The Diego Diaries: Mucking Onward (dd6 285)
-0-Meeting
The reports went one right after the other. Jarro picked up his datapad to give his own. "We have 211 individuals in care. Most of our patients are home care and outpatient. We've gleaned the most endangered and dangerous. Our plan to expand the hospital upward was as Magnus stated approved by the Planning Commission and passed review with you, Optimus. We'll be adding ten more levels to the facility, opening more beds to patients. We have a number of them in Amity on Gliese who are either suicidal or delusional with potential to either harm themselves or others. Those individuals will be moved to The City once there's placement for them.
"We graduated ten new therapists for our more disturbed clientele. They require a great deal of specialized attention so we organized a program to train some of our more veteran therapists to handle the types of patients we're sorting into our hospitals. We plan to train more and have them on standby from their normal duties for anything that comes to us.
"We have counselors in every school to treat children and we'll be testing all refugee children when they arrive to ensure that we catch those high risk individuals and their families sooner. Our hospital expansions are our big projects now so we should be able to house those who need help. The families of the Functionalist Council, the three of them that exist are now in custody. They didn't take it well. We have the other families including the 22 administrative heads on tracking devices. We don't know how someone who never heard no before will adapt to this. We're alert to them and ready to move if needed.
"As for the nearly 1,000 slaves that were with them … they're in halfway houses and getting counseling every orn. There are no children among them because there were no bonds. None of them were ever allowed relationships so that entire side of their life is missing. They're deeply intimidated and programmed through their training and the religious aspect to obey without question. Just getting them to look at us is difficult. They weren't allowed to make optic contact among other things. We're looking at it as a long term project," Jarro said as Rung nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, gentlemen. Please give my regards to your departments and all who work there," Prime said.
"We will," Rung said.
"Cyclonus?" Prowl asked as he consulted the agenda.
Cyclonus leaned forward and gazed down toward Prime. "We have a lot of members that live in all the different cities and work in all manner of industries and professions. We've asked them to listen to the commentary about this and if there's any disruption of thinking regarding us. So far, there's a lot of anger toward the Council and that branch but its not being applied to us for now. We're hoping that this holds. We have a lot of calls from members who want to know how things truly are and if they have to worry. We plan to protect them and will make an effort to educate the colony about the Monastery, its mission and the differences.
"As for the children in the leading group who don't have a relative to take care of them, they total 15. We have them in homes and will make arrangements for them to be raised by families. We will apply to the courts for custody. As for the others … there are a number of families involved in the 22 who were taken for re-education. We have mentored them to families and will be watching them closely. Those who lost a member of the Council are in care and we plan to add tracking devices to make sure that they don't make a spectacle of themselves or do something strange. Only three of the Council had bonds or children but they also had other family who are upset. We took them into hand ourselves.
"We're watchful. Hopefully, this will be no more terrible than when the atrocities were discovered. All of them are in a halfway house in Gambian. As for all the children of the group ... we will attend to them in our Monastery school until we're sure they're up to placement in the greater society."
"Thank you, Cyclonus. Tell us how we may help and we will assist," Prime said as the big mech nodded.
"Loon."
Ratchet grinned at Prowl who smirked back. "Well, we're simply amazing. Thanks."
Huge laughter.
"Loon," Prowl said with a slight condescending tone, one he knew Ratchet both hated and loved. "Do tell."
"Okay," Ratchet said with a dazzling smile. "We have enough highly trained doctors that we're rotating more and more of them into the effort with Dai Atlas. They work shifts, then bridge back. They get lots of direct experience and the refugees get excellent care. We're setting up for the new mob coming soon so that most of the worst is already addressed.
"Given that the Functionalists have detonation devices in the helms of our people, we had a confab about what to do about the possibility that there would be those on Cybertron and other places that would have them as well. We devised a program that we could use with low level flights of ships scanning the planet and everyone who lives there. We have the Office of Statistics dividing Cybertron into divisions which will be parted out to ships that are being formatted technically to scan deep and well. They will do flyovers of everywhere at an altitude of 1,000 feet and scan the frag out of everywhere. Its ground penetrating so that we can find everyone including those we've maybe still missed.
"When they find someone, fast reaction teams will jet there and track down the culprits through GPS tagging. We'll then remove the chips from them on the spot. If they turn out to be some of those who are hiding or for whatever reason don't know … we can deal. This is going to help out several different problems. We want to snuff this out. Even though they're gone and they need to be together to make the recalls, we don't want this slag there anyway. Its a matter of killing a problem before it's even realized.
We'll let you know when its accomplished.
"Lastly and not least, Proteus and Madura are going for a spark from the Well tomorrow and if you feel it, come on by. Given that they're part of Ratchet's Squad, I feel as the SQUAD LEADER a need to spread the word. AMIRITE, PROWLER!?" he asked with a giant smile.
Prowl who was lounging in his chair with his arms folded before him and a slight sneer on his face sat forward. "Fragger," he said. Then he sat up straighter. "Yes. Right. Magnus?" he asked super crisply as he moved onward.
Huge laughter greeted that as Magnus sat with the usual WTF on his face. Arcee who was laughing hugged his shoulders. "You tell them, Magnus," she said.
He glanced at her. "Tell them what? That those two are certifiable?"
"There is that," Arcee said as she glanced their way with a smirk.
"If you can manage to find your adult sensibilities, I would like to say that we're ready for the next migration which will be coming to the colony in batches of several thousand. We've moved the immigration set up to the west end of the Big Frame station southeast of Terra. That way we have a nice big flat space where we can bridge large groups, have them pass through customs and immigration, then head out with volunteers. We can avoid shutting down The City by not having the airfield be the hub. No one is using the facility right now but for routine maintenance on the Supremes. We've already dispatched Siphon to Atlas to be their guardian, medical and production center.
