The Intergalactic Highway

Open Gate

Chapter One:

Never know

Jazz dimmed his sky blue visor and tilted his head back into the warm Earth sun. He could not only hear, but feel the life around him. That's what he always loved about this planet; there was so much LIFE here! Not just the humans, but everything else here as well! This world was so chuck-full of life it made Cybertron look like a dried up bone in comparison.

Sinead was ambling along in a smooth fashion, loving the feeling of the warm wind through her hair . . . on her skin . . . it was delightful. Everything about nature called to her, spoke to her. It was a side of herself that not many of her friends knew about. She would rather have the opportunity to go to a safe, quiet park than go shopping at a mall. Always.

Something snapped up ahead, like a branch...but a little loader. Then there was the sound of metal softly scraping against stone and an almost metallic. . .sigh?

That caught her attention. Moving closer, classes from her high school that had to do with natural resources came to mind of how to track animals. But her own instincts that perked up in the wild told her how to creep closer . . .to stalk.

It was massive, more then just 'big' or 'large.' The black and white robot had to taller then a two story house when standing up. As it was, the robot was still a little imposing sitting down, leaning back half on a clump of tree and half on a rock mound. Sinead noticed that she herself could easily fit in its black hand with room to spare. . .

So she moved closer, so awed with his appearance that she mis-stepped . . . and a rather dry branch snapped like a gun firing, startling herself into yelping and clambering three branches into a tree, landing her at ten feet above the forest floor.

The sky-blue visor over his eyes lit up, glowing from with in. Its lips, that were so much like a human's quirked up wards as it looked right at Sinead where she was in her tree.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya lil' miss." A voice that was so smooth, almost lyrical came from the robot and the metallic part of that voice blended into the rest of it. "Ya can come down form dar' now."

She nearly fell, but caught herself, and blinked. Sinead didn't leave her tree, however. "What kinda accent is that?"

"A Singer's." It smiled at her, "At lest, from my world."

Climbing down, Sinead moved closer, but not too close. "I sing. Wait . . . singers have a specific accent on your world? Wait . . . wait! You're one'a those Transformers, aren't'cha?"

"Got that right lil' miss." He shifted, leaning forward and lifted a black hand to tap the bright red Autobot insignia on his chest, "Da' name's Jazz, I'ma Autobot." He leaned back, the trees creaking under the part of his weight but held up.

She winced at the noise of the trees complaining, but otherwise didn't comment upon it. "I take it that jazz is also your music of choice up here, huh?"

"I like it, love it really." Jazz chuckled, "Find it funny dat ya' humans have a type o' music like ours."

"I like Japanese rock and pop . . . techno . . . American modern rock . . . Celtic traditional and modern . . ." She shrugged. "Truthfully, anything other than rap and whiny country music."

"They have good traits too." Jazz said and smiled down at the human, "So what's ya' name? Can't keep callin' ya 'lil' miss' ya know." He paused, then grinned. "Well, I could if ya want me to. Or I can give ya' a name, don't know too many human ones though."

Smiling, the young woman walked closer, reaching hesitantly out to touch the metal of his foot. "I'm called Sinead."

"Its a lovely name Sinead." Jazz lowered his hand fingers spread and kept himself perfectly still, like stone, but the metal of his shell was warmed from both the sun and from within. If she hand put her ear to the black metal she'd hear some of his inner working moving.

She had always been totally and completely smitten with the Transformers and how they worked and why and EVERYTHING. Sinead had gotten to the point where she had started to look out for the small indicators that a car . . . really wasn't a car.

Jazz chuckled again, moving his arm, only his arm, back up to prop on the rock mound and let the girl take her time to get us to him.

So she climbed upon his leg, just above his knee, and sat there, looking up at his face. "So . . . how many Autobots are on Earth?"

"A lot." Jazz shifted brining up his other leg as he looked down at the human. Once again he was amazed how humans, especially the younger ones, could be so fearless... "Can't remember off the top o' my head, sorry."

Smiling, she grinned. "S'ok. I'm as damned curious as a cat and at the most inopportune moments as well."

"Nah, it's all good." the Autobot smiled at her again, "Keep dat trait, it comes in handy, but trouble is its sister. So keep an eye out." he tapped the side of his visor.

She giggled. "I know. Hard to help myself, through, when there's something interesting to look at or investigate. I love digging into things."

"Mmmm… Come 'ere." Jazz moved his hand and set it down beside the girl, palm up fingers together, "S'kay," he added seeing her pause, "Trust me, I won’t hurt you."

Sinead bit her lip and then carefully slid down into his hand, not sure whether to crouch or to sit or to stand . . .

The black, almost tree-thick fingers curled up and around her, like a loose cage. Or, in a protective way, to keep the girl from falling as Jazz lifted her up and tilted his hand so she slid off and onto his shoulder, "I donna like talking down ta humans all da time. 'Specially a pretty one like ya." he said turned his visor to look at her.

