The Diego Diaries: Here and There, Up and Down (dd8 26)
=0=Highway
They walked along and even though they were obviously making headway down a two lane highway, it didn't seem that they themselves were moving at all. The scenery itself appeared to be what was moving while they seemingly marched in place. It was becoming disorienting.
Megatronus glanced at Optimus. "Do you feel like I do that we are walking on a treadmill?"
Optimus slowed, then stopped. "I do."
They glanced around, then saw a building down the way that was dilapidated. Both of them began to walk that direction and when they arrived it felt very familiar to Optimus though he couldn't immediately remember. They stared around the place noting an old fashioned gas pump and a flyblown sign stating that this was a diner.
It came to him then.
"I have been here before," Optimus said as he turned toward Megatronus. "Both of us have, sort of." He began to walk to the door, then opened it. It squeaked on its hinge as Megatronus slowed, then walked inside. Optimus followed and the door closed behind them with a squeak.
Inside, it was as he had seen it before. The place looked careworn and tired but it was clean except for the windows. They could use a shine though some looked sun blasted from too many blistering summers. The counter with its worn plastic covered stools was there and so was the booth Optimus had shared with Megatron's higher self when they first came here back when. The air conditioner still worked noisily and the hose attached to it still had a slight drip. Optimus sat in a booth, then Megatronus followed him.
The woman who was here before was here now and nothing had changed but the print and color of her handkerchief which was wrapped around her pin curls as before. The dark longish skirt and white apron was there along with the white shirt with a rolled up pack of cigarettes in one sleeve. Her makeup was too hard for daylight, she wore her cheap hoop earrings and held her cigarette as she looked at them from the kitchen doorway with a cold appraising stare.
She took her customary deep drag on it, put it on an ash tray where it continued to burn, then picked up a coffee pot and two menus. She walked to their table and laid them down. Filling their cups with coffee, the tattoos on her arms were there but looked older and more faded somehow. "I see you're back. What can I get ya?" she asked.
Megatronus who was staring at her with a slightly mystified expression glanced at Prime. "What do we do?"
"You order from the menu," she said as she stared at them with a cold hard expression.
Megatronus looked at the menu, then Prime.
"I suppose you want me to choose for you? You can have the same as before." With that, she walked to the kitchen and began to cook food. The smells were strong and immediate in the room as they were pushed around by the air conditioner.
"I am unaware of what this means, Optimus. What does she mean we were here before?" Megatronus asked softly.
"During a Festival on Mars I ended up here with Megatron, the higher self of my own dimensional Megatron," Prime said. "It was that greater part of who he and all of us are that never leaves the Matrix. It stays to influence and observe while some smaller part of us goes forward into lives to learn."
Megatronus sat back. "That is not an unheard of thing among my own people. Who is the woman then? I am guessing she is one, a human?"
Optimus nodded. "It is a being portraying one. When we were here we had a parade of archetypes who represented great wrongs who came to show us both something." He considered the memory, then leaned closer to Megatronus. "When I was here the woman figure was just portraying a facilitator for the archetypes to portray their story. The woman herself turned out to be the Allspark."
Megatronus stared at him for a moment digesting that news, then the woman walked out with two plates filled with eggs, bacon and hash browns. Toast was also on the plate. She set them down, refilled their cups, then sat down with her cigarettes to wait.
Optimus looked at the food, then the woman. "You are Sylvia."
"You won the brass wrong, Autobot," the woman replied as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "I'm surprised you remembered."
"You are hard to forget," Optimus said.
"I asked a lot of questions. Do you remember or shall I refresh your memory for this one?" she asked as she glanced at Megatronus.
"I would be honored to hear them," Megatronus said with a hint of intimidation in his voice.
She looked at him with an appraising stare. "You have manners, I'll give you that." She thought a moment, took a drag, then blew the smoke out slowly. "Okay. I asked a number of things even as I told you who I am. 'I am Everyone. I am Everyone Who Exists. I am the smallest sub atomic particle and the multiverse in one. It's my duty and purpose to look at things without sentiment or side, then tell the truth no matter how ugly and inconvenient it is. I'm your conscience, All That Is.
"You are the AllSpark," Optimus said once more.
She stared at him with a bitter smirk. "You remembered. Then I said, 'The question next is, what is the AllSpark? What's ethical? Whats the right thing to do to be considered good? What does a good person do when there's inequity and suffering all around them? Do you blame the sufferer? Do you discuss the cost of things in relation to helping alleviate the suffering? How much is too much in cost to help or do we abandon someone in trouble for the sake of the bottom line? I think about such things often. It is what and who *I* am.' I said all that, then asked you who you were, Prime. Do you remember what you said?"
