The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box Interlude 7 (234/72) EDITED FOR BOO BOOS :D
-0-Here and there about town on GAME DAY! PLAY OFFS HO!
The ship settled, a cargo vessel which had made several stops on Earth before returning to the city. In a protected area of the cargo hold, a mech tech held two humans who had sneaked aboard in a semi-death filled desire to go to Mars. They were found thankfully before the hatch was to be opened and corralled into a section of the ship that operated emergency force fields for just such eventualities.
This was not the first attempt.
The Officer of the Orn stood nearby with a member of the Day Watch and Springer. They bantered together as cargo was off-loaded, then entered walking to the compartment where the two sat on boxes with forlorn expressions. Pausing before them, Springer smirked. "You do understand without this force field you would be tens kinds of dead."
"I just want to come here. I love watching stuff about this place and its a game day. I would love to watch Iacon beat Altihex," one of them said.
The Day Watch officer snorted. "Who wouldn't?"
Springer shook his helm. "Death by football. We have to detain you here and send this ship back. We're going to be merciful. You will be allowed to leave the ship without anyone knowing you were on board. You can know you made it to Mars but that's about it."
"Can we come outside and step on the ground?" one of them asked hopefully.
"You could but you'd be dead. The containment field around you isn't portable. Don't do this again. We don't want to haul anyone back dead," Springer said. He nodded and his group turned leaving. The ship took off and no one would ever know that two longshoremen at the Port of Los Angeles were among the first humans to ever set down on another planet.
In the stadiums nearby, crews who maintained the facility worked overtime to inspect every square inch. All of it checked out including the score boards and the announcers booth. Electronics had scoured the facility and signed off on the schematic and equipment that would do the broadcast not only to all of Mars but to the six and a half billion or more expected to watch the game on Earth.
There would also be a new twist. The game would be 'leaked' on the relay line that had been set up in the psyops for Paragon and Company to peruse. It would happen with a burst of static indicating a device going on the fritz, then settle out. The signal would leak toward them on a relay that they already knew about, one which had just been recently 'maintenanced' and found A-0K. It would continue to leak with minor visits from techs for the duration who would somehow never manage to fix it.
The very first image they would see of the City of the Primes would be that of hundreds of thousands of citizens and soldiers cheering on a playoff game of Cybertronian football in one of two massive stadiums and an overflowing airfield. The turnout was expected to run to everyone who could manage to crawl to one of the three locations. The game would also be broadcast into Ops Center for the three crewmechs who had drawn the short straw.
It would be epic. It would be the first salvo toward the Seekers and soldiers of the opposition.
The airfield was beginning to fill up as citizens arrived to find a place to watch. The stadiums were already hosting occupants with certain areas blocked for the leadership. Prime had argued against it proclaiming everyone was equal so they should take their chances along with everyone else.
The boos and shout downs of that egalitarian idea were long and loud. Prime was a personage who deserved and earned his seat they counter argued. The fam and others were … what was it Sunstreaker so elegantly opined? … 'slagging entourage' who would 'help with the prestige of his office' somehow. How was never explained.
Prime's argument faded against superior numbers and Prowl's unbending sense of protocol regarding the person of the Primes.
A run on 'finger foods' at the two big groceries, all of the cafes and bakeries signaled a serious after game culture was going to be blooming. The usual after game dinner at Cafe Praxus was programmed into the usual game day scheme by Bluestreak the Ever Efficient.
All they needed was to go.
-0-In the locker rooms
"And in conclusion, we know that the honor of Altihex is in our servos. If we let that slag heap Praxus Science get into the finals, we deserve to burn in the Pit. All of the honored dead, the history of Altihex and our families are depending on us to WIN!"
The coach stood looking at his team, their faces watching him with varying expressions of angst and worry.
"Uh, thanks, coach. No pressure here," one said as the others nodded.
Over there, next door …
"And in conclusion, we know that the honor of Iacon is in our servos. If we let that slag heap Praxus Science get into the finals, we deserve to burn in the Pit. All of the honored dead, the history of Iacon and our families are depending on us to WIN!"
"I want to go home." -their star center said as the others nodded.
-0-On the way to the game
They walked in and found seats, all of the citizens of the city. Oddly enough, they found the seats they always had, no one else taking them who arrived earlier. Some things were hard to program out including the idea that you didn't usurp someone else's seat even if it was a good one.
Uniformity was a cruel task master.
Starscream sat down and settled Dart on his lap. "Did you get the message from Herling and Neo?"
"I did," Thundercracker said nodding. "I'll do the honors."
"Good," Sky Warp said as he sat wearily. "I don't feel like doing it."
"If you had gone to the Doctor when I told you to you would feel better," Starscream said with a pointed glance.
Sky Warp glared back. "Thanks, Mom."
"You're both slaggers," Thundercracker said with a grin.
-0-Ops Center
"Time to go," Prowl said glancing at Ratchet. "Did you get the message from Neo and Herling?"
"Yep," Ratchet said with a grin.
"Okay," Prowl said as everyone turned to go. They were meeting everyone from the family there rather than trying to find them in the gathering multitudes that were heading for the three locations.
The last ships to land before the airfield closed were from Earth and contained the humans who always came. Riding on segways toward the municipal stadium and their dedicated space, General and Mrs. Morshower, Colonel and Mrs. Fulton, Warren and Judy Roberts, the femmes of Diego Garcia and Sam Witwicky among others buzzed along. They would be joined at the stadium by the scientists who had received unlimited time to stay because they were experimenting about the long term effects on the body living on a low gravity world with themselves as subjects.
