The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box 14 (257) edited for boo boos :D
-0-The City
They landed their ship among the others and stepped off pausing to look around. They were at the second site of the five, the one where civilians were directed. They waited listening to the director of the location tell them about the process ahead. They joined a double line and waited, inching forward as civilians who lived here took them onward to a station nearby.
"Hi. I'm Spec. I'll get you through this process. Follow me."
The two walked after him and waited behind another couple to have their data entered. They got their story straight internally and Shim delivered it to a mech who sat at a table with computers entering all of it into the database. It would list them as new, their personal data and run them against all known problem troublemaking individuals and wanted mechs and femmes. Shar leaned against Shim tiredly, her optics roaming all around the area as she waited. When they were finished, Spec turned to both. "Come on. Let's see about your health."
They followed him as he walked to a tent nearby where medics were doing triage. Waiting in line chatting with Spec, they watched with amazement as everyone everywhere got taken care of. Ships kept landing and when empty either left or were towed/hauled/lifted away to parking sites after their precious cargo stepped or was carried off. They stood together, the sound of languages and dialects from all over Cybertron filling the air. One could almost feel the energy of that many different individuals talking together internally as well.
They reached the medics and answered questions. They had scans taken and minute things tweaked. Although medical care had been scarce on their ship and throughout the Decepticon faction, they were young and less inclined to be battered the way older veterans were. Leaving the triage center feeling better in some respects than they had in ages, they continued with Spec as he walked with hundreds of others toward the gigantic city beyond.
Spec paused at the road that led to the city and turned placing a tag around both of their necks. "This has all the information about you on the tag including the location of your housing and the jobs you chose. You should keep this safe. It will help you remember where you live."
They nodded and looked at the tag. "Alright," Shim said.
Turning and leading the way, he walked to a place where bots were congregating together. He paused and turned to them. "A guide will be taking you to your new home. I have to stay and help newcomers. Jaster will help you." He turned and waved to Jaster who was lining up a new group to leave. "These two go as well, Jas."
He nodded and waved them to join. Looking at their tag he smiled. "All of us are going to the same district. Come with me," he said to the ten other mechs who were waiting. Heading out, they followed. Shim and Shar did as well.
-0-Nearby
The ship was moved to a parking row that would allow it to be assessed and taken away when its turn came. There were a lot of ships ahead of it. The little battered runabout was nondescript, worn and ready to deliver one last surprise. When all was quiet, a panel on the floor inside shifted. As it did, blue optics peered out and listened. When the sound was confirmed to be from outside, a mech crawled out of the space and waited for another. They peered out of the window and when the coast was clear, slipped out of the ship and into the mass of bots exiting too on their way to the intake.
Dorcy and Mastercell moved forward with the others. They would go through intake, get tagged and walk with other overwhelmed bots to their own new home, one that was many planetary diameters better than anything they had ever had in their lives. It included all the time they had been in the Decepticons.
-0-On a ship out there
Venom and Hydro stood together on their ship watching the fortress below. Their crews were moving onto the planetoid to settle into the underground barracks where everyone lived. The two themselves would continue to live on their battle cruiser in the plush quarters that officers had.
"They should be there by now," Venom said.
Hydro nodded. "All things being equal." He looked at his partner and lifelong friend. "Paragon thinks I'm weak and a fail waiting to happen."
"He would be wrong," Venom said smugly. "All of your opponents thought that before you removed them as obstacles."
"We will. All of them," he said with a smug grin. "Paragon and Soundwave first."
-0-In a high rise in Terra
They stood in the middle of the living room of the one berthroom apartment in a brandnew housing tower assigned to them. They were given jobs as well, something they had a hand in choosing but the report time was three orns off. Apparently, it was a practice to have the newcomers get acquainted with the cities before reporting to work.
"This is …" Shim paused. He looked at the stunned little femme standing by the kitchen table. "I don't know what to say."
