The Diego Diaries: Stuff (dd6 475)
NOTE: I misplaced my computer cord so this is going to be a colossal freak out until I find it. Fortunately, I have a terrific desktop so have no fear. That's my job.
-0-In the concourse foyer of Unidad Terra 1, Planet Mars
She spewed a load, then silenced, having dispersed her fear and amazement for the moment. Looking at the bots, she stepped back slightly. "I'm sorry that my son did this. May we take him and go?"
"BUT MOM!" Michael said before she cut him off with a look.
Ratchet laughed. "You sound like me." He grinned, then leaned closer. "I'm the Secretary of State for Autobot Nation and anything that looks like a territorial breach falls to me. Your son broke interplanetary laws and that's something that needs addressed."
James Allen stepped forward past his distraught wife and delighted younger children. "Mr. Ambassador, is it possible that because of his age and relative STUPIDITY that he can just take a hand slap and wait for the rest of it at home?"
Ratchet smiled. He liked both parents and the little kids and dog were cute as a button. "We have to go to Juvenile Court to address this. I think Prime would give me latitude. Right, Prowl?" he asked.
Prowl stared at Ratchet, then the family. "Your son needs to know this isn't just a lark, Mr. and Mrs. Allen. We only just a few days ago made the receiving docks from Earth fully life supporting. Not only did we do that for the human workers there, we did it for this reason. Someone else tried this a week ago. We're moving farm animals here now. They need special handling. If the freight wasn't mostly destined for Unidad, there wouldn't have been an atmosphere and the moment he passed out of the space bridge, he would have died. Badly."
They looked at their son who looked as upset as them. "Uh, we're so very sorry. Aren't we, Lisa?"
"We are. What does all this mean?" she asked with distress gathering.
"Ratchet, call the magistrate for Juvenile Court to come and lets get this straightened out," Prowl said as Ratchet nodded. "Bridge them in."
Ratchet stood again, then called the court, was told that Blackstone was available and would bridge in from the one at the courthouse. Almost before they signed off, the bridge opened nearby and the handsome, elegant and highly dignified figure of Blackstone walked out. The new humans were astonished and the old ones highly amused as they sat on the electrical cars to watch the show. Blackstone walked up to Ratchet, then the two stepped to one side to talk together silently.
Lisa Allen watched, then looked at her husband. "Don't we need a lawyer or something, James?"
"You do," John Fulton said. "I appoint Will Lennox."
Lennox glanced at him sharply, then stood. "Uh, that might not be the best idea."
"You're senior human here with final say. What's not to love?" Fulton said with a big smile.
"What's not to love, indeed," Corey McFarlane said with a snicker.
A frown got paid to that as Ratchet and Blackstone turned to the group. "I would like to present one of the most distinguished and honorable individuals you will ever meet. This is Blackstone and he's the Director of Public Legal Defense and the taker on-er of hopeless cases for Mars, Cybertron and the Empire as well as a member of Prime's Civilian Committee Advisory group. This is Michael Allen. He's a stowaway and wants to stay here. These are his genitors, James and Lisa Allen and his littler siblings and cute little dog. I turn it over to you."
Blackstone smirked at Ratchet. "You have the Prime's Brief."
Ratchet preened. "When don't I?"
A jab to the back by Prowl took care of that. The humans laughed but for the new ones who looked at the group with dread. Blackstone began. "Mr. Michael Allen, you came into the territory of the Prime of Cybertron, trespassing onto his empire without permission. You endangered not only your own life by doing so but the future and eternal happiness of your mother and father. The death that you would have experienced had the dock been without atmosphere, which I assure you that all of them are but for this one, you would have died a gruesome and lingering death. You are a trespasser. How do we know you're not a spy sent here to steal our tech and do harm to our people?"
The Allen family stared at Blackstone dumbfounded, then looked at Ratchet. "We're just … people. We're not spies."
"That's what they all say," Ratchet replied. He glanced at Will. "Jump in any time, Lennox."
