NOTE: I edited part 416, yesterday's piece, to fill in some things that I didn't add the first time. Just so you know.
The Diego Diaries: Matrixing (dd6 417)
He was back in the Temple but he wasn't alone. He felt rather than saw that someone was with him, someone incredibly familiar, someone whose energy he would never, ever forget. Turning with his gun flashing into his servo, Optimus Prime stepped forward. "You."
He nodded, then grinned. His affect was different. Gone was the malevolence that had been his signature. Gone was the seething emotion that powered every move and thought. He shrugged. "You won't need the gun, Optimus. The Temple is sacred ground even to me."
"You used it for target practice on Cybertron when there was no reason," Optimus said with more bitterness than he thought he could feel.
"That wasn't me. That was my 3D construct, the one that you and I inhabit here to go through this passion play," Megatron said as he stepped closer. "Put it away, brother. It won't be needed here."
Prime stared at him, then the gun. It disappeared into subspace. "Why and how are you here?" he asked.
"I am here and not here," Megatron said. He grinned. "You might find it interesting to know that the biggest part of me, my higher self, is quite a philosopher. You and I have debates together in the Matrix as our present lives go through our dance of doom."
"You are not him," Prime asked suspiciously.
"You have died what … eighteen times? You do know by now, do you not, that only part of who we are ever lives a life here. The rest of us, the best of us stays in the Matrix … our higher selves as the humans call them. A good term all in all. I am that part of him here before you. I have that mercy granted by the Powers."
Prime relaxed slightly. "We forget all that we know when we come here. You know that as well as I."
"We would not fight each other the way we do otherwise. The lessons of this life that all of our people are learning through us would be lost and unlearned. What would be the good of that?" Megatron asked as he glanced around. He looked at Prime. "You know that, however. I am preaching to the choir."
"Suffering children, dying worlds, wars that never end," Prime said. "I know of it," he said bitterly.
"And no one is here without consent," Megatron said. "Not you, not even me. We are here to learn, Optimus, and some of the lessons are extraordinarily hard. But we all agree, though I know for most that seems counter intuitive. Who would volunteer for this? This rot that leaves one reeling?" He grinned slightly at Prime. "This rot that teaches so much to the sparks that come that cannot be learned anywhere else … that is so and you know it."
Prime glanced at the AllSpark, then Megatron. "You tried to find it. But for a momentary loss of concentration over the Earth's northern pole, this might be a different story."
"It probably plays that scenario in another dimension, but then … you know that, too," Megatron said with a grin. "You know all of this but your problem, brother, is simple. You don't like to watch it unfold without doing something heroic and exceptional. That is your purpose. Mine is to break things, yours is to mend them. We are Primus and Unicron writ small."
At that moment, the AllSpark burst into light, a soft white light that filled the room and enclosed them both. It was soothing, even cool like menthol as they stood enrobed, staring at each other in the misty interior. Time seemed to stand still.
-0-Outside
They talked in low tones or were silent but the buzz of voices seemed like bees in a hive. Then a light filled the Temple, a soft white one that didn't spill out. Everyone waiting for Optimus including the Household Guards turned to look, surprised by the event as much as everyone else. It became instantly silent and tense, the reaction to this new thing. The light pulsated, then it swept up and engulfed the Temple in a giant ball of glowing illumination. It pulsed, then grew slightly bigger. It didn't come to anyone outside but merely enclosed the building in warmth and light. It didn't feel anything more than beautiful and loving to those watching as it did.
-0-Inside
They faced each other in the pulsing light. Megatron looked around, then grinned at Prime. "It would appear that someone is weighing in."
Prime nodded. "I have figured out what the AllSpark is," he said softly.
Then the two of them were gone.
-0-Outside
The priests conferred with Alpha and Turbine, then agreed. Forming a circle, placing Turbine in the middle to do the moves necessary, they began to chant the Redemption Prayers for Cybertron. They were picked up by the controller at IntraComm and their voices were broadcast everywhere. The people who began to hear them silenced, only to speak at those points in the cycle that they knew, the choruses between each main section. Voices joined in the millions at the choruses they knew, then were silent but for the priests and Turbine before it repeated again. It felt like waves lapping against a shore, the rhythmical cycle of multitudinous voices and near silence but for the priests and Turbine. Is was as soothing as that. All the while it happened, the light continued to enrobe the entire Temple of Simfur Restored.
