THE FIELD TRIP TO THE Cyber City Museum of Technology had been a bust. True, Firebot and Mechanicat both took a great deal of interest in the displays and exhibits, and Cheetor enjoyed it like he seemed to enjoy everything else in life -- but the rest of the little 'bots had been bored half to death. Even Mike had to admit that the only thing he enjoyed about the trip was spending time with the kids.

Then there was the mistake of bringing them to the Transformation wing of the museum last: most of the 'bots still hadn't learned how to transform, and had left the museum sullen and depressed. Mike hoped Roy had a game planned -- or anything planned, for that matter -- for when they got back; once again, the kids needed to get their minds taken off the fact that they still couldn't transform.

Mike felt especially bad for them. He himself had been a "late-bloomer" as they called it, and was the last robot in his own protoschool to master the art of transformation. He wished there were something more he could do, but there really wasn't. There was no way to teach the ability; it was like learning to whistle, or wrestle a Sharkticon: the only way to learn was to jump in and try.

As they left the museum grounds, Mike did a quick headcount as the kids walked ahead of him.

Twelve. There should have been fourteen.

Anxiety hit, and Mike turned around and looked back at the museum. He relaxed slightly when he saw Strong-Bot and Reptron dallying back outside the museum entrance.

"Come on, you two! Hurry it up!" he called out. The two 'bots looked up, saw how far behind the rest of the group they were, and started running to catch up. Mike had his group pause for a moment until the two lollygaggers could rejoin them. Reptron made it back quickly, but Strong-Bot -- the slowest of them all -- took a minute.

Once they were all together again, it was off to the shuttle station. On the trip back to the protoschool, Mike noticed Strong-Bot sitting in the back of the shuttle by himself, cradling some sort of small metal object in his huge shovel-hands. He must have picked something up off the ground on the way back from the museum; perhaps that's what he and Reptron had been occupied with.

Oh, well. It was none of his business, really. The trinket certainly looked harmless enough from here; Strong-Bot could keep it as a souvenir of an otherwise worthless trip.

The kids still looked pretty downcast, so Mike stood up in the front of the shuttle and led them all in a song or two.

That seemed to cheer them up a little bit.

* * *

All the way back to the protoschool, Strong-Bot inspected his souvenir. He had no idea what it was; the top looked like just an ordinary square of metal, but on the underside was a small, blinking red light.

It was the light that had captured Strong-Bot's attention. He had seen it flashing in a clump of chromium flowers just outside the museum door. No one would notice if he stopped to pick it up; being so slow, he was naturally the last one out the door.

He had wanted to keep his find a secret, but nosy little Reptron had turned back and trotted over to see what Strong-Bot was up to. The lizard-bot had convinced Strong-Bot to reveal his bit of treasure, but Reptron only got a peek at it before Mike hollered at them.

Hopefully, Reptron would keep his mouth shut about the trinket. Strong-Bot finally had something of value, and he didn't want anyone to take it away from him. Cheetor was brave. Firebot was smart. Mechanicat could build things. Speedbot was fast and Aerobot could fly. Strong-Bot had no gifts to compare with theirs. Sure, he was kind of strong -- but so was Gorillabot, and Gorillabot could climb, too. Strong-Bot couldn't climb; he just had stupid scoops where hands should be. Scoops that weren't good for anything except shoveling stuff and getting in the way.

At the moment, his right shovel-hand held the red-blinking scrap of metal. Now he had something that no one else had. Not Cheetor, not Firebot -- nobody but Strong-Bot. It was his, all his.

He clutched his right scoop to his chest and smiled.

* * *

Back at the protoschool, Reptron sat on the floor making doodles with some coloring sticks. His location seemed arbitrary, but he had intentionally situated himself in such a way that he was as close to everyone else in the playroom as was possible. He could hear every conversation, every comment, every noise around him with crystal clarity.

Reptron liked to know what was going on around him.

He noticed when Mototron stormed away from losing a game of "Shunts and Loaders". The black robot went to the small fountain in the corner, got a drink, then came marching over to Reptron. Mototron sat down next to Reptron, grabbed some paper and color sticks (without asking) and started scribbling what appeared to Reptron to be a tornado.

Reptron politely ignored him, continuing his doodling and keeping up with the conversations around the playroom. Shortly, Mototron spoke. "So what were you and Strong-Bot up to outside the museum?" he asked in a low, conspiratorial voice.

"Nothing," Reptron replied, his optics remaining fixed on his doodles.

Mototron didn't buy it. "Nuh-uh," he said. "You two were up to something. I know it."

Some part of Reptron thought maybe Strong-Bot wanted to keep his find a secret, but another part of him jumped at the opportunity to gossip. His tiny little processor had a brief internal struggle, then Reptron turned to Mototron. "Strong-Bot found some sort of blinking red light on the ground," he said with a shrug. "That's all."

