eugenesis-text

‘Hmm, yes and no. He thinks they were sent by Lord Straxus to wipe out Megatron’s Decepticons.
Nothing to indicate knowledge of the Empire, just typical ’Con paranoia.’
‘Anything else’
‘Not much. Soundwave sealed them in cold storage for further study.’
Blaster tapped the intercom on his chest. ‘Rewind, run a search through human news reports circa
January 1986. See if there are any sightings of the Decepticons that attacked us earlier.’ He turned to
Mirage. ‘So. Why do you think they were left in stasis’
‘Shockwave and Megatron succeeded Soundwave shortly after he made this report. Different leaders
have different priorities. Perhaps the Decepticons were deemed too dangerous to release. Perhaps they were
just forgotten about.’
‘Whatever the reason,’ said Mainframe, shutting down the CVR, ‘at least we know more about
them.’
‘Do we’ said Mirage. ‘We still don’t know where they came from, who sent them, why no one
recognised them… In fact, right now I’d say—’
‘I know, I know,’ said Mainframe, waving his hand dismissively. ‘We have more questions than
answers. Well you’ve wrung all you can out of this thing.’ He threw the redundant disc at Mirage.
Blaster pressed his forefinger against his temple, listened to an internal message, and turned to the
others. ‘Rewind can’t pinpoint any positive sightings, but he has found details of a tremendous energy burst
that roughly matches the co-ordinates.’
Mirage thought for a moment. ‘A battle took place, so there would have been plenty of explosions. It
could be anything.’ It was time to give up, he decided. Time to confront Ultra Magnus and return to
Iacon, safe in the knowledge that sooner or later the three Decepticons would reappear.
Sitting behind his computer monitor and fuzzed with weak light, Nightbeat reviewed his report on
Longtooth’s disappearance. In his mind, it did not read well. It was dry and detached, a style he had
unconsciously perfected over the last few years. His older write-ups were characterised by an incisiveness he
feared he had now lost.
In conclusion, I am at a loss to explain a method of abduction, or, alternatively, a means of escape. I recommend,
however, that Longtooth’s disappearance be treated as suspicious, and advise High Command to warn all Autobase
troops to be on their guard.
The final paragraph stared up at him until he realised what was missing. He leant forward and
continued typing.
Whilst Longtooth’s fate is undoubtedly a cause of concern in and of itself, I must point out the wider repercussions
of his disappearance. Those who knew Longtooth well are no doubt suffering more than anyone, but in a pressurised
environment such as this, where grief is often misinterpreted as weakness, those most affected will often suppress their true
feelings. For this reason, commanding officers often overlook the trauma of losing a close friend.
He signed it off A/0000007 instead of Nightbeat, and immediately wondered why he’d used his old
‘name’.
He decided to deliver the report to Rodimus Prime personally, seeing as his office was just across the
corridor. It would give him the opportunity to ask about his transferral. He stepped out of his quarters and
saw Rodimus striding down the corridor. Prowl was there too, a few steps behind, hugging a databoard and
talking to Prime’s back.
‘Good to see you at last, commander,’ called out Nightbeat.
‘Ah, Nightbeat. Welcome to Autobase. Haven’t really had an opportunity to say hello, I’m afraid.’
Prowl caught up with Rodimus and assessed the new arrival. ‘Hello, Nightbeat. It’s been a long time.
How was your trip’
‘Actually, we were attacked by—’