The Diego Diaries: Run Up 1 (dd3 455)
-0-In an apartment in Luna
He sat in his chair ruminating on things as he considered the options available to him. He'd met after court with the outraged genitors, friends and others that were part of the argument or heard of it. Sio and his atar were in jail along with six others. It had been a terrible fiasco in the short term but firewood for the bonfires of their future. The intensity of their outrage was huge.
He considered the options available to them, then chose building up their numbers before making any move that might include the Prime. There were numbers of high castes gathering around him. It wouldn't touch the size of those who'd continue to support the Prime but it might be enough to pursue their own settlement.
Fenix had needed his own incident to make things happen and they were. It would now be a matter of strategy to plan the course of their future. He turned to the screen where the patent contracts for a device to dissolve plastic into harmless materials was pending. The humans used too much plastic, he considered, and threw it away carelessly. Now it was biting them on the ass. This would be a big help for them to clear their oceans of its poison.
He turned himself to the task of vetting the documents.
-0-Prime
He sat working in his office when a familiar helm peered inside the doorway. Sitting back, Optimus nodded. "Come in."
Jetta and Elita did. The group sat together going over designs drawn up in the Planning Department of the City Administration. It would be enlightening.
-0-Orion
He stood in dance class moving this way and that. It was a lot of fun to dance he thought as he actually showed a bit of grace and fluid motion. They'd worked on this set of steps for months ahead of a presentation that none of them knew was coming. All that mattered was this was fun.
Nearby, Han moved, too. Olo and Mimi were in the front of the group because they were so small the others swallowed them up in the formation. Laret and Neo moved through the dance and the infants followed. It was an awesome sight to see, Ravel thought as he watched nearby serving his two joor helper obligation.
Awesome indeed.
-0-London, England, Earth
A boy named Mike sat at his desk waiting with great excitement for the teacher to hand him his pen pal letter from a boy on Mars. He was chosen from half the children of the world it seemed to be a pen pal to an alien child called Sunspot. The little mech was a Seeker.
Having watched the programming from Mars since it began, Mike was thrilled to have one as his friend. Of course, he didn't think of the little mech that way. He didn't know what that kid thought but the class sat in their seats in great excitement as he was given the thick envelope.
Cameras flashed and he glanced at them, then his teacher.
She nodded.
He looked at the precisely written information on the envelope. "Sunspot of Vos, Son of Ironhide of Praxus and Ratchet of Iacon, Tower Two, Apartment 24/24, Autobot City, Mars, Postal District 2."
He felt a thrill go through him, then he began to open it. There were a number of things inside. He pulled them out. On top of the stack was a small banner that he knew was of the Primes of Cybertron. It had their language in their writing and was beautiful. A note was attached to it. He opened it and read, "Dear Michael, My name is Mr. Terradive and I'm Sunspot's teacher. I'm very happy that you're a pen pal to one of my students. I'm going to send a letter to your teacher about how we can share our life with the students in your class. Maybe we can even Skype. I welcome you to the Youngling Day School, Tower 1 of Autobot City. Yours truly, Mr. Terradive, Classroom 4, Floor 17."
Mike looked at the others, then his teacher took the note reading the incredibly precise handwriting. She smiled. "What else do they say?"
He opened a thick letter and read the painfully neat script. "Dear Mike, My name is Sunspot. I'm your pen pal. I'm a Seeker and live with my family in Autobot City. I'm in Mr. Terradive's class and go to school every orn (day) for nine joors (hours), then get three orns (days) off for weekend.
"My atar (father) is Ironhide. He's the Master of the Armory for our planet, a soldier and Master of the Armed Forces of Cybertron and Mars. My ada (other father) is Ratchet. He's chief of medicine for Mars and the Chief Medical Officer for the Autobot Armed Forces. My family is really big. My brothers are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe of Kaon. They're front line soldiers and play football for the Kaon Kavaliers. They'll be in the championship game soon.
"My other brothers are Orion and Praxus of Mars who are sparklings (toddlers) and Prowler of Mars who's a baby. My sister is Hero of Mars. I named her myself. We all go to school. They go to The Sparkling Day School in Terra and have to take a subway train to go there. My grandgenitors (grandparents) take them to school with my Atar every morning. They wear harnesses and leashes so they don't get lost. Our cities are huge. We have about two and a half million people here. I go next door from my apartment tower to the school tower to go to classes.
My grandada (other grandfather) Ravel is helping me write this. I don't know what to say to humans and I'm kind of afraid of them. I was stranded on Earth and I was very afraid. Humans tried to hurt me before the Autobots saved me. My genitors (parents) protect me and I'm happy here. I have a dog, Spot who's my best friend. He comes everywhere with me. I love him more than just about anything.
My best friends are Rambler, Turbo, Comet, T-Bar, Spirit, Silverbow, Ope' and some others. All the younglings (kids) in my class are my best friends. We play and stay overnight in sleep overs together. I was a forward on a football team in the Autobot City Youngling Football League. Our team did really good. I'll play next season, too. Our football isn't like yours.
