eugenesis-text

That just left Grimlock.
Grimlock. Of course. Deep down, he knew that he’d become leader to stop Grimlock from doing so,
to stop 1987 happening all over again, to stop 1991 happening all over again.
This time round he wasn’t recovering from a splinter grenade or fighting a systems relapse; this time
he wasn’t bound to a held hand or a slurred word. It was a simple choice: take command or watch
Grimlock and his No Code cronies run the Resistance into the ground.
The desktop communicator buzzed into life.
‘Prowl, it’s Pointblank. You said we should meet up to discuss the future of the squad. I’m quite happy to take
control but I think Getaway might be interested.’
‘I haven’t really had a chance to think it over. Can I get back to you’
‘It is rather urgent…’
‘Look, I’ll buzz you within the hour, okay Prowl out.’
He stood to leave and gathered a batch of files. Another voice filtered into the room:
‘Vroom here. I know you’re busy, but could you tell me whether the surveillance mission is still on’
‘What surveillance mission’
‘Powerflash, Jackpot and I were planning a night-drop in the Kyth Valley. Rodimus wanted us to look for the
Decepticons’ new recon stations.’
‘I’m going to have to talk to you about it later, okay’
‘Right. So is it off or on’
‘It’s postponed. I need to discuss it with you properly before I give authorisation, especially if
Emyrissus is going to be within range.’
‘Yeah, but Rodimus had already agreed to—’
‘Prowl out.’
Prowl hurried for the door; at this rate he would be late for the meeting, and he hated being late. He
reached for the door-pad.
‘Prowl’
‘What is it!’ Prowl stared at the desk-comm, daring it to make another sound. There was a lengthy
silence before:
‘It’s Kup. Sorry if I’m disturbing you.’
‘Kup, look, I didn’t mean—’
‘I’m just interrupting to report that Prime has taken a turn for the worse. You did ask to be kept informed of our
leader’s condition.’
‘Yes, yes I did. How bad is it’ He cursed himself for the clumsiness of his words, which hit the floor
like dead weights.
‘What, out of ten’
Kup’s bitterness was so intimate, so casual, that he might as well have been standing in the room.
‘First Aid says this could be it.’
Prowl didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t used to dealing with situations like this, not with someone
like Kup, someone he regarded as an independent, competent - not to mention pig-headed - officer. ‘Just
keep me informed,’ he said in the end.
En route to the meeting chamber he began to consider, for the first time, the very real possibility that
Rodimus was never coming back.
‘The spectre flits from eye to eye
Bound and bent by iris sheen
A symmetry of what will be
And what has never been
Time relived is time regained
And soon the—’
‘Sevax! Sevax. Listen. If you don’t stop reciting your turgid poetry I will flush you into hyperspace.’
‘I shudder at your threat, mighty Jolup!’ said Sevax, and turned to the window. ‘In my day you’d
have been thrown into the Sharkpit for interrupting a quotation from the Old Texts. Of course they
weren’t called the Old Texts back then. They were just, well, the Texts.’