The Diego Diaries: Roamin' in the Gloamin' [ ] indicates Cybertronian spoken
-0-Early morning at Earth 1
The sound of a heavy door closing echoed across the concourse as the kitchen crew of the massive facility gathered their overnight marinades from the massive walk in refrigerators to prepare for 'barbecue day'. It was one of the big perks of living here, the food. Even though the residents had the option of cooking in their apartments, most of them took advantage of the cafe and kitchen during the day with some eating there exclusively. They carried huge foil covered pans to the ovens where they would slow bake until lunch time when it would be pulled out and served with all manner of side dishes.
Nearby, the 'kitchen munchkin', a small good natured woman named Harriet who went by the name Hattie was preparing ingredients for omelets. Fresh baked bread was cooling off on racks nearby as music played in the kitchen. Hattie's husband who was a chef was pulling out a rack of muffins and pastries which would be out all day long for snacking. The pastries would be fruit filled and frosted, tempting to even the strictest dieter in the community. Those with special needs for diet or through a religious obligation would be handled as well through the skills Hattie brought to her job as dietitian. It was a well oiled machine, the big kitchen crew.
Nearby, the sound of running feet signaled that the jogging group was making their latest round of the facility. Every morning, a good dozen men and women gathered in the lounge, stretched, then ran for a good half hour. Then they would take measurements and tests before breaking up. Some of that data would be given to Jason Daniels as part of his project on world when he and the others came. That was still not common knowledge among these humans or those on Earth2, though there were rumors running wild there about it.
Brandon Clark and his newly wed wife, a lady named Susan who had no great specialty beyond great warmth and a desire to help the community walked to their table by the window. "What's the headlines today, Brandon?" she asked as she sorted through her and his email for him.
"A long term migration is coming in through the next three weeks, the concert season has opened at the Performing Arts Center and according to the report, you have to get your tickets early. Let's see … there won't be any metrotitans in unless there's an emergency for the next three decaorns due to the migration ..."
"A decaorn is ten days, right?" she asked.
He nodded. "Ten days is a decaorn, a day is called an orn and an hour is called a joor."
"What about minutes?" she asked.
"I'd need a calculator. They have nanoseconds and the like. They can calculate it that fast. Not me," he said with a grin. "It looks like they want to film some scenes for 'The Bridge' here."
"Oh, my god. Will Bryce Billings be here?" Susan asked with delight.
"Not if I can help it," Brandon said with a chuckle.
A bell rang softly as those gathering turned to look. Hattie was standing at the flattop with a grin. "Come and get it."
They did.
-0-Earth 2
There was a buzz in the huge dining room as the day broke brightly outside. Hundreds and perhaps more than a thousand were gathered to eat breakfast, exchange news, chat about this and that before heading out for the day. Some would work in the greenhouse which was producing some of their food. Nearby was a huge construction which would be an extension of the one they had, similar to the one being created also at Earth 1, a structure big enough to work out a grove of fruit trees and several olive. A grapevine in the smaller greenhouse at Earth 1 would be replanted there and allowed to vine around the walls to its heart's content. They would have one here as well to augment the one already growing up on the farm deck. It would be interesting to see the difference in growth from the big building to the greenhouse, if any.
School would open in an hour to allow families to get ready for their day without undo rushing. Children were sitting together, grouping into friendly cliches of like minds. Some of them were about ready to run for the bus that would gather them for Youngling Day. The bus for Sparkling Day would be right behind it to gather up the three little toddlers that were now members of that venerable institution. There were applications into the Circle of Light Preparatory Academy that were pending. Two families wanted their children to experience this because they were Buddhists and it appealed to their personal philosophy, the ideas of the Circle of Light, such as they were known.
Some of those gathered would be taking classes at the University now that they were being cleared to go out of the habitat. They had to have specific reasons for clearance, college being one of them, and they had to pass tests and inspections. Others were cleared generally and took those who weren't sometimes with them as they went about their day. It was a slow process to be given full rights to wander.
The mercenaries sat at their table by the window laughing and joking among each other. Nearby, nine security officers hired, trained and maintained by Autobot Nation, all of them former soldiers of the armies of the United States, the UK and Belgium ate their meal together. They were going to leave shortly to do their duty at other installations. Two would be at the Consulate for a week, two would be at the Resort for a week while the others would break between Earth 1 and Earth2 while coming home every night.
There was no communication between both groups. They didn't fraternize. They made a point of being polite but there were no friendships, no friendly conversations. The mercenaries considered them spies and the enemy. The nine considered the mercs unprofessional carrion dogs of war. There was no common ground among them. One of the nine rose to walk to the condiment counter nearby. Tabasco sauce was needed for the Denver omelet they were eating so she obliged.
