eugenesis-text

‘What else is there to tell We have a chip, a planet, their leader’s name. You’ve got nothing else to
give us.’
Galvatron would not be baited. ‘I’ve been your captive guest for 20 minutes and I already know that
you’re both terrified. I know that your Autobots are just as crushed as my Decepticons, maybe more so.
You have no strategy, no guiding hand. Where’s Rodimus Magnus Prowl Why are two mid-rankers
interrogating me – me! – behind reinforced glass’
Nightbeat held his tongue and wished he had a reply. How had he moved from small-time
investigator in a backwater Autobase to Chief Inquisitor and joint commander of the Cybertronian
Autobots His lined and lived-in face stared back at him, offering no answers. The gallery door swished
open behind him and a new face appeared alongside his reflection. ‘Optimus!’ he exclaimed. ‘You’re alive!’
‘Yes and no… Can I have a word’
Something was wrong, thought Nightbeat. Something was very wrong. He felt a powerful desire to
stay where he was, but stepped away from the window nonetheless.
‘Optimus’ cried Galvatron.
Prime looked through the viewing glass.
‘Megatron’
‘A future version of Megatron,’ explained Nightbeat, closing the medi-bay door a few seconds later
and turning to Optimus, who was sitting on the edge of the operating table. ‘This is the first time that
we’ve ever captured him. Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about’
‘Ethan Zachary.’
Suddenly the laser-scalpel in Nightbeat’s hand became the most interesting thing in the room. ‘Who
told you’ he said.
‘Someone called Hose Head. By accident, I think. He didn’t know what he was saying… He didn’t
know it was a closely guarded secret known to everyone except me.’
‘Did you get the full story’
‘Let’s see… Three years after my re-activation on Earth I’m killed by one of the planet’s inhabitants
in a trap engineered by Megatron. The abridged version I die in 1987.’
‘Yes, that, er, pretty much covers it.’ Nightbeat put down the scalpel. ‘I don’t know what else to say.’
‘You lied to me, Nightbeat. The Optimus Prime of 2012 isn’t “missing in deep space”. He’s lying in
a tomb ten miles from an Autobot city on Earth. And that Optimus isn’t even me! I’m in a funeral barge on
some damn moon!’
‘I thought I was doing the right thing by not telling you. Look, it’s a big enough shock to wake up
four million years into the future. I didn’t want to burden you with the news of your death.’
‘Burden me Did you honestly think, did you honestly believe, that I could interact with a planet’s
worth of Autobots – many of whom I count as my closest friends – without someone giving the game
away’
‘To be honest, no. I guessed this would happen. It was inevitable, I suppose.’
‘Then why—’
‘Because I didn’t want to see you get hurt! If you were going to find out the truth, I wanted to keep
you in the dark as long as possible. So I’m not going to wake you up in 2012 and give you the full lowdown.
I’m going to delay your pain for as long as possible. Cowardly – yes. Stupid – yes. Do I regret it Oh
yes. But what else can I do’
‘What can you do Nightbeat, I’m the one who’s just been told – by some poor trooper who almost
seems to think it’s funny – that my life will end at a certain time, at a certain place, in a certain way. I now
know that three years after stepping outside the Ark for the first time a low-detonation fracture bomb will
be triggered inside my stomach and I will die.’
At least he’s angry, thought Nightbeat. ‘I should never have brought you here. I know it’s no
consolation, but I would do anything to change things.’
Optimus looked up with fierce interest. ‘Who’s with me when I die Prowl Ratchet You’
Nightbeat almost found himself lying again. He fought the urge to make the truth more palatable and
shook his head. ‘The Protectobots. You… you wouldn’t know them.’