Bishop Ratchet's Log: YEAR 4.78M A.P. CYCLE 43
I seem to draw the short straw for graduation duty more often recently, and I think it's because the other bishops have it out for me. Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful to see the youth so excited about being involved in the church, but unfortunately I'm starting to get jaded to those who fail. Two of the bots I helped today... I'll never forget them. I'll never forget how I failed them on this cycle.
The first of them was this excitable little thing named Blurr who could barely sit still for long enough to ask him if he accepted Primus as his lord and savior. He must have answered six times in the time it takes any normal bot to just say "yes". I laid him down and turned the EMP chamber on, just like normal, but I saw something change in him as the pulses coursed through him. His smile vanished. It's not uncommon in this scenario for bots to be overcome with the power of Primus, but when he sat back up, he looked right through me. All that light in his optics, all that energy in his struts, all that gusto in his spark... gone. He left the room in offline silence.
Immediately after him must have been his best friend because I could tell that he noticed something was amiss with Blurr. His name was Cliffjumper, and it shall be added to the list of my failures. He kept asking if Blurr was going to be okay, but the Prime ordered him into silence. He hesitated when I asked him the question, no doubt shaken up. The Prime didn’t let me turn the EMP off in time. Cliff never got back up. His faceplates... Oh Primus, the look on his faceplates shall haunt me until my offlining cycle.
There are so many that have come through over the years, so many who have fallen victim to the same fate as those two. It doesn’t make it any easier. For every hundred bots who graduate, five of them either don't get back up the same or don’t get back up at all. That’s five too many. And the Prime doesn't even flinch. I pray every night before recharge that those bots are welcomed into the Afterspark with open servos. May Primus bless them and forgive me.