Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 207 A Long Time

Vector took an energy block for himself and poured Optimus Prime a cup of energy liquid.

She then sat down next to him: "What is it?"

"The first thing is the compensation plan for the Autobots."

The vector's action of biting the energy block paused.

"The basic work is complete," Optimus Prime said. "The Autobots have held a collective meeting and the principles for sharing compensation have been approved."

Yin Vector raised an eyebrow and glanced at the documents he had organized.

It was much more pleasing to the eye than she had expected, with each item accompanied by the execution team, the expected timeframe, and the dispute resolution method.

The ambulance was mainly responsible for medical subsidies, Alita participated in the overall decision-making, and Ultra Magnus handled the review and execution process.

"good."

The vector was satisfied to see that this dead thing had actually listened; no single machine could handle everything.

Optimus Prime continued, "In addition, a draft truce treaty with the Decepticons has been finalized."

"Have you seen Megatron?"

"I've read the first draft."

"reaction?"

Optimus Prime paused for a moment, then said, "Intense."

The vector understood: "Didn't tear it?"

"no."

"Great progress."

Optimus Prime seemed to want to laugh, but then suppressed it.

The vector retrieved a new draft of the ceasefire treaty, which includes provisions on troop withdrawal boundaries, weapons registration, protection of non-combat zones, restrictions on space bridge and long-range flight routes, post-war conflict resolution mechanisms, judicial arbitration, reconstruction of regional cooperation, and oversight of compensation implementation.

And neither side may unilaterally expand its armed activities on the grounds of "historical attribution," "wartime practice," or "camp security needs."

This was written by Alita, and it seems to be specifically for certain machines.

"Proceed in this direction," said Yin Zongzhi. "Whether you like it or not, you have to sign. The judicial center has included this in the postwar ruling. Whoever goes back on their word, I'll expose them to the public as a clown."

Optimus Prime was trying not to laugh.

"Anything else?" Yin Xiang asked.

Optimus Prime put down the energy liquid in his hand, his tone becoming more serious.

"The Source of Fire".

"A clue?" said Yin Xiangzheng.

"Not entirely." Optimus Prime's chest armor wasn't open, but for a moment it seemed as if light from the Leadership Module shone through.

"The leadership module will guide me."

"Will I give you the coordinates?"

"No." Optimus Prime thought for a moment, searching for a closer explanation. "It's not like a star map, but rather a faint guiding force deep within the Spark. I can sense where I should go, but I can't see the destination."

Vector frowned in thought: "In other words, navigation only tells you the direction, not the destination."

Optimus Prime paused for a moment: "That's one way to understand it."

"You really deserve a beating."

Optimus Prime: "..."

Vector said with a serious face: "It doesn't even show the destination, what kind of unethical navigation is this?"

A slight smile appeared in Optimus Prime's optics: "The Leadership Module is not your average navigation module."

"That doesn't mean it's not easy to use."

Optimus Prime lowered his head and chuckled, this time understanding was much clearer.

After he finished laughing, Yin Vector asked, "When are you planning to go?"

"It's not the right time yet."

She wasn't surprised by the answer and followed Optimus Prime's gaze to look out the window.

"Cybertron is still unstable, the armistice treaty has not yet been formally signed, and the reconstruction area needs to be cleared."

The AllSpark left Cybertron to avoid being contested, and now the situation could very well be thrown into turmoil by it.

So, Yin Xiang nestled in the sofa and said, in more direct terms:

"The Spark isn't a reward or a prize. We need to clean the table before it comes back."

Optimus Prime watched her quietly. She never spoke in a fancy way; in fact, her speech was as simple as if she were handling household chores.

Yet her words always hit the nail on the head. Cybertron is covered in wounds, burdened with debts, and its shops have barely dared to open for business.

These things are not yet ready to welcome the AllSpark, but it is precisely these things pieced together that bring him closer to Cybertron than any so-called oath.

Optimus Prime stared at her, unable to look away for a moment.

The vector was a little puzzled by his gaze: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Why do you always ramble on and on?

Optimus Prime's smile deepened: "I'll be careful."

The room was peaceful and quiet; business had been temporarily concluded.

Vector picked up the half-eaten energy block, took another bite, and then looked at Optimus Prime.

As I was looking at it, I suddenly said:

"Actually, you weren't that easy to approach during your Orion era either."

Optimus Prime suddenly looked up.

This came so suddenly that he didn't answer.

The vector held the energy block as if it were just a casual remark.

"You are indeed gentle. You were like that during the Orion era; you listen to others, organize information, and carefully note down anything that is unreasonable."

"But you also have very clear boundaries."

Optimus Prime watched her silently.

The vector continued:

"You're actually quite stubborn inside, and you have your own ideas. You're not the type to be led by the nose by what others say."

She paused for a moment.

"And I always felt that you weren't the kind of person who could be easily ignited by a spark."

The living room light fell on the silent Optimus Prime's profile.

He remained silent for a long time.

