eugenesis-text

‘Three thousand armed Autobots,’ corrected Rodimus. ‘That’s the beauty of a troop inspection: if
anything happens, we’re prepared.’
Red Alert gestured to the empty stage. ‘High Command, it’s time you made your entrance.’
Prowl led the way, his databoard replaced by a semi-automatic that curled and curtsied in his
gleaming bodywork. Kup was next: weather-beaten, finger-bitten, his rust-soaked edges scuffed with age.
Perceptor stared at his feet and crossed the grey-gold platform in a self-conscious trot. Sideswipe was
slower, weighed down by the customised quad blasters filling each fist.
Sunstreaker waited for his morph-twin to get clear of the stage before he made his entrance. It ranked
among the greatest moments of his life, up there with boarding the Ark for the
first time. (And that had been under cover of darkness. Only Xaaron, Skater, Maximus and a handful of
admin clerks had witnessed him board the spacecraft. For years he’d been crippled by the knowledge that
two million Autobots had missed his departure – for security reasons, they’d all been told that the launch
ceremony was a week away.)
So Sunstreaker walked slowly, gracefully, as if balancing on air, waiting for the startled gasp of
admiration and/or envy. His gold bodywork blinked coquettishly under the stage lights, catching every eye.
He let the audience gorge themselves on primus perfecto, on the blissful collision of form and function.
Somewhere out there, he was certain, seasoned warriors were blinking back energon tears at the wondrous
symmetry of plate and plane.
Filed away in squad-block D3, Quark leant towards Hoist. ‘What did you say’
‘I said Sunstreaker’s taking his time.’
Quark tried to smile but couldn’t. On his left was a small patch of ground where Rev-Tone should
have been. It exerted its own gravitational pull, and every few seconds his optics succumbed to the tug.
Rodimus watched Sunstreaker take his place on stage and felt an entirely unexpected glow of
nervousness. Someone nudged his back and he walked towards the lectern, a lone island in a sea of grey
space. He folded his fingers over the sides of the lectern and took in the crowd for the first time. Sixty rows
of Autobots stared back; they gleamed like hatchbacks in the suburban sun, taut and new and shiny. They
were his men, his army, and all he could do was stare at them while they raised their arms in formal salute.
‘Autobots.
‘I… I wish I could say that I initiated this gathering because I wanted to – I don’t know, update you
on the strategic progress of the War. But my motives are far more selfish. Truth be told, I wanted to see
you as you should be seen: all as one.
‘And I wish I could say that I ordered this troop inspection to field questions, but again that would be
only partially true. I wanted not just to listen, but to say something.’ He leant on the lectern. ‘I wanted to
say thank you. Thank you for your loyalty and your faith – not in me, but in the Autobot cause. Article 1
of the Code provides that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. It is sobering to know that in a galaxy
brought to its knees by the Empire’s Technoism, a handful of Primus’ children still hold that to be true.
‘Seeing you all before me now, I am humbled. Each of you is essential to our cause because each of
you embodies that cause – to reclaim our home, to overthrow the tyrants that would use it as an engine of
destruction.
‘And so this is not our darkest hour. This is not the end. We will not stand down, or back away, or
cower before the Decepticon threat. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the next phase; the first step
towards taking back Cybertron.’
The last syllable fizzled against 2986 audionets.
The crowd cheered.
Rodimus braced himself against the wave of adulation.
Red Alert tensed as the sound reached fever pitch, positive that halfway across Cybertron, in Polyhex,
Soundwave had heard the commotion and was looking up from his desk, frowning
One member of the crowd did not cheer; there were only a couple of things that he would not do to
retain his cover, and applauding Rodimus Prime for speaking out against the Decepticons was one of them.
He watched the Autobot leader perch on the edge of the stage and strike another Messianic pose while