Transformers - Robots in Disguise

203 - Memory of the Past

by Mike Watson

"Okay, we can begin digging here," Wedge said.  "We need to dig a deep enough distance before the proposed base is safe from another possible attack, so it'll take a while I'm sure."

"Better that than having a repeat of what happened before," Optimus said.

The two of them along with Sideburn and Heavy Load had been searching for a new base location for the last few days.  They had finally settled on a spot a few miles north of the last base.  It was decided the build team and any available Autobot would begin work digging the new base as soon as possible.

"I'm picking up some geothermal activity below us, Ops," Sideburn said.  "It seems this area may be over a hot spring or something of that nature."

"That might be good," Wedge said.  Optimus looked at him.  "Well," he explained.  "We could use the heat from the steam to power some of the equipment.  It would be a lot less taxing on the generator."

"That's a good point," Sideburn said.  "The generator was damaged some too, so it won't run at a hundred percent either."

"That settles it then," Optimus said.  "Sideburn, you and Heavy Load get Grimlock, Hightower and anyone else available and bring them here."

Sideburn nodded.  "On it, Ops."

Heavy Load groaned.  "Man, don't go so fast this time, I had trouble keeping up."

Sideburn just laughed as he sped away from the protesting Autobot.

"Slag, I'll tear that bot a new one, I swear," Heavy Load grumbled as he rolled off.

Wedge watched them go, then looked up at Optimus.  "What about me?" he asked.

"Actually," Optimus said.  "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay," Wedge said.

"Excuse me for being straight forward, but this is a rare moment we won't be busy, so I'll get right to it," Optimus said.  "How do you know what you know?"

Wedge didn't even bother to play dumb this time.  "Like how did I know about the Decepticon features in myself?"

"And how were you able to combine into Landfill just like that?" Optimus asked.

"I'm not quite sure about the Decepticon thing," Wedge replied.  "I just kind of knew, and then I unlocked them.  Don't ask me how, I can't explain it."

"And combining with the build team?" Optimus asked.

"Well, don't all combiners know how to combine?" Wedge asked.

"Not really," Optimus said.  "The trains didn't know how, and I'm able to combine with the tail end of my vehicle mode, but none of us can do it on command.  It just sort of happens.  And combiners haven't been around since before the upgrade to Maximal and Predacon, so it's not like we were meant to do it."

"Well, do you know why it happens?" Wedge asked.

"Not really," Optimus said.  "It mainly occurs when we need it to though.  In times of peril, when there seems to be no other option."

"When you find your still point," Wedge said.

"My what?" Optimus asked.

"It was used back in the days around the reformatting of Cybertron," Wedge explained.  "Before transformation became unnecessary and obsolete.  The only way to transform out of beast mode was to 'find your still point' as it was said, and hold it."

"I thought transformation was an automatic sequence coded into us," Optimus said.

"I was, but the reformatting altered that.  We needed to learn to transform again," Wedge went on.  "Once that happened though, it was altered again to become an automatic sequence, and then it was deemed useless when the Maximal civil war started."

"So how are you able to combine?" Optimus asked.

"We all find our still point," Wedge said.  "I have a sort of link with them.  It's hard to explain."

"You'll have to give us lessons," Optimus said.

"Well," Wedge chuckled.  "It's a bit tougher than that, but I suppose it's worth a shot."

					* * * * * *
					
"Energon, energon, energon," Scourge grumbled.  "I'm like errand-boy here."

"Quiet, Decepticon," Bruticus barked.

"Errand-boy and dog-sitter," Scourge added.

"Megatron has sent us to look for energon, and that is what we shall find," Bruticus yelled.  He was standing on top of Scourge's moving trailer in beast mode.

"Yeah, well, why did I have to take you?" Scourge asked, annoyed.

"To keep an eye on you," Bruticus replied.  "Stop here!" he suddenly yelled.

Scourge abruptly stopped, causing Bruticus to slide forward on the trailer and land on the roof of his cab.  "Get off me, cur," Scourge said angrily.

"This forest gives me strange feelings," Bruticus said quietly, jumping off Scourge.

"You give me strange feelings," Scourge muttered.

Bruticus ignored the comment.  "Especially over there," he pointed to a large group of trees.   The trees looked as if they had been planted very close together, rather than that being their natural formation.

"A bunch of trees?" Scourge asked skeptically.

"You coming or not?" Bruticus snarled.  He transformed to robot mode and walked towards the trees.  Scourge detached his trailer and transformed as well, walking after the Predacon.

When they reached the trees, Bruticus reverted back to beast mode and pushed through the group of tightly packed trees.  Scourge followed, though he cracked a few limbs and branches on his way through.  After passing six or seven rows of trees they came to a clearing in the center of them all.

