The Diego Diaries: PsyOps 5
-0-The next day
They took the infants to RTR Tools, chatting up the grand-genitors. When they were finished, they turned and walked out into the mall. The morning was busy, the absorption of more than 200,000 bots over a very short period of time giving volume to their city. When they reached the street, they paused and looked around.
One of the soldiers being profiled was walking toward the shooting range, a segway filled with cameras and humans following. The clubs and cafes were filled with pre-shift mechs eating and drinking their meals, chatting and laughing together. Here and there, mechs sat reading the daily 'newspaper', the Autobot City Daily News catching up on the goings-on of their town.
Stepping out, they walked down the sidewalk that bordered the main highway that led to the housing district and onward to the ever growing aerie of the Seekers. The sun was up and it was -60 degrees, a gentle breeze ruffling the sandy soil that was carefully groomed in front of every place that had some. The city was impeccably clean, the businesses that edged streets careful in the maintenance of their store fronts and the general atmosphere was one of great pride of place.
In the past, most were relegated, the low castes, to marginal areas. The best areas of habitation and recreation were held in the grip of the upper crust. They were jammed into substandard housing, given little opportunity and the tired neighborhoods sometimes showed this fatigue. But most of them were clean, their residents sometimes slapping paint on the walls of their tenements making as they did an attempt to show their quality.
That had carried over here and everywhere they looked mechs were sweeping the sidewalks in front of their stores. Others were picking up pieces of this or that which may have fallen out of something or other and landed on the ground. It was a remarkably beautiful city.
And familiar.
-One night in the Habitat
"What amazes me is how much like our own world this one is. The city has organization like any city on our planet. Their media is free and creative, their news is distributed through their electronic newspapers and programming. They have schools and businesses that are so familiar its like being at home. Sports are as fabulous and familiar as they are at home," Antonio said. "Only ten times more amazing of course. We are talking about mechanical beings."
"They are mechanical in make up but they are social beings, have families and ethics, work hard and love their city and culture. They have mythology and history which they preserve and pass onward. They take care of each other and I like this cashless society. If you need something, you go to the store or place its made and get it. If you want or need something from Earth, you put your order on the Community Bulletin Board in the proper place in the Requisitions link and it comes. They have work that is meaningful. They supply things to their people that need and want them. They employ everyone and preserve and pass on skills at the same time in all the work areas including entrepreneurial classes and there is amity. I find this incredibly remarkable. Imagine, going to a store and getting what you need without money. I can't," Sheila said nodding.
"They are technically advanced on a scale that I am still struggling to understand," Michio said nodding. "Yet they trick or treat and have something called Christmas Surprise. They are security minded but have a free society where information is shared with all. They are spiritual in their practices, science based in their thinking and utterly amazing. I am so honored to be here and experience this."
They all nodded. "Me too," Sheila said with heartfelt emotion.
-0-On the street
They walked toward the schools, Hero nestled in her old pa's arm. She had been bathed and carefully dressed by Ironhide who had chosen white booties, white matching blankets and a white knit cap with a colorful butterfly crocheted into the corner at a jaunty angle. She was beautiful in his optics and he walked with great pride accepting the odd compliment here and there from passing mechs with an almost tearful joy.
Ratchet ambled along with a grin enjoying Ironhide's joy. He had always been a very attentive atar, making sure his little mechs had all the attention and devices possible. It had been spark breaking to put Orion and Praxus in school at such a tender age. It was easy with Sunspot. He loved and needed school. Orion and Praxus would rather hang out with them, Ironhide especially. But they were attending school and their big mopey dad had taken a long time to adjust.
Then his daughter arrived.
His. Daughter.
His spark had become two sizes too big with his little mechs. Those three were his delight. But having a daughter had been something else altogether. She was tiny and petite. She was black like him and looked like him. She wore a braid of red and white like her Ada and older brother, a yellow flower for her other two brothers. Her little optics were bright and inquisitive, lingering on her big old pa often. Her tiny wings were a caution. He loved them. They were petite like her and delicate.
