Chapter Text
“This is disturbing” Rodimus heard Rewind saying.
He couldn’t see who was the mech who answered, but they said:
“Well, yes, his views are pretty radical.”
“I’m not saying about that” Rewind said. “I’m saying, Functionism. It is scary how deep it is rooted in our society and how many times it was close to became a dominant ideology.”
“Well,” the other mech said “but don’t you think the professor is a little biased? He stated his view on the Functionism quite openly and I think it opposes the ideals of neutral academic discourse.”
“There is no neutral discourse with people who believe you are disposable” Rewind protested.
Rodimus listened to the conversation. He could suppose the lecture, they just attended will have such discussions as its effect. It was fascinating and, yes, he had to admit Rewind was at least a little right, terrifying at the same time.
Like, the professor pointed out at so many examples of the Functionist thinking in everyday life of every Cybertronian, that Rodimus started to feel discomfort.
His first impulse was to protest, to disagree, but he didn’t express these concerns – Getaway did, stating, that it is ridiculous to expect the society will disregard the natural, Primus-given abilities of every frametype. If the Cybertronian race wasn’t supposed to build their society based on the individual abilities, why wasn’t every spark tend to form a certain alt-mode?
The professor narrowed his eyes at this statement. They were crimson and when he made a face like this, many students were getting seriously scared. There was something intimidating in his posture, his height, unusual for someone who was a university teacher. Right now his frametype was making an impression of being the proof of his words.
“Are you speaking of every spark, mister Getaway, or just of the forged ones?” he asked.
His voice was very low right now and that added to the impression – usually, the professor used it to get the students' attention, he rarely was scary like this.
“Well, I...” Getaway started.
Rodimus noticed he was disturbed and couldn’t stop himself from smiling. Getaway was a pain in the aft, really. Rodimus’ own aft mainly, but still: they didn’t like each other and Getaway seemed to be jealous of basically everything Rodimus had ever done, which was a little ridiculous since Rodimus didn’t have any big achievements of which he could be proud.
“Well, mister Getaway?” the professor said again, but the question was never asked since there was a knock on the door and another group of students needed the room – the lecture had gotten longer than planned already – as usual, and the next group was getting impatient.
Once they will have lectures with Megatron, they will understand how it works, Rodimus thought. He never expected the introduction to cybertronian philosophy could be such an interesting subject.
So in the end Getaway was asked to write an essay – it is not a punishment, he was informed, but an opportunity – on how the difference between forged and cold constructed sparks was perceived in a chosen system – and the group left the classroom, discussing wildly what they had just heard.
“I understand, you are a data stick,” said the mech talking to Rewind. “If the functionism developed the way Megatron speculates, you would be the lowest caste. This must be indeed an unfortunate situation, but still – this is bias. This is just a speculation, no one would ever do something like this.”
“We were close once” Rewind protested. “During the Great Crisis, the Functionist Council proposed segregation based on the alt mode, limitations on the reformatting, exclusion form certain job, even empurata!”
“Well, this was barbarity” the other mech agreed. “But the council doesn’t exist anymore. We cannot delve into speculations. Right, Roddy?” he asked, noticing Rodimus listening to him.
Rodimus was caught off guard, exactly like Getaway before.
“Well...” he started.
“The Prime’s protege surely has an opinion. Megatron’s view is radical and he is biased. You know, there are rumors he was a miner… look at his frame...”
“Well, he teaches philosophy now” Rodimus protested.
He could agree Megatron was radical in his views and he didn’t even try to hide that. This could indeed be disturbing, especially when some habits of your everyday life, some obvious social aspects were questioned.
In theory, Rodimus had more reasons to feel this way. He indeed was the Prime’s ward, which was an honor and was seen as a promise Rodimus will become the next Prime – in case of Optimus’ death of course, or the situation, when the Matrix just decides it… but no one really expected Optimus to die soon enough, and the Matrix had already proven to be unpredictable in its choices – the choice of the current Prime being the main example.
No, Rodimus expected rather enter politics from the other side… not that he really wanted it, dreaming rather of being an adventurer, but now he had started thinking. Megatron’s lectures were making him think and this was uncomfortable.
Rodimus had an opinion of a mech who is not fond of any form of thinking.
“This philosophy is, how to put it...” the mech they were talking to started.
“He knows what he is talking about. And the dean trusts him. He had chosen him on this post personally.”
