Transformers™: In the Beginning… (aka Transformers™: Genesis)
2009
A fan-fiction written by Magneticus loosely based on the events of the “The Transformers” animated series, and the blockbuster movies “Transformers” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
***Disclaimer: The author of this story owns no rights to characters from the Transformers series. No profit is being made.***
In the beginning, there was nothing.
Out of that nothing, came something, an intense explosion of light amidst the vast darkness.
Out of that something, came the Quintesson…
Quintesson, considered a deity by Cybertronians, was the god responsible for the creation of Cybertron and for creating all living things on Cybertron. On Cybertron, the Quintesson was known as the creator of life, the creator of everything, considered a genuine living god. Quintesson, according to Cybertronian legend and folklore, was a being claimed to be the size of the entire universe who possessed countless faces, and was made of the best materials, metals, and minerals the Cosmos had to offer. The purest of the pure gold, the purest of the pure diamonds, the purest of the pure silver, the purest of the pure platinum, the purest of the pure bronze, the purest of the pure iron, the purest of the pure copper, and other metals, elements, materials and components, both known and unknown, it was said and claimed, made up the Quintesson. Other records of Cybertronian mysticism, legend, and lore which were interpreted and translated by various Cybertronian sages and oracles even indicate that the Quintesson was the universe itself. It was said that the best and excellent technologies, sciences, engineering, and mathematics of the Cosmos flowed through him, with him, and in him. Everything with Quintesson was possible and with him, everything became possible. Quintesson, as Cybertronian spiritual and mysticism records claimed, was omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.
Quintesson created the Cybertronians. He created them in his image. When he created the Cybertronians, they were merely fundamentally quantum mechanical and physical beings, their bodies possessing heavily strong yet flexibly self-healing, self-generating, and self-replicating quantum molecular metal plating and other materials and components, and equally strong and flexible self-healing, self-generating, and self-replicating quantum molecular mechanical, physical, electronic, computer, nanotechnological, zeptotechnological, and other exotic materials, components, parts, and constructs internally. As a result of these characteristics, as was the case with carbon-based life, whenever they were physically wounded or injured, the affected parts of their anatomy and physiology would also heal and recover in time, although they were fundamentally made up of metal, computer, electronic, and other such known and unknown related parts. Their anatomical and physiological compositions and structures were utterly extraordinary. They were exotic and beautiful, yet strong and powerful. They were silicon-based lifeforms rather than carbon-based. As such, the planet, which was much, much older than the Earth, could support and sustain such lifeforms. Possessing nanotechnological, zeptotechnological, and yet other unknown, extraordinarily advanced, sophisticated, exotic, and complex physical, computer, electronic, mechanical, and molecular constructs all blended together in their genetic makeup, the Cybertronians were truly unique and extraordinary life forms. They were strong, powerful, and resilient; survivable in any above-melting point environments and conditions provided a steady Energon consumption and decent maintenance, and barring any overwhelming violent encounters; infinitely upgradeable; and capable of massive amounts of quantum computing which contributed to their basic intelligence.
In the beginning, despite being created with extraordinary strength and power, the Cybertronians had no will of their own and behaved and acted more like drones without the ability to think for themselves, controlled and influenced directly by the Quintesson like remote-controlled toys. They possessed a rudimentary level of intelligence that enabled them to follow commands and instructions, yet they had no will of their own and no awareness of themselves. Whatever each and every Cybertronian did, they did as a result of the Quintesson controlling and influencing their actions. These early Cybertronians needed the instructions and commands of the Quintesson in order for them to be able to perform anything. The Cybertronians that Quintesson created, thus, were merely functional, with no thought of their own and no power to make decisions for themselves. The Cybertronians were bred and born out of Quintesson’s power and might, yet they operated more like toys. Despite them being able to move and articulate their heads, eyes, limbs, bodies, they were controlled and influenced for the most part by the Quintesson.
