The Diego Diaries: Function Over Form (dd6 20)
-0-The Family Tower, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Cybertron and the Empire
They were connected together, all of the habitats on-world that were human domiciles. Only for the second time had Will Lennox asserted his authority and called everyone together to talk. The first time was the debrief after Black Shadow. Now, it was over the state of mourning and the catastrophe of the deaths of their neighbors and friends. Glenn Morshower who would have the job of breaking the news to Earth stood beside Lennox as the room filled with residents, some of them in emotional turmoil.
On the huge screen split into different smaller ones, Earth 1, Sciences, the Resort, and N.E.S.T. HQ had checked in as well. Faces from the different auditoriums and lounges showed most if not all of the 1,082 individuals who lived and worked here on a permanent basis. Included among them were family members and their children. A dog's barking from the Earth 1 habitat broke the silence as Lennox turned to the crowd. "I want everyone to pay attention. General Morshower and I will tell you how to proceed right now, the does and don'ts. We've been in contact with the Temple, the Monastery and with The Fortress to ensure that whatever we do is right and proper. General Morshower will brief you, then I will. He has the duty to tell Earth. All communications off world by the way are suspended until tomorrow to allow General Morshower to break the news properly to Earth."
No one argued through it would be an inconvenience for everyone with science or family needs on Earth. Morshower glanced at the screens, then the solemn crowd before him. "The bots have suffered a major catastrophe. A colony settlement of half a million was killed by a group that once ruled Cybertron back about thirteen million years ago. They were overthrown, then disappeared. Apparently, they went into the Benzuli expansion and rebuilt their kingdom which included caste slavery called functionalism. Whatever your build dictated, that was what you were allowed to become. If you wanted anything else, it was too bad and they enforced it with violence.
"The dead include elders, children, and babies. There was no mercy when they left and right now the bots are reeling. Prime and the senior Autobots along with the priests of the Temple and Monastery are doing what they can to make sure there isn't a religious backlash among the population to the Guiding Hand sects that live here. Be aware that among them are the Circle of Light and Missionary groups.
"I know that some of you are studying that philosophy and some of you are fully initiated into the Circle. We are going to call upon you to assist us in maintaining good relations with both and to liaison with them when the need arises. For now, they have two periods of mourning in place. The first is state mourning. Nothing but emergency services is going to be operating for the next ten days. Everything that isn't designed to rescue or ensure safety will be closed. I was advised that there would be a lot of activity around the Temple, the Monastery, the Halls of Order, and the Memorial on Metroplex's Administrative Plaza. The Central Labor Hall will be open round the clock as its counseling departments are going to be busy helping those who need it.
"We are going to be extra especially attuned to the population because it's impossible to tell who might have lost someone and it's also a very touchy thing right now, the religious aspects of this. I have asked Olivia Bowers to speak to that right now. She was in contact with Heatout about what the human community needs to know and how they can assist the bots through this, if at all. Olivia?" Morshower said nodding to a drawn pensive woman sitting next to her attentive husband.
Olivia stood, then walked through the masses until she stood with Lennox and Morshower. She turned to the crowd. "Thank you, General. I've been in contact with Master Heatout and have expressed to him our most deeply felt and sincere condolences as the human community on-world. He was expressly touched by that and our wishes to assist however we could. First, I would like to address the differences between the Circle, the Clavis Aurea, and the Functionalists.
"In the beginning days, aliens called the Quintessans had overtaken The People and oppressed us," she said, oblivious in her distress to her personal identification to the Cybertronians. "They were brutal and took away choice, the same way that the System of Exception did that led to this, the latest civil war against oppression. They were overthrown and lost to time it seemed because no one knew where they went. The empire was having to be rebuilt and the Matrix had a good leader so they slipped away, fading from the memories of most of The People over time.