More rumors were surrounding this: dean Rung’s choice seemed weird to many mecha. The Iaconian University was the most important and prestigious academia on Cybertron and in all colonies. The mecha teaching and studying it were considered the elite. Megatron came from nowhere, brought by Rung, who stated that this mech is the best choice. On some levels, he indeed was, with the expert knowledge, brilliant mind and bold ideas. On some, he was not.
“Yes,” the other mech said, displeased. “Well, I hope his speculations are just speculations.
Rodimus and Rewind looked at one another.
They understood, that by “speculations” the one they were talking to meant not the in-depth analysis of Functionist ideology, but many other things Megatron seemed to believe in.
***
On the way home Rodimus decided to walk instead of taking the ride as usual. There was much in today’s lecture he needed his brain module to process and he needed to confront some little pieces of information with his daily reality. No matter, how disturbing it was: he needed to do it, or it would haunt him otherwise.
He was sure several other students will do the same thing. There will be those, who will deny it, some, who already agreed – he needed to know.
He knew how privileged he was by the sole fact that Optimus Prime took him in as a member of his family. Rodimus was not much more than a newspark then, quite a long time ago, and he remembered he wasn’t one of the most fortunate on Cybertron. Now he had access to education – he was expected to study in fact. He had a high social status based on his relationship with the Prime.
He understood that – but did he understood all the privileges coming with his frametype? He was never thinking about that before. This was a lot to process.
So he was home later than usual – and, what didn’t happen very often, at least unless he chose to participate in some social activities, Optimus was there already, with a huge pile of datapads beside him.
It was a hard job, to be a Prime and to take this job seriously as Optimus did. Not much time for being anything else but The Prime, not much opportunity to leave the position and to think of something else than political problems of Cybertron and the colonies. A heavy burden for someone such committed to his duties.
Sometimes Rodimus thought it was the real reason Optimus decided to take him as his ward – because in some areas they were so completely different and the presence of another mech around was a way experience some relief.
Rodimus wondered once, why wouldn’t the Prime share his life with someone on other terms – why didn’t he took a lover, why he did not consider entering conjunx bonds with someone. Was Optimus one of those mecha, who didn’t have romantic feelings towards the others or did not experience desire? This happened and was rare, but normal.
Yet Rodimus had the impression, that his presence was not enough. That Optimus needed something more to free himself a little from the unending duty.
That how he looked now: tired. He barely noticed Rodimus entering the apartment and the office to greet him.
Rodimus took a chair and sat in front of his mentor.
“Hi,” he said. “Another hard day?”
A nod was an answer, then Optimus returned to looking at the datapads.
“What is happening?” Rodimus asked.
Drawing Optimus’ attention from the work with making him talk about work was not a perfect solution, but a solution nevertheless so Rodimus decided to try it.
“There are some more unrests in Kalis,” Optimus said, sighting. “The mecha there have problems finding a job and it would be maybe a problem to solve on a local level if there wasn’t any indication it can affect more regions soon. This is a much deeper problem, but most of the senate is not interested when I try to talk to them about it.
“You are the Prime” Rodimus noted.
“Still I am the first Prime in millennia, who had allowed the senate and local administration to have so much power… which was not a bad idea, but it also means I sometimes have to deal with the mecha who have ideas and views that make my wires twist.”
Rodimus nodded. He had heard it multiple times already. Those were the pitfalls of politics and the discussion he heard at the university was not without any cause. The society was not a monolith, which was good, but also meant there were dangerous ideas present.
And, of course, many politicians were unsuited for the job. What Optimus mentioned about the Senate not willing to take care of the problems was proof.
“They ignore the problem and wait for it to blow in their faceplates” Rodimus said.
“No, no. I’m afraid of something worse – that they will allow the problem to grow and then use it instead of solving it”.
Rodimus snorted.
“Maybe it should explode in their faceplates then” he stated.
Optimus looked surprised.
“This would mean the social problem would be too big for our society,” he said.
“Some problems need to blow up when the ruling classes are avoiding to solve them properly”
Now there was a huge surprise on Optimus’ face and for a moment Rodimus wondered why, then it struck him – he never said anything like that before and this certainly wasn’t the [] he learned from Optimus.
He cleared his vocalizer, a little nervously.
“Well, at least I heard some mecha saying such things” he stated. “Maybe they are not right...”
“What kind of “some mecha”?” Optimus asked.
“My philosophy professor at the university” Rodimus said. “He… well… we are discussing several approaches to society lately.”
