The Diego Diaries: Newbies 7 (329)
=0=Medbay Emergency, Autobot City Medical Tower and Hospital
Ratchet worked on the endless stream of patients that were brought in carefully and gently by orderlies and the odd medic. Most of the field medics including Sunstreaker and Breakdown were in the migration going from ship-to-ship taking triage to the scene. Sideswipe worked beside Ratchet as his assistant while Bluestreak sat in the data center in City Hall working through the mountains of information that were being sent there and two other sites from the triage touchdown site east of the Cultural Center and north of the airfield. This was the second time they used the new expanded sites and it was working out beautifully.
The hospitals around the city were taking in their delegated patients as the categories were parceled out among them. Terra received the elders and disabled. The hospital in Metroplex handled youth, infants, sparked and femme patients as well as the overflow of elders from Terra. Ratchet handled the rest with a few aid stations taking those who were only in need of the most minor adjustments. Tagged in the migration, they were automatically brought to the appropriate places with ships landing in an open space near Terra to cut down on time.
Ships were beginning to come through in numbers and they would be at it for about three orns. The city was filled with bots stepping up to help and the new city sites were beginning to be utilized for that and for housing. There were three new city habitations beyond Terra. They were called Sites One, Two and Three for now but names chosen by students in the schools would be released on The Hourly News that evening. Terra Road led from Metroplex Highway #3 which split Metroplex District nearly in two pieces. It merged into Terra Highway that went through the vast open spaces beyond to the city of that name.
Beyond that, Industrial Park Highway #1 lead west to Sites Two and Three eventually ending up at the vast industrial parks where most of the city's workforce were employed making everything from the greatest steel fabrications to the most minute tools and diodes. From Terra going south on Autobot City Highway #1, the road lead to city site one, a tower habitation with business and public amenities available to residents.
A steady flow of traffic filled the roads as weary dazzled newbies were taken to their new homes. Under all of it, the expanded subway system worked hard as well. There was no location in the city and its expanded horizons that could not be reached by subway. Processing newcomers took a while but they were then taken home to rest, relax and regroup. It was going very well.
-0-Temple Restored
Chevron gathered a number of artifacts that had been given to him assisted by Templar and Eronus. They turned following him to the steps that led downward into the vast subterranean sections of the beautiful structure. They walked down a corridor with the story of their beginnings carved into the stone walls passing by small apartments that were available for those who needed to come to a place where they could recover from traumas or hurts in a quiet contemplative atmosphere. Since Circle members were coming in force, some of them from the more contemplative practices their use would burgeon.
Continuing onward, they turned down several corridors until they came to a doorway that enormous, metal, with images of the Pantheon carved into the surface. He pushed the release and the doors swung backward allowing entrance. Walking in, the light switched on allowing them to move across to the far wall where there was space for new things. There were incredible things here, old artifacts some of which had belonged to the Pantheon themselves. Protected by the Well and AllSpark, they would be safe here. All of the most irreplaceable sacred objects of their culture and religion were kept here by order of the Prime. They sat the artifacts down and arranged them on the shelves. When they were satisfied, Chevron smiled. "This is quite wonderful. We have more to recover but the path is open to us now. I believe we shall be that lucky."
"I hope so, Master," Eronus said with a nod. "We need to find everything so our people will have them for comfort."
"The Festival of Primus is coming soon," Chevron said nodding. "We will have to make displays of our relics in the Temple Annex. That way the city may look at them. We shall have to coordinate with the Museum to make displays that reflect information about these things so our people will know what they mean to us as a culture."
Eronus nodded. "I would like to help, Master."
"You shall," Chevron said with a smile. "We will be consecrating you as priests during the celebration. I look forward to that very much."
"So do we," Templar said with a smile.
They stood a moment savoring the glory around them, then turned walking back to the door and the corridors beyond. The big doors closed behind them.
-0-Out there
Sunstreaker left a ship and floated in space toward the next one. His mark on the vessel's forward windows were his glyphs in yellow ink. He floated from ship to ship attending to the inhabitants and their hurts. He had helped all manner of bots and their dependents, all of whom were hungry and weary. He had marked for expedited help some of the inhabitants, necessitating runabouts coming to take the passengers on board through the bridges sooner. Farther into the migration, other medics worked making their way through the maze to take care of the most endangered first, energon following in their wake.
The migration was massive, the number of ships stretching out to what seemed to him to be infinity. Lights from the vessels seemed to merge into a ball in the distortion of the view from his angle. Kup and the others were trailing him and several other medics, all of them supported by the runabout and her crew. They would need it. They would be at this for three orns before the last ship passed through the space bridges.