"The Clavis Aurea and the Circle of Light base their belief system in the basic foundation ideas of the Guiding Hand. There are two main belief systems for the Cybertronians describing The Creation, one served by the Temple which is based on the historical reality of Primus versus Unicron with the Pantheon and the other on Primus and the five gods that He created out of Himself not only to create the Cybertronian race but to advance them into the Golden Age. That's a lesser well-known and followed practice but integral to many points of view including the Clavis Aurea who apply properly the tenets and beliefs of the Guiding Hand.
"There was one god among them, Mortilius, who wanted to extend Their beliefs into the universe through force, standing against all others and it created conflict among the five and Lord Primus Himself. Most of Them were mortally wounded and through their ultimate sacrifice became different important attributes of The People. Primus Himself was mortally wounded and entered Cybertron to become one with it.
"You can still speak to Him through Vector Sigma, His great processor. He protects The People and loves them so much," she said, then paused as emotion filled her. She struggled a moment, then continued. "There is only love from Primus for The People. The Functionalists have taken a beautiful set of beliefs and prostituted them. They are extremists and liars, awful individuals who have no concept of what Primus and The One really want for The People. All of their views as practiced run counter to what things really mean. They are terrorists and extremists who have taken beautiful things and damaged them with their actions.
"That's what's so dangerous right now, that the actions of a few will poison everyone. There's no connection between the Clavis Aurea, the Primus Peace Mission, The Circle of Light, the Knights of Cybertron, or any of the other sects in the colony or empire with this set of ideas and these individuals prominent among them. They've perverted the meanings and intentions of all of these teachings with their selfish cruelty.
"What we can't do is hold against others the actions of a few. Master Heatout is working with the Temple, Monastery, and the smaller sects to ensure that no one is going to pay a price they don't owe for the actions of this group. They were terrorists when they began and they're terrorists now. They beat, tortured, denied, and murdered The People for eons. They call the mass murders that they did 'recalls'. They detonated control chips in their processors from a distance when they wanted to get rid of a group and they did it without mercy or exception. It wasn't the first but Prime is going to see to it that it's the last.
"We have to give The People love and time. The period of state mourning lasts ten orns- … days, then it changes to the remaining month of solemn remembrance. That will be when things open up again and life returns to a more normal routine. There will be ceremonies in the Basilica, the Temple, the Monastery, and then the same on Cybertron. Prime will hold sway over them but they will be led by every sect and their major officials.
"I don't know what's going to come of this. It's terrible. Remember, they've all been through hell already. Right now, we have to be sensitive and kind. They will rebound but it's going to take a bit of time. The culprits are terrible beings. They look like Shockwave. One optic and no soul. They were the ones who invented empurata and when you look at them, when you see Shockwave, then you will know what they look like. I'll be helping The People for the human community so if there's anything you need or want to know or do, I will try to help. Thank you." Olivia walked to her seat and sat down, leaning into Joe who squeezed her shoulders.
"Thank you, Olivia. We're glad you have that contact. As for the rest of us, we stay off the streets for about three days," Morshower said. "I think we need to see if anything comes of this in the short term. Everyone is off work and have time on their hands. If violence is going to happen, it should happen now. By the weekend, I think we can go back to a more normal schedule. But understand, if there is violence they might not be so attentive to us, proximity sensors or no proximity sensors. If there is even the remotest possibility that something is going to happen wherever you are, beat it out of there. That's an order. Take it to the bank. If I found out that you didn't, I will boot you off world permanently. Tell me now if anyone has a problem with that."
There was silence in the room and on the monitors as solemn-faced individuals stared back at the General. Then Owen Harris spoke. "General, this morning the dust level at Earth2 dropped enough that we can see it through the haze. What is the likelihood that we can go there? The three of us here on-world?"
Morshower stared at Harris who was sitting in a comfortable chair next to Brandon Clark. His son, he had been told in the morning briefing that included the ongoing search for the two soldier-moles and both Harris's, had to reschedule clients, something he would have to do for the next ten days as well. "We won't be entering it, Mr. Harris, until the bots are ready for the walk through and final sign off. Right now, they have bigger problems."
Harris stared at Morshower, then nodded. He was seething inside with frustration, something that he wasn't used to anymore. If anyone knew how to get their way, it was Owen Harris. But he choked it back to wait.
