MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

By FAH3

The 80's

The young college student sat on the beach and did his best to try and stop his crying. He had started when he stomped out of his college dorm, and had continued non-stop all the way home. Sitting beside him was what was left of the one thing could have made him the greatest inventor on Earth. Instead, it was now nothing but scrap metal inside a garbage bag. His greatest creation had literally blown up in his face. And like a fool, he thought that his supposed friends would at least try to comfort him in his moment of utter failure. Maybe try to offer some type of moral support. Instead, they had done nothing but laugh at him and humiliate him. Even his best friend, James!

James was the first friend he had made in college, and he went and stabbed him in the back like that. He didn't even try to apologize for his actions. None of them did. After hours of sleepless nights of studying, teachers who failed him because of his genius, and now with no friends to speak of, he had had enough. So now, here was. Sitting on the beach of the New Jersey shore. At one point, the Jersey Shore had been very beautiful and a great tourist attraction. Now, just like everything else in Jersey, it had become depressing. He wanted to show those idiots, those ungrateful buffoons, that he was smarter than all of them would ever hope to be. To show them that he was better than all of them. One day, the world would know how brilliant he was. Everyone would either love him, or he would make them fear him. No one ever embarrassed him like that. No one! the wrath of – what the hell was that?

As he sat there in the sand with tears falling down his face, he saw something strange in the afternoon sky above him. If he didn't know better, he would swear that he was watching a meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere. It was quite a strange and stunning sight to see as he watched the fire ball streak through the sky with the smoke trailing behind it. In some ways, it was almost beautiful. However, the wide eyed wonder that had enthralled him as he watched the meteor soon turned into paralyzing fear as he watched the meteor change its course and begin to head directly for the Jersey shore! He didn't know how he had done it, but quickly turned and made himself run away as he began to hear the object fall towards him. His legs were almost jelly as he kept stumbling and falling over, kicking up sand as he went. The sound of the meteor falling was getting louder by the second. Whatever it was, it was falling fast. And a part of his mind was screaming that he may not make it.

All sense of hearing and sense of direction were on massive overload as the meteor struck the beach. A massive explosion followed that made the ground itself shake with a terrifying ferocity as the explosion itself almost ruptured his eardrums. An intense wave of heat washed over him as the force from the blast hit him and sent him spiraling through the air like a rag doll.

As his mind soon found its equilibrium again, he coughed up a mouth full of sand as the smell of heavy thick smoke permeated the air. He tried to push himself back up but screamed as he felt unbearable pain shoot through his left hand and up into his forearm. He rolled onto his side as his body trembled from the pain as he glanced downward. He could see that his left hand was broken. In at least two places, bones were jutting out from the top of his hand as it was coated in a thin layer of blood. His glasses were destroyed, and he could feel blood flowing down the left side of his face. He was still shaking like a leaf in the wind as he continued to cough, expelling the smoke from his lungs. Slowly, he rose to his feet and looked at the crater that was now in the middle of the beach. The sand all around the meteor had turned into blackened glass as some of the heated sand around it still appeared to be glowing a molten color of orange gold.

As he took a few steps closer, his eyes grew wide at what he saw. Inside the crater, something large and metal sat as smoke still rose from the heat of re-entry. It looked strange to him. It was definitely aerodynamic in shape and design. Was he looking at an alien space craft? What secrets did it hold? However, this craft was not in good shape at all. The damage it had sustained was obvious, but most of it wasn't from the crash. There were several large dents in the hull with cuts and tears in the metal. Something large and sharp had obviously tried to pierce this thing, but what could it have been? There were also large scorch marks, with large holes that had been burned into it.

His fear soon returned as he saw the machine begin to move. Several pieces of the machinery were actually moving, shifting, and changing shape all on their own accord. It was amazing as the machinery took itself apart and relocated its mechanisms into different locations. The machine no longer looked like an alien craft, but resembled a large humanoid. The machinery stopped relocating its various parts and the young man saw that he was looking into the face of some large robotic humanoid as it glared its red eyes at him. He wasn't sure how he could tell, but something told him that this strange automaton wasn't happy to see him. The large machine tried to stand, but was making strange growling sounds that sounded like groans and shouts. It was almost like the machine was in pain. As it stood fully erect, the young man could see the various places on its body that had large blast areas he had seen earlier. Various fluids were leaking from several of the blast areas as it continued to glare at him. Then, its right arm began to shift once more as fingers disappeared and strange devices began to form what looked to be a weapon. The machine said something in a strange language as he leveled the weapon in front of the young man and the inside of the barrel began to glow. The young man let out a blood-curdling scream before the blast of energy struck him.

