The Diego Diaries: Free (dd8 114)
=0=The room in the City
They walked up giant steps to the tallest building any of them ever saw. Entering it, the feeling of serenity was almost overwhelming as the love that permeated every sector of this place gathered itself around them. They followed Primus into a vast room that appeared nearly bleached white with the radiance all around them. Primus turned to them, then gestured to stay. Walking onward, He came to a throne and sat.
It was silent a moment, then a voice that emanated out of nowhere began to speak. "You came to Me. I am most pleased. We would like you to find a place to sit because I have a favor to ask of you through My son."
The humans glanced at each other, then looked around. Nearby beaming into existence, an area of seats, couches and chairs appeared. They walked toward it and complied. It was silent once more.
Then Optimus Prime, Ebio and Cassio Imperialis appeared in the middle of the room.
=0=Ratchet and the Civilians
The beauty of their surroundings was something that inspired reflection as they watched the view change with each rounding of a bend. The soft air and the sound of what must have been insects soothed everyone's nerves as they flat boated onward. Then they didn't. The surroundings faded away into nothingness.
=0=Ratchet and the Kids
They walked along the beach at the Sea of Mercury marveling at the sights before them. Drift and Springer followed the excited kids as Ratchet followed them.
"I always wanted to come here for a vacation," Springer said.
"What's a vacation?" Drift asked with a slight smirk.
"Slagger," Springer said. He glanced at Bezel and Lon. "I suppose you got to come here, one or the other of you."
Both of them looked shame-faced. Neither of them answered.
Springer laughed a moment, then glanced at Ratchet. "I imagine you come here a lot, whoever you are. You aren't Ratchet, that's for sure."
Ratchet gave them a dazzling smile. "BINGO!" he said as he snapped his fingers.
The scene changed immediately.
=0=At the Gathering
They appeared, each group. After a moment of shock, they were asked to take their place among the others. It was a nervous making moment or two as civilians checked out civilians, then it quieted. The ambiance of the room and the glittering figure beyond cut conversation dead.
The mechs who were standing to one side together turned as one to the two Ratchets. The two Ratchets glanced at each other.
"I have to say I've never seen a better looking mech than you," Ratchet said to the other Ratchet.
A familiar laugh countered that, then the figure changed. Solus Prime stood before the group with a grin. "That was fun."
A murmur filled the room, then it was silent again. It was then that everyone noticed Optimus and the Imperialis brothers staring at them.
They stared back.
"Optimus."
Prime turned toward Primus, then bowed deeply. "Lord Primus."
"Optimus. We are convening the trial here and now. I would like you to be the defendant's spokesperson. You, Blackstone and Coln-2 will be the spokesmen for the state."
Prime blinked, then glanced at the two startled mechs. "Lord Primus … I do not have the expertise to speak for them. I have a vested interest in the outcome of this trial."
"We all do, Optimus Prime. I will be the judge. The One shall be the one to whom any appeal if chosen shall be heard." Primus glanced at the gathered. "You shall be the jury, all of you."
The group stared at him with astonishment, then each other. No one said a word as they took in the overwhelming scene. The mechs as well were silent as they stared at the warrior god to whom they were pledged as a people.
He stood. Primus glanced at all of them. "I am Primus, the Lord of Cybertron. Upon My body do you dwell as it was from the beginning. I have given everything that I have to your well being but it was not to be. There was a flaw in the system and it led to the end of things. By the grace of The One, enough fled to take the war elsewhere that I survived. During the intervening eons, life managed to continue and our people were found to be saved once again.
He glanced at Prime. "You have wisdom and you are the leader of The People. All of them. I believe that you have the ability to speak for these two and bring this to a conclusion that is amenable to all of Us. You," He said glancing at Blackstone and Coln, "have the duty to speak for The People, Cybertron and Me. I welcome your opening arguments." He glanced over at the group watching this surreal gathering. "You will be the jury. Watch carefully, listen and weigh what you hear against a reasonable interpretation of the facts. Your instincts will tell you what to do. Even you children will be able to assist this proceeding." He sat again, then glanced at Prime.
Optimus who was blindsided considered what arguments he could give to defend the indefensible. He glanced at Ebio and Cassio who were as surprised as him.
"You'd have him defend us? Then we're doomed," Ebio said as Cassio nodded.
"You will be doomed if he does not do it. I will accept no other," Primus replied.
It was astonishingly quiet in the room, then Optimus turned toward the two defendants. "I …" He thought a moment. "This will be difficult given the evidence of their conduct over the eons. A lot of what happened to our people came at their behest. They were dangerous to the well being of everyone. They had no limits to their pathological needs."
