The Diego Diaries: Aftermath (dd6 471)
NOTE: I used 469 and 470 to tell about problems and the fixes I was working on. Then I dumped the 470 note and added a part in its place for yesterday This segment, 471 is the next one for today. If you didn't check out 470 to see the replacement segment, read it before this. I added the last elements of the multi dimensional thread there. Now, we're going to forget this a while.
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On with the show …
-0-Morning
Optimus Prime set breakfast dishes in the sink, then walked to the dining room to get the small cups his children used for their meal. Glancing into the living room, he saw Prowl sitting on the floor covered with children, some sitting on his lap, some leaning against him with Solus and Sojourner pantomiming something they were doing in school in front of him. Grinning, he glanced at the table, then the sink in the huge kitchen nearby.
It could wait.
He walked into the living room, then knelt. Kids ran to him hugging and patting him. "You look like you're having fun," he said.
Prowl grinned. "I am. It's about time to go."
"YOU CAN'T CATCH ME, ADA!" Solus yelled in her tiny voice. Then she turned around with almost hysterical happiness to find a place to hide, then ran for it.
Sojourner looked at her, then smiled at Prowl and Prime. "CATCH ME, ADA! ATAR!" Then she ran away as well.
The little mechs and Miracle watched them, then ran themselves. For a few moments, the adults would 'search' for them, passing where they hid behind furniture and curtains, pretending to look in earnest even for Rambler before giving up. "I guess we can't find them," Prowl said as he waited behind a door leading to the enormous living room of the penthouse apartment, one that filled the entire top floor of the tower. There were literally zillions of places to hide. "We better leave, Atar."
"I do believe you are right, Ada," Prime said as he gripped the nob on a closet door. "Let us go now." They simulated footsteps, then he closed the door. It was intensely quiet.
Down the hallway hiding behind an open door, Miracle peered out. "Ada?" he asked before whispers shut him up.
"Don't say anything, Miracle," Sojourner said in what she thought was a quiet voice.
"Where did Ada go?" Miracle 'whispered' back.
Sojourner who hid with Solus behind curtains in one of the six bedroom suites that were part of the apartment walked to the door to peer down the hallway. "They aren't here."
Miracle stepped out, then joined them. "Where's Ada and Atar?" he asked in a voice filling up with emotion and tears.
Rambler and T-Bar stepped out of their rather good hiding place, then joined them. "Spirit? Where are you?" T-Bar asked.
Footfalls joined them, then they all huddled. "Ada left us? Where did they go? Are they hiding?" Spirit asked as they walked toward the living room.
Passing the door where Prowl hid and not noticing the massive format of their other father standing on the other side with a big grin, they walked into the living room. That was when Prowl stepped out and said 'boo'. Bedlam coupled with mayhem and running in circles screaming broke out immediately.
-0-Downstairs
"ORION! PRAXUS! GET IN HERE!"
Two little mechs ran out of Hero's room heading for the living room. Ironhide stood in a bemused mood holding weather gear onesies and their book bags. Standing nearby, Hero held Halo's servo. They were both dressed as little white bunnies in their onesies. Sunspot had gone ahead with the dreads to get on their buses which came first. The mayhem and bouncing dog element halved itself in intensity as the door closed behind them.
"ATAR! I, ORION COMED! WHAT YOU!?" Orion slid to a halt in front of his father, then struck unconsciously a Superman pose.
Praxus stopped, then smiled upward brilliantly. "ATAR! HERE I AM!"
Ironhide snickered, then gripped Orion. Stuffing him into a white onesie with the team emblem of Kaon on the front, he put him down on the floor beside Hero and Halo. "Slaggers," he said as he did the same with Praxus, he turned to the four. "Halo comes with me. You two are going to miss your bus and Hero needs a cab. Everyone accounted for?"
"ME!" Ratchet said coming out of the last berth room. He paused before them, threw out his arms wide and smiled brightly. "ME! OLD ME!"
