The Diego Diaries: Talk 3 (414)
-0-At the goat rodeo part two
Ratchet sat back and laughed, then looked at Mathers with a grin. "I'm sorry, Congressman. I just find it really hard to take you seriously when you have me confused with the Decepticons. Truly, That's just humorous."
Mathers didn't think so. "I'm glad to make you laugh since nothing about this whole business is funny."
"I'm glad you mentioned that," Ratchet replied. "You appear to have no idea what you're talking about. Your paranoia is not helpful right now. We've enough misinformation among the talking classes without you adding to it with your own."
"I'm a member of the United States House of Representatives. I represent a great state. You would do well to remember that," Mathers said hotly.
"And I'm an Ambassador to a Prime, the leader of an ENTIRE WORLD. We can play this game all day long. You don't respect us. We get it. What interests me is how you expect to stay alive if we actually take your advice and leave this system? The Decepticons won't be leaving. I doubt that you'll be able to hold hearings with them about going or staying will you? If you could actually tell us what you'll do to stave them off, I for one will be very interested."
Mathers looked at him. "What's the difference between you and them? This is about dominating us and taking over our world. That's all its about here. You want to enslave us. Admit it," Mathers said leaning forward.
Ratchet looked at him. "I think not. I'll admit though as a doctor that you need help. Your point of view distorting your view of reality," Ratchet said.
"Your hostility is noted," Mathers said with notable anger in his tone. "What it doesn't tell us is what your ultimate goal is for our planet. You're here to overtake our world and you know it."
Ratchet looked at him. :Well, Optimus … jump in any time here: Behind him, the three mechs were looking with incredulity and rising anger at the figures on the monitors. More mechs were showing up to stand with Springer, Drift and Smokey, all of them solemn in expression as they listened to the conversation between Ratchet and Mathers.
:You are doing so well: Prime opined.
Ratchet could feel the smirk behind the sentiment. :Thanks:
:Ignore this one. Fob him off until his time runs out. The trick is to make him be the fool and not you:
:Are you insinuating I'm a fool?: Ratchet smiled slightly.
:No: Prime said with a nearly audible grin.
"Is there something funny we all should know?" Mathers asked looking up from his list of questions.
"I was talking to the Prime."
"Would you like to let us all in on the joke?" Mathers asked.
"No," Ratchet said as the room of spectators and some of the panel members chuckled.
"I'm glad you find this funny," Mathers said. "Why don't you tell us about the missing humans then."
Ratchet stared at him for a moment. "Missing humans?"
Mathers nodded with a look of triumph on his face. "The missing humans."
Ratchet considered the man before him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Congressman. More information?"
He looked at Ratchet a moment, then shook his head. "You already know."
Ratchet glanced at the monitor with Piccolo who sat with a slight smirk on his face. "I suppose you have a glimmer here?"
Piccolo shrugged slightly. "Answer his question."
"There are no answers that will satisfy him," Ratchet said. "I think we need to either move on or call it quits here. It's clear to me that you aren't here for information and understanding. You're here to exploit the deaths of three friends of our people, soldiers who served with us and to advance the Resistance and their agenda."
Piccolo sat forward looking at Ratchet with a hard expression on his face. "I suppose you have proof of that outrageous allegation."
Ratchet grinned faintly. "Proof? You want proof? I would expect the same thing. Tell us about this missing people and present proof."
Piccolo looked at Ratchet with a cold expression. "Answer the question."
"What question? What's he asking?" Ratchet asked equally coldly.
"Answer the question," Piccolo pressed.
Mathers sat back with a look of triumph.
"No." Ratchet leaned forward slightly. "There's no question to answer. I have no idea what he's talking about so there's no way to answer the question. If this is going to be a delusion fest, I'm done here. I have a lot of work to do and you're wasting my time."
Piccolo stared at him. "You're leaving?"
"Sure. Unless someone has a question that makes sense, I think its time to call it quits here," Ratchet said. They stared at each other a moment, then Ratchet nodded to the techs. "I'm done, boys. Thanks."
The panel on the monitors broke into comments, going back and forth together as the pro-Autobot faction quarreled with the minority anti alien faction. Then Piccolo gaveled everyone to silence. "Ambassador, We're not finished."
"If this is going to fall into questions about subjects that I'm not familiar with, that are sprung on me out of thin air then it is. No one is explaining the Representative's questions to me. I won't sit here and spar with someone who's talking about something I've never heard about."
