TransMasters Cybertron

Part 7: History and the Future

          Space can be a very lonely place when no one else is in view. Sometimes there is tranquility to the endless vastness of star-spotted black void. Too often is this peace broke by the gnat-like swarms of those who inhabit the life-bearing planets nearby. Time will outlast them all, and sooner or later all civilizations fall to the mercies of time. Save one: the Transformers. Sure most scholars that might be able to objectively view the Transformer wars from afar would say that the greatest of their civilization fell to the vagaries of tyrants well after the first Golden Age was over. Perhaps there will come a day when all of existence will end, and only one entity might later remember that it was their fault…

          Relay loved his job since it was almost always important that he do it well. He had not hesitated a moment when Rodimus asked his group of Mini-Cons to go to Solar Wind Planet. He liked to be on the edge of an exciting mission, even if he was partnered with two of the more cautious Mini-Cons around. He had no qualms about his being out amongst the stars alone. Though, he did not want to ever have to leave his friends behind for long. He left Solar Wind Planet’s orbit as quickly as he could muster to get outside of the radiation fields presented by the large yellow star the planet orbited. He knew Pierrimus was counting on him to get the word out to Cybertron that the Decepticons had escaped and to request reinforcements. It was critical that they get more help in order to round up the prisoners before more Tektronians were hurt by their war.

          Relay felt the heat of the star fade away while he flew on further from its effect. He began to send out little pulses to see if he could determine the safe distance to begin broadcasting. There were satellites around some of the distant planets in this solar system that should ping him back once they were capable of receiving his signal. Although, he might be able to reach Cybertron on his own, these satellites were programmed to boost and send the signal via a line-of-sight digital high-powered laser pulse directed through a warp gate. If all worked properly, the message should reach Cybertron in less than an Earth day. Hopefully the reinforcements could arrive within two days after receipt.

          Relay spent a couple of hours flying out away from Solar Wind Planet’s star before he heard a faint ping back from one of the satellites. He had just passed a moon near the fifth planet in the solar system when his attention was drawn by something reflecting light on the gray dusty surface. Relay wanted to go check it out, but he knew his mission was more important than his curiosity. He continued on his previous course while sweeping the area with what sensors he could afford to power-up. This may have been a mistake, as the moon suddenly shifted direction, altering its orbit to follow him. Relay began to panic a bit at the sudden change because it meant whatever or whoever the moon was, it was definitely not a natural object.

          Relay quickly opened a channel with the satellite that sent the faint ping back to him. “Cybertron this is Mini-Con Relay. We have a situation on Solar Wind Planet. The Decepticons escaped, I repeat the Decepticons have escaped. Pierrimus requests reinforcements be sent immediately. I have picked up a very odd moon that is following me, this may be my only tran….”

          Relay only remembered a white flash of light and a sudden feeling of absolute cold. There was a flicker as his thrusters were shut down. He wasn’t able to comprehend if this was his end or a cruel prank being played by whomever controlled the artificial moon. The darkness that usually soothed him had turned into a terrifying visage when all the white dots disappeared.

          When Relay woke back up he was in a dark metallic, yet organic, room. He was held in place by what appeared to be steel chords or perhaps vines of some type that he could not identify. The room felt warm and slightly humid, though Relay could not see beyond his immediate surroundings. He felt tired, as if he was low on Energon but his internal sensors stated he still had nearly half of the supply he had left Solar Wind Planet with. The room shuddered a bit, which made Relay wonder if this might be what it might be like within the belly of one of Kup’s old story creatures. That thought worried Relay, usually those stories ended up badly for most of the victims.

