Burned (Transformers Prime)

Chapter Twenty-Three | Trial and Error

"You can start over, you can run free,
You can find other fish in the sea,
You can pretend it's meant to be,
But you can't stay away from me"

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Shockwave watched his screen with intensity as he attempted to create the correct dimensions needed for his prototype. Time was of the essence, according to Megatron, and so there was very little room for error. Everything had to be perfect, functional, and lasting. Not a single mechanism could be out of place.

Another factor against him was the size. He could create delicate components like this with the help of Soundwave, but installing them in an organism only slightly larger than his longest digit would be an immense challenge. Not to mention it took extensive research of human anatomy and physiology to learn what made the organic body operate, and he still felt lacking in the field.

He calculated the chances of compatibility between a human and Cybertronian technology, and found that it was almost 50/50. The best course of action would be to take a sample from the human in order to determine just how closely related the two species are to one another, but the size of the sample he would have to get would kill the human. And that was something he could not afford to do.

A Cybertronian spinal cable, taken from a gracious Vehicon donor, rested on the table beside him, as well as several jars of growing Cybertronian material. The living metal had to be made from scratch in order to be shaped and fitted appropriately, a process that thus far had taken a few days. During those days Megatron often stalked by the lab in a foul mood, demanding to know when it would be done. The scientists constantly asked for his patience, lucky enough to have been granted the courtesy of a prototype first before creating the real thing. There was plenty material to spare as long as he preserved it well.

It did not take long for the scientist to run into another problem, especially when looking through the various files of the humans in order to gain a better understanding of them. One had a history of energon poisoning, proving that it was incredibly toxic to humans. Living metal required energon to function; if the body did not reject the metal, it would surely die from exposure to energon.

The best course of action would be to create some sort of protective shielding, which would not only protect the organic material, but also protect the living metal from being eaten or "digested" by the host tissue. How he would do that . . . There had to be some sort of human creation, or perhaps an alloy which he could combine to make such a shielding.

Lord Megatron would not be pleased with any setbacks, so this had to be done quickly and efficiently.

With a few taps the Decepticon had several different suggestions pulled up for him, none of which seemed incredibly safe for the human body. Lead, though resistant to radiation, was also incredibly toxic to humans, regardless of amount. The lighter metals, such as aluminum, were ideal, but they didn't resist radiation.

This was going to take some time.

Deciding he could pawn that research off to Soundwave, he returned to looking at his monitor screen and making adjustments to his blueprint, altering some dimensions as he settled on a design that was efficient in structure and function. To simplify things, he imagined he was building a bridge, meant to attach one side to another while also adding in some extra functions. The electric signals of the human nervous system would be hard to replicate, but it was doable.

After another few hours he gazed at his creation, then turned his attention to the growing materials in his lab.

It was time to start building.