The Diego Diaries: What now? (658)
-0-At the scene of the crime
Devcon reached the hatch door when the Seekers arrived, the group splitting up to land and magnetized onto the five large ships. Dev paused scanning the hatches finding nothing out of the ordinary. He checked and rechecked, then signaled for a Seeker who specialized in deep space sensing. The mech drifted over from another ship, then magnetized beside Dev. :I don't find anything out of order. What do you think, Rowdy?"
The big yellow mech knelt placing a servo on the hull. Then he began to scan deep and wide. For a moment there was nothing but listening, then he jumped up, grabbed Devcon and leaped off the hull. They were barely away when the hatch blew spewing shards of metal and a brief flash of fire into space.
They hung in the air, then Rowdy let go of Devcon moving toward the ship with caution. He scanned it, then looked over his shoulder at Dev. :Come on. I think its clear:
Dev flew to the shattered hatch pausing as Rowdy double checked his findings. He nodded and the two flew forward magnetizing to the deck inside. Rowdy led the way.
-0-On the flight deck of Salton Sea
Prime sat sipping his energon as he watched the intel flow across the forward screen. Alpha crew worked ever onward, the best of the best most veteran troops handling the tasks of running the armada. Starscream had gone back for a bit to do a number of related things and talk to some of the migration which included a number of rather highly placed Seekers in their social culture.
He also wanted to be there when Cloud returned …
At The City...
Word had been sent ahead that Rainmaker's son was coming with the Seekers that had been picked up along the route. The prodigal son was coming home and the father(s) were ecstatic. Starscream had seen the family gathering at the edge of the airfield along with elders and large numbers of Seekers who wanted to salute Cloud and his group in. He walked to them and greeted everyone. They talked, laughed, then turned as the sound of fast moving individuals coming through the atmosphere could be heard.
Glinting in the light, moving with dispatch, a number of Seekers could be seen coming. They roared overhead rolling with flare as everyone on the ground paused to watch. Someone was saluting the Great Elder. The flight passed over, then turned with an almost unnatural ability and strength considering their speed, then came back and saluted the group watching again.
Everyone there raised a fist, stamping their feet as they watched. An unnatural racket broke out as several hundred Seekers cried out their approval. They rose upward flying straight into the sky before stalling, then falling downward from a great height. Before they could crash to the ground they transformed and landed with the usual Seeker brio.
Rising to stand, ecstatic looks of happiness on their faces, the Seekers turned to the crowd, half of them seeing family in their midst. Cloud with a look of great emotion bowed to his father, then straightened.
Rainmaker with a look of great joy nodded his helm as he slammed the ground with the end of his staff. Walking forward, they embraced. Then they were swallowed by the crowd.
Nearby watching, the humans sat on their crate platform. It had been exhilarating to watch something happen here but they weren't sure of what it was.
:Someone got a relative back I think: Sheila Conroy speculated.
:Rainmaker? Or do you suppose that its just Rainmaker taking the salute of someone who came back?: another scientist asked.
:I don't know. Rainmaker looked delighted, like it was a family member or friend. It looked personal: Sheila replied.
They sat on their crates watching the emotional return of a son to a family that had been missing since the Fall.
One down. Zillions to go.
-0-On the ground
26 walked from the Mental Health Clinic of Metroplex where he worked to meet his bond for lunch. Getting halfway to The Diner At The Corner, a new place that opened on Temple on the corner of Temple and Sports Center he got word that the bond wouldn't be able to come. Something came up on the job. He stood on the corner wondering what to do, then headed onward. The diner like nearly all restaurants in The City did take out.
Sitting in the park nearby, several younglings just arrived considered the situation. They were finally in a city that had options. They could do what they wanted. It was liberating. In their colony everyone had to work hard to make ends meet but there was always that tension. Given that low and mid castes always had to work on Cybertron, having to do so in the colony was nothing new. For the high castes it was. There was need for strategic planning, data pushing and other esoteric pursuits but they were mostly already filled. What was needed were strong backs, many servos and the ability to do what was required.
It was done but grudgingly.
Here, there was opportunity. For several of the younglings, that meant picking up their professions again. Two were lawyers, one was a doctor. They already had placements. The remaining three were bureaucrats. They worked in bureaucracies. Pushing data, doing things that aided to the overall functioning of the system was what they did and were trained to do.
What was the hitch in the forward momentum for them was there were no openings in the existing structure for them. All of the work they were suited by training and temperament to do was being fulfilled by others. Most of these 'others' … nearly all of them were low and mid caste individuals. None of them liked it. One of them was ready to resign himself to the reality that the same life he had out there was the one he was going to have here.
They sat grumping together as a tall handsome bot walked into the park and found a table nearby. Setting his lunch box down, 26 looked around. It was sunny and relatively warm for this time of the spring. He opened his meal and began to eat.
The younglings looked at him, then turned back to their bitching. Bots came and went in the park including a family with a baby. They ate their own meal there, played on the toys, then left. The grumpy younglings would stay longer.
