The Diego Diaries: Onward (dd6 203)
-0-Earth2, the night before
"What do you think?" Owen Harris asked.
"It's pretty wonderful," Glenn Morshower said as they paused by the bar.
"The bots know how to build," Kyle Davis said.
"They do," Glenn said. "They didn't have to do it. They didn't have to make a facility where five thousand people and a lot of animals could live comfortably but they did."
"We know," Owen said as the others nodded. "We want to be a community here, this place and the others. We want to work together and advance the cause of humanity among the locals."
"And what would be your cause, Mr. Harris? I understand that you've been writing to Jase Daniels in prison," Morshower said.
It was silent a moment, then Harris shrugged and nodded. "I am. I have been for some time. He wrote to me and we struck up a friendship. He and his family aren't doing to well in prison so I took pity on him. The prison reads all the incoming inmate mail every time it shows up so we can't be plotting things."
"Who's insinuating that?" Morshower asked.
"We didn't start off well, General, and I don't feel that's improved any since," Harris said. "I want this to work and be the first step to human settlement of the solar system. I would like us to find a way to find common ground."
"I have no problem with that but you have to understand one small thing. You can't live out here without the bots and I do recall that you keep company that has a poor opinion of them and their being here," Morshower said as he took his beer from the bartender.
Pierre Beliveau and Kyle Davis stood beside Harris, their expressions solemn. They didn't say much, preferring to defer to Harris. Harris shrugged again. "I have a lot of business interests, General. Many of those I transact with have conservative, even reactionary personal viewpoints. I'm interested in business, in building them, in bringing products to market, and promoting and building this facility. We spent a long time getting this far and I've had many strange bedfellows. Just because I do business with them doesn't mean that we're friends or that we agree on all points."
"But you have no truck with the bots being here," Morshower replied.
"I would like it better if this system was for humans but that ship has sailed," Harris replied. "We're here and no one is going anywhere. There are going to be many tens of millions of bots here given that Cybertron is unable to take new refugees, apparently. We have to build mutual coexistence and I'm willing to do my part," Harris said as the other two nodded in agreement.
"I will take that under advisement, Mr. Harris," Glenn said. He nodded to all of them. "Gentlemen," he said, then he stepped away heading back to the table where his friends, aides and other civilians in the hierarchy both on and off world were sitting.
The three watched him go. "He's a tough nut, that one," Davis said. "What about we ask the President to look for another Chairman for the Joint Chiefs? That would remove him from N.E.S.T."
Harris thought about that. "Maybe. Maybe not. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know."
"I'll make discreet inquiries," Davis said with a slight grin. "Maybe its time for hell to freeze over."
Nearby, watching the dancing that was happening in the huge area near the windows and the Christmas tree, the mercenaries were relaxing. They had eaten a great deal and it was time to drink. They managed their intake during the day but at night, especially when there was a celebration, some of them imbibed more than usual. Now was no exception.
Sitting nearby, chatting together as they ate desserts and drank beer, the N.E.S.T. soldiers were shooting the shit. "Look at those wankers," James Brooks-Spencer said as he sat next to Jessie Landon. The two were inseparable and now was no exception. "I loathe mercenaries. They get paid by the bullet, they say."
"Who says?" Fig Figueroa said with a snicker. "I love this 'they' and 'them' shit. Who are 'they' and 'them'?"
"The wise ones," James said with a grin. "Ask Hercy sometime. He'll tell you."
"Now there's a soldier's soldier," Bobby Epps replied. His father and grandfather were sitting at the table with them sipping on iced tea together. They had long ago sworn off anything harder. A man got to a certain age and he 'had to take responsibility for himself'. "Springer told me that he can read energy fields over distances and find out where and what you were that way. That old mech has more know-how and tricks than anyone he ever saw. Said he was around when Unicron was here."
"Who's Unicron? Sounds like an old time computer," Amos Epps said.
"It does, son," Harley Epps said to his son. "I remember them. They were big as houses."
Bobby Epps grinned at his elders. "Unicron was made at the beginning of the universe. He was evil and Primus was good. They fought. There were bots around them and Hercy was one of them. General Hard Drive and Commander Delphi were, too. They defeated him. Apparently, Unicron was the size of a planet and he liked to eat other planets."
"This is a story? Is this some kind of story, son?" Harley Epps asked his grandson.
"I wish it was, Grandpa," Bobby said with a grin. "Sometimes, the bogey man really exists."
"Sounds terrible. I may have to put something harder than ice cubes in this tea," Harley said with a grin.
Nearby, a table filled with women from all kind of facilities were discussing the upcoming birth of a new baby. Linda Graham patted her belly. "I thought about it a long time and I want her born here. When she's old enough, she can join her brother in school at Sparkling Day."
"What? No Prep Academy? Think about how that would sound on her application to Harvard. Circle of Light Preparatory Academy," Olivia Bowers said with a grin.
"Sounds like a hippy school," Judy Witwicky said. "Circle of Light Academy. Hippy, dippy."
"Aren't we all?" Lonnie Epps said. "We aren't exactly living the normal life."
"No, we aren't," Sarah Lennox said as they all turned to look at a table across the room where a disturbance was happening. Apparently, one of the mercenaries had too much to drink.