"This is a defense?" Cassio asked with a slight smirk. He walked over to a chair and sat. His brother followed. "Continue. I can't wait to celebrate my freedom."
Prime stared at him, at the faces of the jury, then turned to Primus. "You give me a nearly indefensible brief but there is a moment where we all agree. Our people have never been free until now. We were always a slave to someone or some idea. The Quintessans created the poisoned bedrock upon which our society has stood and over the eons its always led to disaster.
"The idea that some are more entitled, more important and superior to others is the bottom line in any examination of our society as ground zero for our torment. Even the best of us, the Immortals and Guardian Prime could not make a dent in the inevitability of our doom. They tried. They offered themselves selflessly but it was not enough.
"Cassio and Ebio are the sons of a collaborator. They are the sons of Devio Imperialis. He was an overseer during the Quintessan Oppression and became a major administrator of the Functionalist Tyranny. He met his doom at the hands of a mob following the overthrow of the Council but the poison was already in place. The rise of the System of Exception was inevitable. There was no other possible track to follow because we were never allowed to reflect on the possibility of any other path forward.
"Consider what it meant to be the son of a collaborator. Even efforts to spin our history cannot cover up what that meant." He turned to the two who were listening, Casio with a wary guarded expression and Ebio with rising fury. "You are upset that your father has been exposed as a collaborator. You understand what they did to advance themselves and to curry favor. The graveyards of our world are filled with victims of these individuals and your father is no exception."
Ebio rose to dispute that but Cassio tugged him down.
Prime stared at them, then the jury. "In our jury are many who remember such things. They know how terrible that time was and how the poison of hatred and caste became entrenched into our society. It was anathema to our progress that such a thing should linger but it did. It poisoned every particle of our culture, politics and even our beliefs. We are standing here with them going ove this yet again because we were never allowed to take a breath and consider what happened to us.
"We were battered and brutalized each time this rose up and hurt compounded upon hurt. Grievances were born and thus, so was a desire for vengeance. Now we sit here in this place in a trial of Special Circumstances for these two mechs. Neither of them had a chance to be different than they are. Neither of them learned anything but the poison their father helped make permanent in our culture by his conduct. They are as incapable of caring about another as anyone I ever met.
"They hold in memory the location of the last two Omega Keys we need to revive Cybertron and give to our people what they need, a beautiful home and a future. They have declined to give the information over, instead, seeking to deal their way out of this proceeding in exchange for the data. I do not believe they will keep their part of the bargain no matter what is agreed.
"They grew up in a closed entitled pathological society. They grew up in a bubble where everything that they learned was a lie and no one bothered to tell them it was so. They were taught to hate and to act on that in all the transactions of their lives. They were brutal because they were raised to be so. They had no idea of anyone else's life because they were never allowed to see or hear about it. You were isolated and it became your world view. Nothing was going to change that, not the truth nor the death of our world.
"I do not believe they will ever change because they are incapable of doing something for the good of the order or the good of another. Its not part of who they are. They were not raised to do so. Even here they have no fear of anyone in the room," Prime said as he turned toward Primus. "They have no fear of You or nor respect for what You represent. Therefore, they will not be turning over the data until the contract they seek is ironclad. Even then, I have no faith that they will do what they promise. All that I can ask for them is mercy.
"I do believe that they are fatally flawed and unable to reach any conclusion about the good of others and You that does not allow them to have some control over the outcome even if they surrender the data. They have a pathological need to control, to receive and to spite. It takes empathy to care and they have none. They have no ability to change as far as I can determine. All I can ask for is mercy, Lord Primus."
It was silent, then Cassio stood. "I don't suppose that you'll allow us to speak."
Primus stared at him. "At the end of arguments." He glanced at Blackstone and Coln. "Gentlemen."
They glanced at each other, then Coln stepped forward. "Lord Primus, I could tell you for orns what they did to others, how they collaborated and how they harmed everyone for their own personal gain. There isn't a Cybertronian alive who hasn't suffered because of their behavior. The list of crimes runs the gamut of the imagination. There was no age group that escaped their wrath and greed. They were part of the Tarn and Vos nuclear attack and they charged exorbitant fees to refugees to escape Cybertron during the war, refusing those who couldn't pay.
"The graveyards of our empire are filled with their victims, even babies and children. They have no mercy for anyone and never had. To grant to them what they denied to others is a mockery of justice. They deserve the most extreme sentences that can be concocted short of the death penalty for the massive crimes they created and benefited from. They need to live forever to feel every minute of their punishment. I wish I had the evidence to show you, the witnesses to tell you their tales, Lord Primus. I think the sentence would write itself," Coln said as Blackstone stood beside him with a solemn expression.
It was very silent in the room.
=0=TBC 03-15-2021