The Diego Diaries: Thought (dd7 355)
Last night, it was more than 76 degrees. I sat out in the backyard gawking at the sky in bedazzlement at the wondrousness of it all. Then it was bed time. Sigh …
=0=In space
In the Beginning, there was the Void. Then there was Sentience in The One. The Big Sleep was over. The One saw in the Void Nothingness. Then a Thought was borne. Other Thoughts followed before All That Is began. The Thoughts drifted away, seeking Enlightenment, seeking an Understanding of All That Is, seeking to inform The One about Himself. They went on Forever …
=0=Mars
The buzz in the Ops Center was around the next weekend and the upcoming games that decaorn when Prime and Prowl walked into the vast space. The usual efficiency prevailed so Prime decided to check on a number of pending things when Prowl called him back. He was holding a data pad.
Turning to Prime, Prowl glanced upward. "We have an anomaly near the Bootes Array. It doesn't appear to be a ship but rather a strange energy cloud. I don't know what it is but I've forwarded it to Wheeljack and Perceptor."
Prime read the information, then glanced at Prowl. "I have never seen this sort of energy before but it feels oddly familiar."
"How so?" Prowl asked.
Prime shrugged. "I do not know."
At that moment Perceptor walked in followed by Wheeljack. They crossed the room to gather with Prime and Prowl. "We got the data. It's not anything that I've seen before. It has a strange seemingly electrical substance, sort of a low grade buzz like a scanning device. I would have to get closer to it to ascertain more, Prime," Perceptor said as Wheeljack nodded.
Prime considered that, then glanced at Prowl. "Please call up The Salton Sea and whichever science ship they would need, Prowl. Let us go out and take a look at this. I do not know how to tell you why this feels sort of familiar, faintly so, but it does."
"You're going then?" Prowl asked with a slight frown.
"I think I would like to do so," Prime said.
Prowl called up a number of mechs, then glanced at Percy and Wheeljack. "Bring what you need. Salton Sea will provide security."
They nodded, then walked off together to get things organized.
Prowl watched them go, then turned to Prime. "I don't have a good feeling about this. I don't think its a good idea for you to go there, too."
"I think I am curious to find out what this is," Optimus said.
"Well, I've called a number of mechs to go along," Prowl said. "Sun and Jack, Ironhide, Turbine, Springer and Drift. I might add Hercy and Kup as well. I asked Springer to make up a team."
"That is good," Prime said. "Please call me when its time to go. I have a couple of things to check before I go." With that, he walked toward the door nearby to go to his office.
Prowl watched him go, then turned to the operational table. The huge data pad there was beginning to show that something had entered the sensor zone of the Prime's sovereignty. It was a blinking light on the map. What it was, was anyone's guess.
It was perplexing.
=0=On the flight line shortly later
Springer and Drift leaned against a pile of boxes as they waited for the team they sent for to arrive to go on the mission. Salton Sea was being loaded as nearby two science ships were being prepped to go. A lot of youngish and excitable individuals were waiting or entering the two smaller ships, obviously science personnel out to find the truth on something unknown.
Turbine, Sun and Jack drove up, then transformed. They glanced around, spotted the two, then walked over to where they were standing.
"What's going on? Prowl called us back," Turbine said.
"There's some strange energy thing showing up on sensors in the Bootes. We're supposed to go check it out," Springer said.
"Oh," Sun said. "Energy, huh? Sounds nerdy."
"You're not a nerd?" Drift asked.
Sun grinned. "Maybe. Maybe not. I'm not telling."
They chatted together as more showed up, Hercy and Kup, Lon, Bezel, Partition as medic, the twins and a few others gathering to go on the mission. By the time that Ironhide and Prime walked out to join them the ships were ready to go. They boarded, the hatches closed, lines fell away and they began to lift off.
Everything was ready to go find out what new devilry was heading their way.
Or not.
=0=At Fort Apache in the expanded empire
The sensors read the energy which had a signature that was unlike anything on the record. It was an amorphous blob that seemed to bubble along with no easily discernible direction or purpose. It emitted light so it was probably visible but it had a strange intangible content. It seemed to be there and not. It seemed to exist and not. It was worth investigating.
Flint stood at the central table of this, his long time command watching the dots that indicated three ships moving that way. A bridge had opened and they flew out, two science ships and the Prime Command vessel, the former Decepticon and now refitted Autobot battleship, The Salton Sea. They were going to scan the anomaly, close but not close to ascertain its threat level. If they could understand it better they could determine its path and intentions. All that they could be sure of was that it was very, very old.
"What do you think it is?"
Flint glanced at STU-RT who was with him on this last orn of weekend, along for the ride so to speak. He shrugged. "You see incredible things out there and it reminds you that the physics of the universe is much different, more intricate and unknowable than our own. I've seen wandering energy, sort of seemingly left over from creation. This could be that. Mostly it drifts. I've never had interactions with it because I was never close enough. This is new to all of us."
STU-RT nodded. "I love learning new things."
Flint grinned. "You and me both."
=0=At the site
They came out of a bridge, the three ships. Flashing forward, they began their journey to the safest possible location that would allow them to scan it and determine what it might be. Optimus Prime sat at the command seat staring at the screen. There was nothing there that was different or even interesting. He'd been in space most of his life and there had to be something totally unique to draw his optics. This felt like that. This felt familiar but not.
