Chapter 74
-0-The Day of Daze
Prime hurrahed them off, a gleaming red Lamborghini, a gleaming greenish brown Jeep, a hulking yet gleaming black truck and a smart looking hummer search and rescue ambulance rolling toward a gleaming Silverbolt. Since they were representing Autobot Nation, they'd taken a bit of care in their appearance and as such, the sun glistened more brightly in their direction.
Rolling up, they parked as the ramp door closed, the four of them transforming to root mode as Silverbolt took off. They were heading straight for a secured landing at what was now called Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington, the old Andrews Air Base. It was about eight miles from D.C. and used to accommodating very strange personnel, some of which were robotic aliens.
-0-On the road. Again: Ironhide
Ironhide sat in the midsection of Silverbolt's hold, his attention paid to everything including Will Lennox sitting in the corner reading a novel on his new Kindle. He himself was going over the schematics of the facility where they'd be*ON FRAGGIN' DISPLAY LIKE ZOO ANIMALS!*
Security was supposed to be tight and already commentary coming over the broadcast channels that were monitored day and night at Autobot HQ and N.E.S.T. HQ spoke about possible problematic areas of the situation. Apparently, there were militia people coming to town with arms on display to register their opinions of the situation. There were crowds of supporters, detractors and the curious that had come early and staked out claims to the area.
That didn't count the number of reporters and news services that were there to get a glimpse of FRAGGIN' ALIENS! and tell the world in deep breathless prose what they thought about the 'unknowable impenetrable strangeness of the universe'.
/... they don't know the half of it .../
There'd be groups of people who were protesting the idea that they were as old as the Autobots said they were since they believed that the Earth was only six thousand years old. There were those there who were prepared to attack them for 'being gay' because apparently their God hated 'fags'.
That group gave Ironhide pause. His own species didn't have an emphasis on gender one way or the other. They not only didn't care but most of them didn't even know they should. There were femmes but they were an extremely tiny portion of their population. Why, he didn't know. He hadn't thought about that fact until now. It just was.
They didn't need two opposite genders to reproduce. Ratchet was proof of that. The Matrix Prime carried was another and so was Vector Sigma, the Well of Allsparks and the Allspark Itself among other things. If mechs didn't hook up there'd be no one to frag. And if no one could frag, then there would've been a war a lot sooner than this one just from the pent up aggravation of enforced mechanical celibacy.
He grinned. He and Ratchet had that part of things covered *just fine*, thank you very much. He glanced at Ratchet who was going over data on the panel members in his processor then grinned again. Yes, they were *just* fine and dandy on that score.
There would be science geeks and personality freaks there and a few were already being carted off according to the news feed running in a security program off his main processor. It highlighted threats and oddities from a specified list he'd created every time they went on a run, gleaning from the constant stream of words that swam in threatening to drown him only the pertinent details.
A lot of strangely dressed individuals, their images surfacing into his thought process were there as well wearing odd alien looking costumes. A group calling themselves Luddites were there to protest against 'the rise of the machine' or some such slag.
He frowned. /... we aren't machines, slaggers … we're mechanical but we aren't machines .../
A number of people flogging their own causes were also there holding signs as they milled around. Some of them didn't want people to 'tread' on them, as if he would he considered and others just wanted them out because they were apparently part of some socialist plot to take over the world. He shook his head then leaned back. When they got there this was going to be a zoo.
The ones that worried him, the gun toters were the ones he began to zero in on now, pulling up then isolating their images for his 'clear and present danger' file.
-0-Andrews Air Base etc, ibid, op-sit
Silverbolt touched down and taxied to the VIP landing area where the 'must protects' always landed. There were several jets from other countries, their diplomats already taken away as Silverbolt slowed to a stop. A number of N.E.S.T. people were there to assist everyone through the gate led by Will Lennox who sat in Ironhide.
Ironhide who was leading off with a full escort of police cars and motorcycles was followed by Ratchet, then Sideswipe and finally Hound who's sensors were laid wide open. They made their way to the gate passing through into the glare of television cameras both stationary and airborne.
Lennox who was sitting in Ironhide felt his tension. "You alright, 'Hide?"
"No."
"It'll be okay." Lennox patted Ironhide's dash.
"No."
Lennox smiled as he sat back in the best most comfortable seats in a vehicle he ever sat on as he watched people outside try to come up and look inside the truck. They made their way to the highway and were on their way. Apparently, Ironhide found out there was a traffic light perk for VIP's that allowed nothing but green lights all the way to the venue. It was surrounded by massive crowds, the streets and the venue itself as news people there and overhead the drone of helicopters carrying news people there could be heard. It was unnerving but they continued as Ratchet chatted with the group, encouraging them all to *BE ON YOUR BEST BEHAVIOR, IRONHIDE*!
They crossed the parking lot, running a gauntlet of people, an ocean of sound and a lot of crazy that blurred around them. By the time they made their way around to the back of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Ironhide's tension level was greatly elevated.
The party paused in the small parking lot where they were led as a group of military officers, N.E.S.T. people, FBI and venue officials waiting for them came forward. Lennox leaned out as the window rolled down by itself to discuss the route inside for their party as all the others there looked at them with awe, a few with fright but most taking pictures with their cell phones and cameras.
Selfies in front of the trucks would be on Instagram and Facebook in seconds.
With the details clarified, Lennox got out and began to walk to the ramp that was waiting to take them inside. The venue had cleared so that the corridors making the transit into the building would be as easy and as wide as possible.
Ironhide whose sensors scanned the area for nearly ten miles in all directions followed slowly with the others coming up behind. The fit was reasonable and by the time they reached the open area of the hearing, the crowds were back and so were the cameras. The flash of lights was incredible so Ironhide filtered down his optics, warning the others as well. He paused before the entrance inside to take in the view.