During Orion Parkers' time, he did not have those memories that were so distant that they were almost impossible to explain in ordinary language.

At that time, he was just an archivist at the Iron Fort Archives.

Gentle, patient, willing to listen and take notes.

He will seek out the voices of the people in the Iron Fort archives, ask questions that Parliament is unwilling to answer, and find the whitewashed cracks in the files.

Orion was never a machine so soft as to be without edges; his so-called sharpness was hidden even deeper.

Later, the leadership module was restored to its original position.

Those buried memories were then awakened.

The long war, the primordial light, creation and sacrifice, slumber and rebirth, and many things that should not be easily spoken at this moment, all returned to his memory.

Therefore, Optimus Prime is more complete and more distant than Orion.

Many of the machines are close to the leader, the hope, the name "Optimus Prime".

There is also a sense of nostalgia for Orion, the gentle man who once bent over organizing records in the archives.

But few organic phrases can bypass all titles and go straight to the spark.

The vector may not even understand what it is seeing.

She simply relied on her almost brute intuition to peel back a little of the surface and hit the bullseye.

She was still munching on energy bars.

He clearly didn't realize how much his words had affected him.

...This is very important for vectors.

"Perhaps so," Optimus Prime finally said.

The vector raised an eyebrow: "Did I hit the nail on the head?"

"To some extent."

"I knew it!" she said with a smug smile. "You seem easy to talk to, but you're actually very difficult to deal with."

Optimus Prime: ...This summary is also quite insightful.

The spark that was deeply hidden beneath his outer shell was struck by her in a brutal and sudden way.

"I'm not always easy to approach," Optimus Prime said.

Vector: "That's normal. Every machine has parts it doesn't want to be touched. If you make the outer shell look like a monument, people will forget that the inside isn't ultimately an open-to-the-public area."

Optimus Prime's optical mirror trembled for a moment, and he was speechless.

She always had a way of making heavy things sound less daunting, subtly reminding him from time to time that leaders can also be grounded.

Optimus Prime's gaze lingered on her.

She was once a defective product, crawling out of the garbage heap and passing through Karon, the Colosseum, the Iron Fortress, the Crystal City, and Aquitron.

She can be assertive, short-tempered, and even swear. While she writes the terms and conditions in an ironclad and impartial manner, she also holds Jiuqi's hand in private.

She painstakingly filled in and repaired the ravaged Cybertron.

For a machine that has loved this planet for so long, it's hard not to let its gaze linger.

Seeing that he was still silent, Yin Zong couldn't help but frown.

Why do you keep staring at me?

Optimus Prime withdrew his gaze, but the smile in his eyes did not fade.

Vector felt that he was acting a bit strange today, but Optimus Prime was inherently difficult to explain with ordinary logic.

She decided to give up on pursuing the matter and instead thought about what had just happened.

"By the way..." she suddenly asked, "How old are you?"

Optimus Prime froze, and the vector force lowered the energy block.

"I don't think I've ever asked you your age before."

Optimus Prime fell silent for a moment.

The question was asked so naturally that Optimus Prime didn't even realize what consequences it would have at first.

He thought for a moment:

"At the current rate, it would probably be in the hundreds of millions."

The optical mirror that draws the vector slowly opens.

"...Taking away the young master?"

"In units of hundreds of millions."

"Hundreds of millions?"

Optimus Prime paused for a moment, then chose a less alarming way of putting it.

"more than."

The vector slowly straightened up.

"Billions?"

"Not only that."

The room fell silent instantly, and Yin stared at him like a frightened cat.

Optimus Prime's tone remained calm.

"If we use a conversion that is closer to the primordial period, it may be in the tens of billions or even hundreds of billions."

Vector: "...?"

Her brain module immediately emitted a shutdown sound, as if it were not actually shutting down.

Optimus Prime saw her expression and realized that he might have been too direct.

"A vector?"

She raised her hand: "Wait."

Optimus Prime waited quietly.

"Say that again!?"

"Tens of billions, or even longer."

"Are you the cosmic strata?!"

Optimus Prime paused for a moment: "...No."

The priming vector fell into a long silence.

She knew that Cybertronians were long-lived, that the Civil War had lasted four million years, and guessed that Optimus Prime must not be young.

But between "not young" and "starting at tens of billions" is a cosmic chasm that her brain modules cannot cross for the time being.

She slowly lowered her head and looked at her terminal.

A terrible question suddenly surfaced.

If Optimus Prime is at this level, what about the other machines?

How big is Megatron? How big is Ratchet? What about Alita? What about Jazz? What about Knockout? What about Starscream?

How old are the Cybertronians around her who argue, drink, complain, play cards, work overtime illegally, are questioned by her, and deliver documents to her?

The vector opens a private frequency band.

As Optimus Prime watched her movements, he suddenly had a bad feeling that things were starting to spiral out of control.

"A vector?"

She didn't look up; the first message had already been sent.

To Megatron:

【How old are you?】