-0-Elsewhere
They were standing on an asphalt surface that stretched in all directions. Looking around, Prime turned to Megatron. "We will find something here that will be important. Nothing is truly real and we are not in danger."
Megatron nodded. "Very well. This part of me has never reached reality and its rather humorous to me that I will be here doing things in what is simulated still. I will follow your lead, brother."
Prime nodded then glanced around. He started walking in a direction that felt better than the others. Megatron followed behind.
-0-Chanting
The chants continued for Cybertron, Primus, the Pantheon, and The People. They were heard by all including those in the habitats. The children of the soldiers waiting at the Temple steps watched enchanted and by the second or third time the parts most knew rose up, they were joining them in the response. Their parents watched them, wishing they could as well. They would have to content themselves with the translation of the prayers that were coming to them through their helmets.
"Now I walk in beauty,
beauty is before me,
beauty is behind me,
above and below me.
"Love is my birthright,
Peace is my prayer,
Unity is our strength.
"Come forward together,
Be my brother,
The One is my protector
and Primus is my father."
Then the cycle began again.
-0-Elsewhere
It seemed to take forever but time had no meaning or force within the Matrix. It could be four minutes or four years passing for all they knew or felt. But in the distance far away, a shape was forming. They continued toward it together.
-0-Chanting
The humans in habitats watched the show, many of them veterans of previous Festivals. A newbie diplomat turned to Carly who was spending the time with them as she had before. "Does this happen during the Festival or is this new? I have a feeling this wasn't supposed to happen."
"I've never seen it. It doesn't mean it isn't normal and right. I just have never seen it before," Carly said as she sat with the entire consular corp of Earth. Everyone at Unidad was gathered in one of the many huge lounges to watch together. They were on a split screen watching the show and chatting with the consular group as the consular group watched them from theirs. "I'm not worried, however. We're safe here on this, their holiest day."
"I hope so," the diplomat said as his wife who was sitting with him nodded in agreement.
-0-Elsewhere
They reached a gas station, one that looked like it was settled in a desert by a forgotten highway in 1950's America, perhaps the fabled Route 66 itself. They stared at the faded building and its fly blown signs for gas at 15 cents a gallon. A garage next to the small cafe held an antique car up on blocks. Old fashioned gas pumps were in front of the garage, forlorn pillars of a forgotten age. Tumbleweeds lay here and there, blown in by the slight wind that caressed them. The windows of the cafe could use a cleaning and the place could use an assist from something or someone. It was dying with the landscape, probably bypassed by an interstate highway nearby.
Megatron glanced at Optimus with a slight grin. "Makes you want to go inside doesn't it?"
Prime grinned slightly. "You are not afraid are you?"
Megatron chuckled. "That's a character flaw of mine, a lack of fear," he said as he walked forward. "Join me. I will buy."
Prime grinned, then followed Megatron to the door to go inside. The screen door, squeaky and weather battered closed behind them.
-0-Unidad
"This is amazing," Terri Hadden said.
Leslie nodded. "Just one of fifty-two amazing things for just today."
Everyone there nodded in agreement.
-0-Elsewhere
They entered a tired but clean cafe with booths and worn red plastic-covered stools by the counter for them to sit. The smells of food hung in the air as sunlight streamed through the dirty dusty windows. A rattle trap air conditioner, one attached to a hose kept the place at a near chilly level of coolness. They walked to the counter, then toward a booth to sit.
A woman came from the back, one with a handkerchief tied around her head in an old fashioned manner, covering pin curls. She wore a knee length dark skirt, a white apron around her waist, a white short sleeved shirt with rolled up sleeves to the top of her shoulders, cheap hoop earrings, too much makeup, and in her hand was a cigarette. She took a deep drag, then reached around the corner to put it on an ashtray before turning to them. Picking up a coffee pot and two menus, she walked to their table and laid them down. Filling their cups with coffee, she revealed tattoos on her arms. "What can I get ya?" she asked.
They stared at her somewhat amazed that she was unphased by either of them. Megatron looked at the single sheet menu in a battered plastic folder, then glanced at her. "What would you suggest?" he asked.
