The Diego Diaries: Life (dd6 295)
-0-Dinner time at the Tower that evening
"Mama … who is your favorite Prime?" Annie Lennox asked her mother as their family sat together eating dinner in the lounge. There were others around, most of them eating as the day began to wind down.
"I never thought about it. I think Optimus is," Sarah said.
Annie grinned. "He is the best isn't he?"
"I think so," Sarah replied with a grin. "Who is yours?"
"I like them all except for Liege Maximo, Megatronus and Sentinel. I do like Onyx. He looks so cool with those mirrors in his mask. Did you know that the third mask on his body has two sides. It's called the Mournsong. The front face can track sparks on their way to the Matrix. He's the beast mode Prime."
"I like him a lot," James Hoyt said as he sat nearby eating dinner with his family. "Did you know why the Quintessons are called that?"
The adults stared at him, then Niall Graham grinned. "We make you learn that so you can tell us."
James grinned. "They were created by Quintus Prime with his Emberstone. They're called the Quintessons because of that."
"Those are the aliens that ruled Cybertron first, right?" Lonnie Epps asked.
"Yes. We've learned about them out of order because of what happened," James said. "They were the worst. The Functionalists killed a lot but the Quintessons killed more and started slavery in the system."
"The bots don't seem to have a lot of luck. First, the Quintessons. Then the Functionalists and finally, The System of Exception. They've never really been free," Will Lennox said.
"They are now," Annie said. "They're free here and our home world is free," she said as the other kids in the room nodded in agreement. "They won't take Cybertron again. We won't allow it."
The adults stared at their kids, then Epps leaned toward his son who was frowning with resolve as he nodded in agreement. "You do know that you're human, right?"
Bobby Junior grinned. "And I'm also Cybertronian."
It was an amused set of adults that listened to the kids talk about the Primes, their reports on Primes that were due to be presented and discussed the following day, and 'their home world, Cybertron'. It would make for a very amusing evening.
-0-Earth2
They sat in a corner of the facility library going over their material. They were giving reports on the Primes they were assigned tomorrow in class. Rain had drawn Quintus out of the 'hat' while Camilla got Solus … "AWESOME! I GOT THE GIRL!" … and Lilly drew Thirteen.
"Here's the stuff you wanted. I got it by email from the library down town," Lilly said as she passed her special datapad over to Camilla. "The censors took longer because their researchers are overrun with university requests. When the campus over there opens up, they will double their researchers."
"If they'd trust us, we could find out ourselves. What does it say, Camilla?" Rain asked.
"It has the library censor mark and it also has the Temple and Office of the Primes marks, too," Camilla said as she read the material. "This must be a really secret thing to go through that many. It says … let me see … it says that she was the third Prime … that she was a master maker of anything they needed … we all know that … ah, here.
"There are no genders per se in the Cybertronian species. All Cybertronians are one from the moment of creation and they accommodate other species with honoring the attributes that are commonly considered feminine for that species for the comfort of others. Cybertronians do not have genders and therefore don't follow that courtesy gesture among themselves. Even though Solus Prime appears to have many physical features in common with human females, Solus is not female. Her body type to accommodate her specialized feature, the lathe, was designed to house it to best advantage by Lord Primus during The Creation Event. That Solus is called 'she' among those humans who access information about this Prime is a courtesy to human sensibilities and nothing more.
"There are many species in the universe that have no specified genders and there are some who have more than two. It is the practice of the Cybertronian people to accommodate where they can those perceptions of aliens in a spirit of amity. Otherwise, the concept of gender does not exist among the Cybertronian People. We are, essentially, androgynous."
The three girls sat on the comfortable couches taking in that mystifying and undeniable truth.
"Oh my god. Can you imagine us as a species without boys?" Lilly said as she betrayed one of her favorite pastimes.
"No," Camilla said truthfully. "That would be … weird."
"Then what about the femmes we see all the time? What about the little kids like Prime's daughters and Ratchet's? They have long hair … like stuff. Some of the femmes are as big as mechs but they don't look like femmes to me. The small ones do but the big femmes … Arcee?" Rain asked as she thought through the few she sort of knew.
"Yeah. Arcee and Elita-1. I know those two but they have a squad. All of them look like mechs to me but everyone treats them like girls. I don't get it," Lilly said as the others nodded. "What are you going to do about that? Are you going to ask? I think Mr. Terradive as a teacher might have something to tell about it. Maybe he can tell us why the mechs treat Arcee and Elita like girls even if we don't see it." Lilly thought a moment, then opened the communications channel to the Family Tower. Tapping the number in the directory that she wanted, she waited a moment.