-0-Kup and the others
He sat in the co-pilot's seat watching the sight outside as Topspin flew the vessel. Other roundabouts worked in the grid pattern that had been laid down by computer at Ops Center who were monitoring the entire magilla from Autobot City. He sat relaxing, chewing on his stogie as Sunstreaker leaped out of a vessel nearby. The big bot floated with jet pack propulsion through the gap between ships before magnetizing on the hull of another. Rapping on the hatch, it slid back as he slipped inside. "He's doing pretty good for a youngling," Kup said to no one in particular.
Topspin grinned. "If you say so, old mech."
"I do." Kup glanced backward out the view port and saw others moving among the ships, some of them moving away to go through the bridges and others getting mechanical assistance from crews who were working on damaged vessels all over the migration. "This is going to take a while."
"It is." -Topspin
"Gonna add a few more mechs to the mix back home."
"I think so." -Topspin.
"More soldiers. I wonder if I know anyone here from the old orns."
"You know everyone." (grin)
"I do. Went to kindergarten with Unicron."
"That's what I heard," Topspin said as he answered a call on the intercom. He leaned back and looked at Kup. "Not much to do. Everyone is bringing their 'A' game."
"They are. Hungry?" Kup asked.
"Sort of," Topspin replied. "You cooking?"
"Nope," Kup said.
Topspin chuckled.
-0-At the schools
Cardinal looked out the window as he paused by the science center cabinets to put a device back in the place he had found it. Outside, there was great activity with many Seekers coming and going. He watched it and was aware that it wasn't his concern. It was liberating to know and feel that. He had been in war since he was very young and really didn't know much beyond fighting and being afraid. His trine had been his salvation because in the friendship that they had, he found others as scared and worried as he was.
His databanks were filled with information that he could only manage to a degree. It had been downloaded into him when he was born. He was a small child inside a body that was at least sub adult in maturity at this point due to growth acceleration. He had been given information and a mandate. The older mechs had tried to help them, these frightened inadequate little ones. They also were stuck in the middle of Shockwave's madness and Megatron's need for soldiers. Some of the infant warriors had been taken away by them and hidden. He had been. At some point, they were always found and incorporated into the mix anyway. Perhaps that had been part of Megatron's animus toward them, the defiance of the elders as they tried to protect their children. He didn't know.
Raptor had been hidden but Farrell wasn't. Farrell was born to fight and always had. He was tougher and smarter about their fate, more at ease with the dissonance in his processor and sense of self regarding the misery of their situation. He was their leader, the one who made most of their decisions because he was more able to do so. When they had a chance to be young, to go to school and step away from war Cardinal had jumped. He had longed for liberation as long as he had lived.
Flying in combat had been terrifying. Fear of them dying, of getting hurt or being separated had made him terrified and anxious. Farrell had taken up the slack by being strong and leading their tiny family. Raptor was the bridge between their personalities and obligations. They were comfortable and comforting, supportive and loving. That they were a trine should have not surprised anyone. That their 'trine' was more a statement of their need for comfort than an actual fact was. No one was aware of how oblivious the three little mechs were about the full range of their interpersonal possibilities in the 'Cons.
They slept together like hatchlings for comfort and convenience. They hugged, kissed and held servos because they loved each other. The rest of the range of options open to a trine relationship they had not even been aware until Ratchet discussed it with them. The banter of mechs about 'facing and the rest they had heard and been aware of.
Sort of.
What it really meant, they didn't know. They didn't want to know now. They were too young and it was embarrassing, 'all that stuff'.
He felt the call of his bonds who were waiting by a table for him to come back. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded, turning back to the window. The Seekers flew, the ships came and bots stepped out. But it wasn't their duty to help. They had to stay here and learn. For Cardinal, it was the best thing that ever happened. That and their apartment filled with toys and food. That was the best thing too. He turned and walked back to his trine so they could begin mathematics with their classmates and their awesome teacher, Mr. Terradive.
-0-Sparkling Day Care, Sparkling School, Autobot City, Mars
Prowler sat on the floor by himself looking around as he sat on his bottom. He was smiling at everyone and everything as a volunteer took care of him. He had napped and eaten his lunch, grinning and waving his little servos. He had smiled and chatted, his tiny tweets sweet and soft. Now he was up and hard at work sitting by himself. He was pretty good, only having fallen about three times thus far. Around him other infants were cared for, some older and a few younger. All of them were attended to carefully.