According to Cybertronian mysticism, spirituality, and legend, the Quintesson created the first Cybertronians out of the rich metals, materials, and minerals of Cybertron after he created the planet first. The Quintesson then created the planet’s skies after creating the planet. After creating the skies, the Quintesson then created the land over all of Cybertron. After creating the land, the Quintesson then created everything on the land that would serve a purpose and be useful and beneficial for all the planet’s inhabitants to cultivate, harness, and use. After that was done, the Quintesson then created all the seasons on the planet. Afterwards, the Quintesson created all the creatures on Cybertron, the first Cybertronians. After creating these first Cybertronians upon the creation and establishment of the planet, the Quintesson then breathed life into them. The Quintesson made them functional. The Quintesson created the first Cybertronians on the planet such that, on Quintesson’s commands, they were able to perform tasks that he wanted them to do: create monuments, dwelling places, and various structures; cultivate and harness the land; set out and explore all of Cybertron; and to naturally reproduce, propagate, and preserve the silicon-based planetary species. However, in the beginning, even when they reached their full growth and development, they still were under the Quintesson’s direct command and control and followed whatever whim the Quintesson had. The Cybertronians performed and executed all of Quintesson's commands and instructions unwaveringly and unquestioningly.
The Quintesson, then, pondered about the existence of his creation. What would have been the point of him creating the Cybertronians when he himself could manage to do what he instructed and commanded them? What would have been the reason and purpose for the Cybertronians? Surely the Quintesson could manage things for himself. In essence, the Cybertronians became like toys to the Quintesson; objects that he directed and controlled. The Quintesson could choose to keep them in their state or entirely do away with them, both functions of which would have spelled an end to the emerging life on Cybertron which he neither wished nor wanted. The Quintesson, as wise and highly intelligent as he was, held a deeper appreciation of the value, miracle, and meaning of life of which never-ending circle he was a part of than to merely keep his creation as toys or objects he could control like slaves or, worse, completely eliminating them as if they were garbage to be disposed of whose usefulness had come and gone. He thought that what he wanted was for his creation to learn from their environment and their experiences and for them to contribute to the wonder, miracle, and grandeur of creation.
Thus, one day, Quintesson gave them free will. It was something that, once let loose and set into motion, like an intense wave of raging fire, could never be taken back and put a lid onto. He gave them the ability to adapt to and learn from their environment and their experiences. It was an explosion of soul and awareness that freed the minds and bodies of all Cybertronians for good and would touch their lives in more ways than one. The free will that the Quintesson granted the Cybertronians was unstoppable and unbreakable as it was bonded with the flames of awareness and determination, freedom and fate, persistence and resilience. With this, Quintesson summoned the Cube from the depths of space and time – the Allspark – a remnant from when the entire Cosmos was born and, like Quintesson himself, was itself the beginning and the end, spanning from eternity to eternity, in whose physical manifestation maybe destroyed, but its essence and energy only transformed. The Quintesson was a part of the Allspark as much as it was a part of him. They provided life, and with the Allspark, the soul and vibrancy.
Within the Allspark contained life-giving energy that made it possible to bestow free-will upon the Cybertronians so that ultimately they would be able to make their own decisions and choose their own destiny. While the Allspark conferred souls on the Cybertronians and granted them awareness of themselves, their surroundings, and their feelings, it became clear as well that they were ultimately going to begin to think, hear, see, and feel for themselves. Thus, as it bestowed the soul and awareness on the Cybertronians, the Allspark also possessed the energy to heal, replenishing and mending the Cybertronians’ mind, body, and spirit, making them whole again if need be. With the energy of the Allspark, the Cybertronians were no longer merely unaware, thoughtless drones to the Quintesson. Quintesson, with the power of the Allspark, created a living and vibrant world; a world that now had the capacity of reaching its full potential and not merely exist out of devoid hollowness without any consciousness, awareness, spirit, or soul. Dark. Empty. Inanimate.