Senators were sitting at a dais that held tables and chairs for them and their stuff. In front of them sitting at a table with several aides, General Glenn Morshower, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff waited. He rose to walk toward Lennox. The two talked together a moment in the mass of interested attendees. Then Morshower nodded to Ironhide as the talking heads playing in the background of Ironhide's processor made much of a man talking to a 'truck'.
/... I'm not a truck, you slaggers … I'm an Autobot … A FRAGGIN' CHAOS BRINGER! .../
Morshower moved back to the table to stand as Lennox gestured Ironhide to follow him. The room was hushed, the several hundred humans inside transfixed by the spectacle of sentient vehicles arriving in their midst. A large black GMC Top Kick pick up truck with stacks giving a roar as it rolled down and across the floor came to a stop in front of the panel. He turned slightly and drove to the far side of the room to point toward the crowd when he parked.
The next vehicle was a yellow and black Hummer Search and Rescue vehicle who drove in confidently and parked behind General Morshower. The next vehicle, a luminously beautiful red Lamborghini rolled in to stop behind Ratchet and cover the middle of the room. A gleaming late model Jeep rolled in, then turned sharply to face the side of the room nearest the entrance they used before shutting down its engine.
It was quiet a moment, the only real sound the clicking of cameras as everyone studied the four vehicles parked in the room. It was obvious that no one was driving them and that they were driving themselves. It was also obvious that they were the least likely looking aliens ever imagined in these parts.
The committee was silent for a moment, then Senator Hoxley, an Autobot supporter cleared her throat. "General Morshower, I don't know how to do the honors. Can you be of assistance?"
Morshower nodded then walked to Ratchet, moving to the door. A window came down so he leaned inside talking for a moment to no one in particular. Then he stepped back to walk to his seat to sit as he re-positioned the microphone in front of himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great great honor to present to you Ambassador Ratchet of the Autobot Army of Cybertron, Chief Medical Officer of the Autobot Armed Forces and the personally dispatched diplomat of the Matrix bearer of Cybertron, Optimus Prime." Then he leaned back in his chair to enjoy the show.
-0-Diego Garcia
They stood and/or sat in front of screens, from the mercs and Daniels to the N.E.S.T soldiers, civilian employees and Autobots. From the minute that Silverbolt had set down at Andrews, the focus of Diego beyond the on-duty personnel was to find a screen and plant themselves. Not only were the Autobots on the line, so was Diego Garcia, its personnel and the mission they so deeply believed in and slaved to achieve.
Ops Center in both places was crowded with spectators, all of them waiting to see what would happen. For the Autobots, it was a way to determine the scope and character of a species they were still learning about. Whether they could continue to protect humans here would depend on what happened today. Public opinion depended on this moment.
As Prime sat and watched, he was joined by another who had a great stake in the outcome. He was joined by Sam Witwicky, the Allspark.
-0-Walter E. Washington Convention Center Hearing
For a moment, nothing happened and then it did. Ratchet, a mild mannered appearing hummer began to transform. Unwinding, unbending, reshaping and undoing, body parts slipped and slid, moving here and there as a humanoid figure began to take shape. He was transforming slowly so the humans could see it better. Usually when they transformed it was almost faster than the optic could follow and sometimes muy dramatic in presentation.
Both were missing today.
For Will Lennox, it was just Ratchet. He'd seen nearly all the Autobots shift back and forth for a long time and it was as amazing to him as it probably was to anyone else but he wasn't overcome. He was just immensely, intensely impressed.
He'd warned his wife just before landing that the hearing would show strange things and as he pulled his phone out to check the messages, there were two. One was from his wife and the other his parents. He smiled as stowed it again to watch Ratchet as he finally finished his transformation.
Ratchet turned around to look at the panel members who were staring at him with shock and something akin to awe. Lanky and tall, Ratchet stood a bit over twenty feet tall, five feet shorter than Ironhide and nine or ten feet shorter than Prime. He had bright blue optics and a sweet expression on his face which were expressive and exuded intelligence. He was massive, enormous and as he stood in place staring at them with curiosity, they stared at him the same way.
Then Morshower arose to walk to him.
Ratchet leaned down, kneeling for the general.
"This open space beside me is for you, Ratchet," Morshower said quietly. "If there is more you need you can tell me now and I will get it arranged."
Ratchet looked at the open space next to Morshower's table that had a low metal bench for him to sit on. Beyond that were arrays of vocal listening dishes that would be trained upon him to allow him to be heard. He looked at Morshower. "It appears to be adequate," he said with a smile.
Morshower nodded then moved back to his table, watching with amusement as Ratchet rose again to walk to the bench, a very mild rumble heard and felt under his peds which he placed as carefully and lightly as he could in this, a floor not built to Autobot standards of support.
He sat down carefully, folding his long legs and settled rather comfortably as he considered the people before him. There were twelve... four, very pro Autobot, five with few opinions one way or the other and three that were virulently anti alien.
Morshower sat then cleared his throat. "Madame Chairwoman, Ambassador Ratchet and I are both open to questions about the Autobot garrison and our joint military operation that fall within public purview. Some, of course, are classified and thus won't be operational for discussion."
Senator Andrea Hoxley of California nodded then turned her gaze to the impassive face of the Autobot before her. "Um, I would like to say welcome to our hearing, Ambassador."
Ratchet who was grinning slightly nodded his head. "It's my pleasure, Senator, I assure you."
In a truck nearby with every possible internal device he possessed focused outward, Ironhide of Cybertron agreed. /... slag *yeah*, fraggers .../