"Then maybe Representative Mathers can explain himself more fully," Piccolo said glancing at the fuming Alaskan representative.
Mathers looked at him, then Ratchet. "There are people disappearing around the country in mysterious fashions. They're disappearing without any evidence of being transported away. It would appear that they're being lifted up into the sky without a trace."
Ratchet considered that. "I'm unaware of this. Where is it happening? Who's the agency or individual in charge so that we can make inquiries and what else can you tell us about this? This is the first We've heard about this."
"They're happening in the west, at remote farm locations. There are now fifteen people missing without a trace. There's nothing to show that they were taken away by conventional means," Mathers said.
"We're not aware of this. If you can forward the information to the Embassy we can see what we can find out and do," Ratchet said.
"We were hoping you could fill us in on this yourself," Mathers said.
"Sorry. I can't," Ratchet replied.
The committee paused to discuss things together, then turned back to Ratchet.
Piccolo turned to another colleague. "Congressman Stevens from Wisconsin is next."
He began by asking about the garrison at Diego. "Ambassador, how many Autobot soldiers do you have in the garrison at Diego Garcia?"
"We keep a garrison numbering 10 but never less than five soldiers. The techs and operational officers number about fifteen. Many of those are Home Guard, our version of the National Guard doing their real world experiences in actual practice. Some of the techs are civilians that have skills needed or are students from the University that are doing practicums."
"I see. How many of your soldiers can fly?" he asked.
"We keep a portion of our Aerialbots here at all times, no less than three on any single day. The Seekers that form the majority of our air forces are stationed on Mars or now on Luna Base. We have the capacity to deliver flights anywhere we wish to send or pick them up with bridge technology no matter what's going on."
"Luna Base is new. Please explain it to us. The how, what and why," he asked.
"When it was clear that the Insecticons were here we began to scan the Earth. Since your core is molten iron it interferes with the usual level of scrutiny that we can provide. We found that we could not do the deep level of sensor scans that would tell us where they are so we did two things. We re-positioned our satellite arrays so that the scrutiny could begin right away and we built a base on the moon of Earth for our new platform. We use the enhanced sensor equipment that Sciences was tasked to develop and massed it on the moon at an installation that we began to build right away. Not only does it have the capacity to sense up to 100 miles below the Earth's crust, it allows us to station troops there for rapid response. It should be noted that we share the geography we discover with scientists here.
"We have space bridges that reach the Earth and Mars which allow for us to meet whatever pops up," he continued. "We keep a garrison of Seekers numbering as many as 50 and as few as 20 depending on the situation at hand at Luna Base. We can field striker groups immediately."
"The moon base was a surprise," Stevens said.
"It was. But we had to make it easier to react to the Insecticon threat than it was coming from Mars. We have a forty-five minute lag time from Mars to Earth by shuttle. Even bridges would be less capable of allowing us a targeted response because of the distance. A base on the moon was the best solution to the new reality. We built it quickly and staffed it with veterans."
"Some on Earth find that hard to assimilate. The moon has been our nightly sentinel for our entire existence," Stevens said. "The idea that aliens live on it is strange for many of us."
"We understand. But we also understand the caveats of protecting you from the Insecticons without the new location. We have forward bases all through the system with striker installations on moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. This base is directed to the protection of Earth. The others are for the protection of the system. We try to be ready for any possibility and we work to perfect our response all the time."
The discussion continued with the position of Congressman Stevens unknown by the end of the conversation. The discussion continued with two more reasonable congressman. Then the last one, Representative Margery Fox was last. She would make Congressman Mathers look normal.
-0-Ops Center, Mars
Prowl who had done the research frowned. "Here she comes. She's deranged."
Prime glanced at Prowl. "Really?"
Prowl nodded. "She will be the hardest one in the group if she goes the way she usually does."
Prime looked at the screen. "This cannot be good then."
No one disagreed with him.
-0-There
"Ambassador, I would like to talk to you about the purpose of your infiltration of the system," Fox said. "You say that you're here to protect us but it would seem that you've ringed our world with soldiers and weapons."
Ratchet stared at her a moment, then shook his helm. "We haven't infiltrated anything. We've ringed the system with guns that are pointing out into space."
"You've made statements that there are groups out there looking to cause us harm. We don't see any evidence of that," Fox said.
"There are currently four settled groups in the local sector. Two of them are professional Decepticon battle groups looking to create their own empires. Another is a fall back base for the current master of Cybertron. Three criminal groups are out there pirating with one digging in for the long haul. They're real, they're dangerous and they're not here because they would have to come through us. We're prepared and have already demonstrated several times the folly of that idea."
