The Diego Diaries: Onward (dd5 53)
-0-Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars
She walked into the data center that was part of the City Administration for the City Hall. Ultra Magnus was on Cybertron inspecting a rebuilt data center there for the new and burgeoning administration HQ of the planet set up in the old Autobot Ops Center in Iacon. They had torn part of that down and had constructed a large enough building to house the giant computers that were going to be the central computer nexus for the planet.
The big metro-formers were now undertaking other data jobs that were equally important including recovered relics, databases, archives, the ongoing data retrieval at excavations, lists of the dead, who they were to the best of everyone's knowledge and where they were for families to discover some orn and other on-site essential transactions.
Magnus would be there for some time so the reports that she was working on could take a bit longer to prepare. It was a good thing because she was making an inventory of the entire flotilla of the Primal Colony over the entire history of migration both here and on Ceres at the big depot and station. Each ship was accounted for, a number of check offs for its condition, soundness and overall usefulness, images of the ship and what it would be projected to best accomplish were hers to get organized.
She would do that around caring for her little femmes and her great big mech who was a steelworker as he took classes to become a master metallurgist. It seemed nowadays a long distance from the present to the terrible past and their landing here on this planet. They had been part of the wretched refuse of those unneeded and unwanted, running for their lives with little hope of reaching anywhere that didn't mean death or slavery.
She thought about the moment when things changed as she rode up the elevator to the third floor where she worked in an office with three others...
"What now, Scanner?" she asked as she leaned against the bulkhead of the ship. "What happens now?"
Scanner looked at the petite little femme who was his bond with as much bravery and calm as he could manage. "Don't worry, Sana. I'll get the ship going again." They were with a small group that had been abandoned by the others, left behind to fail. Three times they had stopped for this very problem and three times the group waited. It was on this stop that they took off leaving them behind.
They had slowed once more with the group that had stayed with them out of principle as the ship's electrical problem asserted itself again. Outside in the darkness, several ships that had stayed behind too had slowed, then stopped while mechs stepped out to float over. They entered, then with her mech began to work on the problem of their ship's electrical systems and their failure which were coming more and more often.
"Scanner, you have to come with us. We can't make this work. Gather your stuff and come over to my ship. You can ride with us," a big mech named Shimmer said. The others nodded, a mix of Neutral and Circle mechs including their greatest champion against the high castes who left them behind.
Scanner nodded with defeat, then looked at his femme with misery. "I'll get everything, Sana. You go with someone to another ship. Don't worry about a thing."
It was then that Sana grabbed a bag with what few things they saved from their wanderings and a small bag with the tiny protoform for their imminent infant that her Scanner had managed to make. Floating off, Scanner looked around in defeat. Shimmer squeezed his shoulder as Jetta nodded. "Come on, Scanner. We'll help you."
They pillaged the ship, then left it behind, a ship that had always taken them where they had to go. They watched it disappear with tears and a sinking sensation as they headed onward with the others. An orn later they would hear the message of the Prime to come, that they were noted and others were coming to help them. It was of an unimaginable sense of emotional relief that all of them heard that and when they were boarded by soldiers and medics, it seemed dreamlike.
Landing on the dusty planet, seeing The Fortress bristling with guns, Omega Supreme and Metroplex, they felt a sensation of relief and hope that had long been missing from their lives. They hadn't been completely abandoned but it was close. Only the firmness of Jetta and the kindness of the Circle and Neutrals that stayed insured that they would make it here too.
Seeing Prime was an astonishing thing and almost felt religious to Sana. Scanner was too tired and distraught to do more than bow and clutch Prime's servo. Sana felt his pain and sense of impotence and failure regarding their plight, something that her strong good mech could do little to make better.
Clutching his servo and her bags, they followed a mech toward The Fortress for something they called processing. Mechs and a few femmes bustled around inside the massive place, going this way and that in the expanding underground part of the colony that wasn't apparent at the surface. They followed the mech to medical where a very kind doctor named First Aid met them.
