The Diego Diaries: Onward (dd6 304)
-0-Around that same day
The cab pulled up at the back of the facility, then everyone climbed out clutching their transport containers tightly. They stared at the big doors, then watched as Annie Lennox walked forward. Because the Resort tech was keyed to the kids who came here all the time and every other adult as well, all of them bearing a number of tiny nanobot sized devices under the skin on their upper left shoulder that could locate them ANYWHERE, automatically open doors in all the places they would go to and keep their vitals on the computers at Metro Femme, they strolled in easily. Standing on the other side of the door was T-8, a mini-con security agent for the facility and Gavin Pritchard, his boss as head of security. Also there was a nice 'walk around', Lacie 'Rorie' Callahan from Scotland.
"You're on time as usual," Gavin said as he hugged the kids. He looked at the Cybertronian ones among them and grinned. "What a great day when you can come here."
Silverbow smiled. "We like coming here, Uncle Gavin." She looked at Sunspot and Minka. "They're still sorta afraid."
"We're going to protect you. You wouldn't come here if there was a problem, babies," Rorie said with a pat on Sunspot's shoulder. "You stay with us and every time you come, it gets better."
Sunspot looked at her, then nodded silently. Minka walked to Rorie to stand next to her. She glanced at Gavin. "Everyone is waiting for you. Time for treats," she said with a smile.
The kids smiled back, then followed the trio through the utility area of the place where waste was managed, things were washed as well as repairs and upkeep were centered. Through the doors that were locked to anyone else they followed, the Cybertronian kids automatically placed inside the center of the group of human kids leading the way. It would take a moment before the human guests saw them, the famous children of Autobot City. They would be startled at the sight, then delighted.
Gavin walked along with Sunspot's servo in his hand. The little mech was glancing nervously around as they walked smoothly and swiftly across the massive concourse toward the long curved reception desk that ran nearly the length of the building. Behind it were the offices and other places that were important to running such a vast and complex place.
Humans walked along taking pictures, talking together and pointing. Nothing they did was bad but it was unnerving to some of the kids. Finally, an older man stepped in front of them. "Hello," he said.
They slowed to a stop, then Annie and James stepped closer. "Hi," James said.
"May I say hello? I've waited all my life to meet an extraterrestrial," the older man said. He knelt, then held out his hand to Silverbow.
She looked up at Gavin who was grinning. He nodded, so she reached out to tentatively take his hand.
He grinned at her. "I am honored to meet you, Silverbow. All my life I've wanted this moment."
She looked at him, then stepped slightly closer. "Who are you?" she asked in English which they had downloaded as part of their slow march toward Intermediate where Earth and its cultures were a priority item. All of the kids starting with Level 1's in Youngling Day had a simple basic English and French program added to their databases. Anything more complex was impossible due to their age and development, a factor forgotten by Megatron in his zeal to get more soldiers for his army.
"My name is Calvin O'Hara. I'm from Earth."
"Oh." She stared at him. "I'm Silverbow. I used to live on Earth."
"Diego Garcia," Annie said with a smile. "We used to play together in the day care with the mechs."
Silverbow nodded. "Bee and Sunstreaker. He's my hero. All of them are."
Calvin grinned. "You are mine," he said. "All of you."
More people who were watching with delight came closer to get pictures before Gavin decided to push onward. Sunspot was behind him gripping his hand as he stared at them from a safer place. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. O'Hara. Thank you," he said before tugging them along.
He watched them go, this systems analyst from Dublin. This would be one of the best memories he would ever have in his life. He watched the children disappear behind the counter, then walked to the windows to stare at the colony below through the telescopes. It would be a very happy afternoon for him.
-0-In a conference room nearby
They walked in and sat as the women who ran this place began to fill plates. Judy Witwicky filled one and brought it to Silverbow. "You kids must be starving. Here. We got something for both of you. Rampage sent us a lot of food," she said as she took one to fill for Minka. "How is your naneth, Minka?" she asked.
Minka whose family were Decepticons smiled. "She's well, Miss Judy. We're all so glad. She's lived so long without an arm that I never believed she would ever get a new one."
"Well, that's why you're lucky. You can get one back if you come to the right place," Judy said as she put the dish down in front of Sunspot. "Here you go, sweetie. Eat up, then we'll go with you when you go out there. We'll keep you from being loved to pieces by everyone." She sat next to Sunspot. "We would never let anyone hurt you and everyone out there? They just love you so much. They all want to hug you."
"People scare me, Aunt Judy," Sunny said with a anxious expression.
"We know. That's why we're going with you," Judy said. "Aren't we all?"
Everyone nodded as they sat together chatting with the kids as they ate little sandwiches and special sized pastries, some from the Resort and the rest from The Energon Basket. It would be fun to hear the school gossip before they had to leave the room and go out into the resort once more.
-0-Diego
"We would love to have the opportunity to make a settlement on one of the moons designated in our proposal. We'd be interested in learning how to work and live safely in dire environments. We know that we would rely on you and that we have a lot to learn but there are worlds out there that can teach us a lot. We want to be more active partners in the exploration of the solar system and that means boots on the ground. We hope that you've read the prospectus and all of our research and related papers. We would make this a joint venture with NASA and the European Space Agency so that the venture's bonuses make the payoff world wide. We intend to start a fund to work on environmental problems here and apply what we learn out there to this planet. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. We hope to hear from you positively about our proposal." He bowed slightly and walked to his seat.
"Thank you, Mr. Holley. We've put a lot of time and brainpower into each proposal sent to us and we will give you an answer swiftly given that we have to meet with the scientific community and the Prime before issuing any answers either affirmatively or not," Ratchet replied. He glanced at Lucien who consulted his device.