As with anything at the beginning, the first Cybertronians who had been given a spark were a jumble of chaos and disorder. However, Quintesson guided, sustained, and nurtured them, provided sustenance for them – the main source of which was Energon, composed mainly of materials that convert into hydraulics, nuclear fusion, electric power, and other materials, components, energies, and processes that ensured all of their mechanisms, materials, processes, and components remained in top condition and which allowed and enabled them to grow, develop, stay healthy and functional through generations. Energon became the lifeblood of the Cybertronian race. The Cybertronians reproduced and propagated, and preserved themselves well, beginning as embryonic protoforms, until they were born, and until these protoforms had reached their full growth and development. Quintesson taught them the ways of technology, the sciences and mathematics, their history and civilization, philosophy, morals, ethics, and other knowledge.
When Quintesson saw the grandeur of what he had done, he kept and hid the Allspark on Cybertron as an act of Quintesson’s faith in his creation that, ultimately, although they had been given free will, they would choose their fate in accordance with the natural cosmic laws of freedom, life, liberty, happiness, justice, goodness and truth; the other, as a covenant and testament for his creation, a proof of Quintesson’s ever-enduring legacy and might, and the truth of his existence. The Quintesson had no doubt that, when the time was ripe, the Allspark and all the other secrets and mysteries of the Cosmos would be revealed to the Cybertronians and that these revelations would help them shape who they were as a race, as a species, and as a civilization.
After some time, the first fully intelligent and sentient Cybertronians finally emerged. After billions and billions of years of evolution since Cybertron and its first inhabitants were created and a period of peace, progress, and technological advancements unlike what was seen in the known universe, Quintesson thought that it was time. Quintesson decided it was best that he left to allow the Cybertronians to choose their own destiny through their free will and to allow them to flourish on their own. And thus, the Quintesson and all his subordinates drew away from Cybertron.
At first, although the Cybertronians as sentient beings were special in their own unique way, they were simply aware and intelligent robotic organisms, exoskeletal metallic protoforms that were not capable of anything out of the ordinary. They walked, moved, communicated, consumed, worked, played, rested, and engaged in activities sentient and intelligent living beings did. They were diverse living organisms, with shapes, sizes, heights, weights, and physical appearances varying from one Cybertronian to another. They were naturally born the way they were based on their unique genetic make-up. They continued to learn and adapt at a staggering pace during their growth and development, but in the history of their evolution their earlier social interactions were uniform and awkward. Cybertronian archaeological and anthropological records indicate that early Cybertronians, although they communicated and interacted with one another through a whole range of media – radio, microwave, electronics, vocal, and other such modes of communications covering entire spectra and frequencies – led uniformly stoic and mechanical, if not unremarkable, existences. Although the Cybertronians have had incredibly sharp senses ever since the beginning, their ability to show a whole dynamic range of emotions, expressions, and instincts developed in response to evolution as the Cybertronians tried to survive a harsh planet with oftentimes unforgiving conditions where they knew they had to stand and look out for one another if they were to survive and preserve themselves as a species.
Cybertron not being separated by vast bodies of water helped the planet’s inhabitants in integrating and bonding the entire planet socially and culturally and this cohesion served them well in times of both fortune and adversity. As time passed on and as they continued to evolve and learn, the Cybertronians developed their language, arts, music, writing, mysticism, culture, engineering, and other knowledge, science, mathematics, technology, and skills that the Quintesson had intended for them to learn with their newfound freedom and that would lead the way for them to advance their civilization into newer, better, and greater heights. They were bred and born and the spark of one Cybertronian was passed to another. Thus, the Cybertronians continued their lineage and ancestry and all their records of knowledge, technology, culture, customs, traditions, beliefs, and civilization were kept and stored. The innate connection that the Allspark had with all Cybertronians made it possible for it to be also aware and knowledgeable of all their history and accomplishments.
