The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box Returns 11 (253) edited for boo boos :D
-0-On the line
The activity seemed to pick up as groups moved here and there taking, putting and picking up stuff, mechs, equipment and pallets of ammunition, medical supplies and other things. It was dizzying.
:They have amazing organization: the Defense Director for France said. :But then, we are looking at mechanical minds:
:Don't underestimate the soulful side of these people, General: Morshower said. :They are as emotional and as … I hate to say human but it conveys the depth of what I want to say … as any of us. They are more than the sum of their parts:
General Le Vecque nodded as they turned to watch a new type of ship landing. It was swift, small and had view ports all around its bulkheads and over its domed top. One could sit and watch out the windows for the entirety of the trip to Mars and back again. The seating was airplane style and there were two passengers inside besides the pilot. They arose when the ship signaled internally that getting up was safe. Moving to the main exit, they waited with carry on baggage in hand. The hatch opened and they walked down the ramp to the ground. Standing together as they waited for their host guide to walk toward them, they glanced around. No one seemed to notice who they were for a moment, then Sam exclaimed. "Mikaela!"
All of them turned to him, then back to the two humans who were met by a mech from the City Hall. They were gathered into his servos, then all headed toward Metroplex District and the confines of Ultra Magnus. As they passed by, Sam and the rest of his party watched.
:Is that the girl with you in Egypt?: Morshower asked curiously.
Sam glanced at him a moment, then stared at the bot and his handful as they disappeared into the traffic and hinterlands. "Yeah. That's her. I … what is she doing here?: he asked to no one in particular.
They looked at him, then the frenzy around them drew them back, that and the exotic beauty of the Hu An.
-0-Larc
She stood at the edge of the flight line, pausing while ships left. Loading and unloading alongside the Cybertronians had been a different game this time and they had leaned into it. They had been made welcome, the big mechanisms going out of their way to include them. It was good, all good.
Turning, she looked at a series of packing crates nearby upon which some of the small organics were poised. She looked at them even as they looked at her. Strange little humanoids with their survival suits she thought. They required an atmosphere obviously. It intrigued her as she stood watching that the universe was so vast and unknowable. She turned and walked forward heading toward another place that could use their help, her companions following.
:Wow: Sam said glancing at the others. :That is one fiercesome alien:
:That is a female: 'Fig' Figueroa said with a touch of awe. :That is the leader of the aliens we rescued, the Hu An. They are telepathic, bad ass and no one's fools. They are a matriarchy which I sort of love being Hispanic and all. Strong women rule. My mama would love them. I love them too but they're sort of stoic and hard to know:
:They remind me of the religion from Rome, Mithraism. They worshiped bulls and it was the religion of warriors. I would hate to be in a conflict with them: the German defense secretary said nodding. :Very handsome in a virile and uncompromising way:
They stood together talking about the aliens, the activity and all the rest as in the city things began to gather for the reclamation.
-0-On monitors every where, IntraComm "Special Coverage: Autobot City", Gen-O anchoring coverage
"It is estimated that this migration could be as large if not larger than the previous one that clocked in at 477,000 separate individuals. I have talked to City Manager Ultra Magnus earlier about Autobot City, Terra and Aerie Hill's ability to take in that many new citizens," Gen-O said. The images on the screen switched to Ultra Magnus sitting behind his enormously cluttered desk as the sounds of workers filtered in through his open door. Incongruously, there was an image of Arcee on an image cube sitting on the shelf behind him.
"Thank you, Magnus, for giving us a chance to ask you about the migration that is coming," Gen-O said. "What exactly do we know for sure about it?"
"We are not entirely clear about the mass or composition of it as yet. The Seekers who flyover taking statistical measurements upon which we can extrapolate estimates have yet to return data. That will go to Operational Center and they will send it to our statisticians here, namely Venture and Caro. They will mine the data and formulate estimations on the size of the migration, the number of individuals we may be looking at and the time it will take to effectively move them through the two gates and into our solar system."
"If it is as they believe at least as big if not bigger than the last one, we are looking at nearly more than half a million individuals. What is the city doing to prepare to receive, care for and absorb that many bots?"
"We have been going full out since I became manager to build residential housing for any refugees that would come and we have always known that this would happen. The word in the greater galaxy is that our people have heard the Prime and are coming. They are coming to his call and Starscream's. We expect a large number of Seekers and their families along with the other refugees. We also expect more soldiers, Ark vessels and defecting former Decepticons.
"We have at this time enough housing to cover over 600,000 individuals. We are near to signing off on three new residential blocks in Terra that contain a total of 80 housing towers. Those towers will adequately house along with the space that is already available from previous phases of building all of our new people. We will have to go into our next stage of development, phase five which means that we will be building south of Terra another complete suburban center.
"Autobot City is our central location and always will be. We are using a satellite plan to make sure that we don't overbuild in the city center. We want to add amenities and features to the city center, Autobot City in future, including expanding the Temple area for our people to place their engraved stones and have room to contemplate and relax. Right now, the space is in need of expansion. That is why we are reserving cultural, commercial and recreational spaces in the central city area for future development.
"The new housing expansions will be named for a site on Cybertron and the voting will be done by the city residents just like Terra and the first tower sites. We will be joining all of our habitation areas with underground as well as above ground transportation systems such as highways and trains.
"We are also going to be moving the oldest industrial plants farther out to allow that area to be redeveloped for habitation and recreation. Our industrial expansion plan four will make that almost seamless as we shut down one site and open others. We want our city to be autonomous and not crowded in anyway with industrial areas. We are a planned society here, something we never were on Cybertron and so we can make a highly liveable city for our people. All of them."
