Remove them!
"Wow, this is the original form?"
A string of bubbles swayed as they emerged from the giant, ferocious mouth. The steel fork lay on the culture tank, its gaze moving from the closed eyes and mouth of the organism inside, to the faint glow of fire emanating from its chest, which was not yet fully developed. "It looks so small now. It seems to only reach my waist."
“Yes, it will grow rapidly. Its size will gradually increase. It won't leave the culture tank until its limbs and organs are fully developed. This will take some time.” Shockwave stared at the data displayed on the screen and gave the order. “Come here, we still need to do some things.”
"Test tube number one."
"Give."
"Dissolve the buffer solution and degreasing agent."
"Give."
The oscillator placed the prepared reagent into the centrifuge and said, "You operate it and set the parameters. I remember you memorized the operating instructions, and I hope you can operate it."
"Me? I mean, you've been making me memorize way too many documents lately." The relentless, high-intensity memorization had even slightly overheated Steel Fork's central processing unit—no, its temporary storage. Whatever, even if her processor was going to burn out, what difference did it make! Her hand hovered over the control buttons, but she hesitated to press them. She turned to look at Shockwave, using her most pitiful tone, "Which button should I press first?"
“You shouldn’t forget.” Shockwave stared at the steel fork for a few seconds, then reached out and tapped a few times on the centrifuge’s control panel, and the machine emitted a humming sound as it started.
Shockwave felt as if someone had patted him. He turned his head and realized that it was the wing of the Steel Fork that had drooped down and touched his back armor.
"Um... Shockwave, can I rest for a while? I feel so tired."
Upon hearing this, Shockwave carefully examined the steel fork's body. It had few scratches and still looked quite new. He said, "You've been resting according to your standard schedule. You've had ample charging time; you shouldn't be as tired as you claim. So, resting doesn't make sense."
"Please, Shockwave!" Steel Fork cried out in a series of shouts as her wings slammed into the back armor of another machine, but Shockwave remained unmoved.
After mistyping a letter, Shockwave's red light bulb suddenly pierced the steel fork, and his hand cannon pointed towards the door. Then he seemed to sigh again, turned back to the monitor, and typed, saying, "Go outside and check the equipment. After that, you can rest. Do whatever you want; I won't assign you any more tasks." His red optics shone, and his tone was serious. "You need to maintain the equipment carefully; I'll check it again. If I find you're slacking off, you won't get any rest except for charging."
The steel fork was still shouting, but this time it was cheers: "Fantastic!"
Shockwave sent Steel Fork a file: "The file contains the areas of equipment you need to maintain. Logically, you will have at least two 'Symphony Days' of rest time. Go."
The equipment outside the base was all operating normally, and Steel Fork quickly finished her inspection. Although she had been saying she needed to rest, suddenly having free time and no urgent need to find energy, Steel Fork didn't know what to do. So she sent an internal message: "Is there anything I can do during my break?"
Shockwave: Back operation steps.
Steel Fork: I meant something else.
Shockwave thought carefully, recalling that he had spent his rest time doing experiments in the lab. He replied: Doing experiments.
Steel fork: Is there anything else?
Shockwave thought of his colleagues; they'd play cards, go to the oil bar, and polish themselves—time-wasting activities that shouldn't take up a machine's rest time. So he replied: "Go outside for a walk, see if there's any usable experimental material. Be careful not to get hurt, conserve energy. Return to base before recharging time."
They said they were going out for a walk, but where exactly should they go?
Steel Fork wanted to ask Shockwave some more questions, but suddenly, she remembered her old haunts. She'd been at Shockwave's base for a long time; she wanted to revisit it!
When Steel Fork returned, Shockwave was still staring at the monitor, his fingers tapping on the keyboard. Steel Fork quietly walked up to Shockwave.
He couldn't hear any sound, but the magnetic field signaled the return of the other machine to the shockwave. He was still staring at the screen, but he saw two small, round things in his peripheral vision. But why did these two things have serrated edges? They looked like iron-eating worms.
Shockwave immediately jumped away from the steel fork, aimed his hand cannon at the Iron-Eating Bug, and his deep voice, filled with terror, almost cracked, "This doesn't make sense! Why did you bring the Iron-Eating Bug in here!"
Steel Fork smiled, pursing her lips. She held the Iron-Eating Beetles closer so Shockwave could see the two "cute" little creatures clearly. The Iron-Eating Beetles were revealing their serrated teeth, opening their mouths wide, and pouncing on Steel Fork's hand, biting at it. "Don't be afraid, I'm here, they can't hurt you. Look, they can't hurt me."
The iron-eating worm kept its teeth a certain distance from the hand, and it didn't manage to gnaw out a single piece of iron.
"You said you wanted to study the Iron-Eating Bugs, so I specially caught two." Steel Fork, still watching Shockwave, his hand cannon charging, ready to blast the little bugs at any moment, added, "Don't worry, the swarm is far from the lab, it's safe here. Don't you want these Iron-Eating Bugs? Look how cute they are! They also have research value!"
"Take them away! Put them back in the sealed glass container; I'll study them later." Shockwave calmed down slightly. Watching the steel fork pack the iron-eating worms away, he said, "Using iron-eating worms as experimental material doesn't make sense. I reasonably suspect you have ulterior motives."
“Shockwave, you know. I think the Iron Eaters are a good thing. Look, they don't need to ingest super-energy, yet they can survive and form a population. What excellent experimental material they provide! Don't you want to study them? I went to so much trouble to find a group of Iron Eaters. To avoid exposing the base, I even ran a long way to lure them away. Why? Because you deserve it! You're the best machine I've ever seen, although you're a bit busy, and you have a lot to do…” Steel Fork's wings drooped sadly, and she tried to make her words sound pitiful. “When I eat energy cubes, I can feel that I'm smiling. The data says that Cybertronians also smile, but I've never seen you smile, nor can I sense that you're happy. I just wanted to make you happy. I thought having experimental material would make you happy. Did I scare you? I didn't expect you to be so afraid.” She looked at the red optical lens, lost in thought. Perhaps she couldn't tell if Shockwave was happy?
"..."
Shockwave was speechless for a moment, and what Steel Fork said seemed to make some sense.
He said, "Iron-eating worms are still very valuable for research, and what you're doing makes sense."
But who knew that his only remaining hand would clench and unclench, unclench and clench again and again?
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