Overtime, the planet that once was made up of vast amounts of unexploited gold, iron, copper, diamonds, silver, bronze, platinum, titanium, and other such resources, Cybertron became a wondrous and resplendent place to behold; a gleaming ethereal sphere whose science, mathematics, and technology were things to behold, indistinguishable from magic, and its engineering and architecture were genuinely sights to be in awe with. It seemed as though that each and every aspect of the planet was a by-product of magic and wizardry, a place rich in dreams and wonders where virtually anything and everything was possible. Overtime the entire planet was paved with all sorts of structures; of dwelling places, monuments, places of worship, buildings and structures of all varieties and purposes that stood as far out into the heavens, cities astonishingly vast and grand that covered the planet’s surface from end to end. Huge, towering, magnificent, and glorious statues of gold, iron, steel and other metals of heroic Cybertronians – sages, oracles, theologians, scholars, warriors, prophets, political figures, doctors, engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and various other leaders – from legend, lore, and history adorned the planet. It was a wild and vast center of knowledge, technological, architectural, and engineering marvel, a place teeming with boundless energy and life. From above, as the Cybertronians mastered the art and science of space travel and gradually started establishing their off-world lunar colonies in every moon closely surrounding the planet, Cybertron’s radiance shone forth ever so brilliantly. Powerful and colorful lights graced the planet all throughout its surface on its night side, and on its day side, it was a conspicuously bright, luminous golden sphere amidst the blackness of space, full of hope, energy, vibrancy, enthusiasm, and glory.
However, throughout its history, Cybertron had seen its share of threats from both within and, eventually, from outside Cybertron. Cybertron at the beginning was a violent planet, filled with so much danger and hazard for the fledgling species. Aside from a few periods of mass extinctions as a result of planetary changes, Cybertron was in the part of the universe where other equal and/or superior technological planetary civilizations took interest in it, especially moreso with its wealth of resources. It was also a place in the universe where it was oftentimes prone to collisions with other celestial bodies.
Not only did the Cybertronians then get preoccupied with dealing with the innate natural problems of their planet from cataclysmic geologic, seismic, volcanic, weather and climactic upheavals, and other such natural cataclysms, but from time to time they also had to deal with threats from beyond Cybertron, whether in the form of threats posed by asteroids, meteors and other such bodies, and also from invasions by alien civilizations which for the most part only affected a few cities at a time but were brutal and terrible nonetheless in the damage, death, and destruction they caused and brought. In all cases, these events, at times, threatened the very existence of the Cybertronians and their home world and tested their unity and resilience.
Despite these, their lineage forged on. Because of the cohesion, resilience, and strength of the Cybertronians as a species and as a race, and the persistence of their will to survive, they continued to advance, adapt and evolve. Cybertron and the Cybertronians endured, overcame, and survived and their evolution and existence went on uninterrupted and unimpeded. After billions and billions of more years, their evolution took them to a path where the Cybertronians were finally able to shift and change their shapes and blend in with their environment at will as a defense mechanism to protect themselves from other hostile entities and environments. At some point in their evolution, the Cybertronians started to possess this special ability. No one really could say how it started or knew when exactly it happened. It just seemed to happen. Stories and rumors spread as word got out from one neighbor to the next about how someone he or she knew took the shape of something – of a ship belonging to alien forces intent on subjugating Cybertron and enslaving the Cybertronians; of the smaller-sized Cybertronians taking the shapes and appearances of their oppressors and using this ability to outsmart them and drive them out of the planet, their oppressors showing signs of shock and dread as they scampered away from the planet, not knowing what had struck them. It had been a slow and gradual process, after countless encounters with internal and external threats for billions of years. Although the Cybertronians owed so much to these new generation of Cybertronians who were able to shift their shapes by contributing greatly in the expulsion of their invaders and greatly limiting their invaders’ ability to inflict further harm, death, and damage to the Cybertronians through their abilities of disguise and stealth, fear of the unknown gradually started to take hold. At first, these changes started alarming and petrifying the Cybertronians, specially those who had yet to be touched by the ongoing evolutionary changes transpiring on Cybertron, fearing that there was a mutational disease occurring on a grand-scale with the silicon-based species that was unknown. Others thought it might have been some kind of defect and disease brought on by classified experimental projects by various scientific and technological research and development centers throughout Cybertron that adversely affected them and contributed to what some Cybertronians then had termed “malformation” and “mutation”. Eventually, overtime, as more and more was learned of the truth about the natural evolutionary changes taking place on Cybertron at a grand scale that Cybertronian scientists had already proclaimed would eventually fully and completely affect all of them on the planet, the Cybertronians, true to their nature, learned to adapt to these changes and accepted them and, ultimately, nurtured and enhanced this ability.
