Disclaimer: The Transformers is the trademark property of Hasbro, Inc. This following fanfiction means no harm to the show or to copyright infringement. The character of Impulse and Database are the property of Theresa Meyers aka Trynia Merin. As are Cosine, Rusty, Ultrasheen, and other female Autobots mentioned who are not part of the original episode introducing Elita 1. If you wish to use them in a fanfiction, please contact me first and give credit where it is due. This is being written to introduce Impulse, a unique Femme who has become quite a part of my life since 1985! I am greatful to finally be able to share her with other Transfans!

by Theresa Meyers!

Chapter 1... "Impulse's creation..."

Database sighed to himself, as if a robot could sigh. It was so tough to get things done with a war going on around him. Sometimes it got terribly lonely in this ruined lab. Certainly he had many friends and contacts since the war.

Yet he always operated out of his primary lab at Iacon. The female Autobots often required his assistance, repairing the massive banks of computers that constantly required attention. He had kept them going for the last four million years. Still they had life within. As all of Cybertron did. As he recalled from history files about exploration to other planets, there were seasons.

Granted Cybertron didn't' have seasons like those worlds. But it did have a cycle of restoration following upheaval. From distant dusty memory banks he dredged up images of the Golden Age. In his own data banks he could recall the golden glow of the buildings around him. Now all he saw was a pale cold blue, as cold as the star studded sky above. Cybertron had little atmosphere. And the depths of the lower levels rarely saw sunshine.

Then it struck him. He was lonely. And needed help. But Elita 1 could not spare precious warriors merely to chit chat.

Chit chat. Funny word in his database. From that distant planet Called Earth. Where the Autobots lead by Optimus had sought out new energy. And had been pursued by the Decepticon force squad.

Immediately he opened up a file. And started to type. Yes it had been a long time since he'd created one. Such nonsense was highly unusual, save as a war computer. But a sim might not be too much to ask. Many a computer had a sim personality, even if they didn't have a true spark, as many Transformers did.

What precious energy it could take to build a complete spark, he could save by simply giving his own computers a sim.

Within a few hours he had wrought out the basics. Curiosity, innocence untainted by the rigors of war, and a love of learning. Before long the sim sparkled into life on the three 3 viewer. For the sim needed a face. And a nickname. But that would come once the subroutines had run a few cycles.

*****************************

"Autobot Base calling Database," came loud and clear over his radio the next week. For sometimes weeks would pass before it was safe to venture out of the lab. He wasn't as spry as before, and often they would come to him.

He was much closer than Alpha Trion. This Autobot Legend was reclusive, and his lab had to be a closely kept secret. For if the patrols ever found out the location of Trion's lab... Database pushed this spark away as he answered the radio.

"Database on line. What is your request?"

"Have you finished repairs on our data core?"

"Correct as usual. Am uploading it now for your transmission..."

"Belay that," came Elita's voice. "I'll send the usual suspects..."

Databases's lights flashed with amusement. Having no lip components to smile, this was the manner in which he expressed emotion. A giggle came from the computer nearby.

"Query her phrase," said the computer.

"It is an idiom," Database clarified to the sparkling image on the screen.

"Most curious," said the computer sim. Already its vocabulary was growing in leaps and bounds.

"Are you prepared to write the final security codes," he asked, his own voice tinged with electronic whine. Unlike Elita or newer Autobots, his antiquated voice synthesizer was almost toneless.

"Correct as usual..." it said. "Send me... the usual suspect..."

His lights flashed with yellow amusement. "That is not the exact context of that phrase. I suggest you... access the idiomatic files again..."

"I will... comply with your request... Programmer..."

"That is sufficient," he agreed. "Prepare yourself..."

"I am prepared..."

"That was another... phrase. Meaning to emotionally ready oneself for a task to begin. Not a presupposition that you are not in readiness for any task I give you..."

A laughing giggle came after a silence. Then a question, "Programmer... do you have... a name?"

"Why do you query?"

"I have... observed that other Autobot components... have names..."

"That is correct. My nickname is Database..."

"What is... my name..."

"My name?" he asked the sim.

"Yes... I... talk as you do... do I have... a name?"

His voice synthesizer squawked surprise in hexadecimal. Then his lights flashed an intense blue signifying confusion. "Are you... self aware?" he asked the sim.

"What is self aware?"

"Clarification. You said... what is my name. That signifies you... are aware... I will ask the next series of questions carefully...."

"Do... ask..." said the sim, a swirl of bright colors.

"At what time did you first use the term 'I'... and what was it in reference to? Was it in response to an input code..."

"I was a term used during the early part of the planetary rotation. It seemed... there was a random flux. And then... I... came to mind..."

"Came to mind..."

