eugenesis-text

‘Thank you, Metroplex. That will be all.’ Rodimus returned to his seat. ‘If you see Slammer walking
the corridors, don’t worry: it’s a hologram. Metroplex can generate his own assistants to act as maintenance
monitors and security guards.’
‘Do we really need all that weaponry outside’ asked Mirage. ‘You’d think the Decepticons were
about to come round that mountain any moment.’
‘If I know Galvatron,’ said Rodimus, staring hard at his Chief Intelligence Officer, ‘he isn’t just sitting
idle. He’s ignored all my requests for a meeting to discuss terms of disarmament. Until we make positive
contact I want us on our toes.’ He waited until Mirage looked away. ‘Right. Good. I’ll take your reports
now. Magnus’
‘I have three away teams working to clear the last of the Autobot City wreckage. Then we start
repairing the landscape itself. The Quintessons hit us hard. We’ve found several bodies on the periphery of
the blast crater and the bioscanners indicate a dozen more buried in the rubble.’ He looked across the table
at Ratchet. ‘We may be looking at isolated brain modules here.’
‘Just get them into my theatre.’
‘Is that all, Magnus’
‘Just a couple more things, commander. Firstly, a matter of clarification. I understand that there are no
plans to build a new Autobot City on Earth.’
‘Not at this time, no. I just don’t see a need for it anymore.’
‘Perhaps a military outpost isn’t necessary,’ said Ultra Magnus, ‘but the agreement with President
Blackrock is too valuable to waste. We should establish another energy farm or, I don’t know, a medical
centre…’
‘I cannot foresee a time when anyone here will need to go all the way to Earth for medical treatment.
AMC2 can handle anything. I’m sorry Magnus, but Autobot City has served its purpose. If the war flares up
it will be fought on Cybertron, not Earth. We’ve tainted too many worlds. What was your other point’
‘It concerns something Xenon told me on Aquaria. Perhaps I’d better see you in private.’
‘Fine. Perceptor, did you complete the trawl of the Archive Centre’
‘Yes. We found no bodies. The Quintessons were eager to boost a nascent prison population. All
survivors were rounded up and brought… well, here.’
‘And that brings us to you, Ratchet.’ Rodimus had left the surgeon until last, partly to delay the
inevitably depressing report, partly to delay the personal criticism he knew it would contain. ‘How are the
ex-prisoners’
‘We’ve injected Anti-Inhibitor chips into everyone who was incarcerated. Immediate physical
deterioration has been halted, and they don’t need intravenous energon feeds or a stasis pod anymore.
While we cannot remove the original chip, we’ve re-sprayed them as part of a long-term rehab program.’
‘That all sounds very positive,’ said Rodimus, turning away.
‘I haven’t finished yet. While it’s too early to speak of lasting effects, we’ve already detected several
worrying anomalies. Okay, the counter-chip is 100% successful in restoring lost strength, but it doesn’t
always free up the morphcore. Many Autobots – and Decepticons, I’ll wager – can no longer transform.
And because the chip is lodged in their brains, a simple body-swap or an infusion of Nucleon won’t change
things.’
‘We saw what happened after Grimlock’s first mass resuscitation in 1991,’ said Red Alert. ‘I saw some
people break down when they discovered they could no longer transform.’
‘Exactly!’ Ratchet tapped his finger against the table. ‘We’re focusing on bodily defects, but what
about psychological ones No one seems prepared to address the tremendous mental strain these people have
endured.’
‘You sound as if you’ve done some research, though,’ said Rodimus.
Ratchet counted on his fingers. ‘Post-traumatic stress, clinical depression, nervous collapse, memory
loss. You want more’
‘Not particularly, no.’
‘And this is why I am so opposed to using their old gulag as a location for a new Autobase. Have you
any idea what this is doing to some of them’
‘We’ve been though this, Ratchet. I’m happy for people to stay in AMC2, in Maximus’ old base,
until they’re ready to move here.’