NOW

Dr. Drakken sat up in his bed, screaming as loudly as he could as he gripped the sheets so hard that they were about to tear. It took him a few moments to realize where he was and before he could begin to relax. He was in the small apartment that was adjacent to his new laboratory for his research. Because of his help in stopping the Lowardian invasion of Earth, he had been given a full pardon for his crimes and had agreed to work for the U.N. for now on. Unable to stop himself from shivering, he quickly stepped out of his bed and walked into the bathroom. Turning the light on, he quickly filled the sink and began splashing cold water on his face to try and calm himself down.

As he looked in the mirror again, he couldn't help but look at the long scar that was on the left side of his face. Another shiver ran down his spine as he remembered how he had received it. In fact, he had been remembering how he had received his scar for a few weeks now. He didn't know why, but that nightmare kept coming back to him almost every night. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see that machine and its burning red eyes. And he could still remember the terror he had felt when it had tried to kill him. To this day, he still didn't know how he survived the ordeal. He had woken up in the hospital after the incident with his hand in a cast, stitches in his face, and being treated for several burn injuries, and his skin pigment had become blue. He had tried to look for any evidence of what had happened to him, but he could never find any trace of the strange machine. Not even the crater it had made when it crashed was left. He had been in the hospital for two weeks, but it was impossible to clean up something like that in that amount of time. Wasn't it? But more importantly, that incident had happened when he dropped out of college. So why, in God's name, was he being haunted by it now?

"Dr. Lipski?" a security guard asked as he entered his room. "Is everything all right, sir?"

"Everything's fine. Just some – bad dreams." He said. "Just some bad dreams."

Olympus Mons, the planet Mars.

"I tell you, I can never get enough of this." The man, Lieutenant Briggs, said as he watched the sun rise in the distance. Even though he had been trained for this for years, it still amazed him. To actually be watching a sunrise on the surface of another planet besides Earth. Right now, he was fulfilling one of the dreams that several Trekkers had all over the world.

"Would you stop all that? I'm tempted to blast back to the shuttle just so I don't have to listen to you." His fellow astronaut, Commander Pine, said as he continued to look at the instrument panel on their terrain vehicle. "We're supposed to be looking for signs of water, not to admire the view."

"But this is history we're making. Even just standing here. Doesn't that make you feel anything?" Briggs asked him.

"Yeah. It makes me wish I was at home in bed feeling my super model wife's naked body pressing into me." Pine said as he continued to look at the instrument readings.

"You know, you can really be an asshole sometimes."

"Why don't you just – whoa." Pine said as the instrument panel began to beep wildly as it discovered something. He immediately began calling up details as Briggs joined him in the vehicle and raised a questioning eyebrow at what he was seeing.

"What's wrong? Is it picking up another sand storm?"

"No. The sensors are picking up something metal." Pine said.

"Metal? Could it be one of the old rovers?" Briggs asked him.

"No way. None of them were ever sent into this area of Mars." He said as he tried to locate the metal's location. As he the computers gave him more details, his eyes gazed at the data in disbelief. "Jesus. Whatever this thing is, it's huge."

"Where is it?"

"It's about – ten miles north west from our current location."

So far, everything had been then same as they drove along the surface of the red planet. They hadn't seen anything that should or even could have made the sensors go crazy like they had. Just dirt and various rock formations. Frankly, it was the same as everything else on Mars. A barren dessert as far as the eye could see. If they could establish a colony here, that would still be something. But for now, the two astronauts were trying to determine what was on this barren rock that the computers thought was so important.

"Do you see anything yet?" Briggs asked as they continued to drive.

"Nothing. Maybe the computers detected something in the rocks?" Pine asked him.

"I doubt it. Even if there was a large ore deposit, the computers wouldn't be going crazy like this."

"But that doesn't make sense. I don't think there's anything else out here." Briggs said as he felt the rover begin to slow down. "What are you doing?"