"These didn't grow here naturally like this," Scourge said, almost in awe.  He stood at the edge of a near perfect circle of trees.  The diameter of the circle was about fifty feet long, and there was not a single tree or plant within it aside from a few weeds.

Bruticus looked around and sniffed the air.  "That way," he said, walking towards the center of the circle.  In the center was a large square block, embedded in the ground.  The top of it had a round metal handle, rusted.

"What is it?" Scourge asked.

"A box," Bruticus said, transforming again.  He approached the box and grabbed the handle.  He pulled, but the handle broke apart in his hands.  "Help me open this," he commanded.

Scourge walked over to the box, which was about the same width as him, and they both pushed on the stone cover of the box.  Finally it slid off, very slowly.  They both peered inside as the dust and smoke cleared.

"Is that what I think it is?" Scourge asked.

"I think it is," Bruticus replied.  Scourge looked at Bruticus, then slowly reached into the box to pick up the object in question.  From within he pulled something slightly smaller than his own hand.  It was a round, flat object with a golden shine to it.

"It's a golden disc," he said.

					* * * * * *
					
"Okay, I have it mapped out," Sideburn said.  "Now, from what Prowl told me about where he planted the charges, it looks like the entire top half of the core should have collapsed."

"Makes sense," Optimus said, looking at the chart Sideburn had drawn up.

"So even with all three of the Pred science guys working on it, it should still take like half a deca-cycle to fix," Sideburn said, pointing at a calculation he'd made.

"How does that help us?" X-Brawn asked.

"We need our base to be deep enough to withstand a blast by that time," Sideburn said.  "Maybe even a little more, you know, just to be safe."  Sideburn looked back up at Optimus, who was watching the build team and Rapid Run dig away.  Rail Spike was still in the CR chamber, and Midnight Express had been put offline in hopes of his internal repairs doing some good.

"They can do it," Optimus said slowly.  Then looking back at Sideburn he said, "How deep does it need to be?"

Sideburn glanced at the area being excavated, then punched in a few numbers on his datapad.  "Given the ground composition, the rock content," he muttered.  "Power of a fully powered fusion cannon blast," he tapped in a few more calculations.  "Around fifty yards deep," he concluded.

"That's not too bad," X-Brawn said.

"Well yeah, but remember we need extra room now that we have more Autobots," Sideburn said.  "Plus the main tunnel leading down will collapse if they fire on us."

"Great, so we'll be safe but buried alive," X-Brawn said, sitting down on a boulder.

"Could be worse," Optimus said.

"Yeah, better than being buried dead," Sideburn added.

					* * * * * *
					
"Almost done," Scourge said.  "Got it!"  He clipped the disc into his own, now modified, disk reader which had been too large to read the disc he and Bruticus had found.

"Well, play it!" Bruticus snarled, impatiently.

Scourge didn't say anything, he pressed a button and the reader projected a hologram a few feet in front of it, bits of data scrolling down the screen.

"What is it?" Bruticus asked, annoyed.  Computers were not his forte in the least.

Scourge did not respond at first, since he wasn't sure what it was either.  "I'm not sure," he finally said.  "It looks like some sort of artificial intelligence program."  He stared at the lines of code quickly moving down.  "Only there's more than just the AI," he paused.  "There's a lot of memory files and such too."

"Memory files?" Bruticus asked.

"Yeah, there are ways to transfer thoughts and memories to external storage," Scourge explained, still looking at the code.  "But it's not used that often, there are few mediums that can keep them perfect with no chance of corruption and such."

Bruticus nodded, though he didn't totally understand.

"The medium this disc is made of is one of them," Scourge said slowly.  It was almost as if this disc was a backup of some sort.  Scourge quickly punched in a few commands in his disk reader.

"What are you doing?" Bruticus said, back to his usual angered state, rather than confused.

Scourge was about to answer when the screen of code went blank and it was replaced by a very familiar face to both Scourge and Bruticus.

"To anyone who may find this disc, know this.  This golden disc contains a complete backup of my memories up to this point, yes," the camera angle zoomed out a bit.  The speaker picked up the disk recorder which was attached to the back of his own head via a wire link.  "I fear this little spat I am having with the Maximals here on ancient Earth may soon end.  An ending which I would not like to be a part of, no."

Scourge and Bruticus looked at each other quickly.  They were both thinking the same exact thing.

"I had to make this disc out of a few," he cleared his throat.  "Spare parts from my ship.  It will probably not allow our new shield system to hold up as well as it should, but it probably won't make too much of a difference.  Heavy firepower on our base has not been a major concern, yes.

"The Beast Wars," he continued.  "Have gone in my favor many times, but that bothersome Optimus Primal has gotten in my way every time.  But, no more.  For after he is long gone from this wretched dirt ball, and long gone from existence, I shall have a second chance.  I pray this disc is found by a fellow Predacon, or else there may be problems.  I have taken precautions with the box that contains it.  Only one with a Predacon energy signature can open it, but these things break down over time.  Yes.

