The Diego Diaries: Vacay 3 (dd6 575)
=0=Around
The girls and one boy walked down the concourse heading for the downtown of Unidad Terra 1. Rain, Jaycee, Camilla and Lilly were visiting to 'shop' and meet friends from the local school they had befriended during the inter school exchanges on Trypticon and at the science stations on the TransWorld Highway that their own schools visited. With them were Barry and Tinsley Walters coming along for the ride.
The Walters kids had joined the bot school, Youngling Day, at the suggestion of Rain and her crew. They had no idea that it was so tough and it was borderline whether Barry would be continuing there much longer. Tinsley was smart, liked school and would let Hell freeze over before she had to leave Youngling Day. She was making waves in the world of social media by her participation there and the bots were watching her Instagram and that of several of the others including her brother, Barry assiduously.
None of them knew that. Yet.
Both of them posted images inside the facility and were warned not to continue the practice with the bots working there or they would be blocked from Earth contact. It hadn't gone over too well but they buckled. They had no power here, a brand new sensation for all of them to assimilate.
Children of billionaires whose sense of privilege was without limits, this was a whole new world for most of them, no pun intended. They walked inside after being allowed to take a cab. They had called it to Earth2, gotten in and rode to Unidad through the early afternoon traffic.
:This is great. It's good to get out of there. I'm going to take off this mask until we get there: Barry Walters said as he began to reach for the discharge button to begin the sequence.
"You will leave your masks on. You do not have permission to take them off. If you persist, you will be taken back to Earth2 and your privileges to go outside even in a level 4 protocol will be suspended," a voice said from a speaker that they couldn't see even though they glanced around.
Barry stood up from his comfortable bench, then walked toward the front of the vehicle, a white cab. :We're inside. It's safe, right?: he asked.
"You are being taken from safety through a zero error environment. Level 4 protocols require you to stay in gear. If you cannot do that I am required to report you to the Office of the Primes, N.E.S.T. Command and the Central Emergency Center, then take you back to Earth2."
The voice sounded metallic and canned though it wasn't. The 'cab' was actually Smokescreen the Elder who took the call because he wanted to see what these 'newcomers' were like, especially the kids. They sped along as the boy stood next to the barrier that divided the flight deck of the vehicle from the passenger section. Many was the drunk who took cabs home, necessitating the control area being walled off from the passenger compartment.
Unidad loomed ahead as they took the roundabout, waited for an opening in the turn off lane, then exited on the road that led past it. They stared out the windows as Barry sat down again.
:That's huge: Lilly said. :I wonder what it would be like living there instead?:
:You can work on the farm: Rain said with a grin. :They have cows. You can milk them:
:You don't think I can?: Lilly replied. :Olivia Boles keeps her three thoroughbred horses there. I'd love to ride them:
:I'd love to have my horses here: Rain said wistfully. :Dad said he'd ask in a few:
:Then ask him for mine, too: Camilla said.
They reached the turn off into the facility, then drove across the huge parking lot. There were cars parked outside like it was any mall parking lot anywhere as well as trucks driving around the perimeter to head to the shipping docks in the back. The dome nearby glistened in the sunlight as the greenery inside was a welcome and incongruous sight against the bland landscape all around.
Entering the building, the hatches shut, the atmosphere was nearly instantly restored, then the group was let out of the vehicle. Waiting for them was a security officer, Kimberly Saint James who walked them inside, went over the rules, then drove them to the edge of town. They climbed out, waved to her as she continued onward, then gathered.
Ahead of them, a huge city beckoned. Their helmets were in their pockets, their cameras were out and they were going to check out the city. Casa Unidad as the locals called it was busy. They got nods and smiles from pedestrians as they walked along the sidewalk toward the city center. Passing the stores and business, they window shopped until they reached Mama Merlie's Genuine Home-Cooked Soul Food.
"It smells good," Jaycee said. "I haven't had lunch. I'm going in here."
"There's a barbecue place down the street. I'm going there," Barry said. They divided into two groups, then continued onward, entering to sit in simplicity to eat some of the most complex food they would have anywhere.
=0=Food Truck Fair, Bern with the Fam and the Bit[lets … and three cows, a dog and two cats in carry holds
They sat at a table with children, some of them eating corn dogs and others different things. They got easy food, the ammas and appas who had them and they were doing a good job of filling their faces. This was going to be an extended excursion, lest something come up to call them away. The next three orns were theirs and they would make it count. They would also eventually tell Ironhide and Ratchet when they remembered.
The slaggers.
=0=On the cliff sides of Mount Olympus
They took the usual chopper ride to their training camp to put two new striker hopefuls through real (off) world paces. Most of the soldiers were still on leave, though only about two of them took it back on Earth. Hanging around with the family here, some of them imported for the duration was huge when you weren't on call.
Rick Harris was here as well with his usual three participants, though these weren't paying customers. They fit the profile, they were wealthy and fit. However, these were friends who had come to visit during the holidays. The
chance to see some of the sights was amazing so they slipped in with the N.E.S.T. soldiers because Rick's bot team was on vacation and nobody minded.
Rick Harris had slowly over time assimilated himself into the world here. He was liked by the human community and most of them had forgotten that his father was someone who had less than approving opinions of the bots and their life here. This was a frontier world and because it was, you could be the son of Attila the Hun but it wouldn't matter unless you were an asshole.
Rick Harris over time and contact had fallen out of the category of 'asshole-no trust here'. His father, however, held primacy on that list.
