The Diego Diaries: The Station and Stuff (dd7 238)
=0=Elsewhere at the same time
They walked out of The Paint Box after having a detailing to touch things up. They had one every few decaorns even if they didn't need it. Given their status as senior Autobots 'of influence' they were asked to keep up appearances.
"You look good."
"Thanks. Where to now, hoss?" Springer asked the mellow fellow walking along with him.
"I was thinking about cards at Club Hoyle," Drift said as they ambled toward the Metro station nearby.
"Sounds good to me. I love to eat Hot Rod's Oreos," Springer said as they walked down the steps to disappear from sight.
Drift's laughter followed them.
=0=The Fortress at the same time
"The majority of levels will be locked out, almost ninety of them," Ratchet continued. "As the projects, population and expansion of other specific decks such as the farms and such grow, we can add them in. This station is geared to a maximum population of 50,000 humans with positions on board but we're capping it at 10,000 employees at first. The population that comes at first will be bigger with families and other dependents. We're also going to be looking over applications of retired parents, siblings and the like who want to come as well.
"The employment opportunities for them will be available and as businesses open, we'll accommodate family members first that want to work or volunteer. Optimus Prime is a good employer and unless the volunteerism is explained to our satisfaction as a voluntary thing for the common good, all workers will be paid with benefits. There will be a branch of the Credit Union of Mars in the business and downtown sector for you to do WIFI transactions. Your salaries will be deposited there. An account is opened for each new employee and your dependents can use it, too. Its owned by everyone and thus has no fees or other scams to strip mine anyone.
"The downtown will be where the city-type amenities are and it covers an entire level which is designed to have streets, business fronts, department stores, restaurants, entertainments, government offices, the offices for the station will be there as well and the City Hall Building of Prima Station. We intend to have the three schools on the same city block with the playgrounds for each available. There will be a track for the older kids and tennis courts and the like with astroturf for everyone. We've studied cities and towns all over Earth and have tried to anticipate what you might need to feel at home here," Ratchet continued.
=0=Club Hoyle
They walked in, spotting their marks sitting at a table across the room, then gathered their 'chips' at he dispenser. Drift grinned. "You account registers low. You better filled it again. You might not dominate the game today, you know."
Springer glanced at Drift who was standing beside him with two handfuls of Oreos. "Are you undercutting my confidence again?"
Drift grinned at Springer as he filled his account, then collected his Oreos. "Would I do that?"
Springer smirked. "I'd be hurt."
"Aw," Drift said. "Want me to kiss it?"
"Not here, ba-bee," Springer said as he led the way to the table where Smokey, Hot Rod, Smokey the Elder, Devcon, Blurr, Jolt, Bee and First Aid were sitting with snacks, drinks and cards. "Hi. I can see you waited for us." He pulled a chair to sit.
"You snooze, you lose," Hot Rod said as he shuffled the cards.
Smokey who was sitting in front of him with a defiant expression took his cards, then sent two back. "My amma is winning just so you know," he said to Springer even as he gloated at Hot Rod.
Roddy took his cards, then peered at Smokey with a slightly bored expression. "You said something?"
Smokey frowned as the others snickered. They antied up and the game began in earnest.
=0=Sun and Rockwell
"Down here."
Rockwell glanced over the lip of the deep hole, then set the bag down. He was lit inside but it didn't show on his face. He was also not going to allow the big mech to best him. He slid down the hill, then walked to where Sun stood with the three other big mechs who were his aides. Sun was a General of the Army and thus, his status, abilities and perks were legendary, earned and supported.
Optimus Prime was a good mech to work for.
"What do you think, infant?" Sun asked as he pointed downward into a hole. Half a dozen giant rockets lay there covered in rubble and bent steel. It was a miracle that they were dormant this long. What Sun didn't tell Rockwell was that the fuses weren't installed and though they carried a big payload they weren't going to explode.
Rockwell stared into the cavity, then felt fear rise in his spark. He glanced at Sun. "They have to come out."
"How?" Sun asked like he was talking to a recruit which in some ways he was.
"I don't know." Rockwell stared at him with defiance and studied indifference.
"Well, consider the payload. These are rockets that shuttles and cruisers fired," Sun said. "They leave a bigger hole than this with one of them exploding. We have about four or five … maybe more. What do you suggest we do?"
Rockwell stared at Sun. "I don't care."
The aides who were aware of the situation stepped back with carefully concealed amusement and contempt. Sun and his family were well known for being the last stop in the station for the hardest of the hard afts around.
It was tense as Sun stared at Rockwell. "I'm waiting," he said.
"Then you're going to have to wait forever," Rockwell replied.
"Okay," Sun said. He stared at Rockwell silently until he could catch the tells that Rockwell was becoming unnerved.
It seemed to drag onward, then Rockwell turned to go back up the bank.
Sun glanced at an aide, all of whom were veterans who loved him and asked to be on his staff. One of them stepped in Rockwell's way.
Rockwell stared at him, tried to go around but couldn't when the other two stepped to the edge of the first to block his path. Rockwell turned around to Sun, then walked over to sit on a rock. It was silent a moment.
