Time for my yearly TF/Christmas fic. This year is an original fic (I think). A Cybertronian Christmas Miracle (all Cybertronians depicted are of Maximal size, not Autobot) A purple and red elderly Maximal walks among highly decorated evergreen trees covered with lights and other Christmas decorations. He looks at them and says, “Beautiful, isn’t it? But it is mighty cold outside. How humans can do this each year in this cold will never cease to amaze me.” He then looks towards the ‘camera’. “Oh, Hi there. I didn’t hear you. I’m Alpha Trion, the oldest of the Autobots. I was just thinking out loud how beautiful these decorations are. Your species will go out in the bitter cold to string up lights around these, just to take them down a month later. But did you know that, just a few years ago, Christmas almost died? No? A year without Christmas you say? Impossible! The truth is, this almost happened. It was slow at first, but over a few decades, the human tradition of Christmas was fading. The story of Santa, the elves, the reindeer, the workshop in the North Pole, was being pushed aside. Want to know how it happened? Let me tell you.” “It started to happen in the early part of the twenty-first century on Earth. The Autobots had defeated the Decepticons and ushered in the Golden Age of Cybertron. The Autobots eventually became economic partners with Earth, and made a simple deal with the governments of earth agreed to: The Autobots sold non-destructive technology to earth in exchange for resources that could be quickly turned into energon such as oil. It started off with medical technology, which helped the human world with finding cures for diseases. It eventually led to consumer applications like computers and hovering vehicles. But, one piece of technology was offered to the human world, which would end greed, end wars, end poverty, end lacking, and erase economic status. This is where my story begins.” December 1, 2550, Earth Within the Maximal Headquarders on situated where Metroplex used to reside, the Maximals go about their usual day, walking swiftly in the hallways from one area to the next. A small-sized brown Maximal enters the central command area. “Any new developments?” Optimus Prime spoke to the small Maximal. The small brown Maximal spoke up in his famous New York accent. “Notta. Except for Israel and the Palestine’s. They are threatening new attacks on each other. Again.” “That isn’t news. They’ve been going at this for nearly three thousand years, Rattrap.” High above the Maximal HQ, above the clouds, a wooden sleigh being lead by 9 reindeer in the air flies erratically. The pilot, dressed in red and white, struggles to maintain control of the reindeer. The lead reindeer has signs of extreme aging, as his legs don’t move as fast as they should. The pilot controls the reindeer to aim for the rooftop of the Maximal HQ, but they descend at a very steep angle and a very fast rate. The reindeer land on the rooftop first, but they don’t stop gracefully, and they crash into one another. The sleigh also lands on the rooftop badly and the pilot is thrown off when the sleigh rolls a few times on the rooftop before stopping, landing flipped over. “Did anyone hear that?” Ultra Magnus asks the bots in the central command area “I did. It sounded like it came from the roof.” Rattrap responded. Prime gets up from his chair. “I need visuals on the roof, all cameras in this section.” The monitor on the wall shows multiple camera inputs, and they all switch to various cameras on the roof. None of them show anything. “Wait, Perceptor, focus on camera 12. Zoom in.” Prime watches as the image for camera 12 enlarges and zooms in. “Those look like animal tracks. And it looks like something fell.” “I’m scanning now Prime.” Perceptor says. The computer beeps to indicate the scan is completed. “Nothing is being detected up there.” “Ratchet, Cheetor, Wheeljack, go to the roof.” Prime calls out and the three run out of the room. On the rooftop, Ratchet, Cheetor and Wheeljack exit the door to be greeted by harsh blowing snow and very cold temperatures. Their eyes shine light like flashlights as they search on the roof. They each go in a different direction, following different disturbances in the otherwise untouched snow. A few minutes pass, until Ratchet’s voice is heard in the air “Over here!” Cheetor and Wheeljack rush over to Ratchet’s location, to see a red suited man laying on the roof. “Get him inside, quickly!” Ratchet says, as he has a human-sized hospital stretcher appear beside the man. “One. Two. Three” Ratchet counts out loud, and then he and Cheetor lift the man onto the stretcher. But as he touches the man, all three of the bots then begin to see his sleigh and reindeer materialize. Ratchet has the stretcher hover at waist height as he looks at the reindeer and sleigh. “This is definitely a weird day.” He pushes the hovering stretcher inside. Wheeljack looks at the sleigh, than to the sky. “How did he get here? Where did he come