Brink

Combaticons Combine!

Although the two parties had tried to keep things as abridged as possible, it was still a pretty lengthy explanation from both of them. While Steven was used to knowing about beings other than humans, he still had only ever met the gems in terms of otherworldly beings. To get the chance to meet a different species was truly something amazing, especially considering that they were nothing like he would have ever expected.

On the other side of the conversation, the Autobots were also intrigued to hear about a new species and it's lifestyle. Yes, they had seen many others during their time exploring the cosmos, but they were always instructed to leave them be. Rarely if ever did they actually get a chance to communicate with them.

Hot Rod especially was eager to learn as much as he could. Between him and Steven, the two were asking enough questions to write a book on the others species.

"So do all of you humans have different markings and colors like us?" Hot Rod asked Steven, "I mean you and your friend are different or is it just that way with your... genders I think you called it?"

"Hehe, not quite." Steven answered, "Peridot isn't a human, she's what's known as a gem. A completely different species."

"Wait a minute, are you saying that there are two different dominant species on this planet?" Cliffjumper asked.

"Well no, not really." Peridot answered, "It's a bit of a long story but I'll do my best to explain. Gem kind came here a long time ago and tried to establish this planet as our colony to help with making more of ourselves. For certain reasons, it was abandoned and humankind took over once more. You see, we procreate differently, hence this place you see before you. We are grown in the ground and then we come out fully formed."

"Well, that isn't nearly as complicated as the way he explained how his species does it, and it does explain all these weird holes in the cliff walls." Jazz said, before remembering something, "Wait a minute, if your species comes out of the ground and this was one of your old producing areas, does this have anything to do with it?"

Jazz got down on one knee to show the two that he was still holding the clump in his hand. Most of it was dirt, but there were a few fragments of what looked like a crystal in there. Looking it over, the two immediately knew what it was.

"These are gem shards." Steven said, picking up one of the pieces, "This gem must not have made it. You see, gems usually form from these things, making their own bodies. If a gem gets shattered, then they can't come back."

"Man sounds like what happens when one of our sparks go out." Hot Rod said.

"Well, those things are the reason that we're here in the first place." Cliff said, "We came here looking for energy, and these things have a very similar energy signature to energon."

"Energon?" Peridot asked.

"It's our life's energy." Jazz said, "While it does have a form, it can also be refined from other energy sources. Like Cliff said, it's the reason that we're here. We were just looking to get more energy for our planet."

While that was definitely not the full story of things, Jazz wasn't about to tell these two the real reason behind them being here. The last thing they needed to know about was that they were at war with a deity of destruction and, if the other two had sense, they would keep their mouths shut about it. The last thing they needed to be doing was get a different world involved with their problems.

Though he didn't realize that it was also being done by their new friends as well.

"Well this isn't an energy source," Steven told them, "these are living things. Even if they have been reduced to shards, they still were once alive like us. Usually, when we find things like this, we try to honor them and give them a proper way to rest."