New Story, yeah. I've been rather fond of this one for a while, so I thought I might choose it to publish. I'm only about halfway through it as of right now, and I'm not about to give any promises that it will be wrapped up in any sort of reliable time. But, I've found that if I have a story published, I have more of an interest in finishing it. I've got over a hundred short stories I begin and never finish, anywhere from a page to fifty pages long, and not a single one is done except the ones I've got on here. So, there it is.
I hope you enjoy this story. Don't own Transformers or any characters therein.
I doubt there was ever a day when man did not look up at the stars and wonder at their secrets. In one day and age, they were filled with gods and spirits, watching us all and controlling our world. Then they were only twinkling lights whose entire purpose was to revolve around our world and give us light when the sun had revolved too far to reach us. As our planet matured, so has our understanding of the heavens, the cosmos, and the universe.
Now it may be that we know what the stars are, and why it is that the sun disappears for hours on end, but it has always been that humans will stand in the night and simply stare upwards. In the sand, in the grass, on stone or on paved roads, children stand still from their treks and wonder if there is life out there. Adults will glance above them from all over the world and marvel at the beauty of our universe. Standing outside a cave called home or standing on the balcony of a sixth-story loft, that feeling doesn't change.
But, perhaps it can be forgotten. The stars invoke a feeling of wonder and smallness, and from these emotions humans crave answers. The drive that was born from this need for answers has consumed centuries of history, and years of each humans' life. They stop standing in their yard and watching the skies, spending more and more time staring at numbers and figures on computer screens.
From simple, marveling feelings come a vortex. The magic is gone and all is left is that cold, hard truth. Facts and figures, cut and dry, black and white, and no time for stargazing. Some people spend their entire lives trying to make the cosmos relinquish their secrets, and this is what drives our society onward. Advancements in every field, discoveries that bring about world-wide excitement, and tragedies that make the planet cry.
But somewhere behind it all, left behind and forgotten, there is still that lonely child, sitting in the grass- the sand or the city -staring at the sky with a blank mind and wonder in their eyes.
"Get inside, you shouldn't be out so late." I blinked, snapping out of it and looking up to the porch. "Sam, let's go." Dad shut the door and I sighed, sitting up. The sun wasn't even down all the way yet, and he always drags me in by now.
So I grabbed the blanket and my radio, dragging it all up the steps and inside. Maybe some night he'll forget...
"Get inside already." He ushered me in. "I've got a lot to do, and I can't have you outside while I work."
"You're just staring at the sky." I objected with the same argument as every night. "What's the difference?"
"I'm not just staring at the sky, Sam. I'm taking very precise measurements that I need to finish this projec- oh, just go play in your room. Dinner's in the fridge, I'll be down as soon as I finish making rounds." He gave up on me, pushing me towards the living area of the house before walking towards the stairs. His equipment was all up there. I go there to watch him work when I'm bored, but it's not very entertaining. I don't know what makes those machines and computer screens more fascinating than actually looking at the stars.
Sighing, I tossed my stuff on the sofa and walked into the kitchen. The blinds on the back door were pulled open and I looked outside. But all I could see was one of those big satellite dishes slowly moving from commands he was giving it from upstairs. I couldn't see much of the sky, and what I could was blocked out by clouds.
I sighed and opened the refrigerator. A bag of cold sandwiches. Great. Oh well, I decided to just take the whole bag in to the living room and plop down to turn on the television. Science channel, of course. A documentary about the Hubble and the new sector of the universe that it's photographed. I flipped one channel down and tossed the remote, pulling out a sandwich. That's much better. Good old movies, way cooler than a boring documentary.
About half way through my third sandwich and the time the main character- what's his face -lost all his confidence and everything started to look down, but at the same time you're anxious to see if he'll survive it, thunder cracked in the sky. I jumped a mile, dropping the last sandwich and a half on the ground.
"Shoot." I started to pick them up. "Great time to start raining." Wait a minute. Rain? It wasn't supposed to rain tonight. There's barely any clouds in the sky.
Dropping the sandwich bag back onto the couch, I went towards the window again. The sun had completely set, and the clouds that had covered whatever sky I could see around the satellite were gone.
