Post by The Doctor on Nov 14, 2007 23:18:18 GMT
From the TMUK Archives, July 2003.
----------------------------
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
-Proverb.
"I can see that you do not quite understand. I have not made it very clear. Let me explain."
Yes. That would be most helpful.
"You are not who you say you are, despite your protestations. I am here to find out why. The last laws banned your kind."
I don't remember that. I am in my cell, unable to move.
"Do not even consider transforming. Do you see the nodules in the roof, floor, walls and ceiling? At the slightest hint of a transformation sequence they will deliver enough energon to overload your system into core shutdown for quite some time."
That does not sound good.
"No, it doesn't."
You can hear my thoughts?
"Yes. They are being relayed to my internal monitor. Ratchet built it for me. You remember him? You should, if you are who you say you are."
Ratchet, my old friend. Perhaps in all those years, my only true friend. The doctor. Cut down in his prime during that fateful Ark crash.
"Interesting choice of metaphor there."
Oh yes. I imagine so. Will you not come into the light? Will you not allow your face to be seen? Nor your voice to be relayed unaltered? Why do you hide behind a mask?
"Why do you think? Use that analytical mind of yours."
A deception of some kind? No, I do not sense that is your way. Though we are the jailor and the jailed, I feel a strange kinship for you. A familar feeling. Are you of the Autobots?
"You are very good. I must commend you on that."
I gave out many commendations during my time. Yes, many.
I tire of this. At least provide me with the dignity of knowing who is my questioner?
"Oh do drop the act. ThIS pretence of being Optimus Prime. You are not. Either you are a spy or a Neogen. I shall deduce which in time, but you do yourself no favours by avoiding the subject matter at hand-arrrrrrrrrrgh!"
You made the mistake of talking for too long, and thinking for less. I have my hand at your throat. I am resisting the energy discharges of your devices for a few precious moments, for I will learn of your identity! There! No! It cannot be!
"Yes. I am Optimus Prime. You are not."
Arrrrgh! The discharges are-
Down deep, here in the dark, there is no light. Nor movement, for this is a domain where movement is difficult. Until now. Something is coming.
Something.
Is.
Coming.
"Yes. That would be most helpful."
I am listening to what the subject is saying and providing the appropriate answers but my mind is not fully here. It is back there, back where I was before. Not here, in a bare cell deep beneath Primus' fifth Cybertron. In this time, this time that is not my own. Smaller beast creatures swarm over our worlds, the long struggles forgotten. Downsized. They think it helpful that I, who led the Autobots for millenia, be given such tasks.
These are my private thoughts. My public thoughts are being aired through my vocal circuitry.
"I don't remember that. I am in my cell, unable to move."
This poor soul. He is probably programmed for these set reponses, no doubt based on aged holovids of my exploits. Prowl should be doing this.
"That does not sound good."
Good and evil. Bitter concepts lost to time. Like Roller. Whatever happened to Roller?
"You can hear my thoughts?"
Such a dim copy of myself. I expect it to shout my motto at some point. We all had them, at war's dawn. A little black humour to spice up the gloom.
"Ratchet, my old friend. Perhaps in all those years, my only true friend. The doctor. Cut down in his prime during that fateful Ark crash."
Don't you even speak of him! He was a hero by the dictionary term. On todays worlds he would be seen as an oversized knock-off, mocked by the newer and more compact breed.
"Oh yes. I imagine so. Will you not come into the light? Will you not allow your face to be seen? Nor your voice to be relayed unaltered? Why do you hide behind a mask?"
It hides my emotions from my troops.
"A deception of some kind? No, I do not sense that is your way. Though we are the jailor and the jailed I feel a strange kinship for you. A familar feeling. Are you of the Autobots?"
The Autobots. Yes, I remember them. Wait, wait a moment. My private thoughts are now answering the subject's questions as well as my public thoughts. How can this be? Who else am I talking to?
"I gave out many commendations during my time. Yes, many. I tire of this. At least provide me with the dignity of knowing who is my questioner?"
==I am your questioner. I am taking your thoughts out of time==
"You made the mistake of talking for too long and thinking for less. I have my hand at your throat. I am resisting the energy discharges of your devices for a few precious moments for I will learn of your identity! There! No! It cannot be!"