They were staying overnight in the barracks and way station that was here for a number of individuals to use, one that was built for the strikers, the land management bots that worked out this way developing more trails and opportunities for those who used it professionally for training like Lennox and Company did. Harris and his friends would stay with the soldiers, go out with them, watch and if possible climb and hike with them. It would be fun.
It would be.
=0=On the way to the Autobot City Municipal and Interplanetary Airport, Immigration and Off World Port of Entry
They were coming back with their gear having spent the last week on Earth. All of them but Silvio Lombardi who was becoming a close confidant of Owen Harris had gone home, some of them to the usual transit of talk shows and gatherings to 'tell the tale' of life among the bots. A lot of them had been pursued to find out if there was anything new about the murder of Lawrence Dobbs. There wasn't but speculation was still rife. They had pulled no punches in speaking their minds with like-minded reporters and those at big gatherings who weren't friendly to the bots.
No one was happy with them among the locals when the mercs finally were ready to return. It was a strained ride back with Corey McFarlane and Jase Collins, both of them Alpha Strikers returning with their families.
They were coming back on a freed up transport ship that had seating areas reserved toward the flight deck for any humans or bots that needed a lift. They caught the flight in San Francisco and were heading back after a brief stop at Diego Garcia to let off a pair of sailors who'd been given special leave and now had to return.
It was silent in the seating area as everyone stared at each other. Corey McFarlane was a big man, bigger than Jim Johnson who was the biggest merc in the bunch. He sat with his arm around his wife, a nice girl from Houston nicknamed Nee-See. She was a tall girl with a fabled career in volley ball, a skill that nearly got her on an Olympic team once upon a time. She didn't like the mercs any more than anyone else.
Their three little girls sat quietly, their big brown eyes staring at everyone and everything. They were level 1's in the Transitional Learning Department of Youngling Day for human kids who were academic but not yet up to full time placement in the regular classroom. Many were the smaller kids too old for Sparkling Day and not yet ready for Youngling.
The other striker, Jase Collins was older, had a more administrative role now in the garrison and was returning with his wife, Cecile and their two kids, Tom and Bonny. They were students in Sparkling Day given their ages.
It was tense.
Sam Hedges stared at his phone while Johnson looked around the area.
"I wonder where the bar is?" Johnson asked. He did so staring purposefully at the two soldiers.
"This is a commercial ship," McFarlane said. "This is a courtesy to us. It's not a passenger liner."
"Is that so," Johnson said. He remembered McFarlane from the garrison on Diego when he was training to join a striker team and he didn't like him then. Time had not made that better.
Sam glanced at Johnson. "We're going to be there in an hour and a half."
"Yeah," Johnson said as he stood up to walk to the windows. Outside, the blue skies of Diego were coming into view. They would drop two sailors who were returning to duty there.
One of them glanced at Collins. "When is the garrison on Mars going to need sailors?" He grinned at the two soldiers.
Jase grinned back. "I'll ask."
Everyone laughed in their party, then the announcement to buckle in was made. Johnson sat, slowly complying as he kept his gaze on McFarlane. The ship landed, rolled to its holding place, then a small mech walked back.
"Time to go, Mr. Dorsey," he said to one of the sailors. "Thank you for coming along."
The two sailors stood. "Thank you for helping us out," Lyle Dorsey said. They slapped hands with the soldiers, then followed the little mech, Silo out to the hatch doors.
The group watched them go, then settled again. They stared at each other wordlessly. It was getting to be very tense in the lounge.
=0=Springer and Drift
They sat in their office eating junk food as they worked out the schedule for the next few orns. Things were going pretty well but there was word that belligerent high caste kids from the new ongoing migrations weren't assimilating very well. In fact, some of them were being dicks.
"What we need … more afts," Springer said as he sighed. "We have dead gang kids already. A dead merc. What the frag. I may have to start looking for a new job if we don't get a handle on this."
"I was thinking of taking your job when Prime fires you, then keeping you on the side. You can sleep in and I'll do all the work," Drift said with a chuckle.
Springer leaned forward to gaze at Drift with amusement. "Hoss … you do that already."
They both laughed loudly.
=0=A ship heading for homecoming
The hatch door closed. They could hear it. Then Silo walked forward. "Sargent McFarlane, we're going to wait a moment for a classified package for Major Lennox to be sent here. Someone at the garrison on Diego asked for it to be routed this way. Then we will leave. Can I get anything for you for your comfort?" he asked.
Jamie grinned. "No, Silo. We're good. Thanks."
The little mech nodded, then walked back to his station in the rear.
Johnson watched him go, then stared coolly at McFarlane. "Speak for yourself."
"I did. He has better things to do than wait on us. We're here as a courtesy," McFarlane replied equally coldly.
It was glacial in the lounge of the vessel.
=0=TBC 1-21-19 edited 1-25-19
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
ESL
assiduous, assiduously: (uh-sid-you-us, uh-sid-you-us-lee) to do something or be something to the extreme. To watch something assiduously is to sit and watch it without any other activity or purpose.
assimilate: (Just in case I never posted this) (uh-sim-you-late) to take something on and make it part of you. To live in a different country and learn/live their customs, you assimilate.
Incongruous: (in-cun-grew-us) something that really doesn't fit or belong somewhere.
Primacy: (prime-uh-see): To hold primacy is to rule.
As for the assimilation no matter who your family is … its sort of a thing in Alaska. No matter who your family was, good or bad, if you were okay you fit. If you didn't, you don't. The ratio of men to women up here is pretty in the favor of women but the saying is, 'the odds are good but the goods are odd'. We get everyone who failed somewhere else who came here because there 'aren't no rules'. :D:D:D
People are so cute. :D