"Our Prime lives on the top floor of my building in the Prime Residence. He's our leader and I love him. I call him Uncle Optimus and he hugs me. His bond is Uncle Prowl and their adas and atars are my uncles, too. Uncle Tagg and Uncle Kestrel from Iacon are Uncle Optimus' genitors.
Uncle Venture and Uncle Miler of Praxus are Uncle Prowl's genitors. They're so nice. I love them. Uncle Optimus carries the Matrix which makes him our leader. He's the best mech ever. Well, my ada and atar are. So are my grandgenitors. I love everyone.
"My grandada Ravel is helping me here. He and my grandatar, Tie Down have a business called RTR Tools. That means Ravel-Tie Down-Ratchet Tools. They're the most famous tool makers Cybertron ever had. Their tools and weapons have been in museums. I go there after school sometimes and they're teaching me how to make some, too.
"My atar is Master of the Armory. He runs the depots and hubs for the army, too. He makes sure that the arms we need get made and sent around the cities to the depots there. I get to go with him sometimes and we have fun. He's taking care of my brother, Prowler because Prowler is too small for school. Sometimes we go to the Community Center and swim. I love to swim.
"We have playgrounds around the city and my favorite is Metroplex Youngling Park. Metroplex is the biggest bot ever. He's over half a mile tall when he stands. I've seen him do that twice. He makes a city when he's resting and 5,000 mechs live in apartments in his district. You can see him in the tee vee shows. He's the beautiful city near the Temple.
"I'm an orphan. I don't remember my genitors (parents) but I love my family now. We're happy and they take care of me. I have my own room and a desk for my school work. I'm not hungry now and I don't have to fight anymore. The Decepticons found me and made me fight. I didn't like it. It was scary.
"But now I'm happy and have a great life. We go to football games and I'm going to be in the Autobot Scouts when they start. My atar is the one in charge of that, him and Uncle Prowl. My atar also was in charge of youngling football. He likes to do things that are fun. We even go camping together. We went with Uncle Optimus and his younglings to the Valles Marineris. It was so much fun.
"Halloween is coming up. I don't know what my costume will be but I can't wait. It's so fun. So is going to the movies and eating out. I have a fun family. They love me and I love them. I get to stay over night at my grandgenitors (grandparents) on 'date nights'. I love that. They're so fun. My atar's genitors, General Blackjack and Commander Alor live two doors down from us. My ada's genitors, Ravel and Tie Down live next door. It's perfect.
"There are five cities here now. Autobot City is called The City by mechs. I hear you have a part of London called The City, too. I live in Autobot City. There's also Terra, Crystal City, Luna and Pax. We have a city for Seekers called Aerie Hill. My Uncle Star lives there with his family and his little babies, Flit, Dart and Pip. I love the Seekers. I go there every three orns to take flying lessons and hear about my clan. All of our elders live there and they're really nice. They tell me who I am.
"I'm looking forward to Christmas Surprise. It will come up after Halloween. I'm looking forward to the football championship. I know my brothers will win that game. I love my brothers. They're really nice and love me back. I also love their bond, Bluestreak and my nephews, Kaon and Miracle. I love my nieces Iacon and Uraya. All of them but Miracle are named after cities on Cybertron, my home world.
"I've included pictures for you. I don't know anything more so I will say goodbye. Yours truly, Sunspot of Vos."
Mike put the letter down and looked at the pictures. A note from Terradive explained them. The first one was a picture of his family that he'd drawn and colored. There was Ironhide holding Prowler, Ratchet holding Hero, Orion and Praxus with a smiling Sunspot standing in between holding their servos. A big smiling dog stood next to them.
A picture of an Autobrand was next painfully drawn and carefully colored. Its significance was explained on the back.
The last picture was a real one of Sunspot. He was standing in his house leaning against the arm of a chair. The light was streaming in behind him and the place looked beautiful. He looked pensive, his expression one of uncertainty. It had been taken the orn the letter was sent and included. Ratchet couldn't get him to smile. The dog standing next to him appeared to be doing so as Spot stood as close to Sunspot as he could.
Mike looked at it, then his teacher. "This is him," he said turning the image to her. She stared at it, the alien otherness of the little yellow and white figure evident. "I like this a lot," Mike said with a grin.
It would go on a bulletin board until the next one came. They would spend a bunch of time locating everything on a map of Mars including the aerial views of the colony that had been downloaded to Earth as part of an educational project. They found his apartment building and school on the images.
-0-In the bosom of love
Ratchet stood by the window on orn two of four. He'd done all the house work possible, caught up on office business and had nothing more to do. Walking to his chair, he sat down. The remote beckoned him so he turned on the television. Soap operas were on so he watched as melodramatic men and women swanned over each other in fictitious towns over affairs, double dealing and other backstabbing acts of treachery.
In other words, it was right up his alley. He grinned as he watched As The Kitchen Sinks knowing full well that Prowl was watching it, too.
-0-Prime Residence
He took a moment to catch up on 'his stories' which were playing on the teevee. As The Kitchen Sinks was always recorded but since he was here already he decided to watch them as is. Optimus would have to hit the archives.
Prowl grinned. If Megatron ever knew …
-0-TBC September 30, 2013 8-2-19