from?” Ratchet pushes the man into the medical bay right under a scanner and he watches the images appear on a screen. Optimus Prime enters the medical bay shortly after. “How is he?” Ratchet and Prime look at the images on the monitor. “He shows signs of extreme aging. He could be anywhere from two hundred to six hundred years old, or older. He also has strange ear formations.” He points to the elf-like ears on the image. “I’ve never seen an earthling with these before.” “What about his life signs?” Prime asks Ratchet looks towards a screen. “I’ve never seen these readings before. I’ve compared his life signs to those of races which he is similar too.” He points to a monitor displaying 2 different patterns. “This one is Vulcan, because his ears are similar. This one is human, because he looks like a human more than Vulcan. What I can tell is that he is dying. If his heart rate was any slower, he would be dead.” Ratchet responds “He’s Dying? Do you know who he is?” Prime asks “We have to contact his family.” “I didn’t find any identification on him.” Ratchet says. “I…I don’t need…identification.” The man says weakly. “You don’t know who I am?” “I’m afraid we don’t, sir. Can you tell us who you are?” Prime says. The man didn’t respond, as he was too weak to do so. “Teletran 5. Take a full body picture and cross-reference with known databases. Ratchet, take a blood test” Prime says. Ratchet retrieves a hypospray from the tray, lays it against the man’s neck, and proceeds to draw blood. He looks at the transparent vial “What in the pit?” He says. He and Prime look at the blood vial and notice that is isn’t just dark red, but red and white, in a perfect spiral pattern. “This keeps getting stranger.” “Acknowledged.” The computer responds. A bright flash occurs above the man, and the screen shows the computer running through millions of images in a few seconds. “Search complete. Multiple records found, multiple aliases found. He is known as Santa Claus, aka Saint Nicholas, aka Father Christmas, aka Chris Cringle, aka Papa Noel and The Dutch call him Sinterklaas. He is believed to deliver toys and gifts during the night hours of December 24th to the well-behaved children of the globe in exchange for milk and cookies. The ill-behaved children are given coal in their stockings. The Dutch believe this is done December 5th. His known residence is believed to be the North Pole, where he employs thousands of elves to produce children’s toys year round in preparation for the following Christmas.” The computer continues: “He travels the globe by way of a magical sleigh and flying reindeer to deliver the toys. It is believed that he either can move faster than any human can see as to avoid being seen, or has cloaking technology that is of unknown advanced origin. Most children believe he is invisible due to magic and only those who believe in him with all their hearts will see him. The mythology began whe..” “Teletran 5, stop.” He says and the computer stops rambling about the history of the Santa Clause story. “Ratchet, can I see you outside?” Ratchet and Prime steps outside of the Sick Bay, and close the door. Prime looks at Ratchet as they walk and says “You don’t really believe he’s the Santa Clause that delivers toys to everybody on the globe in a single night, do you?” “Consider this Prime, when I drew blood from him, it came out in the colors of a candy cane, in a perfect spiral. I’ve never seen that before. Also, when I touched him, the three of us saw 9 deer and a sleigh materialize out of thin air. He also managed to get past our scanners and our satellites. When I consider these factors, I’m starting to believe that he is the gift-bearer written in stories from the 19th and 20th centuries.” Ratchet responds. Once they reach the central area, Cheetor hands Ratchet a datapad. “I took pictures of the prints in the snow, and took a blood sample.” Ratchet nods and transfers the image from the datapad onto a holographic screen in front of Prime and himself. “Looks like the foot prints in the snow match the animals called ‘deer’, and the DNA structure also matches deer, except for this one gene.” The computer highlights this segment. “The computer can’t find any known matches from any animal on earth.” Optimus Prime looks to Ratchet. “This is definitely strange.” “That’s because I placed that gene there, Ratchet” a voice is heard from the hallway. Prime, Ratchet, and the rest of the crew looked towards the direction of the voice to see Santa walking towards them. “What in the name of my great aunt Arcee is going on?” Rattrap says in shock after seeing Santa. Arcee walks by Rattrap and smacks him on the head “Must you say that constantly?” “Hey! It’s something I said on pre-historic earth and it stuck.” Rattrap replied in his usual Brooklyn accent. “Who are you?” Prime asks the man. The man looks at Prime with his wrinkled eyes. “I am Saint Nicolas, also known as Chris Kringle. Most people know me as Santa Clause.” “But, how are you walking? Our readings