Transformers Revenge of The Fallen: Descendant's Fortune

Chapter 9.

KIARIA...

I quickly dried off from my morning shower and got dressed into a fresh t-shirt and jeans. I clipped my boots together, neatly brush my long hair, and packed a backpack with some snacks, a few water bottles, and clipped IronLuck to a special holder upon the sack.
I strapped up and made my way to the door. Upon opening it, I was greeted by Optimus's legs and as I walked out from under the balcony, his face peered from above and so did Major Lennox's. I smiled at Optimus and kind of only stared at Lennox with disinterest.

"Morning, Kiaria." Lennox said with a huge grin, ignoring my expression towards him.

"Morning...Major." I tried to politely say with a straight face, but it proven difficult. My jaw clenched and I gritted my teeth vigorously. Why's he always so happy to see me?
"Good morning, Optimus." I then glanced back up at my guardian, who was waiting patiently for me.
"Greetings, Kia. Are you prepared?" Optimus's kind eyes waited for my response.
"Ready as I can be. How long will we be out? I guess not too long, huh?" I asked, glancing up at Lennox, just dreading we'd have a curfew to return to.
"Take as long as you need. Just get back safely." Was all Lennox said. "You deserve better than staying cooped up here all the time."
I gave the man a confused look and couldn't help to feel he wasn't just talking to Optimus. I rolled my eyes and shrugged it off.
"Thank you, Major Lennox. Come, Kiaria." Optimus ordered and made his way to an open space in the hangar.
"Yes, sir."
I watched Optimus transform into his semi-truck mode and opened the front passenger door. I made sure my backpack was strapped tightly before I climbed in and shut the door behind me.
"Ready?" Optimus asked over his speakers.
"Yep." I said as I buckled up, trying to hide my nervousness, granted I was eager at the same time to be going outside with him. Optimus began to drive out of the hangar doors and we left the base before I could even begin to have second thoughts.

I took a nap for the first half of the trip, since I wasn't doing any morning tasks or training to keep me moving. A bit later, I awoke and watched the cities of tall buildings, cars, and other humans fly by as we sped past them. We had left pretty early so the sun was still rising. Neither Optimus, or I, talked so far of this trip. The majority of the ride was deafening with the silence between us.
All I could hear was Optimus's engine rumbling through the cabin and occasional turn signals as he used them to alert the human drivers around us. Outside, I could hear the other cars, engines revving here and there, impatient horns honking, and the humans blasting their radios or shouting angrily at each other through the window. It was very noisy compared to what I was used to at the base.

"Kiaria? Is everything alright?" Optimus asked me.
"You're awfully quiet. Something on your mind?"

I looked out the window and just watched blankly at the world around us.
"Humans are noisy." I hummed absentmindedly.
"Hm, yes they can be a bit...clamorous. Yet, they are free to do so." He commented.
Nothing was else was said for a while. The silence was agonizing again and I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn't find a subject to talk about. I didn't want to talk about his friend we were meeting, I wasn't really ready for that. Trying to even break any of the ice was hard enough and I think Optimus felt the same way.
This is the first time I've been out in a long time. My first mission with the Autobots, my first mission with Optimus and it was awkward. We passed one part of the city and started crossing onto a bridge to the next. I tried to sit still and act natural, but it was difficult. I was anxious, terrified, and hated being surrounded by much more people than I expected. I've been confined to the base since they found me in that old alleyway, I had soon forgotten how big my world was compared to me. I wonder how big Cybertron was? Oh, maybe we can talk about that. I never got to learn about it much.

"Um, Optimus?" I spoke up and glanced at his dashboard.

"Yes, Kiaria?" He responded.
"How big is Cybertron?" I asked.
He was silent for a minute and my heart leapt in my chest, possibly reconsidering that maybe I chose the wrong topic.
"It's...a fair sized world." He then said. "What made you curious about this, youngling?" He sounded so gentle when he asked me that, also sounding relieved of a topic to discuss.
"I was just observing outside and I never noticed how big the world really is. I started to wonder how big your home was before you came here."
"I see." He said shortly.
Shit.
"I'm sorry, Optimus, you don't sound like you're up to this. Maybe I shouldn't have asked you that." I apologized with slight embarrassment.
"I'm not unfamiliar with your questions, youngling. In fact, I take pride that you're taking an interest. It's ok to be curious, Kia. It's good to learn." He reassured me.
"Ok, then. So, you said fair sized. That would mean fair to your standards. So, how would it be to mine?" I quizzed him and gave a smile. This is nice.
"If you wish to put it that way, then my answer is Cybertron would roughly outsize the Earth. It would dwarf it to your standard." He said.
"Awesome." I said in awe. "Wish I could see it."
It would make sense, with the average height of a Transformer, they would need a bigger world to sustain their body volume and the count of their own growing population, or what was a growing population.