"There a cliff up ahead. Unless you want to see if you can fly, I'm bringing this thing to a stop." Pine said as the vehicle stopped five feet from the cliff's edge.

Pine was still trying to figure out what the computer was trying to tell him while Briggs seemed to be in a strange trance. His face was pale as he looked into the distance in complete awe and shock, walking closer to the edge of the cliff while Pine continued to look at the data and attempt to see if the computers were giving him false readings. So far, he was more confused now than he was when the computer picked up the strange anomaly.

"I think this thing is fried. I don't see anything out here. What do you think, Briggs? Briggs? Lieutenant?" Pine asked and finally looked up when he didn't receive an answer. A groan of annoyance escaped him as he saw Briggs standing at the edge of the cliff and look into the distance again. It was so tempting to give him a good kick in the ass if he started to talk about the beauty of Mars and making history again. "Damn it, Briggs! We don't have time for this! I think we were just led on a wild goose chase." Pine said as his temper began to boil.

"I don't think so." Briggs said as he continued to look forward.

"What are you talking about?"

"Commander, you better see this for yourself." Was all Briggs said.

Pine didn't know what was going on, but Briggs definitely sounded out of it. What had he seen that made him sound like a hippy back at Woodstock? As Pine joined Briggs, his mouth fell open as he felt all the air in his lungs leave him. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. It was something he had never believed in his entire life, until now. Before them, stretching for miles and covered in several years of gathered red dust and dirt, was the wreck of a giant alien space craft. Half of it, or at least what seemed to be the front end, was sitting only a few miles from them with a debris field scattered from where it sat and where the tail end lay several miles away.

"Do you see it?"

"I see it, and I'm scared shitless." Pine said as he took a large gulp.

The ship was larger than they had originally thought. The size of the star ship was massive. If they had to take a wild guess, the height of it alone was taller than the pyramids by one-hundred meters or more. But that was only a guess. They didn't dare go inside of it since the computers were picking up some strange radioactivity from the ship. The debris field that they had seen was indeed strange. There seemed to be what they guessed were engine components that were the size of their space shuttle, as well as other things that they didn't even begin to understand. What had caught their attention though, were what looked like strange pods.

Years of dirt and dust from being on the Martian surface had them almost completely covered. They were oval in shape, but there length and height were massive. Not as massive as the ship, but still incredibly large. Briggs walked closer to one large pod and saw strange carvings along its side. The writing itself almost looked like a combination of Japanese writings and hieroglyphics.

"What are these things?"

"I don't know. They could be anything from containers to fuel cells." Briggs said.

"They might be containers. The computers show that whatever is inside are also radioactive."

"Dangerous levels?" Briggs asked quickly.

"No, they're still within the safety zone. But they're still high. I don't think prolonged exposure will do us any harm." Pine said as he kept looking from the massive pods to the computer readings.

"I think I found something." Briggs said, causing Pine to look up. As soon as he did, the gasp he uttered was so massive that he almost swallowed his tongue.

"DON'T TOUCH THE DAMN THING YOU IDIOT!" Pine shouted as he saw Briggs walking to one of the pods.

"I think this one's active or something. There's something glowing under the dirt." Briggs said as he tried to brush some of the dirt off.

"Are you deaf?! That's alien technology! We don't know what it even does." Pine said as he got out of the vehicle and began walking towards Briggs.

Briggs wasn't listening as he examined the control panel he had just uncovered. The order they were arranged and their design didn't make sense to him at all. What could it mean? As he reached to brush more of the Martian dirt off of the panel, something happened. As his hand made contact, he felt the glowing symbols sink inward and go dark. A mild hum began to emit from the pod as various pieces of it began to shift and move. Several mechanisms began to click inside as it began t shudder, making Briggs back away.

"What did you do?!" Pine shouted at him.

"I don't know!" Briggs shouted back.

As both of them slowly backed away from the large pod, several seals near the top of the pod ruptured with a loud pop that sounded like a gunshot and began to vent a strange white mist as the machinery inside the pod began to stop. The gas inside was being vented with such speed and force that it almost sounded like a tea pot kettle when the water inside began to boil. The mist was soon surrounding the pod and the two astronauts like a thick fog, almost blinding them as it blanketed the ground around them. When the pod stopped its venting, all was quiet and still. Briggs and Pine weren't sure what to do next. The mist prevented them from seeing the vehicle, which meant it was pointless to try and find it.

