NOTE: Editing stoopid stuff. :D
-0-And now, on with the show (hopefully)
The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 26
They gathered the infants together herding them to their carriers for transport. As they walked back out of the door, Ratchet called for Gypsy to pause. She did, walking to Ratchet as he gestured her to come. Pausing next to him, she looked up at both Prowl and Ratchet. Turning to the committee, Ratchet introduced her. "This is Gypsy. She is the head doctor on Mars for infants, younglings, femmes and the elderly. She is a rare creature among our kind. She is a femme."
The place got quiet. The committee listened without comment. Ratchet looked at her. "She has two youngling mechs that are outstanding, a bond that is a gifted mech with multiple skills and she possesses a spark of pure gold herself. Gypsy can tell you a bit about gender as it pertains to us. I have already discussed with her the taboos that are to be held. But I want her to explain from the position of a minority femme in a majority mech species what it all means to her and to us."
Ratchet sat as Gypsy looked out over the room. She turned and looked at the committee who were transfixed by her. "My name is Gypsy. I was born on Cybertron but have lived most of my life in colonies here and there. Autobot City is the first real home and real Cybertronian city I have ever lived in.
"I am a minority. Saying that about me is actually generous. There are so few of us femmes as to make it difficult to gauge our numbers in the greater population. Our species is mech oriented and populated and has been so since the creation. It was supposed to be that way. It is who we are. Femmes came into the population a long time ago but are only a tiny marginal portion of the overall population. We propagate ourselves without a thought to gender. Almost every infant that we have is mech. There were the odd femmes here and there but they were incredibly rare. Now there is time and choice so femmes are increasing. How is unnecessary. It is enough that it is so. The idea of three of the infants you saw being femme would be statistically improbable in the size group that was brought here for you to see if this had been Cybertron.
"We are as a species genderless. We do have a population that is majority mech but gender is not an issue with us. It doesn't matter. We don't have that kind of thinking in our culture, languages or mental processes. We don't even have words in our languages and dialects that are gender based. Gender is irrelevant. Mechs bond with mechs. Mechs bond with femmes. Rarely, femmes bond with femmes. We don't consider gender in our relationships. It doesn't matter.
"I am aware that it does to some of you. That is your cultural point of view. For us, this is irrelevant. I could give you a lot of science to explain things. I could tell you a lot of stories that fill in the background but that is taboo. It should not matter that we are a predominantly mech society with bonds established among the mechs. I would state that if the same thing happened here among you, it would be the same. Seeking affection and having relationships is a drive most species have intrinsically within themselves. We are no different." She turned and looked at Ratchet who nodded. Turning to the committee, she bowed her helm politely and walked to the door and beyond. She joined the group moving the sparklings back to the airport and was gone in seconds.
The committee considered the testimony, then the Chairman nodded. "I would like to have Harold Praeger of Indiana ask questions now."
That member was an older man with a thatch of gray hair and a kindly grandfatherly demeanor. He was intensely conservative and given to conspiracy theories. He looked at Ratchet. "That was interesting. I will grant that it was interesting but it only underscores the fact that you are settling Mars in great numbers. How many of your people live in the city now?"
"More than 847,000 individuals," Ratchet said.
There was an audible gasp in the room, then Praeger nodded. "That is a serious invasion of our solar system, Ambassador. You were only supposed to hold Shockwave on Mars, not nearly a million of your people."
"We have been very open about our situation on Mars. We allow film crews to go about the day with our soldiers. We allow scientists to come into our labs and go about the system with our scientists. We also allow a great number of soldiers and their families to come and go at will. We broadcast endless hours of programming that is not limited to special events like football games. We also broadcast The Hourly News four times a day, our own programming such as !*The Jazz and Blaster Show*! and much more. We have been open with you. We have allowed access from day one. You should not be surprised by the size of our population because we allow broadcast of our refugee reclamations. Your outrage is strange to me."
"How many more are coming? What does this mean that you are populating a planet that is next to us? You have space going capabilities and we don't yet. How can we trust that you won't turn around and dominate us?"he asked.
Ratchet considered the man and understood from his scans that he was deeply serious. His concerns were real to him. He wasn't stunting for the cameras. This was what he really felt. "We haven't yet and we won't. We have a serious technological advantage over you and we have only been allies anyway. Our Prime is the most ethical individual in residence in this solar system. He would not countenance any behavior that would bring dishonor to our people."