"How do they do this? How can they?" Shar asked turning to look her crewmate and friend. They were a team in special ops and had a great track record. This was just another assignment with only a reasonable prospect of success. They were the detectable layer of the Decepticon cake that had been delivered to Prime. If there was anyone who would be caught, it would be them.
Shim turned and walked to the energon dispensor. Opening a cupboard, he saw dishes inside including cubes. Taking one, he touched the dispenser and the cube filled. Sniffing it, he took a sip. "Wow." He turned and handed it to Shar. "Taste this."
She did. Glancing sharply at Shim, she looked at the cube then the rest of the room. "This is better than the stuff we had out there. This is the best energon I ever had."
"Look at the view, Shar," Shim said as he walked to the window. The landscape of Mars filled the view along with the foundations of more towers in three new subdivisions. They caught a glimpse of the industrial parks that stretched out as far as the optic could see. Gleaming white, their neat appearance and steam rising cleanly from emblemed stacks indicated enormous output. Most of the Decepticon plants they had seen were incredibly crude and dirty. This was the opposite.
Shar put the cube down and turned walking through the living room to the corridor. A small room on the right was empty. The other was a large berthroom with furnishings and a large closet. Connected to it was a large private washrack. "Shim! Get in here."
He jolted and hurried, pausing at the door of the washrack beside her. "What the …?"
She stepped inside and noted the dispensers of soap and a treatment for armor that held the shine. Touching the handle, warm water flowed over her. She stood a moment luxuriating in the first shower she had gotten in longer than she cared to think. Then she soaped and rubbed, a dark torrent of grime and dirt washing down the drain at her peds. She looked at him and waved him in.
He joined her. They stayed under the water for a long time.
-0-Aerie Hill
He hurried in, others following to pause in the lobby of the emergency room. In a corner, Harrier stood listening to the medic give an update. Spotting Silverclaw, she waved him over. He hurried to her and paused. "They are here. Five of your sons. Rattler was the one leading this last group. They were abused by the Decepticons but are going to be fine. Go. See to your boys."
He nodded and turned glancing at the open doors of several rooms. Spotting a familiar color, he hurried into number four and paused by the head of the medberth. Rattler lay with his optics off line, unaware that his father was there. Silverclaw scanned him and looked at the overhead monitor. He didn't know what the data was saying but it seemed in the right range. "Rattler."
For a moment, the young mech lay quietly. Then he onlined looking around in confusion. A strong servo gripped his face, gently stroking his cheek. "Rattler. I am here."
For a moment, the youngling stared at the phantom before him. Then he smiled. "You're here. We came. All five of us. Did they get the flight?"
"We did," Silverclaw said nodding with intense emotion on his face. "You came. Your other brothers are here. Your ada is here. I am proud of you, son. All of you. I knew you would make it."
"We came," Rattler said with weariness. He gripped his father's servo tightly. "We came and there are more. Its getting hard to come."
"We will get them. All of them can be here. Prime is here and Starscream. It will be alright. Sleep and I will hold your servo."
He would. When his sons were released later that orn, he would stand in the open space of the common area of Aerie Hill and sing his songs of praise to Primus and The One. He would cry out to the sky his defiance of his enemies, calling them out, shaking his staff at them, cursing them to the Pit. He would tell the universe of the pride in his sons that filled his spark, of the greatness of Seekerkin and his defiance of his enemies.
Hundreds would gather to watch and listen, then pay their respects not only to the oldest yet known Elder among their own kind but to the valiant sons restored to his home. They would call out their own solidarity with the clans and their chieftains. Some of the newbies would be seeing this for the first time. Others would remember it from other places and ages.
All of them would be lifted and restored.
-0-On the street
They had returned to the underground and found themselves walking out of station two in the Metroplex District. The place was crowded, hundreds, maybe thousands of mechs and femmes walking here and there happily. Security was everywhere, Day and Night Watch tattoos indicating that a regular force patrolled all orn. Many of those out were like them, newbies wandering the city with dazed expressions. Some of them were mechs and femmes going to work, pausing to help the lost newcomers on their way.
