The Diego Diaries: The People (dd7 99)
=0=There and Here at the same time, but not
"Ah, The People. How can I tell you about The People?"
He watched her, this strange old lady. She had blue-gray eyes and they stared at him kindly. He sat on his rock quietly gazing around, then she swiped her arm in front of herself. In the distance a huge city under a dome appeared, one that looked like the kind of place you would see in a fairy tale movie. There were spire-topped towers, glittering buildings and a road system that ran past where they sat to disappear into the distance. He blinked with surprise, then turned to her. "What's this?"
"The capital city of The People. They lived here long, long ago before the world died." She squinted for a moment staring at the highway, then grinned. "Someone is coming to the park." She glanced over her shoulder to a small area that had parking spaces and a green tended area. There were no tall trees, just short bushes and plants. It was peaceful and centered on a small pond of blue water that reflected the sky.
A vehicle was coming, a strange non-human design that was speeding toward them. It turned off the road and drove toward them.
Barrett glanced at the woman with a growing sense of unease. "They'll see us."
"No, they won't. This is an echo of what once was," she said wistfully.
Barrett glanced at the vehicle which drove past, then parked in a space. The door opened and two figures got out, one of them carrying a small child creature. The taller had a backpack and waited for the other to reach him before they walked together to the tended area. Barrett glanced at the old lady sharply. "That … those three are Reptilian."
The lady who was watching them with a grin nodded. "They are. Beautiful aren't they?"
He stared at her with concern. "NO! Those fuckers are enemies of us. They come to our planet. They shape shift. The government is full of them! Even the Queen of England is one!"
The old lady stared at him, then laughed. "I heard those stories. Very funny," she said. "You should know that there are as many reptilian species in the universe as there are humanoids like you. Even bird species. Did you know that any figure you care to imagine is a life form somewhere? I recently paid a visit to a planet where the dominant species are big round rocks. The bigger you are, the older you are. They're a lot of fun, those guys. They sit there and hoot. They make a hooting sound of welcome. I love to hug them," she said with a smile. She then turned her attention back to the family, or what was obviously a couple and their child.
The male appearing one wore what appeared to be a pair of jean-like pants, a long sleeved shirt and boots. The feminine one wore a simple version of clothing like his. Their child wore a tunic that came to his or her knees, Barrett couldn't tell the gender and ran around with little sandals on his green human-appearing feet. He laughed as he did.
They had reptilian eyes, scaly snake-like skin and were different colors. He was a dark brown and she was a light green with a row of spots down both sides of her neck. The baby was light green as well. They chatted happily as they set out food all of which appeared to be plants.
"I love them," the lady said. "They're so smart and good. They understand that love is the only way to be and as a consequence, war has never been a part of their specie's life footprint. They share everything with each other, make the common good uncommonly good and they love without shame or hesitation. They are a highly evolved species but you see them as snakes or reptiles."
"They exist, the bad ones," Barrett persisted. "Everyone knows that."
"There are all kinds of species in the universe and they look the way they do because they do," she said. "Good and bad are inaccurate and really, I don't like either word. How about negative and positive choices?"
"What's the difference?" he asked.
"A lot. One of them is a value judgment and the other is an observation. It's possible to mess up without being bad. Is a baby bad when it gets into things? You judge everything. If you don't have the darkness you can't see the light. There's a reason for everything that happens. This world is dead. My world here is dead and the people are gone. That is a negative outcome for me but it is neither bad or good. It just is." She looked at him. "The only constant thing in the universe is change. The Cybertronians know it. I wish humans would. They might get along better if they remembered that."
"How would that make us get along better?" he asked. "You don't make sense."
"If you didn't hold onto outmoded ideas, then you wouldn't be judging or hurting each other over them when things change and they don't work anymore. You fight wars over things that happened hundreds of years ago and think that was your argument."
"Sometimes you have to," Barrett persisted.
"Perhaps. Then again, what cost do you pay to hold onto something that no longer fits?" she asked.
"Freedom will never not fit. Being free is always going to be important," Barrett said.
"Who's freedom?" She grinned. "I suppose it comes down to point of view and who's ox is getting gored. I can think of a lot of outmoded concepts that led to war because someone wouldn't accept that change happens. Slavery anyone?"
"What has this got to do with these reptiles?" Barrett asked.
"Reptilians," she corrected. "Everything. I helped them get away when the solar flare was going to end them. I sort of broke the rules. I don't regret it. Much. I wrestle with the idea of ideas and change. It's a rule of the universe that no one can interfere with someone's right to free will … even Source Himself won't. We don't. But then, my sweet people here were facing extinction and they didn't know. Do I follow the rule and let them die or do I nudge their free will? It perplexes me to this day."
"What did God say? You did talk to Him, right? He does exist, right?" Barrett asked.