Sana was sparked, her infant due soon so she was given priority in line. She was undernourished even though her mech said he gave her half of his ration every time they ate something. He was distraught and heartbroken about the two of them. He haltingly showed the little protoform that he had made according to old schematics he found in a database at their last camp.
It was made of the best materials he could manage and though it wasn't going to be what their baby needed and deserved it would prevent it from dying when the separation would come. Many were the infants that came to Mars that needed assistance with their handmade protoforms. They wouldn't know that when they arrived. A mech who was managing the lines and taking data came to them, listening as First Aid explained a few things while taking their measure medically. "We can fix everything that I'm finding here. Not having good food is a problem but one we can fix," he said.
Bluestreak, a mech who was assisting nodded sympathetically, then watched as they pulled the tiny protoform from the bag that they carried. He had listened to the halting conversation from the overwhelmed atar as he tried to explain how he had tried to do the best he could for his soon-to-be-born femme. It tugged at Blue's spark. He stepped forward to help them with the little protoform and explain how they had the best makers here in the universe when Gravitas, Laret and Neo walked in.
What followed made Sana and Scanner feel lower than dirt. They came forward under the direction of the mech with them, someone they would find out was Gravitas as he demanded preferential treatment for Neo, a Councilor from Cybertron. They both knew of her and her actions in the migration. It was almost automatic how they shrank back before her and their demands.
What they didn't notice was the incredible anger that erupted in Bluestreak as he held their protoform. He looked at both of them and smiled. "I can store the little protoform in the hospital here so you don't have to worry about it and when Wheeljack and Perceptor talk to you we can bring it out and show them. Will that be all right?"
Scanner had looked at Bluestreak, then his femme, his expression desolate. "We made it because there was no one else to do it. I did my best."
"I can see that. What a beautiful form," Bluestreak had said squeezing his arm in solidarity. "I think Wheeljack and Perceptor are going to be amazed at the skill you put into it."
Scanner handed the protoform over, then Bluestreak took it and smiled at him. "I have a little box that my son's protoform was kept in until separation and its in the back. I'll put this one in it so its safe and sound."
Sana watched silently as Scanner nodded looking relieved as they watched Bluestreak turn to take it to a back room. Before Blue did he stared at Gravitas and Neo, the femme that had abandoned them to an uncertain fate. Bluestreak spoke to them. "The line is in the hall. If you take your place we'll get to you in good time."
The mech with them, Gravitas said, "This is Neo. I think it would be right and proper for you to see to her now. She has important things to do."
Scanner had stepped closer to her as Sana felt the ground fall away under her peds. She leaned against the med berth in weariness and defeat as Bluestreak glanced at them, then the others. He shook his helm. "We go by number. You need to take your place in line and take your turn in order."
"And I say that Neo be looked at now so she can go and do the things that need to be done," Gravitas had replied as he stepped forward.
The fear and upset that Sana felt she would remember forever. This was raw power and privilege challenging them who had none and in their experience it couldn't ever end in a good way. Scanner stepped closer and pulled her slightly behind him. First Aid who was watching the scene moved closer to Sana too. It was then that Bluestreak turned to give the tiny protoform back to Scanner, then face the three again. He stepped forward too. "And you have your directions."
Gravitas was lit. "I don't think you understand. This is Neo of the Council of Ancients. I'm Gravitas of the same council. I'm telling you that we don't have time to wait. See to Neo and we can leave."
The tone of rage in Bluestreak's quiet voice sent chills over the room. "Get in line or go to the brig."
Gravitas stepped closer moving more menacingly into Bluestreak's space. "Doctor, you'll see to the Councilor," Gravitas said.
Bluestreak was quiet and livid but he kept an even tone. Sana was frozen in place as Scanner took her servo into hand. "First Aid, you're helping the couple before you. They have priority as a sparked pair. Right now, Neo and Gravitas are returning to the end of the line to wait their turn." It was then that Gravitas made his biggest mistake. It was then that Sana felt that they would be going to prison.
Gravitas grabbed Bluestreak's servo and before he could go farther the barrel of a gun was pressed against his chin. He froze and so did everyone else. "I would unhand me now," Bluestreak said.