I stuck my head up the stairs, but doubted Dad had even heard it. He wasn't making any noise up there, save for the usual sounds from his machines. They're loud enough when he's taking measurements that he doesn't even hear me shouting from down here.
So I crept towards the back door and stuck my head out. The clouds were even smaller and closer to the horizon now, on the other side of the house. But I hadn't imagined that thunder.
Looking back inside, and when Dad didn't come storming down to make me shut the door, I snuck out and shut it behind me. I can't just go back in there and shrug it off, what if that thunder was an explosion somewhere? There could be a fire in a building, or an accident out there in the forest where no one can help. Or, you know, a meteor.
Just before I entered the trees, I snuck a look back up to the upstairs window, to make sure he hadn't seen me. No, the curtains were still pulled and the blue light inside shifted at constant intervals.
Good. Now where was it? There's no commotion, or anyone shouting. There's no fire, or running wildlife. But it was definitely from this direction. The stars were still, the crickets were playing, and I had no idea where I was going. You know what? I don't even know where I came from. That direction, and I'm sure I could find it, but if I'm not careful I'll get lost.
"Hello?" I called out, listening hard for an answer. "Anyone there?"
Just as I ducked under a dead branch, I heard a hissing sound. Like when dad puts those rocks that he heated up in water when he's trying to get all the bacteria off the surface. I froze, closing my eyes to hear where it came from. It was fading, and a sort of groaning sound was replacing it slowly. This was more like Dad's old bed, creaking when you even walked near it.
That way. I tried to go forward silently now, sneaking up on whatever was there. It wasn't just a meteorite. They don't continue to make more sounds. Maybe someone crashed their car? In the middle of the woods?
As I approached the still slightly-smoking sight of that thunderous noise, I nearly lost my breath. There was a tear-shaped crater with knocked-over trees folded over in the direction of the object that still laid in the heart. This object, about as big as Dad's truck, was the source of the hissing and groaning noises, which were both fading now. It was like a giant tear-shaped, metal rock, only with such vibrant colors! Red and blue, it was like no rock I'd ever seen. And Dad says that meteorites that enter the atmosphere end up real small by the time they hit the ground. How big did this one start? And, if a rock that big hit the Earth, wouldn't there be a bigger crater? A bigger reaction, and bad stuff for miles in every direction?
Suddenly, it started to move. I ducked behind a tree, staring with wide eyes.
The colorful object was changing shape, molding into a completely different something. When it finally settled, it was in the shape of a person. Only, really big and made of red and blue metal. It's, or rather, his back was to me. He stretched like someone who just fell out of bed, and turned to either direction to look around.
I started to back away, sure that I'd stumbled upon something I wasn't meant to see. But my foot slipped from the root I stood on and I fell backwards, head hitting a rock. My vision began to swim, and the ground trembled as that metal giant came closer.
Shoot! Dad was right, I never should have left the house. The last thing I seen before I blacked out completely was a large robotic face, with intelligent blue eyes, and a language I'd never heard before.
When I came too, the first thing I was aware of was how cool it was. It's still night. And my head hurts. What happened? This doesn't feel like my bed, so where am I? I rolled over, groaning. This is grass. Why am I outside? Dad never lets me go out at night-
Oh. Everything came back to me in a rush. The thunder, the crater, and the giant metal man.
I heard a noise, vaguely like words in some language I'd never heard. It was in a metallic voice, and I somehow knew it was directed at me.
Blinking my eyes open, I seen a very different scene from where I'd passed out. The unkempt roots and weeds were gone, and the nearest tree was half bent over about eight feet away. It was a sort of artificial clearing, at the center of which was a huge, tear-shaped crater. I was sitting in the grass just at the head with the giant metal man in the crater, crouching before me. In the crater and crouching at the same time, he still had at least five feet on me.
"Wh-what?" I scooted back, but not too far. My head was pounding when I moved too quickly like that.
This time, I was fully aware that he was speaking to me, in a tone that told me that whatever he said, it wasn't anything like 'I'm going to kill you now, little human'.
"I don't know what you're saying." I shook my head. From his reaction, he didn't know what I was saying either. He tilted his head to one side and stooped closer. He repeated what he'd said, pointing at me and around to the forest. "Ah..."