"What's the story on the rockets?" Sun asked his aide, Collider, the one taking notes.
He made a show to look, then glanced at Sun. "They're degrading. They need to be removed before they fall apart."
"What's the problem with munitions that fall apart, Devi?" Sun asked another aide, one who'd been a paratrooper in the orn.
"They become unstable. Anything can trigger them," Devi replied.
It was tense, then Sun picked up a big rock. "What happens if I throw this rock at that rocket?" he asked the third aide, Pollus.
"It could explode it or not," Pollus said with a grin. "You aren't going to play Russian Roulette again are you? I do remember the last time you did they had to rebuild a warehouse from the ground up."
Rockwell glanced at Sun who was lightly tossing the rock in his servo. "Nice game but I'm not buying it."
Sun grinned slightly. "Devi … in all the time you've known me have I ever been afraid of something?"
"No, General," Devi said. "I've never seen it." Devi glanced at the others who shook their helms. "None of us have, apparently."
Sun grinned. "Climb up, boys."
Devi, Pollus and the third, the grizzled mech, Collider grinned at Sun, then began to climb upward.
"If he tries to follow, collapse the edge so he can't," Sun said as the group made it to the top.
Rockwell stared at Sun, then the others. He stood up from the rock and began to climb but they ditched the edges topside which rained down upon him. He turned to Sun in his frustration. "I don't want to play your game."
"I know," Sun said as he sat on a boulder. "I don't mind, though."
Rockwell stared at him, then walked across the hole to reach the other side. Before he could climb Pollus was there waiting for him. He tried other directions but was thwarted again. He glared at Rockwell, then sat down again. "Frag you. I don't care anymore."
"I think you do," Sun said. "I think you care a lot about yourself. What mystifies me even after all this time is how you don't care about anyone else. How do you do that, slagger? How does the plight of others not reach your spark?"
Rockwell stared at him, then glanced away.
"When I was a slave, and I was … so were your ancestors, slagger. All of us were slaves. I used to see the overseers decide to slag someone, then make up a reason for the collaborators to have them removed. They didn't do anything to deserve it. I never saw anyone who did but it didn't matter. They had to die. They did. In numbers." Sun looked at the rock. "If I hit that rocket with this stone, it wouldn't be fair either. Would it."
Rockwell stared at him. "You have a point, I suppose."
"I do. I want you to understand that the world is only as fair as we want it to be. It's like wealth. Our family had it in droves. We could've piled it up or we could make it work. We decided to work it, to make it count. That made things more fair to us. Your family piled it up and sat on it. Why?"
Rockwell stared at Sun. "Why should I explain it to you?"
"You should. Why should you and yours get the lion's share of the wealth when you didn't earn it? You couldn't make one thing that you manufactured. You didn't design it either. You had no part in any of the processes that made it including the actual manufacturing yet you decided to have all the wealth around and then some. How did you live with the idea that mechs and femmes worked long and hard in your crappy factories and didn't earn enough to feed their children? How do you fall so low in your spark that you can't feel anything?" Sun shook his helm. "You were never hungry, scared or deprived. You never had a bad or hard orn. If you wanted it, you got it and that was that."
"That was the way it was," Rockwell answered.
"So was the Quintessan Oppression. So was the Functionalist Tyranny. Do I have to tell you what those led to? Do I have to tell you what happened because they did? Its too bad you never knew what it meant to be powerless, to feel injustice and feel hopeless. You don't have to be a slave to be powerless but it feels the same way. You have nothing without your freedom. Ask anyone who is sick. You never have anything if you don't have the love, respect and friendship of others. Your shanix pile can't love you. It can get you things but when you need love or companionship, it can't give that back. You live in a sea of things and you have nothing."
Rockwell stared at him. "Are you finished?"
"No," Sun said with a smile. "I'm only beginning. You're mine and I own you. Consider it that way. I would never own another. I know what that feels like but for you I make the exception. For you, I will own your orns. You're going to see the other side of the coin and experience it intimately. You're going to see what you and your ideas wrought and you're going to feel the helplessness of what your beloved System did. This is the endgame of your endeavors," Sun said moving his arm to encompass all the devastation around him. "This is the direct result of what you and your ideas have caused. Without your ideas, this would be home. All would be well."
"This was the result of Optimus Prime's failures," Rockwell said.
Sun laughed. "Sad little mech. The decline and war had started before Optimus ascended. Sentinel was already deploying troops to kill our people because they didn't want their children to starve. Optimus was the only hope we had to avoid all out war but you and your ideas prevented that. You didn't support him. You and your ideas alienated the army and they went to Megatron. That there was anyone to escape Cybertron it was because of Prime's efforts. This is on you, infant. You can't pass this slag off on anyone else."
Then Sun tossed the rock onto the tail section of a rocket.
=0=TBC 3-25-2020 4-10-2020
HI! What a slaggy week this has been. BON APETIT!
PS Be careful out there. We have covid 19 here in the boonies of Alaska. Do what they suggest. They found residue on cruise ships 17 days afterward. Hugs and much love forever.