"How is the situation regarding intake of new refugees in the processing end of this operation? It has been done with great skill in the past. Is it going to be happening at the airfield or the city proper again?" Gen-O asked.
"No." Magnus touched a screen behind him and a plan appeared. "This is the way the processing part of our operation will go." He pointed to different parts of the plan. "We have established five touchdown areas north and east of the airfield for all refugee ships to land. The area they touch down upon will depend on their level of need. Area One will be critical care, critical need refugees. Medical will be concentrated there for them with runabouts poised to go to the hospitals and aid stations with patients. Area Two will be those who are ambulatory but not critical, but need care or have behavioral or emotional needs. Triage will manage them and get them transported after stabilizing them.
"This is Area Three," he said pointing to another area. "It is for families and their dependents. Area Four is for soldiers, bachelors and those traveling without families or friends. We want to help them because being alone will put them into a different need category than families or those in groups or with dependents. Area Five is high security. Those who come bearing ill will are going there to be taken into custody."
"What is the likelihood for trouble do you know?"
"We don't know. We are aware of a Decepticon battle group passing through the sector near our migration but that is a common thing because this sector of space is a commercial shipping lane for many alien species from all we can determine. We are prepared by our force multipliers to show them the error of their ways if they try to make a problem for anyone. Our show of strength will turn away trouble. If it makes it to the ground in the form of bad actors, we are ready for them. The Home Guard has trained teams to work as security and I have full confidence in their leadership."
"How long do you suppose this reclamation will take?"
"We took three orns last time. This may be bigger so it might go longer but I am not sure that will be true this time. We have divided our areas so more can come at the same time without a backlog. We have worked out the probabilities for what that might be by dividing the landing spots up to meet needs. It should be much faster and smoother. We will troubleshoot the operation against the future when things calm down."
"What should our city volunteers do to help as they have in the past?"
"We have need of their services. They can wait at the mustering posts that have been established throughout the city. There is one at the Cultural Center, one outside the Museum and one near Tower Fifteen in the Mare Tranquilitatis. All you need to do is go there and wait in line. As the refugees are brought from the airfields, they will need escort to their homes or destinations after data intake which will occur at the same sites. Those locations will be printed on their tags like before. I would like to thank our people in advance for their service. This would be impossible without you on board."
"Thank you, Magnus, for your time." It cut back to Gen-O at the station. "We will be taking a moment for the Community Bulletin Board updates to play and the weather forecast for the next three orns. We will also have a shut down of commercial and private aircraft usage tomorrow at noon for the refueling of the Trigger Bridge and the Auto-Bridge which I am told is the new name for the repatriated Decepticon space bridge. All honors go to Sam-E who is a student in the class of Mr. Gar-ro in the Youngling Day School for winning the contest to name the smaller bridge. Thank you, Sam-E and thank you everyone in the school who participated in the contest. For the list of runners up and all the entrants, go to the Community Bulletin Board and look in the 'Schools: Youngling Day' for the contest file. We will be right back." It cut to music and the scrolling informational feed of the Community Bulletin Board.
-0-In the City Hall
She sat on a table in a nice chair with her supervisor, Clark Hedricks. He was a New York ad man whose firm had been hired to do public relations for the Autobot Nation. Because Mikaela Banes was one of the few to know any Autobot well and because she had worked her butt off in business following her severing of the relationship with Sam, she was hired to be the full time firm member who would live here and do this end of the job.
They were both waiting to speak to the City Manager, to introduce themselves and offer their credentials. They would have an office in the big habitat at the tower and be about the city on segways just like the other humans. Clark Hedricks, a rather calm person given his profession would stay three days to help her set up, then leave. They were both stunned by the city, the events going on and the idea of being on another planet.
Not necessarily in the same order.
For Mikaela, this was like old home week. Though not as relaxed around bots as Sam, she loved them and fought to get her resume in for the job which had been bandied about New York for some time. Thousands applied but none of them had her qualifications. She was hired even though she had less experience than most. What she had couldn't be bought for a spokesperson and representative of the Autobot point of view. She had experience, knowledge, friendships already in place, a history with them, a better understanding of them than anyone else and big boobs. It was not lost on Clark Hedricks that her beauty would be an asset. That she was a no bullshit woman was another one.
The sound of heavy treads could be heard and they looked up into the optics of a massive bot who came from his office to stare down at them. :You wish to speak to me?:
They looked at him, then each other, then back to him. :I do: Mikaela said with a smile. :I'm Mikaela Banes, Ultra Magnus. I'm here to help you with Earth:
He nodded, knowing her from others including Optimus. :Good: he said as he stretched out his servo. She stepped into it and looked at Clark who was still looking upward in awe. :Move your butt, Clark. Magnus has stuff to do:
He jolted out of his stupor and jumped on board. Magnus turned to walk inside for a chat. He would learn a number of things. Someone else would be happy to do the public relations part of his job. Someone else would have to deal with the infernal humans and sort through their requests, separating the wheat from the chaff. He would also learn that Mikaela Banes was a no nonsense femme with a stern spine and the ability to spot a bullshitter almost as fast as he could.
That would make her a lot like his Arcee. They would have a long beautiful relationship together. For him, it couldn't have come at a better time. The door closed quietly behind them.
-0-TBC PS: My spell checker offers Kamikaze in place of Mikaela. LOL! Too funny. :D :D :D
2013 (3)