eugenesis-text

‘Is it a quick death What happens to the Matrix Do you remember to remove it from my chest or—
’ He stopped himself, muffling the words with his hand. ‘No. Ignore me. I don’t want to know.’
Nightbeat sat next to him on the edge of the operating table. It was weird: up close, Prime somehow
seemed smaller. Perhaps he was just getting used to him.
‘I apologise for shouting earlier,’ Optimus said eventually. ‘I was just shocked, not angry. I wasn’t
angry.’
‘How do you feel’
‘I don’t know. None of this seems real. To me, 2012 might as well be 2020 or 3020 – it’s just a
number. I’m surrounded by Autobots I’ve never seen and Cybertron is crumbling and the moons have gone!
And Megatron! Can you believe, Nightbeat, that I was actually disappointed when I saw that the prisoner
downstairs wasn’t “my” Megatron It’s not my life anymore! I feel so detached that the news of my death
should be meaningless… and yet at the same time I can barely bring myself to stand. I suppose… I suppose I
always thought I’d see the end of the war. It’s unrealistic, of course – why should I be guaranteed survival
– but it kept me going.’
‘It keeps us all going.’ Nightbeat unlocked his waist compartment and took out the mind-purge
device. ‘I told you about this when we were trapped underground. I planned to use it when I took you
back to 1984 but I can activate it now, if you like. I can erase our conversation, the memory of your arrival
here, everything.’ He held out the device. ‘Please. It’s all I can give.’
Optimus stared at it for a long time. ‘No,’ he said eventually. ‘Thank you, but no. What would
happen when I awoke on this operating table second time round You’d have to give me another potted,
censored case history. The Optimus Prime of 2012 would once more be lost in space. And then, at some
point, another Hose Head would come along and ruin the illusion, and we’d go through this all over again.’
‘Do you want to go back now To the wormhole, I mean. It can be arranged.’
‘I’m not ready to leave, not with things as they are. Whatever the implications, you brought me here
to help. Besides, I suppose…’
Nightbeat waited. ‘You suppose what’
‘I suppose my being here constitutes a reprieve of sorts, doesn’t it For a while at least you’ve
removed me from the loop, from a time-line that has me die in 1987. Perhaps, in some twisted way, I
should—’
‘No. Don’t thank me for this. I never want you to be grateful for what I’ve done.’
Red Alert and Throwback watched as Chromedome pulled up a chair in front of the monitor screen
and started drumming an arena of yellowing keyboards at 600bpm.
‘And there were no signs of a forced exit’ Red Alert asked Throwback.
‘None whatsoever. The door was still locked.’
‘Any damage to the floor’
‘No, sir.’
Prowl walked in. ‘Any clues, Red Alert’
‘Nothing. To all intents and purposes, Soundwave just vanished.’
‘How can a Decepticon disappear into thin air’
‘Maybe he activated some sort of personal warp gate,’ offered Throwback.
‘Possible,’ conceded Red Alert, ‘although I thought every warp gate was scrapped years ago, after that
subspace rupture in 2003. Besides, I checked him out before reactivation; he was clean.’
‘When did you discover him missing, Throwback’ asked Prowl.
‘Just over an hour ago. There was no reply from the cell when I walked past, so I checked inside. He
was gone.’
‘What if someone let him out’ asked Red Alert, and saw Prowl shake his head. ‘You don’t agree’
‘We can’t start suspecting our own.’
‘I was only suggesting that—’
‘You’re letting your paranoia get the better of you.’
Red Alert quickly looked down at his notes, embarrassed.
‘Look,’ Prowl continued, ‘if you like we can check the lock to see when it was last opened.’