The Diego Diaries: Inter Space (dd6 458)
-0-Here
Standing inside looking dazed was a Springer. This Springer wore the same tattoos as Prowl. The Springer from the mirror universe was no where to be found. Prime clenched his fists tightly. The Springer with the weird extra tattoos stumbled forward, then halted. Prime was there, Prowl was and others. He looked confused, then glanced around. "Where am I?"
Prowl stepped forward. "Where I am."
"Where's that?" this Springer said.
"Come outside and let Ratchet look at him," Prime said as he walked back out. The others including Prowl, the alternative version followed. As they stepped out, alt Springer slowed. Staring at him as he stared himself, a tall perfect version of himself stood next to Drift. Then he didn't. That Springer vanished immediately.
Drift who was next to his bond spun and grasped at the thin air. "SPRINGER!" he yelled but it was too late.
It was sickeningly silent for a moment, then Drift pulled a sword and walked toward the two doppelgangers with a blood lust. "Where's Springer, slaggers? Tell me before I cut you into tiny pieces."
Hard Drive stepped between them. "Drift, they won't know. We can assume he exchanged places with this one."
Drift glanced at the alternatives, then Hardie. "How can that be? The other Springer did that with this one."
"Not necessarily," Ratchet said as he stood beside Ironhide. He was thinking, then turned toward Wheeljack and Perceptor. "What if … how do I articulate this? What if the exchanges going on are between their dimension and ours because of external factors unknown as yet. They appear to be between like energetic personalities. Prime and Prowl switch places with Prime and Prowl. Now Springer. Their Springer changed places with the alternative Springer from Megatron's dimension while our Springer wasn't in the cabin with them. Do you follow me so far?"
The scientists nodded but the others listened with confusion, some of them with real fear on their faces. Ratchet thought a moment. "When your alt Springer, Prowl, showed up he had changed places with another alt Springer from Megatron's world. He had swapped, at least from this world to yours. We also have our own and he was standing here just now in proximity to the other two. That's three Springers occupying the same dimensional space. Though they might be different in energetic signature, they're still Springer, all three of them. Maybe two can alternate and not cause problems but three? Obviously, the jumping indicates that like energies can't occupy the same space at the same time even if they differ a little or we would have all three here still."
"Then how can these slaggers from Megatron's universe do that?" Drift asked as he nodded to the other alternative individuals sent over by Megatron for storage who were laying on the ground all over the place.
"The universe has energetic signatures that signify where all of us belong. I would wager that the universe alternative Megatron occupies is close if not next door to our own, thus we differ much less than you," Ratchet said to Prowl who was listening closely. "You're farther away, your signatures are even less compatible. Given that you switch, that indicates you can't be in the same space with us at the same time because there's too much that's different. They can," Ratchet said nodding to the others who were gathering at their fences to watch. "I would also suggest that when you come too close together, it triggers a jump."
"They're closer to us than you, Prowl, energetically. Also, consider that there were three Springers here a moment ago, two relatively compatible and one," he said nodding to Prowl's Springer, "one who might not be. Something had to give. We're not multiversal singularities. Primus can exist in all universes at the same time and know what's going on in each while He's doing it. We can't. Our consciousness can only exist in one, the one we belong to or one that's at least partially able to sustain us. Springer is with our Prowl on your world," Ratchet said to Prowl and Springer. "He had to go because you two can't exist at the same time here with the other. Three came at once, two were moved."
"Then where is the fragger Springer from Megatron's Cybertron?" Drift asked anxiously.
"I would expect he's either back in his own universe with Megatron or on world with your Prime," Ratchet said to Prowl. "It would seem that the trigger to sending one off would be proximity to each other. When this Springer walked up toward our own, only then did our Springer leave. I think I have a processor ache."
"I think you're on the right path," Wheeljack said as Perceptor nodded.
"We have to tell Prime. This mech is a maniac. Correct?" Prowl asked with rising tension and disquiet.
"He is," Ratchet replied.
"What's going on? What the frag is this place? Prowl … what's …" He paused as he noticed Ironhide. "Ironhide. What's going on-" He stared at Drift noticing at that moment of rising clarity that he wasn't the same youngling boy that was his own and Ironhide's. "Drift?" he asked with rising incredulity.
