eugenesis-text

Jolup stared at him in disbelief. ‘I tell you, Ryknia, I think the body-swap has curdled his brain.’
Ryknia smiled and continued inspecting his new body. Decepticon without, Quintesson within, he
was toying with a new category: Quintecon. Like Jolup and Sevax, he was so streamlined, so polished, that
he wondered how his boots found purchase on the floor. He was practically frictionless, all wipe-clean
surfaces and planed angles. The only thing he disliked was the Decepticon insignia, a day-old bruise on
perfect flesh. Still, at least the others shared a similar scar.
After four years in a warm protein solution, blind to the outside world, Ryknia found his new
mobility rather overwhelming. Coming on-line, he had almost suffered sensory overload. Touching, seeing,
walking, transforming – things he had taken for granted had, because of his incapacity, become the greatest
gifts of all. Now he saw the world through an alien eye, through Cybertronian micro-ocular filters and
image-saturates. It was the same as before – grubby, hard-edged and covered in fingerprints – but at least he
could interact with it.
He massaged his temples surreptitiously, hoping to erase a band of pain before the others noticed his
discomfort.
‘You’re getting it too’ asked Jolup. ‘Like your brain is on fire’
‘It’s not just me then,’ said Ryknia, and drew a lobotomy line across his forehead. ‘You think Ferrax
fudged a few neural connections’
‘Nah. We wouldn’t be functioning unless our brains were wired in properly. It’s probably teething
problems. You can’t expect to be stitched into someone else’s body without a few aches and pains.’
Tired of the view of hyperspace, Sevax turned away from the window, stretched, and began pacing
the officers’ quarters. He found it difficult to sit still for more than a minute; he was always flexing and
inflating, tensing and teasing. ‘Who do you think these guys were before we took over their bodies’ he
asked, clicking his spinal strut into place and starting to shadow box.
‘How the hell should I know’ said Jolup. ‘Who cares’
‘The Cybertronians are divided into factions, aren’t they’ said Ryknia. ‘These bodies belonged to
Decepticons. The three of us were probably a team judging from, well, you know…’ He gestured at their
similar designs.
‘All Cybes look the same to me,’ snorted Jolup, who didn’t relish the prospect of hanging around
with a poet and a pragmatist purely because they had inherited complementary body-shells. The
arrangement was fine for the time being – it meant they could share transplant-related problems – but once
they had colonised Cybertron, he’d be happy to go it alone.
‘Xenon thinks that the Decepticons started to come round during the transplant,’ said Sevax, with a
sugary glee. ‘They could feel their brains being peeled away…’
Jolup laughed. ‘Feeling each and every neural connector stretch and snap – oh man. It makes my
servomotors freeze up just thinking about it.’
‘The techs did a good patch-up job, though,’ conceded Ryknia, studying his reflection in his forearm
(where were the bulging eyes, the rounded cheeks, the fanged rectangle of a mouth He was so much uglier
that before). ‘We can do a lot of damage in these shells. We should regard Cybertron as our official testing
ground.’
‘Definitely,’ nodded Jolup. ‘I can’t wait for a second crack at the Cybertronians. We were so close last
time… You should have seen them in the Badlands, Ryknia. Decepticons scattering in all directions,
getting their legs blown out from under them. Sharkticons coming out of the ground. Beautiful.’
‘Reminds me of another passage from the Old Texts,’ said Sevax, puffing out his chest.
‘And stunted children of ironed gold
In fields of raw and ruddy hue
Rose up to catch Centau—’
‘Oh, shut up,’ said Ryknia. ‘No one believes in the Texts anymore, old or otherwise. Save the stanzas
until the Cargo arrives.’
‘But I’m bored! We’ve been in hyperspace for hours! Rodern’s probably wiped out half of Earth by
now!’
‘Rodern has the easy job,’ said Jolup. ‘The Cybertronians on Earth are just a splinter group, a
distraction. Even Ghyrik came close to defeating them until they released the titan, the one who lives inside
their city. They say he can swat fleets of Tridents with a single gesture.’
‘Rodern’s taken precautions this time round,’ said Ryknia. ‘He expects to face the titan.’