The Diego Diaries: Visit A While (dd8 525)
This was supposed to go out last night. :*(
=0=In a conference room at the prison
"The Pantheon… I highly doubt it," she said with coldly.
"You shouldn't," a voice standing near the door said.
Everyone startled then turned around to stare.
Standing in the doorway with a pleasant expression on His face was a tall figure, one instantly recognized by everyone there. This figure was so beautiful it was awe inspiring to everyone present, all of whom rose to their peds.
The priests bowed, staring at the floor as they gathered themselves from the surprise of this individual showing up here. Alpha stood as well, unaware by Primus's design of his relationship with this figure given that he wasn't granted that information. He was living his life as blindly as Optimus was.
The last one to rise was Fila who stared at him with wariness and doubt. She rose out of habit even as her processor didn't accept what she was seeing.
It was deeply silent.
=0=In the vault at the Temple
"What do you think, Master?" Mraz asked as he and Gravitas helped Turbine put The Magnificence back.
They'd walked from the Ops Center through a busy happy crowd of people going about their business. Most of them, perhaps all who had lived here for some time knew who Turbine was and many was the member of the Guiding Hand who bowed their helm as they passed him. Even those who weren't Guiding hand knew him and did the same, acknowledging his status as a Maker of the Elder Clan and a person who embodied holiness through the knowledge he possessed.
Turbine himself was used to acknowledgment. Having lived his entire life with knowledge that no one but the Pantheon and members of his clan knew, the senior most ones, he was used to the attention. It was for him like touching Prime was for Optimus. A sweet detail of life but one that had long ago lost its unique ability to be noticed very much.
They walked into the Temple, across the broad concourse and down the steps to the living quarters and the storage maze below. Huge massive vaults honeycombed the footprint of the Temple and its grounds down several stories as the growth of important recovered artifacts necessitated expansion of their storage capability.
In the center of the maze was the special objects vault that held the many things that were central to their cultural identity or were so dangerous to possess but by those who could such as Optimus and Turbine that they were kept here. The Star Saber, The Magnificence and the first Chronicles of Primus were here among many of the oldest things Cybertronians could call their own.
The Chronicles once owned by Guardian Prime with his notations intact also was here and was the one all copies were made from. Without it being saved after the first conflict that led to the Functionalist Tyranny there would be no Chronicles for The People.
The huge room was filled with more things than even The People knew, lining shelves in the vault that could withstand multiple direct hits from nuclear devices.
He put the chest on the shelf where it sat safely and in pride of place, then glanced at Mraz. "I think that change is slow for some. Fear is a very powerful master. To not treat others well, to believe that they don't count, to practice this kind of behavior is to live in deep, deep fear. We have to be the light, gentlemen. Then we light to path for others to come back to us and themselves in a good way."
"Will this turn out okay? Now with The Magnificence?" Gravitas asked with anxiety. "The colony is a haven and we all are one here. I would despair if this toppled anything or hurt anyone."
"We have Optimus Prime leading us, Gravitas," Turbine said as he rested his servos on their shoulders. "We have a true Prime. We will prevail."
"I hope so," Mraz said as they walked to the door where the Master of Collections waited. "I can't go back to that again."
Turbine stepped out along with the two mechs. "You're in good hands, Mraz. No one goes back. That's a time we can't visit. We'll go forward in a good way. It might take time and be messy but we won't be going back."
The Master closed the vault door, spun the lock, then entered the new code. The four walked back through the vast holding room to the elevators and life back in the world.
=0=Prison
Alpha stared at the mech whom he loved dearly. "Lord Prima. We are deeply honored to see you," he said as he bowed again.
Prima was staring at the group, one face to the next as he stood by the door. He was nearly their size but that was the only concession to them that He appeared to be making. He was spectacularly beautiful and as He stared at them His aura spread out to encompass the room in light. It was soft and radiant, filled with love and a hint of anger. His gaze finally fell on Fila.
She stared at him with disbelief. "What now? Who are you and what is this?"
"You do not know Me?" Prima asked with a voice that was ancient yet filled with life and youth. It was a strange mix of attributes that faced them. "I would think that you would, Fila. Maybe I need to get out more."
Chevron chuckled. "I wish you would, Eminence. I'm tired of being among the few that know how wonderfully amusing You can be."
Prima glanced at the two small priests, then grinned Himself. "I am glad that you think so, my son. Most do not believe I have it in Me." he looked at Alpha. "How are you, Alpha?"
"I am well, Eminence." He glanced at the others. "We're here to help this femme find her way. She appears to be unable to think clearly enough to live in paradise without adding discord into it."
Prima stared at her. "Fila, I am aware of you." He turned more directly to her. His face was almost too radiant to look at. "I am aware of everyone. Everyone matters to Me. I do not put restrictions or conditions on My feelings for others. Even you, Fila."
"I want out of here. Now," Fila said as she felt the walls closing in on her.
Prima disappeared.
They stared at the door for a moment, then Fila walked to it. Pounding on its solid surface, the guard came. "I want out of here. NOW!"
