The Diego Diaries: Daily (dd8 700)
This is historic, this piece. This is the first time that the site has let me reach 700. HUZZAH! In 12 and a half years this is the first time. I think we might keep in mind that part nine might be ahead of us anyway. LOL! Until then, enjoy.
=0=Around
Public Works were on the roads cleaning them of the sand storm that had just passed over them. Winds were unpredictable on a planet as volatile weather wise as Mars but it was suggested by the weather department that it would be a while before conditions ripened again. Huge vehicles rolled down the road sucking up sand and leaving clear lanes behind them. It was a going to take a while to clear the highway and neighborhood road systems but out on the TransWorld Highway ships were using ionized tech to clear the roadway for the public and commercial travel.
At a grocery store that never slept
He broomed off the sidewalk in front of the Grocery at Tyger Pax, the big one where the district store manager worked and the head office was located. He was a young kid learning the grocery business with the hopes of opening his own little version some time in the future. He and his siblings, a brother and sister had been overwhelmed by the big groceries when they arrived as starving refugees. They'd explored them together trying to figure out the concept of free food in unending quantities. It was something they'd never seen or experienced in their entire lives.
His sister worked in the deli delighting in making everyone's order remarkably wrapped and presented. She was just promoted, something that had enraptured his entire family that his little sister was promoted because 'she/you are an artist, Bandi'. They'd gone to dinner to celebrate, then three orns later he was promoted to floor manager. His job was to make sure it all looked great, everyone was served, help any workers that needed it and make the place shine.
He was as proud of that as if he were made Prime. He swept the sidewalk, something that could be taken care of by machinery but for him it was his duty. He was here to make things beautiful for their customers just like someone had for him. Now the three of them were working here, his brother in the meat department and all of them were as happy as they could ever be. They could work together, eat lunch nearby in a real restaurant and live in a colony that allowed them anything they wanted in exchange.
Someday he would own that little specialty neighborhood grocery with his siblings and they would make it as nice as this one. It was their dream.
A car honked and he waved. Standing on the sidewalk as the sun began to break over the horizon, Calisto of Santas III born on the run was home.
=0=Youngling Day School #1, Centurion, Mars
They walked through the building signing off on the electrical and electronics portion of the rebuild. It was going well as Wirelite inspected a redesign that would protect the system from fires long enough for the Fire Department to respond. She was the go-to expert for intricate projects and even though she taught classes on her skills and worked on projects as a specialist artisan consultant ro advance her nearly vanished skill, weaving all manner of fibers into anything required, she always came when someone was in a fix.
The big mechs including Jetta followed her listening to her commentary about this and that thing before she signed off on it. She explained her work and they listened respectfully to this, an Immortal and a hero of the War for Freedom, the War Against Quintessan Oppression. She had been a member of the Revolutionary Council with her bond, a great personal friend of Merrick, the Great Guardian Prime and with her bond a freedom fighter for everyone. She consulted on artisan boards, was a special consultant to the Delegate Assembly on many things and a doting grand ada to half a dozen cute little kids.
She was living her best life.
Pausing at the last spot, inspecting it carefully, she glanced up at the mechs and Jetta, then smiled. "I agree. I will sign this off. Well done, boys and girls."
The Boys and Girls smiled back pleased that such a wonder as this one liked their work.
Jetta grinned. "We're almost done, Amma. Thank you so much."
Wirelite grinned. "Its all fun, my children. All fun."
She would affix her glyph, then they'd all go down for a cuppa and a bun. They would ask her questions about her storied life and she would tell them. She, the Empress of Stanix and the Empress's daughter were three of the deadliest sharpshooters in the numerous wars of which they partook.
The three femmes partook in all of them.
=0=Ratchet
He walked into Ops Center after leaving Central Point. Budge and Mystic were well and on their way to play cards with others in their building. They'd get together with Appa Ratchet when he was finished with school, then head for the Polyhex Business Center to see how things were going. Ratchet reached the table where Prowl toiled, then sat. "I just got the word that Wirelite signed off on the electrical and electronics. Its all aesthetics now. They expect the last bit of this and that, furnishings and all, to be done tomorrow. That means the kids go back to school in two orns."
Prowl sat back, then nodded. "That's good news. I'd like some semblance of normal some time soon."
"You and me both. I'm both genitors now with Ironhide being gone for the mission."
"Well, with your aft …" Prowl said trailing off. He smirked at Ratchet as Ratchet smirked back.
Then he regretted it.
"Prowl," Ratchet said in a too loud voice. "You shouldn't think about your aft that way. I realize that its gigantic but consider how big Prime's servos are?"