She stared at him with mild irritation which appeared to be her general condition. "Eggs over easy, toast, hash browns, and bacon. Coffee."
"Make that two, please," Megatron said with a slight smile.
She nodded, then walked around the counter to the back. They watched her go, then glanced at each other. Megatron grinned. "They might not get much business here. Or perhaps, this is a place where all the aliens come to eat."
Prime grinned, remembering something of the mech who he once considered a brother. Megatron had an amazing sense of humor and the absurd. He had forgotten that over the millennia of their conflict. "It would appear so."
Megatron grinned at him. "I missed our little chats. We discussed all things … life, philosophy, love … all of it. Perhaps you can fill me in. What exactly is the AllSpark then, if I may ask?" he asked.
-0-MCA
Reporters and commentators watched the screen in the New York studio and speculated about the strange occurrence. Mick Murphy, Colonel and adjutant of Glenn Morshower was on the screen for the event, standing in front of the human group with a camera man filming him. He was tied into the feed and was the go-to human for the show. He had been in studio in New York the year before and had protested mightily about not being here for this event this time. Glenn had arranged for a camera crew to station themselves in front of the human area so that he could give commentary, answer questions and participate, thereby freeing up everyone else for the event.
Win-win.
"Colonel, have any of the bots around you given any kind of clue about what's happening inside the Temple?" Sheldon Moore, leader of the panel asked.
"Not so far," Mick replied. "I asked a few when you went to break and no one around me knows what this means. As for your request to speak to the priests or anyone else for that matter near the Temple, that's not going to happen. For one, the priests are doing the Redemption Cycle and are busy. For another, its not considered good form to do more than wait. Prime will come out and maybe later we can find out what this means. Until then, no one goes anywhere."
It would go onward.
-0-Elsewhere
"What exactly is the AllSpark then, if I may ask?"
Before Prime could answer, the waitress came out with two big plates filled with breakfast. She set them down before the two, then looked at them with appraising eyes. "What else? Anything?" she asked.
"No, thank you," Megatron replied. "This will do." He looked at the plate with eggs, bacon, toast, and what looked like a shredded root cooked to a dark tone. "Intriguing."
"If you say so," she said as she pulled up a chair to sit. She had her cigarette back and took a deep drag, held it, then exhaled it out the corner of her mouth as she sat down to stare at them both with a keen eye.
They stared at her, then each other. "Smoking," Megatron said. "I see no good of it."
"Don't knock what you haven't tried," the woman said as she poured a cup of coffee for herself. She put several sugar cubes into the cup and stirred it.
Both mechs watched her, then mimicked her actions. Sipping the drink, Megatron frowned slightly. "This is very bitter. I am not very well versed on coffee either, it would appear."
"Then I can assume you're not from around these parts," she said with a smirk. It was hard and knowing, the expression on her face. She had lived a tough life, it would appear, and it showed.
"No," Prime replied. "We are not."
She nodded as the door opened and a young man entered. He had a heavy limp and haunted eyes. He looked like he lived rough and his hair was disheveled. He had a hungry lean look, one that had seen much and struggled to assimilate it fully. He paused before her, his eyes darting warily to the two mechs. "Hi, Sylvia."
"Hello, Veteran. It's in the oven," she said as he nodded. He limped painfully around the counter, then disappeared into the back room. There was the sound of a door opening, something sliding, then a door closing. He limped back out, then paused before Sylvia.
"Thanks, Sylvia. I'm good for it," he said almost to the two mechs rather than the hard looking woman.
"Of course, you are. Thank you for your service, Veteran," she said as he nodded and limped out. The door closed behind him. It was silent a moment, then she blew a smoke ring. "That was Veteran. He got shot up in the Korean War and has problems for it. He lives in a shack and has a hard time. We have a lot of them don't we. We use them up and throw them away but once a year we have a day where we thank them for their service. All the rest of the year they're on their own."
"Then I assume we're dealing with archetypes here," Megatron offered.
Hard cold optics greeted him. "You can assume anything. This isn't real is it? Or is it?" she asked as the door opened and another human entered.
-0-TBC 7-19-18 edited 7-19-18
NOTE: The first four lives of the response part of the prayer cycle is a Navajo prayer. I love it madly. I thank the Navajo Nation for it and wish you continued grace in a harsh world. -Me