eugenesis-text

At that moment another hoverbike burst through the side of Metroplex and skimmed across the
water, lasers smoking. Mainframe traced the foaming kickback, steadied his crosshairs, and fired. The
hoverbike exploded and rolled across the sea.
Rolled across the sea
Siren blinked and scanned a second time, but got the same result: the hoverbike was skidding, not
sinking. It came to a halt still balanced on the surface and relaxed. Intrigued, he flew over to investigate.
‘Floating metal’ he said to Wheeljack, who had slowed down alongside him.
‘Only one way to solve this,’ Siren decided, and jumped into the sea. It went up to his knees.
‘There’s something underwater,’ he said, prodding around with his hands. ‘Something pretty big.’
‘Don’t move,’ said Wheeljack, unclipping his weapon. ‘Something’s happening down there.’
A head popped into view. ‘So much for a safe hiding place,’ said Ultra Magnus.
Earth.
It was up there somewhere, its ancient light hurtling through the cosmos, imprinting a salty white
spec on the ether. Six billion lives boiled down to a infinitesimal visual blip, a distant pinprick that could be
sieved through image filaments and reconstructed inside an ocular receptor.
On top of the Sonic Canyons, Centurion lay on his back and pretended he was back home. It was
easy to reformat the alien constellations into an Earthly pattern. He imagined a warm breeze playing across
his face and superimposed clouds - smoky, top-heavy cumuli - against the heavens.
Sygnet climbed onto the ledge. ‘Hey, what are you doing out here’
‘I could ask you the same question.’
‘I needed a break from staring at the Inhibitor Chip. I was about to go blind.’ He sat down alongside
Centurion. ‘It’s highly dangerous, you realise, sitting outside an Autobot outpost in plain view. The
Quintessons could attack at any moment. Neither of us should be here.’
‘I needed some air, so to speak. I don’t know anyone down there.’
‘Hey, I don’t feel that welcome either. The other ‘Cons know that I joined you guys before they did.
It took me long enough to gain their trust in the first place. Can you believe it Four million years of loyal
service and after two days with the good guys I’m the outsider again.’
‘Well, that’s what you get for siding with Decepticons.’
‘Before Soundwave and the others arrived, I almost felt, I don’t know… comfortable. Working with
Wheels and having other Autobots around… it felt like old times.’
‘Why don’t you defect back to the Autobots’
‘A double-traitor, eh What a popular mechanoid I’d be.’
‘And there was me trying to be sympathetic.’
‘Look, I’ve been with the Decepticons too long to simply switch sides. And being a Decepticon is not
as bad as it appears to the naïve new recruit. We’re not all bloodthirsty maniacs.’
‘That’s what I don’t understand, Sygnet. Do you actually subscribe to Galvatron’s ideology’
‘Galvatron I don’t know. Megatron… Megatron had something, at least in the early days.’
‘But all the killing. Wheeljack says that billions died in the opening assaults.’
‘Yes, although I was on the receiving end in those days. In fact for a good six months I trained for
Strikeforce Alpha with your beloved heroes: Bluestreak, Fusion, Pulsar, Thunderbolt, Tempest, Nautilus.
Didn’t get picked, though.’
‘So you upped and left.’
‘It’s not quite that simple. The Council of Elders still had control of the military, but all they did was
sit in the Great Dome and talk. Megatron rallied against the Elders’ inaction and vowed
to solve the fuel crisis. Peace through tyranny, he said, and we believed him.’
‘And Galvatron’
‘An inexact copy. Imagine the worst aspects of Megatron amplified a thousand-fold: the
megalomania, the ruthlessness… I shouldn’t be talking like this. If you breathe a word of what I’ve said to
anyone I will kill you, okay I mean it.’
‘It’s simple, Sygnet. If we win – when we win – you stay behind.’
‘If I betrayed Galvatron he’d have me hunted down and killed. He’s looking for an excuse as it is. So
drop the career advice, okay Having said that, if you ever get tired of being a do-gooder, the Decepticons