He stopped there and leaned back, taking a deep breath. He looked around, then back to me and gave an encouraging smile. Well, whatever you are, you're friendly.
"What are you?" I mused, shifting to take a more comfortable position. He spoke again, in that alien language. "An alien, or some sort of government project?" His eyes were too intelligent and his entire being was far too self-aware and independent to have been man made, so I was sure he was alien. "Where are you from?"
He spoke again, gesturing to me, and back to the forest. Yeah... we're not getting anywhere like this. I then remembered a scene from that old movie, Tarzan. Keeping from snorting, I put a hand to my chest.
"I'm Sam." I then pointed to my face. "Samuel, or, just Sam. Sam."
He hesitated a moment, before nodding and repeating in a far more metallic and deep voice, "Sam." Followed by something in his language quickly. He paused and gestured to himself in what I now had proof to be the universal sign of 'My name is'. What followed, however, was a word that I had no hope of repeating. I'm going to say their language wasn't made with human vocal cords in mind. I just blinked, and he chuckled.
"I'll just call you Big Guy." I decided. He, of course, had no idea of what I said, but seemed to shrug it off. "It's a shame you don't know English." I leaned back and looked around then back to him. He'd turned his attention from me and was looking about the forest, and upwards to the stars. "So why are you here? You don't give off the 'take over Earth' vibe."
He glanced down at me, now standing at his full height, and back to his surroundings.
"Are you looking for something? Hey, this is just weird." I can't let Dad know about this guy. Who knows what'll happen? "Hey, Big Guy!" He looked back to me curiously, crouching down. I put my flattened hand to my brow and squinted, looking left and right. "What're you looking for?"
He didn't do anything for a moment, before he assumed what I meant. When he did, he held out a hand closer to me, palm up. I jumped in surprise, before a holograph started to flicker above his palm. It was Earth.
"Yeah, that's this planet alright." I nodded, pointing at the ground. He nodded in agreeance, before the hologram sort of zoomed in on North America, then the United States, and then all the way down to about where we were. That image disappeared, before a holographic cube took it's place, seeming to float in the air and slowly rotating around itself.
"So that's what you're looking for?" I mused, making the 'look for' gesture again. He nodded and took his hand back, saying something in his language. His tone changed, and I got the impression that this was a touchy subject.
After a moment, he paused. Then, "Sam?" I hummed, looking more attentively. He repeated something he'd said earlier, and gestured to the forest again.
"Still no idea what you're wanting there." I stated. "But, ah... hey." I started to get up. "Maybe we should work on that if you're sticking around at all. Maybe I can help with whatever you're doing. I don't know."
He turned away from me again, staring in one direction. I looked that way, starting to hear the footsteps only a little after he did.
"Samuel James Witwicky!" Shoot. Dad's come out to find me. I felt the Earth shift as Big Guy ran the opposite direction quickly. "Where are you? You are grounded for eternity, you know you aren't supposed to come out at night. And you aren't supposed to go in the forest by yourself, especially at night!" Dad came into view. He didn't even notice the crater right behind me. "Get back in the house right now."
"But-"
"No buts! You aren't leaving the house for a year!" He insisted, grabbing my arm. I sighed and rolled my head back.
"Daaaad! It's not my fault, I seen something out here." I looked towards where the alien had gone, and caught sight of blue metal. But Dad didn't notice at all.
"I saw something too. There was an unregistered commit in orbit near Venus. But I had to stop that to go find my son, who's run off!" He glared at me and pulled me along.
"Uuuuhhhhg." I moaned again, following along dutifully. One last glance towards the alien, and I vowed to come back tomorrow.
Back at the house, I was locked up in my room and Dad locked himself in his. We were on opposite ends of the house, and both upstairs. Mine and my bathroom were the only rooms not dedicated to his job up here. Even his bedroom had pages and papers from his computer and other scientists' works all around the walls, with his laptop in the corner that he brings some of his work to bed with. Some people read books before sleep, my Dad reviews work he'd recorded that night.
Just as I was daring to slip out of bed, a blue light ran up and down my room. I nearly hit the wall, I was so surprised. As soon as it hit me, it stopped and disappeared. But then I realized it came from the window and I rushed over, shoving it open.