"The Crater district is home at the moment to 239,119 individuals brought in through small migrations and others who were transferred here from other places including Cybertron. We can host 6.1 million individuals there and will, though we're now breaking ground in a crater north of the Industrial Park Cities, west of Aerie Hill and northwest of Terra. This will be another massive complex in the manner of the Crater District's hubs and will host between 8 and 10 million individuals. We have decided to make the next district as big as possible. We are not going to be caught flat footed again. No more Little Iacons. We have plotted planning programs to host up to 200,000,000 Cybertronians here as a last resort. Cybertron is not projected to be ready for refugees short of the Omega Keys so we're planning ahead."
Everyone absorbed that a moment, then he continued. "All of our industrial output is up to the challenge, though we're going to be expanding Industrial Park City #5 to increase the production of steel, transparent aluminum and glass. Our designs will be presented to the Planning Commission in a decaorn and to you, Optimus, so everyone with interest is invited to attend and give their 2 shanix.
"We've broken ground on the new mausoleum annex on the hillside in the Crater District. We'll be able to accommodate up to 50,000 burials in the initial construction with ample room to expand. It will be terraced down the slope of the crater and have a space for personal crypts and places to visit and sit. It will be landscaped to our tastes and open the same as the other one. The maintenance will be shared with City Works, the Temple, various clubs and volunteer groups. The highways will be built that way, go through the new site for housing and return to the colony with a roundabout turn out to Aerie Hill. Rather than run through that district, we will have the highway parallel it with turnoffs. We'll eventually run a train line from Terra's hub to the new district, the new mausoleum and back to The City with branch lines to Aerie Hill. That's about it."
"Thank you, Magnus. I truly appreciate your efforts. Please convey my regards to everyone," Prime said.
"Will do, Optimus," he said as he sat back.
"Springer."
Springer grinned at Prowl who smirked back. "The usual drunks, slaggers, odd balls, wise aft kids, mass murderers, and the like. No humans yet but the decaorn is young. Hauser is tracking the possibility that a drug gang is here but its a faint trail yet. We can hope it stays that way. Other than a couple of gang fights and a kid who's tagging again, the slagger, we're obnoxiously low key," he concluded.
The meeting carried on with everyone speaking their part, adding what they could about the temperament of the colony in relation to the trial, then the Good of the Order or as Ratchet so quaintly put it, "Optimus's Me Time' came around. By then, a little cow was on the table eating the rest of the remaining sheet cake that was in front of Raptor. Prowl stared at the cow and Raptor with mild disgust. "Its clear that unit discipline has taken a nose dive," he said.
"This cow is merely doing his part to keep things clean. Right, Pudding?" Raptor said as he stroked the cow's fat belly.
Pudding looked up with icing on his face, then murmured a tiny moo. He then turned back to the task at hand.
"I want a cow." - Blackjack
"What about the war game? I thought we were supposed to have it around Thanksgiving." - Springer
"We had to put it off. At least it wasn't as pushed back as the Seeker Convocation." - Neo
"I said I want a cow." - Blackjack
"That was an amazing thing. I appreciate being allowed to attend." - Magnus showing the way
"What about the Whites and their little ship, Alie?" - Prowl
"They're on their way and in about an orn or so, we bridge their sorry afts. They'll be past Tennyson and the rupture and heading toward their home planet." - Alor
"How long will that take?" - Prime who was enjoying Blackjack's sulk and the tiny cow eating a pile of donuts now
"About six decaorns. Slaggers will get there sooner thanks to the bypass but still … it'll take time." - Alor who was enjoying Blackjack's sulk, too
"I WANT A SLAGGING COW!"
Everyone in the room froze, then turned toward Blackjack. He looked at them, then smiled a giant pac man smile eerily reminiscent of a smaller version of himself. Alor turned to him. "Don't give me a shit eating smile, slagger."
"Will it get me a cow if I don't?" - Blackjack, hopeful.
"Probably not," Alor replied as he sat back. "Pudding is a unicorn. You can't expect to get another one and have them even come close."
"Like where did that pile of wisdom come from, old mech?" Blackjack asked with great affront.
"There, there, infants. Don't make me invoke," Trooper said with a grin as he stroked Pudding's smooth fat stomach.
Blackjack turned to the grinning mech. "You're from Iacon. You can't invoke."
"You can. Invoke on yourself, slagger," Alor said.
Blackjack sat back with a slight frown, something that he had no idea endeared him all over again to his genitors and grandgenitors. "Slaggers. NO SUPPORT ANYWHERE!" He looked at Ironhide. "WHERE WERE YOU IN MY JOOR OF NEED!?"
"Watching that slagging cow eat the last of the donuts with sprinkles," Ironhide said with a frown of his own.
"TREASON! TRAITORS! CASTE COURT!" Blackjack bellowed.
Huge laughter filled the room, then Hard Drive leaned forward. "Are you going to whine, infant, or are you going to suck it up?"
Blackjack frowned at his grandfather. "Some help you are. WHAT HAPPENED TO 'MY LITTLE MECH GETS ANYTHING HE WANTS, RAPTOR! GET USED TO IT'!"
Hard Drive leaned back with a grin. "I must have been drunk."
HUGE laughter greeted that. By dinner time, Blackjack of Praxus would have his cow. His grandparents would give it to him with a big bow.
-0-TBC 2-27-18 edited 3-4-18