The Diego Diaries: Function (dd6 6)

-0-On the ship out there

Prime stood before the councilor nearly quivering with emotion. Everyone else stood as still as statues, all of them waiting for Prime's nod or command. He stared at the councilor who shrank back from him with a wary expression. "You killed all of them. All of them are dead, Seven. We are too late."

Seven glanced around the room but saw no allies. Hercy stepped forward. "What do we do with him, Prime? Take him to the prison ship?"

Prime stared at the councilor, then through the haze of his agony heard Hercy's voice. He nodded. "Yes. All of them. They and the others … all of them go there. I want them quarantined."

Hercy gripped the mech's arm, then walked to the door. Shoving him out into space, Springer joined him, towing Seven back to the prison ship nearby.

Prowl turned to Optimus. "What do you want us to do? Command us."

Prime thought around the howling in his processor, then looked at Prowl. "I need to know where to go. Find out where this is. Sort through the entire group. Separate those who are slaves from the rest. I want intel. I want it now."

Prowl nodded, then turned to the others. "Make it so. Report to me."

Everyone short of Raptor and Ironhide stepped out the door led by Hard Drive, a computer intel expert along with Turbine. They disappeared into the lights and busy movements of runabouts ferrying individuals to the places where they were to go.

Ironhide and Raptor stared at Prime. "Optimus … I don't have the right to ask, but what did you see?" Raptor asked.

Prime looked at him. "All of them. They were there, at a place I've seen in a vision. They told me I was too late. I had seen them before, a long time back. The Festival … it was part of the vision. They told me they would die then without words but I did not understand their meaning. Now I do. We are too late for them. They walked into the sea and disappeared." He was silent a moment. "I saw their faces, one-by-one. I saw them then and I saw them now."

It was leaden. Ironhide and Raptor walked to the consoles nearby to sit in the seats. Prime stood by the window for a moment, then sat in the engineer's chair. Rem stared at him with a solemn expression. "What will we do when we get there, Optimus?" he asked.

Prime sat a moment, then looked at him. "I do not know yet. I shudder to think about it."

It was silent in the ship for some time as outside, newly arrived crews and ships with tech and medical experts arrived.

-0-Game

Half time came as the teams walked off the field. The game was tied, 2-2 and the second half promised to be even more exciting. Both teams left, then the halftime began. The first part would be the infant football league trophies and acknowledgments. Then there would be music from the Old Band of the Army. Last, there would be a demonstration of riding from the stables. A number of groups were training their horses and themselves to do dressage, pull carriages and rope western cowboy style. It would be an astonishing sight for the humans of Earth to watch.

-0-In the locker room

They busied themselves in the locker room delivering drinks and towels to the players. The infants were delighted to be helpful, patting players as they told them how amazing they were and that they would 'win this game, we know this, Sunstreaker'. They had played well and the game was tight. Both defenses were strong and held the offenses to two scores each. They were evenly matched, well-balanced teams, the two, so it was even odds who would win. The bookies had a hard sell getting betters for the outcome.

"We're going to dinner after the game, Sunspot. What about the little mechs?" Sideswipe asked.

"Bos?" Sunspot asked over his shoulder.

Bos walked over. "What, Sunny?"

"Can you come to eat with us after the game?" Sunspot asked. "We go to lunch at a restaurant after the games, remember?"

"I know," Bos said. "I don't know." He looked at Sideswipe. "Could you ask my ada?"

Sunstreaker nodded. "We will. If you can come, good. If you can't then we'll get you for another time."

Bos stared at him, then nodded. "We're still brothers, right?" Co-D and Reflector had joined them.

"We always will be brothers. Don't forget that," Sunstreaker said. Sideswipe nodded as well.

The four relaxed then returned to their tasks. The twins watched them. "We can ask. I hope they agree. We have to make this happen," Sunstreaker said.

"We do," Sideswipe said in agreement.

They would be called to come back to the game shortly and it would begin again.

-0-Out there

The data came in along with frightened cowed mechs and the odd femme who had been worker bees for the group. They were overwhelmed to see Prime, terrified of punishment if they talked, and seemingly unaware that the system they lived under was immoral and dangerous. Even with assurances, nearly all of them were unwilling or unable to talk. The techs and doctors from processor health gathered them to take back to Mars. They would take most of the worker bees with them, all but an old mech and femme who seemed willing to speak.

They were brought aboard the ship with Prime by Seekers who flew them over. They touched down on the deck to walk inside led by Ironhide, then halted when they saw Prime. They both knelt down, then averted their optics. "Lord Optimus, we are your servants," the femme said.

Prime who was nauseated at the sight of their fear rose. "You are no one's servant. Please, stand and know you are safe."

They hesitated, then stood with optics averted. Ironhide pulled two chairs. "Sit here and be unafraid. You don't have to look away. That slag is over."

They stared at the floor silently. Then the femme spoke again. "We have to obey."

"You were raised in this culture? Or did you learn this later on?" Raptor asked.

"We were raised to be part of this community," the femme said. "We were always part of the Functionalist faction."