          Hours passed while Relay went over his options. He considered trying to use his thrusters in weapon mode to cut himself free from the metallic vines. When he finally decided to do so, the act failed and he was plunged once again into the darkness. He slowly regained consciousness as his systems were powered up one at a time through some kind of link with the organic prison cell. When his optics came back online he realized he was staring right into the face of one of the most hideous metal monsters he could imagine. Chrome and green metal surrounded the gruesome face that hovered threateningly close to Relay’s. Four large slim clawed arms were held out as if to strike should the need arise. “Yeaah! Who are you? Where am I? What are you going to do to me? Help someone please!” Relay yelled out in fear, this was not the first time someone had captured Relay and he did not want it to be like it had been with the Decepticons. He’d prefer a quick death to that.

          The creature pulled back and covered where it might have had audio receptors. It looked dismayed at the outburst. The room’s mist nearly swallowed it up from Relay’s sight as the creature moaned. The only other sound was that of the tentacle foot of the monster scraping on the floor surface. “If I had wanted you dead, I would not have brought you here,” the creature stated softly. “Forgive him, he is just a scared pup,” another voice stated. “No, trust no one and destroy him for his foolishness,” a different voice added. “He must learn the story, it is judged,” a fourth voice commanded. “As it is,” the creature agreed before it slowly emerged out of the fog.

          “You are Relay, the Mini-Con assigned to Pierrimus’ Solar Wind Planet party. I am, for your purposes, called Alpha Quintesson. Ah, you’ve heard the name before? Good, then you are probably more valuable to me still functioning for the moment. There is a story I must tell you and you will then relay it to your boss. Fulfill this function and you will have nothing to fear from me or my friends. If you think I’m fearsome they can scare even the hardest of Decepticon sparks into fleeing their vessels.” Alpha Quintesson closely chuckled into Relay’s audio receptors. “I’m certain you’ve heard the stories of how the original Alpha Quintesson sacrificed his life in order to battle Unicron and how that battle inevitably led to the current tear in the universe that threatens to consume everything in the black hole’s path?” Relay nodded his agreement in silence. Alpha Quintesson pulled back enough that the fog hid him from Relay’s optics before a chorus of laughter in the different voices echoed through the room. When the laughter began to die down Alpha Quintesson’s large head re-emerged from the fog.

          Alpha Quintesson’s attitude suddenly turned serious. “Yes, I did what I could to help the Autobots against Unicron. But, atlas I am a coward and ensured that I had a plan of escape should it come to my possible demise. I bought the Autobots time to formulate a means to defeat Unicron, but I also knew one thing they didn’t. I knew there was a fifth Cyber Planet Key hidden away so even Unicron could not find it. By the power of Primus I was spirited away at the last moment in the largest cloaked vessel ever built, the last of the great Arks. Here I have waited until the right moment to try to help, but the Decepticons have once again complicated the matter. Although I may not wish to reveal my presence, I feel obligated through Primus to do what I can to help.  The fifth Cyber Planet Key is the Phoenix herself. Find her true heart and you will be able to stop the black hole before it is too late.” Alpha Quintesson stopped speaking and drew back into the mist that filled the chamber.

          Relay was about to begin to ask questions when one of the other voices said, “You have forgotten the story, tell him the story.”

“Yes, you have neglected to finish what you began, as always,” a different voice agreed. “Leave him alone, hasn’t he suffered enough,” a high pitched voice pleaded. “Enough,” Alpha Quintesson stated firmly. The mist parted slightly as he waved his arms in a quick dismissive gesture.

          “The tale they wish me to tell you is one of ancient times before there were Transformers, if you can imagine that. In fact, you may just not be able to. You know of the void of space, but have never seen how utterly dark it can be without the stars or planets. There was a time like that, a time when Unicron had just about wiped all of existence from the space-time continuum. Lucky for us that he was a messy and careless eater, two particles only atoms wide were able to come into contact with each other and they reacted to become the All-Spark of creation while Unicron slumbered. When Unicron woke from his long nap he realized that all of his work had been undone. To Unicron he had brought order to the universe because it was all within him, but now the chaos of lower intelligences enraged him as gnats might anger a bull. He lashed out once again, destroying all in his path.

