The Diego Diaries: Inter Face (dd6 461)
-0-The Citadel, Autobot HQ, somewhere
"You!" Prowl stared at Shockwave, Soundwave and Jhiaxus as they walked through the door. He spun, then flipped up a gun but before he could point it a huge servo gripped his arm and the other pulled the gun away. He turned to strike, then stepped back defensively from Prime.
"They are my officers. This is not your universe. What holds true for you there does not hold here. Please … try and remember that," he said calmly. Prime held the gun out, waiting as the emotional torment in Prowl surged through him. "I did not take your guns as a courtesy to you and a show of trust. Do not make that trust regrettable."
Prowl took the gun, then subbed it. "You won't mind if I don't stand near them. The death of billions surrounds them."
Shockwave glanced at Prime with his single optic as the others shifted with unease. "What is happening, Lord Optimus?"
"Apparently, you are not like yourselves in his universe. You are criminals and killers," Prime said as he walked to the conference table nearby. He sat, then gestured for the others to come. They did.
Prowl stared at them, then eased over to a chair by itself, sitting down with deep tension suffusing him. It was silent a moment.
"What exactly did we do or should I ask?" Shockwave ventured as they all stared at Prowl.
"You murdered billions with Megatron and Soundwave. You, Jhiaxus, are the worst war criminal and despotic fragger in the history of our people. Shockwave looks the way he does because of you," Prowl said coldly. "I vowed to shoot you the moment I saw you. Imagine my surprise when you came through the door."
"It's not me," Shockwave said, glancing from Prowl to Prime, then Prowl once more. "That's not me. Its not us. We don't do such things."
"We know," Prime said. "It was shock." They sat a moment gauging the other, then Shockwave leaned slightly closer to Prowl. "What do you mean Jhiaxus is responsible for my appearance. I was disfigured from a lab accident vorns ago."
"Where I come from you were arrested for helping dissident scientists to hide. He tortured you, then put you through empurata. He removed your face and servos. Then threw you into the street. You had to fix your own hurts, your personality was destroyed from the torture of shadow play and you joined Megatron to burn Cybertron to the ground. You killed a billion mechs, femmes, children, babies … you are in deep stasis in our strongest security containment when we finally captured you. You will never see the light of day again. That's who you are where I come from. Jhiaxus did this to you and you became the scourge of the world from it."
Shockwave and Jhiaxus stared at him with horror until Prime rapped his knuckles on the table. Everyone glanced at him. "That is there," he said softly. "This is now. What do we know thus far?"
"We know that this is an inter dimensional rift caused by unknown means. It has somehow linked itself to some of us, probably those who were on board the fleet when we were first pulled across dimensions. Right now, this is strange physics but we are working on it with due diligence," Jhiaxus said as he stared at Prowl uneasily. "As for the question of popping in and out … we are no more clear on that than they probably are. I am unclear as well on the level of their science so it probably falls to us to do the heavy lifting," the mech said.
Prowl stared at the skeletal appearing slagger who he hated with every waking moment of his existence. The comment might not have been meant as an insult but it felt like one. "Our science is topnotch. Autobot science can match anyone."
"I meant no offense," Jhiaxus said.
"You are very emotional," Shockwave said. "Your volatility doesn't allow for a fundamental understanding of who you are to us. You might consider that and dial down the tone of your presentation."
"Thanks, war criminal," Prowl said with an acidic intensity. "What do you know about temporal rifts? Do you also have a region in space called the Barren or Rifts? The Dead Zone?"
They stared at him, then Shockwave shook his helm. "No, we do not."
Prowl considered that. "Some things are the same, some aren't. What about temporal disturbances? Have you had any or heard of them? I don't know you well enough to know what your science is capable of."
Prime smirked slightly at the jibe at his scientists as the door opened and Wheeljack entered to be followed by their version of Perceptor. They sat, then glanced around at the intensity of emotion in the room. "What did we miss?" Wheeljack asked.
"Fireworks, but we got past it," Prime said as he glanced at his officers. "What do you know yet, gentlemen?"
Wheeljack and Perceptor shrugged. "This is temporal rift territory. We noticed tachyons where we picked up this Prowl," Wheeljack said. "That means this is inter dimensional." He looked at Prowl. "What's happened at your end that would disturb dimensions and cause glitches in the system?"
Prowl stared at him. Percy and 'Jack appeared the same as his own. The differences seemed less apparent to him. "We have energy disturbances past our inner empire into trans dimensional rift zones that were caused, at least in theory, by large numbers of stars going supernova near several old and very large black holes. It would appear that space is torn there for want of a better word. Ordinarily, that would not be enough to cause the ruptures that are there but that area of space has never been normal. There are forces at work unseen or understood, different physics than anyone can decipher so its mapped and avoided.
"There's also a disturbed zone a distance away from our own colonial space, a massive area of stars and systems that fall within our sphere of influence. It's a long story but suffice it to say that it was disrupted when a highly advanced species … the infants of same attacked another there for an offense and blew a hole between dimensions that we're guarding until we figure out how to close it."
"What's on the other side?" Soundwave asked.
Prowl stared at him coldly. "Us. Another version of all of us."
"Interesting. The problems seem to match up sides … you with them and you with us. All of us are essentially the same but highly different as well. Whatever forces are at play do not seem to be pairing us with other species. Just us. Tell me about it. I am assuming that its significantly different than you and even us," Prime said.