Sinead blinked, then laughed and hugged his head, well neck. "I could put you in a box and bring you everywhere with me! I never thought that your kind could be anything this cute."

His visor flashed brighter for a moment before he grinned, recognizing a compliment, "Nah, it's just me. The other boys are total jerks." If he could wink he would have.

"Really? Tell me why, then, so that I can contract what the media is saying about the heroic Optimus Prime and his all-star team."

Jazz lifted a hand and poked Sinead's foot. Considering the size difference between the two he was showing amazing self control and was so gentle. "Okay, okay there're not all jerks."

"But some are." Sinead grinned and patted his cheek. "So share . . . I know that there's something you wanna."

"Heh, I can't tell most of da good stuff. Ya know, 'what happens in these wall stays in de's walls.' Something like dat anyways." Jazz chuckled, "If I said anything and it got out...I'd have da twins knockin' at my door." he dropped his voice to a light whisper, "They're both bigger then I am. . .!"

"Who are the twins?" Sinead asked eagerly, wanting to know everything she could.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they're the hard hitters. Front Line Warriors." he sat up a little and reached down to his side, a moment later he had a disk of some sort in his palm and pressed an indent on it and the device lit up. Three more clicks and a (relatively) small hologram of two Autobots came to life on it, one was red the other yellow.

"Oh. OH! I've seen them on the news a few times. Like when you're guarding a city or something of the sort," Sinead replied, leaning forward and looking at the hologram.

"Hmm, that was a bit ago." Jazz said looking at the human, he quickly cycled air into his intakes as he saw her leaning too far….Quick as lighting, he tossed the disk to his right hand and his left came up to catch Sinead as she slipped off his downward curved chest.

"Careful there," Jazz slid his holo-pad back into subspace as he carefully held the girl, "Are you okay Sinead?"

Sinead grinned desperately. "Y-yeah . . . sorry. Didn't really notice how far I was leaning for a while. I'm fine. Promise!"

"Dat's good." Jazz shifted, sitting up and crossing his legs. The Autobot set his new friend down on his knee, black fingers behind her until she was settled.

Sinead reached out to let her hands brush along his when he pulled his hand back, astounded that he was warm.

"What's wrong?" Jazz asked, pausing, "Didn't scare ya did I?"

Grinning, she indicated his hand. "No, not at all. You're just . . . warm."

"So are you." Jazz said, lowering his hand again, "My shell isn't always warm like yours though, sometimes it’s cold and sometimes it can get a lil' too warm…more so now that we’re on a planet that has a sun so close."

"Because you're metal, and don't let off heat that easily," Sinead guessed, looking up at his smiling face.

"A'yep." he nodded, visor starting to glow brighter for a few moments. "Ah," he added when the human looked up from inspecting his hand, "You're wonderin' 'bout my visor." He guessed.

"Nope . . . how you guys tick. How you're . . . alive, I guess," came the soft response. "And if I'm being rude about asking, please let me know."

"Ya aint rude," a deep noise came from with in his chest, it was like an engine revs but with some thing else... "We're just, alive. We have Sparks, souls in human terms."

"Do you really?" Sinead leapt agilely over his hand, using it to lever herself. Keeping her hands upon his much, much larger one, she rested her ear against it, eyes going distant. "How?"

"How do you have a soul?" Jazz asked back tilting his head to one side.

"Point." Dropping her backpack upon the dry grass, Sinead began to scale up the large arm, pausing to look at something here, resting her ear against a piece of metal there . . .

The Autobot let her, he loved that he had found a human that was so fearless, like Spike was or even more so. In all his long life he had found only one other race that was like the humans when it came to the interaction between them, he remembered that the young of Rugarians were a lot like human teens. Getting into all sorts of trouble and stuff and loving it.

Sinead ended up on his shoulder again, and moved around a bit more, now unencumbered by the mild weight of the backpack. She got over to the other shoulder, curious to see if this arm was the same as his other, peering at it.

“Most of that curiosity working out of your system now?” Jazz asked an amused smiled on his face.

"Nope." She pointed to his arms. "They look the same on the outside . . . are they the same on the inside?”

Jazz shook his head and lifted his right hand, the forearm glowed from within, showing through the seems and the back hand pulled in. A moment later a grapple and line came out and clicked into place. Sinead swung down from his shoulder, sliding down his abdomen to look at the apparatus upon that arm. She was careful to only step on areas that were appropriate, if he had been a large human instead of a giant robot. She didn't know anything of their anatomy.

"You're okay," Jazz said watching her, "We ain't like ya humans in that way." he chuckled.

She blushed, but grinned up at him widely. "Hey, better safe than sorry, y'know?"