"Oh," he said with a jolt. "Yeah. I don't think you can call this kid a spy. Dumb, maybe. Foolhardy, sure. Even idiotic," he continued until even the bots were staring at him with amusement. "Uh, we all know what spies look like. He's not carrying a briefcase bomb and he doesn't have a looking glass. Do you have a camera hidden up your-" Fulton punched him. Lennox glanced at him, then turned to Ratchet. "I think spy is a bit more than this warrants, Ratchet."
"Do you really? How do we know he isn't from M.E.C.H? He could be from their junior auxiliary. He could be their intern. Maybe we should turn him upside down and shake him until the bombs fall out of his a-" A sharp jab from Prowl ended that line of inquiry. It didn't end the effort the soldiers made to hide their smirks or the huge laughter from the bots that played off line.
"I think if you … pat his servo, Ratchet … make him write an essay about not being a bad guy, then he can go home and not to prison with the rest of the riffraff," Lennox said. "In summation … how about some of that mercy Prime is so famous for? A little bit goes a long way."
"A little dab will do ya?" Ratchet asked with a slight smirk. Lennox grinned, then nodded. Ratchet looked at Blackstone. "This kid wants to stay here and be an astronomer. He went to school and graduated but going to college there seems to be insufficient for his overbearing ambitions. What about it, O' Wise One? What do you recommend? I ask as the prosecution ten years at hard labor."
The parents gasped, the kid watched Ratchet closely having read and viewed everything that existed about him. He knew that the big mech was a kidder. Maybe he was now.
Maybe.
"Well, that might be excessive," Blackstone said. "I gave my own son three years hard labor for that thing he did a little while ago," he lied. The parents gasped again. "However, given that he squishes so easily, I would like him to go home and write two long detailed letters filled with sincerity. One is to his family for making this scare possible. The other will be addressed to Optimus Prime."
It was silent. The kid wilted, then looked at Blackstone. "What do I tell Optimus Prime? Besides I'm sorry?" he asked with a forlorn tone.
"You will apologize to him and then you will ask him if you can be part of the intern program that we will start to address this longing among kids your age and condition that obviously exists. You can ask to be part of that program which we will open to children your age who are pre-college to come here and live. You will work and learn. 74 countries are represented here at Unidad and over 110 overall on world. The more we get, the more ambassadors there are for peace going back to Earth. Ambassador Ratchet will send the addresses to your home in Dubai and you can mail your application in along with an apology letter to Prime and an essay about what you want to do with your life and why you want to be here. Do you agree?"
Michael looked at him with a growing understanding that he wasn't going to walk the plank, then the idea of it hit him. "YES! I WOULD! I DO! THANK YOU!"
"Don't thank us, kid. Your parents are going to paddle your butt when you get home," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
"YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!" Lisa Allen said with a frown at her son.
They chatted a moment, then the soldiers gathered them to go to the Ops Center upstairs to bridge back to their living room in Dubai. The last sight they caught of the kid and his family was him waving at them as he sped off in an electric car with Corey McFarlane. Blackstone grinned, then turned to Prowl and Ratchet. "Thanks. That was fun."
"Did you really punt your son, Blackstone?" John Fulton asked.
"I did. He's going through what I think your culture calls an emo stage. I grounded him with he got caught tagging a building in Tetriades," Blackstone said. He laughed. "I was easier on him than my bond was."
"That's because your bond is a work and wonder," Ratchet said as he slapped Blackstone on the shoulder. They called a bridge and he went back to the courthouse leaving the group and a gathering crowd of local humans behind. They chatted and laughed, then Ratchet and Prowl walked out, transformed and bugged out. The event wouldn't make the news but it would make the rounds.
All was well.
-0-Cybertron
They walked through the construction of the Temple, a forlorn but formidable sight. It was a huge building and would take some time to get right. The antiques that were found were being restored and others made to replace those destroyed. A foundry was making the statues that surrounded it both inside and out along with the four sets of massive and highly detailed metal doors that were part of each side of it.