indicated that you were near death.” Prime says in surprise. “I am alive because people believe I exist. That belief is my life source.” Santa began. “When I was chosen for this job, I was given knowledge of technology and magic which surpasses even Cybertronian. This magic made me immortal, but that magic feeds on the believing of my existence.” “We don’t exchange gifts, we don’t go to malls to ask Santa for anything. We celebrate with the human population to fit in.” Prime says. “But we don’t believe in Santa.” “Are you sure?” Santa asks with a smile. “I can sense belief from all living sentient beings, and it isn’t limited to organics like humans and animals, but to all living beings, including robotic. Cybertronains do have a soul, which you call a spark. That is what I can sense. And I do sense that many here do believe in me.” “Alright, who believe in the existence of Santa?” Prime asks. Santa shakes his head. “It is my duty not to reveal who believes in me and who does not.” He leans in to Prime, who leans down a bit. Santa whispers to Prime’s hearing module “But I do know that you are beginning to.” They both stand up and Santa winks at Prime. Springer leans against a console with his arms crossed. “I do have to know, what brought you to us.” Santa looks to the group of bots. “I have come here for your help, for as you know, my life force is slowly fading, and in only a matter of years, a decade at the most, I will no longer exist. Santa will not exist.” “What makes you come to us, though?” Prime asks. “Because it is your technology which let kids not believe in my anymore. It is your technology, which decreased the belief in Santa, nearly to the point of global unbelief. “ Santa says with a heavy heart. “What technology is that?” Arcee asks with a hint of concern and worry in her voice. “From the Nineteenth century, little children around the world would ask me for specific gifts each year, and ever Christmas eve, I would deliver them. In the Twentieth century, I would appoint representatives to listen to the children inside of shopping centers, but I would cast magic on those representatives so that I could hear what they heard. Each generation of children would ask for more technological gifts – starting out with Pac Man and Pong, to laptops, to iPads/iPods/iPhones to desktop computers. These items were no threat to my existence. In the early part of the 21st century, humans developed a consumer version of a 3D printer, where they could ‘print’ out basic items. This started my concern, but my concern was unfounded as those printers required spools of plastic and some modeling ability to make your own objects. The technology got better and easier to use, but it still never concerned me, as these could not yet produce fully functioning toys or electronics – the user had to assemble them. But, the Cybertronians released a far better version of that technology. This became mankind’s greatest tool, but it also led to gifts being completely un-necessary and un-needed, as it became the gift that kept on given. Christmas became meaningless outside of a few days off work.” Santa says. “What technology was that?” Prime asks. “It was the Cybertronian Replicators. It became the hottest item that year.” Santa said. “We gave that to the humans so that greed would disappear, poverty would vanish, no one would be jealous of anyone else, no one would be lacking anything and everything would be in abundance. If everything is in abundance, and people could create everything they wanted and needed, when they needed it – conflict would end, wars would end, poverty would vanish, crime would disappear, and humans could be free of greed, hate, fear of lack, stress, debt and financial ruin. Ever since we released replicators to the masses, that is exactly what happened: conflicts have faded, poverty doesn’t exist, no crime has been reported in the past century, no one is living on the streets, no one has stress. It provided a way to level the playing field for everyone. No one is rich, no one is poor, everyone is equal since everyone can get what they want or need.” Prime explains. “And that is why I am dying, Prime. I am dying because there is no need to ask Santa for a specific gift, there is no need to write to Santa or to visit him in the mall, the child can just create what he or she wants throughout the year. Very few children believe in me today. Since my magic feeds from the belief of Santa, and my existence is based on that magic, I am dying.” Santa looks at Prime with pain and hurt in his eyes. “Where is your proof?” Prime asks Santa. Santa yanks some hairs from his white beard and holds them gently in his glove. “I know you can analyze these.” Optimus Prime looks at the holographic projection table, pondering while holding his chin. “For bootin’ up cold!” Rattrap interrupts Prime’s thoughts. “You can’t be taking this guy seriously? He’s just a fat man in a red suit with a sob story of how his job is being outsourced and making him