As the mist began to lift, they head something strange from inside the pod. It almost sounding like something was moving inside of it. What they heard next chilled them to the bone. It almost sounded like growling. The top of the pod was flung upward and into an arch in the sky before it clattered to the ground several miles away. The growling could be heard again, but it almost sounded like a strange language. Then, they saw it. A giant metal hand gripped the side of the pod, and it almost looked like the fingers were almost talons. Soon, a tall figure began to stand itself upright as the sun reflected off of its metal plating. The metal that covered most of its body almost looked like tarnished silver as various mechanisms were in various places of its body. They couldn't be sure what belonged where, but the size of the creature seemed to dwarf the skeletons they would see of a T-Rex inside a Natural History Museum. Both kept their distance as the creature stood to its full height and stepped out of the pod while it gazed at its surroundings. As it saw the scattered debris and what was left of the ship, a slow growl soon became a large and angry roar that almost made the glass in the astronaut's helmets crack.

"What is that thing?!" Pine shouted

"It's a big fucking robot! Let's get out of here!" Briggs shouted as the giant machine turned and saw them.

The ground shook as the machine chased after them, growling and talking as it quickly and easily caught up with them. The large machine stomped its large foot on top of Briggs, crushing his legs and pinning him to the ground as he leaned down and grabbed pine in a strong grip that was almost crushing Pine to death.

"BRIGGS!"

"OH GOD, IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" Briggs screamed as he felt the robot's massive weight on top of what was left of his legs.

"Let me go. Please, let me go." Pine sobbed as the large machine looked at him and then down at Briggs as he let a low growl. The components that allowed the machine to form a face showed nothing but disgust as he looked at both of them. The machine's free arm began to shift and relocate components until it formed a large weapon that looked like a large cannon with a curved blade attached to it. He turned to face the debris field as he aimed the weapon and fired at several of the other pods that were partially buried in the dirt.

"DECEPTICONS! RISE!" he shouted as all the pods he had shot at began to vent the same white mist that his pod had. Within moments, several other strange humanoid machines were screaming and growling as well. Pine was hyperventilating as his body began to tremble and he felt his bladder loose all control of itself. Within moments, he was surrounded by half a dozen of these strange machines.

"We live to serve you, Lord Megatron." The one closest to the robot that held him said as it kneeled before it. The others were soon following the first robot's example as his captor glared back at them.

"Do you – understand me?" his captor growled. Pine could do nothing but quickly shake his head yes. "Where do you come from?" his captor asked. Pine tried to speak, but he couldn't do anything except sob as he saw the red eyes of all the gathered robots glare at him. "Answer me, or this will be you." The robot said and looked down at Briggs.

Pine looked down in time to see the treads that were in the robot's feet begin to turn violently, and saw Briggs scream in unbelievable pain as the treads tore apart his legs. Pine looked on in horror as he saw pieces of his suit, skin, blood, and bone scatter across the Martian surface.

"YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Pine screamed at his captor.

"So you've decided to speak again." The robot said as he glared at Pine. "Where are you from?" it asked as Pine again as Briggs' screams began to quiet down.

"E-Earth. I'm from Earth!" Pine shouted as Briggs stopped screaming. When he looked down, he saw a large puddle of blood under Briggs and the large robot's foot, with Briggs himself looking as pale as a sheet and not moving.

"Terrible name for a planet if you ask me, Lord Megatron. They might as well call it planet dirt." The closest robot said as he stood to his feet. Pine's captor growled in anger before turning around and backhanding the robot that spoke with his weapon. The smaller robot fell to the dirt as it let out a small growl of its own.

"You will not speak unless spoken to, Starscream. This mess is your fault to begin with."

"That was the traitor! He deceived us all!"

"But you were supposed to make sure that all our forces were loyal to only ME!" Megatron screamed before glaring back at Pine. "How many are with you? HOW MANY?!"

"Just three others!" Pine shouted as he began to loose control over other bodily functions.

"Soundwave, scan the planet for any transmissions."

