The Diego Diaries: Drinkies (dd7 230)
=0=The Residence of the Prime of Cybertron, Mars and the Empire
He had tottered over to the door taking long convoluted detours in his stupor to retrieve the box that sat outside the door waiting for him. He'd made his meal with Prime a two parter, bringing the beginnings and having the endings delivered. He opened the door eventually, then stared at a big heavy duty box sitting on the ground next to the huge double doors.
Gripping it tightly, Ironhide began to pull it into the apartment toward Prime who was sitting on the floor in a circle of bottles, food items and blissful happiness as he studied the communications device in his servos. He glanced at Ironhide who finally stopped nearby, then gripped the box to steady himself. "What is that, old friend?"
"This is dessert. I told them to send me stuff because I was hungry," he said glancing toward Prime. "Here we go." He reached in and brought out this and that package and this and that box.
The two of them began to eat the delicacies and drink more beer. It didn't take long to reach the bottom. Ironhide stood on wobbly legs, then stared into the box. In a corner overlooked was the 'elixir of life', a box of chocolate, cherry and nut fudge. He leaned over to grip it but failed. After several tries his beer soaked processor decided to find it from the 'inside, not the outside' so he stepped in, picked it up, then sat down in the box. He then contentedly began to eat it.
"You stay there," Prime said as he located the front of the device. "I will use this to call." He punched a green button, then perused all those that activated. "Hm," he said as his hallucinations began to really take off. He punched in a vaguely remembered sequence, then held it to his audial. "Hello?" he asked with a slight smile.
Ironhide who had emptied the candy box considered how he would climb out, considered how comfortable he was sitting where he was sitting, considered how much he wanted to snooze ….. zzz ...
The button Prime pushed hooked him into the encrypted com line that could call anyone anywhere in the world and leave no trace behind. There weren't even Decepticons who could hack this line, such as it was and those with access to it outside of the senior Autobots could be counted on one hand. It rang a moment, then a familiar voice answered.
:This is Morshower:
Prime considered that, one of his friends from Earth. "Glenn. Is that you?" he asked sweetly.
There was a moment of silence, then the voice was back. :This is a very secured communications line. Who is this?: he demanded.
Prime smiled at the box in his servos. "THIS IS ORION PRIME!"
=0=At the Diner
Things were winding down but no one wanted to go back to the real world for a while so they didn't.
=0=Commanding, N.E.S.T. Global Alliance, The Pentagon, Virginia, Earth
They stared at the phone in Morshower's hand. They heard a very familiar voice say very loudly that they were Orion Prime. Mick and the other aides glanced at Glenn who was perplexed at the oddity coming over the line. "Is this some kind of prank?"
A voice laughing could be heard, then the happy, velvet and familiar tone was back. :No:
"Optimus? Is this you?" Glenn asked with surprise.
"The one and only," Prime said with a big smile. "Did you know they're here?"
Glenn blinked. "Who? The Decepticons?"
:No. The horses. The ones with the light: the voice replied.
Glenn glanced at Mick, then covered the phone with his hand. "Get Prowl on line. Something is not right."
Mick jumped up and walked to the office outside to make the call.
"What horses, Optimus? Describe them," Glenn said as he kept the big mech on the line.
Optimus stared at the communications box as he sat on the floor leaning against a couch. Ironhide was sleeping it off in the grocery delivery box nearby and he was content with the unicorns. Or at least, that was what the humans would call them. He saw them as they actually were, beings of light that could traverse dimensions and in this one appeared as horses, beautiful ones with a horn. In reality, that 'horn' as seen by third dimensional low vibrational beings like humans was really a beam of light that they used to communicate that originated in the center of their skull, their 'third eye' as the humans would say. Given that the Cybertronians were energetic beings of a higher vibration than the humans, they could see the 'unicorns' as they really were.
So Optimus told Glenn about them.
=0=Diner
He grinned, then took a call off line. He rose almost immediately nearly tipping over the table. "RATCHET! COME WITH ME!" Then Prowl ran for the door as fast as he could.
Ratchet who over the eons had perfected the 'follow them and figure it out later' method of soldiering left just as swiftly.
The others stared at the door, then each other. "What now?" -All of them.
=0=Telephono
:Did you know I can fly?:
"I didn't know that, Optimus. Where are you now?" Glenn asked.
"I'm on the balcony," Prime said as he leaned over to look down and dropped the communications device over the side. He watched it fall to the ground. It would take longer than he thought it would.
=0=Elevator
Prowl cut the manual override and up the elevator went to the Penthouse at nearly supersonic speed or so it seemed to Ratchet who sagged just a bit as it rose. It came to a surprisingly gentle stop as they clawed their way out of the thing. Hurrying to the door, they stepped inside. It was a disaster. Prowl immediately hit the building with sensors, located Ironhide visually, then was told that Prime was on the balcony. "RATCHET!" He ran for the door and down the long veranda that circled the entire apartment and penthouse floor.
He saw Prime looking downward, then skid to a halt. He stealthed his way forward until he gripped Prime's arm. "Optimus, come inside."
Prime glanced at Prowl, all four of them including the one in the middle who looked sparkly. He grinned. "I dropped the thing," he said as he leaned forward to look.