obsolete.” “Cool it Rattrap!” Prime ordered, and resumes thinking for a bit before starting again. “The Autobots have always given humans the benefit of the doubt before making a final decision. Ratchet, scan those hairs.” Santa carefully gives Ratchet the hairs from his beard, and Ratchet places them on an examination table. Tiny glowing rectangle engulfs the hairs, and a holographic image of the globe appears above the table, with a time scale and very few faded red dots. “Those red dots represent children who believe in my existence. If you go back to 20th century and move forward, the level of Santa believers remained constant. Children grow up to adults, but have children of their own. “Ratchet, scrub to the year that replicators were introduced as consumer products.” Prime orders. Ratchet slides the time 10 years. There is a noticeable drop in the red dots. “Now, autoplay the remaining years until now, 2 years per second.” Ratchet nods and sets the auto play parameters. The Maximals surrounding the table watch as the number of red dots on the globe decrease in number drastically. “I’ve plotted the increased use of replicators against the decreased in number of people believing in Santa.” Perceptor says as the graph appears four times around the holographic globe. “It’s a perfect mirror. As more consumers got replicators, the belief in Santa drops, nearly step for step.” “Can you help me Prime?” Santa pleaded. “I need the children to believe in Santa again.” After a few moments of thinking, Prime finally spoke out. “I believe I have an idea.” On an urban street, no Christmas lights can be seen anywhere, either on city-owned light posts or on modern homes, no Christmas decorations can be found. A young family is seen inside one of these homes. finishing their meal, the Father turns on the holographic television to the News station, and the News Anchor appears. “The Maximals have issued a planet-wide recall of the Replicator Memory labeled ‘NF’, which stands for ‘Non-Food’, as they have been receiving reports of glitches and incomplete items, sometimes even the wrong item altogether. They say that they are looking into it and a replacement will be sent out January 1st. They say that removing this memory is very easy, and to place it on a teleportation pad in your home. They are sending out e-mails to every Replicator owner for complete instructions on how to remove it and which teleportation pad to send it to.” The father figure looks at his Datapad and opens up the e-mail from the Maximals. He walks over to the Replicator unit and follows the graphical instructions. He also walks down to his children’s rooms to remove the memory from their replicators. On the rooftop of the Maximal Headquaters, Santa climbs into his sleigh, with the rest of the Maximals behind the sleigh in their alternate modes. Prime activates his comlink “Teletran 5, activate the ground bridge to the supplied location.” A green energetic tunnel appears in front of Santa’s sleigh. Santa commands the Reindeer to enter the tunnel, and the Maximals follow. Santa and the Maximals exit the other end of the ground bridge at the North Pole, just outside of a monstrous castle-like building that rises out of the ice. The Maximals change into their robotic modes, and Rattrap speaks out “Strip my circuits and call me a floor lamp! This place is huge! I always imagined some wooden cottage.” Santa slides off the sleigh and the elves come out to push it inside a massive hangar. “Did you really think that I could produce toys for 20 billion children in a cottage? Lets get inside, we have a lot of work to do in 23 days.” The Maximals and Santa enter the workshop through large doors to see broken down conveyor belts, rusted paint dispensers, broken alcohol bottles, and the elves have formed groups, playing random card games to pass the time. Every elf also has a look of depression and sadness on them. “What happened here?” Prime asks. Santa responds, “Since my existence is powered by the belief of people, that also provides power for the factory. Decades of declining belief take its toll. The magic that kept everything alive and moving had faded and the elves felt it more, as they all became depressed. “Well we are here to get this going again.” Prime says. As soon as Prime speaks, the elves look up to the red Maximal and the look of depression and sadness begins to lift. The rust begins to vanish, the sound of conveyor belts start up, and the dull faded wood begins to shine like gold. “All of you, lets get toys made again.” Prime orders, as the Maximals fan out across the factory. Rattrap and Arcee run up to stand on a separated walkway with the conveyor belt between them. They each place glowing rods on tripods, and an industrial-sized replicator is teleported between the two Maximals. The other Maximals do the same throughout the factory. December 15th After spending two weeks retrofitting and rebuilding Santa’s factory, the first run test toys are ready to be inspected. One of