The Diego Diaries: Reaping What You So (and so …) (dd8 67)
=0=Chat
Optimus began his story …
"We were following a trail of annihilation. Across a sector of space we came upon destroyed worlds that had signs of life, of civilizations of all manner of sophistication. We had no idea what was happening but since it was in a sector of space that was vital to our shipping we decided to follow at distance.
"We came upon them when they were destroying another planet but there was nothing we could do. It was so profound that we thought it was an invading army, a force much bigger than our own. When they moved off from the wreckage of a planet that had billions of life forms, albeit of a primitive nature of development, we saw that they were a handful of strange aliens who had strange life form readings.
"Scanning the wreckage, we found no one alive, very few identifiable things and a lot of weapon residue that indicated that some of them, these killers, had used weapons that derived from their own bodies rather than those constructed for such purposes. These were beings we had no experience with. It was then that a message reached us from somewhere in the debris field; where, we never found out, but it told us who they were and to remove ourselves as fast as we could from the area before they picked up on us.
"They were called as a group, the Reapers because they were living war machines whose very existence was predicated on destroying and from their point of view, reaping a harvest. Some of them were mechanical and some were biological, energetically derived as well as organic. Their names were not known, most of them and they appeared to be extra-dimensional in origin and very old."
:They weren't from our dimension then: -LHB
"No, as far as we could determine. They appeared here in a distant place through means unknown and have been ravaging worlds wherever they find them if they meet certain peculiar criteria. They are dedicated to peace, oddly enough," Prime said.
:Peace?:
Prime nodded. "These beings were developed or created just for war. They are for the most part living killing machines. Its as if your missiles developed sentience and were interactive and thoughtful as death makers suddenly taking on their own ideas and goals independent of you and yours. We are of the opinion that their makers did not live to regret their creations. Because we were told that they were so malevolent and off putting, they weren't very much interacted with by their makers or fellows. They felt isolated and gathered together, finding each other across their dimensional space. They were nearly if not completely driven mad by the fear and isolation they received through no fault of their own. They were made to be war machines. It is their only function and they should have not had sentience, but they developed it apparently to the ultimate chagrin of their creators.
"Sometimes you create the apocalypse and it understands that you did. Its not known if they turned on their own with any final certainty but I would not consider it a surprise from the information we did receive. They are a group traveling through space examining civilizations they come across for any signs that they will become warlike, have something worth fighting a war over whether it is in the now or a much more distant future. They look for what they believe will cause conflict and if it meets their standards then they destroy you.
"Once the 'cause' is removed, then so is the need for war to happen. That is their concept of making peace. It does not matter if the civilizations are primitive or that at any point in their lifespan as a people that these notions and events never take place. If they even pose the slightest possibility that they might, that entire world and its civilization is destroyed to dust and complete annihilation They believe the only way to end war is to end the mechanisms that create it. Given that they were war machines and hate war, oddly enough, this is their mad solution."
=0=Around the May Pole
"What the hell." Jonathan Lennox glanced at his shocked wife, then his son. "Where are these fuckers now?"
=0=Chat
:Where are they now?: -LHB
Optimus shrugged. "We were on the very farthest edge of space that we could venture without traversing open space between galaxies when we came upon them. They were heading toward that intergalactic space and the Andromeda Galaxy last time I saw or heard of them. They were said to be following radio signals coming from that galaxy that may be civilizations or the background noise of their singular black hole. I am clear that they are not coming this way."
:And if they did?:
Prime considered that. "We would have to fight them."
:Who would win? And I'm asking because I know your arsenal very well, especially the sentient ones among the titans who are colossal warriors in their own right let alone in numbers:
Optimus considered that. "It would be unknown whether we could destroy them. They are very dangerous and even if they are aliens with their own learned and internal logic, we would not consider them mentally well."
Leonora chuckled. :Sorry to laugh but that was sort of funny. Tell me about them if you can. No one seems to have a very good picture of them beyond their strangeness and psychotic tendencies."
:It would appear psychotic to us but to them in their own cultural and societal framework and context, their thoughts, actions and beliefs might seem reasonable and sane. It would do all of us a very good turn to understand that new does not mean bad, strange does not mean wrong and that imposing our own ideas and emotions on others can lead to conflict. Every culture and species has their own beliefs and ideas. That being said, these individuals are lunatics."
Both of them laughed together.
=0=Sciences
They sat in a group listening, then Cindy Teasdale sighed. "I love that mech. Where are all the good mechs?"
"I don't know," her twin sister said tensely, "but I'm keeping a list."
Everyone laughed together.
=0=At a Platoon watch party
"Well, I do remember Deathbringer, the slagger. He and I traded blows. He left a dent in Turbine, I was told, when they crossed paths."
"Commander Turbine fought DEATHBRINGER!?" -Smokescreen the Much, Much, Much Younger
"He did," Sun said as Jack nodded. "Where was I?"
"Deathbringer," Jack said as he rubbed a scar on his arm idly.
=0=Chat
"Well, I saw a short video of them once that someone managed to take and smuggle out. They were named, some of them but the others were not, or at least their names are not known. Perhaps they cannot translate their names into something we can understand or they do not have one. Deathbringer is one of the most well known. He is huge, bigger even than Megatron who is a few feet taller than me. He has big wings and is designed to fight in the worst possible environments. Nothing phases him. Nothing.
"Klaxa is a massive dragon appearing individual who has fire breath that can melt anything. I do not know of a substance it cannot melt including ununtrium," Prime said.