The mercs watched her, then turned back to their conversation. "She's a good looking woman," Sam Hedges said.
The others nodded, then Johnson glanced at his partner. "She's the enemy. She works for Springer and Prime."
"But she's still pretty," Hedges said with a grin.
"What do you think about Daniels and the others coming here?" Silvio Lombardi asked.
Johnson and Hedges glanced at him. Then Johnson grinned. "If that little bastard so much as crosses the line with me, I'm going to plant him."
"Jase?" Carlos Ortega asked.
"Any of them," Johnson replied.
They laughed loudly as the kids bound for Youngling Day gathered up and ran for the habitat doors down the concourse. The bus for school had arrived.
-0-Consulate
Carly sat at a table eating breakfast with Sam. He was on world for a while handling a number of business transactions by conference call. He had a lot of planning to do with Venture, Caro and Fenix so he was going to be here for a while. Carly didn't mind. She was going to have her wedding here with or without him. She grinned. "Slow down. You have time."
"I have to speak to Magnus before the meeting," Sam said. "What's on your agenda today?"
"Well, planning the wedding. Getting some contacts in touch with each other for mutual benefit, arranging a few groups to come here for conferences and tours … that sort of thing," Carly said.
Sam nodded. "Don't firm up the date yet. We have to see how a few things shake out. It'd be a disaster for the wedding if the bots get called out."
She nodded. "As long as you show up."
Sam grinned. "What makes you think I won't?"
She grinned back. "Have you asked Bee to be your best man yet?"
"Not yet," Sam said. "What about you?"
She stared at Sam a moment, then sat back. "I thought about Mikaela or Jessie but I think that would be a bad idea."
Sam stared at her silent a moment, then sat back him, "Do ya think?"
She laughed long and loud.
-0-N.E.S.T. HQ
"What's on the overnight?" Fig asked as he swapped seats with James Brooks-Spencer.
"Quiet thus far," he said with a grin. "What's for breakfast?"
"Whatever's left over," Fig said. "Ask Mama. She's on KP duty today."
"I will," James said as he walked into the rec room that formed a large part of the facility. Most of those who lived there were eating breakfast at the tables around the dining area. He walked into the kitchen and took a tray. Breakfast was ample and beautifully made. Given their isolation and the idea that an army travels on its stomach, the food provided was incredible. Now that some of the soldiers were assigned to go on beats with some of the Watch patrols to learn more about their allies and vice versa and their training had expanded to deep desert terrain, food for fuel was of the essence. Even protected, living here expended more energy than home so most of them were constantly hungry. There wasn't a human habitation that didn't have food of all kinds sitting out for the inmates.
He filled his tray, got a hot cup of tea, then walked to a table to sit. Waving to the children as they ran for the habitat door, those who had spent the night with their families having duty, he sat and grinned at Lennox. "You look miserable."
"I got a message from Prime. He approved the package."
James looked at him, then the others. "That's not good."
"No, but its going to be interesting," Epps said with a grin. "Things just got interesting."
-0-Getting on with it
Olivia Bowers arrived at the Halls of Order and drove inside. She made her way to the office of her mentor and friend, Heatout of Praxus. She pulled over, then jumped down to walk to the ladder that led to the top of his desk. Climbing up, she walked to a chair that was set there just for humans and sat down. :Good morning, Master: she said with a smile.
"Good morning, my friend," Heatout said with a grin. "I want you to meet someone who just came in for a moment with the first refugees." He looked at a big warrior-class mech with kind optics and wisdom oozing from his pores. He seemed to seethe age and intelligence, though he looked no older than anyone else. Cybertronians reached adulthood, then seemed to freeze in time, never aging beyond that point to the untrained eye. "This is my friend, mentor and leader … this is Dai Atlas."
Olivia Bowers almost swooned.
-0-Earth2
Owen Harris had returned the night before from meetings on Earth with his fellow owners. Harvey and Louis Richardson had somehow finagled Prime into letting the Daniels and Nast come to Mars to work here at the plant. He had no problem having them. Any kind of thorn in Prime's side was welcomed. After all, he had hired most of Daniels's mercs to come and do his bidding. That included provoking and irritating as well as spying. He sat down in his chair in his office with his food. There was work to do and catching up with others. A documentary team was looking to come here and film. That would be a good thing.