Ironhide had entered with a long face giving over the infant until Ravel could come and get him. The two, Ravel and Tie Down were working on an emergency order for medical implements that had come down from the hospital about the same time Ironhide had come to deliver the infant.
"If you do that, Ironhide, I will go fetch him and keep him with us. We just have so much flying shards and other things including a series of proofings of hot metal that I'm afraid for him. This order is to be expedited. I promise it will only be a couple of joors. I will deliver the implements to the hospital, then get him."
Ironhide quashed his sinking guts as he looked at Ravel's anxious optics. He nodded. "That's fine, Ravie. I'll take him by and you can get him there. A couple of joors?"
"No more than that, son," Ravel said with relief.
So Ironhide had walked in and reluctantly given up his son. Then he had turned and walked out to do his part in the rescue of more than 2/3 of a million new citizens. He would fret until Ravel let him know that he had gotten the baby back out of the Clutches of Doom, or Sparkling Day Care as most called it.
-0-On the streets
Lon walked with his supervising Sargent of the Day Shift doing duty with the masses of newbies being brought into the city. They were in the new site called Site 1, a town that could be reached by taking Temple from Metroplex straight through. The new site connected to Site2 by a road that would be named when the city was named. They were working at this site because it was the one being accommodated by newbies at the moment since Terra and Autobot City were at full capacity at last. The waiting list to live in Metroplex was long and eventually housing would be arbitrated and swapped out through the Housing Authority as families and friends found each other. In Terra, two entire buildings were gathered bots from the 'old neighborhood' in Polyhex and they brought that warm friendly sensibility to their new lives here as well.
The streets were filling with cars and trucks, some carrying weary newcomers, others goods and belongings. They would pull up at one of the many towers and offload, transforming to help stunned and grateful individuals find their new homes. They were asked for directions, scores of individuals asking about this and that, employment possibilities, resources for this and that … all of it typical. Lon and his sargent had redirected two distraught bots to the hospital aid station nearby when they finally lost it in the comfort and safety of their new home.
All of them were happy, astonished and humbled. Some of them walked about without expression. It was hard to tell what their story was. Many of them were high castes. Most of them weren't. What that meant no one really knew but the Iacon group was out and about looking up individuals from the refugee data lists that ran on the Community Bulletin Board. Organizing their own, they were determined to gather a presence in the city. They were also noted by authorities.
-0-Hero
She sat on the small chair listening to the story in her tiny group. All of the little bits in her 'pod' were her age and none of them spoke as well as she did. She watched as her teacher finished the book and grinned at them. "And that is how the little bunny found his home again."
She smiled. "I like that."
Her teacher looked at Hero with the same expression that Roto did. "I am so glad, Hero," he sputtered.
She smiled. So did everyone else.
-0-Nearby
"TOTO!"
"What?"
"HAN DID THAT!"
Roto looked at Orion as he pointed to a mess of blocks nearby. Han had played with them, then walked away. It was anathema to Orion's sense of … something. The two were still nemesis bots and picked at the many peccadilloes that both had in spades. Orion looked at Roto with an aghast look of fake aghastment on his cute little Ironhide face. "HAN DID THAT! HAN DON'T DO THAT! CWEAM."
"Cweam?" Roto asked as he sat down in front of Orion.
Orion smiled brilliantly noting the attention of his teacher was his for the moment. "CWEAM!"
Roto grinned. "Clean. You want him to clean up his mess?"
Orion considered that, then nodded. "Yes."
Roto looked at Orion, then leaned forward and kissed his little helm. "You are a slagger." Roto looked around the room, then found Han looking at toys nearby. "Han."
The little bot turned, spied Orion, frowned, then looked at Roto.
"Clean up your mess," Roto said pointing at the pile of blocks he had been playing with for some time.
Han looked at it, then Orion, then Roto. He pointed at Orion. "He bad. He this," Han said pointing at the blocks.
Orion blinked, looked at Roto, then frowned comically. "He bad. HE BAD! BAD HAN! TOTO! HE BAD! ORION, NO!"
Roto snorted as he nodded. "This time you mean."
Orion looked at him, then grinned. "Orion good," he said smugly as he glanced at Han. "Han slagger."
Roto's optics nearly rolled into the back of his skull.
-0-TBC June 10, 2013 NOTE: Someone asked me to do a detailed plan of the city and all the stuff in it and I am. I had to draw it out and it covered a paper four feet long and two feet wide. :D It will be one of the pieces up coming and it will be a walking tour of the city.
HUGS TO ALL!