The Diego Diaries: Moving On (dd8 521)
=0=At the Prison later that afternoon
Gee-Gee walked to the high security lock up with a team and Winnie. She was alerted that a prisoner, one with a mad attitude and no self control was acting up again. She walked through layers of security before halting before the singular cell of Shrike.
Shrike who had made an attempt to invade the solar system through the Bootes travel zone had been driven off with a good third of his battle group broken into dust. He was a certified mental patient through boisterous and difficult assessments, someone who had no boundaries, no tactics nor sense. His idea was to blitz forward no matter the consequences and let the Liege Maximo take the details.
"This slagger has worked my last nerve," Gee-Gee said. She glanced at Winnie. "Any word from Processor Health yet?"
"His guardian is seeking an emergency condemnation from the courts and hopefully he'll be here shortly so we can take him out of here. I believe this is not the place and frankly, I hope its a better one at the high security wing of the Processor Health Hospital in Crater District 7. I hear that opened a while back to the worst of the worst," Winnie said. "We have to get them out, those that can't be rehabbed here. This is just a bin to hold them."
Gee-Gee nodded. "I hear ha, Winnie."
They'd wait about a half a joor before a tall older mech arrived with the order to remove Shrike to the security hospital in District 7. He would put up the usual battle but would lose. The Prison would win when he left in five point restraints.
=0=In a corner of the Concourse lounge at Unidad Terra 1
The representatives of the two moles sat together sipping drinks in the lounge part of the huge concourse that was the first feature of the huge habitat. The city was beyond, the long concourse dotted with cafes, relaxation areas, communal dining rooms, the odd kiosk that told of what, when and where along with traffic on the roadways painted on the floors.
The vehicles were electrical and made no noise. The vastness of the space they shared with humans was big enough to disperse the sound of their traverses. The transportation system here was efficient, undersized vehicularly and fun to watch.
"I wish I worked here. This is a magnificent space," one of them, a lawyer said as he sipped his martini.
They had just had dinner in one of the large communal eating areas that dotted the facility of now 24,000+ individuals and their families. It was like living in a big urban area without vehicular traffic. Bikes, segways, small cars and trucks, all of them buzzed along with small electrical scooters. People also walked, power and otherwise to get where they wanted to go.
In the distance the rising towers of tiered apartments could be seen where the inhabitants lived. In every direction there was beauty and utility combined to make this a miracle.
"Its got good energy," a young man said, one who was a paralegal. "I have my petition in for anything that opens in legal. My wife wants to come here to work on the farm. She was raised on one and has a degree in biology. Maybe we can," he said wistfully.
They nodded as they watched the lights begin to dim as evening came upon them. The circadian cycle of night and day ran always onward by the internal mechanisms of the great titans who's bodies formed this structure. Outside as seen through the gigantic windows that soured up 200 feet next to them, the evening of Mars was coming on. The light of the sun was fading over the dome of the volcano that made up the plain they lived upon. Soon the incredibly deep darkness of Mars at night would come.
It wouldn't be lost upon any of them that out there in the vile cold and inky darkness two humans met terrible ends. That they might from the two men they'd managed to extradite wouldn't be missed either.
=0=Museum of Mars, Conservation Annex Building, Downtown Autobot City, Mars, Cybertron and the Empire of the Primes
They landed on the rooftop pad that was part of the complex that housed the most important 'not for show' relics, art and other cultural icons but also the conservation department for the Museum. It was here that things were brought to be studied, preserved, restored to what degree was possible and made ready for exhibition if able or permanent storage if not in controlled conditions.
Standing on the rooftop waiting for the hatch of the ship to open, Jade watched the mechs who were bringing him wonderful things. He was Director of Conservation for books, paintings, the printed or chiseled word and icons for the Museum and because this was his specialty, he got to handle and study some of the oldest and most precious items of their long and storied history as a species.
The word had arrived early that morning that another shrine had been discovered at their northern most habitation at their north pole. It was uncovered with the melting of the ancient ice cap that their planet was experiencing with the sick and unpredictable weather patterns of Cybertron. That warmer air had reached the north pole was both a blessing and not. It gave them good things like this and it made planning difficult.
The hatch opened as mechs stepped out. They pulled out of the vessel large artifact cases which were designed to protect their contents up to and including the correct environments for them to be handled. Walking to a gurney waiting for them beside Jade, they put the boxes down gently. It took five of them to hold the removable contents of the shrine including the first sifted haul of fragments and dirt.
Someone would do that part. Jade would handle the rest.