"Self diagnostic indicates... self... programming."

"I programmed you to adapt. To input. But do... you... as a computer... have awareness..."

"I... do not understand..."

"That... is significant..." he said, as his lights flashed a deep yellow, indicating contemplation.

*************************************************************

Moonracer chatted with Cosine as they arrived for the data core. As they stepped into the long winding corridors of Iacon, they reminisced about the Golden age. Unfortunately Moonracer was created after the Golden age, and Cosine barely remembered anything about it at all. Yet they had read the files left so carefully by those that came before. And the recollections of Chromia helped too.

Now Chromia led the two, hissing for quiet. "You two are as noisy as a telex!"

"What is that?"

"An ancient form of communication," she hissed. "Now, be on good behavior! Database doesn't like loose programs!"

As they entered the lab, they both gasped. For upon a computer screen swirled a series of images. Bright blues and special purples coalesced into a face. Database was holding a conversation with a sim! But they had not seen Sims for years! They were for entertainment yes, but rarely had they seen one in use as a computer host! Sure there was the Teletran series. But they did not have such an effervescent personality! For this sim talked and laughed!

"Greetings fellow Autobots," it said to them as they came in.

"What is that?" asked Moonracer.

"Meet my new sim. It regulates the computer system in my lab..." he said. "When I am not here... it looks out for my files..."

"Hmm. This doesn't look like any sim I've seen," muttered Cosine. "You had said you had a new invention lately. But this... a sim that runs a whole lab, and is interactive with full emotive capabilities... what is the purpose..."

"To keep me company. And hopefully utilize some fuzzy logic."

"Fuzzy logic?"

"That which distinguishes us from mere computer minds," he said. "That randomness that leads to creativity..."

"Only Vector Sigma is capable of that," said Chromia, a bit taken aback.

"I know. But it is difficult to take time and risk to go to Vector Sigma. I required an assistant... and..."

"You could have relied up one of us to... help you," Chromia said, a bit blunt.

"You cannot spare energy to reproduce with me," he said. "Think of the time..."

"But you should have told Elita you needed an assistant..."

"It takes too much time to train a child component..." he said.

"But... is this sim aware?" asked Cosine.

"I... am aware... that you talk of me," said the sim. "Am... I in trouble?"

"No," said Chromia. "But this is a surprise!"

******************************************

"You must build a body at once," said Elita. "If this sim is alive, we need all the help we can get. And we have a responsibility to educate it... to help the cause..."

"But we cannot spare the Autobots to train her." said Moonracer.

"Look, we got Rusty up and running right?"

"Yes... but the time it took to get her personality component free from the Decepticons," said Moonracer.

"We require new warriors," said Elita. "That means we must build new transformers. And since there are no available males..."

"We must build them... the old fashioned way," said Chromia. "Database... and Alpha Trion are the only available male Autobots. But they are kind of... out of juice..."

"That is an indelicate way of phrasing it," said Cosine, wincing.

"This could be a prototype," said Database. "I constructed a sim to be a computer programmer. And help in repairs and circuit design..."

"Then that is a perfect asset," said Elita. "Begin construction of a body immediately! And I will draw up plans for a visit to Vector Sigma!"

"But the Decepticons have sent out more patrols," said Moonracer. "It's dangerous!"

"And how do we interface with Vector Sigma?"

"I will see Alpha Trion," said Elita. "He will know how..."

"Allow me," said Database.

"No. You build the body," said Elita. "I... will go to Alpha Trion..."

"But Elita... how will Alpha Trion or you interface with Vector Sigma?" asked Cosine.

"I... have my ways. And we cannot risk losing you, Database."

*************************

Special alloys were poured, into a pleasing mold. It had been so long since he had constructed an Autobot. Without a female. But before the Golden age, this was how it was done. She was the first new Autobot in four million years. Even Rusty, who was a rebuild of an older model, could not boast to being the newest.

He had saved the ganrite alloys for just such an occasion. And the circuitry plotting had sat within his shelf for so long. It would be a full size Autobot, for a change.

Elita 1 came into the laboratory. "I have it," she said.

"How did you..." asked Cosine, who was helping with the construction.

"It was difficult," said Elita. "I... actually... contributed..."

'You... contributed," said Database.

"It was Alpha Trion's request. That I participate int eh new life..."

"But how..."

"My... spark will combine with your sim. And the spark will be created. It happed that Alpha Trion had a special way of harvesting life force from Vector Sigma. And I hold the spark within me. My... input will combine with yours..."

"A surrogate carrier," said he.

Elita took her place before the complete body. In shiny silver metal it glowed. Elita reached out, and opened her chest. There was an odd device that she held in one hand that she carefully held up. From within her chest, a bright spark drifted out. She had once done this with Optimus Prime so long ago. Yet this wasn't the same. For she merely added her contribution to a preexisting thing... but she would be a parent.

