The Diego Diaries: Moving On (dd6 288)
-0-Going on down the road
Herling walked through the school on his way to visit classrooms. He felt renewed, reformatted almost since the announcement from Prime. The idea of the systems being over was accepted by most here but the finality of it, the denunciation from the Pantheon and Primus Himself was game changing. There was always the worry that something might change and the old slavery come back but now it was finally over, dead, finished. It surprised him how happy he felt to know that was so. Primus and the Pantheon Themselves would step in if it ever came back again.
He walked from door to door to watch the kids inside working together, making something out of nothing as they learned the things their society and culture wanted them to know. A lot of discussion had come out of the event, especially here in the Youngling School and he had sat in on some of the rounds himself. There were high castes everywhere but not in numbers. The discussion had been emotional here and there, but it was civil. It was obvious to him watching them that some families still held to the old poison. He flagged them in his processor to ensure that their transition to the new paradigm would be less bumpy than it might be otherwise.
Mrs. Lyrica was teaching about the formation of Charon during geography class and how it was rather like a macaroon in appearance with its wide band of faulted and crushed terrain running around a great deal of it. She was discussing the possibilities determined by humans. When she was finished, the students would test them and come to their own conclusions in groups.
"And the main theory they hold is that Charon and Pluto had a glancing blow. Given that the rotation of Pluto is off and that Charon is tidal locked on a shared center of gravity, that might be a good theory. We've gone through all of their possibilities. All of them seem reasonable. What I want you to do is get into your assigned teams and work your way through them. Prove or disprove each. We're going to use the computer lab," she said as she nodded to that side of their enormous remarkable classroom that held a big state of the art lab, "and you can build models to test them. We will rotate out in joor intervals. This project is to continue during Geography through First Friday. That will give all of you a chance to test the theories, test your own, then write up a report. It will not be less than 30 pages and requires sources, data and images. You may create your own or use those that support your suppositions from Teletraan. If that is not enough time, query me. I will be your resource," she said with a smile. "I believe I'm going to prepare to be dazzled," she said with a smile.
The kids laughed and smiled at her as they stood and began to gather up their group to work. She walked to the lab where ten remarkable computers and a number for creating charts, images and other things were laid out on tables. They were roll up datapads, all of them big and tapped into the school's nexus with Teletraan. "Group Red goes first in the lab."
The room shifted as the kids gathered, some of them human such as Jaycee Jameson and all the other various Cybertronian kids including Bos. Bos had been in in the group with Jaycee since she came. Red Group walked to the lab and with a stool, Jaycee climbed up on the counter to walk to her big computer with monitor, one created just for her, her size, that was in the same row.
Herling walked to Lyrica. "How are things going, Lyrica?" he asked as he smiled at the children. They weren't worried that he was there. He came often and always walked away with notes pertinent to the class to assist them and their teacher for their needs and wants.
"Pretty well. We had a discussion this morning to get it out of the shadows. Jaycee, our human was very helpful. She talked about slavery on Earth and during her country's early history. She said its still a shameful and terrible thing to this day. It helped a lot having her perspective."
"That's wonderful. I'm exhausted of this 'them versus us' stuff. I want us to be one for all and all for one," Herling said. "I'm going to see what they're up to, Lyrica. Is there anything you need?"
"I'm planning a field trip to Pluto. I want to be able to land on Charon and tour the other satellites. Some of them have absolutely weird orbits," Lyrica said.
"You'll want vessel number 6 then," Herling said as she nodded. "I'll look at the schedule and slot you in. Send in the application with your request and I'll personally get it organized."
"Thank you, Herling. I have a multi-purpose all event permission slip from everyone's genitors including the humans and I'll get that ready. The human genitors went to come on the away visits. I'll check with Lennox about the legalities of that. They may want to send a soldier with us which will be fine," she said.
"Let me know, Lyrica, and I'll iron out any problems," Herling said as he walked into the lab. He chatted with the kids, then came to Jaycee. He had heard that she was fitting in beautifully and had a lot of friends among the bots. She was bright, worked hard and even though some of this was out of her league, she worked hard and asked great questions, endearing her to Lyrica and the other teachers. She was the most outgoing, engaging and sweet sparked among the new humans from Earth2. "How are you doing, Jaycee? I keep hearing great things about you."
She smiled at him. :Thank you, Mr. Herling. I'm working on a project about Pluto. We get to go there! Mrs. Lyrica is planning it. I'm so glad to be a student here:
Herling smiled. "We love having human children here. It's always a good thing for different species to come together. How may we help you learn? Are you able to understand everything or is there something we can do to support all your good effort?"