He stared at the boxes aching to see them. He glanced at the mechs. "Is that all of them?"
cauldron's assistant, Pervis nodded. "It is, Jade. The rest of it will be photographed, then sealed until we can remove the entire structure for the new annex."
jade nodded. "This is wonderful. Thank you, Pervis," he said as he with his assistant, Metis began to push the gurney toward the big doors of the elevator that would take them down five stories to the third sub basement where "Conservation-collections' was located. By the time the elevator doors closed, the vessel would be heading out for Cybertron once again.
=0=Nearby
They worked on the sub floors of the new annex which had been approved by the planning commission shortly ago. This would be called 'The Museum of Ancient History: The Beginning'. Given that three shrines had been discovered now, it seemed like a good idea not only to preserve and arrange for the contents to be displayed but to build a specialized building to hold the displays in a way that was respectful and showcased their poignant artifacts in a way befitting such a find.
When they were finished, everything would be placed inside and opened to the public. There would be re-creations off all three shrines thus far found, displays of their actual contents with context provided and educational docents to assist with questions, answers and tours. The earliest orns and that of the heroes of their people would be amply offered.
There would be an entire wing dedicated to the Revolutionary Council who led The People to freedom in the War Against Quintessan Oppression but also a long overdue rendering of the great Merrick also known as Guardian Prime.
Films would play featuring the Immortals who would tell of the time and their memories of everyone and everything. Most of Ironhide's family would be on them along with the testimony and recollections all of the Immortals recovered, a group that numbered 2,022 individuals both on Mars and Cybertron.
It was an easy sell to Prime for all the obvious reasons including the option of showing everyone how the chains of oppression began and perhaps how they never ended until the Civil War that destroyed them.
The kids needed to know.
The crews would labor long and hard on a building that was round, three leveled for exhibits that showed their history from the earliest on the first floor to the latest of the period, that of the end of the Functionalist Oppression on the third.
=0=Inside the Museum with a group of experts and the museum leadership, the conservation department main examination room
Jade opened a box, then looked inside. Using special gloves for the task, he reached inside to pull out one of five cylinders that everyone knew hold copper lists of names, mostly numbers and letters that passed for them then. He held it up as he scanned it with specialist optical glasses.
Setting it down gently, he scanned it more with powerful devices that told him that the vessel was safe to open. He gently gripped the metal lid, then eased it slowly and carefully free. Laying it down on a gauze strip to protect it, he looked inside. A thick copper scroll still wound from when it was inserted by some long lost furtive individual could be seen.
Reaching in gently, tilting the jar a little as he did, he gripped, then slid out the scroll. Sealing as it was, the condition seemed mint to the untrained optics of some.
Jade set it down, examined it for almost too long for most, then glanced at his assistant. "We can have the A54 unroll this. Its old and has some indication that its going to crack and split in two places if we do it by hand."
The assistant nodded, then walked to a large machine bank nearby. The A54 was a machine that could unwind metallic, paper or material objects without breaking or harming them. It used heat and other methods to reinforce the metal or material so that it would relax enough to be laid out. What it didn't do was make the process fast. It would take days and days for the sheet to be smoothed out safely for study.
Jade picked it up, walked to the machine, then set it inside a tube that would scan, treat and slowly unwind the sheet. Sliding the edge toward the 'gripper', a slot that would hold the edge and begin the slow and delicate process of pulling it out of its current rolled condition, he closed the door, programmed it, then started the machine. It would take seventeen full days for it to be fully unwound. It would be a miraculous find, the oldest list of names ever found.
He walked back to the table to begin unpacking the rest. It would be an emotional and marvelous time for all of them.
=0=Ops Center
Prowl glanced at Prime. "They've begun to unwind a sheet of names. I can't wait to see the new annex. Its long overdue."
Prime nodded as he glanced up from the map he was studying. "An easy decision, perhaps the easiest I ever made."
Ratchet who was walking in pulled up a chair to sit. "Guess what I found out." He smiled brilliantly.
Both mechs took the time to enjoy it, then Prowl smirked. "You found out there's no hope for you?"
"We knew that all along," Ratchet said. "Here's some data that I ran on the slaggers. It might be nothing or it might be significant but its slagging interesting."
"How about a conference room then," Prowl said as he rose. "Some of us have ethics."
Ratchet stared at him, then glanced at Prime. "I couldn't afford ethics."
Prime nodded. "Me either."
"I deeply doubt that," Prowl said as he sniffed. He started for the big conference room.
Ratchet and Prime watched him go.
"Nice ass," Ratchet said with a grin.
Prime grinned, too. "I know," he said as he rose to follow. He chuckled to the door following by Ratchet. They entered and it closed behind them.
=0=TBC 9-12-2022
