The Diego Diaries: Great One (dd8 526)
=0=Prison
"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.
Inferno turned to stare at Prime who looked in a trance. He'd seen Prime in this position before though each time it felt slightly scary to him. He turned toward the light which was growing even as the sand began to blow in earnest. It felt like it was pitting him as it blew in a swirling vortex all around them. That's when it burst in all directions up and down and roared away out into the colony until all of it everywhere disappeared into a cloud of sandy fury.
=0=Around
It came in so fast that those on the road slammed on the brakes. There was zero visibility anywhere around them as they transformed, most of them to look around. The wind was howling and in different places in the distance it looked lighter, as if there were fog lights in the storm.
Calls poured into the CES, Central Emergency Services Center at Fort Max and The Watch at the tower in Metrotitan.
=0=CES, Fortress Maximus, The City
"Please state the nature of your emergency," an operator asked as the calls came pouring in.
:There's a dust storm that's got me on the Industrial Parks Highway: the voice replied.
"Are you in any danger or hurt?" the operator asked.
:No. Just … what's happening? There's growing lights all over the place: he said with anxiety in his voice.
"Are you on the GPS and the Grid?" the operator asked.
:I am:
"Then follow it to your home and stay there. We have a freak storm going and we want everyone off the road. Do you understand?"
:I do:
"I'm going to marker you on the grid and follow until you reach your home. I have your data online," the operator said. "If you see anyone else around you tell them to do the same. The C.A.P. and Air Force are out going over the highway system until everyone is cleared. Any further need or questions?"
:No. I'm nearly home. Tyger Pax is ahead:
"Good. Go there as swiftly as you can. We're following on transponder."
The mech signed off as more called. It would go that way for a while.
=0=The Hourly News: Special Bulletin
"We have no further information to give you but to link into the GPS and Grid System, then follow it home. You are urged to go home and stay there until this passes. We're seeking more information from Sciences and the Office of the Primes but so far are awaiting more," Aleph said as phone calls were being made and everyone hustled to explain not just the sandstorm that the meteorologists were saying was stationary over the colony but the lights that were diffused all over the urban center.
It would go on for a while.
=0=Prison
"What's happening, Optimus," Prowl asked as he gripped Prime's arms.
Prime stared at him, then blinked. He seemed suddenly surprised to be where he was. He glanced around, then stared at Prowl. "The Great Ones … They are coming."
"Why?" Prowl asked as the senior officers and guards with him gathered closer to listen.
Prime stared at the huge pillar of light still growing in front of him, then Prowl. "They are here … Prowl … they are here for a Convocation of the Will."
Prowl felt his neural net surge, then he glanced at the others who looked as shocked as he did. He glanced upward. "Which one is that?"
Prime stared upward. "All of Them."
Prowl stared at him, then Prime. He wavered a moment, then did something he would never regret forever. He called every important person on his personal list to come.
Gripping Prime's servo, he stood beside him huddled with the others to watch as the lights before them and those farther and far away continued to grow.
=0=Family Tower
Will Lennox read the message, then glanced at Epps and Graham. Others were sitting or standing nearby, most of them near the windows to watch the pillar of light grow even bigger nearby. He nodded them to one side, then they huddled. "Prowl just messaged me. He wants us to take the Metro to the Prison. He overrode the codes to allow us. I have to touch the keypad and it'll read our DNA. We have to come now."
"What's happening?" Graham asked tensely.
"Yeah. What's happening?" Lonnie Epps asked as she stepped closer with a trail of kids looking at them with concern.
"Its …" Lennox considered what he knew about it. "Prowl wants us at the Prison. This is going to be a Convocation of the Will."
"What's that?" Sarah asked.
"Its The Great Gathering," Annabelle Lennox said as she stared at the adults with a serious expression. "When there's something so bad it can't be solved alone, then the Great Ones some and there's a … a trial. It happened in The Beginning and its happening now."
"Primus and the Pantheon are coming," James Hoyt said. He glanced at the figure outside still growing, a pillar of bright light. "Those lights are the Pantheon. They have to be here for this."
Everyone glanced at the window, then Niall, Bobby and Will started for the door.
"You aren't going out there are you?" Ron Witwicky asked.
Lennox slowed, then turned toward the group. "How would I feel 50 years from now if I didn't get into the Metro?" he asked, then they walked out to leave.
It was silent a moment, then Judy Witwicky chuckled. "Smart ass."
=0=Bo
He stared out the window of their apartment like just about everyone else all over the colony, human, Hu-An and bot. A pillar of light several miles away had just become taller than their tower. "What is it, Ada?" he asked.
"I don't know," Avor replied as he knelt between his children.
Lil glanced at his ada. "I was told about something in school, something that happened a long time ago."
"What" 26 asked as he joined them on the floor. His daughter was excelling with her brother at Youngling Day School #21.
"They said sometimes when things are bad that the Pantheon can come and help make decisions," she said.
Bo glanced at her. "A Convocation of the Will?" he asked.
She nodded. "I don't know what that means but those lights look like mechs."