"Affirmative, Lord Megatron." A robot in dark blue armored pieces said as his red eyes began to glow. He kept glancing to the left and right several times before his head looked upward to the sky. "Alien transmissions located."

"Where are the transmissions coming from?" Megatron demanded.

"A primitive star vessel that is in orbit of this planet. It is also sending transmissions to the third planet in this star system." Soundwave reported.

"The last transmission we received from Shockwave stated that he was on a course to the same planet." Starscream said.

"Will the primitive vessel be large enough to hold you and the others, Soundwave?" Megatron asked.

"Not in our current forms. We would have to transform for planet re-entry." Soundwave said.

"Very well." Megatron said as he turned back to Pine. "Your usefulness is at an end."Megatron said before he clenched his fist closed in a tight grip. Pin didn't even get a chance to scream as the preassure that was suddenly applied crushed Pine's body and casued blood to erupt and coat the inside of his helmet. Megatron slowly opened his fist and let Pine's remains drop from his hand.

"Awake a loyal Decepticon that can assume the form of the alien vessel. Once the task has been completed, destroy the alien craft and set a course to the third planet of this system. I shall scout ahead. Contact me when all of you have landed on Earth. Soon, the All Spark will be mine." Megatron said as transformed into a strange space craft, and launched himself into the air and into space above.

"As you command, Lord Megatron." The others said before they began scanning the remaining pods.

Dr. Lipski was looking at the white board before him, trying to figure out the mistake he had made. He had tried to replicate a synthodrone that was similar to Eric; the drone he had created to woe and capture Kim Possible. The military had an immediate interest in a thinking soldier that was easily replaceable and disposable and had immediately contracted him for the task. The only problem was trying to give it a military style of thinking and strategy instead of the original AI he had created for Eric. It had taken him months of research to perfect that one drone, and now he had to do it again. But unlike the teenage mind, this one was respectively a more difficult challenge. It would seem that for the moment, the term "Military Intelligence" was the biggest oxymoron he had ever heard in his life. Screw the money they were willing to pay him, this was beginning to give him the mother of all headaches.

Drakken was about to sit down when he felt a sudden pain in his temple that seemed to go down behind his left eye. It was almost like someone had driven a large needle directly into his brain as he felt the pain begin to spread. He began to pant heavily as the pain worsened. He grasped the edge of the chalkboard for support as began to weep. Soon, it felt like his brain was trying to grow, but his skull would now allow it. It was like his own skull was trying to crush his brain. Drew let out one large gasp of air before his body went rigig. He did nothing as his entire body locked up and froze. For several seconds, it looked like Lipski had even stopped breathing. Slowly, Drew stood back up and grasped one of the markers that he had discarded. He grasped the eraser in his free hand and erased every single trace of the AI formula he had been looking at before dropping the eraser to the floor. When he opened his eyes, they had rolled to the back of his head as he reached up and began to write.

However, what he was writing weren't math equations. In fact, they appeared to be strange symbols. As he wrote, he began picking up speed. Soon, the top half of the chalkboard had a row of symbols that stretched across the entire length of the board. Once he reached the edge of the board, he started writing below as he began to write another row. He was now writing as fast as he could as he started to speak. Several minutes passed as he wrote and spoke, with his voice getting louder. Half of the chalkboard had already been filled with the strange writing when one of the security guards came to check on him.

"Dr. Lipsky?" he asked and saw how odd he was acting. As he saw the symbols on the board, he began to move more slowly toward the doctor as his heart rate began to accelerate slightly. "Dr. Lipsky? Are you okay?" he asked once more. When Lipski paused and looked at him, his eyes were still rolled into the back of his head. The guard jumped reached for his gun out of instinct, startled at what he saw. Drew only looked at the guard for one brief moment before he returned to what he was writing. As he continued to write, he spoke the language even louder. To the guard, the language sounded more like growls and grunts. As he backed out of the lab and closed the door, he crossed himself before taking hold of the gold crucifix around his neck and kissed it before he found himself backed against the wall that was across the hall way.

"Hey, Jones?" the guard asked into the microphone that was attached to his shoulder.

"What is it, Lewis?"

"You better call the big guys down here. I think blue boy just lost it."

"What's the sitch, Wade?"

"You're not going to believe this."