Everyone laughed loudly as the door opened. Ironhide and Ratchet's family glommed kids, smiled and nodded, then left. Ironhide and Ratchet stared at each other, then Ironhide's empty servos. "Better get Halo or you're slag out of luck, big boy."
"You're right about that," Ironhide said with a grin as he held the door open. "I am a big boy," he said as the door closed behind them.
-0-Elsewhere
Drift and Springer sat at a cafe on the sidewalk of their city eating breakfast. They usually joined their posse but not today. They were together and that was that. It was cold but sunny. If things were otherwise and their people not so inventive, it would be frag all cold and one long continuous dust storm. But they were, so it wasn't.
Like that.
"We have more trials coming up, the families of Decimus and the others. That seems like ten vorns ago," Drift said as he perused the police report in the local newspapers.
"I know. Its good to be home doing normal slag," Springer said. "We have to go by Unidad. Show the flag, discuss the laws, go over questions. Do we have a staff meeting today?"
"We do but just the military and sciences. Everyone else is off," Drift said.
"Frag," Springer said.
"Yeah. No way we can pretend to listen and play hangman off line today," Drift said with a grin.
"True that," Springer said as he smirked at his partner across the table.
-0-Unidad
They were up and running great guns. Though there was floor after floor of apartments for employees, those levels were disabled in the elevator system pending fulfillment. The top two floors of the facility held the inmates of the Autobot habitat and they were having a great time. Businesses were going full blast, the kids were going to school, work was beginning in labs and factories all over the place, and the fields in the dome were coming together. Roads were made in the 80 square mile 'garden' as the farm was beginning to show growth where enclosed fields were being made and pasture grown.
The rivers in the enclosure were running properly, water was spilling over the dam in the middle where the pump system kept it moving and the lake was filled. Plants were rooting and taking off around the lake and along the streams and irrigation routes as they were planted. Pasture grass for the dairy was thick on the ground and encompassed over 500 acres. Of the 55,000 acres available, it was a goodly size nonetheless and would be enough for the herd and other grazers.
The cows came out of the milking barn, walked to the gate and out onto the dirt road that led between fenced fields to the one in rotation for them. Rising early as well, Olivia Bowers and her brother, Stephen who was a corporation accountant at City Hall and his wife, Jennifer, took care of her three horses and with her greyhounds as company walked them to the field to join the cows for the day until they could come back to ride together later on in the day.
The sun that streamed through was magnified and maintained to 75 degrees Fahrenheit or 23.9 degrees Celsius so that the conditions for farming and the forest nearby would be optimal. It was clear and bright as far as the eye could see because the facility filtered the air. Outside, the fawn colored soil of Mars with all its broken boulders and different kinds of rocks here and there were easily seen as were the tower glittering cities that dotted the plain. It was a beautiful place and gave off a vibe of Iowa with its flat farm land disappearing into the distance.
Inside, Merlie began to clear up from breakfast with 'her girls', the wives and girlfriends of some of the
scientists and other employees who took support jobs to keep busy. They were a cheerful crew who worked together here and at the barbecue restaurant, trading places on a schedule that coincided with their families. The streets were busy with little cars going here and there, some pulling trailers or cabs with 'fares' while others pulled into the curb to park and do errands.
The City Hall was the hub of the down town as worker bees went to work, came out or did their business there and other office buildings in the area. Carly ran the city, Sam worked just below her in his office and the process of Unidad business continued briskly. Across the street, down a block or two, the radio and television station carried not only Earth programming and that of Mars but was working on their own to add to the overall schedule along with daily newspapers. They already had an hourly news program of their own featuring the headlines of every country represented in the facility, all 74, plus that of the local habitats and consulate.
The bakeries were busy and the aroma of their effort drifted out the open windows. Since there was no weather inside and the temperature was controlled, most businesses that could opened windows during business hours. The grocery stores were busy with those who liked to cook or needed this or that thing coming in to browse. The feed store run by a mini-con family was busy as agriculturalists and agronomists made their orders, discussed this or that technical aspect of this or that obscure farming thing with the experts. Given that they had downloaded every possible farm related data from Earth and were assimilating it, they were actually better at the technology and technical aspects than the experts they served.