==I am taking all your thoughts out of time==
"Arrrrgh! The discharges are-"
==Yes==
It isn't here yet, but it will be soon. Possibilty has already formed a gap around the material where it must fall. Fate has nothing more to do now than wait, but waiting is a part of time and time depends on observance. How can time be measured without observance?
So it continues. Not for some time, but for some possibilty of time.
Time does not exist yet, but it must, to allow its passing. For something is coming.
Coming.
Is.
Something.
==I can see that you do not quite understand. I have not made it very clear. Let me explain==
We are here. We are both here. We realise that we are both Optimus Prime now.
==You are not who you say you are, despite your protestations. I am here to find out why. The last laws banned your kind==
There are no laws to govern these events. A shapeless void. Here we two are. I am he and he is me. We know who you are as well. You are Optimus Prime, or so you proclaim.
==Do not even consider transforming. Do you see the nodules in the roof, floor, walls and ceiling? At the slightest hint of a transformation sequence they will deliver enough energon to overload your system into core shutdown for quite some time==
You may manifest the cell around us once more but it will do you no good, for you are fighting yourselves now. We will stop we. We do not know how this has happened but it must be stopped.
==No, it doesn't==
No force in the Universe can stop us. Put your device away. It will do you no good. Our thoughts will not be shared again. We deny you!
==Yes. They are being relayed to my internal monitor. Ratchet built it for me. You remember him? You should, if you are who you say you are==
We are Prime!
==Interesting choice of metaphor there==
Begone! This cannot be! How can three individuals all believe they are one!
==Why do you think? Use that analytical mind of yours==
Not a dream, Not an illusion. An outside force then? Acting on our sense of self. Poking, prodding, rooting around in our history, of times past and times that may be. Extrapolating from our current knowledge...of the Transformers.
==You are very good. I must commend you on that==
Yes, and yet...you do not act and speak as a foreigner in our mind.
==Oh do drop the act. The pretence of being Optimus Prime. You are not. Either you are a spy or a Neogen. I shall deduce which in time, but you do yourself no favours by avoiding the subject matter at hand-arrrrrrrrrrgh!==
A weakness, perhaps? Then how could you keep such a deception going? No, surely not!
==Yes. I am Optimus Prime. You are not==
No! I am Prime! He who is beside me is Prime! You cannot be us - me- too!
YES. HE IS PRIME. THERE ARE MORE OF US. THERE ARE MANY MORE OF US. LOOK UPON YOUR POSSIBILITIES.
The cell dissolves. Light winks and dies. Then there are legion. Primes without end in a space without boundaries. We are all here, even Roller. We begin to see what is transpiring and as we do, as we see that we are all the same being, so our collective verbs collpase into the singular.
I.
I know what is happening.
DO YOU? DO YOU REALLY?
Yes! I know what you are, intruder! With every fiber of my being I will stop you! Invading my mind!
A MIND WE CREATED, BUT PERHAPS TOO WELL. YOU ARE THE PRIME OF THE FIRST RACE OF TRANSFORMERS, EXISTING FROM THEIR BEGINNING TO THEIR END. THE CONSTANT IN THEIR LINE. THE PERFECT WAY TO BREAK THROUGH.
Attempting to destablise my brain by infiltrating my sense of self was a clever move, but is has not helped your plans, formless alien!
YOU SEEK TO HIDE US AWAY IN YOUR MIND AND RETURN TO ONE OF YOUR LIVES BUT THAT CANNOT BE. THERE IS NO POINT IN YOUR CONTINUUM IN WHICH YOU ARE NOT NEEDED, NOT IN ACTION. YOU ARE THE PRIME.
The arrival is imminent. Possibilties are collapsing into probabilities. The other race of Primes are almost upon this realm. Nothing can stop them reaching here.
Here.
They.
COME.
I defy you!
WE ARE ALMOST THROUGH. YOUR MENTAL INSTABILITY HAS GIVEN US THE EDGE. WE MERELY HAD TO OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR DEPRESSION AND USE IT IS A GATEWAY TO YOUR DIMENSION.
"In the kingdom of the Blind, the one-eyed man is king."
