The Diego Diaries: Millow (dd7 32)
=0=Processor Center conference room with everyone present
Jarro read through the short summaries of both patients, Traachon and Waldeen. It wasn't much improved from the last meeting they had to check progress, one that probably prompted this hearing. It was also there that Millow was told he couldn't come to visit just yet.
"And frankly, we're seeing some movement in Waldeen but Traachon is still very flat in his affect. The meeting of the Pantheon hadn't only been a surprisingly startling thing itself but the commands given have by Primus through The One upset every idea and thought both had all their lives, thoughts that were very hardwired in."
"I don't believe you, Jarro. You tell me that They came but there's no evidence for me to see," Millow said.
"Your bond and Waldeen are evidence, Millow. Something deeply profound has happened that shook their world view. It should be enough to watch them and know something is different, that something happened that turned all things upside down," Ratchet replied.
As he did, the door opened and a small mech with a broom and dustpan walked in, halting with a smile at the sight of everyone. "Oh. This is occupied? Don't mind me. I have things to do. Continue onward," he said in the typical cheery manner of most mini-cons. He then began to sweep.
It was an odd thing as the group watched him silently, then glanced at each other.
Ratchet turned to face the calmly sweeping mech. "You don't have to do that now," he said. "If you want to come back later, we won't be here long."
"That's alright. I don't mind," he said with a smile as he continued.
Ratchet glanced at Jarro, then shrugged. "I guess if you don't mind ..."
"I do. My family's personal information is private," Millow said. He frowned at the mini-con. "Leave. You may come back later to finish."
The little mech paused his sweeping, then glanced at Millow. "I have to do it now."
It was silent a moment, then Millow shifted slightly. "We're having a meeting. Please leave now."
The mini-con stared at Millow for a moment. "And if I don't?"
Millow glanced at Prime. "I suppose this passes for the new paradigm now?"
"No," the mini-con said. "This doesn't. But it does bother you too much to not get your way."
Millow glanced at him sharply. "We're having a meeting. Leave now."
"And if I stay, what then, Millow?" he asked with a curious expression. "What will you do? Apparently, you don't have much authority here. How does that feel?"
Millow stared at him, then Highrode.
Highrode glanced around Millow to the mini-con. "Sir, we're having a hearing. Its very private and we would like to finish. Can you come back shortly? I would appreciate it."
The mini-con grinned, then pulled a chair to sit. "That was very good, mannerly and kindly. What do you think, Millow? Do you agree?"
Millow stared at him, then Prime. "What are you going to do about this? This is tyranny, Prime."
"How does it feel?" the mini-con asked. "One inconvenience, one individual not doing what you wanted immediately and you're crying tyranny. Very hard to take, this sort of thing but then Our Millow here has always been on the other end, the giving end. Receiving slag is our job, not yours." He sat back comfortably staring at Millow appraisingly. "It's tyranny is it?"
"Who are you?" Prime asked as he shifted slightly. Something about the mini-con was familiar and unsettling.
"You know, brother," the little mini-con said.
It was intensely quiet in the room a moment, then Optimus rose. "You are Micronus Prime."
The others glanced at Prime, then the mini-con, then Prime. Some of them began to stand. Millow was staring at him with a fixed expression on his handsome face, his optics filled with uncertainty for a moment.
Highrode who was standing bowed to the little mini-con. "Lord Micronus … what brings you here, sir?" he asked in a stammering voice.
"Destiny," the little mech said. "I'm here before someone else comes. I'm finding in this one a hard core of brittle self regard that fascinates me. You do know, do you not, how tremendously beloved to all of Us you are without exception? It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter what happens to you or because of you … you are beloved of all of Us. That's why I'm here."
"What would you say, then, Lord Micronus that makes things clear to everyone that we only want the best for Traachon and Waldeen? This is very hard on everyone including Millow but he doesn't understand how stricken both of them are," Ratchet said.
Micronus nodded. "Yes. They were struck numb by the Law from Primus. My brother has a manner about Him that is overawing to many. But what He said, what all of Us agreed to is standing as law. The free will experiment is over because it isn't sustainable. The energy that was required to continue Primus and Cybertron during your rampages outweighed the benefit of allowing you to have unlimited free will do decide your fates.
"Cybertron nearly died, destroyed by the unchecked egos and personal notions of the few over the many. At no point in the pathway the Cybertronian group consciousness decided to go was there any agreement that you could destroy the planet. That is unacceptable," Micronus said. "The One has pulled the plug not only for Cybertron but also for here, this planet, this solar system, this galaxy."
"Everything everywhere?" Prime asked.
Micronus nodded. "Your ability to destroy things is being curtailed. The planets have spoken up and though they love you madly, they aren't prepared to be destroyed to allow you to cavort any longer without a point. Things are changing in the universe, My young ones. That is the only thing that is unchanging, that there will always be change.