"Does he still have it?" Mototron asked.

Reptron nodded and immediately felt the slightest twinge of guilt. By the look on Mototron's face, the little black 'bot was scheming something, and suddenly Reptron knew nothing good would come from sharing Strong-Bot's secret.

He hurriedly resumed his coloring. "Why do you care, anyway?" he demanded.

"I want it," Mototron replied cooly. Then he leaned in, touched his helmet to Reptron's, and whispered, "And you're going to help me get it!"

* * *

It was almost lunchtime. Mototron sat near the door, playing with some plastic animals. He stood all of them together on the floor, except for the largest animal. Then he took that one and made it go on a rampage through the rest, scattering them.

Setting the animals back up again, he spied Reptron sitting in the far corner of the room, chatting with Strong-Bot. Reptron was supposed to cozy up to Strong-Bot, gain his trust, then take the blinking red light from him and give it to Mototron. Mototron knew Reptron would come through for him; the little lizard-bot had no close friends, and would gladly give Mototron the blinky in exchange for friendship. Mototron was sure of this.

Mototron wanted the blinky badly. A felt he had a legitimate reason to steal it: the brothers, Prowl and Firebot, had both learned how to transform just recently, and their car modes both had sets of blinking red lights which they liked to flash on and off. Mototron was jealous of them; he hadn't yet figured out how to transform into his own car mode, and he didn't have any red lights of his own. The former was still out Mototron's reach, but with Reptron's help he could at least achieve the latter.

His thoughts were interrupted when Andy poked his head into the playroom and announced that lunch was ready. Mototron remained seated while everyone ran out the door and down the hall to the cafeteria. In a minute, there were only three robots left in the room: Mototron, Strong-Bot -- who was always the last one to leave -- and Reptron, who was keeping Strong-Bot company.

After a quick peek into the hallway to make sure Andy was headed to the cafeteria with the others, Mototron quietly closed the door -- without letting it latch, otherwise how would he make it to lunch? -- and turned to face Reptron.

"Do you have it?" he asked his cohort, his optics eagerly lit.

Then Reptron did something that made Mototron's mouth drop open with surprise: the little orange 'bot stepped in front of Strong-Bot, crossed his arms, and said, "No. I don't have it. And you can't have it, either."

Mototron was furious; he'd been double-crossed! With a crazed howl, he lunged forward and tackled Reptron. The two tumbled against Strong-Bot, who didn't budge but lost his hold on the blinking trinket, which popped out of his scoop-hand and dropped to the floor.

While the blinky bounced, Mototron and Reptron were still in motion. Strong-Bot moved to recapture his prize, but he was too slow: Reptron went crashing to the floor, landing on the trinket with a 'crunch!'

The three robots froze at the sound. Then Mototron grabbed Reptron and shoved him aside, revealing the shattered remains of the once-blinking red light. It was completely destroyed.

"NNNOOOOOOO!!" wailed Mototron. He had never been more upset in his short life. With a snarl, he turned to take his frustration out on Reptron --

-- and bounced off of Strong-Bot's chest. Reptron was still lying on the floor, but Strong-Bot was standing over him, protecting him. Mototron threw a flurry of punches at Strong-Bot, but it was as if the yellow robot didn't even feel them. Strong-Bot ignored the punches for a minute, then gave Mototron a shove with one of his giant scoop-hands. Mototron went sailing through the air, stopping only when he crashed into the playroom wall.

Mototron lay on the floor, stunned. He watched as Strong-Bot helped Reptron to his feet. Then the two robots left the playroom and headed off to lunch. On their way out, neither of them so much as glanced at Mototron or the pulverized trinket.

* * *

Strong-Bot and Reptron ate lunch together. Reptron wanted to tell everyone about how Strong-Bot had protected him from Mototron, but Strong-Bot asked him not to; though he wasn't particularly fond of the bully, he didn't want Mototron to be completely vilified. Reptron reluctantly agreed.

After lunch it was naptime, and Reptron had trouble sleeping. He spent the hour restlessly, wrestling internally with the urge to gossip about Mototron. In the end though, he kept his promise to Strong-Bot, and told no one of Mototron's episode.

Mototron never made it to lunch that day. He lay on the playroom floor for the entire meal period, stunned at Reptron's betrayal. When the others came back and asked him where he had been, he lied and said he had fallen asleep. Gorillabot found that funny for some reason, which didn't improve Mototron's mood.

When Strong-Bot got back from lunch, he made sure the remains of the blinky were scooped up and thrown away. He felt some sadness at the loss of the trinket, but not much. When it had been smashed, he had been too busy worrying about Reptron to get upset over a piece of scrap metal. Now, as he dumped the busted pieces into the wastebasket, he realized that he didn't need it anymore.

Once again, he had something that none of the other 'bots had.

He had a friend in Reptron.