"Yeah." Jazz lifted his arm up so he could retract the grapple with out hurting the girl, his hand slid back into place and he flexed it before setting it back down.

Sinead touched his hand again, tracing seams in the metal with her fingers. "Does transforming hurt?"

"Normally? No. When something is bent out of shape or is something is wrong with the transforming cog then it does."

Swinging about to clamber up his chest a bit, she paused, and then rest her cheek against the white expanse, pressing her ear against the metal. She heard at least five different sounds. There was a low rumble of what might have been an engine, the sound of liquid energon and coolant moving in tube-like 'veins.' But under it all was a...pulsing, that was felt more then herd. The pulsing was constant and almost had a...rhythm? Yes, it was a rhythm of sorts, it spook of life. Maybe that was Jazz's 'spark?'

Grinning lopsidedly, she looked up at his visored face. "It's so busy in there . . . how can you hear yourself think?"

"It's the way I've always been." His visor glowed a little brighter, "I'm use ta it, like you're use to your body."

"All those rhythms in there . . . what was I listening to?"

"Energon pump, coolant pump, joints, and a bunch more." Jazz ticketed off some of his inner workings on one hand. "Maybe my Spark." he added as an after thought.

She clambered up onto the upper part of his chest, sitting beside his head again. Bemused, the Autobot shook his head at some thought as he looked at the girl’s head, the only thing of her he could really see.

Sinead poked his cheek lightly, smiling. "So . . . now I'm gonna ask about your visor."

"Heh, not much to it. It helps me see since I can't use my optics anymore." he dimmed it back to its normal glow, "Also help when scanning."

Sinead reached up to rest her hands upon either side of the much larger face, kissing his nose tenderly. "I'm so sorry . . . I didn't know . . ."

"It's okay," he smiled, "When you're in a war as long as I've been, or any war really, it gets ya one way or another." he reached up, pulling teh blue visor off his face after turning off the magnetic locks off. His optics had once been a golden color, but they were now forever dim with spider web cracks in each. "I met a flash bomb up close some six million years ago."

Her hands were gentle as she brushed them along the edges of his fractured optics. Carefully, Sinead pushed her head against his cheek, hugging the large face carefully, trying her hardest not to cry.

Why did she want to cry for this bot who she had never met before? Why did she see those blind optics and want to weep at his loss?

"Hey, shhh, it's all good." Jazz lift a hand to gently brush the girls back with a finger, "No tears fer' me." he pause a moment then started to humm an old song his maker use to humm to him before she died. It was low, calming, and with Sinead right there she could feel it more then hear it.

She did . . . but somehow his comforting her just sent her to further tears. How long was it that she could just cry and not worry who had seen her? How long as it that she didn't care about responsibilities and ran to just have time for herself . . . letting herself cry out her stress? When was the last time she cried for someone? When was the last time she just loved someone without caring about differences or distance and cried and let her emotions reset themselves . . .

When was the last time she cried . . . and felt them wash away the pain and fear . . . letting peace and comfort come back in?

Jazz's voice lifted into the air, the words of his song were sung in an alien language and the tones changed, rising and falling changing in ways a human could never dream of doing. Even though Sinead didn’t know what was being said, the song it’s self hinted at something…something familiar and safe. It sound like…hope, if hope could sound like anything it just might have been there in the Autobot’s voice.

Still crying, but not as hard as before, the human just leaned against his face, the song surrounding her. Her eyes were shut . . . she listened with every fiber of her very being . . . And her soul leapt within her as she opened her mouth and sang a wordless harmony.

Jazz flipped his visor around his fingers before slipping it back on with out breaking his rhythm or moving Sinead an inch. He continued to sing about the golden era back on Cybertron and how his home world would once again become a golden star in the sky. He sang about friends and family that were lost in war, how their souls were once again with the All-Spark and would some day become reborn into new shells.

Sinead knew nothing about the words. Only that they comforted her. The song whispered to her and let her have peace. She hummed along to the tune, occasionally humming a soft harmony.

Jazz's voice rose once more, he held the note for as long as his air-takes would let him before letting the song trail slowly off. Even after it was over the Autobot's voice seemed to hang in the air as he lifted his hand to brush Sinead's leg. "Feel better?"

She nodded against his cheek, but still held onto his face. With a sigh, she sat back down upon his shoulder, leaning against his head while she rubbed the last of her tears away. "Yeah . . . thank you."

"It's all good." he said, still humming a tune softly in the back of his voicebox. "Where's home for you Sinead?" he asked after a few minutes of semi-silence.

"This was the last one in town," came the soft lament. "And none of my other skills have been able to get me a job anywhere else that could allow me to support myself."