-0-New York City, New York, United States, Earth
"We were hoping for a timeline, Mr. Witwicky," Brandon Clark said as he sat in the conference room with Warren Roberts, Mikaela Banes and Sam Witwicky. He was the interface contact with the Earth One group which was permitted at last to apply for rights to a colony habitation … a permanent human city on Mars itself.
"We would be happy to give you one but right now Optimus Prime is handling a migration through some very terrible parts of space. He isn't here to discuss this and right now, he has enough problems without hearing about this too," Sam replied.
"Surely he has appointed someone to be his agent on this matter, to make decisions in his place," Clark replied with a touch of impatience.
"Prowl. I think he means Prowl," Sam said glancing at the other two.
"Prowl is too busy to deal with this, Mr. Clark," Mikaela said. "He's running the show while Prime is busy with the migration. I don't think you understand how complicated this is when 40,000 individuals show up out of the blue and need rescue."
"That isn't the problem, Ms Banes," Clark replied. "We have schedules that have to be met. Things have to follow in a precise order."
"You will still need the bots to build the city," Sam said. "Wheeljack told me that your plans won't keep out the radiation in the winter when the the bigger storms are gone and the atmosphere screens even less radiation than it does now."
"I am sure this Wheeljack is a fine thinker but this is the best work of our best minds," Clark said.
Warren Roberts who had been sitting silently snorted. He grinned. "What Wheeljack says about something can be taken to the bank, Mr. Clark. Our 'best minds' are so far behind these people that its almost embarrassing. We are to them what amoebas are to blue whales. They forget more about how the way things work than we know in combination."
"We are making advances everyday, Mr. Roberts. It wouldn't be smart to count any of us out," Clark replied.
"You still need the bots to do the work and heavy lifting and that means you need the goodwill of the Prime. Giving him another headache right now is hardly the way to go," Sam reminded.
Clark sat back for a moment. "I would like to have some sort of time frame given in which we can discuss this. We have 300 people waiting to live in a colony on another planet. We would like to know when it can begin at that end. We have asked for almost three years now."
"We are aware of that," Warren said. "Don't forget. We're humans too. But even as you fuss about 300 people, Prime is rescuing 40,000. We will present the request when we go to Autobot City next week."
"I would like to go too along with the leadership of this project. Perhaps if we can speak to him he will understand the gravity of this project and consent to move on our request," Carter countered.
"We will let them know and if they agree, then yes," Roberts said. They would take for a bit longer, then Carter would leave dissatisfied. Just like the previous fifteen meetings he had with Roberts on the same subject.
-0-In a ship out there
They made their way forward, then reached the part of the ship where bots were waiting for them. They were emotionally distraught but utterly silent. Old habits were rough task masters. Dev turned to Rowdy. :We have to scan the ship. We need to know if there are more bombs: He turned to the refugees who filled the room and corridors down the ship on the far side. :Did you see them put anything in the machinery or plant anything around?: he asked a elderly mech who was holding a frightened child.
:We didn't. We were just shoved aboard and told to go: he replied.
Dev nodded. :Prime:
:Prime here:
:We are with the refugees. They don't know about the bombs. I'm thinking it might be safe enough to move them off these ships. Rowdy and I are scanning. We're going to check this out and go to the next ship. I think I would clear the ships, then blow them up:
:I concur: Prime said. :Continue. What do you need?:
:We need crews to take them off and sweep the ship for anything else that needs to go. When everyone is gone we can blow them up: Dev said.
:Very well: Prime said. :Kup and crews are on the way:
:Copy that. We're going to shake down the ship and then move onward: Dev said. :We'll keep the line open:
:Good: Prime said as he sat down again. The sounds of the two were heard as they went through the ship seeking whatever they might find. They wouldn't find anything. At least they didn't on this ship.
-0-Ratchet
He came through the bridge onto Moonbase, then headed for the emergency deck where the medical process was still going on. Nearby there were hundreds of individuals on mined ships waiting to be rescued. He walked with purpose and great overarching rage. The endangered refugees were old, infant and ill. They were in mined ships in the middle of a mess waiting for something good to happen and as they did, their families and friends were still in the clutches of a first class fragger.
This wouldn't end well at all he thought as he entered the surgical section of the ship. Breakdown was working on a mech with a botched knee. Knockout was at the hospital on Mars working there with patients who had arrived earlier.
"Hey, Sunshine. How is it going?" Ratchet asked pausing to check the work. It was excellent.
"Most of the patients are gone ahead but for those who need more care. The wards are pretty full on board," Breakdown said.
"We may have to send them ahead if we can," Ratchet said. "It looks like there's going to be trouble getting the group Trannis sent out back in one piece."
"There's infants in that group," Breakdown said glancing at Ratchet.
Ratchet nodded. "Yes, there are," he replied coldly. "Fragger."
Breakdown nodded. Then both turned to the task at servo.
-0-TBC March 22, 2014 edited 5-12-14