eugenesis-text

‘This is not the first time I’ve seen Raindance’s surveillance footage,’ he began unsteadily, ‘but it still
cuts me to the core. You may think that I have an advantage over you in that the pictures have had time to
sink in; you may think that I have had time to come to terms with the enormity of what is happening out
there. You’d be wrong.
‘My last orders from Prowl were very clear. Wait until we call for you, he said. Wait until we know
what’s happening. If I had known the size and scale of the threat, I would have arranged immediate transfer
to Iacon. As it is, events have overtaken me. All communications with Autobase are down. All
communications with Autobot City are down.
‘The Quintessons may think that they have the run of Cybertron, but we still have time to retaliate.’
He waited for someone to respond – a sarcastic remark from Swerve, a loaded question from Splashdown –
but the crowd was silent. He tried a different approach. ‘Did anyone recognise the location of the prison
complex’
‘Somewhere in the Manganese Mountains,’ said Hosehead. ‘Mount Edeus’
‘Yes. I think the Quintessons have converted the old Novum Cahn asylum.’ Blueprints flashed onto
the screen behind him. ‘The Manganesian Autobase has been deserted since 1986. It’s stripped bare but still
accessible.’ He activated a laser-pointer in his fingertip. ‘This route connects the Autobase to Novum Cahn.
If it’s still intact, it means that we have a way of burrowing into the prison undetected.’
‘I’ll gather a team immediately,’ announced Fastlane, springing to his feet and counting heads.
‘Skyfall, Aragon, Downshift—’
‘Sit down, Fastlane. Let me finish. The access route is actually a maintenance duct, a remnant from
the days when Maximus’ base drew power from Novum’s generator core. It’s only big enough for
Micromasters.’ There was muttering from the aisle. ‘Sky Lynx will drop Phaser, Blastmaster, Treadbolt and
Sunrunner on the Resius border. Edeus is fifty miles away.’
‘What do we expect to get from this’ asked Splashdown. ‘Can four Micros jailbreak a thousand
prisoners’ He looked at the robots in question. ‘No offence, guys.’
‘This isn’t a jailbreak,’ said Siren. ‘We want information on layout, capacity, patrols, and most
importantly the paralysing microchip the Quintessons have administered to all inmates. We need a sample.’
‘And once we’ve got all that’ said Swerve. ‘What then’
Siren flooded the chamber with light. ‘Team dismissed.’
Wheeljack felt guilty, but at least he had answers.
He was sitting with Sygnet, Mainframe and Centurion on a narrow ridge overlooking the Sonic
Canyons. The sun was coming up. A short distance away – just enough to establish deliberate separation –
was Nightbeat, propped up against the cliff-face with his face in his hands.
Mainframe shook his head. ‘He wasn’t in a fit state for interrogation, Wheeljack.’
‘Hey, come on. I asked a few simple questions – like what the hell Optimus Prime was doing with
him.’
Wheeljack remembered the aftermath of their brush with the Quintessons. The first to pull himself
from the mangled convict ship, he had offered hands to Centurion and the others. At one point they
thought Nightbeat was dead; in fact he had been momentarily struck dumb, paralysed with shock.
The scene that followed was not pretty. After performing rudimentary reboot procedures, Wheeljack
had given their newest teammate all of three seconds before bombarding him with questions. Was that the
real Optimus Prime How What was he doing on Cybertron Had someone finally made the trip to VsQs
Nightbeat had stared at the stars and reeled off a passionless explanation. All the facts – the mission,
the wormhole, the time-jump – were recited like cantos, perfectly formed but stripped of meaning. It
hadn’t taken Wheeljack long to realise the enormous implications of Prime’s abduction by the Quintessons.
‘They’ll kill him, 25 years after he’s supposed to die!’
‘Or three years before,’ said Nightbeat flatly, ‘if you look at it from the other direction.’
Wheeljack had gathered up the others and left Nightbeat to process what had happened. By the time
they’d reached the Sonic Canyons the investigator looked on the verge of a breakdown. He kept looking
skyward, as if expecting a rift in space-time to appear, like the devil’s grin, on the horizon.
Now, perched outside the hidden entrance to Delphi, waiting for a sign that Siren’s team was still in
residence, the investigator was sinking deeper and deeper into himself.