They had reached the street level and were looking around. Moving through the crowds, they entered the Mall of Metroplex and stood looking around with astonishment. It was three levels of shops and cafes. There were grocery stores, bakeries, detailing shops and home décor places. There were places to buy sparkling things, a pharmacy and other businesses they were too dazed to comprehend.
"This is awesome isn't it?" a femme said pausing beside Shar to let a family pass.
Shar nodded. "I … I am overwhelmed."
"I know. I have been here since the last migration. I work at the schools. Can you believe it? Any youngling and sparkling below sub adult has to go to school. I help make the lunches at both towers."
"They have schools for everyone? They feed them there?" Shim asked with surprise.
She nodded. "They do," she said proudly. "I help."
The crowd thinned and she paused. "Welcome to Autobot City. This is the greatest place I have ever been. This is what Cybertron should have been my ada says. I hope you have a great life," she said, then turned and continued disappearing into the crowd.
They stood a moment, then stepped forward passing book stores, art suppliers and craft guild outlets. They passed confectionaries and electronics shops as well. Pausing before The Energon Basket, they both turned almost automatically to enter. The line was long but they waited, the smells inside almost overwhelming. When they got to the front, a smiling femme looked at them. "What can I get you?"
"We don't have any shanix," Shim said.
"Youngling, you work and live. You get what you need. That is how this works. I make things, you get what you need. You work, I might get what you make. Fair trade. What can I get you?" she asked again.
They glanced at each other, then the vast array of delights. "What do you think?"
"Ah," she said with a smile. "You want a surprise." She turned and began to pack a box with delectible treats. She put a lid on it and turned handing it to Shim. "There. Go and celebrate your new life."
They nodded and thanked her dazedly, then turned walking out with their precious box of treats that had always been wanted but never obtained. Only high castes ate this stuff. They walked onward halting before the Metroplex Grocery Store. Glancing at each other, they walked inside and stood in the entrance of the vast space.
There were carts nearby, but they didn't take one. They merely walked meekly among the aisles and islands brimming with food items. Most of them were unknown. A number of employees were explaining to mesmerized patrons what they were seeing.
Some were obvious. Energon in liquid containers beautifully packaged in the Cybertronian way filled one aisle in assorted sizes and flavors. Then there were energon items of Cybertronian design which everyone knew. That however was overpowered by endless mounds of 'produce', endless stacks of intriguing food items with what would turn out to be of human design type and name as well as a long array of 'meat' in long cool display cases, freezers filled with everything from 'frozen vegetables' and something called 'ice cream' to 'milk', 'cheese' and other delights too odd to name.
A mech was handing out samples and they paused to take one. He grinned. "Try it. Rampage is the genuis behind the cuisine and food here. It may look odd but its fabulous. You can get a cook book at the bookstore to show you how to do this. Cooking is having a real rennaissance here because of him."
Shim blinked and looked at Shar. Looking at the mech, he blinked again. "Rampage? He's a food guy?"
The mech chuckled. "Yeah. Weird world huh?"
They nodded and stumbled onward, their 'corn dogs' forgotten in their servos. They really didn't realize how changed their world was until they reached the wine and beer section. There were labels there that had disappeared with Cybertron, or so they thought. A mech helping a couple choose a 'wine' for their 'steaks' glanced at them. "Great isn't it. We have the best microbreweries here."
"Microbreweries?" Shim echoed.
They stood a moment, then continued. When they left, their corn dogs were eaten and enjoyed. They would have their favorite beer in a bag and breakfast items referred to them by a nice older femme who was 'happy to help you nice younglings get settled in'.
They would go home to their apartment, sit on the floor and gorge themselves. They would drink their beer, watch The Hourly News and something interesting called 'Bonanza'.
They would never sleep so well as they would that night.
-0-TBC
2013 (4)