A window on it opened and Will Lennox's face appeared. "This is Lennox."
He looked like he was in the kitchen of the facility using the wall comm station. Behind him, the dining room looked like everyone were having dinner here and there.
"Hello, Major. This is Lilly Brown. I have a question for you that I just noticed."
Will nodded. "I'll try to answer, Lilly. What's the question?"
"The little femmes in the colony, the ones that look mini-con … those are femmes, right? Not mechs?" Lilly asked.
Will nodded. "Those are."
"What about Elita and Arcee? They don't look like femmes but they're treated like it. Are they femmes? Why don't we see girls when we look at them? We do with the little ones but not the big ones. Why is that? We're writing a report on Solus Prime for school and I wanted to ask. It's been bugging me since I came," Lilly said.
Will stared at her, then it clicked. He didn't see femmes either when he looked at the squad. He never gave it more thought than a sort of momentary musing when they first started showing up on Earth and the comfort level between them was still in progress. They didn't talk about the personal much and he as a courtesy didn't press the issue.
Much.
Then he dismissed it because they could fight, they were good friends and it wasn't his business. He knew that the bots were androgynous. That never bothered him. The disconnect had faded about the big femmes as time went on. It had come together in his mind that perhaps they were just different models or regional styles.
Until now.
"Hold on, Lilly," Will said as he muted the screen. He turned to the table where Niall sat holding Aedh along with Linda, his family and hers who picking at their plates. "Linda … you see the femmes a lot, the soldier squad. What do you see when you look at them … girls or boys?"
Linda looked at him a moment as she puzzled it over. "Uh … I was told I was looking at girls so I thought I was. I wasn't?" she asked with a puzzled look.
Will turned back to the screen and unmuted the button. "Lilly, can I call you back? We're working it out."
"Okay, Major. Thanks," Lilly said as the screen went dead.
Will turned to the others who looked at him with curiosity. Judy who was at the counter cutting up dessert glanced at him. "Did you notice that, too? I figured it was a variation in the design or something. You aren't telling me that those femmes are boys are you?"
"I don't know. I think I need to talk to Ratchet," Will said as he rose and walked across the huge lounge to a comm station nearby in a small alcove.
"I'm coming, too," Epps said as he took his plate and followed.
"I WANT DETAILS!" Judy Witwicky called out after them. So did most of those in the room.
-0-In a tower across the way
"This is Ratchet. MAJOR! What's up?" Ratchet said as he pulled the chair out of his desk to sit and shoot the breeze with Lennox. Behind him, he could see Epps eating something from a plate and half a dozen other humans, some of them elder appas of the soldiers.
"I got a call from Lilly Brown at Earth2. She's writing a report on Solus Prime for school and she had a question. After hearing it, I was sort of … how do I say this? I had a moment where something that was nagging me made sense. I have to ask you about it and it pertains to the femmes … Elita and her squad to be specific. You, of course, have the right to say nothing."
Ratchet nodded. "Fair enough. What's the question?"
"Lilly mentioned after working on information about Solus that the big femmes were different to them than the little ones like Gypsy. I thought it would be an easy question pertaining to their size differences but it was something different and when she told me, it sort of resonated. She wanted to know why the 'big femmes' were called that when they didn't appear to be feminine at all when she looked at them. She said that they looked just like any other mech." He sat back himself. "When I first met Arcee, you told me she was a femme and I took your word for it but actually, Ratchet … I'm almost embarrassed to say this … she never looked like a girl to me either. She looked just like a mech. All of her squad do. I don't see a femme. I see mechs."
Ratchet stared at him, considering the intriguing information he had handed over. He sat back thinking furiously. "Let me put you on hold. I have to run this past Prime first. Can you hang on or do I call you back?"
"I can hold. I'm nosy," Lennox said with a grin.
"He is. I can get more dessert," Epps said.
Ratchet grinned. "Slaggers. Hold on." Ratchet put them on hold, then dialed Prime. Prowl answered. "Hey, Granny … I have an interesting scientific discovery to clear with the Messiah? Is he raising the dead or can he get on the horn?"
"The humans will burn you at the stake for blasphemy for that remark," Prowl said with a smirk.
"It's mild compared to what they say about ours on social media," Ratchet said.
Prowl frowned. "What do they say?"
"Google it, Granny. Hi, Optimus," Ratchet said as he saw Prime lean down to speak on the screen.
"Hello, Ratchet. What can I do for you?" Optimus asked.