When he did Ratchet jumped him, shifted his ballast and planted himself. Prime wasn't going over the edge easily and if he did Ratchet would be going with him. "CALL FOR BACKUP! SEND FOR MUSCLE!" Ratchet yelled as he leaned back toward the building. He didn't even budge Prime when he did.
Prowl magnetized his servo to Prime's arm then sent the alpha-alpha two two code which would immediately draw the muscle he needed and do it with bridges. The sound of some opening inside the apartment could be heard, then surprised cries, then footfalls running. "OUT HERE! HURRY!"
Through the door came Raptor, Blackjack, Sun, Jack and Hard Drive.
"Grip him," Prowl said. "Help me get him inside before he falls over the edge."
Big mechs gripped him and they muscled Prime into the building and down onto a couch by the fireplace with difficulty.
He sat heavily, then grinned at everyone. "I can fly. I told him I could. Be careful of the horses. Did you now what the humans call them?" he asked.
Raptor glanced at his father, then back to Prime. "I don't know, Optimus. What do they call them?"
Prime thought a moment, then shrugged. "I do not know. Do you see the colors?" he asked as he reached out his hand toward something only he could see.
Prowl nearly passed out from fright until Ratchet turned to him with his meter. "He's hallucinating."
"That's obvious, but why?" Prowl asked almost breathlessly.
Of course, he didn't breathe, so …
"He took his meds, right?" Ratchet asked.
"I had them on the tray," Prowl said. He walked to the mess, then noted the little dish which had his meds was empty. "It looks like he did."
"Well, this is interesting. Prime has an allergy. The medication would've done the trick for his condition but it combined with the beer and gave an allergic reaction. He's flying without a plane, Prowl."
"Will he be okay?" Prowl asked with fright.
"Yeah, but I can't give him anything now. He's got a feedback loop going with his neural net system and his processor. I don't dare add anything more. It'll run out on its own and it appears to be a simple thing, rather than a big complication." Ratchet stared at Prime who grinned at him. Ratchet grinned back. "You're cute when you're loony."
"He dialed Morshower. Morshower called me," Prowl said. "I found him on the balcony looking down. If Glenn hadn't called … he wanted to show me he could fly."
Everyone stared at each other gravely, then Ratchet considered Prime. "Let's get him into a berth, then I'll put him into a very mild state of stasis which will prevent him getting up. He can sleep it off."
The big mechs turned to Prime.
Hardie grinned. "How about going with us, Optimus? We can take a little walk and you can tell us about what you see."
Prime grinned. "I think I like blue best," Optimus said as they gently pulled him to his peds. "We were drunk dialing." He chuckled. "I got Glenn on the first try. Is that not great?"
Hardie laughed. "It's all great, Optimus," he said as they gently steered, then half carried the limping behemoth into the corridor that led to the suite that was his berth room.
Prowl followed anxiously as Ratchet glanced at Ironhide. He was slumped in the box recharging like a dead man. Ratchet grinned. "You just got on Prowl's shit list, big boy. I think you and Prime both did." With a chuckle, Ratchet followed them to the berth room beyond.
He entered a huge room with a huge bed and nice furniture that would show some style on the pages of House Beautiful and Architectural Digest. They lowered Prime onto the berth where he lay down with assistance. He sighed, then smiled. "It is all nice. I see my appa and amma again."
Prowl sat next to him and took his servo. "Just rest, Optimus."
"My Appa Sirius is here." Prime stared at the right corner of the ceiling. He raised his arm weakly to wave before it dropped to the berth. "I miss you, Appa," he said wistfully.
Everyone stared at him, the most dignified, dedicated, intellectual, brave and courageous yet amusing individual most of them had ever met. This was a poignant moment for all of them.
Hardie stepped closer as Ratchet prepared to put Prime gently to sleep. "What does he say, Optimus? Sirius?"
Prime stared at that spot, then glanced at Hardie. "He says, "I love you, Orion," Prime said before he fell into a light medical stasis.
Prowl looked limp as he stood. " He's okay. He'll recover and all of that?"
"He will," Ratchet said. "I'll do visits tonight to check. He's going to be alright. The medications he took were for 12 joors so he should be seeing normal again around midnight. I'll do a check with his medical profiles before I prescribe replacement medications."
Prowl nodded as he stared at the big mech. "Thank you, all of you. Sirius was his father's father. He was a huge mech like Optimus and a longshoreman, too. I wish I had known them."
"I met Sirius once. He was a great mech," Ratchet said. "But I was young and didn't pay enough attention at the time. Sometimes things are wasted on the youth."
Prowl nodded, then he glanced at Ratchet with a grin. "I thought I saw Ironhide sitting in a box in the living room."
Ratchet laughed as the others grinned broadly. "We better go check."
The entire group walked out as the lights dimmed with Prowl bringing up the rear. The living room was a war zone and in the middle in a big box sat Ironhide all arms akimbo, sleeping the sleep of the damned. They gathered around him, then Raptor grinned. "That little mech is a caution."
"That isn't the word I'd use but I agree," Sun said with a chuckle.
Ratchet scanned him. "He's drunk on his aft. He can't hold hard stuff at all but he can drink beer until he can't feel his peds. He drank a lot of beer."
"That's my little mech," Raptor said with a chuckle.
Sun then grinned at the others. "So … am I the only one here who can see the horses over there?" he asked pointing into the corner nearby.
He wasn't.
=0=TBC 3-13-2020 4-9-2020