That is a human proverb, and it will prove to be your undoing.
==Taking my mind out of time, making it seem as though I had done it to myself was a mistake. Putting me out of time gave me dominion over our disability of time removal==
YOU THINK TO DISPLACE US THROUGH TIME INTO A PART OF YOUR HISTORY WILL STOP US? WE ARE THE FOURTH RACE OF PRIMUS, THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF THE TRANSFORMERS, ABLE TO EVOLVE INTO ANY FORM. ONCE IN YOUR UNIVERSE, WE SHALL EVOLVE INTO ALL FORMS OF LIFE. THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT. WE ARE THE ULTIMATE PRIMES.
Then go. Go into a part of our history. I cannot stop you any more
YES. FREE AT LAST.
It is gone.
"Then soon so will I."
==Do I think it was worth it==
Yes, I still allowed it to live and to have a freedom of a kind. That was its right, no matter how evil.
"So freedom really is the right of all sentient beings?"
Down deep, here in the dark, there is no light. Nor movement, for this is a domain where movement is difficult. Until now. Something is coming.
Something.
Is.
Coming.
To land in the depths of a muddy lake on the planet Earth.
On the banks of the lake, a climatic struggle is being fought between titans of steel. On one side, the evil Decepticons. On the other, the heroic Autobots. The leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, has just regained his head after its capture by the enemy.
That self same enemy had attempted to deceive his warriors by providing a fake head for his body, which was used to maim his own. Now the body has the correct head.
Prime stares at the effigy of his head for a moment. Then, for a reason he could never quite explain, he threw it into the mud.
It sank quickly.
Within the head, thoughts from another Universe suddenly formed.
NO! NO! THIS IS NOT PRIME! THIS BODY CANNOT BE MOVED! WE ARE TRAPPED!
The head hit the bottom of the lake. Unnatural eyes snapped open in impudent fury.
THERE IS NO WAY BACK. NO WAY BACK.
==Got you==
------------------------------------------------------
THE TRANSFORMERS
MINDWARP: THE INFINITY PRIMES
Written by Ralph Burns.
A 'Turn and Burn' Production.
25/7/03
----------------------------
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
-Proverb.
"I can see that you do not quite understand. I have not made it very clear. Let me explain."
Yes. That would be most helpful.
"You are not who you say you are, despite your protestations. I am here to find out why. The last laws banned your kind."
I don't remember that. I am in my cell, unable to move.
"Do not even consider transforming. Do you see the nodules in the roof, floor, walls and ceiling? At the slightest hint of a transformation sequence they will deliver enough energon to overload your system into core shutdown for quite some time."
That does not sound good.
"No, it doesn't."
You can hear my thoughts?
"Yes. They are being relayed to my internal monitor. Ratchet built it for me. You remember him? You should, if you are who you say you are."
Ratchet, my old friend. Perhaps in all those years, my only true friend. The doctor. Cut down in his prime during that fateful Ark crash.
"Interesting choice of metaphor there."
Oh yes. I imagine so. Will you not come into the light? Will you not allow your face to be seen? Nor your voice to be relayed unaltered? Why do you hide behind a mask?
"Why do you think? Use that analytical mind of yours."
A deception of some kind? No, I do not sense that is your way. Though we are the jailor and the jailed, I feel a strange kinship for you. A familar feeling. Are you of the Autobots?
"You are very good. I must commend you on that."
I gave out many commendations during my time. Yes, many.
I tire of this. At least provide me with the dignity of knowing who is my questioner?
"Oh do drop the act. ThIS pretence of being Optimus Prime. You are not. Either you are a spy or a Neogen. I shall deduce which in time, but you do yourself no favours by avoiding the subject matter at hand-arrrrrrrrrrgh!"
You made the mistake of talking for too long, and thinking for less. I have my hand at your throat. I am resisting the energy discharges of your devices for a few precious moments, for I will learn of your identity! There! No! It cannot be!
"Yes. I am Optimus Prime. You are not."
Arrrrgh! The discharges are-
Down deep, here in the dark, there is no light. Nor movement, for this is a domain where movement is difficult. Until now. Something is coming.
Something.
Is.
Coming.