He noticed Optimus’ eyes narrowing. Scrap. How bad did that sound? He did not want Optimus to start thinking now, that sending him to study was a bad idea. And he didn’t want Optimus to think something bad of Megatron.
Not that Megatron didn’t have some… disapproving views on the Primacy, to consider that now.
“I see,” Optimus said and this ended the topic – for now.
***
It was not that Optimus was disturbed. He was more surprised. The little titbits of what Rodimus shared with him created a rather intriguing image of the philosophy professor Rodimus had to do with.
Discussing subversive philosophies and social views was not a bad idea itself – they had their place in society, providing sometimes new ideas. But from what Rodimus was talking – and how – one could suspect the said professor harbored such subversive ideas and even admitted to follow them.
Optimus was not exactly sure what to think about it.
This was just scraps of information, Rodimus was telling him. They didn’t have to mean the mech follows one of the more dangerous philosophies, and not that he would like to exercise it in practice. But, he shared it with his students and he was able to exercise an influence. On Rodimus, for example, which was uncomfortable, because all of a sudden Rodimus started to express views he had never had before.
Well, those were not bad views, not necessarily. Optimus needed to remind himself of this. In fact, his own views and reforms he introduced were also often considered revolutionary – no matter, that Optimus himself saw them as a moderate reformist.
But the sole act of him being chosen, then the decision to share more power with the senate – this was considered a revolutionary act by some.
He was committed to these thoughts for the next day, which was unfortunate, because he had several meetings planned – with the members of councils, with the Camien ambassador and with the delegates from Kalis, the region where the latest disturbances happened. But what he was thinking of was mostly Rodimus, his statements and the identity of the mech those statements really came from – and somehow thinking of those uncomfortable statements made him a little calmer about the political issues he had to deal with.
It didn’t help for the politics being tiresome. This was too much and he needed a distraction, but he had no time for distractions and this was the worst. He felt like the politics were sucking the strength of him, but there was no way out right now.
He decided the best he can do for today is to leave the office and return home. There was still lots of work waiting for him there, paperwork and other stuff, but maybe he would be able to steal some time to spend with Rodimus, maybe watch some movies - Rodimus mentioned recently a film from another planet that seemed to be interesting and if Optimus watched it he could always have an excuse he is learning of the customs of other cultures.
But Rodimus was not home and he must have returned after Optimus fell into recharge over the datapads. In the morning he left for the university and Optimus had to deal with the senate and other politicians.
***
He had an opportunity to talk to his protegee a few days later. They manage to take fuel together and used this as an opportunity to talk.
It seemed that Rodimus had many topics he wished to discuss.
“...so, he wrote this essay and read it in front of the entire class” he was telling something that occurred in the lecture. Optimus already lost the thread, his processor filled with thoughts of the unrests in Kalis and one diplomatic incident on another planet. “It was embarrassing to hear. I mean, he is not the worst student out there” Rodimus seemed to dislike his colleague, Optimus recalled. “And I wouldn’t notice the mistakes, but then the professor started to ask questions and Getaway couldn’t answer it. This was fascinating. Megatron has this ability to subvert everything you are saying, dismantle it. He forces you to think. I think Getaway dislikes that.”
“Oh,” Optimus stated.
Now he recalled that this Megatron must have been this teacher with a little controversial views Rodimus mentioned several times. And that Optimus himself felt uncomfortable last time he was mentioned. Which was stupid.
“Remind me, why was this Getaway asked to write the essay?”
“Well, last time we discussed the ideas of Functionism. Megatron mentioned it could develop into a really scary form, and Getaway argued it was impossible and that Functionism has its pros. He also mentioned the natural predispositions of sparks, but Megatron seemed to be displeased. Well, it’s an irony, because Getaway was cold constructed, you know.”
Optimus nodded.
“So he got to write an essay on sparks to prove what?”
“To prove that all the differences between sparks are arbitrary concepts that are just rooted in various social philosophies and religious movements. There is apparently no proof that certain sparks have more abilities than others – well, some are stronger, but this is a rare occurrence. One of Rewind’s conjuxes is, in fact, studying sparks, so Rewind entered the discussion. It was fascinating.”
Rodimus was never a type inclined to intellectual pursuits, Optimus recalled. When did it change? Definitely not just after he started to attend lectures.
Oh, but, most of Rodimus’ enthusiasm came from the interaction with the professor of introduction to Cybertronian philosophic concepts.