All of them stared out the window and noted that there were subtle changes happening in the form of the lights, faint outlines of a bot format. They stared at it and as they did huge bolts of lightning cracked across the sky, massive displays of power that shouldn't be able to happen in the piddling atmosphere of Mars.
=0=Metro
The Metro carried those coming from the airports, prisons, Sciences and other places that were east of the main colony, businesses and government installations that were serviced by the train system that way. Sitting tensely as they heeded the call to go home, most got off without anyone joining them in their place. By the time the three reached The Fortress hardly anyone was traveling on the trains or waiting at the station to board.
They got off, walked to the security elevator that went down to the highly secured train station that served the Prison, hospitals, The Fortress and other off limits high security places. They were passed into it, entered a train which asked them their destination, then they flew off on the swift train to the Military Prison fifty miles away. They would get there in under a minute.
A mech was waiting for them as more cars emptied. All of Prowl, Ratchet and Prime's family, a number of the Squad and those who were related through friendship or family stepped off slightly confused and concerned. With them came a number of Immortals and others who were on Prowl's list of individuals who were important to the running of things. The entire Community Committee was there Larc included.
"We can go this way. Follow me," a mech said as the group gathered to do so.
Tagg and Kestrel picked up Epps and Graham while Payload picked up Lennox. They hurried off toward the door that led to the roads that would take them to the epicenter of the moment, a massive towering pillar of light that was at the other end of the prison shrouded by the crackling and display of massive bolts of lightning that could only be found on places like Jupiter in the mass of their giant storms.
They disappeared into the murk almost immediately.
=0=Prime and Company
They stared upward at a tower that was slowly showing the basic outline of a figure. The light extended almost too far for normal vision to see where it stopped. Massive bolts of lightning slammed into the Earth outside the prison perimeter throwing up huge amounts of sand into the whirl.
Ratchet stood beside Ironhide as he felt a servo slip into his own. Glancing around, then down, he saw his elders gather around to huddle against him as they looked around. "What are you doing here?" he asked with surprise.
"Prowl called us, all of us to come," Corr said as he glanced at the others gathering around including Lennox, Epps and Graham. "We don't know what's happening, Sonny."
Ratchet turned to the group, then dialed them in, all of them including the humans. :Prime said that the Pantheon are here to hold a Convocation of the Will. The lights … that's Them:
Everyone glanced upward, then Corr and Chan stepped closer to Ratchet.
The howling would continue a moment, then all at once Optimus appeared to levitate, moving slowly, then faster upward toward the light tower.
Prowl hung on until Prime was airborne, then let go of his servo. He watched with everyone else as Prime rose upward, then was pulled into the light. Prowl stared at it noting abstractly that it didn't hurt or dim his vision to do so.
Miler stepped closer to cling to his servo as all the rest of the family, Venture, Amaldo, Corsair, Styre and Stealth included gathered around him.
=0=The Hourly News: Special Edition
"We have news that the entire transportation system is shutting down due to the grid clearing everyone to a place of safety. If there is an emergency that requires rescue or assistance you are obliged to call the Central Emergency Services Center at Fortress Maximus at 9919, the Medical Emergency Board at 8818 or the Watch Emergency Call Center at 7717.
"At the moment calls into Sciences and other departments for information about the electrical storm, the lights that appeared around the colony and the dust storm are pending. We've been told that crews are still working to understand what's happening and when they knew they'll tell us right away. We're all urged to stay indoors. The lightning is very dangerous though it would appear to be landing outside of inhabited places," Aleph said as he continued to broadcast from IntraCom.
=0=The Prison, all around and through it
The tower guards were posted on the ground because visibility was marginal from their regular posts. Prisoners huddled together staring at the lights with loathing. The Intervention Teams, Marines, Army Civilian groups and the Watch had arrived and were augmenting security through this, a freak storm unlike anyone that most had ever seen.
"I'm told that this covers the entire colony, G, and not further. Even Aerie Hill is being blasted. The storm appears to have a footprint identical to that of the colony," Winnie said as she stood beside Gee-Gee watching for Prime to come back, if he would.
"This is weird," Gee-Gee said. "Look." She pointed to the area outside of the prison where figures began to walk out of the darkness.
An endless stream of titans, dreadnoughts, Supremes and other oversized members of their species in pretender gear had walked toward the edge of the prison pausing together to look upward. Some pulled their swords and saluted the light, holding them before them afterward point downward. Others stared upward, huge figures with a slight demonic look in the orangish light flickering around them.
"This is … this has to be the Pantheon," Gee-Gee said with a sense of awe.
Winnie nodded. "I think you're right."
=0=Inside a bright light
He stared around as he landed on a light platform. Standing in a circle around him were the Gods of their People, all of the Pantheon and many more, only some of which he knew. The Matrix was there, a beautiful lighthearted spirit with others of like mind and substance.
Prime turned slowly, then dropped to a knee. Bowing his helm, he looked up. "Lord Primus …"
=0=TBC 9=20=2022
CAP: Civil Air Patrol: a civilian group affiliated with the American Air Force that helps people learn about flying, searches for downed planes and supports civilian piloting.
