The Diego Diaries; Stuff and More Stuff (dd8 12)
Hugs to everyone out there. I write this for you. Know above all else everywhere that I love you. Me, tip-tapping away
=0=Out there
They flew out of the bridge in a defensive formation. A good dozen sleek Seekers flashed out and formed into a long line. Behind them were heavy gunner Seekers who framed up a formation that would defend them. Moving forward, they followed a mech who was their leader, Red Wing, a Senior Commander in the Autobot Air Force.
:Red One to group, ping me when you've integrated for the run:
It took a moment as the sensor specialists interlinked together, then they pinged to him.
:The mark is ahead. I want a swift run toward then, take your scans, then we'll head back. I want to see if any of the Seekers can leave as well. Ping for understanding:
They did.
:Let's go: Red Wing said as they burst into speed and disappeared into the darkness while behind them the bridge spun ever onward. The enemy armada wouldn't have the time to know they were detected and scanned before the Seekers turned to return to the bridge.
The Seekers in the 'Con battle groups would.
=0=Medical Center's
He paused awkwardly at the door, then entered. He was a big mech, obviously a metro frame who bore a number of tattoos on his shoulder that identified him as a senior of his type. He paused before Lee-Lee's desk. "I would like to speak to Commander Ratchet if I could."
Lee-Lee stood, then nodded toward the door. "Ratchet is inside." She watched the big mech nod to her, then walk to the door to enter. She wondered which one he was as he disappeared into the big sunlit office.
He walked in, then halted to watch as Ratchet rummaged in a cabinet nearby. Finding what he wanted Ratchet turned with a can of candy in each servo, then froze. A brilliant smile appeared on his face for a moment, a fake smile he used to use as a child when caught doing a bad, then he relaxed. He smiled genuinely. "I wondered when you'd come by."
=0=In the Fortress
They sat in the conference room, Alternative Prowl, Martian Prowl and Prime. It was silent a moment, uncomfortably so, then Alt Prowl pulled a datapad. "I am here, Lord Optimus, to address any protocol problems that might arise through the differences, however slight, between your Festival and ours."
"Thank you, Commander," Optimus said. "I am relieved that you are here to address this. I understand the delicacy of the situation."
Alt Prowl considered that, then nodded. "I am here to tell you the situation as we will process it, the differences, if any, between our two festivals and answer any questions that you might have. That will include the security plans that will be in place." He glanced at the datapad. "We honor a number of Primes of which there are five major and many minor ones. The major Primes, the Tribunes, consist of Prima, Onyx, Vector, Solus and Micronus. The remaining Primes are the Councilors. They consist of Quintus, Amalgamous, Nexus, Solomus, Alchemist, Logos and Epistemus. The big five are the major focus of the festival while the others play supportive roles."
"What about the others? Alpha Trion? Thirteen? Adaptus, Mortilus and the Liege Maximo? There's also the Fallen who was once named Megatronus," Prowl asked. "Do they have a place in your pantheon or are they known?"
Alt Prowl considered that. "No. We do not have those individuals in our pantheon."
It was silent a moment as they digested that bit of news, both sides.
Apparently, not all dimensions were identical even to this degree.
=0=CMO's office
They sat on the couch side-by-side eating candy. Ratchet had a can of his favorite, the Cybertronian equivalent to caramel 'turtles' with chocolate covering. That they also held 'pecans' was a kicker. Banner had one, too, and half a dozen more sitting on the coffee table in front of them as he tasted candy for the first time.
"This is very wonderful, Commander," Banner said.
"Ratchet," he replied. "No formalities here. I've seen everything you got."
Banner stared at him, then grinned. He was a scholar, a noted gentleman and a lover of geography and geology. Terrain and what made it terrain was his delight. "I imagine you have."
Ratchet snickered. "I've seen about everything a bot has got. I think your frame is by far the handsomest and most noble among our kind. I'm very happy to see you up and about. What do you think about pretender gear?"
"Its amazing. I can go about among The People. I can go into the country and look at the geology. This is a very volcanic planet and I can see how it got to be as energon ridden as it is."
"Have you been to Gliese yet?" Ratchet asked.
"I have. I am going to do a study on it when I feel more fit," Banner replied. "I still feel sort of low even now."
"That might be because your emotions are still fragged," Ratchet said. "There's a clinic for big frames at The Gambian. Metroplex or I can get you hooked up. Talking to someone who cares can help a lot."
He paused his eating, staring into the can a moment, then glanced at Ratchet. "I was under the impression that I was now."
Ratchet glanced at him. "You are."
=0=Ops Center
"We begin at the Residence at Simfur. We have one there for the Primes for these sort of moments. I don't suppose ..." Alt Prowl asked as he glanced upward.
"We do," Optimus replied.
Alt Prowl nodded, then continued. "We begin the Processional from there. Its the Prime, his family, the leadership of the government, then a number of civilian groups to honor our people."
"Do you have Makers? The Elder Clan of Primus?" Prowl asked.
Alt Prowl stared at his doppelganger, then shook his helm. "I don't know what or who that is."
It was silent a moment as both sides digested that.
Different indeed.
=0=CMO's office
It was silent a moment, then Banner sat back, staring at the can in his servos. "This is very good."
"So are you. I don't suppose you understand your own selflessness and goodness or where it comes from?" Ratchet asked.
He glanced at Ratchet. "Our frame is bonded to the Primes and we serve The People as an oath that is unshakable."
