she beamed. “Better believe it!” the old bot said, burning rubber as he tore out to the main road. “Sprocket, hey—hey, hold on, you never drive fast!” his human friend protested, her cell phone speakers buzzing with slight interference.

            “There’s a lot of things you can’t teach an old bot, Katie,” Sprocket said; “But there’s certain things you can never take out of one, either.”