Jazz lifted his left hand and used a finger tip to delicately lift the girls chin and turned it so he could look at her face, "Donna think like dat Sinead. Life has it's ups and downs, sometimes those downs are really deep. But in the end, it'll always work out." He gave her a warm smile, "And ya never know when somethin' good might head ya way."

Sighing, Sinead nodded and kissed his cheek. "See, one of my problems is that I'm just not in the area that I want to be in."

"Where do ya wanna go?"

Sighing, she looked over the wooded park. "Promise not to laugh at me?"

"Hey, why would I laugh at a pretty lil' thing like ya?" Jazz gave her a half pout as if she had hurt him by thinking he'd laugh at her.

Smiling, she replied, "I'd like to work with Transformers . . . like you."

"Ah," The Autobot smiled, "And just what would ya do if I may ask?"

She thought upon that, then shook her head. "I don't exactly know."

"Heh," Jazz chuckled, "Well, ya never know. Hmmm, Prowl's gonna start callin' me soon ta get back...need a lift somewhere?"

"Once I get my bag, that'd be nice," came the smiled reply. "Thank you."

Jazz looked down and plucked the bag up off the ground between two fingers and passed it up to the human, "'Ere"

Grinning at the size of her bag within his fingers, Sinead took it. "Well . . . what kinda things can humans do for Transformers that you might need us around the base?”

"Ratchet likes havin' Sparkplug and Spike 'round coz they help with fixin' us up. They can get ta places Doc can't without pulling our armor apart."

"Maybe . . . well . . . I know a bit of how car engines work. I've had enough trouble with my own. Will that help any?"

Jazz shrugged his other shoulder, "Maybe. Here hang on." he lifted a black hand and put it over the human, keeping her in place as he stood up. The Autobot lifted his hand when he was sure Sinead would fall off now that he was standing and moving. Jazz was a lot taller standing then sitting.

And Sinead had some problem with heights… Gulping, she sat and held onto his head and shoulder. "Mmkay. You're tall."

"Heh. I won't let ya fall Sinead." Jazz's visor flashed once again as he made his way out of the woods. Despite his shear size his steps where nearly silent and he didn't break one tree branch as he moved through and around them. Jazz turned sideways to pass between two redwoods and stepped up onto a road. "Down ya go." he said lifting his hand to his shoulder for Sinead, his fingers twich in a 'come on' gesture when she hesitate and look down at the ground far below. “S’kay.”

"Can I ask you one last thing?" she asked softly, hand resting upon his cheek again. "D'ya think that if you find a place that I could help you guys with, I could come and help you?"

"Let the Jazzman see what he can do." The Autobot smiled, "And don't worry ya lil head 'bout it."

"Thank you . . . did you want to meet here in a week, then?"

"I'll swing by sometime," Jazz promised, "Dis is the last day o' my leave, I got ta go back ta my duties."

"Okay . . . But . . . to let you know, I live in that tall apartment building, on the third floor, west side."

"Donna worry, I got my ways o' gettin' in touch." Jazz chuckled again, "Now lets get ya home." his fingers twitched again.

She grinned, and clambered carefully onto his hand.

Jazz cupped his hands around the girl and knelt. For a few moments all Sinead could see was the Autobot's black hands around her and his smiling face above before she was set down on her feet. Jazz stood back upright and stepped back, he lifted his arms out with an almost unnatural grace that belayed his bulk, standing motionless for some odd seconds. He gained his equilibrium and let his natural transforming mechanism kick in.

A second or two was all that was needed and Jazz lifted his feet off the ground in a swan dive, smoothly making the transition into sleek Porsche alt mode as easily as any dance move. The musician's body sifted, twisted and folded into its self, arms tucking up under the front bumper, car doors swung back and locked into their proper place as his legs folded back, forming the rear end of his alt mode. Lastly the roof, windshield and other windows rolled up and/or locked into place.

Sinead blinked at all that, her jaw dropped. "Oh good heaven. That was fantastic."

The engine of the blue stripped, silver Porsche raved in time with his chuckle and the passenger side door swung open, "Hop in." the now disembodied voice of Jazz said from somewhere.

She did, smiling widely, her greatest dreams having come true in one afternoon. "So . . . you said that you had your own ways of getting in touch?"

"You'll see." Jazz's voice came from the inner speakers and the door closed once the girl was in. A seatbelt was latched over her lap as Jazz idled, "Where too?"

"I have to go and pick up my prints sometime . . . so . . . There's a professional printing shop on the way home. It's that one called Veneer."

"I know where that is." Jazz said turning around and started off, not too fast. Unlike Spike and his dad Jazz didn't think Sinead was use to Autobot speeds...


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Queen's note: OY! XD Another co-written thing between me and Sinead. XD We did this some time ago, I wanted her to meet jazz so I played him...for about like...O.o; four hours or more

XD Next chapter is up when I find it. and don't forget to give Sinead cookies for finding Jazz!