"First of all, you can back hand the ball-and-chain for me. Secondly, I got a call from Lennox who got a call from Lilly Brown at Earth2 about the femmes around here. She said that when she looks at Gypsy, she gets it that she's a femme. She said that when she looks at Elita or Arcee, she sees mechs. She wants to know why that is."
Prime looked as surprised as Prowl. "Why is that, Ratchet?"
"Well, its all preliminary but it appears that the alterations made are only perceptible to Cybertronian processors and sensors. If the humans can't perceive them, then its us who have the rewrite, not everyone else. That might be consoling to Arcee and the others but it really is weird and fascinating to me. Lennox said he thought there were two kinds of femmes back when, girl femmes like Gypsy and guys who were called femmes like Elita and the squad. He just took our word for it that Arcee and the others were some kind of femme. They actually don't seem able to perceive what we can about the changes."
"What does that mean for them?" Prowl asked.
"Probably nothing but I need to know what I can tell Lennox so he can give what we allow to Lilly for her report," Ratchet said.
Prime considered that. "Tell them the bare minimums. In fact, tell them that there are different kinds of femmes as there are different preferences for body type. Tell them we do not acknowledge gender unless it helps others be comfortable around us. For us, there are only individuals. Gender is irrelevant. As for the soldiers, they will hold whatever you tell them in confidence."
"Alright. Go back to whatever you were doing. Is that bed head, Prowler?" Ratchet asked before he commed off with a laugh.
Prowl stared at the blank screen, then linked up to define 'bed head'. Prime would be faster and he would chuckle off and on all evening. Prowl wouldn't.
Much.
-0-Back to the point
"You still there?" Ratchet asked as he cut Lennox back on. "By the way, before I forget, we're going to salute the baby tomorrow if things don't frag up. Can Linda go to the N.E.S.T. HQ? We can do it there easier. Springer can't hold all of us," he said with a brilliant smile.
Huge laughter.
"We can, can't we, Linda?" Lennox asked. There was conversation somewhere else, then Lennox turned back around. "We can."
"Good. As for the problem, tell Lilly that we don't hold to gender. Tell her that we have differences in appearance and femmes are a tiny, tiny, very minuscule part of our society. Tell her that we only acknowledge gender for others comfort, not because we agree to have them. We don't. You might also tell her that Solus was made by Primus to look like that to accommodate her tool, the Lathe. It only seems like she's a femme when she isn't. Matrixing makes her see a femme where one isn't."
"Arcee and Elita … then they're mechs. That's what I see when I look at them. For a bit, I thought I was somehow messing up because they look like mechs to us, too," Lennox said.
"That's intriguing. We're a strange and inscrutable people. Just remember that always," Ratchet said with a giant smile.
"How can we forget? We saw some of you clubbing. Did you know that when Prime went clubbing he got blotto and they went to the arena to ride horses. He hugged all the horses going in and coming out and he tried to jump the rails inside. He kept falling off."
"Oh, frag. That must have been epic. What about Ironhide and Bee? They fancy themselves cowboys," Ratchet asked.
"Bee had to be carried everywhere. He drank himself into a coma and Ironhide couldn't walk. They had to carry him up and down the metro steps. I think he fell down them a few times," Lennox said with a laugh. "It was so, so sad."
Ratchet laughed loudly. "You give me a copy of your videos or I'll be hard to live with." He grinned at them with amusement.
"You aren't already?" Epps asked to general loud guffawing.
"Slagger," Ratchet said with a grin. "Be at the HQ at noon tomorrow so we can salute the newest Martian and dual citizen of Cybertron and the Empire."
"Will do. Thanks, Ratchet. Lennox out," he said. He then commed Lilly and after a moment they were linked. "Hey, Lilly. I called Ratchet. He said they don't acknowledge gender. They just don't care and if they do, its just to make others happy. Solus was designed to carry a device that helped Her build things and if you think it looks like a girl, then its your perceptions that are at play here. Some mechs are different in appearance but it doesn't mean they're girls."
"Okay. Thank you, Major. That really helps," Lilly said.
"You're welcome. Good luck with the report. Lennox out." The screen went back to the Earth 2 logo.
Lilly looked at the others. "How weird. No boys. Or girls."
"They're aliens. I can't wait to tell my mom," Rain said as Jaycee Jameson walked in, then sat on a chair next to them.
"Tell your mom what?" she asked as she pulled her home work out of her backpack.
"There's no girls on this planet but us," Camilla said with a grin. "All of the girls are really boys."
"No," Rain said. "They don't have gender here. They aren't mech or femme. They just are."
It was silent a moment.
"Wow," Jaycee said as the sun outside faded into evening once more.
-0-TBC 3-10-18 edited 3-12-18