Interrupting Extinction

Interrupting Extinction: Six

          The sound of rushing water resonated through the Gardens like cheery laughter on a cool summer morning. It frothed and bubbled as it flowed down the canal and out of the heart of the Gardens. Paired with the pulsing echoes of the Garden's crystals, Alice could almost imagine that her kids were there with her. Exploring the overgrown crystals and laughing as they chased each other around. She sighed, holding onto the hope that such a scene could one day become a reality. Alice would love to see her children exploring their homeworld, connecting with the being that gave them life by exploring the landscape where one could feel Primus most. And she could. Feel him, that was.

The Allspark whispered to Alice in her mind, Place-of-beginnings. Good-instincts. Alice didn't quite know what the first part meant, but she could guess. The second part, however, was clearly a compliment. One she accepted with a slight flush. Alice may have been riddled with faults, but one thing that had never led her astray was her instinct. Which really made her wonder why they had led her millions of lightyears away from her homeworld. It really did.

The closer she walked to the heart of the Garden, the more it felt like she could feel Primus' sparkbeat pulsing from within the crystals lining the path. It was almost as if her heartbeat was syncing up with the cadence of the planet. Alice squeezed between two protruding crystals, climbing over a log-like extension and ducking under another branch of translucent rock.

There in the midst of the Garden, Alice could hear a slight humming sound. An echoing cadence almost completely in sync with her heart. Cybertron's pulse, Alice quickly realized. And if her suspicions were correct, the sparkpulse of Primus himself.

The winding paths seemed to last for hours. Mere minutes passing back on Earth, Alice knew. She seemed to just walk and walk and walk. The scenery was beautiful, true. The water helped keep her mind from slipping, but Alice wished she knew when she would reach her destination. Wherever that was.

Odd splashing sounds reached Alice's ears. Different to the simple tumbling of water rushing over itself downstream. Bigger and more defined. Alice glanced to her left, her eyes widening in shock. Thankfully she was mindful enough to keep her mind from dropping open but she could hardly believe it. There were koi in the canal! Well, not quite koi, but some sort of mechanical-like koi.

Not only were there not just koi, but dozens of mechanical fish seemed to spawn right off of the sides of the canal. Alice whipped her head around, realising that some of her glowing footsteps had not yet disappeared. In fact, they seemed to walk themselves to the canal bank and then sink into the ground. Where more fish appeared, darting off from the side! Alice could hardly believe it.

Healing, the Allspark reminded her. They were right, Alice understood after a few moments. Earth thrived off of animals and plants and different ecosystems so tightly intertwined— This, Alice breathed in deeply, this was the start. Cybertron had been destroyed and suffocated by millennia of war. But with everyone gone, the plants native to the planet had a chance to regrow. The animals were dead, sure, but the plants kept on. Resilient, the Allspark murmured proudly as Alice continued to connect everything together.

Yes, resilient, Alice thought frantically to herself. But now Alice was here. Merged with the Allspark and herald of Primus, Alice was bringing the animals back. To begin the cycle of give and take. And the first creatures she had brought back were fish. Dozens and dozens of mechanical fish that would continue on from the canal into any connected bodies of liquid energon. Alice stared at the canal, watching the koi mouth at the surface of the water.

Alice stared, and just for a moment, let her heart throb and ache.

Grandmother would have loved to see this, Alice thought. And though moments of eternity are sparse, this one was the most beautiful Alice could ever remember having. A moment of past and present merging. Alice could see the visage of her grandmother on the other side of the canal, leaning down and feeding the koi. Alice sighed, then blinked.