"I said that such things haunt my recharge," Optimus answered.
Megatronus glanced from one to the other, silently following the conversation. Something was being presented here that would benefit his people. He had to understand what it was.
She sat back to stare at him, then Megatronus. "Good. You're listening. That is good." She glanced at Prime. "I had more to say. I am aware of everything everywhere. All that is. I am aware of all thoughts, words and actions. I expressed to you my dismay at the idea and belief some are better than others. I expressed my thoughts about judgment. Judgment negates the Creed. You know the Creed, do you not?" she asked Megatronus.
He nodded gravely. "Until all are one. All are equal in the optics of Primus and The One. There is no hierarchy of importance in Their optics. No father would do that to His children and that is a failing we all share."
She nodded. "The Creed applies to all. It applies to every life in the universe, not just to Cybertronians. The humans of Earth are learning that the hard way. You learned it the hard way, both of you." She sat back, staring at them with an appraising eye. "I find it astonishing but unsurprising that too many write off too many to the detriment of everyone. No one is more important than the other.
"Your cooperation finds much favor among The Powers. It is the way of all higher beings to find accord and unity among even the most disparate individuals and societies. You are both best chosen to accomplish that task. There will be tasks ahead that can be solved for the well being of everyone if you cooperate. You have a unique opportunity to do that at your level of consciousness across dimensions. That is very rare. Do not waste the possibilities."
The door opened and a man walked in, a strong younger man who looked ready to take on the world. He grinned at her as he held a battered fedora hat in his hands. "Hi, Mama. I'm ready to take them."
She actually grinned at him. "You are, Willem." She glanced at him. "This is my son, Willem. He's going to give you a lift. Willem is a good man. Remember that."
Optimus slid out of the booth that oddly seemed the correct size for humans but had accommodated him easily anyway, a visual cue that they weren't I a normal place. Megatronus slid out as well.
"Thank you, Sylvia," Optimus said.
She nodded, then lit another cigarette with the butt of the one she was smoking when they arrived. "Don't mention it. You can give him a few bucks when he lets you off. He could use the money. He works hard and is a good provider for his family but you know how it is. The wealthy keep the wealth and think they made it happen all by themselves. We all know who makes the wealth. Good boys like my son," she said with a bitter tone. She rose. "Its always that way. Leaches think they invented the world." She hugged her son, then watched as he led the way out to a battered car.
He took the driver's side, Prime slid into the front passenger side marveling that he fit while Megatronus sat in the back.
Willem started the car, then with a honk of his horn pulled out on the empty highway to drive off.
They rolled down the highway in the old fashioned sedan in silence, then Willem glanced at Prime. "I've never seen you in these parts."
"I'm from another place far away," Prime said.
"I was, too. I was in the army. I got sent to France and got shot right away. They patched us up and sent us back until we couldn't. I have a limp but I didn't get gassed," Willem said. "I was lucky that way."
"Which war?" Megatronus ventured.
"The Great War, of course. I was on the front lines, in the trenches. It was bad. The lines never moved more than a mile in either direction for years. It was meat grinder," Willem said.
"I am sorry," Megatronus said. "We were soldiers as well, both of us."
"Where did you serve? I went with Pershing," Willem said.
"We were … pilots," Optimus said.
"I wanted to be a pilot but I think I'd be dead if I had," Willem said. "Its over now, the war to end all wars. I hope so."
Optimus nodded. "I do as well."
They drove past farmland and rundown farmhouses in a landscape that looked unforgiving. They turned down a road, then he pulled to a stop. "Here we are."
Optimus and Megatronus looked out the windows, then Prime turned to him. When he did paper money appeared in his servo. He held it out. "Thank you for bringing us here. Please, take this for your trouble."
Willem stared at the money, then Prime. He looked solemn. "I always worked for what I got. I can work. Maybe not as fast as before but I can."
"We know and we honor you for your service," Optimus said.
Willem took the money, then waited for them to climb out. When they did, he drove onward with a wave until he was out of sight.
It was silent a moment, then the two glanced around.
"Where are we?" Megatronus asked.
Prime noted another road, dirt and rutted that led out into the countryside of the dry and slightly desolate area. "I do not know but the Matrix will tell you its secrets in due time." He began to walk down the winding road that disappeared around a bend ahead framed by tall trees.
Megatronus followed.
=0=TBC 11-28-2020