the elves, Hermie, grabs one of the toys, an interchangeable robotic figure, and manipulates it for a bit until he feels it’s a success. Another elf inspects another toy, a handheld gaming system. He uses it for a while and nods to Santa. A third elf inspects a touch screen data pad up close and manipulates it in every which way. He finally gives the nod to Santa. “You know Prime.” He starts to say. “All my life, I believed that hand-made toys were superior, as you could control the quality and materials going into that toy. I never trusted the replicators, as they were too quick. But now, I have seen how much better they are, and how much faster they are. We can spend less time building toys, and more time reaching people, and more time creating newer and more intricate toys than we could ever dream possible. Thank you Prime. Thank you Maximals. “Don’t thank us just yet, Santa.” Prime begins. “You still have twenty billion kids that need toys, and you have just over a week.” “That is no problem my robotic friend.” Santa says. “I have my lists uploaded to the computer.” “If you have no further need for us, then, Santa. I will say goodbye, and Merry Christmas.” Arcee speaks up. “Merry Christmas to you too, Maximals.” December 25th Inside a modern-day home, a mother and a father sleep soundly in their bed when they hear their child screaming in joy. They look at each other, quickly throw on their robes and walk out to their living room where they see the entire living room decorated, with labeled stockings, Christmas lights, and a fully decorated Christmas tree with wrapped presents underneath it. “Daddy, did you do this during the night?” the little girl asks. The father looks at his wife, confused, who is also confused. They look at the wrapped gifts and there are multiple gifts for everyone underneath the tree, and each had it labeled ‘From Santa’ “Did you do this?” he asks the wife. The wife responds, “No, I didn’t. I was wondering if you snuck out of bed to do this while I was asleep.” The husband opens one of the gifts for him and his eyes widen. “A 1979 Wayne Gretsky rookie card, signed and sealed! How did something get this?” The wife screams in joy as she opens hers “This ring is probably worth $10,000. Where did you get that kind of money from?” The husband looks at the ring, utterly confused. The husband’s datapad begins to ring. He picks it up and taps on the screen to answer it. “Hey Dave” the caller begins. “Did something really weird happen overnight? Was your house fully decorated with a tree inside it, and presents under it?” Dave (the husband) widens his eyes as his next-door neighbor had the same thing happen to him. “Listen, call everyone on the street. Heck, even the news. This is too weird.” It was still dark outside, as the neighbors are gathered around on one of the lawns to tell of their experiences and what they have received from this mystery person, and everything sounds rare or very hard to acquire. A news van for a local news station parks on the street, and a reporter along with three camera operators hop out and walk towards the crowd. The reporter goes up to the first husband and wife. “Tell me what happened.” The husband replies with “We were woken up by our youngest daughter and when we ran into the living room, thinking something terrible happened, we saw our whole living room completely decorated, even the tree, and gifts under it. We didn’t know what it was or who did it. I even have the security footage here.” He activates his data pad, and opens the security app. The video shows the living room completely untouched, and then in faster than a blink of an eye, the decorations appear. “I’ve slowed down the footage to as far as I can go, I can’t see anyone or anything, putting up the decorations. Plus, all of the gifts were labeled ‘from Santa.’” The reporter goes along to interview the other families, to be told similar accounts. At the last couple, the wife waits until her husband speaks before speaking herself. “I remember when I was a little girl, around six years old, my great-great-great grandpa telling us of old family Christmas traditions, and how there seemed to be an unseen ‘magic’ in the air, and everyone became happier at this time. This morning felt like that, mysterious, confusion, but magical. It’s hard to explain. I can’t explain.” She says, right before everyone looked up in the sky. The cameramen quickly pointed the cameras in the air to see a red, wooden sleigh with glowing gold skiis, being pulled by 9 reindeer, with the lead reindeer’s nose glowing more brightly than any star in the sky. “Are you catching this?” the reporter asks in a panic, as the cameraman confirms that they are. “It can’t be, is that…?” One of the parents says, before being interrupted by one of the kids. “SANTA! That’s SANTA!”. The group then hears Santa’s famous words. “Merry Christmas to All. And to All a Good Night!”, before the sleigh streaks through the sky, leaving a long gold glowing tracks in the sky.
