Transformers: Retribution (7 page)

“Speak, Curator.” The voice was cold, dispassionate.

The Curator steeled himself. “Masters, the Autobots have arrived.”

“Go on,” the voice said in a tone of barely restrained excitement.

“They have landed at the Energon production facility near the north pole,” said the Curator. “We manipulated the weather to increase the likelihood that they would touch down there. They just dispatched one of their scouts on reconnaissance. We are shadowing their every move.”

“Excellent,” said another of the voices. “Our calculations show their scans have less than a 3 percent chance of detecting the southern continent.”

“I make that less than 2 percent,” the Curator said.

“You dare contradict us?”

“With respect, my data is more immediate. Hydratron City and the machinery below it will remain cloaked. All security protocols are holding.”

“Make sure that continues,” said the first voice.

“Is there a Prime with them?” the second asked.

“It is more than 80 percent likely,” the Curator replied. “This many Autobots, so long a distance from their home—they would surely not venture so far without the leadership of a Prime. But we shall know more once I’ve made contact.”

“Be careful, Curator. If a Prime is not involved, then we reap but small rewards from this situation. Several hundred lost Autobots and one wayward ship barely justifies the cost of this communications link. But if a Prime
is
involved—well, should he become aware of your subterfuge, you will have to assume a more aggressive posture. Bringing a Prime into the equation too soon could contaminate the original algorithms.”

“I am prepared for all eventualities, masters. There are certain accounts that must be settled.”

“You speak truth. We have waited a very long time for this and placed great faith in you.”

“
Great
faith,” said the second voice, though it sounded far more threat than praise. “Keep us apprised of your progress.”

“Our goal is within our grasp,” the Curator said, but the screen had already gone blank. For a long moment he stared at it, breathing heavily. Then he pulled himself to his feet and retreated from the chamber of supplication. It seemed like it had been eons since the last time they had revealed their faces to him. Perhaps it had been. He had placed himself in cryogenic hibernation while the planet’s installations ran automatically and had configured the deep-space sensors so that only the most extraordinary contingencies would justify his waking. The detection of the Autobot ship was just such a contingency. Nor was it an accident. He had set up the mechanisms that would lure the ship to him, and he had succeeded. A few more correct moves and the ultimate prize would be his.

Venturing back into his laboratory, he looked around. All was ready. Every instrument had been reconfigured to his new body’s specifications to maximize his ability to conduct the experiments that would be taking place here very soon. He flexed his new hand again and for the first time began to feel at ease with the new fingers. If he had known how to smile with his new face, he would have. Right now the best he could manage was a rather shaky grin. It was enough, though. He pressed a button; there was a rumbling in the floor as a hatch irised open. A pedestal rose slowly from within.

Atop it was a glowing device that looked exactly like the Matrix of Leadership.

CYBERTRON

T
HERE
’
S A STORM BREWING OVER
C
YBERTRON TONIGHT
. Acid rain drenches the streets of Iacon. Lightning flares so brightly that it might as well be day. Thunder crashes so loudly that you might think Unicron himself had returned.

But in the Tower of Shockwave you wouldn’t hear a thing. The walls are too thick, the armor too strong. And your peril is probably too great. You wouldn’t hear a thing in the Tower of Shockwave much as you might wish to. Chances are that all you’re wishing for is for it to all be over. Because very few who enter his building are ever seen again.

A sadist would have enjoyed such a reputation. But Shockwave was no sadist. He was something far worse. To him the pain of others was just one more data point—one more method of eliciting information or simply one more by-product of whatever process the subject was undergoing. And it was usually inevitable.

But sometimes it was best to start off with conversation.

“I’ve been looking forward to this,” Shockwave said.

Alpha Trion gazed up from his shackles. “I understand that,” he replied calmly.

“You are a traitor.”

“So you have said. May I ask to what?”

“To this planet. To your kind.”

Alpha Trion smiled sadly. “My kind is long gone.”

“I have my doubts about that.”

“You are entitled to them.”