:The morning classes really help, Mr. Herling. I know I'm behind but I'm going to catch up. Everyone helps me. My group always helps me. I want to learn everything. This is the hardest best school I ever went to. The best part is I don't have to be bothered by other kids. This is the first school I ever went to where there isn't any bullying: She got a serious expression on her face. :I'm sorry about what happened to all those people. All of us are at Earth2. We want to be a part of things here and we feel awful about that:
"Thank you, Jaycee. We work hard to make sure everyone is safe here. It wasn't always so. We love that you're here. All we want is for everyone to be happy and learn all they can. You're not on any time line here, infant. You don't have to hurt yourself keeping up. We can have tutors for you to help you."
:Thank you so much, Mr. Herling. You know … I was worried when I came here that it would be too much to handle. I didn't know anyone and everyone is younger than me but I love it. I'll remember that. Right now, they all help me: she said with a smile.
Bos glanced at her. "We all work together, Mr. Herling. Jaycee is great."
The two kids smiled at each other.
"I'm proud of all of you. What do you think is the solution about Pluto?" Herling asked as he pulled up a chair. They would spend a while discussing their theories, then Herling would move onward across the hall. It would be the best part of his job short of classroom teaching.
-0-Across the hall, earlier
"I don't like this at all, Mr. Terradive," Ope said with a frown. "We wouldn't be friends and be in school. How can that be good?"
"It wouldn't," Terradive said. He was watching the three human girls who were listening with solemn expressions. Rain Harris, Camilla Brown and Lilly Baker had offered no comments but were listening to everyone. It was ironic that all three of them would be high caste if they were Cybertronians. He was nearly inclined to ask just that but for the fear it might boomerang on him with their acceptance by the other kids.
:Mr. Terradive … someone told me that Seekers were considered lower than low caste in the system. What does that mean?: Annabelle Lennox asked with a frown. "What a bunch of baloney:
Terradive grinned in spite of himself. He leaned forward and turned his neck to her. "See my caste markers?" he asked.
Everyone leaned forward to check the caste markers that could be found along the upper jaw line near the finials or on the finials themselves. They were there and they spelled out 'low caste - qualified status'.
Annabelle frowned. :What does that mean? What's 'low caste – qualified status'?:
"Well ..." Terradive said as Sunspot leaned forward.
"Mr. Terradive … I have the same thing," he said as he turned his face, too. It was there, the glyphs that spelled doom for his dreams in their society then. "It means that we can serve in the army and in some other things but that's it. Right?"
Terradive nodded. "It set really hard and fast limitations on us," he said. "We were considered machines and equipment, nothing more. We were lower than the lowest caste once upon a time."
"But why?" T-Bar asked with a shocked sound in his voice.
"Because we preferred to fly," Terradive said. "It once was believed that if you wanted to fly, something was wrong with you. You weren't accepted and this happened."
"I don't like it," Spirit said with an emotional expression. "That's wrong. We wouldn't be friends. Sunspot and I wouldn't be friends. You wouldn't be our teacher."
Terradive nodded. "No, infant … we wouldn't."
That was when Spirit burst into tears.
-0-At Earth 1
"We have to have a party when Linda Graham gets better," Sharlene Miller said as she stood in the doorway of the administration sector of the facility. "We have another Martian baby and that means party time."
The two women and three men who worked in the office grinned. "Sounds good to me," Gordon 'Gordy' Wallace replied. "I like a Gaelic name. Aedh. What a great name."
"You would, 'Wallace'," Tyler Preston said as he finished the filing. Sliding the door shut on the cabinet, he walked back to his desk. "I wonder who'll be next?"
"I imagine that will be an Earth2 event," Sharlene said with a smirk. "They're in competition with us, I think. Have you noticed that?"
"I noticed it with the leadership. Most of the others seem reasonable and nice," Tyler said. "Though … I will agree with you. I hope Brandon's on his toes. They intend to be teacher's pets with Prime."
"Hey, now that you mention it … did you hear the rumor that Prime is planning to build a colony that'll hold 20,000 humans who'll work for Autobot Nation and be under his control?" Sharlene asked.
They looked at her, then Gordy grinned. "I heard the rumor but it was 10,000 humans."
"Either way, I'm not sure what I think about it. That would make between 16 and 26 thousand humans here," Cicily Ammon said as she paused in her data input. "26 thousand more ways to fuck things up."
