User blog:Spikewitwicky/October 29th, 2018 - Spike's Journal Entry



I think I may be creating a monster. Not the Halloween type - even though it is the season - I'm looking forward to taking Megan trick-or-treating this Wednesday. She's going as Eleven in Stranger Things.

But the monster I'm talking about is DJ. OK, he's not a monster. He's a great kid. But I can't help but think that DJ's about the same age as I was when we met the Autobots. And after meeting the Autobots, I grew less and less interested in "human stuff."

While I was working on repairing one of the shuttles, I needed DJ to help me out with a few repairs. He asked if he could do a report on the shuttle for a class. I felt like an ogre, but I told him it wouldn't be a good idea (just short of prohibiting him from doing it). If you're living in Autobot City, and you're a human, you should be the conduit for humanity for the Autobots. They are looking at us to see how humans behave. The more you step into the Autobot world, the less and less you're going to be in the human world.

This also applies to humans. I remember when I was in high school, I was met with more envy and resentment than I was admiration when it came to my relationship with the Autobots. In fact, when Megatron successfully duped the world into thinking the Autobots were evil, dad even took me out of school for a few days (it wasn't until later when he told me a teacher overheard a few kids were talking about ganging up on me and beating the crap out of me for still being loyal to the Autobots). I hope DJ will never experience this level of hatred. But I do realize that if he's going to be doing a research about Autobot shuttles, and no one else in his class has access to an Autobot shuttle, that could lead to some serious resentment. So, I essentially told him for his class research, he has to work with the same stuff that everyone in his class has access to. A research paper on Google AI: good. A research paper on Autobot laser core repair: bad.

What's worse...DJ's turning 16 in a few weeks. And he's already talking about an internship. He wants an internship with EDC. Right now, there's already one kid who's an intern. But he's in college. But EDC is very much in its infancy. We most likely have the budget. All I have to do is create an internship program, which is a lot of work, but it's not an all-day project like rebuilding a transmission on a '98 Saturn.

I keep thinking about how dad handled me growing up. He pretty much allowed me to spend as much time with the Autobots as I wanted. As a result, my friend base was essentially limited to Chip, Carly, and if I really stretch the truth...Jumal when he was young. But with Daniel, Carly and I made an effort to push him more into human interaction. As a result, I think Daniel didn't show quite the interest in the 'nuts and bolts' of the Autobots as dad and I. He's more like his mom - interested more in the software and the 'brain' of things instead of the schematics or hardware. That's why it's hard as hell to say "no" when DJ keeps asking to help out with things around the repair bay and in the shuttle area. And that's why I will most likely be creating an EDC internship for him. I know it's favoritism, but he honestly is smart enough, he's mechanically able (if provided the right supervision), and most important, his heart's in the right place.

I can't stress this enough. I am NOT DJ's father. But Flint just isn't here. I can stop DJ from diving headfirst into the Autobot cause - at the expense of his experiences in the "human world," but I can't help but think of my situation when I was his age. He has the chance of a lifetime right now. Why should I prevent him from living up to what his true potential may be? As long as he makes one or two friends his age, he'll be fine, I think.

On a separate note, Fortress Maximus ' construction has hit a weird snag. I'm hoping Alpha Trion - or whatever A3 is nowadays will help. So, Grapple and Hoist have said that something is not quite right with Fortress Maximus. They're worried that they may have over-engineered him. As a result, even if he does end up being a full, living Transformer, there may be some times - either during big upgrades or to do some of the base functions when he's first becoming activated...may require a "helper." Carly knows more far about the ins and outs of this than I do, but from I can understand, Fort Max may need a "buddy" ... someone to 'link up' with him. Meaning...I don't know. Some sort of 'assistance' where a person or transformer 'merges' with Fortress Maximus - briefly.

Crosscut jokingly said I did this on purpose so I can "become" an Autobot. I didn't appreciate his humor. At least I think it was humor. It's so hard to tell with him sometimes. But no, I became an Autobot once - and while I have almost no recollection of that, it's well documented that this was an exercise that does NOT need to be repeated.