“What is your topic for the next time?” Optimus asked.
“Funny, that you ask… we will be discussing the Matrix, proofs of the existence of Primus and the concept of Primacy. They already believe I should be an expert” Rodimus laughed. “Well, I certainly am not, I told them already. Some of them even asked me to bring you, but I said no. You have other matters to attend, not lectures on philosophy.”
Optimus started to think.
Well, he needed a distraction anyway.
“Well, I might attend.”
***
Rodimus felt uncomfortable.
In theory, the lectures were open for every mech interested, not only for the official students, a practice known on many planets, that the dean adapted to the Iaconian University and that started to get popular on other universities too. So the presence of a mech who was not one of the students was something unusual, but it had happened before.
The problem was, that when Optimus said that he might attend the lecture, Rodimus expected he will just… came. At himself. And not incognito.
So there was a mech in the back of the room wearing holographic camouflage and pretending not to know Rodimus at all, but Rodimus knew and felt his eyes, looking at him, judging him.
He would prefer Optimus to attend as himself, simply.
But soon Optimus focused on the professor who entered the classroom.
Scrap, Rodimus forgot to warn him.
Probably Optimus expected… someone smaller. Someone less intimidating.
Megatron took his place, looked at all the students attending. He smiled. This was his calm self today, at least Rodimus hoped for this.
“We have some new faces today” he stated, focusing at the mech in the back.
“I’m a guest. I heard much of your lectures and wanted to hear for myself.”
Megatron nodded.
“I feel honored. I hope you won’t be disappointed with your attendance – that no one of you will be. Because we have a special topic to discuss today, a concept central to most of Cybertronian philosophies, to our society, to our politics, to our everyday life: the concept of the influence of Primus on our government, the concept of the Matrix of Creation, called as well the Matrix of Leadership and the concept of divine validated political power in form of Primacy. We will see, what will be left of these concepts after we finish dismantling it.”
There was a smile on his face and Rodimus wanted to curl, transform into his alt-mode and pretend he is not here. Because this smile and the way Megatron was speaking meant that he had no intention of leaving anything of the “concept of Primacy” after “dismantling it”.
This was a terrible idea, Rodimus thought. Suddenly he felt like he found himself between two dangerous powers ready to clash.
::Are you all right?:: Rewind asked on internal comms. ::You look like you consumed some bad fuel.::
::I wish I had::
::What?::
Rodimus didn’t answer.
“What is this divine mandate to have power over the people?” Megatron was speaking with passion in his voice. “If we look at the cultures other than our own, we will see it is not a concept that developed on Cybertron only. We could ask: why? Do other species, and by other species I mean here not only mechanicals, but organics too, also have gods that decided to use their ‘chosen ones’ to shape and influence the societies, or maybe, just maybe, all those examples show us, that using divine influence as an excuse for acquiring power is a concept that prevails in many societies across the Galaxy. In fact, it seems to prevail in all the societies who developed the concept of organized religion somehow connected to social structures.”
In any other situation, Rodimus would be disturbed – the lecture undermined a lot of his perception of social reality – but now it was worse, he was embarrassed. To add insult to injury, he heard Optimus making displeased sounds in the back of the room. He did not comment on the private comms, which made things even worse.
“...now, let us look at the Primes we have over the, said, last few millennia. We all know they were not paragons of all virtues the society expected them to be. As I already mentioned, there is a certain set of qualities a Prime should show according to the common belief. The most of religious mecha, most of theologians and theoreticians of the Primacy share those beliefs and agree on those qualities. Now, I ask you, which of the Primes had those qualities indeed?” Megatron stopped for a moment, narrowed his eyes, that turned into a dangerously dark shade of red. For a moment Rodimus was afraid he is looking over his shoulder to the back row, but this must have been just his imagination. “As I thought. You cannot name any of them. They might have… some virtues, but sooner or later the vices surfaced, showing the Primes as power-hungry individuals, whose actions only brought Cybertron problems.”
“The current Prime…” someone in the room started. Rodimus at this point had no idea who that was, he was already a little dizzy.
Megatron smiled.
