eugenesis-text

‘A laugh. Well, a laugh of sorts. Certainly a smile.’
‘I’m afraid a smile is the best you’re going to get out of me,’ said Nightbeat, smoothing out a minor
dent in his palm.
Optimus Prime tried to make himself comfortable using what little floor space he had. He
stretched out on his side and propped his head on his hand. ‘Nevertheless, I am intrigued. What were you
smiling about’
‘I was just thinking about this. About now. About how I ended up stuck in a cubby-hole with the
Optimus Prime of 1984.’ He shook his head dismissively, as if apologising for the misleading expression. He
hadn’t meant to smile; he certainly did not find their predicament amusing. Perhaps his features were
conspiring against him, reverting to some basic default code: happy or sad. Either that or he was going mad.
‘Smiling is better than laughing,’ said Optimus after some thought. ‘It means you’re in control.’
Nightbeat lay on his back and watched his headlights make patterns on the ceiling. Their hideaway
seemed infinitely removed from everything else, like a bubble stuck to the ocean bed.
‘What is this place anyway’
‘Are you familiar with High Circuitmaster Boltax You might know him as Circuit 57. Anyway, he
was the figurehead of the Theosophos Movement and a prophet of some stature. Lonium, Mismia and Yuss
were all originally Theosophos settlements. When the C8 Conservation Summit failed – when was it 1 st
Cycle 540 – and Sentinel Prime introduced energon rationing among the newly-founded Council States,
Boltax sensed the beginnings of a civil war. By the time Vos and Tarn started stockpiling energon and
grooming their military, his disciples had built a secret network of tunnels underneath Yuss, designed to
ferry pilgrims into the Equatorial Territories. For a while, these catacombs were invaluable.’
‘How do you know about them’
‘I was a follower of sorts.’
‘A disciple’
‘In the loosest sense… Boltax was a pacifist who sought enlightenment through the systemisation of
information. He looked for patterns and sort-codes, for the common assumptions that underwrote
seemingly disparate belief systems. I found his observations enlightening. I came upon this network by
accident, though, when the war was still fairly localised. It was supposed to be hidden from the military –
there’s even a high density magnetic allow just beneath the surface that scrambles surveillance equipment.
Boltax’s disciples could go undetected for days.’
Nightbeat wedged his feet against the ceiling and tried to extend his bunched-up leg springs. ‘At least
his disciples could leave if they wanted. We’re trapped down here.’
‘At least we’re alive. I just hope the others are still functioning. I’m reunited with Hoist and Grapple
and Sunstreaker and I lead them into something like this. I shouldn’t have approached the Quintesson.’
‘I’m sure the others are okay, and I’m sure they don’t hold a grudge. You don’t know how pleased
they were to see you again.’
‘I still find this whole time travel business strange.’ He looked up at Nightbeat. ‘Do you think I’m
overreacting’
‘Overreacting On the contrary, Optimus, I’m amazed you’ve taken this so well. Plucked from
shutdown, brought thirty years into the future and thrown into battle against alien colonists… It’s not your
everyday pattern of events.’
‘I’d almost hoped that I wouldn’t get a chance to reflect on what has happened. It’s funny - you say
the others were pleased to see me again, and yet from my point of view I talked to them all a few days ago.
In Sunstreaker’s case, practically this morning!’
‘Time brokers no favourites, Optimus. It won’t hold still and be studied. It’s a monstrous thing, too
huge to comprehend.’
‘You think so Perhaps it is only monstrous if you dare to step outside its boundaries.’
‘I’ve lived within its boundaries for four million years. It bears down on me every hour, every day –
the weight of my past just gets heavier and heavier. Even by Transformer standards, I’ve lived several
lifetimes. Four million years is too long, Optimus. Far too long. You and the others – I envied your
sabbatical.’
‘Four million years… Four. Million. Years. Such a vast gulf of time reduced to three tiny words.
What have I missed in four million years’