Jim Johnson watched the soldiers, stewing on his clash with Lennox, Epps and Graham on Diego. Even though he was here anyway and relatively free of their control, he was still steaming greatly over the whole business of getting kicked off the island. The bots had annoyed him greatly, though he had been careful to keep his commentary around here to himself, or so he'd thought. The last thing he needed was someone to rip the roof off his barracks and slap the shit out of him. Ironhide going off the rails was a very terrifying thing he had been told.
He had been annoyed by their 'chat' with Lennox and the others. He was annoyed by everything tonight but Hedges had kept him together. However, walking past with a tray, a micro mini-con named Tika had accidentally bumped him. He turned to apologize but Johnson had stood. He turned on the little mech with fury. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" he said.
Tika who had been given his instructions about the humans ran through them, then hurried onward. No one was to take abuse and if a human reacted negatively to you, you were to leave the scene immediately. That is what he did. Johnson, infuriated that he had, headed off after him. That was when the table filled with N.E.S.T. soldiers stood and followed as well.
"Oh, crap," Judy Witwicky said as Gavin Pritchard arose and followed after N.E.S.T.
Tika sensed Johnson following, so he hurried to the elevator that would take him off the floor. It was a straight up and down elevator that was only accessible here by approved personnel. It was activated by a program in the bot and it did now. Tika stepped in just as Johnson caught up. N.E.S.T. and Gavin who were chasing after them reached the elevator doors as they closed.
"SHIT!" Lennox said as he slapped the door. Pulling his folded helmet, he held it against the door panel and it lit up. The elevator would return to him and they would have access through his codes. Meanwhile, inside the elevator, Tika stared at the seething human standing across from him. Before Johnson could say a word, the elevator stopped, the doors opened and Tika slipped out.
Inside the big control room, bots sat at stations along with a human from N.E.S.T. One worked on shift here because of the size and complexity of the facility. Given that this facility had asked for greater autonomy than the others all of which could give a rip about hierarchy and ultimate control, they worked collegiality together and didn't need an onsite human observer. Right now, Earth2 did.
"What's happening, Tika?" the shift supervisor, a big bot named Siso asked. The human who was reading a book in a nice chair stood up and stared down at the floor.
Tika had hurried in, then paused by Siso. "This human is angry and chasing me."
The bots stared at Johnson who slowed as he got closer, his fury diminishing due to the fact that he had walked into his worst nightmare alone and unarmed. "Why are you chasing Tika and why are you in here? This is classified space and off limits to unauthorized personnel," Siso said.
The door opened behind Johnson as the N.E.S.T. soldiers and Pritchard piled in. Hurrying up, Lennox turned to the shift supervisor. "Siso, this man isn't authorized to be here. He needs to leave and I would like to handle it." He looked at Tika who looked confused and scared, though Tika could have easily bent Johnson into a pretzel. He may have only been about four feet, nine inches tall, but he was also strong enough to pitch a table clear across the concourse. "Sorry, Tika. I'll take care of this bastard."
"Who are you calling a bastard, Lennox? You looking in a mirror?" Johnson said with growing relish. Maybe he'd be able to fulfill a life's wish, kick the major in the ass. "How about you and me settling this?" He moved closer to Lennox with his fists up.
"Settle what?" Lennox asked. "This?" he asked, then punched Johnson in the face. It was on.
-0-Downstairs
Morshower, his aide, Mick Moran along with Owen Harris, Kyle Davis, Peri Beliveau, and Ron Witwicky stood by the door as Morshower hailed the deck. Nearby, watching with some dread, the remaining mercs were gathered.
"This is Siso."
"Siso, this is General Morshower. Did someone go up there to the bridge?" Glenn asked.
"They did, General. They're currently having a brawl on my deck," Siso said. "I assume you wish to come up here, too?"
"I would," Morshower said.
The door panel flashed, then the elevator opened. Everyone stepped inside, then it closed. They were topside in seconds. Stepping out into the ops center, everyone stopped to watch a fist fight going on before them.
"Shee-it," Morshower muttered to himself.
-0-Down below
They gathered at the door to wait for whatever happened to transpire. Mariah Harris-Davis, Camille Brown, Judy Witwicky, Sarah Lennox, Olivia and Joe Bowers, Lonnie Epps, Jessie Landon, and James Spencer-Davis were silent as they watched the panel. A call had asked them to stand by as there was 'an incident underway' on deck. It didn't bode well. When Charlotte Mearing and Seymour Simmons joined them, it took a nose dive.
"They gave no more information than that?" Mearing asked.
"They said standby and when they do that, Charlotte, they mean it," Sarah Lennox said.
"This had better be good. I'm the liaison between everything bot and human on world and the Earth. This won't be an auspicious start if this is what I think it is," Mearing said.
"A brawl?" Seymour Simmons suggested with a grin.
She glanced at him with a grim expression. "Yes."
She would be right.
-0-TBC 11-28-17 edited 1-9-18
ESL:
not have truck with something: old American expression. It means you don't like, agree, or get along with someone
Imbibe: to drink or eat, to take in
stewing: brooding, thinking deeply and emotionally about something