They weren't born yesterday, our scientists.
The filmmakers were everywhere filming madly for the last two episodes of Platoon's first season. They had not only been renewed, they were given the moon. This was the highest rated show on any system on Earth. Among their subjects today were groups of Hu An who were going to the stadium too as honored guests of the Prime.
It was going to blow minds when Earth saw the next episode.
The stadium began to fill up as the city took a break to watch the mayhem known as Cybertronian Football. In the middle of the field was a keyboard for Alor who was standing in the entrance gateway of the arena waiting for Prime to arrive. He would play the anthem and a short musical interlude before that to signal everyone to park their afts.
The family made it to the gateway liberating sparklings from the twins and Bluestreak. Ratchet grabbed his genitors from the mass and steered them carefully to the stairs. Up they all went and found their places, leaving Optimus behind to be serenaded in.
The humans paused to chat with him, their happiness captured along with Optimus on the pre-game broadcast that had already begun. It was a traditional thing now, the pre-game broadcast to Mars and Earth. It would begin on Earth teevee via MCA as a shot of the Emblem of the Primes. That would fade to a revolving set of shots of the city, all of it geared to show the populace heading for the game. It would focus on every district, every area, every activity of the city until they were all shown. Then Blaster with substitute co-host, Blurr would come on board in the booth over the field hooking up with the human broadcasters to fill in the details of what they were watching as well as game play-by-play.
Prime was shown waiting, chatting and greeting mechs as they walked in, some with infants, some with friends, hometown fans sporting some color that identified them as champions of their particular team. It was the first time that Earth saw him and his importance among the populace. A shot of Ratchet carrying a small flag for Iacon United crossed the screen as he helped a number of mechs and small infants instantly recognizable as his own up stairs to their row.
Mechs walking down streets in districts all over town were shown and the new viewing area of the airfield was as well. The Supremes were there with Silverbolt, Astrotrain, Sky Lynx and other big ships transformed to root mode to sit and watch. A structure beyond them could be seen in some angles but it wasn't named in any shots.
It was the prison.
The senators and Sentinel Prime sat on chairs outside as the screens broadcasting the game played behind them. There was no commentary, just the sights and sounds of the city and her population as they gathered. They listened to it even as they watched the airfield barely visible over the curve of a hill filling up.
"That's a lot of mechs," Ratbat said to no one in particular.
Prime nodded. "It is."
"Being penned up is slag," Decimus opined to no one in particular.
"It is," Prime said with a small sensation of mirth. It would remain small.
Blind Spot and Turmoil stood at the bars staring at the movement on the airfield. They had been watching the game marveling at the city and its inhabitants. It had been a steady growth process since they had been jailed and it impressed even them. They all could see the maze of towers that kept growing skyward. It was as close to home as they had been in ages.
Neither had a word to say to the other.
Neither did the Decepticon prisoners newly captured who were living in the cell block nearby. They couldn't see the airfield from where they were but they were massed around the monitors that fed city life day and night into their area. They were watching the game with astonishment.
It would be the last crack in the dam for most of them.
=0=At the arena
They huddled together, all of the visitors and newly minted Cybertronian citizens to watch. The families of the soldiers were here for the game, some of them for the very first time. They stood almost shivering with excitement as they glanced around at the forest of enormous beings that surrounded them everywhere they looked.
The director of the Autobot Project, a mutual agreement with Sciences to study the feasibility of a permanent settlement of humans on Mars stood with everyone else. He was working on getting a chance to stay here in the habitat to work full time with Wheeljack and the designated project director and interface, Plebe. If he did, his assistants would be coming with him to help. They weren't aware of that possibility. He didn't tell them in case things fell through. Cindy and Lola Teasdale were Autobot fanatics and if the opportunity didn't pan out he would never hear the end of it. He grinned as he stood on the platform ready to watch the most awesome football game he would see anywhere.
Ever.
The crowds filed into all three sites, then began to taper off as everyone coming finally arrived. Prime stood watching as Alor walked out to almost lethal acclaim from the crowd. With a grin, he began to play the two pieces that had come to symbolize football among their kind, both written by him before playing the Anthem of the Primes, also his work.
Prime stood in the sunshine, his magnificence obvious to everyone who looked at him. He was stupendous and for the first time, Earth would see it here as well. They would see him take the honors of the crowd and watch the assembled multitudes show all who bothered to look how much he meant to them.
The last piece died away. Then everyone stood up waiting. Alor began to play as the flags of Cybertron and the Primes snapped in the breeze where they hung on poles all around the stadiums and city. There were banners of the city-states at equal intervals around the stadiums along with the greater symbols. It could have been Cybertron on any day. But it was Mars and their leader stepped out of the shadow of the gateway pausing before turning to go up the steps to his seat.
The roar was organic, immense and powerful. It rose up like a tsunami flowing upward into the heavens. The colors were intense as flags were waved by mechs who saluted their leader. The sound of Seekers crying out their war cries in his honor greeted him as he walked along the aisle. The music underpinned the sound, rising and falling with it as Alor played Prime to his seat.
The outpouring continued as he stood with his family at the seat he would occupy during the game. He looked down and nodded to his human allies, all of them cheering him too. He grinned and looked around at the masses who had heard him and had come to Mars, an act of faith as strong and hopeful as any he had experienced in vorns. As he stood taking their salute, he resolved yet again that he would be not only what they hoped for but what they needed as well.
-0-TBC
2013 (3)