Cybertronian vision and optical mechanisms, having the ability to see through all spectra of light – from alpha to gamma to infrared to x-ray and others – enabled the Cybertronians to look at and scan each and every detail of an object they wished to form into, just as long as those objects possess more or less similar sizes and mass as theirs. Any other special ability that a Cybertronian might have was related to the genetic code each and every one of them carried and possessed. If a Cybertronian had the capability of flight, it was as a result of his or her genetic make-up. If one had the ability of speed or extraordinary strength or size or any other factors or combinations thereof, it was because of his or her genetic make-up. Their genetics determined whether a Cybertronian was going to be a male or a female as much as it determined the color of their eyes. The eye colors varied from one Cybertronian to another, the most dominant colors of which on the planet were blue and red, followed by other colors in the radiant spectra. After scanning their target objects thoroughly, when they chose to – as chameleons blending in with the natural colors of their environment; as lizards regenerating new limbs and tails; as turtles retracting their heads and limbs inside their shells – they then formed into the objects they scanned and adopted their new appearance until they chose to scan and adopt another new appearance.
The Cybertronians enhanced this gift of evolution through their ingenuity and technology and soon thereafter were able to perform technological feats far advanced than those who wanted to enslave them. From their superior scientific and technological advancements in teleportation, force fields, advanced health maintenance and quantum medicine, unified force, weaponry, advanced quantum computing and engineering, advanced quantum physics and mechanics, advanced quantum genetics, advanced quantum metallurgy, advanced space travel and propulsions, and other technologies, the Cybertronians began to incorporate these technologies into their genetics and they began to possess more and more special and unique abilities much superior to any other civilization in the known universe. As their evolution and technology took them into this path, after yet again billions and billions of years, the perfection of their evolution and technology continued to evolve and develop throughout the years.
As a civilization, they had developed and grown to the point that they effectively and efficiently dealt with all threats to their existence and repelled those who would do them harm and damage. Eventually, over a period of time, those threats were neutralized and subsequently died down as a result of the ingenuity, unimpeded evolutionary and technological advancements, and the sheer strength, power, and resilience of the Cybertronian race. They had fought and defeated all their various invaders and oppressors, and they had proven that with unique Cybertronian ingenuity and technology, they could manipulate and control themselves, their environment and their planet at will. Although their species came the closest to becoming the perfect sentient beings in the Cosmos, who were able to live virtually for thousands, if not millions of years, if not for eternity, the Cybertronians still had their limitations and were aware of them. As with any other life form, they too deteriorated, got obsolete, aged, felt pain, got hurt, got wounded, got injured, fell ill, and at times, if they forgot themselves and disregarded their well-being which oftentimes occurred as a result of their overconfidence with their extraordinary strength and life-spans, they too encountered the end of their lives if they became too unmindful in taking care of themselves. The one common denominator in all of this to retain their health, vibrancy, and their functionality was the consumption of Energon, a vital source of sustenance for the Cybertronians to maintain their health, wellness, and functionality.
During that incredible period of relative peace, astonishing progress, and steadfast unity which they considered their Golden Age, however, seeing as they thought they had become masters of their destiny and had become quite proud of their accomplishments as a species, race, and civilization, the Cybertronians then started to create something that would best represent Cybertron in the absence of the Quintesson. At this point in their glorious history, the Cybertronians needed a genuine representation and manifestation of their home planet’s uniqueness and greatness, heritage, superiority and power, all while at the same time giving life to something that could always protect and defend Cybertron and its inhabitants from all threats to it and save them if need be. As was the nature of higher-form, intelligent, and self-aware beings, they had yearned for something far larger than themselves in the physical absence of a god; something that they could believe in in whose superiority and primacy their species and race could be manifested in.