"We need to sit down and figure this out. I want these mechs parted out, Ratchet. Take what they would need to function if for some reason they jumped. I do not want anyone who might receive them to try to bring them around. Put a reboot message in them warning whoever might find them that they cannot be brought to sentience. Can you do that and still maintain their lives and well being?" Prime asked.
Ratchet nodded. "I can. In fact, the techs can do it. I think I want to hear this, Prime. I don't think I really know what I'm talking about but I feel like I have a glimmer and I want to hear more from him and Prowl," he said nodding to Springer whose gaze was fixed on Ironhide and Drift.
"Very well," Prime said. "The rest of us will return to The Fortress. Join us as you can," Prime said as he turned to the others. "Let us go now."
Prowl gripped Springer's arm and led him forward with the others. He stared at Ironhide, then Prowl. Slowing, he turned to Ironhide. "What's going on? Ironhide … Drift. What's-"
"Come on," Prowl said. "I'll explain it when we get there," he said.
Springer reluctantly followed Prowl to the gates and beyond. Behind them, Ratchet walked to the gates of the barracks nearby with the intervention team to disable those closest to him. Techs who were bridging in would handle the rest and they would be warehoused in high security stasis units in the prison medical center nearby. Only then would anyone on the senior staff relax.
-0-There
The Temple was quiet. Prowl had never accompanied Prime on his spiritual duties here either in the past or present. It was strange to stand beside him now. This mech had acknowledged himself a god and was treated with deferential reverence here by all that saw him. Even the mechs who were part of the command team loved him in the way one would a holy being. He took it in stride. He was a good mech, that Prowl could tell but he wasn't Optimus. Not the one he knew and loved.
Prowl considered his bond a holy being, too, but also a mech. He was an absolutely remarkable mech, Optimus Prime, with few flaws that either mattered or counted. To Prowl, they didn't. He didn't like that Prime would hold so hard to the idea that everyone in trouble needed him. Sometimes, you couldn't defend or save them all. He was as affected as Prime by things and what they came across but he also was the practical slagger who had to make the ships fly and allocate resources to a vast army over great distances. He didn't have the luxury of doing much beyond those limitations so he locked up a lot and didn't examine it.
NOW he did.
Now was different, but then? He had a reputation as a cold-sparked dagger but it wasn't always his fault. It had made him hard in some ways and keeping the emotional debris of a life lived in strain, conflict and war contained and managed was difficult. 'Stick up his aft Prowl' was a hard earned moniker given to a mech who in some ways had carried the slagging war on his back, making things work, pulling things together often in minutes and with a shoe string budget. All of that was unappreciated most of the time.
Now it was.
Bonding with Prime had saved his spark. It had taken care of a lot of things and being a father was the next most important act of self preservation and self love that he had undertaken. The children were the stars in his constellation but the one who shown brightest was the big self effacing, wise, gentle, smart, able, brave, loving, and luminous mech, Orion Pax. "You have no AllSpark."
Prime glanced at him. "I do not know what that is."
"It's a giant cube. Some call It that but Its the AllSpark. Optimus told me what It was. Its as old as the universe, all universes perhaps and Its the place where The One comes when He wishes to be among us. Apparently, the magnificence of that individual is too much for mortal beings to handle so this is the solution," Prowl said. "We reverence It. It can grant life and take it. It's a vast and powerful entity that's a major … THE major prestige point of our Primes. To have It without scrupulous ethics is to put that entire universe, perhaps all of them into imminent danger."
They stared at the Well, then Prime turned to face him. "You have points of convergence and then you have differences. Each universe, each dimension does. They have similarities and somehow in that, we will find the solution to this."
"Why did you come today, Orion?" Prowl asked as he stared at the undulating blue surface of the portal to the soul of Primus, Gateway to The One.
"I have to speak to my siblings. If you will wait here, I will go. It is time," Prime said.
"Can They help us?" Prowl asked.