"I want everyone here to practice empathy and patience. They had a terrible catastrophe and Prime had a hard decision to make. I'm not sure I would have the intestinal fortitude to do what he did but I know of few others that I admire more than him. We are going to deport ourselves with honor, dignity, and sympathy to the bots or you're gone. If you wish to do something, check in at N.E.S.T. HQ. Lennox has complete discretion. For those of you who attend classes at the University or the Circle at the Halls of Order, they have been cancelled for ten days as well. I think we can open the floor for questions, then further instructions and debrief by Lennox," he said as they began to be asked from habitats all over the colony.
-0-At a meeting at the Temple of Primus Restored
They sat in the conference room, the leadership of the various sects of the colony. Gathered together, they sat to chat first to clear the air, decide how to serve the People then plan the funerals for the dead at the end of the solemn observance. It was tense and quiet as they chatted, groups that had a great deal in common even if they approached the same general information in different ways. All of them believed in Primus, The One and the Pantheon. They just did so differently.
Priests stood around the table bringing this and that as requested, filling glasses, providing snacks and other things as the meeting rolled onward. Cyclonus and three elders from the Monastery sat with the priests of the Temple, the leadership of the Missionaries, and Heatout with two acolytes. Taking a break, they relaxed. "How do you feel, Master Cyclonus?" Heatout asked as he eyed the big former Decepticon.
"It is irrelevant what I feel, Master Heatout. We have to make sure that this isn't a longterm problem between us. My feelings are actually molten if you must know," Cyclonus said in his deep dangerous-sounding voice.
Heatout nodded. "I understand. I spoke to Dai Atlas shortly ago. He is going to turn the focus of the Knights onto that sector to see if there are others there that are in need of rescue. If there are more Functionalist groups in the area I am going to recommend to Prime that we overrun them and take our people back before they 'tire' of them."
Cyclonus nodded. "I shall go with them."
He wouldn't be the only one in the room that would agree to go.
-0-At the homestead
It was morning at last but the day was still unsettled. Children weren't going to school. Elders weren't going to work but for Ratchet and Ironhide. Their jobs never ended. Gathering in the apartment, Scout, Trooper, Alor, Blackjack with his son, Raptor, Turbine, Hard Drive, and Delphi all settled. Infants found laps to sit on. Food was served, the last bit of designed food for the next nine orns cooked and divied out as everyone gathered to go over the plan. Soon, everyone would be on liquid energon and faintly feel the buzz. It was hard to give up the prepared shapes for a cube they would all find out.
The door opened as Ravel and Company joined them. It was crowded with children including six Titan kids who had stayed overnight with the Dreads. "Well, let me call this meeting to order," Ratchet said with a grin as he surveyed the group. "How is everyone this morning? I ask not as a son but as a physician."
A murmur of remarks ranging from 'sad' to 'WHAT YOU, ADA?!' were accounted for as everyone settled in to formulate THE PLAN FOR WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?
-0-Upstairs
Miracle sat in his father's lap patting him. "You okay, Atar?" he asked.
Prime grinned. "Yes, son."
Miracle smiled, then stared down at the floor at the others. "They want up."
Prime gently scooped up two tiny femmes. They sat on his lap and stared up at their massive father. "Atar? Are you good?" Sojourner asked.
He grinned at them as the three little mechs and a cat began to climb into his lap. He scooped them all up, settling them gently before him, the bounty of his garden. "I am now," he said with a smile.
In the doorway nearby, Kes, Miler, and Prowl watched. Washing dishes in the big kitchen, Tagg and Venture kept themselves occupied. Prowl grinned, then set Prima on the ground. "Go get Optimus, baby," Prowl whispered.
The tiny doppelganger of Prowl smiled up at his elders, then ran across the floor toward the others. It would take a while to get there but he would make it.
-0-TBC 5-18-17 edited 5-31-17
Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all who celebrate it. Happy Weekend for everyone else. I will get onto the notes tonight. Know how much you are loved by me. HUGS! -Me