Not the Way It Once Was... (RID2015 Short-Story)

1. The Report

A Little While Ago...

You can do this, you're fine...

Knockout had been telling himself that ever since he'd gotten off of the ship with Sunstreaker and was back on Cybertron.

He didn't know why he was so nervous. Half of the new High Council were bots he'd worked with before...and fought before. It had been a good thing that Sunstreaker had been there to back him up, that Windblade femme didn't seem as understanding as Ratchet or Bulkhead.

Despite their history, however, they'd revoked the banishment, and even given him a temporary residence to get re-integrated into society. People still glared at him as he passed, but he had found some bots were welcoming, and he'd gotten a position at a local medical station. He did routine physicals, nothing serious, but in his free time, he researched and catalogued his findings about the growing condition affecting bots off-world...The condition he was about to inform the Medical Council about.

Thank Primus Ratchet was willing to listen to him.

"The Medical Council of Cybertron is assembled..." Ratchet's voice echoed from the interior of the chamber as Knockout hid in the shadows of the corridor leading to it. There was a chorus of mumbles and groans from the other medics taking their seats around the space. "Yes, I know this was short notice, but we've received a crucial report from one of our own..."

There it was...No turning back.

A young bot with a large stack of data tablets beside her stood on the other side of the corridor, giving him a thumbs-up for support. He didn't know her, but he guessed she was a student whose mentor was in the meeting and she was forced to wait on them. He gave a smirk, and then took a brief moment to gather his nerves before stepping forward.

He stepped out into the light, looking down at his feet to avoid making eye contact with the muttering and groaning bots around him. Yes, he wasn't liked by many, but he wasn't going to pull out now.

"Everyone, please...Knockout, you have our attention."

Knockout held his data pad with both hands as he stepped forward, all eyes falling on him. He felt like he was on trial, but this was more important than his comfort, and they all needed to hear his findings. "Medical Councilmechs and femmes... As some of you may have already known, I have returned from a many-year-long exile from Cybertron, assigned to me by the Decepticons that infitrated the High Council's chamber all those cycles ago."

"Get to the point..." One of the other medics muttered. "It's late."

Knockout cleared his vocal regulator, and then looked down at his data pad for a brief moment. "During this time off-planet, I encountered many Cybertronian outposts and colonies across the galaxy, and I was introduced to a serious condition that the public must be informed of... This condition is what I'm calling Unibot Reproductive Syndrome, or Budding. To put it simply... Bots are being born from other bots."

Shocked and confused murmurs lingered through the chamber, and Knockout gave a brief glance to his notes. He wanted to make sure the information was given properly, to avoid sounding like a fool. There was no way that he, Knockout, would humiliate himself in front of so many others...

"What is the extent of this condition, Knockout?" Another medic asked.

"At each of the colonies, I did a tally of how many bots had been effected, how many bots were sparked from this, and how many had not demonstrated any of the signs I'd found. Depending on the colony and the landscape of the planetoid they were on, there was 30 to 65 percent of the colonists who'd already budded, or were in the process of creating a new life when I studied them. Study of all of the bots revealed to me that they all had the same kind of programming in their systems, but while in all of the colonists it was active, I have yet to find any bots here on Cybertron with an active programming."