"We have your word alone. How can we believe that?" he asked.
"Because you have our collective word. We have been hurt and some of us pushed to the edge of death protecting Earth. We could have left with the end of The Fallen but we didn't because we understand that you would be put into the worst kind of jeopardy. We could not leave you alone in that situation," Ratchet explained. "It is who we are."
He looked at Ratchet, then his list of questions. "I don't believe you. I don't believe that you will be an ally for the duration. If you were you would allow human colonization of Mars. You would be more open about yourself. You won't tell us about your deity or even if you have one. What was the meaning of the Festival of Primus?"
Ratchet looked at him a moment. "What do you know about that festival?"
"I have heard about it, that it 's a festival that deals with your deity," he replied. "You have rituals dealing with your god but you don't talk about them?. You don't talk about your temple and what happens there. I am told that relics of a strange magical variety are housed there and that rituals go on that have a tinge of demonic intentions about them. Why don't you clear that up for us?"
"I have never told about our festival, feelings about creators or our Temple and I am not aware that anyone else has. We have pulled our broadcasting for festivals but we have never mentioned what they were or what happened. Maybe you can enlighten me about where you get your information, Congressman," Ratchet said.
He looked at Ratchet. "There is information in the world that tells a lot of things about you and your culture, Ambassador. I don't have to tell you my sources. Google it."
"I will be looking into this, Congressman. I would like to tell you that very little of what you said is correct and your characterizations of demonic behavior are demented in and of themselves. If you feel stung by that remark, good."
"Did I hit a nerve, Ambassador? Did I actually shine a light into your closet and allow our people to see the truth?" he asked.
"No, actually. You just proved that you are a bigoted nut case," Ratchet replied.
General laughter met that remark and the Chairman's gavel hit the table. The room settled. He looked at Ratchet. "I would appreciate it if you would hold negative characterizations in check, Ambassador."
"You don't consider being accused of demonic behavior negative?"Ratchet replied sharply. "Or is that different when it comes from one of you toward us?"
The Chairman looked at him. "You might want to answer some of the questions he asked and maybe that will be cleared up a bit."
"And you might want to pull your personal bigotry back into your skulls when discussing *aliens* and their cultures. If I decided to discuss the disconcerting things that humans do, I could be crude like Congressman Praeger too."
"Ambassador, I would caution you regarding this tactic. We are here to divine information of mutual interest that will in the end influence future legislation that has a bearing on you and your people."The Chairman sounded as testy as Ratchet felt.
Ratchet ran the algorithms and sent a ping to Prime. He leaned forward slightly. "You are making a threat to me that you can't actually make happen in reality. If you decide to make negative legislation against us, what would it mean? You will kick us off Mars? Since you are threatening us, maybe you can tell us what you actually intend to do."
The Chairman leaned to another sitting behind him, the two talking together for a moment. Then he turned around and looked at Ratchet. "Your attitude has been noted, Ambassador."
"And so has yours. We are very much aware that you and six of your colleagues are in favor of breaking the treaties and pushing us out of the system. Why you would think that is a good idea calls into question in my mind your fitness to serve. Be that as it may, we are here to stay. We are here to protect this system because without us, you would be dead. All of you."
They glared at each other. Prowl glanced at Ratchet a moment. :Hey. What's up here? I have no idea what this means. Other than they hate us:
:There's nothing to lose here, Prowler. The Earth is going to evaluate us by what happens here and now. I am not going to be a pushover:
:Okay: Prowl looked at the committee chairman. "Mr. Chairman, you are puzzling to me. You seem to have a fallacy about what the Decepticons are going to do if for some reason we do leave this system. You seem to believe that they will follow us. They won't. I am unclear about how you believe you will survive them if they stay, which they will. It is in our experience that they never leave an adversary alive or free. If you could enlighten us on your thinking, we would be happy to have that clarity."
The Chairman looked at Prowl. "You seem to think you can tell us what you want and we should believe you. We seriously believe that they will follow you."
"Why?" Prowl asked. "What data do you have that will support that claim? You must certainly have that conclusion based on something more than your … gut?"
