eugenesis-text

offer some great benefits: an ever-changing leadership, incredible back-stabbing opportunities and a
guaranteed climate of fear.’ He wasn’t making an impression so dropped the joke. ‘What’s up with you’
‘I’m just wondering what I’m doing here.’
‘You’re asking the wrong robot.’
‘I shouldn’t be lying next to some metal canyon, light years from Earth, dividing time between
fighting and running.’
‘What did you expect when you signed up’
‘I expected to spend my days patrolling Autobot City. Where else could I go At least in the City I
was useful, what with my knowledge of the planet.’ He tapped his Autobot insignia. ‘When they gave me
this I didn’t bargain on being whisked halfway across the galaxy and pitted against an alien race. When this
is all over I’m going back home.’
‘You shouldn’t say stuff like that. People who say stuff like that always end up dead.’
Centurion wasn’t listening. ‘Can you hear that’ he asked.
‘What’
‘That noise – from inside Delphi. Someone’s screaming.’
The protactinium quarantine hatch – molten-moulded, built to resist energon flashfires, rampaging
patients and microbiotic fugitives – was snapped clean off its hinges by Nightbeat, who shouldered his way
into the medi-bay 2.4 seconds after hearing Optimus scream.
Prime was lying on the floor, shaking his head. In the background, Rodimus Prime twitched like a
fish on sand, waving his hands with papal frailty. Nightbeat crashed to his knees and groped Optimus’
shoulders, talking to him until the light returned to his eyes.
‘I’m alright, Nightbeat. I’m alright. I’m fine.’
Soundwave and Galvatron ran into the chamber. ‘We heard a scream,’ said the latter (who, having
expected some sort of battle, was disappointed to find a circle of chattering Autobots).
‘This is incredible,’ said Cloudraker, slotting energon cables into Rodimus’ torso as if it were a car
battery. ‘I’m actually detecting a faint energy signature.’ The surgeon looked up, suddenly realising the
implications of his rushed diagnostic. ‘He’s alive! You’ve brought him back to life!’
‘He wasn’t actually dead,’ said Optimus, climbing to his feet. ‘He appeared dead to the naked eye,
and his life-signs had, I assume, dropped below detectable levels.’
But Cloudraker wasn’t prepared to let this miracle undermine a lifetime of medical study: he wanted
details. ‘How’d you do it’ he demanded. ‘How’d you know he could be saved’
‘As Matrix Bearers, Rodimus and I share a subconscious link. I felt a shift in the sparkline the moment
I saw him.’ He looked at Nightbeat. ‘This is one area where Past and Future have no meaning: outside the
Primal Program, time is just a persistent illusion. Even though Rodimus had lost the Matrix, a residual
essence remained. By attuning it with my own I could re-ignite his life-glow. It was simply a little more
painful than I imagined.’
‘But Rodimus was comatose while he held the Matrix. Why couldn’t he save himself’
‘A dying man cannot always administer his own treatment. Rodimus needed a helping hand. I carried
the Matrix for millions of years; consciously or not, I’ve become familiar with its intricacies.’
Galvatron turned to leave, bored by the mysticism, and fell against the doorframe, He stifled a gasp of
pain and then fell to his knees, his left leg twisting itself into unnatural shapes.
‘I will see to him,’ said Soundwave, ushering Galvatron into the corridor. Safe from prying eyes, the
Communications Officer released his grip and jogged a few steps ahead. ‘This may hurt,’ he said, then put
finger against forehead and concentrated.
Galvatron watched, stunned, his legs reformat themselves into mid-mode protrusions. As a scream
was about to break his lips, Soundwave relented. ‘I can fix you,’ he declared, and ran off.
Clogged with slush and rust, the Trident’s green wing tip broke the surface like a periscope. A short
distance away, connected by taut steel cables, a dozen Autobots stood in low-tide flotsam and tried to pull
the ship onto shore. Above their heads, Mindwipe, Skullcruncher and Triggerhappy balanced on tethered
MARBs, aimed for the headland, and sparked maximum thrust.