"These pirates … what are they?" she asked.
"They're renegade former Decepticons. All of these groups are highly proficient at what they do and they're ruthless. They're highly dangerous. They would be here but for our presence," Ratchet replied.
"The Insecticons are already here even with you present," she retorted.
"They were here with Megatron thousands of years ago. We've only been here for six going on seven years. Their being here is not our responsibility and we didn't lead them here. They were here for a very long time. Our duty is to find and neutralize them which is what we've been doing for some time now."
"Tell me about this AllSpark that you and this Megatron were chasing. If It's the source of all this trouble, then tell us about It so we can figure out what to do about this," she said.
A brief exchange with Prime internally set the limits. "I'm limited in giving information about this relic. It's the greatest artifact our people possess and It bestows great prestige for all of us when It's in our possession. The Decepticons would use It for bad purposes. We keep It safe and It comforts us greatly. I can't give more information than that about It. Suffice it to say, this artifact is greatly and personally important to all of us."
"We've only heard small bits and pieces of your religion. I would like to know more. Tell us about your god or gods. Unless you don't have any which seems more likely to me," Fox said looking up with her usual humorless smile.
"I'm unable due to taboo to talk about this subject with you." Ratchet could feel the offense in the mechs behind him. The Festival just over hung between them as Ratchet waited for the inevitable retort of disagreement.
"Surely, you understand our curiosity. You aren't like us. you're cars and trucks. You're made of metal and mechanical things. I'm having a hard time thinking that a Creator who made us could devise you. Cars and trucks."
"Congresswoman, I'm a metallic being that's different from you because I come from another world and another set of circumstances. I use the format of a truck because it suits my needs as a medical doctor and a soldier. I'm not concerned about your feelings about deities one way or the other. The universe is incredibly vast and the life forms I've seen in a lifetime of travel would amaze you. I'm aware of a world where the dominant sentient life forms are butterflies. You're at a disadvantage not having diverse experience in the greater reality out there."
She stared at him a moment, then sat back. "Butterflies? You're joking with me."
"No." Ratchet watched her, the shallowness of her experience and the dead on intention of making her point of view the victor in their exchange as plain as day on her face.
"You're telling me that cars, trucks and butterflies are the same as us," she said with incredulity.
"I'm saying that if you limit yourself to believing life, intelligent sentient life only looks like you then it'll make having to think out good decisions harder. We're allies here. We're dedicated to protecting you and your world, too. That should be evident between us by now."
She looked at Ratchet a moment, then shook her head. "It isn't. I don't accept at face value your words about unity and all of that. I see a base that was destroyed because of you and the others like you. I don't see how that's good for us."
"Fortunately, you're a minority, Congresswoman Fox," Ratchet said.
"I don't think so. I think we hold the majority opinion, my colleagues and I," she replied glancing at Piccolo and Mathers. "I would disagree with you on that."
"You can but the polls say otherwise." Ratchet stared at her a moment as she sat staring back at him. "Anything else?"
"Yes," she said. "Three Americans, three of our soldiers were murdered because of you being on Diego Garcia. We don't take that lightly. We hold you directly accountable for that happening. You, Ambassador."
"Frag that!"
Ratchet glanced up at Smokey who was standing with his arms crossed and a look of irritation on his handsome face. "What's the matter with them, Ratchet? They're nuts."
Ratchet grinned at him, then looked at Fox. "I'd agree with you, Smokey but I'm the diplomat and I can't. If there are any more questions, ask them. If not, I'd like to go."
"I'm not finished," Fox said glancing at the Chairman as she did.
"Well, I m," Ratchet said rising to stand. "Thank you for the invite but I'm not going to sit here and allow you to politicize the death of the soldiers and show how terribly you're misinformed about what We are and what we're trying to do. I think its time to go now."
"The meeting isn't concluded, Ambassador," Piccolo said with surprise.
"It's," Ratchet said. "You have all the information you need to know that you're protected and that we're working in tandem with N.E.S.T. to ensure this planet from threat inside and outside of the system. All the rest is insults and ignorance. I have things to do. Thank you but good afternoon." He nodded to the techs who cut the transmission.
Turning around to look up at the younglings staring at him with various expressions of intense outrage through to bemusement born of years of slag and fraggers, he grinned. "Well, I think that went well."
Even Prime on Mars snickered.
-0-TBC August 29, 2013 edited 7-5-14 12-03-2022