The Diego Diaries: In the Matrix 1 (392) edited
-0-On a plane of existence far away and right here
Optimus felt a rumble beneath his peds and staggered, righting himself before nearly falling. The ground began to rise and light began to stream out through the cracks. It seemed as if there was a sentience below him as he stood staring at the seals of a great door aperture appearing to be separating.
He turned and stepped back quickly finding solid ground, then stepped closer peering into a hole that glowed with light. He looked closer and saw steps farther down, a staircase that led into the earth. He stepped off and landed on them, watching as the aperture closed above him.
It was light but there was no source. It was sentient and spoke to him. There were no words, just the feelings of someone or something that wanted him to continue downward. He looked around then complied.
-0-Earth
"We're back now. Our panel is discussing the import of this festival which appears to be of a holy type and very very important to the people of Autobot City. With us is Doctor Angela Dempsey, our religion correspondent and Pastor Timothy Hickok to talk about this. Angela, what do you suppose we could reasonably expect from this species if this indeed addresses a deity and some sort of spiritual or even religious personal organization?"
"It can only be conjecture but it feels to me to be a very happy discovery that there is a spiritual dimension to these people and that it plays a very important part of their internal life. They seem to base their focus on the Prime, someone who has a very important role in the society anyway. It would appear that he is an icon for their culture of morality and ethics." She smiled. "That is often the case here among some points of view, to invest into a few individuals or even one a lot of potent prestige for the group."
"Mr. Hickok, what is your view of what this might mean?" the moderator asked.
"Well, it would seem that they are following some sort of spiritual plan. What it is, I don't know. I do know that the universe is a very huge place and the possibilities are equally vast. Are they worshiping a god or gods? I don't know. I just know that it means a great deal to them and fills some need they have in their souls … if that is what their life force is called... that they obviously have."
"Let's take a call. This call is from Omaha, Nebraska. Caller, what do you want to ask our panel?"
"Hi. I was wondering how the possibility of aliens having souls affects us? Since we think we're the center of the universe anyway, what does this mean for us? Thanks."
"Panel? What do you think?"
"I think it means that we don't know very much. We are at the start of a journey of exploration and if like many of us on the Earth, if you feel that God energy, however you feel that to be created all things, then the same forces had to have created this group too. Perhaps they have a more intense and closer connection to the force or forces that creates all things." Angela sat back and glanced at Hickok.
"It can be a good thing. It pulls us out of our own egos. There is so much that we don't know that perhaps this is a like an intervention for us to find out that we aren't so awesome. That there are things and places, people and events out there that are great and wise and old is a good thing to me. I don't find this anything but good for our souls to know that there are literally universes filled with sentient species that feel and have an interior spiritual life that is complex, rich and fulfilling." Hickok sat back and nodded. "I truly believe it will be for our good."
"Next caller. What would you like to ask our panel?"
"How can you say they have souls? They won't talk about their god or gods. They are machines. They can't possibly be like us. How can they come from the same source as us?"
It was silent a moment, then Pastor Hickok grinned. "Caller, I am not sure you and I come from the same source."
Laughter greeted that, then more calls were taken. The afternoon wore on as shots of the city represented the remarkable event going on.
-0-Somewhere else
Prime moved downward, the stairs leading in a winding way to the bottom of a deep pit. It seemed to take forever but he found himself leveling off. Walking across a flat floor, he rounded a corner and saw it. Pausing, taking in the vast expanse of the area, he found himself confronting the sleeping god himself. He found himself in the heart of Cybertron with Primus.
He stared at the enormous face at the far end of the room. It was part of a mass of machinery, all of it functioning at a low level. The light was nearly ambient but seemed to grow as Optimus came closer. Then he heard conversation and paused. Turning, he saw a group of mechs walking toward him discussing something between each other. When they reached him, they walked through his body as if he were not present in the scene.
The figures walked to stand before Primus, their conversation halting. Prime moved closer and the light of the machinery made it clear who the figures were. They were Megatron and bots he didn't know. Then he did. He was speaking to Jhiaxus. The pair were looking at Primus, then they agreed. The scene shifted.
A room filled with enormous vats gave him pause. The vats were filled with dark energon, something he hadn't seen in eons upon eons. It was almost mythical, this substance but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Bots were hooking the vats together, a main line curving around the room heading for the door that led to Primus.
Optimus felt his spark squeeze because it was clear what they were trying to do. They were going to energize Primus with the 'blood of Unicron'. He watched as they began and the tubes flowed with the eerie liquid. It flowed swiftly into the other room where the sleeping giant was in repose. It reached him but for moments nothing happened.