The guard glanced at Alpha who nodded then took her by the arm to disappear down the hallway. She would hurry along with him as she glanced around frantically.
The three walked out to see her cuffed, then led away to her pen with the others.
Chevron glanced at Alpha. "I am unsure if that is progress. But we must inform Lord Optimus," he said.
Alpha nodded, then all three walked toward the train station underground that would take them to The Fortress Metro directly.
=0=Moments later
Prime listened to the report from the three, considering what it meant that Prima had come Himself. This was more intense and meaningful than usual with His participation. It was evident, maybe, that the Great One didn't want trouble in the colony. Then again, He could just be coming to her, Fila.
Everyone stared at him waiting for some sign that he knew what this meant and what would come next. Then a call came through as Paragon rushed into the room from the stairs nearby. Everyone turned toward him.
"Optimus, you have to get to the prison now," Paragon said.
Optimus followed by everyone ran for the stairs upward and The Fortress train platform nearby. They were gone in seconds.
=0=Convergence Point
The sun had faded from the colony becoming a faint line of illumination at the horizon. In a breem that, too, would be gone. The darkness of Mars was astonishing to newcomers given that for the greatest part of the planet there was no light pollution at night. There was no illumination to lighten anything but for the colony itself. Seen from space, it was like a small light bulb shining as best it could in an ocean of darkness.
The prison was a masterpiece of lighting. There were spotlights going straight up in the sky at intervals that threw light for miles into the night time around them. No one would be able to approach the prison without being seen.
Lights from poles that made night time day covered the entire place. For those who lived here there was the option to call down the windows to shut out the light in their cells but only that from the outside. Inside, the night lights that allowed the guards to see how everyone was doing were bright enough to require getting used to by the inmates. They never were turned off.
Ratchet who had stepped out earlier from the meeting arrived at the main gates just as the group from The Fortress including two priests, Turbine and Alpha arrived above ground. They sprinted up out of the Metro to run for the gates where Ratchet waited.
"What the frag is going on?" Ratchet asked as the guards inside began to open the multiple gates that were part of the huge security of the prison. "Paragon called me to come."
"We don't know yet but Prima showed up here for Fila," Turbine said as they began to flood through the doorways led by Prime.
"Oh frag," Ratchet said as he began to run after Prime.
Prime was heading for the outside holding pens of the newcomers, heading there on a hunch. The only news that Paragon was given was that Prime needed to get to the prison now. They ran and ran until they reached the area where the security gates began. They breezed through and slowed at the pens where everyone was watching him including the Decepticons on the other side of the road.
Gee-Gee, Winnie and Roadie were there staring at him as he and the others walked toward her.
"What is happening, Warden? We were called to come," Optimus said as he looked around.
"I called you. Fila came back to her cell, then word came to me that Lord Prima had come to her meeting with the priests," Gee-Gee began. "I was shocked. Then things began to happen, odd things. I don't know what to think but I know you know Them best and bear the Matrix. I don't know who else to call."
"What sort of things?" Prime asked.
Gee-Gee stared at the pen nearby, then startled. "That kind," she said.
Everyone turned toward the pen where Fila and her party stood. A shining light appeared behind them and began to grow. Everyone in the pen spun around to stare at it rooted to the spot.
=0=Emergency Command Center, Fort Max
Inferno and Red Alert walked into the Command and Control Center for the Autobot City Colonial Emergency Services Center. They hurried to the Officer of the Deck who was leaning over the console that showed the grid of the colony.
"What's up, Darcee?" Inferno asked.
A handsome mech turned to him. "We have atmospheric disturbances of an unknown kind at the prison. Its so localized that its scary. I have never seen this before. Look."
Inferno stepped closer to study the grid. He tapped some keys to enlarge the area of the anomaly. It grew and settled. It was located at a part of the prison that was currently the space where they put temporary holdings for prisoners when they came in large numbers.
He tapped some more keys. Data appeared. "Its a high caste holding pen for those arrested in the migration. What the unholy frag is this?" he asked as the image of lightening and wind flashing around began to appear on the camera image on the overhead monitor.
He glanced at Red Alert. "Stay here, Red. I'm bridging in. Prepare for anything," he said. "Get the intervention teams on standby, Watch, Army and Marines. Be ready for anything," he said as he ran across the deck to a small bridge room that would drop him almost next to Prime in seconds.
=0=Prison
They rode to a sliding halt, jumped off their horses and ran for the gates. Something was happening so they ran with their guns just in case. Springer, Drift and the usual group sprinted through the security gates toward a growing disturbance nearby.
=0=Seconds later
Inferno stepped out of a small bridge into a swirling sand storm. Nearby was a light that was growing slowly in height and brightness. Inside the pen closest to the light the inmates were cowering as far from it as they could. Prime stared at it unmoved by the sand blowing around him while the rest of his crew watched as well.
"What is going on, Optimus?" Inferno called over the wind.
Prime almost seemed in a trance. "A Great One comes," he said in a nearly metallic voice.
=0=TBC 9-19-2022