Shockwave frowned. “Solus Prime was destroyed by the Fallen. But I have no evidence that any of the other Primes met with a similar fate.”

“I will clarify,” Alpha Trion told him. “When I said my brethren were gone, I did not mean to assert that all of them were
dead
. They simply left. In all directions, I might add. Vector Prime retreated to an enclave of his own devising. I suspect the Fallen and Liege Maximo are in faraway prisons. Or perhaps they went the way of Solus Prime. It would be fitting. But I do not know for certain.”

“You know more than you’re telling.”

“So tell me what you want to know.”

“Which one of the Thirteen did you last speak to?”

“Alchemist Prime. Just before he left in search of Liege Maximo.”

“And what did he say?” Shockwave asked eagerly. “What did he confide in you?”

“He showed no interest in anything save his quarry.”

“What was he armed with?”

“His own knowledge. Believe me, that was usually enough.”

“What I would give for that knowledge,” said Shockwave.

Alpha Trion laughed. “It would do you no good.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you have no moral compass. You are a sociopath, Shockwave. It sickens me that Cybertron has passed into your custody.”

Shockwave looked amused. “Now we see your true colors, Alpha Trion. You sit in your archives and pretend that you are above all this, yet you cannot hide your contempt for me.”

“Can it really be said I ever tried?”

“You are pathetic. You and your fellow Primes could have ruled the cosmos, yet you fell out over trivialities.”

Alpha Trion shook his head. “What divided us was anything but trivial.”

“When we Decepticons gain such power, we will not make the same mistakes.”

“You’re already making them.”

“Clarify that,” Shockwave said.

“Megatron entrusted you to rule this planet, yet no sooner had he left than you began plotting to make yourself his master.”

Shockwave looked genuinely affronted. “I am his loyal servant.”

“Did Megatron not give you orders I was to be left alone until his return?”

“I could no longer ignore the aid and comfort you have been furnishing to the Autobot cause. Why, just last week the Wreckers destroyed another of my laboratories.”

“I have had no contact with the Wreckers since they left Iacon.”

“But you
have
had contact with Optimus Prime.”

Alpha Trion said nothing.

Shockwave stepped closer. “Oh, don’t think I’m not aware you sent a courier to him. As well as a cargo. Fragments of the Blades of Time. Do you deny it?”

“I merely acted as I had to.”

“And so I had to take you into custody.”

“But you mean to go further than that,” Alpha Trion said.

“Because science demands it.”

“What you call science is really just a craving to play god.”

“You
were
a god once, Alpha Trion. The Thirteen together acted as such. And then you threw it away.”

“And if you have any sense, you will leave it where it fell.”

“Now, that is something I can never do,” Shockwave said. He pressed a button. There was a whirring noise, and the floor began to descend. The room was one large elevator; Iacon’s skyline quickly slid from view. But the interior walls of each level were transparent, and through them Alpha Trion could see sights he would have preferred not to see. In one room an Autobot hung from the ceiling while a clawed machine pulled him apart. In another an Autobot was slowly dissolving as acid dripped over him. And in still another, a bot that looked half Autobot and half Decepticon was battering its head against the wall in a way that suggested it was anything but sane. The sights got even worse as the room reached the bottom of the tower and dropped down through subterranean levels.

“You are a monster,” Alpha Trion said.

“I passed beyond labels a long time ago,” said Shockwave. “All that interests me now is results. You contain within you the knowledge of the ancients. It is churlish to deny that power to we who must dwell in the desolation of today.” The last of the levels was left behind as the elevator accelerated seamlessly toward supersonic speeds. They were in a maglev chute now, plunging ever farther downward.

“I know where you are taking me,” said Alpha Trion.

“I would expect nothing less.”

“You should not do this.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you are meddling with forces far beyond your understanding.”

“Do not presume to set limits on my understanding,” Shockwave replied.

After several more minutes, the room halted. The doors opened onto a huge underground chamber whose ceiling vaulted upward like a cathedral. The far wall was covered with dials and instruments arranged around a glowing orb that seemed to grow out of the wall itself. If it had been possible for Shockwave to smile, he would have.

