The Diego Diaries: Altercation (dd6 90)
-0-NOTES: This is the sixth time we passed 90. :D I was sitting somewhere yesterday writing things that I have come across during editing or have been working on. I have twelve handwritten pages of threads yet to come. I don't think I could wrap this up if I tried. :D HUGS!
-0-Later that evening
"Ada. Where Atar?"
Ratchet looked down into the sweet face of Praxus. He picked him up, then set him and his teddy bear on his lap. Ratchet was sitting in his chair listening to the infants frolic in their rooms while watching the latest installment of The Bridge. "Atar just a workin'," he replied in a phrase that Orion had used to tell anyone who asked where either of them were. He grinned. "I hear you do well in school."
Praxus smiled. He was much more low key than Orion in temperament and liked to get along. He was sweet, neat, creative, and smart. Given that he lived in a big shadow from his older younger brother, he was easier to overlook. "I like school."
"How would you like it if you went to the same school that Hero goes to?" Ratchet asked.
He smiled. "Ho-Ho's school?" Ratchet nodded. "I go there?"
"I don't know. What if we took you from your school and sent you there?" Ratchet asked.
He thought a moment, then glanced around. "Ho-Ho goes there. What about Orion?" he asked.
Ratchet shrugged. "I don't know. We haven't gone to listen to his teachers."
Praxus stared at him, then Orion ran out halting before them. He smiled his Pac-Man smile, the one with twinkling optics. "ADA! PAX! HE COMED TO ME TO PLAY!?"
Ratchet grinned, then stared at Praxus. "Well?"
He glanced down at Orion. "Orion, can I go to school with Ho-Ho?" he asked.
Orion blinked at him, then looked at Ratchet. "What she saying?"
"What would you all think if we sent Pax to Hero's school?" Ratchet asked.
Orion was silent as he glanced from Praxus to Ratchet and back again. "She go to there? I go there too? I, Orion, going there too. I, Orion, helpeded them. Ho-Ho and Pax."
Ratchet looked at Praxus, then Orion. "What if we say you can't go?"
Orion stared at him solemnly, then Praxus. "Pax … you going there?"
Praxus shrugged, then looked at Ratchet. "Ada … Orion not coming? I stay with Orion."
Ratchet grinned. "Fine with me," he said. "Go play with your brother. School comes tomorrow and you both have to go to your school together."
Praxus smiled beautifully, then looked down at Orion. "I GO WITH YOU!"
Orion glanced at Ratchet hopefully, who nodded in agreement. He smiled like the sun. "COMED YOU TO ME, PAX! WE GOING THERE!" he said pointing to the hallway.
Ratchet set the baby on the floor, then watched as Orion took his servo. They ran together to the berth room, then disappeared inside. Laughter and chatter erupted from Hero and Prowler as the two joined them. Ratchet stared at the doorway, then grinned. "That settles that, I think," he said with a grin.
-0-At the Autobot Municipal and Interplanetary Airport, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars
The ship rolled to the spot where all of the touring vessels parked to allow a jetway to attach to the side of it. It took a moment, then off came a large group of humans heading for a two week vacation at the number one tourist destination in the solar system. They came out without baggage following the human who would take them through immigration by the port authorities. With them came the former wife of Owen Harris, Mariah Jeanne Harris Davis. She walked with a tall fit man who was named Kyle Davis, her former husband's great friend and business manager-partner, an investment banker and hedge fund owner who lived in New York City where the business was based.
Jazz watched them through the barrier that divided the human from bot side of the vast facility. It was busy on both sides as the traffic to and from Cybertron and other places carried on around him. The humans watched the bots as they walked in their group, some of them recognizing him with a wave. He waved back with a grin. He was here to take the Harris group to the facility but he was going to do it secretly in car mode. He would slip out, transform, then allow them to enter after they they were cleared through the Port Authority. Given the amount of slag that they brought with them, he would transport the group and their baggage would be forwarded. Watching them a moment, he walked to the front door, transformed, then drove to the safety area where the humans could enter his confines safely. The best part was simple. They were going to be told Jazz was just a drone car programmed to take them to Earth2.
He sat outside waiting to enter the drive through facility where humans loaded up into both secured and none secured vehicles. He would secure their ride by providing atmosphere and air pressure. He would also be listening in. These were the enemy of The People so they would be on the grid immediately.
