Respark

Daddy, where do Sparks come from? What came first, the robot or the protoform? I don’t know, Son. But there is one thing I am sure of: There is no such thing as an absolute beginning. There is no beginning, only recycling.

Cybertron, 2386. Ultra Magnus was again about to ask himself why he had volunteered to guest lecture at the Autobots’ Arctis Academy. The cadets were in their final edcycle. Sure, they had all downloaded the necessary log-tapes but they all lacked experience. They lacked a savvy that could only be accumulated after thousands of years of war.

Ultra Magnus’s ten students – Sideburn, Chicane, Speedtrap, Warcry, Oilslick, Ox, Daytonus, Crosswise, Hot Shot, and Rev – sat restlessly as he reeled off a commentary on the Autobots’ strategies used in the Software Wars of 2299. Only Speedtrap seemed vaguely interested in the schematics of the Lamprey Virus that were displayed holographically on the central display unit. The rest were completely bored. Eager now to get out into the field and put their newly acquired skills to the test.

Magnus turned with a start as the main doors to the auditorium slid open to reveal a sombre-looking Air Raid.

“Sir. Blaster is dead.”

Pop quiz. What is the Matrix?

Originally, it was thought to be a simple computer program with the ability to grant new life to the Transformers. During the early years of the Transformers’ secret war on Earth, the Matrix was transmitted through Optimus Prime’s head (voluntarily or otherwise) to grant life to the likes of the Constructicons, Jetfire, and the Aerialbots.

On Cybertron, a Matrix Flame was used in a similar fashion to grant life to Ultra Magnus, Springer, Broadside, and Sandstorm.

Later, it was discovered that the Matrix was a physical object housed within Optimus Prime’s chest—a secret only a select few knew about. An object stolen by Thunderwing and eventually used to destroy Unicron in 1991.

In 2002, Khyaxian science proved that each Transformer contained a unique portion of the Matrix – a mass of positrons that had encoded on it the “life-giving” computer program. The Nebulan Vorath had isolated the program code a few years before, calling it the Vorcode.

In 2008, Unicron told Death’s Head that the Matrix was the essence of Primus’s life force.

By the time of the Maximals, it was discovered that the Matrix was in fact a separate dimension that contained every “Spark” of every Transformer; past, present, and future. Maximal scientists found that the mass of positrons that flowed through their bodies could be condensed into a spherical object known as a Spark during biomorphic reproduction.

Thanks to the Oracle in the 30th Century, Optimus Primal realised the true nature of the Matrix: a collective intelligence—an Allspark—that craved knowledge, emotion, and experience.

Perceptor silently loaded Blaster’s lifeless corpse onto Ultra Magnus’ trailer. “It’s all loaded up, commander. I will return to headquarters in due course to aid with the autopsy.”

“Are you going to stay here to gather more evidence?”

“No,” Perceptor replied without emotion. “I still have my research to finish out here.”

“Very well,” said Ultra Magnus as he pulled away, leaving the Autobot scientist to deal with the Rad Zone’s grit-winds. And perhaps his conscience.

Anyway, let’s get back to the subject of the Matrix. From all the evidence gathered by the Transformers over the millennia, it would seem that Primus never actually left the Astral Plane. Did only a small portion of his energy being travel to the physical Universe to trap Unicron? Was it actually the Spark of the first Transformer that Unicron followed?

If that were the case, Primon’s Spark must have had the Matrix with it. Didn’t Rhinox use that description for Optimus Prime’s Spark on Prehistoric Earth? So maybe the physical object housed inside an Autobot leader’s chest was their Spark, and somehow with it, a gateway to the Allspark? A gateway used to bring an individual Spark from the collective consciousness of the Primus into the body of a Transformer.

Would that mean that the Matrix Flame was also a gateway?

Ultra Magnus lost control, skidded, and rolled over a few times just outside Autobase. He had had another vision. Not like the ones of recent years, but similar to ones he’d had while confronting Galvatron back in 1988.

He felt consumed by molten magma. Seething and boiling in a pit of white-hot death. The liquid metal gnawed at his armour until it broke through and evaporated his Spark.

The giant Autobot came to as Superion and a few members of the medical team lifted him back onto his wheels. They then unloaded his dead passenger, allowing him to transform.

“I just blacked out,” he said, feeling the need to explain the crash to the group.

They silently helped him into the medical complex.

As I said, there is no beginning, only recycling. Primus exists in the Astral Plane, patiently executing his Grand Plan for the Transformers, so that when “all are one” he will be ready to defeat the Dark Gods (and their rogue member, Unicron) once and for all. Like a mystical gumball machine, he releases Sparks into the physical Universe, allowing them to grow and evolve, so that he may also grow and evolve when they return.

But what happens to a Transformer who dies before his time? Are they returned? Is their Spark recycled until it is mature enough. Take Brainstorm as an example. He was pretty clever; he’d had a good innings. When he died his Spark returned to Primus and he retained his individuality, interacting with other Sparks for the rest of forever. But what about younger Transformers that never really had much of a life? That little yellow one that never got a chance to prove himself to his elders.

“His name was Scrounge.” 340 breems into Blaster’s autopsy, the medics had accessed his neural centre – a tiny sphere of circuits and were replaying various images from his memory. Ultra Magnus kept his gaze on the viewscreen as Perceptor approached.

The Autobot scientist continued regardless: “He always wanted to prove something to me. To Blaster.”

Magnus was not listening. The viewscreen showed Scrounge’s death from Blaster’s point-of-view. The poor Autobot was consumed by the burning torrents of the Smelting Pool; seething and boiling in a pit of white-hot death. Ultra Magnus thought back to his visions and realised something.

“This image was the most recent in Blaster’s mem-net. I think it was the guilt he’d harboured for so long that fuelled his suicide. He tried to blame me, but Ultra Magnus are you listening to me?”

The Autobot commander bowed his head slightly and held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

“Are you okay, Magnus?”

Ultra Magnus whispered: “Scrounge… was me.”