She was slagging awesome.
Her name was Hero.
Hero.
He felt a contentment in his family that had been missing forever. He didn't know it was until now but it had been. Now he would be the atar his own was. He would lead football leagues, do Autobot Scouts when Ratchet remembered it, the slagger and be a pa for his little and big ones the way he never knew he wanted to be. Now they were going to conferences to see how his little infants were doing in school. It used to scare him down to his CNA. Not now.
He hoped.
They reached the school and entered pausing to chat with this and that genitor, hear a word or two about this and that school thing as a board member and then they went upstairs. Stepping off, they walked to the lounge chairs and couches in the foyer of the Sparkling School and prepared to sit.
"Ironhide! Ratchet!"
They turned and paused, a smiling Roto walking toward them. Nodding, feeling the nascent feelings of nausea that conferences always gave them since the early orns, they meekly followed their infants' main teacher into the first conference room to hear the music.
Other conferences were going on in the other rooms but they were cornered by a number of mechs and a femme who had come in for their little bit of the Orion and Praxus pies. Ratchet and Ironhide sat quietly looking at each other and then the professionals as they organized. Then the professionals turned to them with smiles.
"So," Roto began. "When do we get Hero?"
"When the Pit freezes over," Ironhide said. "This sparkling is staying with me to get the advantages. I feel I failed Praxus giving him up so early. Mech missed out on all the advantages. Orion got the benefit of a lot of servos on. This femmeling will get the same chances. Least I can do."
Ratchet smirked at Ironhide and then Roto. "Apparently, the Chaos Bringer has spoken."
Ironhide nodded. "Slagging right." He paused. "Sorry for the language."
The mood was broken and everyone grinned. "What sort of advantages beyond the obvious does she get?" a small femme said. She was Lyrica. She was a music, art and speech therapist who had just graduated and knew nothing about the moving feast that was Ironhide and Ratchet.
"Well," Ironhide began uneasily. "She gets to learn the city. She gets to meet people. Most people think she's slagging beautiful. Uh, sorry. We get to go on the trains. She likes them. She smiles as we ride along. Then she sits in her little box bed on a pallet with pillows propping her up while I do my inventory and check munitions. We talk and I show her things. She likes small munitions. Bullets mostly. I'm not sure if they're her favorites. She's kind of young yet and sort of learning about them. Little mechs decided they like grenades," Ironhide said with a proud smile. "Every orn about midorn she naps on the box bed on my desk as I do my work. We go to see Ratchet in the Hospital. She really likes the elevators. Maybe she'll choose a medical career. She hasn't made up her processor yet. I'm showing her options."
They all nodded, big grins on their faces as it dawned on them that he was serious. The little femme leaned forward. "That's interesting."
"I think so," he said slightly defensively. "I spend a lot of time taking care of her because Ratchet gets pulled out of things so much. I picked out her outfit. I like her little hat. Terradive told me that keeping their processor warm helps it develop. Her little hats match her booties and blankets. I think keeping her warm is a good thing, right Ratchet?" he asked looking at his bond.
Ratchet nodded. "I think its optimal, Only One. You're doing a fine job of it too."
Ironhide nodded and looked at the teachers with a slight grin. "I think so too."
Roto nodded, his grin broad and his affection for both of them evident. He looked at Lyrica. "This little femmeling is the sister of the first sparkling born here. You've met Orion."
She nodded. "That little mech is the first on our list."
He nodded and picked up his datapad. "That's right. Orion, our little marauder is doing a good job," he began. When he was concluded, they would know that Orion could dog paddle now especially when held up a little. He was getting shapes and sizes ahead of schedule. He could plug a cube or rectangle into a hole with pretty good dexterity. His walking skills were stellar for a bot progressing ahead of the curve and his speech was gathering in volume of words and complexity of sentence composition.
He was still too strong to be unsupervised by he was loving and gentle in his own way. His nemesis was less a nemesis than a rival. They were competing for friends, toys and growth achievement. Han was one smart little cookie.
