Unfinished Business, Part 3
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| "Unfinished Business, Part 3" アンフィニッシュド・ビジネス Part 3
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| First published | July 17, 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Story | Hirofumi Ichikawa | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2008 (Binaltech timeline) | ||||||||||||
| Packaged with | BT-21 Arcee | ||||||||||||
Arcee is selected for a vital experiment to help the Transformer race make its next evolutionary step.
Synopsis
[edit]Under the direction of the Protector, the Autobots begin conducting experiments as part of the chain of events that will ultimately lead to their foretold evolution into the mysterious "Alternity". Two projects are begun in Autobot City: one to transfer the bodiless Protector's spark into a Binaltech Autosoldier frame, and another complicated super-dimensional experiment code-named the "Timaeus Project", run by Perceptor.
Arcee is selected to participate in the Timaeus Project, and she has her consciousness transferred into an experimental Binaltech body outfitted with a device to enhance her consciousness as part of the scheme. After saying goodbye to the Protector, Arcee begins her role in the project, which involves driving in vehicle mode in a constant loop around a racetrack-like structure charged with an acceleration field, at a fixed speed of 715km/h. As she does so, a strange black object appears at the centre of the track in a flash of light.
At the moment of this object's appearance, however, alarm sirens suddenly start blaring through the city: The Autosoldiers, including the unit the Protector was to be implanted in, have suddenly started rampaging out of control. The sabotage is the work of Shockwave, who has taken over the Autosoldiers in an attempt to capture the Protector. Determined to save the Protector, Arcee ignores safety protocols and bursts free of the racetrack without initiating slow-down procedures, which unfortunately results in the undissipated kinetic energy she has generated crushing her body. In her unconscious state, Arcee feels the Protector's spark reach out to her, telling her that he is unimportant—she must save the researchers and the object that the experiment has created, as they are key to the existence of the Alternity. Arcee awakens in a back-up Binaltech body that the Protector had transferred her into, finding that only 38 seconds have passed, and follows the Protector's wishes, shooting down the Autosoldiers who have burst into the Timaeus Project room instead of going to the Protector's rescue. A researcher sadly informs her that the Protector's spark has been stolen by the Decepticons, but Arcee simply looks at the strange magatama-shaped object floating in the middle of the racetrack, and comments that the Protector's sacrifice proves how truly valuable it must be...
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
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Notes
[edit]- This chapter of the Binaltech story was printed on the packaging of the Arcee Binaltech toy.
- Fans had speculated up to this point that the Protector was Rodimus Prime, based on the fact that "Protector" was the character's function in his Tech Specs. This chapter notes that the Protector's spark "blinked energetically and began to shiver" when Arcee told it she would be able to speak to him once he had a body, which only seemed to reinforce this belief, given the longstanding romantic connection between the two characters. The next and final chapter of Story of Binaltech would defy expectation in its revelation of who the Protector was, but it left this brief scene feeling odd and seeming like a deliberate red herring.
- The spare Binaltech body into which Arcee's spark is transferred to save her is one of the numerous prototypes of the Honda S-2000 shell left over after the events of the earlier Binaltech chapter, "Reality Check".