"You point a gun at me?" Gravitas said equally furious. "How dare you?"
"He dares because he can."
Another figure entered the room, his outrage not as contained as the others. A red bot was standing in the doorway with fury in his countenance as he literally vibrated with rage. A huge mech behind him with the rarest finials Sana had ever seen was equally furious as he stood prepared to assist.
"Red, this mech belongs in the brig," Bluestreak had said.
Gravitas looked from them to Blue, astonishment registering on his face. "You aren't serious!"
"As a spark attack," Bluestreak had said stepping even closer. He subspaced his gun and nodded to Red who grabbed Gravitas by the arm. Yanking him off his feet, he dragged the bellowing mech out of the room and down the hallway to the brig.
The next steps were almost surreal Sana thought as she stepped off the elevator to walk down the long corridor past offices to her own with big windows to see outside. She walked in, sat down and plugged in. As she downloaded information into her work database, she remembered the rest.
Neo had been enraged that Gravitas was dragged off but had contained herself. That was when a big livid yellow mech walked in to stand beside Bluestreak. He turned on Neo and Laret. What he said to Neo terrified both of them because that kind of talk could get you imprisoned on Cybertron. The big mech was so scary Sana felt faint of spark. He raged at the pair.
"Bluestreak is my bond. If you have a problem with him you have a problem with me."
Neo looked at Sunstreaker and to her credit stood her ground. Then she looked at Blue, First Aid and the two of them. "I will wait my turn."
"Good," the big mech had said. "All the caste slag that you brought with you won't fly here. We won't allow it and you can't make it stick. We'll fight you if that's what it takes. Our son will grow up here to be free and be whatever he wants to be. The same applies to everyone else as well as Blue, my brother and me. You and your parasite friends, you leaching entitlement scavengers can bite my aft if you don't like it. Now go and get in line before I punt your sorry aft through the door."
That was when Neo retreated with the femme that they would learn was her bond, Laret. Scanner and Sana were palsied with fear as they stood in their weakened condition, then Bluestreak turned to both of them. He took their protoform to place it in a safe place, then asked a soldier to take them to Prime. They had mentioned that the children in the flight weren't assisted by Neo and her party who could have helped them.
Talking to Prime was terrifying for the two and when they were taken to their new quarters, a small apartment for sparked bonds they were staggering with emotional and physical exhaustion. It was also the first orn of the rest of their lives. Since those terrible times they had become more than their beginnings.
She was a technician for data in the City Hall Administration. Scanner was a steelworker in construction while going to University to become a metallurgist. They had two daughters now, tiny and beloved including their first one, the one almost doomed to an inadequate protoform that had been lavished with more love than any probably ever created. They both now had a brilliant protoform made for them and the other small handmade heirloom of their trepidation was in their personal storage room carefully wrapped and preserved, a token of the journey they had taken to this point.
Among the strangest side turns of all was the simple fact that when they dropped their babies off at Sparkling Day School they gave them to the welcoming arms of Laret and Neo. Those femmes had come to every member of that journey, the entire complement of individuals that had come to Mars with them including those they had abandoned and with abject humility asked for forgiveness.
It had been strange that those so powerful and wealthy had wanted to make amends but they did. Over a period of time they earned the forgiveness of every one of those they had harmed. It was a process but it helped everyone involved. It was one of the marvels of the universe that someone once so reviled and feared was so loved here in the new paradigm.
It was part of the miracle of Autobot City in the Primal Colony of Mars. It would also be three orns later when she finally received the reports of inventory from Ceres Depot that the little ship that had carried them so faithfully was in storage there, retrieved during a later migration and brought there. It would be a moment of great happiness for Sana as well as Scanner to know that.
-0-TBC 2-20-16 edited 2-29-16
NOTE: In the USA, Transformers Robots In Disguise is back with season two that includes Optimus Prime as a permanent character. :D:D:D
PART 18 of WHAT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IS NO DIFFERENCE is up. :D
Fancyspinner: AWWWW. I am so happy to help you. Slacker is on the list to return to. :D Hugs, my dear Fancy.
Guests: Also on the list is Hydro and his problems. :D