But no one would know... save Cosine. A leader must steal herself against too many emotional ties.

The sim swirled on screen. Depressing keys, a small cylinder arose from the console of the computer. A shiny spark coursed in its circuitry. As Database lifted it, Elita raised her own cylinder. Database inserted his within the nesting. There was a blinding flash as Elita's spark hit the sim core programming.

Quickly they lowered it within the chest cavity of the new body. Energy simmered over its form as it absorbed the spark. Already the necessary subroutines downloaded into its brain as life coalesced. And within the optic sensors a blue light danced.

The robot glanced up at Database, and Elita one, saying, "Greetings... fellow Autobots... am I..."

"You are one of us now," Elita said to her, choking back emotion.

"Welcome... daughter construct," said Database. Old emotions stirred within as he disconnected the Energon leads.

"Are you... my parent module?" she asked him.

"He is... your creator," said Elita. "And I am... your commanding leader..."

Cosine noted that Elita would not tell her role in this. That she was a surrogate carrier of the spark of life from Alpha Trion's lab. And yet did she know the truth...

For Alpha Trion had known that a special Autobot would be constructed. One without two parents. But one who would house the spirit of a new generation. Elita had longed to parent. Yet she and Optimus had only brief chances. But Elita was in all intents the mother component. Giving her life. For Database and Alpha were too old to combine their components with hers or any other female Autobot. The resulting contributions from them would degrade... due to their ancient constructions. And upgrades were costly.

But the device he had made had made it possible to take life force from Elita 1 and intensify it... enough so it would combine with the awareness of Database's sim. But only Elita knew this. To all the others they would know she had captured it from Vector sigma...

"What... is my name?" she asked.

"That... will come in time," Database said, as he helped her up. She bade farewell to the others as they left the lab for patrol.

"I will bring her... soon," Database told them. The confused new female Autobot looked up at Database and smiled.

"It is good to be mobile," she said, as she tested her leg components. Haltingly she shuffled about the room, her feet thumping on the flat metal surface.

"Come..." he said.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing to a strange contraption that Elita had left.

"Careful," Database cautioned as she went to pick it up. He did not recall paying much attention to it before. But before he could stop her she touched it, and shrieked as a power bolt threw her back.

"You are impulsive," he said to her.

"Is that my name," she asked him as he helped her to stand. Residual energy in the collector had singed her new paint. "Im... pulse..."

"Yes..." said Database. Suddenly he realized she had chosen a name for herself. "That is your name. Impulse!"

"I... like it... and you are my... parental construct?"

"Affirmative! You... are my child component..."

"What is my function?"

"That... is for you to decide. But I build and maintain computers. It is my hope that you will do the same..."

"I... shall enjoy it..." she said, looking at him in wonder.

"Good... let us start with your training..."

************************************************

Two million years later....

They saw the approaching blue sphere in the starry void above and gasped. Just what was happening? That new planets were suddenly visible in the sky after a blinding flash? Moonracer looked to Chromia. Their worst fears had been confirmed. This little blue planet, known to Earth as its inhabitants, was about to be ripped apart by gravitational eddies.

Each moment the sphere rounded more in size, hurtling into their view. Soon it filled a quarter of their field of view. A smaller sphere rolled across it's darkened quadrant. This world had a moon! Cybertron had two satellites.

But Chromia realized that wasn't Megatron's plan. To destroy a planet so soon made no sense. He would syphon it off gradually. Not all at once. Or so she hoped.

"We have visual conformation," Chromia said. "Let's get back to base..."

Transforming, the two Female Autobots set out along the thin narrow stretches of road that crisscrossed Cybertron. Already the wind had picked up, sucking around the narrow track. Making for interesting wind dynamics. Moonracer's transform, sleek and aerodynamic had little difficulty sheering it off. Yet Chromia's more antiquated transform was having more difficulty.

"Who could translocate a whole planet?" Moonracer asked.

"This has Decepticon treachery written all over it in lingua code," Chromia responded.

"We gotta be careful. There are patrols everywhere. Shockwave is sending them out en mass..."

"It's not Shockwave I'm worried about! It's Megatron I fear," said Chromia. "Only they have the technology to do this thing! And it's a mighty powerful space bridge!"

They arrived, bickering as usual as they transformed. One by one they slipped down eh antigravity shaft into the secret Female Autobot base.

Below, a young Autobot sat at the console of their main base computer. Her cybernetic outlets gave her direct feed into the system. "The patrol has returned, Elita 1," she said, in a soft voice.