The office staff outside were arriving for work as the farmers on the top floor began to do their jobs in this, an essential part of the overall plan. He had visited The Farm, availing himself of the animals and their sweet undemanding affections. Then he had walked about the massive structure taking in the neat rows of food, the flowers blooming on their little orchard and the trees reaching upward in the grove for the light of the transparent ceiling. Upward, the sun could be seen. It seemed smaller than that of Earth but the light inside was bright. It was carefully screened for UV harm, then magnified to match that of Earth. The bots thought of everything.
He picked a grape from the vine nearby and tasted it. It was still bitter. The farmers joked about making a small vintage from this crop. It would probably fill three bottles at best. He grinned. He would love to brand their own wine. That would be a proud accomplishment for everyone. He walked out, got his food and went to the office to work. As he did, Seekers flashed past on their way to their stations around the TransWorld Highway system. He watched them go by at 200 feet above ground level and felt their muffled sonic booms. He grinned. This place was fantastic.
-0-Riding the bus
Camilla, Lilly, Jaycee, and Rain sat on a seat chatting together about class, about boys, bands, and boy bands. They were catching up to some things and thus, were left more often in the classroom for writing, spelling and some of the sciences that rotated through the decaorns. Biology and mechanical-Biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, technology, and geology were subjects that were taught in intense bursts, then rotated with another every nine decaorns. Those still required a lot of support and pull out by their tutors.
:What about the rumor that Bryce and Tawny are coming to the habitat to film scenes for 'The Bridge'?: Jaycee asked. :Which habitat? Ours or theirs?:
:I don't know. I'll ask my dad. He was on Earth for a few days so I couldn't: Rain said.
:I wonder if we can be in the scenes: Camilla said with a grin. :I'd love it:
:You and me both: Jaycee said. :What about the water park? Are you going with the others? I am:
:That's a dangerous place: Camilla said as Rain nodded. :I hear the waves are like tsunamis:
:They are: Jaycee said. :That's the brilliant thing about it:
They pulled up to another stop and more kids walked in to sit. Among them were Sunspot, Spirit and T-Bar. The door closed and they moved onward. Staring out the window, they saw Ironhide and Prime's family waving to the kids. They waved themselves and received them back. The bus continued onward in the busy morning crush.
-0-At a metro station in Crystal City
Zenith and Shadow stepped off the train at the second metro stop in the city. Walking up the stairs, they reached the sidewalk, then headed for a cafe with street side service where they took their breakfast. Sitting and ordering, they read their downloaded newspapers and wire services. Soon, they would be at the office nearby and on the job searching out clues for space bridges that could transport in and out of different dimensions. Some said it couldn't happen but they were undaunted. It would help when they found a suitable black hole.
The morning would pass in deep contemplation between the two. They wouldn't have contact with their son and his family today, either.
-0-School [ ] indicates Cybertronian speech
They ran inside and headed for their classrooms, all of the lines of kids moving swiftly as teacher-trainee, Le-O carried most of the humans in their transport box. Stopping by classrooms, he dropped off the proper students, then headed onward to more. By the time Rain, Camilla, Jaycee, and Lilly reached their own, the last bell rang. Jaycee ran for Mrs. Lyrica's class as the other three headed across the hall for theirs. In they hurried with a wave to Le-O, put things away, got their books and stuff, then hurried to sit. Mr. Terradive who was standing by his small corner desk was sorting through his plans for their orn. He turned to the class. [If you have any homework that isn't turned in, do it now, infants]
Camilla joined Miu-Miu as they ran for his desk, slotted their datapads, then ran back. There was noise, then silence as they watched him. He glanced up, grinned, then turned to the class. Opening the monitor up to the home screen, he picked up his datapad. [Welcome. Are there any notes or messages, questions or other business before we begin?]
Hands went up. He answered the questions, nodded to a parent of a child here to do their two joors, then opened the monitor up to get the morning message from their site director. Mr. Delay-O, their principle onsite attending or senior teacher as their Principal or Head Teachers were called, appeared with a smile on his handsome face. [Good morning, everyone. Welcome to another orn of school and learning. I would like to say that recesses will be outside today. The threshold is holding for us but if it changes due to the winds we'll call it then. Remember, the bell means come inside] He grinned.
The kids grinned back.
[Level ones will be using the planetarium the next two decaorns. They have units of instruction they're finishing up in astronomy classes so they have priority. Level twos have priority in the computer lab due to creation of three dimensional projects on the systems there. They will be there for a decaorn to print out their creations. They require more equipment and working space than their room labs can provide to allow everyone to finish their projects in the allotted time frame. Please bear with us here. We will try and work out alternative scheduling for others who might need the space and big computers.