"There's a reason for that. I was bonded to Omega's frame besides your and helped create a number of the titans that you might or not know. They were numbered then, no names at first, but they were alive as anyone. But the process of how they became sentient was a mystery.
"When they created Metroplex he wasn't intended to be sentient. Halfway through the process he did just that. The place where his spark was to be was going to be the big reactor they designed for him. They installed most of it, then the next orn they came to work and there was a spark there in a chamber. A scary one. It was scary because it was so big.
"Somehow, Metroplex or M-RX.12-X had become a living thinking being in that short period of time. He was unclear when completed about what had happened. He had no idea and neither did anyone else. They just knew when they created a titan or supreme, the spark came in the process but never when anyone was there. Even recordings didn't show anything happening. So the designers just left the spark area uncompleted. It always came but no one ever saw it happen. It was a mystery."
It was silent as both pondered that bit of news.
=0=Ops Center
"The processional will begin at The Residence, walk from there to the Temple and at arrival everyone turns to face the crowds. They will likely be silent, respectful and hopeful. How they will react toward your presence is a mystery but there is a lot of effort all along this transitional period beginning Megatronus's reign to suggest the differences from our dimensional Optimus Prime and to highlight the cooperation between you and Megatronus and our different versions of Cybertron," Alt Prowl said efficiently.
Prowl who was watching him understood immediately that this would be the mech he would have become without love. This mech was as compartmentalized as a library's card catalog and it was unnerving to watch. "What is the likelihood of danger to this Prime?"
"The security will be enormous. We expect a good welcome. Everyone knows that you and Megatronus brought down the killer, Xylon. They know you accept the riffraff that we send and that the bridges and other technology that you shared with us is a magnificent gift. I expect no danger but I cannot predict the reaction of the crowds. They might be silent or even cold but dangerous? Not likely," Alt Prowl said.
"What happens after that?" Prime asked.
"It is the wish of Megatronus that you accompany him into the Temple for the Solemnities. Its not understood clearly by anyone what it might mean that two Primes take the spirit walk but it is his wish if you would agree to accompany him on this, his first venture to the Matrix since becoming Prime." Alt Prowl stared at Prime evenly without betraying anything of his past feelings about the Prime he had served on his own Cybertron. It was a master class in self control.
"If that is what he wishes, then I would be honored," Optimus replied.
Alt Prowl stared at his datapad. "The Blessings are granted through the Temple, The One and the Matrix and should come. Then a reception will be held on the Temple grounds. After that, you will be free to return here."
"Who will be allowed to come with him?" Prowl asked.
"You will be allowed. It would be simpler to make it only you. You may walk in the Processional with me," Alt Prowl said.
Optimus nodded. "That would be acceptable."
They discussed several things, then Alt Prowl rose. "Thank you for your time. We will send a message for when you should arrive. If you can bridge into the courtyard of The Residence in Iacon, then we can all go to the one in Simfur together."
"I will be there," Optimus said. "Prowl and I both."
It was silently awkward a moment, then they shook servos the warrior way. Prowl walked to the door and Alt Prowl followed. He left without a backward glance.
=0=CMO's office
"I dug around in the dusty old files that were stored for the big frames in an archives that hadn't been touched in literally eons. They were sort of out of order so I put them to rights. That's when I found out what the likely answer was from a very old scientist who had built Metroplex. It was speculation but highly scientific. The sparks that titans get don't come from the Well. They were thought to but the speculation, and its good, is even better. Your spark came to you directly from The One."
"But The One grants sparks through Primus. They go through Him, then the Matrix," Banner replied.
"That's the way sparks are granted to mechs but your class is different. You were special, all of your class. So are your sparks. The One grants sparks to titan frames directly. No middle man. No steps. Just direct. Given that they're so pure it rather explains your selfless and noble ways. There's a reason that you do the things you do. You're a bit on the elevated side, you and your frame."
Banner stared at Ratchet. "I do not feel pure." He sat forward to stare at the floor. "I was unclear on what happened so I went through the record of that event, the one where I almost fell. I saw the record and I saw you."
Ratchet stared at him a moment, then nodded. "I'm bonded to your frames. I love working on you and being with your kind. It makes me feel better."
Banner grinned faintly. "Thank you." He looked at Ratchet. "You could have been killed. You did not leave me."
Ratchet set his can down, then turned toward Banner. "You were helpless and dying. I saw a titan crash once. It was the worst thing I've ever seen and I've seen everything. It was so sad to see such a great spark die. There's something so terrible about it that it transcends a lot of other slag. You aren't supposed to die or suffer. You're the best part of what we are. I couldn't leave you alone."
Banner stared at him, then the floor. "I was not myself."
"No," Ratchet said gently. "But even when your frame isn't you're still wonderful to me."
Banner was silent a moment, then he sat back with an air of forlorn sadness. "I thought you were Avalone."
=0=Ops Center moments later
"That mech could freeze dry titanium with that look," Prowl said as he sat down beside Prime. They were in a small lounge near their offices sharing a snack and cup.
"That mech is suffering and I wish he would get help," Optimus said.
"Maybe they have a stigma about it that we don't," Prowl said. He looked at Optimus a moment. "He's what I would've become and maybe even was without you."
Optimus glanced at Prowl. "You were a lot of different things and moods, Prowl, but you were never like him."
Prowl grinned slightly. "Maybe. But I do know you won't be going to this without me there."
Optimus sat back with an expression of amusement on his handsome face. "Was there ever any doubt?"
=0=TBC 11-13-2020 11-29-2020