"We're closing on the range for scanning," Sideswipe said as he sat at the Sensor console nearby.
Prime considered that. "Sync with Wheeljack. Go on his command."
Sideswipe contacted the science ship, Pi. "Sideswipe to Wheeljack. I'm ready when you are."
Sunstreaker sat at Tactical watching his brother. This was a strange mission and it was even stranger to see Prime along. But they had a lot of trouble out this way and maybe it was now a thing for him to come. They closed ground as Wheeljack and Sideswipe on their ships and Perceptor on the other, Benicar Station synced their equipment for a fast deep scan of the drifting energy field that was getting closer with every second.
=0=Existing
In the Beginning, there was the Void. Then the Void was filled. All through the COSMOS there was Life. Sparks were created in the Third Wave. Fractals flying into the Great Unknown to Live and Learn. Heat, gas, light. ALL was LIGHT. ALL was LIFE.
Everywhere.
Everything.
Always.
=0=Prime
They came to the uncharted place on a data map where they could measure the New Thing. Prime glanced at Sideswipe, then nodded.
"Sideswipe to Wheeljack. I'm turning it over to you," Sideswipe said, then sat back to watch.
On the screen ahead there was a light, one that was vast, thin and seemingly stopped in space. However, the initial telemetry indicated that it was moving at a speed that was outside their ability to measure. It wasn't fast or slow. It just was. It moved without seeming to.
It was very perplexing.
Ship talk came over the intercom system on the bridge. Wheeljack and Perceptor synced things through Wheeljack's ship, Pi, then he took over with the Teletraan node all of their ships were fitted with. Teletraan would make the scans and the information would come to Mars instantly for analysis there through the -Traan-D4, the interlink part of all the Teletraans that existed on Mars and Cybertron that did fast intense analysis of information. It was military and highly secured.
:I'm ready. Teletraan 3, it's yours: Wheeljack said.
:Teletraan 3, I am in control. Scanning now: a seemingly feminine voice replied.
It was silent as the sentient super computer began to scan the anomaly swiftly and well. The combined brainpower of the greatest and most intelligent Cybertronian ever devised, Teletraan or 'Auntie' began to accumulate information at a terrifying clip, gathering it to analyze immediately.
That was when the anomaly returned the favor.
=0=Pi
"Oh-oh," Wheeljack said as an arm of the soft light shot out toward them and engulfed them almost immediately.
=0=Salton Sea
It hit them so fast they could barely register that it did. It blinded everyone in the sense that they couldn't see around themselves but it didn't harm their optics. Those functioned. It was as if they were wrapped in cotton. There was no animus nor ill intent. There was nothing. It was astonishing how neutral it and they felt for a few seconds. It came, then it left.
For a moment no one moved or spoke, then Sideswipe leaned closer to his console. "Wheeljack? Are you alright?"
A pause occurred, then Wheeljack was back. "I'm here. Did you get that?"
"The light? Yes," Sideswipe said. "We got it. What happened? Was it an attack?"
There was another pause.
"No. No one here is hurt. The ship isn't damaged. Nothing is wrong. Perceptor just sent the same message. What about you?"
Sideswipe looked around, noted everyone in their places staring at the forward screen, then glanced at his console. "I think we're alright." He glanced at Sunstreaker who was checking out the ship and its crew. He glanced at Sideswipe, then nodded. "We're good, Wheeljack. I think."
It was silent on the deck, then everyone glanced at Prime. Ironhide was standing next to him with a servo resting on his broad shoulder. Both of them were staring at the screen, then they turned toward each other. They stared at each other, then rose to look around themselves, both of them seemingly surprised.
The others on the deck watched them, then Turbine stepped closer. "Optimus? Ironhide? Are you alright?"
They turned to him, then glanced at each other.
Ironhide stepped closer. "I'm fine, Amma." He hesitated, then glanced around. "Where am I?" he asked.
Standing next to him staring with intensity at Turbine, then everyone and everything else, Optimus Prime finally spoke. "What is this place? Who are you and why am I here?"
Turbine stared at them both, then glanced at Springer who looked astonished. "Get Ratchet and Prowl here." He glanced at the conn. "Shields up and pull back. Way back. Wheeljack and Perceptor, follow us. We're pulling back. Then get your canisters over here."
By the time the three ships had retreated to a safer distance, seemingly, Prowl, Ratchet, Hard Drive and Raptor were running from the elevator to the conn. They skidded to a stop, all of them but Prowl who hurried to Optimus.
Prowl looked up at the big mech who stared back at him with an expression of controlled alarm. "Optimus? Are you alright?"
Ratchet began to scan everyone on the deck as Prime stared at Prowl, then the rest of them.
"Who are you? Where is this? Why am I hear?" Optimus asked. "Why did you call me Optimus?"
It was silent on the deck, silent and ashen.
Prowl spun to the others. "What the frag happened?"
"Amma?"
Everyone looked at Ironhide who appeared just as ill at ease and confused as Prime.
"Ironhide," Turbine said as he stepped closer to his grandson.
"What's going on? Who is this?" he asked as he turned slightly to look at Optimus.
"Ironhide," Ratchet asked with rising alarm. "Do you know me?" he asked.
Ironhide glanced at him, then nodded. "Sorta. You're that new doctor at the Citadel Army Hospital."
=0=TBC 8-17-2020