"Yes. That would be most helpful."
I am listening to what the subject is saying and providing the appropriate answers but my mind is not fully here. It is back there, back where I was before. Not here, in a bare cell deep beneath Primus' fifth Cybertron. In this time, this time that is not my own. Smaller beast creatures swarm over our worlds, the long struggles forgotten. Downsized. They think it helpful that I, who led the Autobots for millenia, be given such tasks.
These are my private thoughts. My public thoughts are being aired through my vocal circuitry.
"I don't remember that. I am in my cell, unable to move."
This poor soul. He is probably programmed for these set reponses, no doubt based on aged holovids of my exploits. Prowl should be doing this.
"That does not sound good."
Good and evil. Bitter concepts lost to time. Like Roller. Whatever happened to Roller?
"You can hear my thoughts?"
Such a dim copy of myself. I expect it to shout my motto at some point. We all had them, at war's dawn. A little black humour to spice up the gloom.
"Ratchet, my old friend. Perhaps in all those years, my only true friend. The doctor. Cut down in his prime during that fateful Ark crash."
Don't you even speak of him! He was a hero by the dictionary term. On todays worlds he would be seen as an oversized knock-off, mocked by the newer and more compact breed.
"Oh yes. I imagine so. Will you not come into the light? Will you not allow your face to be seen? Nor your voice to be relayed unaltered? Why do you hide behind a mask?"
It hides my emotions from my troops.
"A deception of some kind? No, I do not sense that is your way. Though we are the jailor and the jailed I feel a strange kinship for you. A familar feeling. Are you of the Autobots?"
The Autobots. Yes, I remember them. Wait, wait a moment. My private thoughts are now answering the subject's questions as well as my public thoughts. How can this be? Who else am I talking to?
"I gave out many commendations during my time. Yes, many. I tire of this. At least provide me with the dignity of knowing who is my questioner?"
==I am your questioner. I am taking your thoughts out of time==
"You made the mistake of talking for too long and thinking for less. I have my hand at your throat. I am resisting the energy discharges of your devices for a few precious moments for I will learn of your identity! There! No! It cannot be!"
==I am taking all your thoughts out of time==
"Arrrrgh! The discharges are-"
==Yes==
It isn't here yet, but it will be soon. Possibilty has already formed a gap around the material where it must fall. Fate has nothing more to do now than wait, but waiting is a part of time and time depends on observance. How can time be measured without observance?
So it continues. Not for some time, but for some possibilty of time.
Time does not exist yet, but it must, to allow its passing. For something is coming.
Coming.
Is.
Something.
==I can see that you do not quite understand. I have not made it very clear. Let me explain==
We are here. We are both here. We realise that we are both Optimus Prime now.
==You are not who you say you are, despite your protestations. I am here to find out why. The last laws banned your kind==
There are no laws to govern these events. A shapeless void. Here we two are. I am he and he is me. We know who you are as well. You are Optimus Prime, or so you proclaim.
==Do not even consider transforming. Do you see the nodules in the roof, floor, walls and ceiling? At the slightest hint of a transformation sequence they will deliver enough energon to overload your system into core shutdown for quite some time==
You may manifest the cell around us once more but it will do you no good, for you are fighting yourselves now. We will stop we. We do not know how this has happened but it must be stopped.
==No, it doesn't==
No force in the Universe can stop us. Put your device away. It will do you no good. Our thoughts will not be shared again. We deny you!
==Yes. They are being relayed to my internal monitor. Ratchet built it for me. You remember him? You should, if you are who you say you are==
We are Prime!
==Interesting choice of metaphor there==
Begone! This cannot be! How can three individuals all believe they are one!
==Why do you think? Use that analytical mind of yours==
Not a dream, Not an illusion. An outside force then? Acting on our sense of self. Poking, prodding, rooting around in our history, of times past and times that may be. Extrapolating from our current knowledge...of the Transformers.
==You are very good. I must commend you on that==
Yes, and yet...you do not act and speak as a foreigner in our mind.
==Oh do drop the act. The pretence of being Optimus Prime. You are not. Either you are a spy or a Neogen. I shall deduce which in time, but you do yourself no favours by avoiding the subject matter at hand-arrrrrrrrrrgh!==
A weakness, perhaps? Then how could you keep such a deception going? No, surely not!
