Timaeus Project

The Timaeus Project was a scientific experiment in super-dimension control conducted on Earth in the early 21st century.

Taking place in the Binaltech research facility in Autobot City, the Timaeus Project required the Autobot Arcee, her spark placed in an experimental Binaltech body, to wear a consciousness-enhancing device near her brain while driving through a circular loop equipped with an acceleration field at a steady speed of 715 kilometers per hour. She did not especially understand what this would achieve, but Autobot scientist Perceptor assured her that it was a revolutionary new way to generate a super-dimensional space.

Arcee's efforts resulted in a bright flash, a brief shockwave, and the manifestation of a floating black mass in the shape of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magatama" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Magatama">Magatama</a> at the center of the ring.

The experiment ended abruptly when Arcee, discovering that the facility was being attacked by Shockwave-controlled Autosoldiers, chose to ram herself into the ring's surrounding damper areas rather than follow the 10-minute slow-down and exit procedure. The impact destroyed her new body and forced an automatic emergency transfer of her life core to a spare S-2000 unit.

During the 38 seconds that it took to transfer and reboot, Arcee experienced a vision of the Protector, who told her that the experiment was the key to the birth of the Alternity and that its results must be preserved.

Upon awakening in her new body, Arcee quickly eliminated the Autosoldiers that were endangering the project's human scientists and saved the experiment. Unfortunately, this gave Autobot City's attackers the opportunity to steal the Protector's spark from the Hangar #5 laboratory nearby, where it had been awaiting transfer to an Autosoldier body.