eugenesis-text

‘Jesus Christ…’ Centurion inspected his body, trying to pinpoint the pain. Why was he wet Why
was he shaking Where was Blades
‘Megatron,’ he said triumphantly. ‘I remember fighting him - in London.’
‘Yeah, well, a lot’s happened since then,’ said Ratchet. ‘We’ll give you a “story-so-far” on the way
back to Autobot City.’
‘Autobot City’
‘This is all very nice,’ said Mirage, ‘but it still doesn’t explain the three unidentified biocodes.’ He
gestured to Centurion. ‘He’s not a Transformer; he doesn’t have a Cybertronian biocode.’
Bluestreak ventured further down the passageway and stopped at the final set of pods. ‘Here we go,’
he said.
The three pods contained near-identical robots. Their heads were bowed in sleep or shame, their
musculature wrapped in tangles of black wiring. Bronzed bubbles ran across their bodywork. It was a
peaceful scene, a tranquil scene – soured only by the large purple insignias on their chests.
The Autobots did not recognise the Decepticons, though the sculpt and mould of their physique
(slender but proportioned, with v-shaped wings branching out from the small of their backs) pointed to a
secondary configuration similar, if not identical, to a old-fashioned Cybertronian triad jet. The pink liquid
made it difficult to distinguish their true colours, but the first seemed blue or violet, the second a bloodshot
red, and the third a resinous green. One of them had a gaping wound in his stomach.
‘You mean we came all this way,’ said Mirage tersely, ‘to find three Decepticons that not even their
own side want’
‘Anyone seen these guys before’ asked Ratchet hopefully. ‘No, me neither.’
‘Is that the time’ said Bluestreak, checking an imaginary chronometer on his wrist. ‘I guess we’d
better be off.’
‘You’re leaving them here’ asked Centurion.
‘I’m not about to loose three more Decepticons into the world,’ said Mirage. ‘There must be a reason
for leaving them in cold storage. No, we’ve traced the three biocodes and therefore fulfilled our mission.’
‘Aren’t you intrigued, Mirage’
‘Not particularly, Trailbreaker. Why’
‘Because I was thinking – if we can find a terminal that’s linked to the Fortress database – presuming
one still exists – we might be able to find out why they were placed in cold stasis.’
Moments later, Mirage was sitting in front of the Fortress’s only working computer terminal. ‘This
shouldn’t be too hard,’ he said, half to himself. ‘The system’s protected by security programs that our codebreakers
cracked years ago.’
‘Surely the Decepticons purged most of the contents when they left,’ said Hound.
‘Yes, but they’ve left some scraps in the hard drive.’
‘Anything we can use’
‘Hard to say. It’ll take hours to comb through what’s left. Perhaps if we…’ Mirage poked the
keyboard. ‘Dammit. I’ve snagged some sort of tripwire. It was so obvious I walked straight into it.’
Hound commandeered the keyboard, pulled a small gold disc from the wall and put it inside a waist
compartment. ‘I’ve copied the remaining files. We can see what’s left when we get back to
the City.’
‘Why has the screen turned red’ asked Centurion.
Mirage looked at the computer. ‘Blast! The computer’s linked to a cluster bomb somewhere in the
Fortress! It’s primed to detonate in three minutes…’
‘Nice of them to give us a head start,’ snapped Bluestreak, running towards the throne room.
Mirage called him back. ‘If we go back the way we came we’ll be slagged before we reach the
basement.’
‘We’re near the upper levels,’ said Hound, remembering Gears’ vague instructions. ‘I think there’s
another way outside.’ He lingered over the keyboard as the others dashed for the medi-bay. Ratchet
skidded back into the room and grabbed him by the shoulder.
‘Whatever you’re doing, leave it! There’s no time!’