Chapter 17
I was suddenly blinded by a bright light and I hit the ground with a thump. The ground underneath me shifted. I found my feet and stood up, looking for the mountains that I had to go to see the Primes, but I couldn't find them. "SAM!" I heard Mikaela yell.
"Simmons!"
"Hey, yeah," Simmons yelled back.
"Where are we?"
"You guys okay?"
"Yeah."
I heard a lot of shouting back and forth but wasn't sure who was doing the talking. "Hey I think we're Vegas!" Leo shouted. I looked around for the others and I could see movement all heading towards a pile of rocks. I ran to join my companions.
"We are not in Vegas!" I yelled as I ran. We all climbed up on to the rock where Jetfire was.
"That really, really hurt. You're just lucky that I didn't get hurt! People could have gotten killed, okay? And if I would have gotten hurt, you would have heard..." Simmons ranted at Jetfire.
Jetfire cut him off. "Oh, shut up. I told you I was opening a space bridge. It's the fastest way to travel to Egypt," Jetfire said.
"What, what did you tell us? You didn't tell us anything. Why are we in Egypt?" Sam said ranting now too.
"Don't you get snippy with me fleshling. You were duly informed," Jetfire said taking a seat only to stand back up a few moments later.
"Can you stop for second? Can you focus? Can you tell us why we're in Egypt so that we can all of some piece of mind?" Sam asked.
"This planet was visited by our race once before, by our earliest ancestors a millennia ago. They were on an exploratory mission to harvest Energon, the life blood of our race. Without it we'll all perish, oxide and rust, like my wretched self. Do you have any idea what's like to slowly fall apart and die?"
"Let's not get episodic, okay older timer? Beginning, middle, end. Facts. Details. Condense. Plot. Tell it," Simmons said.
Jetfire turned to look at us, "Somewhere buried in this desert, our ancestors built a great machine. It harvests Energon, by destroying suns." Jetfire looked up at the sun.
"Destroys suns?" Sam asked.
"Like blow them up?" Leo asked using his hands to emphasize his point.
"Yes," Jetfire answered simply while we were trying to get our head around the fact the Decepticons were where to blow up the Sun! "You see in the beginning there were seven Primes, our original leaders. And they set out into the universe seeking distant suns to harvest. The Primes set out with one rule, never destroy a planet with life. Until one of them tried to defy this rule, his name forever more was the Fallen." Jetfire put his hand up activating a hologram, much like Optimus had done when I first met him.
He showed us the Fallen and the battle that took place between him and his brothers. "He despised the human race and he wanted to kill you all by turning on that machine. The only way to activate it is with a legendary key called the Matrix of Leadership. A great battle took place over possession of the Matrix. The Fallen was stronger than his brothers, so they had no choice but to steal and hide it from him. In the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives to seal the Matrix away in a tomb made of their every own bodies, a tomb that we cannot find. Somewhere, buried in this desert, that deadly machine remains. The Fallen knows where it is, and if he finds the tomb of the Primes, your world will be no more."
The hologram ended with the Primes creating the tomb with their own bodies, disappearing into the mountain. "Okay, so how do we stop him?" Mikaela asked.
Jetfire looked up into the Sun for a moment, "Only a Prime can defeat the Fallen."
I felt my heart drop; the only Prime that I knew of was dead. I felt a few tears slide down my face. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at Bee. I gave a weak smile. "Optimus Prime?" Sam asked. Jetfire bent down so that the tip of his beard slid across the ground.
"So you've met a Prime? You must have met a great descendant. Is he alive here on this planet?"
"He sacrificed himself to save Allison and me," Sam answered. I fought the sob that was trying to break through my chest.
"So he's dead then. Without a Prime it's impossible, no one else could stop the Fallen."
Sam spoke up, "So the same energy that's going to be used to reactivate the machine, could that energy somehow be used to reactivate Optimus and bring him back to life?" I looked up at Jetfire, hopeful.
"It was never designed for that purpose, but it's an energy like no other," Jetfire said.
"So, then how to you get us to the Matrix before the Decepticons get to us?" Sam asked.
Jetfire tapped his head with one of his fingers, "Follow your mind, your map, your symbols. What you carved in the sand it's your clue! When dawn alights the dagger's tip three kings will reveal the door way! Find the doorway! Go now! Go!" Jetfire said shooing us. "That was my mission; it's your mission now. Go before the Decepticons find me and find you." With that we all piled into Bee with a new hope.