"It is," Prowl said turning to Prime. "Everything is backwards to us, the whole thing. A shattered glass universe, we call it. We're the enemy there and the Decepticons lead by Megatron are the heroes. The war was waged differently there and the outcome was less disastrous for them than us. We have some of their criminals, those that can't be left with the new government led by Megatron. We hold them. We also hold you, Orion. We hold you in stasis. You are a craven and despotic maniac there."
The others in the room almost seemed mortally offended that Prowl had made such remarks about Optimus, even one that was him. Prowl stared at them with a tiny sense of amusement that he kept from his face. Touche, fraggers, he thought.
"They're different from you energetically. What have you observed as a consequence of them being held in your dimension?" Jhiaxus asked.
Prowl stared at him a moment, then looked at Prime. "Nothing has been disturbed by their presence. We're aware of temporal physics as it applies to both sides of that rift and we're getting better with each passing orn. Other than their bad attitude and assurances that they'll escape and kill us all in our berths, nothing else is apparent."
"That might be an angle. You're mixing different dimensional beings in different universes," Wheeljack said.
"The Pantheon can appear anywhere They want at any time and even all the time everywhere. We also have trans dimensional beings with our titanic frames and with Prime himself. He can go to the Matrix and other places as well. That has always been so," Prowl said.
"Titanic frames?" Perceptor asked.
Prowl stared at them, then Prime. "You don't have titanic sentient ships? Omega and the Supremes? Metroplex? The dreadnoughts … Cosmos?" he asked.
Prime shook his helm. "We do not. Please … explain them."
Prowl stared at him a moment, then thought about the soul of their species, the gentle giants who lived to serve The People and Prime. "They're immense. A dreadnought in ship format can be fifteen miles long. Omega and his siblings are nearly 700 feet tall when in root mode. Metroplex and his siblings are city-formers and none of them are less than one mile tall in root mode. We have thousands of them with us and in different dimensional places of repose. They can cross dimensions and make cities for us. They can establish colonies and defend us. They are … wonderful … remarkable. They're spark bound to serve Primes but they are fully sentient and have free will."
"We do not have such beings among us. They are sentient then?" Prime asked.
Prowl nodded. "They are."
It was silent a moment as they marveled at the news. "What other formats exist among you?" Wheeljack asked.
"Most of us are grounders though most grounders can fly if pressed. We also have Seekers," Prowl said.
"Seekers?" Perceptor asked. "What are Seekers?"
Prowl stared at them with astonishment. He leaned slightly forward. "You don't have Seekers?" he asked with amazement.
-0-Ops Center
They gathered and sat down, all of them staring at Prowl who stared back with a bit of discomfort. Prime glanced at him, then his officers. "What do we know and what can we do?"
"We don't know much. This is temporal which is a fragger," Wheeljack said. "We want you to wear a tracker that we worked out with Metroplex and Dangerous last night. We want to see if we can track you across dimensions. Maybe that can help us at least locate where you might be if you jump again."
Perceptor stood, then affixed a device to Prime's medical port. Then he turned to the strange but oddly calm Prowl watching him. "We have matched this to your personal energetic signature. It won't blow up if you slot it into your third neck port. We hope we can hone in on where you go when you jump. If you do."
Prowl took it, scanned it, then considered it carefully. When he was satisfied, he slotted it. He could feel it boot up but it didn't feel badly. Just slightly less than normal. He nodded. "We can try. Something tells me that this might be a lengthy situation with a few backs and forths involved."
"We can hope not but we've learned to be disappointed," 'Jack said as he sat. "What sort of temporal displacements do you know about on your end of things?"
Prowl shrugged. "None. We don't have any disturbed dimensional regions for enormous distances around settled space where we live. No one has this kind of tech and no one is allowed to do any kind of research on dimensional science without enormous oversight."
"Maybe that's part of it. Your oversight skipped a slagger with a workshop in his mama's basement," Ratchet said with a slight grin.
Prowl stared at him, then shrugged. "Maybe."
"You don't know who I am, do you," Ratchet said as he studied the figure sitting across from him.
"Am I supposed to?" Prowl asked.
It was leaden in the room. "Then Ratchet doesn't exist on your side of the divide?" Ironhide asked with discomfort.
"I don't know a Ratchet but I do know you, Ironhide. You and your family," Prowl said.
"What do you know about us?" Raptor asked with disquiet.
"We're all from Praxus so we know each other. I grew up with you, Ironhide, and attended the same schools. Your ada is Alor of Iacon, you are his grand appa, Raptor. Blackjack is your atar. Turbine is your grand amma. Hard Drive and Delphi are your great grand genitors," Prowl recited.
"If I'm not bonded to Ratchet," Ironhide said with dread. "Who am I bonded to, if anyone?"
Prowl stared at him, then glanced at the others. They were tense and expectant. "You are bonded to Springer and you have one son … Drift," Prowl said.
Ironhide stared at him, then Springer and Drift who looked as shocked as him. "No offense, boys, but frag that. That's two universes where we're bonded, Springer."
"Two?" Prowl asked.
"Maybe we need to take a walk," Prime said as he stood.
-0-TBC 9-4-18 :D
More reader note replies tomorrow. :D