Then it did.
An unearthly groan filled the space, then grew rising to the level of a screeching wail. It was mortifying to the spark as he heard it. The face of Primus began to contort as he came to sentience from his great repose. His optics flickered, then lit. His head jerked, his pain was intense, then he spoke.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he cried as the transformation continued.
Prime stood transfixed as if rooted to the floor, then the sounds ended. The ground rumbled, the walls began to vibrate as Primus came to himself. Megatron and his companions stumbled, their optics fixed upon the sight of their creator returning to them out of his deep slumber.
Then the scene faded.
He was back at the beginning standing on a flat surface but there were chairs and a table with a game sitting nearby. A mech was sitting there staring at the board, his concentration so great he didn't seem to know Prime was there. Optimus turned and walked to the mech. "I am Optimus Prime."
The mech who didn't look up nodded. "I know. Sit."
Optimus hesitated, then sat. He looked at the mech who seemed young but he didn't think he knew who he was. At least, it didn't seem evident until the strange mech looked up. "Hello, Optimus. So good of you to come again."
"Lord Primus," Optimus said bowing his helm respectfully.
Primus nodded with a grin. "You always were a gentleman, Optimus. Even as a young civilian mech, you were a good spark."
"I try to be worthy," Optimus replied.
"You are. The Matrix chose you from many. I chose you. I have been waiting for you a long time," he said making a move on the game board. "What did you think about what you saw?"
"I saw Megatron poison you with dark energon. I did not care for it a bit," he replied.
Primus sat back, his wise optics considering the younger mech for a moment. "I don't either but I am at the moment in a vulnerable situation. Of course, it could be that its happening in another universe in the multiverse. I am capable of being everywhere at all times all at once."
"Then you would have me rescue you on Cybertron," Optimus asked.
"At some point," he said making another move. "Maybe."
Optimus looked at the board. The player being moved was a small piece that resembled Megatron. He was off on one side of the board contending it would seem with strange aliens that he had never seen before. "That is where he is?"
"It could be," Primus said looking at the board. "What would you play next?"
Optimus looked at the board and saw himself in a circle of mechs, all their arms facing outward. There were images of Soundwave and other mechs here and there, their own smaller configurations equally armed. It was an image of the sector where they lived. He considered the pieces, then looked at the figure before him. Primus was beautiful and calm, not at all worried about what might become his future. "This is our sector. These are the major players there. You have included Cybertron. There are other places where our people are who need rescue. Which direction do I go when all of them are in danger?"
"That is the curse of leadership," Primus said looking at him levelly. "That is the burden you bear but you do not carry it alone. You carry me forward with you."
"I would go in all directions if I could. We have made advances," Optimus said.
"You have. I am well pleased but you cannot save everyone," he replied. "You can save what you can one step at a time. Where do you go?"
Optimus considered that as the world around him dissolved. He was back on a street on Cybertron, a street in the Jumble. He watched as mechs walked past, all of them going somewhere. If you didn't work, you didn't eat. He saw the streets ahead, all of them winding around buildings in the compacted overcrowded slum that was his home. He walked onward pausing as he saw a mech playing in the street. The mech was young but unmistakable. It was Ratchet. The little bot paused in his game a moment, then pointed.
Optimus stared at him a moment, then turned and walked forward. He was moving toward the District where he had grown up. Reaching his building, he stared upward to the floor where they had lived, he and his genitors. He almost expected his genitors there but they were no where to be seen. It made him happy to know that even as he struggled to understand what he was looking at.
As he stood looking around the bots passing glanced at him. They didn't speak or stop but stared at him. He saw mechs he remembered as a youngling and some he didn't. They were ragged and tired but among them he saw bots with the Circle emblem on their shoulders. On Cybertron now, it was illegal to identify with them but they wore their tats here before him in plain sight. He stared at them, then turned. Dai Atlas was standing at the end of the street as if waiting for him.
Prime turned and walked toward Atlas but the scene dissolved again. He was on a beach on a world he could only barely remember. It wasn't Diego, of that he was clear. The breeze was pleasant and warm, the sound of the waves soothing. Organic worlds were not his forte. He was a mech born and bred on a very rare planet … a metallic world. He stood a moment, then turned pulled by the impression of others behind him. He paused and looked at them. Nodding, he considered the bots before him. "Sentinel, Nova … Nominus. Why are you here?"
It was silent.
-0-TBC August 9, 2013