The vet next door was getting ready to receive shipments of animals … sheep, goats, llamas just because, Shetland ponies for the kids and others who liked small things, ducks, geese, pigs, chickens, doves, a number of wild song birds to start with, buffalo, and emus that would be arriving through space bridge to lessen their fears over the next ten days. She was busy with her assistant, her husband who was also a fall back animal surgeon. He was actually a doctor of human medicine, retired, who had jumped at the idea of coming here. They now had a 'gofer' for the vet and a back up surgeon for humans and animals.
Win-win.
Trees were still being hauled about the town to be planted in big boxes set at intervals on the streets. It was decided that fast growing leafy trees would be a nice addition to the small town look of the downtown. When they were finished with that, the gardener team, a group whose main job was to maintain every bush, flower box and tree in the facility no matter where they were would move in and beautify the place. Flowers and rose bushes, flowering vines and other graceful remembrances of Earth would be hanging in windows, on hooks from street lamps, and bordering tree stands all over the place.
The phone rang in Carly's office. She picked it up. "Carly Brooks-Spencer, City Hall. How may I help you?"
"Carly, this is Brandon Clark. Do you remember lunch at 1100 hours?" he asked as he kicked back in his chair in his office at Earth 1.
"I do. We're still meeting here, right?" she asked.
"We are. We're heading out. See you shortly," Brandon said.
"We'll be here," Carly said as she hung up the phone. Tapping a number, she waited.
"Merlie's Soul Food Kitchen," a cheerful voice replied.
"This is Carly, Wanda. Will you be ready for our luncheon at 1100 hours?" she asked.
"We're ready, Carly," Wanda Cummings said. She was a thirty-two year old woman whose husband was a computer designer and programmer. She came here after going on sabbatical at her school district and was part time waitress at Merlie's and back up substitute teacher at the school, elementary preferred. They had three children attending. "We have it for the Earth 1 and 2 bigwigs and you, right?"
"You do," Carly said with a laugh. "Sam said he could attend. The conference call was postponed."
"We're on it," Wanda said. They chatted a moment, then hung up. Brandon Clark and his team along with Owen Harris and his would be here in thirty minutes for lunch. The restaurant would be closed to others for it so they scheduled at 1100 hours rather than noon. It was one of the most popular restaurants on Mars so there would be a number of disappointed diners today.
Outside, the whirl of the habitat spun onward. Children in Intermediate School did the prep work toward going to Trypticon to look through the telescopes. They would be there with other students from the Autobot School District. It would be the first time any of the human kids here would meet alien children and excitement was high. That it would require parental participation and happen in orbit of Saturn was almost too much to take in.
Life at Unidad was coming together nicely.
-0-Earth2
Owen Harris, Kyle Davis, Hamilton Brown, and Jase Daniels stood in their gear watching through the windows of the security doors as Brandon Clark and his two officials swung in to get them. They were going to Unidad 1 for the first time together. The facility was like a lodestone drawing them in even as it remained tantalizingly out of reach. The doors opened as the atmosphere equalized in the drive up. They walked out, climbed in, then drove out into the bigger world beyond. It would be a nice drive through morning traffic, sentient or not, to the stupefyingly gigantic facility looming nearby. They drove over paved roads past manicured landscape like it was anywhere on Earth. Then they drove toward Unidad to enter as the gigantic doors closed behind them.
-0-Ops Center
They walked in and sat with plates piled high and big cups of something to drink. Weariness and the dullness of relief from fear and anxiety permeated the room. Drift and Springer sat side-by-side, their donut plate mounded with goodness. Ratchet sat with his stuff, then grinned at them. "You two look like slag. Want me to write you a note?"
Springer smirked at him. "No thanks, Ma. I think I'll make it."
Prowl walked in with his stuff and the usual datapad, then sat. "Let's start with the good of the order," he said as Prime walked behind him.
Everyone sitting at the table waiting laughed and nodded. He would get no argument out of them today.
-0-TBC 9-14-18