          The All-Spark created Primus as a Ying to Unicron’s Yang. Although not the entire energy of the All-Spark, Primus was Unicron’s match in strength and skill. They fought for many eons, neither fully gaining the upper hand. Primus realized that their struggle might endanger the All-Spark itself, so he created a plan to entrap Unicron. As the fates would have it Primus’ plan worked, both were trapped within lifeless chunks of rock. Eventually, though, they both learned how to reshape their prisons into new physical bodies. Primus became Cybertron and Unicron became the chaos bringer feared throughout the universe. Both enemies manipulated the events and populaces of the universe to try to play an ultimate chess match. Unicron created the Mini-Cons as a way to gain the upper hand, but they betrayed him because some Humans were kind enough to show them a better way. This would not be the first time that the Transformer race has changed the course of history for planet Earth. In fact, it may be due to the interference of the Autobot’s ancestors that Humans evolved as they have.

          Do you know the true purpose of the Cyber Planet Keys? I doubt it. Yes, all that stuff about exploration and linking the worlds with space bridges is all true. But, there was a more subtle reason. One that Pierrimus will have to discern for himself. He was chosen by Primus and I cannot fully reveal the truth here. But, I have wondered off the story, forgive me.

          Scorponok hurt Unicron once by destroying our world while the mammoth monster was consuming it. Then the guardian Omega Supreme battled with Unicron and he was able to trap the Chaos Bringer as one of Cybertron’s moons. The amount of energy required placed both Omega Supreme and Primus in a state of status lock until a time where Unicron would threaten Cybertron again. Then the turning of the Mini-Cons against their creator bought Cybertron more time while causing some of the more willful of Unicron’s victims to be released. I took control of Unicron’s head while Megatron took control of the rest. Even then the separation of Unicron’s power had begun. The final battle of the Energon wars was the beginning of the current dilemma. Know this, to truly heal the universe, Unicron must live again. The balance must be restored,” Alpha Quintesson ended.

          “What balance? How do you think we’ll get Unicron back? Why won’t you talk to Pierrimus about this yourself?” Relay asked. The mist in the room was slowly dissipating. It revealed a full set of Terrorcons of various types he had heard about before. The Ravage clones were staring at him with hungry optics, as were the Divebomb birds of prey. The Insecticon clones were not even paying attention to him. The more the mist left the room the more he wished it was back to keep him from seeing the fearsome Terrorcons.

          “Serve your purpose and tell Pierrimus what I have told you. He will need to know and then it will be up to Primus to reveal the whole truth. I fear he will loose more than he ever thought possible. It is with great regret that I can not aid you further on this quest. Take the path before you and do not wonder from the blue plates or I shall regret having lost a messenger too,” Alpha Quintesson pointed to the path.

          The metallic vines that held Relay began to unwind and he felt something disengage from his data access port. The vines gently set him down upon the path. A moment later he felt the fatigue drain out of his systems and his internal diagnostics confirmed that all operational status was normal. Relay did as he was told and quickly ran down the blue colored path. He tried not to look at the Terrorcons that stood like hungry wolves waiting for him to misstep. He came to the end of the passage to find a strange looking metal iris. Since the iris which also glowed a blue hue and he decided to enter it. A few seconds later he realized that this was some kind of airlock. There was a hiss of air being removed from the chamber and then another iris opened. A moment later he was ejected from the craft.

          Relay could barely hold his awe at the size and engineering of the vessel. He thought all of Iaccon could have fit on it’s surface and there would still be space left over. He wondered why it was not cloaked as a moon again, but then the craft began to glow an odd silver color just before it disappeared through a self-generated warp gate. Relay now wished he had asked how long he had been captive. He tried to check his surroundings for his bearings. He soon was able to discover that he was just outside of the planets where the Autobot satellites were orbiting around. It would take a little time, but he should be able to get back to Solar Wind Planet in five Earth days.