“Yes, I was waiting for someone to mention him. His choice was unexpected, as we all know, a mech out of nowhere, noone appears and suddenly the Matrix chooses him. The Primus decided to make amends, to fix what was broken, choose a suitable candidate this time… but, then, what was one of the first actions the new Prime had taken? Giving more power to the senate! Of course, this might look like resigning from the divine validation, at least of some part of it, but in fact, it shows, that the “true” Prime is a tool the Senate uses to take more power. Which brings us to the last question we have to ask ourselves this day: what is the Matrix? Is its power real? Is the Matrix indeed a Primus-created artifact?”
There was another displeased sound in the back. Megatron ignored it.
Rodimus wondered why didn’t Optimus just left the lecture. He could do it. He should do it. This, all of this…
Primus damn it, the worst part of it was, that Megatron was right. Mostly. But right.
Rodimus didn’t expect this turn of events. Apparently, neither did other students, because Rodimus received several looks and even some private comms with asks what is he thinking. He didn’t answer. What he was thinking was that he would prefer to be out of here.
Megatron noticed neither Rodimus willing to go out nor the displeased mech in the back. He continued with a passion that was probably going to rise several suspicions regarding his “neutrality”.
“So in the end, we have several concepts that most of our society consider truths, but we have no proof that they are true. Moreover, returning to concepts discussed in our previous meetings, they are not even falsifiable. The existence of Primus and the expression of his will in how the Matrix is working is a social concept we will never be able to prove nor disprove. The political power held by the Prime is therefore rooted in the social ideas, and not in the real divine power.”
As he ended the students sat silent for a while.
“Any questions?” Megatron asked.
The silence persisted.
“Very well. I hope you will have some in our next meeting then. I always await you on my open hours, if you want to discuss something, you are welcome. Rodimus?” he said.
Rodimus wanted to hide under the desk.
“Yes?”
“A word.”
“Yes.”
He felt he is shaking. He hoped no one hears his armor clanging – this was highly embarrassing.
He was not even sure if he is afraid of Megatron himself, or of Optimus, who had just left the room – and presumably waited outside.
“Rodimus. I undermined your world here” Megatron said, as they were left alone.
His voice was calm and patient. There was no anger or hatred in it.
“Well, it was not aimed at me,” Rodimus said. “I… I guess you undermined everyone’s world, not only mine. But you are making us asking questions, and that is important, I guess?”
Megatron smiled.
“You are nervous.”
Blast it. No way to hide it.
“I am.” Rodimus agreed.
“Believing in Primus or in the power of the Matrix itself is not a bad thing. And I believe your mentor is not a bad mech, at least not in what he does for you.”
“I’ve never said…”
“I just wanted it to be clear. You are one of most…” he paused for a moment, thinking “Interesting students I have. You are smart. You are making use of your brain module. You are [] on what you hear. You will draw your conclusions of what I’ve said.”
“Yes,” Rodimus agreed “Yes, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Megatron had no idea who was waiting outside. He would never say all those things if he knew. He would not risk confrontation with the mech, whose power he had just undermined with his words.
What was worst in this situation, Rodimus was now genuinely afraid, that what happened will lead to some kind of confrontation and that this confrontation will end either Rodimus’ attendance to the lectures, or, even worse, Megatron’s entire career.
Now, he thought. Optimus is not like this. He wouldn’t do it. He just needs some time to think, then he will understand that what Megatron is saying is needed, even if it is not true. Not entirely true, that is.
As he left the room, his mentor was not there. Rodimus looked around, a little concerned. Maybe a little panicked.
::Hey, is everything all right?:: he sent Optimus a private message.
There was no answer.
Maybe Optimus needed some time to think. This would be good.
Outside the room, some of his friends including Rewind waited and Rodimus had to pretend he was less upset than he was when they offered him getting fuel together.
***
This was meant to be a distraction. In a way it was. In a way – it was one of the most horrible situations in Optimus’ entire life.
The mech Rodimus seemed to admire spoke with passion – and he spoke against what built Optimus’ position. He questioned everything that Optimus used as a basis for his life, for his action. He questioned the sole existence of Primus and the power of the Matrix – something Optimus experienced every day. This was real. The Matix, its power – was real. The influence, the power – it was real. Yes, Optimus was aware there were mecha who questioned it and that the supporters of the previous Primes were speaking against the divine right of Primacy, so this view was not entirely without justification, but this was the first time Optimus heard someone speaking about it with such passion and such skill.
“We will dismantle the concept of Primacy” Megatron promised, and he kept dismantling it.
Optimus should probably have left the room – but he stayed, trying to grasp what he was just hearing. This was disturbing, but at the same time, it was convincing.