“Welcome to Vector Sigma,” he said.

M
EGATRON STORMED ONTO THE BRIDGE OF THE
N
EMESIS
and dismissed the Decepticon guards with a wave of his hand. Even though his lust for battle had been somewhat satiated in the clash with the pirates, it couldn’t come close to that rush he got when crushing Autobots. He had bested Thundertron, but he would have far preferred it to be Optimus Prime.

Starscream and Soundwave bowed as he approached. Usually Megatron couldn’t get enough of their deference, but for some reason today it only filled him with more rage.

“This had better be good,” he said.

“Oh, it is, my master,” said Soundwave, bowing even lower. “Very good indeed.”

“Rise and speak.”

Soundwave stepped forward.

“Lord Megatron, I have completed my interrogation of the traitor Axer and have obtained the precise location of the Autobots. Would you like to see the playback of the questioning?” He said it with enough unrestrained relish that Megatron waved his hand wearily in assent. Sometimes you had to indulge your subordinates.

“Certainly. Let’s see it.” Soundwave switched the video feed over to the holding cells where Axer was secured, spread-eagled on a giant X-shaped rack. His screams filled the speakers.

“Please! I’ve already told you everything! You don’t have to do this!” Soundwave came into the picture holding a plasma torch and a pair of tongs. Axer’s eyes went wide.

“What are you going to do? Please! Have mercy!”

But mercy wasn’t on the menu. Soundwave’s chest opened to reveal one of his more diabolical mini-cons: Ravage, who crawled up Axer’s leg until he reached Axer’s chest cavity, whereupon he proceeded to rip it open and systematically pull out components one by one. When Axer’s screams grew loud enough to drown out Soundwave’s questions, Megatron decided that it was time to move things along. There was no doubt in his mind that Soundwave could watch this video over and over again—and that he probably already had.

“Enough of this,” Megatron said. “What did you learn from the traitor?”

Soundwave switched off the vid and replaced it with a map of the local sector of space. “The coordinates he gave us were accurate. And now that we’re only a day’s journey out, we’re doing a more precise scan of—”

“Nothing,”
said Megatron, staring at the map. “There’s nothing there. What kind of trickery is this?”

“No trickery, my lord. What you’re seeing are our own data archives, which do indeed show empty space. But after careful personal scrutiny of the quadrant via long-range optics, I found this.” Soundwave manipulated the screen to bring something into focus. “See, master? This planet isn’t on any of our charts, but there it is anyway.” Megatron took a closer look; it was certainly out of the way and a fine place to hide if one was interested in keeping a low profile.

“And the Autobots?” he asked.

“I took the liberty of having Skywarp perform an advanced recon. He was able to use his teleportation abilities to get just close enough to obtain detailed imagery.”

There was a burst of static, and then the Autobot Ark appeared, sunlight glinting off its hull as it orbited the ringed green world. A round of applause broke out on the bridge as the Decepticons cheered.

“Now that’s a welcome sight,” said Megatron.

Soundwave nodded. “This time we know for certain exactly where they are—
and
we maintain the element of complete surprise.”

“Do we know what they’re doing there?”

Starscream broke in. He’d been chafing impatiently while Soundwave hogged all the glory, but now he’d had enough. “Knowing Optimus Prime as we do, we can assume that he is still following the guidance of the Matrix of Leadership. Presumably it guided them to the planet for some reason. The most reasonable hypothesis is that there is an artifact nearby or another clue to the location of the AllSpark—or the AllSpark itself. And the planet is inhabited.”

“By what?” Megatron asked.

“Readings indicate some kind of robot life-form.”

“Do they seem like a threat?”

Soundwave shoved past Starscream. “No, my lord, they do not. Skywarp was not able to detect any surface weapon systems, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. There are certainly no active offensive capabilities, though. On the other hand, Skywarp
was
able to determine they have an active Energon production in operation.”