Mayhem commenced.
=0=Terradive
He sat in his chair in his dedicated room at the Central Office in Metrotitan. Others affected by the arson commandeered others rooms and the District was working with them to put on as full a zoom cast as they could for their students under the circumstances. He watched his kids working quietly on their math as he switched views from their faces to their datapads to check on their progress. All of them were doing well with a few having this or that tweak in their process. He'd be glad when he could do it in person.
Sitting nearby working on reports, Roto was good company. It was the best perk of this situation that he could have Roto around during his orn more than before. Roto was remote working on data for kid's reports which were coming up for their latest I.E.P., Individual Educational Plan meetings, in a decaorn. He glanced up at Terri, then sign languaged his thoughts.
Terradive grinned, then nodded. He signed back, something he was doing lately to help Roto keep his skills in trim given a rise in deaf children on his schedule.
Roto rose and quietly slipped out. He'd return with snacks and drinks. It would be the best perk of all being burned out. Having Roto with him and having great treats was the only good thing Terradive could think of in the whole damned mess.
=0=Prime
He walked through Youngling Day listening to Jetta as he showed Prime the nearly finished building. Wirelite had just left and now Prime was given the grand tour. The place was pristine with only a few minor touches being added. The rooms had personal tweaks of the teachers who used them and the rest was upgraded when repaired. All in all, his kids would be back in two orns and that was a personal delight for him to know that.
Stepping out again on the sidewalk after congratulating everyone for their fine effort, Jetta and Prime watched the workers. Jetta glanced at Prime. "How ya doing?"
Prime glanced at him, this brother of a long storied life. "We are in good order. He would be a fool to challenge us. I am not adverse to obliterating them into their particulate matter."
Jetta considered that, something that Prime never did or said in the past. "You might want to do something about your frustration and anger, Orion. It might be a burden to your good senses if you don't."
Prime considered that, then glanced at the concerned handsome face of someone who learned to walk with him in the distant past. "When he is eliminated, then that will resolve itself."
Jetta nodded. "I am here for you if you need to unburden. You know that, Orion."
Prime nodded then stared at Jetta with emotional optics. "That keeps me going, old friend."
Trucks passing nearby on the street honked at both as they passed as both waved.
"Let's grab a bite. I'll catch you up on the new building sites and the addition to Earth 1's farm center," Jetta said.
The two walked off to a diner nearby to have a quick bite before going on to do the million and one things they had to do.
The morning would begin to gather with the coming light.
=0=Jailhouse
They walked to the conference rooms for their meeting with representation over their charges for the arsons just past. They entered to talk about the serious situation that had come home when they were arrested. They'd been sure they'd hidden their tracks but they hadn't. Now they were facing a long prison term at the Supermax and reality was a heavy train running on the tracks right toward them. It would be a long conversation among all of them seeking a deal for their guilty plea.
It would be up to the Prime and a board who heard these pleas whether they would get it. They wouldn't be the only one seeking a plea deal. Gravity had seen the list of witnesses against him and his old boyfriend was first on it. A few orns of fear and worry had led him to reality as well. Prime's case load for the Judiciary was getting longer by the minute.
He was scheduled to hear extradition cases for human billionaires shortly as well.
=0=Transitional Prison, Supermax Prison, Caveland District, Mars
They stood by the bars watching as more of their former fellows were marched to their portion of the big temporary jail designed to take hardcore prisoners who were captured in battle. There were nearly 30,000 individuals here with about 2,600 of them already sorted out because they were victims of circumstances or forced into service for a number of reasons beyond their control. That was a nice number given that most of these kind of hauls were bereft of serviceable possibilities at the start. It would take time and the hard work of the Corrections System to make it different.
Sandle had helped sort them. He knew his group of over 500 and worked through the lists to find more. He had signed on to the regular army and would work at Corrections as well as an 'inside man', someone who could spot the possible among the impossible and help sort prisoners with good rehab prospects. He was hard at it now walking along the pens with Winnie.
The mechs and femmes inside watched them as he passed, some of them catcalling him for being a turncoat, traitor and the usual. He ignored them as he helped Winnie and an intervention team sort out a prisoner here and there. It would take days and days before he got to the point where the return on investment was low.
Then he would work a shift as a rehab specialist with the teams Coleus ran to get them sorted even more. That the food was this good, the cities which now numbered over 723,000,000 individuals were so fabulous and the boredom in the prison so great would be a big help on the 'more possible marginals'. The day would come when the prison would go back to the quiet empty space that it usually was but not for a long while yet.
The sun continued to climb in the early morning sky.
=0=TBC 5-4-2023