"The impact that you have on the ability of your worlds to continue is too great and thus, things are ending and will change. All time exists at the same time, past, present and future. I have already seen the future. We will get there, all of us but not before a lot of troubles occur. Planets have to disperse eons of trauma. Its the way of things. However, between now and then you may not continue your wanton ways.
"Millow, your family is in disarray. Everyone here works hard to help them find their way back. Traachon has done terrible things, all of which you know because you're his partner in all of them. He could just as easily be sitting in prison forever. He isn't because this Prime cares about him and everyone else.
"As for your son … he was a wretch before this place and his entitlement was toxic to his basic spark. The intervention by The Powers has shaken his world view and all that he holds dear. He's also terrified that he will die somehow because of them which will never happen. Do you know that Ratchet visits him nearly every orn and they walk outside. He likes the street food." Micronus grinned. "So do I." He glanced at Millow, considering him a moment. "Did you know that you are not allowed to visit because Waldeen asked that you be blocked?"
Millow blinked, then sat back in surprise. "That's not true."
"It is. Waldeen stated that he sees turmoil in his father when you come to visit. He believes his father is losing what progress he made because you come with your ideas and anger. That's why you can't visit," Micronus said.
Millow rose slowly. "You're a fraud. You're no more Micronus Prime than I am. How dare you talk to me like this?"
"Why?"
Millow stared at him a moment in frustrated rage. "Because you're nothing, do you hear me?"
"I do," Micronus said, then Millow disappeared.
It took a moment to register then everyone jumped up and gasped.
Prime glanced at Micronus. "Where is he, Micronus?"
"He's going with me a few orns. I won't keep him long but he's dangerously pushing the edge. We receive children, brother, children at the Matrix. They've had no life. They have only suffering. It's over and will not be allowed to continue. I will keep Millow a few orns, then send him back. Farewell," Micronus said, then He disappeared.
A gasp rounded the room, then everyone turned to Prime. He stared at the space Micronus had occupied, then Ratchet. "Do not fear that Millow is with Him. He is safe in the Matrix."
"A few orns?" Highrode asked. "What does that mean?"
At that moment, Millow reappeared. He stood in silence, shaken for a moment, then glanced at Highrode. "What? Where have you been?"
"Millow, we've been right here," Highrode said. "Are you alright?"
"I've … I've been gone for months," Millow said as he sat slowly down in his chair. "What is happening?"
Ratchet glanced at Prime who was staring at Millow. "Time is not a thing among The Powers, is it."
Prime shook his helm. "It is a third dimensional concept. Time exists at all times everywhere. Past, present and future do not exist in a line nor on the other side or in higher dimensions. Lower ones use it to make sense of their lives." He watched Ratchet scan Millow. "What is the verdict? Does he stay here?"
"I'd think an overnight hold is in order, Prime," Ratchet said as he glanced at Jarro who nodded. "Highrode, I would like to hold Millow overnight and allow him to have someone around the clock that can help him figure out what just happened to him. Do you agree? We can put the petition in abeyance."
Highrode stared at Millow, then the others. "Alright. I agree to one night with a review of how he is following. I want him to be alright."
"We all do, Highrode," Optimus said.
Jarro walked around everyone, then paused beside Millow. "Come with me, Millow. How about you lie down and rest. Then we can talk about this." He gently took Millow's arm, helped him to stand, then led him to the door and beyond. It closed behind them.
It was quiet a moment, then everyone turned to Prime. He thought a moment. "My guess is that he prevented something greater from coming out of Millow's unwillingness to change to the new way of life. Micronus is a very kind and decent individual. Primus and The One have made Their decision. I believe He intervened to prevent a recall for however long it might be." He looked at the group listening. "Time has no meaning to Them. They operate outside of it and the Matrix is beyond the reach of the mundane. All that we have to remember is that They love us without conditions and gave Their lives and happiness for our own."
"Then we can wait to see how Millow is. Maybe this will help him. I hope so. I'm tired of this," Highrode said. "I want to have peace for all of us."
"Its a thing coming, a thing to be learned. Some just have a harder time than others," Rung said. "Patience is the key though it would appear that the Pantheon are running out of that Themselves."
It was silent, then Ratchet turned to Prime. "Thanks, Optimus. You never disappoint."
Laughter greeted that as they broke up and began to leave. It would be a quiet walk back to the Ops Center and a debrief about Decepticon soundings near the Bootes Barren, a place that was becoming the access point of choice it seemed to this sector of space and the empire of Optimus Prime.
=0=Later that afternoon
They stood by a food truck having a cone. Ice cream was getting to be one of Waldeen and Traachon's favorite things. It was sunny, the traffic was brisk and so were pedestrians as they went this way and that.
Traachon watched them. "It almost feels like home."
Ratchet nodded. "It does. It feels better than home somehow."
Waldeen watched Hu-An walk down the sidewalk on the other side of the highway. "I like this place," he said quietly.
Ratchet who was watching felt his spark fly.
=0=TBC 7-7-19