"I hear ya," Sharlene said with a grin.
-0-Terradive's class
Herling sat nearby watching as the children worked on their history projects. Terradive sat next to him on the table of a group filling him in on things. "It was strange talking to them about this. They're so sweet about things. Spirit burst into tears when I explained to him how the Seeker's fared in the system. They were all shocked that we didn't even qualify for low caste."
"I am, too," Herling said as he shook his helm. "I couldn't understand the prejudice against flight. It's my wish that I could fly better than I do."
Terradive nodded. "I know but conformity is the bottom line of the systems that oppressed us. All of them. Roto and I would be given slag on Cybertron during the System. Function mixing was highly frowned upon."
Herling nodded. "Its a dark stain on us that now can no longer plague our well being. I, for one salute all of us for surviving. What a great species we really are when you look at it in its wholeness. We beat them, Terri. Now we have to help the young ones be all they can be. We have a lot of generations to make up for now."
Terradive nodded.
"What about the human girls?" Herling asked as he watched the three working on their project.
"They didn't say anything but they listened hard. They sort of stay together which is understandable. Jaycee from Lyrica's class has friends in here, many of them bots. She works hard to fit in but these three … they're not trying to be standoffish but its harder for them," Terradive said.
"We'll keep working," Herling said. "Can I do anything for you and the kids?"
"We want to visit Pluto with Lyrica and then Sciences. We have some topics coming up and I thought it would help them choose what they wanted to do if they saw how it all applied and talked to some of the scientists there about each of them," Terradive said.
"Put in for a bus to Sciences and let me know if you need assistance. I will put you in with the others for Pluto," Herling said as a tall bot child laughed at a table nearby. Cardinal was laughing with him as they worked on a part of something or other. It was sweet, the sound, then they got serious again. Herling stayed a while. All of it was sweet to him.
-0-Earth2
"I received a message from Lyrica and Terradive's classes that the kids were going to Pluto and Charon day after tomorrow for their geography project about that planet," Mariah said as she stood in the office of her ex-husband. All of the men, Pierre and his son, Cameron who was requisition officer, Kyle and Harris worked in this module, the first floor administration area. "I'm not sure that's wise. I don't want Rain going to another planet to investigate things."
Owen considered that. "I think it's great. I'm going to come. What about you?"
"To Pluto? Is that even a planet anymore?" Mariah asked doubtfully.
"I don't care. It's another thing to check off the bucket list," Owen said with a grin. "Do you have the message? I'm going to ask to be a chaperon."
Mariah handed him the message with a dubious expression. "I don't like the idea."
"You're living on a planet without atmosphere that's nearly 33 million to 200 million miles from Earth on a good orbit. We're in a tech cocoon and there's no danger. They take their own kids there after all," Harris said with a grin.
"Their own kids can survive in this," Mariah said. "Put me down to go as well."
"I will," Harris said as he formulated the email for Terradive and the signature that was needed to make it completely official.
-0-Family Tower
Linda Graham walked into the Family Tower lounge to the applause and cheers of those there. There would be a celebration dinner tonight with all the group including N.E.S.T. soldiers who would be shifting control of their ops center to the bots during that time. The scientists and families of Sciences, Earth2 and Earth 1 along with the Consulate were planning a brunch slash party when Linda had a chance to rest up. She carried the baby in her arms as Niall brought up the rear. Niall Junior was still in school but he knew about the baby. He was just too young still to understand how things had changed.
"LET ME SEE THAT BABY! COME TO GRANDMA JUDY!" Judy Witwicky said as she took the bundle from Linda. Linda was ushered to a chair where she sat as everyone gathered around to look at the infant. She was fair skinned with dark hair and perfect little baby features. "Awww. Damn that Sam. I want grand babies. He better quite goofing around and get on it."
"I'll tell him," Ron said as he grinned at the baby.
Huge laughter greeted that. The doors nearby slid open as more humans arrived, among them Sam and Carly. They walked toward the group who turned to grin at the two of them. "What?" Sam asked as he noted everyone's smirking faces.
"WHEN ARE YOU TWO GOING TO QUIT FUCKING AROUND AND MAKE ME A GRANDMOTHER!?" Judy Witwicky said to great laughter.
"What she said," Ron said with a grin.
Sam looked like he wanted to run. Carly was too busy laughing to join him.
-0-TBC 3-3-18 edited 3-4-18