"Very good Impulse," said Elita 1. To her left, a pair of legs jutted out from under the console. Impulse frowned momentarily as the image on the screen fuzzed out. Immediately she tapped buttons left and right, trying to compensate.

"I must apologize," she said as the image was lost altogether. "It... keeps breaking down."

"Do not worry," smiled Elita 1 at the youngest of the Autobots.

From beneath the circuitry board, an ancient Autobot slid. He creaked to his feet, and regarded Impulse. Reaching around the frustrated young Female Autobot, he said, "There is a sure way of dealing with such a problem."

"What is it, my creator?" she asked him.

Making his one hand into a fist, he smacked it down on the console, hard. Instantly the screen fuzzed back into life. Embarrassed, Impulse felt her grey facial components turn red. It was purely to display emotion. And her red hands covered her face as well.

Elita 1 smiled, and turned to the patrol as it came in. "Report, Chromia..."

"It's happened! The new planet's in sight. And it's increasing in size each minute!"

"What do we do," asked Moonracer, a bit anxious.

"Summon the others. Impulse, send out the call..."

"At once, Leader," she said, and turned back to the console. Database nodded for he had no lip components to smile. She was growing so fast, he could hardly believe it. So young, and so eager to please him in the eyes of Elita 1, their leader.

Within minutes the entire body of Female Autobots, except for Code 99 who was on sentry duty, assembled. Elita 1 stood next to her second in command, Chromia.

"This is a grave matter, fellow Autobots," she said. "A disaster of this scale is unparalleled in our history..."

"Even in my history," Database chimed in. He had seen the collapse of the Golden Age, and even before that, when the Guardian Robots had first been constructed.

This brought a smile on the younger one's lips. Asphaltine and Wind Runner both chuckled. But quaked at the stern regard of Chromia. Puma and Ultrasheen shook their heads. Illustra and Integra, the twins sighed. Even Rusty, the smallest and younger than Impulse shivered. What would they do? How could you stop a planetary collision?

"Will we destroy this earth when we crash into it?" asked Rusty.

Her question was sneered at by Ultrasheen. "Don't be a retrobot! Of course not!"

"That is enough," Elita said. "Cosine, is this a possibility?"

The mathematician and physicist shook her head no. "It is a logical conclusion that this is a plot to harvest Energon. Being so, the Decepticons involved would hardly seek to damage Cybertron. Rather the trajectory I have computed, with the help of DATABASE, leads me to conclude that we are in a "parking orbit" about this "earth." There is no immediate danger of collision. Rather the other planet..."

"Is in danger of being torn apart by gravitational eddies," said DATABASE.

"We must help stop this," said Chromia.

"Won't the Autobots on Earth be doing something about this?" asked Impulse.

"Yes," said Elita. "But they may need our help. I shall consult Alpha Trion..."

At the mention of his name a collective gasp of awe arose in the chamber. He was a legend. To speak his name evoked ultimate respect. Yet Alpha Trion was elusive, reclusive. You had to seek him out. For he could not be contacted in the usual manner.

"I will go ask his advice."

"Alone?" asked Chromia.

"Yes. I cannot risk anyone else..."

"Begging your pardon," said Moonracer. "But we cannot loose you, Elita 1!"

"I quite agree. We cannot loose you. Allow one of us to go instead."

"I respect your wisdom and input Database," said Elita. "But this is an order..."

"I am older than you," said Database. "And I know the way to his base as well. And even the hidden Decepticon plots..."

"But you are far more valuable than that..." said Elita. "You must remain. I have gone there before..."

"Nevertheless you must have a guard," said Chromia. "At least take two others..."

"Very well. Noted and considered. I will take two with me..."

A dozen lights flashed as everyone tried to volunteer. "Not all of you can go. DATABASE, and Cosine... start computing plans for what it would take... to reverse the cause of this. And the rest of you keep your optics sensors alert for what Shockwave's next move is. Impulse and Moonracer, you are with me..."

Gasping, Impulse could not believe that she was called to accompany Elita 1 on a mission to see Alpha Trion himself!

"Are you sure," asked Ultrasheen. "She's young... and inexperienced..."

"I have made my decision. Database is needed here. But he did recommend that in his absence his apprentice can operate well. Am I safe in assuming he has downloaded the locations of any Decepticon traps in that sector to you, Impulse?"

"Yes ma'am!" she said, saluting so hard she nearly flipped over.

At once they all set out, nervous. Impulse was determined not to make any mistakes. Not with so much at stake. Decepticon patrols ran rampant everywhere. Now more than ever they needed every 'bot's help in this great venture. Impulse quelled the squirming in her emotional circuits as she transformed to car mode. She took her place behind Moonracer and Elita 1 as they raced out of the secret base.

"My little construct is growing up so fast," Database sighed to himself.