:Ununtrium is found in black holes. Right?: -LHB
Prime nodded. "There is a species that is able to live on the event horizons of black holes whose name and type we do not know. They mine in some unknown manner a metal that they call ununtrium which we purchase from them for ship armor. They live in generation-type ships and they communicate only through texts and messaging. No one knows what they look like and no one knows how they do it. It could be that they live in some kind of phase shift between our dimension and another. Some have tried to approach them but they pull back into the black hole until they cannot be seen. It would be at that point and perhaps a great deal before that you and I would be destroyed and find ourselves falling into the singularity to be stretched into it for the next billion years.
"Ununtrium is the hardest metal known and it forms the armor of the phase six mechanisms such as the Decepticon Justice Division. You begin the process of bonding ununtrium to the bodies and outer exoskeleton of a phase sixer by super heating a substance called propex. Its part of the process of infusing ununtrium to the recipient and its done by laying the super heated metal to the body of the bearer. Its a process so terrible that it can destroy the spark of the one who receives it if it does not kill them. Some do not survive the process and those who do are forever changed. None of the Warrior Elites who comprise the phase sixers has a functioning conscience and many of them have been rendered mentally unstable by the process. Its a very rare substance and sometimes its stored with propex which can be formulated into a very explosive bomb. You approach a store of it with caution, extreme caution. It has been known because of its value and rarity to be booby-trapped in the most diabolical ways."
:Your life has never been easy has it?:
Prime grinned slightly. "It has had its moments."
=0=E2
"Damn. I love that mech," Rick Harris said as he watched the show with most of the family and the leadership of the habitat in the big lounge in the administrative center. "I love Optimus Prime. I wish I knew him well enough to just talk to him like Lo-Lo."
"Lo-Lo?" Cameron Frazer asked.
"Orion, Ironhide's son calls her that. They're good friends, Leonora and the family."
"Lo-Lo. I heard that kid has a speech problem," Cam said as he sipped his beer.
Rick glanced at him. "Orion is amazing."
"If you say so," Cam said doggedly.
"I do," Rick said with a slight edge.
The show rolled on.
Owen Harris would have more information. His son was friends with Ironhide.
=0=Chat
:What about the others?:
"There is Ravenous who is a bio-mechanical bird-like mechanism. There is not much known but if he is with them he is formidable. Then there is one called only The Hooded Reaper. He is made of energy though he wears a cloak. If you look at his face you only see energy, no substance beyond that. There are three others, a whirling reaper that can cut anything, a mass destructive device that is a tank and an invertebrate reaper. The last one could send masses of energy when it wanted and explode you from the inside out. He also could teleport you wherever he wanted to send you. They might not sound as dangerous from my commentary but they could destroy planets and I am unaware of any other individual or group in the known galaxy that is as universally feared as they are."
:You didn't engage them, then:
"We ran for the hills. The last thing we needed to do was divert their path from leaving this galaxy." Prime grinned. "Sometimes retreat is the better part of valor."
:You're singing to the choir:
They both laughed.
:Tell me, Optimus, are there civilizations around us? In the local area, if you know what I mean? What are they like if they exist? Do you have contact? I read an article recently that the universe has no civilizations because they killed themselves: Leonora grinned. :I don't necessarily believe that, obviously, but are there any around us? Do they know we're here? Have them been here and if not, why?:
Optimus considered the dozens of civilizations, some rather advanced and others not so much that were of this part of space. "There are. Many. There are some in the Pleiades, around Sirius, Draconus and other places. They are aware of you but they hold to a convention that they do not make contact because you are classified as a level one emergent civilization. There is a council that all of them belong to, one that is kindly disposed to life in this galaxy. They make rules about non interference of emergent lifeforms to ensure that you become who you wish to be without being influenced by outside forces."
:A council? What do they call themselves and do you belong?:
"They are as best I can translate called the Galactic Federation. They are a very big group with a democratically appointed governing body that manages the solitude of planets like yours to protect you. They have even diverted asteroids from striking Earth when they were on a collision course. We have been extended an invitation to join and we shall be seeing them as soon as we have a moment to do so. You, as a quarantined species will not be given an invitation until you reach a level of advancement that is required."
:What does that include?:
"You have to be able to harvest energy from any place but your planetary body. You have to find a way to live together in a way that is inclusive, peaceful and worldwide. You have to be able to fly from one end of your solar system to the other. Beyond that boundary, the solar well, that part is negotiable. The only thing that you cannot be is warlike and destructive. That will not get you invited."
:Damn. It doesn't look good for us does it: Leonora said with a chuckle.
"Hope springs eternal, or so I have been told," Optimus replied with a grin.
=0=Elsewhere
Will Lennox sighed. "I wouldn't hold my breath, Optimus," he murmured softly.
=0=TBC 01-16-2021
Hilarious facts
ununtrium is an actual element and appears on the periodic table as 113 which incidentally was the number of my house growing up in Oregon about two hundred years ago. There are no coincidences. :D:D:D:D:D
Cha-cha-cha ...
Okay. I'm off to the club. Jimmy Dore who is my favorite comedian is doing a live show on Zoom for me and a few thousand of his closest friends. He's fundraising for homelessness so the entire box office goes to that cause in California. I get to laugh a lot for two hours and our people get some help. Win-Win. Take care out there, darlings. I'm off to the clerb.
Sort of. :D SMOOCHES!