If and when it was recreated, the next Festival would be held here. Then it would alternate between Cybertron and Mars. Prime would observe the festivals of the shrines when they were dug out, sorted out and rebuilt but that was way down the road. Their excavation was extremely show since they were bursting at the seams with relics and all manner of artifact and book that was placed there before the world ended.
Those there were overwhelmed to see him and he noted that a number of priests came here to work and some to live, helping the locals with their personal and spiritual needs. He loved them even more, these the most selfless of individuals as he listened to the tales told by those around him. It would take a while for Ironhide and himself to head onward, going toward Polyhex to see the rebuild of the Dead End and the restoration of the 'Miracle Mile', a several mile long stretch of straight road that ran through the middle of the financial main district of the financial capital of Cybertron. Gigantic buildings once lined the entire route and they would again. Slow but sure won the race.
-0-Later that night
They ran with abandon, the kids of the house, especially since now was bed time. They had come home at a normal time, had family time together and now they were hitting the hay. In two orns it would be conference time at the schools. In three, the first group of refugees would be coming here. They were a group that had been so long gone from Cybertron that they almost didn't remember who they were. Then the stream would be endless until six million individuals were cleared. It would be then that the teams in the field led by Dai Atlas would regroup and gather the next round of individuals farthest out to rescue.
They would stay ahead of it this way, especially with more workers and skills coming to Mars. Cybertron couldn't take anyone, though it was making progress toward housing the billion or so that were there. As each camp began to shrink, more would take their places. It seemed never ending but they were keeping up and even though there was trouble here and there, the mass rioting and danger that they feared hadn't shown up. The weariness stage was still with them and having something where nothing existed meant everything.
"Did you get the little slaggers?" Ratchet asked as he carried Halo on his arm.
"I did. Finally," Ironhide said coming out of Orion's berth room. "The big kids settled?"
"Yep. Remind me to make lunches for them in the morning because they're hitting the science stations on the TransWorld Highway." They walked into their berth room, tucked Halo into her bassinet by the window where Ironhide insisted she still stay because she might need something, then hit the sack. It was a long, long day today and tomorrow looked the same.
-0-Way late that evening
He ran for his life, dodging fire as he headed for Praxus. The bombs were falling and a ship bearing a nuclear device was flying overhead. He had to help liberate the city. As he ran he heard the telltale sounds of a nuclear device falling toward the ground, its unmistakable whistling scream heard over the mortars. Sliding to a stop, he leaped to hide but it was too late. It hit the ground, exploded and the world became instantly silent. A flash of molten light burst past him, then the sound came. It roared, then the shock wave hit. He rolled and rolled until he slammed into a pile of twisted steel to sit upright. In the distance over his home town, a mushroom cloud rose, then the fallout of all that used to be began to rain down. He felt himself strangle … strangle … strangle …
"WHAT THE FRAG!?" Ratchet jumped up in the middle of the berth, fists clenched and his optics frantically looking around for the danger. Struggling beside him, Ironhide had a blanket wrapped around his neck and was pulling it tightly in his sleep. Ratchet leaned down and bopped him on the helm as a half a dozen or more kids began to fill the doorway. Tall and small, they pushed in with a bouncy dog and a white cat. "IRONHIDE! WAKE UP, SLAGGER!"
Ironhide stopped struggling, then sat up. Then Sunspot held his nose. "Ew," he said with a smile.
"Oh, Primus," Fireball said as he backed out. Then all of them did.
Standing in the middle of the berth, his nasal sensors showing red flags, Ratchet glared down at Ironhide. "YOU SLAGGER! I SAID NO ICE CREAM, PICKLES AND OREOS BEFORE RECHARGE! YOU *KNOW* IT GIVES YOU EXPLOSIVE GAS!"
"And all along I thought it was a nuclear device," Ironhide said as he chuckled.
He would recharge on the couch.
-0-TBC 9-19-18
Shorter one than usual from the lack of a power cord. HUGGIES! :D