"I can see a great victory on the horizon for us, my friend," he said.  "This planet and Cybertron will once again know the wrath of the dragon!  Megatron will live again!  Yes!"

With that the transmission ended.

After a long pause, Bruticus finally spoke up.  "Was that really him?" he asked.

"I believe so," Scourge said.  "There were few who could ever conceive such a plan, never mind carry it out."

"He sacrificed his own ship for that disc," Bruticus said, recalling what he knew of the Beast Wars.

Scourge slowly took the disc out of the reader, then held it up to the sunlight and looked at it for a second.  "We can't tell Megatron about this," he said.

"Why not?!" Bruticus said, suddenly angered.

Scourge rolled his eyes.  These Predacons were so blindly loyal it drove him nuts.  "Because, no doubt he will want it destroyed," Scourge said.  "Think of it, he wouldn't want any competition from the second Megatron, the superior Megatron.  And surely you do not want this destroyed.  To do such a thing would be a waste."

Bruticus thought for a second.  "I suppose you're right," he finally said.  "We'll keep it from Megatron until we're sure of a proper use for it."  He narrowed his eyes at Scourge.  "But if you get any ideas, I'm going right to Megatron."

"Of course," Scourge said, walking out of the clearing.  "Primus forbid you have any thought independent of Megatron."

Bruticus glared at Scourge as he walked out of the clearing, though he didn't say anything.  After a short second he followed.

					* * * * * *
					
Sideburn watched the sun set.  Quite beautiful.  On Cybertron the sun's patterns were rather inconsistent.  Times when it came above the horizon were few and far between, and even then when it did sometimes it wasn't for long.  Just some of the fun that came from the irregular orbit and rotation of Cybertron.

"Another uneventful day," Wedge said, sitting down beside Sideburn.

Sideburn hadn't even heard Wedge approach him.  "Not a bad thing," he said.  He looked at Wedge, who seemed to be taking in as much of the sunset as he could.

"We're down ten yards," Wedge said.  "But we're turning in for the night.  Lots of work to do tomorrow," he said.

Sideburn nodded.  He looked at Wedge, still watching the sun disappear.  "How did Hightower know?" he finally asked.

"Know what?" Wedge asked, seemingly unphased by the question.

"Know about his being a Decepticon," Sideburn said.

Wedge smiled, still looking at the sun.  It had just disappeared completely.  The night slowly replacing the day.  "An amazing sight," he noted, ignoring Sideburn's questions.  "The people here take such a thing for granted.  It happens every day here," he said.  "Full of wonder, this place."

Sideburn looked at Wedge with an odd look on his face.  "Yeah," he said.  The small Autobot was right, of course, but Sideburn was not interested in this at the moment.  "What about what I asked?"

Wedge finally looked at Sideburn.  "The shell was improper," he finally said.

"But Midnight Express told me what he did," Sideburn said.  "He shelled one pod and transferred the shell to the other three.  That shouldn't have-" Wedge cut him off.

"You aren't thinking in the right frame of mind," Wedge said.  "The shell program was fine."

"The what was the problem?" Sideburn asked.  "The damaged pod?  Was that Hightower's?"

"That is unimportant," Wedge replied.  "The important thing is that the transfer is what failed."

"It failed?" Sideburn said, surprised.

"It made it to Grimlock and Heavy Load just fine," Wedge said, looking back at the sky.  "But Hightower's started to fail.  He has maybe half of the shell program instilled in him."

Sideburn eyed Wedge, not sure what to make of what he'd just said.  A thought came to him.  "And you?" he asked.

"Me," Wedge said.  "I didn't allow it."

"Allow?" Sideburn asked, more confused than he'd ever been before.

"I'm not shelled," Wedge said.

"But that would mean you're Decepticon," Sideburn said.

"The two factions, Autobot and Decepticon, Maximal and Predacon, they are based on the same things," Wedge said.  "Billions and billions of stellar cycles ago, we were built by an ancient race for purposes of construction and maintenance.  Same design, same everything.  We are all one."

Sideburn looked at Wedge, amazed.

"I didn't accept the shell program," Wedge continued.  "But based on all knowledge from the Decepticon chip I made my decision.  I wanted to be an Autobot."

"You chose?" Sideburn said.

"Yes," Wedge said, standing up.  He looked up at the sky again.  "Sadly though, I can't let you remember any of this."

Sideburn looked up at Wedge, puzzled.  "Let me?"

"Not right yet," Wedge said, placing his hand on Sideburn's head.  With that Sideburn's eyes closed and he slumped over.  "One day though, my friend," he said, smiling.  "One day it will all be clear."

Wedge transformed and slowly rolled away from Sideburn.  A few cycles later Sideburn awoke, transformed, and headed in the same direction Wedge had gone before him.

THE END