eugenesis-text

Galvatron stepped out of his boots and noticed the stair-dwelling Decepticons for the first time.
‘Fearswoop! Nightracer! Megaplex!’ None of them looked up. ‘Where am I What is this place’ He ran to
the nearest, grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him aloft. ‘Look at me, Nightracer! What’s happening’
The prisoner’s eyes glistened like wet coal. Galvatron cast him aside and watched reinforcements run along
the upper balconies.
‘They’ve all been drugged,’ concluded Blastmaster ‘It’s the paralysis chip, like Raindance said.’
Galvatron suddenly realised how tired he felt. Slipping offline seemed almost tempting. ‘What have
you done to my men’ he yelled at the Sharkticons reinforcements. ‘You’ve turned them into drones! You
should have killed them!’
The guards managed a few shots before they too were disarmed and kicked to the floor. The pile of
telearmour skidded towards the grille, almost blocking the Micromasters’ view. A metal box split apart and
released a dozen small vials.
Galvatron, meanwhile, slowly succumbed to the blows and blasts. When he could take no more,
hope arrived: three heavily armed Decepticons dropped into the arena from the balcony above. Unlike
Nightracer, these three were alert and attentive.
‘Galvatron, I presume,’ smiled Jolup, who pulled the guards away with a wave of his shok baton.
‘Xenon said you might be dropping by.’ He looked at two red Decepticons spread-eagled on the floor
having been hit by stray bullets. ‘I see you met some Reddies. You meet one, you meet them all.’
‘Who are you’
‘We are the governors of this institution,’ said Ryknia.
‘You’ve betrayed your race, and for what A little power’
The guards pinned Galvatron in place. He struggled, cursed his weakness, and spat on the floor.
‘You’re beneath my contempt. You are no longer Decepticons.’
‘We’ve never been Decepticons,’ Jolup muttered, pulling a syringe gun from his holster. ‘We just use
their bodies.’ He held the gun to the light and found the Inhibitor Chip among the liquid solution.
Galvatron struggled, snapping his head back to shield his neural cluster.
‘Teleporting millions of light years just isn’t good for you,’ continued Jolup, tapping the shaft and
watching bubbles collapse. ‘The strongest trooper can only make the jump once or twice. Now hold still
for your injection.’ He pulled Galvatron’s head down and exposed the neck. ‘This won’t hurt a bit…’
Galvatron transformed into his laser gun mode, snapping free from the guards as he did so. The
changeover registered as a sudden burst of silver-grey; in an instant, Jolup and the guards had been scattered
across the floor.
‘Careful,’ said Ryknia, as the guards closed in on Galvatron’s alternate form. ‘We don’t want him
pulling that trick again.’
‘I thought Xenon had chipped him!’ spat Jolup. He noticed Ryknia’s frown and added, ‘I was
injecting him for the hell of it! I didn’t think he could transform!’ Retrieving the syringe gun, he stormed
past the tiptoeing guard and stamped on Galvatron. Upset at the lack of visible damage, he brought his foot
down a second time.
‘Just inject him,’ Ryknia sighed. ‘He’s out cold.’
‘Where the hell’s his neural cluster’ he said, holding the gun at arm’s length. ‘Damn these alternate
modes!’ He plunged the needle, sank the chip, and threw Galvatron aside. The Decepticon spun across the
floor and hit the wall grille. Sunrunner looked at the others.
‘This concerns me,’ said Sevax, folding his arms. ‘What if Galvatron was chipped and it… I don’t
know, it wore off’
Ryknia was already shaking his head. ‘It doesn’t work like that. The Inhibitor chip is a permanent,
incurable virus. If anything, it gets worse over time.’
‘He speaks as if he invented the damn thing,’ Jolup muttered, rubbing his aching head. ‘I say we
contact Xenon and get an explanation. What if we have a mass uprising on our hands’
‘Okay, we’ll speak to Xenon after we’ve taken Galvatron Downstairs.’
Jolup was already searching amongst the Sharkticons and the telearmour wreckage. ‘He’s gone!’
‘Not funny,’ said Sevax, slightly uneasy. ‘You dropped him over there, by the wall duct.’
The three of them looked at the displaced grille lying underneath a hole in the wall.
‘Impossible!’ snapped Ryknia. ‘The gun didn’t sprout little legs and escape through a hole in the
wall!’