Big Guy was standing there, stooping to stick his head closer to the window. He spoke quickly when I had it open, in a tone I easily deduced as worry.
"I'm fine." I assured, waving and jabbing a thumb back at my Dad's general direction. "He's just my Dad. Do you need somewhere to stay?"
He stared at me a moment, unsure.
"Really, he's fine." I insisted, smiling. He seemed to understand that I wasn't just kidnapped. "Do you need somewhere to stay the night?" Surely if he had somewhere to be at the moment, or somewhere else to stay, he wouldn't bother with some random kid. He spoke, shortly, and shook his head. Well, I get that one. He still has no idea what I'm saying.
I sighed. I held up a finger, "I'll be right out there." I planned on showing him to the abandoned garage Dad never uses. He used to keep the truck inside, but since Mom died, he hasn't bothered to use it at all. Only reason he used it in the first place was because she kept nagging him. Now, it's just filled with her old stuff that Dad hadn't been able to get rid of or find a use for. She was a high school teacher.
But, my bedroom door was locked from the outside. I groaned in frustration and kicked it. I stopped quickly and put my ear to the door, but luckily, he hadn't stirred. I still heard the constant sound of his equipment running.
Walking back to the window, I shrugged. "Guess I'm stuck, and something tells me you don't take directions."
He said something, and shifted to gesture to the ground outside, and looked back to me questioningly. Did I want out there?
I nodded. "Yeah, I was going to show you where you could stay, if you wanted."
Without warning, he reached through the window and grabbed me. I gasped in surprise and held on. Then, he let me back down on the ground, and I shook my head. He said something, crouching down, and waited. I laughed shakily.
"Give me a warning next time, alight Big Guy? Who am I kidding, you probably did. Not like I'd understand anyways."
He said something and looked around. I shrugged and pointed along the drive way.
"I have no idea what's going on with you, so, all I've got to offer is this." I started walking along. "If you fit, you can hang out in there for however long. Dad never goes in, so you're good there. Or, the road's that way. Though, I don't think you'd want to go that way and attract a bunch of attention."
But he wasn't paying attention anymore. He'd gotten side tracked by Dad's truck, parked along the drive way halfway to the garage. It was a big semi truck, mostly because of moving equipment around from here to the university, and he's got a side gig of working for the university. He transports stuff to and from it as needed.
That same blue light that he'd scanned my room with fell over the truck. I ran up, curious.
"What're you doing? Dad needs that thing, you know-" The light stopped and he turned to me, saying something quickly. He started to walk farther along the drive way like it was a sidewalk, before his entire form started to change again. Just like it had from the rock-looking thing to what he was now, he was now turning into the same truck that he'd just scanned. Only, red and blue instead of grey and red.
"Wow." I gaped, running around. Also, he looked like new, rather than Dad's junk. "That's awesome, you just transformed!" I flinched, lowering my voice and looking back to the house. But nothing seemed to be off, so I assumed Dad was still in his room.
The headlights flashed, and I backed off. He did it again, transforming back into the person-form. He said something, suddenly sounding tired.
I pointed towards the garage, and he looked over. He said something looking to me again. I ran towards the garage and reached inside to the switch that opened and closed it. Flipping it, I showed the door off before leaving it open and gesturing down the other way towards the road. "I don't know exactly what you want here, but you can rest there if you want. And the road's that way, since you'd blend in now."
He looked between it all for a moment, then back to me and said something with a smile. Reaching down to rub the top of my head in a general 'thanks, kid' he then gestured to the garage. I nodded.
Flipping my hand to my forehead like you see in military movies, I casually saluted him. "No problem." I started back to the house. But... the doors were all locked now and I had come out of the second story window.
Glancing back to him, he looked amused. He gestured to the window, saying something. Whatever it was, I nodded to it. He chuckled and reached down to grab me again, walking back up to the house.
He held me up to the window so I could climb in. I turned around and grinned at him, waving.
"Goodnight."
He said something, looked around, and said something else before turning and walking back towards the garage. He transformed and rolled in, before somehow the garage door shut on it's own.
Cool. I've got my own alien robot friend. Imagine that!
End of the chapter author's note, but nothing really to say so far. I'd love it if you reviewed, but if you don't I won't hold it against you.