Megatron was a very dangerous mech, Optimus understood. The fact he was allowed to teach, to speak to his students about such ideas, co convince them he was right… It was easy to imagine him in other circumstances, far more dangerous. Cybertron was probably lucky, that those other circumstances never came to be.
The worst part of it was, that Megatron was, in many of his words, right. Even when he said the current Prime is just a puppet for the Senate. Well, maybe this was not entirely true, but partially, yes, and many saw it like this. Many wanted it to be like this.
He went strolling through the university building. He needed to talk to Rodimus, but not until he put everything into right directories and tags in his brain module – and for that Optimus needed some time.
“Well,” he heard suddenly someone speaking.
This voice was familiar… wait, this was the voice who spoke of dismantling the concept of Primacy not very long ago.
Optimus looked Megatron straight in the eye. He expected some passionate anger in these red eyes, but what he saw was just curiosity.
He has no idea who I am, he realized. He thinks I am just a mech who came to listen to his lecture.
“So I see you have some questions for me? Good. I hoped my students will have some, but this is much to expect apparently. Come in.”
This was the moment when Optimus realized, the door he is standing next to is Megatron’s office.
He should have protested – instead, he came inside.
It was a spartan, half-empty office, nothing more than a table, a couple of chairs, multiple datapads, some empty cubes, indicating the owner of the office fueled here and then forgot to clean up just too often. There was one small cluster of crystal growing in a pot by the window, a nice color of purple bringing some life to the room. This reminded Optimus, that his own office tended to be the same. He didn’t have time to take care of making his working space more “his”.
Megatron showed him a chair and Optimus sat down. The owner of the office leaned against the desk. He rather didn’t want to make this impression, but he was intimidating this way.
He was a large mech and that caused a dissonance because Optimus expected him to be a smaller frametype. Instead, they were roughly the same size. His alt must have been some piece of heavy equipment. Probably not a hauler, but something created for manual work, probably for work in a hard, dangerous environment, judging from the thickness of plating. With few modifications, he could be upgraded to a heavy warbuild.
Optimus realized, he is starring. He cleared his vocalizer.
“You are not one of my regular students. You came here as a guest as you stated. And there was a moment when I was the impression you are working for some government security...” the red eyes narrowed. “Sorry about that. I guess I’ve mistaken curiosity for something else.”
“Well, the views you are presenting are… unconventional”
Controversial. Subversive. Revolutionary. Some of the previous primes would gladly deem such views illegal and ordered the arrest of a university teacher who dared to speak so badly about Primacy. The dean of the university was however considered to be quite a progressive thinker and there was no doubt he knew what Megatron was saying – and accepting this. The idea of academia as an open space for diverse voices lived here and felt good.
“Well, they are. My students are a little disturbed. So were you. May I know your name?”
Optimus blinked.
“Orion,” he said without thinking.
“Well, Orion, what do you think of this lecture?”
“Shocking. Fascinating. Once you start to think about it… it is much truth in it but it doesn’t stop being disturbing… I have one question in fact: you doubt if Primus talks through the Matrix, but in fact, it is well known that the Primes experience his voice...”
“That’s what the Primes are saying, isn’t it?” Megatron smirked.
Optimus must have admitted, that his expressions were fascinating, as was this contrast of the heavy built and intellectual thinking, of passion in his words during the lecture and gentleness now. Like he was created of contradicting features, that were put together in one mech.
“Well, yes...”
How to put it? How to say, that he was hearing a voice and it was not a delusion?
But, the previous Primes must have heard it too…
“I’m just thinking,” Optimus said. “What if the Primes hear the voice, but not all of them listen to it? This would explain why most of them weren’t the perfect representatives of Primus they should be.”
“If the Matrix is the holy artifact they claim it to be, then yes, but at the same time, it would mean the Primus is a week god. It would be better to live in a world without a god or in a world where god can do nothing, cannot intervene, that is too weak to do anything, or just ignores us?”
“But how would the world without Primus make sense? How would our existence make sense?”
“For many of us it doesn’t anyway, with Primus or without it – but, look at this way: If there is no Primus, we need to create sense ourselves. This is a hard task and it is easier for many mecha to just accept meaning given to them by the others: by the religion, but ideologies. To create meaning ourselves, we need to start asking questions, and this is a hard task, and sadly, most of us never learn to do it. I’m trying to teach my students doing that. If I manage – this is their first step to the freedom of finding their own way.”
