The Diego Diaries: Skills (469) edited
-0-On the hunt
Ratchet walked to the hospital with his brief. He was to do his job with the injured to get them back home. The ships with refits would be pulled off the flight line until the moment to leave came up again. Right now, he had a family to put back on their peds. He walked through the midday crowds and didn't spare a glance at Metro #2 when he passed it by.
-0-At the apartment
He stood under the shower and felt the warm water slide over his neural net. He had come to appreciate his home, the only one he had since he was a pup. It was warm and masculine with all the usual signals that a pair of low key mechs lived in the space. There were lots of books, reading a pass time both liked. The odd knick knack shared space with guns and knives, some books on the Circle and Knights as well as small statuary symbols of both groups.
The water felt soothing on his armor as it ran over him taking the gray of the paint job he had been given with it. Sitting on a chair nearby holding a towel, Drift waited for his turn. They had reported to the hangar at the airfield for the paint down and smudging that would make their armor appear older and abused. That they would have to wear that hated gray was bad enough. That they had to ditch it for now and get it later on sucked. "How long are you going to do that, you vain slagger?"
Springer peered over his shoulder. "You love it. Come here and scrub my back. Make yourself useful."
Drift snorted, then stood up tossing the towel on the nearby counter. He reached for a scrub brush, programmed in soap and conditioning lotion for armor, then turned to scrub Springer's back, aft and legs. For a moment they stood together comfortably. Then Springer vented a sigh. "This is so fragged. We're going to have a lot of trouble. There are millions of bots here. And we have to put off rescuing our own somewhere else."
Drift nodded. "Its fragged. We'll be lucky to get out of this without fatalities."
Springer nodded. "I know." He turned to Drift. "Want me to scrub your aft?"
Drift grinned. "Do you have to ask?"
-0-Smokescreen
He walked to data processing with a flash disk. It had the names of five high caste youngling mechs that were ground zero for their search. Sio was in the hospital. The others were workers in various industries around the colony albeit those that he knew they would not love.
Pulling up a chair, he slotted his datapad then began to key in words for their stats. He paused a moment, then saw one for the mechs who had been with Sio from the beginning. The first one to come up was Gravity. The next were Kale, Sio, Commotion and Default. The data of their family and the migration that they were part of also flooded the datapad. When the download concluded Smokescreen rose and turned walking to the corridor beyond. He would give it to Elita who would analyze it with Jazz, Devcon and Mirage. They would go over it then part out the subjects to Elita's crew. From that moment onward, the subjects would never know the level of trouble they were in.
-0-At the job
Default took his break outside in the sunlight sitting at a table in an employee area. He sat nursing his snack and drink waiting for the others. Kale appeared and joined him. He was a programmer. He sat at a console and made sure that the automatic programs in Steel Mill #4 ran properly. He found it deadly dull and the company equally. The other mechs were low and mid caste bots who had families and commitments that made them less interesting to him all around.
Default drove a forklift. He was responsible for bringing heavy loads of raw materials to the smelting vats as well as driving off stacks of finished steel and iron from the end of the process. It wasn't a hard thing to do and it was better than some jobs but a far cry from his educational aspirations. He was going to be an artist and designer. So much for that.
"What do you hear?" Kale asked.
"Speculation. Not much more than that," Default said quietly. "It rather did what we wanted though I hear someone was down there."
"We told Commotion to wait until it was clear," Kale said with irritation. "They will tear us limb from limb if we hurt someone."
"They will anyway," Default replied. "Do we get together tonight to talk?"
Kale nodded. "I think so."
They sat together chatting until the siren sounded, then got up and walked back inside to work until shift end.
-0-In a Hospital room
A-cee lay on a berth resting after a round of surgery that replaced a number of things that had been injured in the blast. His armor reflected the intensity of the heat. He had been rattled in the car and had dents and scrapes galore. Right now, he was in a mild state of sedation as his systems worked to integrate parts that had been repaired or replaced.
D-cee sat next to him, their positions reversed. A-cee had gone to get his medicine and this had happened. He had thought they would be safe here but this had shaken him. Their genitors had stayed as they sat together trying to absorb this turn of events. He had been home in their new wondrous apartment for only one orn before this had happened.
Tel came to the door and looked in. "Hi."
The little group glanced at the door. "Hello, Tel," A-cee's atar said rising uncertainly. "Do you need us? What do you want us to do?"
Tel paused a moment, then entered. "Nothing. I am here to help you." He pulled a chair to sit. "I am hoping you feel better now that A-cee is doing so well."
"We are," D-cee replied. He looked at the youngling mech lying on the berth. "What happened? Do you know what happened?"
"Prime is investigating. He is going to be making an announcement in a couple of minutes. I came here to watch it with you because A-cee was involved as a victim. Right now, I want you to feel safe and secure. None of you have been approved to work," he said. "I just got through talking with your case worker here and in Processor Health. None of your refugee group has been approved to get work."
"But we have to, right?" A-cee's atar asked with confusion. "We have to work or we can't live here. That's the way it has always been. You don't work, you can't eat. I will work and take care of my family. I always have."