"The next presentation is from a consortium business entity from the far east, Quan Tell. Their spokesman is a gentleman named Xi Chen." Lucien glanced up to watch as a small man in an impeccable suit walked to the podium, bowed to everyone, then began his presentation. "Thank you, Mr. Ambassador," he began in perfect British inflected English, "for the opportunity for me, my government and the consortium that I am partner with to discuss with you the possibility of a space station halfway between Earth and Mars …"
-0-Elsewhere at about the same time
"This was a terrible place to live," Ironhide said as he pointed out features on the nearly flattened denuded plain that stretched out to the horizon. "This was a tenement as far as the optic could see. This was so dangerous that no one, even the army or police would come this far in. You would never make it out alive. This was the place where half the gangs on world would be based and they would retreat here when things got too hot. Every vice and criminal venture could be found here and this is where Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were separated and grew up."
"What a terrible place. It even feels awful still," Morius said as he glanced around. He bent down to pick up what looked like a spent bullet casing. He looked at it, then tossed it, the hollow sound of it striking the ground as mournful as the scenery around them. "This was a dumping ground then, too?"
"It was. After the Fall and the Exodus, this became another place for those without hope to come and many were just hauled here and tossed out. It became a pit for survival. What we're going to do is go along that ridge and subsurface crack. It's been drained and cleared out. The crews when they finish at Crossroads will come here and bring that back to specs. Unfortunately, there are some very sick and dazed individuals said to be crouching in the caves over there," he said pointing to the far edge of the area. "We need to coax them out. Food will do it."
The youngsters, all five of them nodded, then followed Ironhide and a few other soldiers who had joined them to walk through the broken wastes to get there. They would find three of them and the boys would carry them on their backs to the shuttle where they would be airlifted. When the workmen came, they would scour the place, then repair it. No one would be able to hide down there again and it would be one less place to search for their lost sheep.
-0-On the way to the point of the mission
They walked to the door, then Judy looked at everyone. "Kids in the middle. Everyone else take up your spot. Here we go," she said as she opened to door. They walked behind the counter until they reached the end, then stepped out to head for the huge doors that led to the outside. They walked briskly and kept their eyes on the prize even though humans spotted them quickly. Some followed while others watched them from where they were as they walked across the patio and headed for the trail that led into the forested area and out past that to the new addition. The golf course was going great guns and everyone was relaxing in a carefully controlled and maintained dome that held a surprisingly large and varied slice of Earth life. It also was warm as summer and felt balmy in the carefully monitored and controlled space. It was always summer inside.
The river was flowing and the pond and lake were busy with swimmers and sunbathers. Some individuals were canoeing on all three as the group soldiered onward. Approaching the new area which was filled with bird song and flowers, they entered a bigger more dense forest before coming out about halfway into a meadow. There were flowers growing wild and this was the place they were headed. When they reached mid meadow, Judy turned to the group who gathered around her and the others. "Here we are. You did it, did you?" she asked with a smile.
"We did, Aunt Judy," James Hoyt said with a smile as he held up his container. The others nodded and smiled.
"Then we better do this," Gavin said as he watched the kids begin to open their carriers. "This really helps the ecosystem, children. We're really glad you took on this task."
"I LOVE IT, Uncle Gavin!" Silverbow said as Sunspot smiled at him, too.
Minka held her little carrier up. "I can't open mine, Mr. Gavin," she said.
He helped her, then stepped back. The kids looked inside, then pulled the tops off their carriers. Inside sitting on leaves, all manner of butterfly was poised. Sunspot looked at his Monarchs, then smiled. "You can go now. Fly," he said. He held his container high, then one by one, six Monarch butterflies emerged, moved their wings a moment, then flew off into the sunlight. It took a moment for all of the butterflies to go but in the end they did.
They stood together watching them as they flew from flowers to bushes to grasses. It was beautiful in the sunny flower filled meadow of a habitat devised for humans on the fourth planet from the sun. Videos of it made by visitors would end up on the internet and draw literally hundreds of millions of views.
-0-There
"And that concludes our presentation," Mr. Chen said as he bowed to Ratchet.
Ratchet nodded back. "Thank you, Mr. Chen. We will report back to you on our conclusions as swiftly as possible.
Mr. Chen bowed again, then walked back to sit.
Ratchet checked the time internally, then stood. "How about a break? You've been sitting here a while. Fifteen minutes, then we can get back to it," he said with a smile.
Everyone began to stand as some of them came to him. Ratchet looked at two, a man and a woman. He reached down and set his servos on the ground. "Care for a stroll?" he asked.
They looked at him, then his servos, then walked up to climb on awkwardly. Standing again, Ratchet walked out carefully, then headed toward the beach. Others followed to the door to watch as the twins accompanied Ratchet and the humans disappeared toward the sea. It was maddening to see them go and wish you could be them, some of them said to each other as they wandered back in for refreshment.
They reached the sea, then halted on the sand to look into the distance together. It was warm overhead and the sound of the sea comforting. It shimmered like diamonds. "I love the ocean. I love swimming in it."
"Do you have oceans on your world?" the woman asked.
Ratchet nodded. "Several. One of them is filled with mercury."
"Mercury?" the man asked with astonishment.
Ratchet grinned, then nodded again. "We don't do things by half." He held his hands up to look at the humans. "You want to be in space and see the world and the galaxy. I can get behind that. I need to know something out of curiosity."
Both of them nodded as they clung with one hand to his fingers and the other to brace themselves as they sat.
"Tell me what you know about a rumor about a big habitat on Mars that Prime is supposed to own and operates himself with 20,000 humans living there as employees," Ratchet asked with a grin.
-0-TBC 3-20-18 edited 3-31-18