“The way without Primus” Optimus protested.
“Oh, you are a believer, obviously” there was some sarcasm in Megatron’s voice, but no malice. “Tell me, this was something they thought you as you were a newspark or something you came to… later?”
Optimus started to think.
When he was a young mech, Orion considered the existence of Primus something obvious, but never put much thought in it. The ascension was a surprise even to him, but the constant feeling of other presence, of not being alone was real. He felt it even now: the Matrix was there, inside him, speaking to him silently, reassuring. I am with you. Trust me and everything will be all right.
“Later. There was a… something happened in my life.”
Megatron nodded.
“I see. I cannot disprove a personal revelation you had. It was real for you. The problem is – it is subjective. And so is” he added “Prime’s link with the Matrix. No one experiences this, but the Prime himself. This is a problem. God is not something objective. God is not a subject of science – only of theology and philosophy, because god is a concept. Theology says the concept is real. Philosophy asks if it is real.”
“And says it is not.”
Megatron laughed.
“I say it is not. This is a difference. I have no proof, my experience is mecha who are using Primus as an excuse. So I choose to create my own meaning in the world without Primus: but this is a choice. I want everyone to have a choice.”
“You want everyone to have freedom”
“Apparently.”
They looked at each other, and Optimus realized he understands this strange, dangerous mech more than he thought he would. This was unexpected and strange and fascinating.
He found out he was smiling. He realized Megatron sees this smile – as a Prime Optimus always wore a mask in public and no one knew how his faceplate looks underneath. This made going incognito easier.
Megatron smiled too ant they were looking at each other for a while.
“Well,” Optimus stated in the end. “This was… enlightening.”
“Believe me” Megatron answered “It was enlightening for me too. Thank you for this conversation. If you ever want to do it again, you are welcome here, Orion.”
“I will remember this. Thank you as well.”
He proceeded to the door when Megatron stopped him.
“Orion,” he said. “One more thing. If we are to continue the discussions I need you to know that I did my research. Using the designation you have used before you… little experience with Primus… is not entirely a good idea, when you want to remain anonymous”
***
Optimus looked… surprisingly calm and relaxed, when he returned home. Wherever he spent the afternoon, it seemed to be a time well spent. He didn’t look like someone who would tell his protegee to stop attending lectures or force the university to fire a certain professor. Maybe Rodimus’ fears were premature, or maybe it was just a calm before the storm.
Just in case, Rodimus prepared evening fuel for both of them, before they started to talk – because there was no avoiding of that right now.
“I am… impressed” Optimus stated. “Deeply”
“I noticed you were,” Rodimus said, trying to be cautious in his choice of words.
“He is an extraordinary mech. I never expected to hear something like this in academia and it was… shaking.”
“There are many of my colleagues who think Megatron pushed it too far,” Rodimus said. The students needed some time to rethink the lecture, but after that, the discussions were heated as never. “There are some who decided to denounce him.”
“To whom? I guess the dean knows who is teaching at the university. Besides, this is not forbidden.”
Rodimus nodded.
“And you are not going to forbid it.”
“No, absolutely no. I… met Megatron afterward. We have a talk that was… enlightening. To both of us.”
“Oh,” Rodimus said stunned. “Oh.”
“He is a very interesting mech. A very dangerous one, too. I need to know where he comes from and how did he end teaching philosophy, because looking at him, one wouldn’t guess...”
“He was a miner at first, that is what I know.”
Optimus nodded.
“This explains some things, I guess. It is still… unusual.”
“There is also known, that the dean likes him and recommended him personally. But no one knows what was before that. You have really talked to him? I did not expect that” Rodimus admitted. He rather thought Optimus will be angry and disapproving, but, on the other hand, Optimus was not unwise. He saw many things others didn’t notice. He has never gone for obvious choices – both as a Prime and in his private life. He had a sensitivity that was not common among his predecessors. And he was a mech capable of understanding what Megatron demanded as a teacher – of asking questions.
“I think I will go to meet him again. However, he recognized me. It was stupid to use my old designation… I’m still not sure if he won’t use it against me. I believe not, but… as I said, he is dangerous.”
“Just don’t make him dangerous against yourself.”
“I don’t intend to. And, in fact,” Optimus smiled “I have a thought he might be something I really needed. A distraction. A way to start thinking out of a box.”
“Oh,” Rodimus said again.
Because, again, this was weird and dangerous and he was not sure what to think about it.