"We know that," Tel said gently. "You can work when you are up to it. Right now, your health and fragility prevent it from being a good idea. Elders also get a break. You have worked too hard all your life. We don't expect you to do that here. Our Elder community is very strong and have a lot of things that they organize. Many of the Elders help in the school or teach things they know. All of them get the option of not working but living doing things they want to do. We love our elders. We take care of them, all of us and we do it happily."
They looked at him as if he had grown horns in the middle of his fore head. Then a mech popped his helm in. "Prime is going to speak."
Tel nodded, then turned on the monitor nearby. "Let's see what Optimus says."
They all turned to the screen which was filled with the Emblem of the Primes, his personal symbol of office.
-0-At IntraComm
Optimus Prime sat on the set that he used to speak to the colony and places beyond. The techs were setting up the announcement to be broadcast all over the colony and the off world stations beyond. The forward bases as well as the depot on Ceres and Fort Apache had been given the helms up. Jazz stood behind the cameras with Blaster and Prowl waiting for the lights to signal he was live.
Optimus considered his words and the decision he had made about what to tell and not about what had happened. The call in portions of various broadcast programming had been filled with concern. The colony knew that something was amiss and was worried. He had to tell them something that would hold everything together and allay what could become caste warfare from happening here.
"Prime, you are ready to go," Jazz said glancing toward him. "Ready to go in three … two … one … you are live."
The screen changed from the emblem to Prime's grave expression. He collected himself a moment, then began. "Good afternoon," he said. "I would like to speak to you about something that is going to call for the best in us even as it beckons the worst.
"This morning, someone or some ones put an explosive device in a waste receptacle on the platform of Metroplex Station #2. It detonated and destroyed the station. Only one mech was harmed by the explosion but only because the train they were on was not far enough away to avoid it. This is the second device placed. Both of them were set to avoid injury. Both of them were designed to make a point rather than cause bodily harm.
"We believe that they are the result of some who have not listened nor taken to spark the absolute conviction of this colony and my administration of it that the System is over and will not be coming back. It is among the first things made clear to new arrivals and we know that everyone here has been informed.
"I would say that 99.9% of the citizens who live here have taken that fact to spark and have been model citizens as well as assets to this colony. It is difficult for me to see this happen to cause tension and distress in a portion of our community that has already left that thinking behind.
"I am the First Disciple of Primus. I am his beneficiary and his servant among our people. It is my duty to lead our people wherever they may be anywhere in the universe. It is my duty to protect you as well as guide our culture back together. The Matrix both supports and counsels me through all the trials and tribulations we as a people have gone through in the endless darkness of our travail.
"We have been through too much. We have lost nearly everything. Only here, only now do we have a chance to regather and make our way forward in the manner that Primus and The One expected and hoped for us. That means that some of the elements that were fundamental to our downfall have to be left behind. The System and all the related laws and actions caused the end of our life on Cybertron. Our home world is long gone from our care and habitation because of the idea that some of us are intrinsically better and more deserving than others.
"That is contrary and counter to the teachings and guidance of Primus and The One. They both made it clear to us from the beginning of our species that all were one. All of us were, are and ever will be one. When we forget that, we suffer.
"There are those in this colony that believe that they have the right to impose their will upon us. They believe that they can do what they will to make that so. I would like to make it clear that such a prospect is not going to happen. We have protected our people for millions of years and we will continue to do that now.
"When I first came here to find the AllSpark, there were only five of us. Ratchet, Ironhide, Jazz and Bumblebee were all that stood between the hope of a home of our own and the Pit. We worked to make a home here for all of us. We work hard to retrieve and protect all of our people everywhere they may be. All of us together have built this colony into the wonderful monument to our culture and determination that it is. Nothing and no one will be allowed to dictate to us how we will live and treat each other.
"It would be easy now to turn to those who were once high caste among us and treat them poorly. That would be as wrong here for them as it was on Cybertron for the majority of us who were low and mid castes. I do not want violence or retribution. I do not want discord. All of us live here in unity. I wish it to stay that way. If it doesn't then we risk the home that we have slaved to build here for all of us.
"Our army and professional science corp will be working on solving this crisis and catching those who are responsible. They will face consequences for their actions based on the laws of our people. There will be no retribution. We are not going to recreate the mistakes of the past here.
"If you know who is behind these actions we ask you to send the information anonymously through the Community Bulletin Board at the link for the Watch. No one needs to know who you are. We are going to be working orn and night to catch those responsible. I am asking you to be calm and alert. I am asking you to remember that we are one, that this colony is an island of peace and prosperity for all of us. Do not turn the hands of time backward and bring the chaos of the past here.
"Make not mistake, we will catch you. There are many avenues open to me regarding this issue that refuses to die. If it requires a Convocation of the Will, then it will happen. I want you to know that we will protect you. I want you to know that every single one of you matters to me and to everyone else who lives here. Do not be afraid. Do not despair. We will defend this, the last stand, the line in the sand, the place of safety for all of you. On the Matrix, on my own honor, you have my word. Until all are one."
The camera lingered on Prime's solemn resolved expression. Then it faded into darkness and the Emblem of the Primes of Cybertron took its place.
-0-TBC October 12, 2013