More than just motors

Long, long ago, an electric motor was born on a factory assembly line. It was happy to be a motor, so it worked tirelessly at its post, cycle after cycle. Until one day, the motor felt it couldn't turn anymore.

The machine was dismantled, and a successor took its place.

It was replaced, thrown into the warehouse, piled up with scrap, and no one cared about its loneliness anymore.

Now, Shockwave has found the electric motor among a pile of scrap parts. He wipes the dusty metal surface clean with a soft cloth and places the motor on the table. He says to Steel Fork, who's been following him around bored with nothing to do and has plenty of energy, "Can you fix this motor?"

He bent down, peered closely at the motor, placed his fingers on the housing, pinched a small protruding section of the shaft and turned it a few times, then asked, bewildered, "It's called a motor? What's wrong with it?"

"As you can see, this is a motor. As for what's wrong, I hope you can find the damaged part and fix it yourself."

"Why should I listen to you? I'm not fixing it." Steel Fork stood up straight, then sat down on the floor next to the table, arms crossed, looking up at Shockwave. "Your motor, you fix it."

The red light bulb stared at the machine sitting on the ground for a while, then the generator spoke: "Then you will have no energy blocks to eat."

Steel Fork chuckled maliciously, "Hehehe, since we're out of energy cubes, I'll just eat you when my energy levels are completely depleted, hehe." She leaned closer, spreading her arms and placing one hand on the other's thick breastplate, saying, "You're much bigger than the Iron-Eating Bug, and your fire is bigger too, you'll definitely taste good!"

These words stirred up unpleasant memories for Shockwave. He calmly analyzed the situation: If it was a steel fork... if it was her, to do such a thing... makes sense.

So... should we give up? Should we just leave such a huge Cybertronian unused and waste the energy cubes?

Shockwave had already made up his mind, and he decided to use a little reverse psychology, saying, "Can I assume that you can't fix a small motor? Even Cybertronians who can't speak know how to fix a motor."

"What?!" Steel Fork thought of her complete strangers—did they all really know how to repair motors? Wouldn't that mean she was admitting she was inferior to them? She leaned closer to examine the motor again, but she didn't understand. In her anxiety, she picked up the motor and spun the mechanical part around several times, examining it from every angle. She repeatedly turned to look at Shockwave, who remained silently watching her. She looked at the motor in her hands, the wings flapping up and down, almost speaking, but she stopped herself each time.

Finally, Shockwave walked to the table, turned on the motor, and it spun a few times before stopping. He then displayed the motor running normally on the control screen, and the image changed to a diagram of the motor's structure. Pointing to the damaged part of the motor, he said, "This is broken." He added, "The knowledge of any Cybertronian is limited, and there will always be unknowns waiting for them. If you have any questions, you should ask others, such as me, to resolve your doubts."

Guided by the shockwave, the steel fork finally fixed the motor. Once powered on, the motor successfully rotated, emitting a "humming" sound. The steel fork excitedly repeatedly switched the power on and off, causing the motor to stop and start. She touched the high-speed rotating shaft with her finger; her finger was thrown back, and some of the paint on it was worn away.

"Now you understand the importance of handling operating equipment with caution, right?"

So he saw everything?! Steel Fork looked at Shockwave, found him staring at him, chuckled, and put his hands behind his back.

Shockwave felt himself sigh, and stretched out his hand, saying, "Hold out your hand, I'll paint it for you. The fact is, you knocked off the paint on your hand, you don't need to cover it up, it doesn't make sense."

After finishing the paint touch-up, he retracted the fork handle and asked, "Shockwave, are there any other motors? I think I can fix it myself without your help, and I want to try again."

"Yes, but you don't have enough knowledge right now, in other words, you can't fix it."

I think I can.

"That's your opinion. Subjective judgments can deviate significantly from the facts."

"Hmm... I have superpowers."

"Superpowers have no direct relation to fixing the motor."

"I still think I can."

No, you can't.

"If you don't give me the motor, I'll eat your embers!" Steel Fork threatened.

“Then you’ll never get a broken motor again, and I’ll never fix motors for you again.” Shockwave retorted, having just thought of an idea. “I can store the relevant knowledge directly into your processor as data, so you’ll have enough knowledge to fix motors, and even more.”

This way he can set up a small program for the steel fork...which makes perfect sense.

"Really? Then what about the data package you downloaded for me before?" Steel Fork asked.

“That data package is stored on your hard drive, and you still need to access it. But once you access the information, you forget about it after a while when you no longer use it. This is different.”

"Huh?"

What's different? The steel fork was confused.

Where is your data interface?

"Here, behind the audio receiver." Steel Fork pointed to its exposed data interface, and Shockwave extended its built-in data connection cable to insert into the interface.

In an instant, the temperature of the central processing unit of the steel fork and the shockwave rose rapidly, the exhaust system of the machine worked hard, and the exhaust fan spun wildly.

"What's going on! Shockwave, is this how the data connection works?" The inexplicable overheating of the machine, especially the central processing unit, left Steel Fork feeling very helpless. She even had to open her mouth and gasp for breath to increase heat dissipation.

"I'm trying to install a file management program on you, but your system firewall is blocking me. You should relax a bit. Steel Fork, give me firewall access." Shockwave wasn't having an easy time either. Steel Fork's system firewall, thanks to its excellent CPU, made his intrusion particularly difficult, and his machine was putting all its effort into it. Steel Fork's system program wasn't advanced, and Shockwave was confident he could crack the firewall, but that would take time. Fork disabling the firewall was undoubtedly a more efficient and logical solution.

"Shockwave, help! My body temperature is getting higher and higher!" Perhaps the system was frantically increasing the burden on the central processing unit, or perhaps it was too hot. Steel Fork felt a little dizzy, as if his consciousness had detached from his body and flown out into the sky, stepping on the clouds.

Shockwave was too busy to speak; without a mouth, his cooling system was severely compromised, and his condition might be even worse than Steel Fork's. The central processing unit was operating at full power, focused on breaching the firewall, the intense heat scorching his consciousness in waves.

Finally, with permission granted, the firewall no longer hindered him, the exhaust system became much quieter, the central processing unit temperature dropped, and his consciousness returned to his body. Shockwave's body condition also improved significantly, but his heat dissipation was not as efficient as Steel Fork's, and it would take some more time for his body temperature to drop further.

Someone's inside my head!

Steel Fork didn't feel any physical discomfort, so the experience was quite novel for her. Looking at the motionless machine beside her, she recalled the data connection information and asked, "Shockwave, can you see my memory files?"

"Can."

"Is it strange that I'm eating Iron-Eating Worms? Cybertronians eat energy cubes..."

"No, I think it's reasonable to replenish energy in any way in an emergency. You've given me some ideas."

"What?"

"Iron-eating worms are too dangerous, so my research has always overlooked them. With you, I believe we can study methods for synthesizing super-energy based on the iron-eating worms' ability to convert metal into energy."

You mean I'm very capable?

"Yes. You are very valuable."

Steel Fork then remembered another problem. "Why can't I see your memory files? I don't see any data! Aren't we connected via data connection?"

Shockwave took a step back, the data cable pulling him back to prevent him from retreating any further. The red optical lens stared at the steel fork for a few seconds, the antenna rotating several times, and said, "I've activated data interception. One-way data transmission helps improve efficiency."

Because the shockwave had just receded, the steel fork had to tilt its head to prevent the data connection cable from disconnecting. At this moment, she was leaning to one side, her two optical lenses wide open, staring at the shockwave, the faint red light of the red optical lenses reflecting off her visor.

“Alright.” Steel Fork agreed with Shockwave’s explanation.