The Diego Diaries: Continuing Onward (dd8 619)
=0=In the jailhouse
They walked in with cuffs to enter the intake portion of the jail. The desk sergeant named Stencil watched them come, then opened a screen. Glancing at Lever, he asked the usual. "Uh, who are these guys?"
Lever grinned at Stencil who was his brother-in-law. "We bagged them for fighting, destruction of property and countermanding a Primal Directive."
"Which one?" Stencil asked.
"The System," Lever replied.
Everyone glanced at them measuring them for whatever they thought could prompt such a dangerous move, gall, arrogance, a death wish, all were considered.
"Then we have federal cases here, treason perhaps?" Stencil asked.
"I hardly think that's so," Jarbo said from nearby. He rose from the bench where he waited to stand by his son. "No one was committing treason. This was just a misunderstanding."
"Sure," Stencil said. He looked at his screen. "Details. You first, tall older mech."
Cylinder felt the burn but gave up his details calmly and with a minimum of fuss.
"What about you?" Stencil asked Haro-n.
Haro-n stared at him with real anger. Then his father filled in the details.
Stencil wrote them in, then glanced at Jarbo. "You might want to let him mech up. Little slagger should be out of short pants by now."
Before Haro-n could say anything Cylinder gripped his arm. Haro-n bit back his remarks but it was clear on his face what he thought and felt.
The other two gave their details, then Stencil sat back. "So tell me, how many more are out there? I have to get off here shortly."
"I thought a baker's dozen for this place alone," Lever said as he grinned at the mech who was his older brother's bond. They were besties and the worst punters at golf short of Ironhide. They didn't care, however. They loved the game and liked partying afterwards in the Club House.
"You always were thoughtful," Stencil said with a chuckle. He looked at the crew. "Put them in the can, boys."
The Boys did, moving the group through the intake office, past security and into the jail to disappear.
Jarbo watched them go, then turned to Stencil. "What happens now?"
"They wait for Magistrate's Court in the morning. Because they have federal charges among the minor stuff they'll get kicked up to Federal Court and you'll have to wait for that to be scheduled. The Federal judge will take their pleas. There won't be a plea in the morning unless its about the minor stuff."
"Then they won't be getting out tomorrow?" Jarbo asked with alarm.
"No. Federal charges are met by federal judges. I'd get representation, then come to court to see what they decide," Stencil said.
Jarbo stared at him, then the door, then he walked out.
Everyone watched him go, then glanced at each other.
"Well, my work is done," Lever said. "I have to finish the patrol, then go to the Midway Stables to return my trusty steed. Meet me at the Diner here and we can have breakfast."
"Done deal," Stencil said as he stretched. He watched the patrol walk out, then glanced at the others who filed back into the room together. "Where did you put them?"
"Next to the drunks," a jailer said.
Stencil grinned. "Cad."
Everyone laughed as the clock ticked onward.
=0=Earth 1
They walked into the facility heading for the public restrooms near the habitat entrance. It was getting on toward night and the lighting was beginning to dim inside the facility for the requisite period of 'evening'. Their footfalls echoed the relatively empty concourse as they reached the restrooms to walk inside. They hit the stalls. It was silent as they went about their business, then stepped out in ones and twos to wash up.
Lars Hammarstrom glanced at Lennox who was washing his hands next to him. "We were in a stampede."
"We were," Lennox said with a smirk. "It wasn't the first one. We had one once where the horses ran over Ratchet and Prowl as they ran toward The City. It was pretty damned hilarious now but it wasn't at the time. We were worried the horses would get hurt."
Harsh laughter greeted that as they gathered to leave.
"How do you like the ride?" Epps asked Niall.
"Its so smooth. You don't feel any movement. I would love to see the gyro system they use. Their tech is ridiculous," Niall said as they began to walk back out.
They waved to some of the inhabitants heading for home or the downtown as they walked to the doors and the waiting horses nearby. The mechs mocked them as they climbed back up to strap back in. After all was secured, they rode out of the habitat when the lights signaled and began to ride toward Earth2 with Jessine in pursuit. They would continue onward, pause by the Consul to ogle a number of the inhabitants out skinny dipping in the pool while making sure Jessine didn't see, then make a ride for Unidad.
It would be a hoot.
=0=Autobot City Daily News Night Shift, Daily News Tower, Metroplex Highway 1 and Sports Center Road, Autobot City, Mars
The news reports came in about a drunken fight and arrest in Iacon. The crime writer was on the beat going about to see what could be learned about the night and the several big unsolved cases pending. No one knew more than they did before about Tempo's murder because the information was being held pending the investigation. The gangs were laying low. Everyone wondered about that, drawing a straight line between Tempo's murder and their being here on world.
Everyone but Tempo's family.
Sitting at his desk going over a number of assignments for the next two orns concerning the championship basketball playoffs, Compact who was the paper's senior photography-journalist got a call about the arrest of a number of former high castes that might mean federal charges. He rose to go on the call as the police monitor played in his processor. It was a slow night but that would change in the next few joors when it was time to play game two in the three game march to the championship of Mars in basketball.