She grinned. "He does. You can call Him anything. He doesn't care. He just wants to hear you call home. He wasn't angry. He doesn't judge. He doesn't want anything but for us to love each other and Him. That's all that He wants. We talked. He grinned at me and I went back to the job." She chuckled. "I hid from Him for a while but try that sometimes, hiding from Source."
He stared at her. "I could say this was a dream. That nothing you tell me is true or matters."
"You could. Many do. I come in dreams and they deny me when they wake up. I don't mind. My job is to love."
"What kind of job is that?" he asked as he watched the family walk to the water and allow the child to step into it. The baby screeched with delight and they laughed. It was strange but ultra familiar to see.
"The best kind," she said. "I suppose that you want to know why you are here?"
"Sorta. It would be KINDA nice to know," he said with a frown.
She laughed. "You're funny! You have no manners!" She looked at him with a grin. "I came to see what you're made of. You're going to be coming into a lot of money in a short few years. A vast and nearly unlimited resource. Right?"
He nodded. "My grandfather's bequest. Why?"
"You have the maturity of a lamp post. You're going to have control of it, spend it with impunity and get into lots of trouble. You're going to 'wine, women and song' until you end up in rehab. You will age quickly, leave a lot of hurt behind you, have a lot of stuff that gives you no real pleasure and die in a hotel room from an overdose before your time. How do you like it so far?"
He stared at her without a word, then he stood. "You're full of shit."
"Am I? Isn't that the chosen path of the overly provisioned and socially stunted sort of your class? You will be addicted to the attention. You will enjoy being on the news and in the papers. You will enjoy your antics though no one else will. Even your sisters who are as spoiled and entitled as you will in the end forsake you to survive your whirlwind dance of doom."
"So what?" he asked defiantly. "What do you care?"
"I'm supposed to, remember? Galactic Granny?" she grinned. "I care but mostly I care about a girl named Barbara. She's a good girl, smart, will work as a waitress to get through college some fine day and someone who will change the world. She's smart enough and charismatic enough to matter on the grand scale. Unfortunately, she will run into you and get caught up in your bullshit. You will change her life's path and the world will suffer for it. Your world will be changed and not in a good way because you and your egocentric bullshit will snuff out her light."
He stared at her intensely. "I kill her?"
She grinned faintly. "There are many ways to die that don't involve death. You will take her light, her great potential and destroy it."
He stared at her. "You lie."
"You know better," she said.
The sounds of children's laughter reached the two of them. They glanced at the pond to watch as a father stood in the water holding his child as the baby kicked his little feet. It was sweet and for her poignant. What it was to Barrett was unclear.
He looked at her. "So … why this? Is this some kind of intervention?"
"You could say that. I can't interfere. I did once and it didn't go too well with The Boss."
"What did He do?" Barrett asked.
She grinned. "He told me that He loved me."
Barrett stared at her. "That's all?"
She nodded. "That's it." She stood, then swiped her hand again. It was a vast dessert wasteland once more. "That's it. That's all. Goodbye."
He vanished.
She stared at the spot he stood, then turned her gaze to a place where a vast and beautiful city once shimmered in a verdant landscape over a billion years before this moment. It was as clear to her as if it were still there. She stared at the landscape wistfully, then faded away.
=0=Mars
It went black for a second, then he was back to wherever it was she sent him. He glanced around startled and afraid, then noted that a number of soldiers were staring at him equally as startled.
Corey McFarlane stood, then hit the com button on the console. "McFarlane to Lennox and Morshower."
:Lennox here:
"We have the kid. He's in our Ops Center." McFarlane gestured to another soldier who was their medic.
Aart DeVries rose from his surprise, then hurried to the kid.
McFarlane watched as they walked out to the medical center in the building.
:What is his condition?: Morshower asked.
"He seems okay. He just appeared out of nowhere."
:On our way: Morshower said. The line cut.
Corey stared at the console, then walked toward the door to the interior where the medical center was. As he did the senior Autobots, the senior on-world humans and a number of frantic adults from Earth2 hurried out to join them.
=0=Moments later
They walked into the habitat door for the bots, waiting in the space for word. The humans had entered the building, Barrett's parents running swiftly for the center in the middle of the first floor. Morshower met with McFarlane, then walked back out to Prime who knelt. Obsidian was with him. "He said that the boy just appeared out of thin air. He seemed to be okay."
Obsidian glanced at Prime. "There is a very old energy here, Lord Optimus. I have detected it before."
Prime nodded, then looked at Lennox. "We need to speak to the boy if we can."
Lennox nodded, then jogged into the building.
"What do you think, Lord Obsidian?" Morshower asked as the humans inside began to filter back out.
Obsidian considered that, then glanced at Morshower. "I believe that giants are awakening."
=0=TBC 9-30-19