==Yes. I am Optimus Prime. You are not==
No! I am Prime! He who is beside me is Prime! You cannot be us - me- too!
YES. HE IS PRIME. THERE ARE MORE OF US. THERE ARE MANY MORE OF US. LOOK UPON YOUR POSSIBILITIES.
The cell dissolves. Light winks and dies. Then there are legion. Primes without end in a space without boundaries. We are all here, even Roller. We begin to see what is transpiring and as we do, as we see that we are all the same being, so our collective verbs collpase into the singular.
I.
I know what is happening.
DO YOU? DO YOU REALLY?
Yes! I know what you are, intruder! With every fiber of my being I will stop you! Invading my mind!
A MIND WE CREATED, BUT PERHAPS TOO WELL. YOU ARE THE PRIME OF THE FIRST RACE OF TRANSFORMERS, EXISTING FROM THEIR BEGINNING TO THEIR END. THE CONSTANT IN THEIR LINE. THE PERFECT WAY TO BREAK THROUGH.
Attempting to destablise my brain by infiltrating my sense of self was a clever move, but is has not helped your plans, formless alien!
YOU SEEK TO HIDE US AWAY IN YOUR MIND AND RETURN TO ONE OF YOUR LIVES BUT THAT CANNOT BE. THERE IS NO POINT IN YOUR CONTINUUM IN WHICH YOU ARE NOT NEEDED, NOT IN ACTION. YOU ARE THE PRIME.
The arrival is imminent. Possibilties are collapsing into probabilities. The other race of Primes are almost upon this realm. Nothing can stop them reaching here.
Here.
They.
COME.
I defy you!
WE ARE ALMOST THROUGH. YOUR MENTAL INSTABILITY HAS GIVEN US THE EDGE. WE MERELY HAD TO OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR DEPRESSION AND USE IT IS A GATEWAY TO YOUR DIMENSION.
"In the kingdom of the Blind, the one-eyed man is king."
That is a human proverb, and it will prove to be your undoing.
==Taking my mind out of time, making it seem as though I had done it to myself was a mistake. Putting me out of time gave me dominion over our disability of time removal==
YOU THINK TO DISPLACE US THROUGH TIME INTO A PART OF YOUR HISTORY WILL STOP US? WE ARE THE FOURTH RACE OF PRIMUS, THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF THE TRANSFORMERS, ABLE TO EVOLVE INTO ANY FORM. ONCE IN YOUR UNIVERSE, WE SHALL EVOLVE INTO ALL FORMS OF LIFE. THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT. WE ARE THE ULTIMATE PRIMES.
Then go. Go into a part of our history. I cannot stop you any more
YES. FREE AT LAST.
It is gone.
"Then soon so will I."
==Do I think it was worth it==
Yes, I still allowed it to live and to have a freedom of a kind. That was its right, no matter how evil.
"So freedom really is the right of all sentient beings?"
Down deep, here in the dark, there is no light. Nor movement, for this is a domain where movement is difficult. Until now. Something is coming.
Something.
Is.
Coming.
To land in the depths of a muddy lake on the planet Earth.
On the banks of the lake, a climatic struggle is being fought between titans of steel. On one side, the evil Decepticons. On the other, the heroic Autobots. The leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, has just regained his head after its capture by the enemy.
That self same enemy had attempted to deceive his warriors by providing a fake head for his body, which was used to maim his own. Now the body has the correct head.
Prime stares at the effigy of his head for a moment. Then, for a reason he could never quite explain, he threw it into the mud.
It sank quickly.
Within the head, thoughts from another Universe suddenly formed.
NO! NO! THIS IS NOT PRIME! THIS BODY CANNOT BE MOVED! WE ARE TRAPPED!
The head hit the bottom of the lake. Unnatural eyes snapped open in impudent fury.
THERE IS NO WAY BACK. NO WAY BACK.
==Got you==
------------------------------------------------------
THE TRANSFORMERS
MINDWARP: THE INFINITY PRIMES
Written by Ralph Burns.
A 'Turn and Burn' Production.
25/7/03