He looked at Prowl. "We have no argument with the Decepticons. They don't have a grudge against us. We can negotiate a treaty and they will leave us alone."
Prowl blinked and glanced at Ratchet who sat looking at them with incredulity. The big winger looked at the Chairman."You are in need of help if you believe that. You ignore that Megatron was held and humiliated for eighty years by your people. You forget that the Allspark was destroyed here. His mentor, The Fallen was killed here. He has lost two major campaigns on this planet with human intervention being part and parcel of that effort. You forget that your people have been our allies for several years now. You are deluded if you think that there is anything that you can say or do that will change Megatron's mind about you."
"You don't have all the information." The Chairman looked at Prowl with a cold expression. "You can't tell us what to think or do. We are very clear that given a clean break with you, the Decepticons will find that there is nothing here that is a threat or a benefit."
"You are under the delusion that Megatron can be reasoned with and that such considerations matter to him," Ratchet said. "We just told you about two new Decepticon installations that are being built within the range of this system and that one of them is recruiting Decepticon units to join. How is that reality not part of your thinking? How do you imagine that grudges can just be wished away? There are grudges that you humans still bear against each other over lesser events that are a thousand years old. Seriously, what the frag?"
The mood of the audience was becoming tense and restless as the committee exploded into arguments. Those that had a clue on the panel argued with those that didn't. As that happened, the scene outside was changing.
-0-At the airport
The side ramp for Gamma opened and he slipped out transforming on the downward slide as he did. The ramp was an emergency exit on the backside of the big mechanism whose great bulk afforded a screen for his transit. He made good time past the big ships and then a cover of warehouses. They allowed his progress to be unseen as he traversed around hangars and buildings to finally reach the gate. He slipped through once a N.E.S.T. official boarded and headed for the Washington Center five miles away.
No one paid more than passing attention to the spectacularly detailed semi tractor truck as it sped along the highway. It glistened from layers of attention and when it reached the Center entered the secured area pulling to a stop in their waiting space. Opening his door, the N.E.S.T. official stepped out standing back to give the big mechanism room.
Ratchet had a conversation going all the way from the airport to the Center with Prowl adding the odd pointed comment here and there. When it was clear that Prime was outside, he looked at the committee whose arguments were winding down. "Gentlemen," he said.
They paused and looked at Ratchet. "Ambassador," the Chairman replied.
"There seems to be a difference of opinion here that needs clarification by someone with more experience in his little finger than your entire species had if it could be distilled from everyone. You need to speak to someone of great responsibility, experience and even greater wisdom than me. So I am asking for an indulgence for a moment." Ratchet stood up and walked to the door blocking the view as outside the sound of a big mechanism transforming could clearly be heard.
Ratchet grinned at Prime who nodded."Allow me to do the honors." Ratchet turned and walked back to his seat where he stood facing the committee, Prowl rising to join him. He looked at the representatives, then the audience who were watching. Staring directly at the Chairman, Ratchet did the honors."I would like to present to this gathering, the greatest Cybertronian alive, the bearer of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, the Creation Matrix of Cybertron. It is my great honor to present the only duly surviving legal leader of our people, Optimus Prime."
The sound of heavy treads echoed in the great room as a massive mechanism walked to the doorway. He stood staring inside, his charisma proceeding him. Then he stepped inside to pause before the committee. He looked at the audience who looked up at him. The committee stared with surprise and no little amount of intimidation when he turned and looked at them. Glancing at Ratchet and Prowl, he nodded.
He was beautiful. He was powerful. He seemed sixty feet tall and he exuded incredible intelligence and power. He shimmered under the lights and in the flash of cameras, the colors of his chassis gleamed deep and rich. His chrome features glistened as well. His optics were piercing and his manner calm as befit the wisdom and ability such a figure would represent. He had a very handsome face oddly enough, one that was expressive and oddly compassionate. He exuded ability and knowledge, an unfathomable age and a gentlemanly manner that was reassuring. He was magnificent and unexpected. No one afterward would be able to say to another that this was what they expected.
This was beyond what they had seen among the Cybertronians already and off the scale of expectations by even the most imaginative among them. The big mechanism stared at the committee, then spoke. "My name is Optimus Prime,"he said in his rich beautiful baritone.
No one spoke for a moment.
-0-TBC
2013 (2)