-0-Earth2
Owen Harris and his son, Rick, stood in the entry area waiting for their guests to arrive. Tonight, Mariah and Kyle would arrive, then the Beliveaus with Cameron would be here around noon time the following day. He welcomed the gathering of his great friends even if the underlying tension between Mariah and himself would be there. The only thing upon which either of them continued to find common ground was their son and daughter. On that, they were a united front. There were, however, secrets even there between them.
Owen Harris had no idea his son was gay. Rick had been married and divorced. There were no children in the union but there was bitterness galore between them even now. Owen figured his son was too busy with his business and shedding the emotions of divorce to find another woman. Mariah knew otherwise. She and Rick were close and told each other everything. Rain was a different matter. She was at the age and temperament that neither of them were allies. Her parents ganged up together to manage her. She was in her teenaged angst bent out of shape about it.
"Is the apartment for Mom and Kyle ready for them?" Rick asked as they stood together staring out at the huge parking lot and barren land beyond. A wide beautiful highway split the area in two as it disappeared onward into the wilderness outside. One could almost think a person could walk out and not die in the inhospitable environment. It looked that inviting and 'normal'.
"We gave them one of the nice visitor apartments. Cam and his parents are getting the other two at that end of the floor." Owen glanced at his son. "Show Cam the works. He's going to be procurement officer here and won't have as much freedom afterward."
Rick nodded, then grinned. "I'm glad he's here. We're going to have fun."
Owen nodded. "At least some of us will."
Rick grinned. "Who's the adult? You or Rain?"
Owen smirked slightly. "Let me tell you in a few days."
-0-At the Airport
Niall Graham, who had gotten the call for Earth2 by default given he had the most patience and tact, walked through the barrier dividing the bot and human side of the airport. It was coded into his gear to allow him that convenience. Walking through the human arrivals who slowly but surely began to recognize him, he reached his party. "Mr. and Mrs. Davis, I'm Niall Graham. I'm here to get you to your destination. Please follow me," he said, then began to walk to a hatch nearby that would allow access to the outside by the right procedures and passwords.
They followed him as he threaded his way through the lines. When they reached a door, he held up his wrist. The door opened, so they walked inside. It closed behind them. Kyle Davis glanced at his wrist. "Are you chipped to pass locks?"
"I'm not allowed to say," Niall said as they walked to a magnificent late model car sitting inside the pass through driveway, doors open as they approached. It was a 2018-style Ford GT with a deeply blue paint scheme, one that Jazz liked. He would have gone more international for this, a one-off experience but he wanted a two-seater that would be small enough for him not to miss anything they might say on the ride out to Earth2.
Kyle turned to him as they slowed to stop beside the vehicle. "What about our luggage?"
"It's being forwarded. This drone car will take you to the habitat. Understand. You haven't been briefed nor have you been here at all. You don't even have habitat gear. Why is that?" Niall asked.
Mariah looked at Niall with an appraising expression. She was tall and slim, rather fitting the term that Andy Warhol gave to society women of an age, great wealth and status … 'social x-ray' ... and looked impeccably groomed. She wore expensive jewelry and her hair and makeup were perfection. Even he was clear enough to notice such things. "My former husband, Owen Harris runs Earth2. He told me that the dress code there would allow me to wear my own clothing. As for the gear itself, I was told that the women at the Resort were designing more attractive outdoor wear than we were shown. I decided to wait for a chance to get together with them."
Niall considered what his wife and the other women at the Resort would have to say about this one, someone used to getting what she wanted her way. "If I tell you that you aren't allowed to go to the habitat without the appropriate gear, that I have the authority to send you back to Earth if I feel your presence is not safe, what then?"
She glanced at her husband, Kyle Davis, friend, business partner, investment banker, money manager for Owen Harris, and venture capitalist. In short, the master of his particular universe. He was tall as well and very well made for an older man. He was also impeccably groomed. "Captain … you're a captain, right? I'm not that up on the insignia of the UK."
Niall nodded, his face and manner perfectly appropriate though he was seething inside. "That is correct."
"Captain, we're newly arrived. I'm under the impression that you have proper transport. The next time we step out we'll be clad in the appropriate gear," Kyle said. He was smooth, smart, used to getting his way, and a first class asshole on Graham's Douche Bag Meter which currently was going off loudly in his head.
"You were given instructions. I have to make a call. Wait here," he said as he walked across the hardtop floor to a monitor nearby. Keying it in, he called up Lennox. "Will, this is Niall."