"I do not know. Nothing happens to someone without purpose. You may not know it at the time but every event in your life was chosen before you left the Matrix. There is wisdom here, things to learn for all of us. They might or not tell me because they cannot interfere in our lessons. I will ask," Prime said.
Prowl nodded, then watched as Prime turned to the Well. He began to chant, then he vanished. Prowl had seen Optimus both vanish or stand entranced while in communion with the Matrix and the Pantheon. Both were ways to go to The Source Of All Things. He stared at the empty space, then walked to the stairs nearby. Sitting down slowly, he leaned back against one to wait. He never felt more alone or lonely in his life.
-0-Conference Room
Ratchet entered after they had been together a moment. "All of them are disabled enough that they would need a real doctor or technician to reboot. I added a message that these individuals were dangerous criminals and they needed to remain in stasis. They're going to the med center for warehousing until this works out." He sat next to Ironhide, then stared at alt Springer and Prowl. "Do you understand what's happened, Springer?"
Springer who was staring at Ironhide and Drift with duress looked at Ratchet. "No. I don't. Much. Who are you?"
"Well," Ratchet began, "in this dimension, I'm your ada. This is my bond, Ironhide and we have about 57 children including Drift here who is your bond."
Springer flinched, then stared sharply at Ironhide and Drift before looking at Ratchet again. "Ironhide is my bond and Drift is our son."
"Not here," Prowl said. "We're in the twilight zone, Springer. Something is messing with us temporally and we're here. Nothing is too different but a lot is." He looked at Prime. "Springer is chief of security for Cybertron and the Empire back home."
"He is here as well," Optimus replied.
"What about the Wreckers?" Raptor asked. "What about us? Do you recognize anyone here? What do we do there?"
Springer looked around, then stared at Raptor. "I know everyone in this room but you," he said glancing at Ratchet. "We're general staff for Prime, most of us. I don't know what the Wreckers are."
It was silent in the room.
-0-There
Springer glanced around. He wasn't at the prison with the others watching himself stagger out of a barracks. He was standing in an apartment somewhere else. He walked with tension and stealth from a berth room filled with pictures, art and familial what not and walked down a long corridor of what had to be a very big apartment, high caste in quality if not feeling. There was warmth here and family love, something that he remembered from his own life with a loving and large family. Pausing to look into a big berth room that apparently was home to a young person who liked sports, books and swords, he continued. As he reached the door to the home office a voice called out. "Springer. Didn't you just leave?"
Springer felt static run up and down his spinal strut as he turned to face a familiar individual. "I, uh … I came to get ..."
Ironhide grinned at him. "You need a tune up, mech. You have to get Drift."
"I know. I just forgot … I have a processor ache," Springer said, which wasn't a lie.
"You want me to get him?" Ironhide asked as he stroked Springer's arm.
Springer who was struggling not to jump out of his exoskeleton in surprise at the nature of Ironhide's gesture shook his helm. "Uh, no. The thing will do me good. Now where is he?"
Ironhide stared at him, then grinned. "You're hilarious. Get him at school and I'll meet you at the office. We're going to Polyhex right after I check the slate. Your genitors want us in time for dinner."
Springer nodded numbly, then turned to go. Ironhide gripped his arm, then kissed him gently. "You need to get more sleep, slagger."
Springer who was frozen in place nodded. "I will. I know. I'll get him." With that, he walked to the door and left.
Ironhide watched him go, then shook his helm. "Slagger. Hurry up," Ironhide said with a grin, then walked back into his office to work on reports for Prime.
Outside, Springer stood rooted to the sidewalk as the words rang like howitzers in his skull: 'your genitors want us in time for dinner'. Everything in him was determined to run like the wind and perhaps find the other Springer, the killer bond of alternative Ironhide before he created a mess here. Then the magic words were spoken. 'Your genitors'. He waffled as he stood on the sidewalk of Iacon, then he saw a information kiosk nearby. Running toward it, he began to research a number of things … Ironhide, himself, Drift who was their 'son', and his genitors in Polyhex. In the end, alternative Springer would have to wait.
He would go to Polyhex and see his family again.
-0-TBC 9-6-18 edited 9-7-18
NOTE REPLIES TO COME TOMORROW! :D