Orion was making his way along the sparkling learning continuum with speed, passing milestone after milestone. He was well liked by all the adults who managed him and had a multitude of friends. He loved his dollies, Mimi and TOTO!
All in all, he was right at or ahead of where he needed to be.
Ratchet and Ironhide themselves would continue to work on voice volume, his tendency to hug and kiss things smaller than him with varying results and his sometimes headstrong tendency to act before he thought.
They nodded mentally transcribing all that the teachers said. The art they were given was described and admired, the little video records of his dance class, his swimming class, his art, speech and exercise classes were gratefully received in downloads. All in all, he was optimal.
Ratchet leaned back and smiled. "This sparkling will be the death of me. I come here with trembling knee structures every time."
"He's grown so much. He's come a long way. He's not the hard aft little sparkling he once was. Mostly. Sometimes," Roto said and they all chuckled.
"He's terribly well liked by everyone and you know I have dibs on him if you ever decide to farm him out," Roto said.
Ratchet nodded and grinned. Leaning on his elbows, Ratchet looked at Roto. "Tell me about you and Terradive."
Roto looked at Ratchet and grinned. "You're too late. We bonded a while back."
"And you never told me? You know, The Hourly News announces bonds to the city. You're holding back, Roto and I'm shocked I tell you," Ratchet said.
"You ought to be, old mech," Ironhide said with a slight grin of his own. "Might knock some sense into you."
"Never," Ratchet said with a grin.
Roto chuckled and then reached for the datapad marked Praxus. "You two are hopeless. Let me tell you about Pax."
They leaned forward and listened.
Praxus, son of Ratchet and Ironhide, brother of Orion, Sunspot, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker; brother-in-law of Bluestreak, uncle/cousin of Iacon, Kaon, Uraya, Miracle, T-Bar, Spirit and Rambler; grandsparkling of Ravel and Tie Down; nephew of Prowl and Prime, Sparkling for the Ages was doing well too.
"He is doing just what he is needed to do for his age and model. He's advanced in walking and his speech is very much on track for his age. He's strong in the arts, likes pre-reading activities and is rather skilled in picking up on things that are mathematical in orientation. He can float on his back and doesn't mind walking around at the bottom of the pool finding things and looking up at the adults smiling down at him. His strength is optimal but he doesn't assert it against others so he can play with almost no supervision with others.
"He's a good mech, Ratchet and Ironhide. Easy to teach, sweet and gentle in manner and very sharing with his stuff," Roto concluded.
The others gave their reports and it was all good. His art work was adored and remarked over, both of the infant's badges of merit and accomplishment were awarded and it was over.
Sitting back relaxing, they both grinned. "That was good."
"It was," Roto said as Neo leaned in with a grin.
"When do we get that sparkling, Ironhide?" she asked.
"I think we have to go," Ironhide said standing. "We have another conference. Thanks for everything. Good bye," he said turning and hurrying out.
They all sat and stared at the big figure disappearing into the crowded lounge area. "That bot is light on his peds," Roto said.
"I know. He's sad that way," Ratchet said with a chuckle. He rose and gathered their bounty. "You will probably see that sparkling, Neo when she's ready for her pre-bond."
Neo grinned. "I know what he feels. The only thing that makes Fifi being in school good is that I get to work here."
"Bingo," Ratchet said turning and walking to the door. "See ya later," he said as he left. He walked to Ironhide who was standing watching the door warily. "Woosie. Big femme."
"You can't make me feel badly, Ratchet," Ironhide said with a grin. "Let's go see about Sunspot."
Ratchet nodded.
"Do you have their art and badges? They sure won a lot of badges, Ratchet," Ironhide said proudly turning with Ratchet for the elevator.
"They are stellar sparklings, Ironhide. Just like their atar," Ratchet said with a grin.
"They are," Ironhide said, then he looked down at Ratchet. "Oh, ha-ha, Ratchet," he said with a big grin.
Ratchet merely chuckled.
=0=TBC
2012 (11)