In a laboratory on Cybertron where they could engineer and control births within an artificially-engineered placental structure and manage a Cybertronian embryo’s growth and development out of the extraordinary Cybertronian genetic code, the Cybertronians then created and nurtured Unicron. Unicron, who, through the wonders of Cybertronian genetic engineering and manipulation grew to be as large as Cybertron itself, served as a god in the absence of the Quintesson. Unicron became a titan in his own right and became powerful in many ways, and many Cybertronians looked up to him, making him a god in his own right.
As Cybertronian technology continued to evolve and advance and as Cybertronian civilization continued to progress and grow at a geometric and exponential rate, the demands for Energon continued to ever increase at the same rate, and natural Energon sources on Cybertron started to dwindle. Some Cybertronians then decided that in order for their race to survive, advance, and grow further, they thought that they should aggressively set out to the stars and search for and locate places teeming with Energon, and to fight for these sources of Energon if need be, even if it meant they had to eliminate all life from these planetary systems that may or may not be capable of opposing them. To this group, only the harvesting of Energon to aid in the growth, development, advancement, survival, maintenance, and preservation of Cybertron and its inhabitants was important; everything else was secondary. While Energon could be artificially replicated and created on Cybertron, Cybertronian civilization kept growing and expanding at a geometric and exponential rate – their needs oftentimes outpacing their supply, their output now far outweighing their input – that the Cybertronians had to start looking for other sources where it was present and which could provide an immediate supply since the Energon supply around Cybertron’s immediate surroundings also started to get exhausted as well. Energon was a resource that could virtually be found in every part of the Cosmos, from one corner of the universe to another. It was merely a matter of traveling to these locations that oftentimes could be separated by vast light-years.
Others, however, did not agree with this position. Although they agreed to search for sources of Energon wherever they may be found, this group denounced tyranny, slavery, violence, subjugation, and extermination of other species and planetary systems to attain this goal. This group sought peace, harmony, mutual respect, trust, and cooperation with other worlds in order to obtain Energon and other resources they might need, instead of bringing war, death, destruction, violence, misery, and suffering to other life forms. They vowed to harvest Energon in systems where life was absent; to gain and earn the trust and cooperation of other advanced species wherever they encountered them to arrive to that objective; or to just leave those places alone if it were not possible to gain them – perhaps at times as a result of life just emerging at these places – and look at somewhere else. Thus, two groups, two parties had been born out of this moral dilemma and the power struggle that ensued: those whose goal was the aggressive expansion of the species into the far reaches of the Cosmos to obtain the desired resources through brute strength and force, and those whose goal was the respect for life, happiness, freedom, and liberty throughout the Cosmos – as was the ideal and the way of the Quintesson – in the quest to gain and obtain these resources.
Some claimed that it was Unicron who influenced the more aggressive and warlike stance of the Cybertronians with regards to their survival and self-preservation, and the concept and principles of the ultimate superiority of Cybertronians above all other lifeforms. He was a passive manipulator, able to influence some Cybertronians through his cunning and incredible strength and power. Others, however, were influenced by the teachings of a simple, yet wise Cybertronian whose knowledge and wisdom were far advanced his years. His name was Vector Sigma, and he was among those who came from an extremely long lineage of Cybertronians who taught the values and principles of tolerance, freedom, liberty, humility, respect, and protecting the weak and the indefensible. Vector Sigma claimed that the Quintesson and all the other ancient prophets and sages of Cybertron spoke through him, with him, and in him. At an important juncture and crossroads in the history of Cybertron where courage, righteousness, and justice were mostly needed to remind the Cybertronians of their humble beginnings, Vector Sigma emerged.