Cyclonus who was sitting nearby with a tense expression rose. He walked to them, then knelt. "I am Cyclonus, Master of the Monastery of the Clavus Aurea."

They glanced up at him in surprise, then averted their optics. "We had no idea that it was still there, Master."

"We've rebuilt it on a planet, the place where Prime is gathering our people. The one on Cybertron will be rebuilt. Right now, I'm the leader of our faction. You will tell the Prime what he needs to know to assist those left behind by the Council. What do you know of it?" No one offered a comment, so Cyclonus pulled up a chair. He sat, then considered his words and the two before him. It was clear that they had lived in a Functionalist society all their lives so they were conformed to the dictates and limitations of that group's philosophy. "Did they tell you that the Guiding Hand intended for some to be important and others to be less so?"

The mech glanced at Cyclonus, then the floor once more. "Adaptus forged us and we must obey his dictates."

"That some of you are more important than others? That some of you can live and others not?" Raptor asked.

"It was all for the best," the femme said glancing at Cyclonus, then the floor. "Each of us has our function and if we all do what we were created to do then our world prospers. How can you trust someone who wasn't formed to do something should they step out of their function? Form fits function. It's the Will of Adaptus. It's the way things are supposed to be. The Will of Primus."

"You know that I am the Master of the Monastery. You know that we study the documents and seek the truth through the masses of information and documents we have amassed at the Monastery," Cyclonus said. They nodded. "Nothing that you were told about form dictating function exists in the Chronicles or any book that we hold. You have been lied to."

They glanced sharply at Cyclonus, then shifted in their seats. "I wish no disrespect, Master," the mech said, "but you aren't a member of the Council. They've led us through plenty of difficult things and times."

"They murdered the others didn't they," Cyclonus asked. "They ended their sparks with their control chips."

The two stared at him with alarm. Then they stared at the floor. "I don't know," the femme said.

"Where are the colony worlds that you came from? What are they like?" Prime asked gently.

"They're beautiful. Organized and all," the femme said. "Our life is organized and busy. We were housekeepers for Three of Twelve," she said proudly.

"What was the business of the colony?" Prime asked.

"We traded with other species, equipment, and tech," the mech said. "We had extensive trade with other species. They would come to our colony with their ideas and needs, then we would build them. They traded with us, lots of things."

"What kind of tech?" Raptor asked. "I'm curious because I like to make things too."

"They traded for navigation devices, energy tech... they liked to have computer things," the femme said.

"What about weapons or ships?" Ironhide asked.

"They came for that too," the mech said. "They wanted weapon systems. They said it would help protect us to if they could fend off dangerous aliens they said lived around there. We made weapons for them, I remember."

Prime nodded. "What about the people left behind? What did they tell you when you gathered to leave?"

"They didn't," the femme said as the mech nodded. "We aren't part of that decision. We were staff, household staff. That is our function."

Prime nodded. "I would like to speak to you later. I am sure you must be tired and hungry. We are going to send you with some individuals to get food and medical treatment. If you could go with them we can talk later."

They nodded, then rose without raising their optics. The hatch opened as a mech slipped inside. He was a technician from the Processor Health department called to the ship by Prowl to take the pair into special custody. They would be given a good place to sleep, medical attention and the start of therapy. They were the best window into what was happening discovered in the migration thus far.

"Go with him and he will help you. We will talk again," Prime said gently.

They nodded, then walked with the mech to the door. Gently handed over to another mech in a runabout outside, he stepped out too and they left. It was silent in the ship for a moment, then Prime sat down. "They violated the Tyrest Treaties. Our tech, all kinds of it, is in the hands of aliens."

"The slag never ends," Ironhide said grimly.

A mech flew in on the back of a Seeker, then stepped aboard. He had a datapad which he held up. "Optimus, we have a map of their travels and the places they came from. Four worlds with several settlements on each, two of them big. We can go backward to this place with the bridges."

Prime nodded. "Thank you. Keep looking. We need to know what happened to the rest of their population."

The mech, a big computer expert for the Wreckers, nodded. "I can probably conjecture you an answer, Optimus."

"I have little hope that you would be wrong," Optimus said as Prowl began to sort through the data.

"We'll keep looking, Optimus," he said as he walked to the door. He stepped out and flew away toward the ships in the group.

"What is the status of the boarding, Prowl?" Optimus asked.

Prowl checked the data, then glanced at Optimus. "All of the ships have been boarded. At least 2,500 of the group are workers. The rest are Functionalist leadership or their families."

Prime nodded. "We will get to the bottom of this, then head toward their settlements. We have to know what we are looking at before we go. If anyone has survived, they need us to come as soon as possible."

No one argued.

-0-Game

They faced each other, each side aching to get the ball from the other. The game was swift, hard fought and clean. The crowds were beside themselves that the score was tied again. 6-6. The offenses had outdone themselves with the defenses playing well above their normal levels of skill.

The ball was tossed as Sunstreaker and the Simfur center jumped together. They both grabbed the ball and the brawl was on.

-0-TBC 5-15-17 edited 5-16-17