[Level threes will be shadowing a number of individuals in different professions this decaorn. The humans at the Sciences Habitat are happy to welcome you to come and tour the facility. They will be very happy to sit down and talk about humans, Earth and life there with the visiting students. We know you will do us proud. We are also going to be releasing more information about students from Earth coming here for short visits and school exchanges. Make sure your family keeps up on doings through the Community Bulletin Board School Highlights interface.
[Today's lunch will be all Cybertronian. It's a major holiday on Cybertron similar to Earth Day on Earth which was yesterday there. We will be doing joint projects with Earth next Earth Day to celebrate their beautiful planet together.
[Level ones have a major art display in the gallery and corridor display cases on floors 4 and 5. Please feel free when you can to see their creations. Classes are welcome to come look and we encourage it. Well done, level ones]
"That's us," Silverbow said with a big smile. "My genitors are coming today after school to look."
Everyone nodded as Terradive chuckled.
[Tonight, the school board will be discussing expanding programs between schools at Earth 1, Earth2 and selected sites on Earth. If your genitors have an interest in this topic, make sure that you tell them by showing them your take home notes. Their voices count and their input matters. There will be a short staff meeting tonight between Level two teachers and support staff. Very short. Be there early, leave early] Mr. Delay-O said with a grin.
[Level ones will be going to the Temple this decaorn and part of their visit includes a new display in the pavilion of relics related to the Functionalist era. As you know, that was a very sad time for all of us and recently, we had a taste of what that must have felt like. It had historical consequences that have lasted up until this orn. You will be seeing very old things, infants, and they relate to a lot of our more difficult history. Please act on your best manners and ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. I know you will be amazing.
[Study hard, learn new things, play well together, and take care of each other. We are one. Until all are one] he said.
"Until all are one."-Mr. Terradive's class.
[Have a wonderful orn, infants. I'm proud of you already] Mr. Delay-O said with a smile, then signed off.
Terradive turned to them. "Until all are one is our creed. We live and breathe it. Remember that."
"UNTIL ALL ARE ONE!" -the kids in Mr. Terradive's class
-0-On a train going to the armory
Ironhide rode along with Halo on his arm thinking about the morning hoo-haw …
"ORION! GET IN HERE!"
"I, ORION, HIDING!"
"PRAXUS! ORION! GET IN HERE!"
"I HIDING, ADA! ORION AND ME! BWAHAHAHA!"
"WHERE'S MY TASER!?"
Ironhide who was watching Ratchet try to wrangle cats grinned at him as he chased infants all over the place. Then he glanced at the couch. Somehow, Halo had managed to get there and pull herself up to stand. She stood on her wobbly legs with her binky in her mouth, her long tresses hanging to her little waist. He nearly plotzed. Before he could move, Hero saw her, dropped her dollie and ran to her side. Smiling brilliantly, she lay her cheek against Halo's helm. Halo smiled at her behind her binky.
"Halo, you need me to help you?" Hero asked as she kissed her sister.
Halo grinned.
Hero moved behind her and knelt. Taking Halo by the waist, she steadied the baby who had begun to bounce on her feet in joy. "I'll help you."
Ironhide who watched nearly wept from the sweetness. Hero had mellowed since Halo. Having another girl in the family, one who was nearer her age and who lived here full time was a good thing. He watched them with pride and considered what a desert it must be to live a life without daughters.
"ORION! PRAXUS! PROWLER!"
"I GOED TO ORION, ADA!" -Prowler goed-ing
"BWAHAHA! FIND ME, ADA! I HIDED!" -Orion hideded-ing
"ADA! ORION, ME AND PROWLER! WE HIDED!" -Praxus hideded-ing with his homies
Ratchet thundered into the berth room and paused as he spotted three sets of tiny peds in a row behind the curtain. Pulling his camera, he took half a dozen snaps, guffawed loudly inside, then let her rip.
"ADA!" -Praxus coming apart at the tension of waiting to be discovered during hideded-ing
"OW, ATAR! ADA OW ME!" -You know who
"Ada? You go me to kool?" -Prowler
Ratchet walked out with three infants, all of them held in his servos upside down by one ped. As he thundered out with his catch of the orn, he noted Hero talking softly to Halo as she knelt to hold her. Between plotzing at the sight of Halo standing and the intensity of Hero's loving help, Ratchet was near to tears. Turning to the couch to drop three hoodlums on it, he walked forward, leaned down to kiss both Hero and Halo, then stood again. "Never were two femmes better named."
"ADA! YOU OWED ME!" ...
Ironhide stepped off the train, then continued onward toward the walkway that led to the hub station below. He grinned. "Nothing like a typical morning in our house, Halo. You'll get used to it," Ironhide said as he opened the door and disappeared downward to inspect.
The door closed silently behind him.
-0-TBC 4-23-18