"Lennox here. Did you drop the package?"
"Not exactly," he said quietly. "They came without gear because it wasn't … Valentino, I guess. What do you want? Do I send them back for a lesson in not bullshitting a bullshitter or do you want to come and give them the riot act?"
"On my way," Lennox said, then the line went dead.
Niall waited a moment for Lennox to reach him here from N.E.S.T. HQ nearby, then walked back to the couple. "Major Lennox commands the human community here. His word is the law. If he says you can stay, you stay. If he sends you home for this, you go. You have no appeal process, no one to pull you back out of the fire you started," he said as a vehicle, one of the new N.E.S.T. rovers that could carry ten and go up the side of glass mountains approached, its gun mount tied down for travel. It pulled up to an outside hatch, then Lennox, Trevor Smith, Epps, and Major Lilly Bolger-Settles stepped out. They came through the hatch entry and when the atmosphere was equal to the inside, walked in. They walked to the group, then halted. Each side eyed the other.
"Why aren't you in gear? You were given your orders," Lennox said getting to the point.
"We will when we reach Earth2. I'm sorry if we transgressed a rule, Major," Kyle said. "My wife has a sprained ankle so we chose to go in comfort. We don't want to cause trouble. We apologize to you for this and it won't happen again."
"It won't if I send you back," Lennox said hotly. "There's only been two human deaths here. Both of them were killed by a bot in the prison for being jag-offs. I want to keep it that way. I could send you back and ban you from ever coming here again. Is this what I have to have on my mind? You two dilettantes making up your own rules?"
It was silent a moment, then Kyle shifted. "I … you're right. I'm sorry. I mean it. We need to be here. My wife's daughter needs her influence. I'm here to help with the colony and we'd like to stay and prove ourselves worthy of being here. I'm sorry, Major. I hope you forgive us and allow a do over."
"You have to ride over fifty miles to the habitat from here. You have to get there alive. The suits not only make that happen but they have locators that will help us rescue you when you need it in seconds because it keeps track of you on the grid. You can't be saved if you can't be found. You can't hear emergency warnings if you don't have the suit on. We had a phase sixer come here and the entire colony was told to evacuate to the shelters. If you don't hear that, you don't get saved. Do you understand me?" he asked with a cold eye and a hot blast of irritation.
They both nodded. "What do you want us to do, Major?" Kyle asked almost meekly.
Lennox considered him, knowing that he was neither meek nor cowed. He was, however, facing a team of very famous soldiers who were pissed and it had intimidated both of them. For now. "I want you to get into the car and stay in it. It's programmed to get you to the habitat and get you inside. The doors will not open under any circumstances so for that much you're safe. If you EVER do this again, not only will I PERSONALLY boot your sorry asses off this planet, I will beat the shit out of you. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
They both nodded. "You do, Major."
"Remember this. You both have a demerit against you. No one here ever gets two. Get in the car. We'll follow you. If there needs to be an evac, they can key in on your location through us."
The two turned to the car, then entered. Seat belts automatically gripped them, then the doors closed on their own. The vehicle started, then waited for Lennox and his smirking party to get into their vehicle. The scans were made, Jazz rolled out and the group headed for Earth2.
-0-N.E.S.T. vehicle, the 'Chaos Edge', named in honor of a boozy night of cards and the bots' pantheon
"Remind me to never get on your bad side, Will," Lilly said as she sat in the passenger front seat. Sitting in the back, the others settled in as they merged into traffic on Fortress Road.
"This ends here," Lennox said. "If Harris and these guys feel they can challenge my authority then they better be ready to fight."
"You can exile them, Major," Trevor said to his mentor, friend and god. "You don't have to give a reason and this should be enough."
"It is," Epps said. "I wonder what they're saying to Jazz?"
-0-Jazz, cruising with great beauty and style through the late afternoon traffic on the way down Temple to Metro Highway #4 and the back of the beyond
It was silent a moment, then Kyle Davis sighed. "Well, that was stupid. We better not break another rule, Mariah. This is Mars, not New York during Fashion Week."
"Maybe, but I refuse to lower my standards," she said with a familiar pouting tone.
Jazz grinned as he cut in the soldiers following. :Have a listen in, boys. Why should I have all the fun?: he said over their radio.
They did.
-0-TBC 8-12-17 edited 8-13-17