He grabbed his camera, then walked out. He wouldn't know that one of those arrested was his latest boyfriend, Cisco.
=0=Club Cybertron
They sat together going over their business plan for a longed for chance to be their own mechs. They'd gone to school and learned what they needed. Then they made arrangements to give their business plan presentation to the Autobot City Business Board, a group of experts in the colony who manned a panel who helped get businesses started. It was very informal with everyone sitting around a table talking about what was being proposed, how it would work, how it might or not work better with this tweak or that addition/deletion, then the board would meet separately to discuss the proposal.
It might take a joor or three days, either way the hopefuls would wait while the experts worked things out. If they got the go-ahead, they'd be part of a short term mentorship program for all new businesses in the new paradigm. They were paired with someone in their field to ensure that they would succeed. When they were confident that they could, the mentorship would be withdrawn and the baby birds would fly away on their own. Business failures in the colony and Cybertron were minimal to non-existent.
"We're as good as we can be," the older of the three brothers said. "I think we have it."
"I think so, too," another said as his bond leaned against him sipping a beer. "We're just going to have to pass this hurdle, then our business will come to pass."
They would talk together as they ate bar food and drank beer. The meeting was mid morning the next orn. It would be nerve wracking but they would pass with a couple of tweaks. They would also be mentored to RTR Tools who would help them make their business work. They made antique guns and other weapons for collectors. They would not believe their luck having RTR Tools mentor them.
=0=The Book Store in The Mall of Metroplex
She walked through the aisles following their genitors who were looking for something to read for themselves as well as their daughter. She ambled along with her favorite dollie staring up and around as they stopped here and there to inspect something good. The store was massive and the flagship book store in the colony. It had a wealth of all manner of formatted items including a huge selection of kids things.
Her father glanced down, then grinned. "How about some picture books for you, Olo?" he asked his tiny daughter.
Olo looked way up at her construction father. "Where, Ada?"
"Follow me, daughter," he said as he walked onward to round a corner. Down the way was the kids section and all manner of things for his little baby girl. His bond followed making sure that Olo didn't get lost.
She was a mini-con femme, the first of both in their big bruiser family in generations. It was comical how carefully they raised their little girl. She was a shiny immaculate snow white from helm to peds and bore a tiny Autobrand on both her shoulders courtesy of Sunstreaker. She ambled along looking at everything with her deep blue optics until they found her section.
Her atar leaned down. "Baby, find what you want. We can carry it for you."
"Do they have horseys, Atar?" she asked in her tiny Mini Mouse voice.
"We can look," her Ada said as he began to look through the shelves and shelves of books.
They would. They'd have books of horseys. So would Olo.
=0=In a cell in Iacon
The lights had gone down in the cell block, one filled with several drunks including three mini-cons. Fortunately for them, those three were sleeping it off. Two lay on the floor where they fell and one made it to the berth.
Across from them were a number of young mechs, all of them seething as they glared at each other from different cells. It would appear that a fight over someone had led to jail time.
Cylinder who had never been arrested as had neither Demetrio and Cisco. Haro-n had been for more than one occasion, all of which were memorable. It was dark, they were sharing a cell and no one was making a sound. It was almost bearable.
=0=Sitting in a cell not that far away
Gravity sat in his cell in the high security ward watching the monitor playing a game. He was now in jail almost a month, waiting for the process to get off its aft. His genitors were distraught. He had good council and he knew who turned him in. When he got out of here he would up his body count, he mused. No one fucked him over like this and walked away. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. The burden of proof wasn't on him. It was on the Prime.
Another orn would wither away as he waited to figure out how much they knew and how they knew it.
=0=Monastery of the Clavis Aurea
The Gatekeeper stood on the platform waiting for the sun to truly set. It would be then that he would walk in and lock the doors but for the small one next to them, 'the monk's door' as it was called on Earth. Apparently, monks at their cathedrals would make a small door that required any who entered to bow themselves to fit inside, lowering their helms and shoulders. It was felt this would prompt a holy attitude in whoever that was before they even entered.
He mused on that, considered it good, then glanced at the panorama before him. The colony spread out like jewels on a carpet. It was beautiful everywhere he looked. Behind him the night lights that showed the Monastery off to great acclaim blinked on. It was officially evening and time to turn the keys to signal the end of another orn.
He glanced around, then began to walk back pausing by the great doors to look outward again. He stared at the sky, then the colony beyond. With a sense of great well being, he pulled the two huge doors closed, then locked them from the inside. The 'monk door' would be the only way to enter the huge building until morning came and he unlocked the building once more.
The evening would pass quietly on the ridge.
=0=TBC 1-20-2023
for someone to 'still be in short pants' is to remain a child. In the old days boys wore short pants until they reached a certain age. Prince William's boys do. Its usually boys who this pertains to, this saying.