#space bridge

The ability to summon/make space/ground bridges is a fundamentally powerful one. SW associates it with his "mythological" self- his hypercompetent self on the Nemesis. So when you trace this thread, you will find it's interwoven with how SW regards himself.

First mention/hint in Ch 4:

Soundwave had never made a habit of sleeping... 2) it contributed to the mythology the crew of the Nemesis developed about him...

That mythology was based in truths. No, Soundwave couldn't read minds. But he could patch into any part of the Nemesis to access its audio/visual feeds. ... And, no, he couldn't generate his own ground bridges. He wouldn't have been stuck in the shadowzone for years if that were true. But he had been able to direct the Nemesis's considerable power for that purpose- a feat undoable by any other.

Soundwave is a master at information manipulation, but masters work better with tools: Soundwave was a master, but masters needed tools to reach their fullest potential. The Nemesis had been his finely crafted tool. He used the Nemesis to create ground/space bridges. He did this in the show several times- even sending Airachnid REALLY far away into space. This is an incredible power. In order to nerf SW for the fic, I made it so he specifically needed the Nemesis to do this. And also, wouldn't he have gotten out of the shadowzone, if he could do it himself? So yeah, it's not explicit in the canon, but I think he needed the Nemesis. It's not a thing he can just do on his own. But! It implies that he knows how the bridges work, and were he to get the right materials, he could build/use bridges again.

Anyway. He almost spills this secret (that he can make ground/space bridges, (with tools)) to Rodimus in Ch 21:

[Rodimus] "So, mythological Soundwave. What... what did you do?” “Complete access to all communications.” “Oh.” “Complete access to all security systems.” “Ah.” “Complete control of deep space navigation and sp- other technology.” “What other technology?” Soundwave said nothing.

"sp-" is "space bridges" cut off

The concept goes away for a while as Soundwave turns into a person.

Then in Ch 37 SW remembers he was able to do the groundbridge thing. This part also mentions Astrotrain's song! which we touched on in your last ask.:

Not to mention the other part of the mythological Soundwave. How could he have forgotten it? He had been too focused on his previous areas of competence: the all-seeing optics, the all-hearing audials. But face to face with enemies, those things had never been his greatest asset.

Astrotrain's song brought that which simmered at the back of Soundwave's processor to the forefront. A fascinating possibility. Not the focus of his great work, but a diversion that would serve him well nonetheless. If it manifested beyond the theoretical.

The other part is using the Nemesis to create ground/space bridges.

the but a diversion part is literally Soundwave thinking on the possibility of making a portal to return to 0001

I didn't spell it out because I didn't want to be too blatant with where the story was going -> that SW would build a portal to return to 0001.

Actually wait yeah, here we see that Astrotrain's song helps nudge SW's old Nemesis-bridge knowledge back to the forefront of his mind, and therefore he goes "oh! I can do my great work, but I could also make a portal"

yeah yeah. it was there in the fic. I remember having a hard time keeping everything in my brain, so yeah, sometimes things are a lil nebulous. but it's there xD

Sooooooo yeah! That's all I can recall at the moment. Going back to your original question: If I had written "SW makes the space bridge" in the story, I would've used music as an abstract way to describe it, as Soundwave does with other things.

It's really good people are asking questions about this now because I'm sure eventually I'll forget all these little details xD we're only a few months away from it having been finished for a whole year! wrow :u