TFE
C7 Awakening
Copyright 2006, masterfwiffo. All rights reserved.
Michelle stared quietly up at the same room she had been holed up in for what seemed like an eternity. It was three months now. Three full months. She groaned, stretching herself out on her bed in her small room. THree months was a long time.
The world in general had assumed the robots had disappeared, ever since the blast that took down the alien space ship almost two months ago. Ever since then, sightings were restricted to little more then rumor. Talks of sending a space shuttle to find the remains of the spacecraft were still under way, but no hint of them had been seen. There had been no retaliation. There had been no communication. For all intents and purposes, they were gone.
"Then why am I still here?" She said aloud, to the empty room.
That answer was not forthcoming. Every day that passed, she became more convinced that she would never be allowed leave. Despite constant assurances from Mr. Smith that he was 'in talks' with the higher-ups to let her go, she had seen no change from her daily routine, which mostly consisted of her sitting around.
What was worse, a week or two ago, one of her only friends, Chris, had entirely disappeared. Not a trace of him was to be found anywhere- and when she asked, no answer was ever given. Benjamin was her only friend left, and he had told her that there were whispers, whispers of something big coming. Something that would change everything.
But Michelle could care less about whatever the 'big' news was. She just wanted to go home.
A knock on the door woke her from her thoughts. "Come in." She called lazily, not even bothering to look up. She knew who it was.
Ben poked his head in. "Yo. I brought dinner."
"Thanks." Michelle said dully.
Ben glanced at her, and placed it quietly on her small desk. "You feeling ok?"
Michelle sighed. "I wish they would just let me go already. What the hell am I still doing here?"
"Beats me." Ben shrugged. "I just follow orders."
"Am I going to be one of those people who just disappears? Wiped forever off the Earth by the big government? Or what?"
Bens lack of an answer hardly comforted her.
"THought so." She muttered, turning on her side.
"Actually..." Ben said quietly. "Something big is coming down-"
"You've told me. You've been saying that for a week now."
"And Chris, at least, is part of."
That perked her interest. "You know where he is?"
"Sorta. He was transfered to another department. I got word from him. And... well, It's big. That's all he could say."
"But I know that already." Michelle sighed, flopping back down onto her bed. "How much longer is this going to go on for?"
"He said, 'Soon."
----
'Soon' meant two more days, as Michelle found out, when an anxious looking Andrew Smith rushed into her room.
"Come along, miss Renolds." Andrew said hurriedly. "We don't have much time."
"Wait, wha-" Michelle didn't have another chance to respond, but was pulled along, out of her room and into the endless corridor.
Ben was waiting for both of them. The first thing Michelle noticed was that he had ditched his traditional officer getup for something more high-tech. Thick armor, laced with white, and embroidered with security emblems adorned his figure, looking sterner then ever. The second thing she noticed was the giant gun, of some kind she couldn't identify, strapped onto his back.
"What's going on?" Michelle asked nervously. Neither answered, just hurried along. Mr. Smith pushed open a nondescript door, and pulled her inside. She was surprised to find herself inside a make-shift elevator. Ben stepped in behind them, and door closed. She felt the elevator whir to life, and to her surprise, move upwards.
"I'm going to be brief." Smith stated anxiously. "I had to pull some strings to get you here, but they agreed."
"What's going on?"
"It will make sense in a minute. Everything' changed. We know why they came, this must be it. And what you're about to see may save mankind, or may doom it. If nothing else, you'll be a witness. At the very least, you deserve that."
Michelle shook her head frantically. "I don't understand-"
"But there's a good chance this will be dangerous. Everyone present will be at risk. Do you still want to go through with this?"
Michelle was taken aback. "I-"
"I'm afraid I have to ask you to make up your mind quickly."
"I- Yes. Sure. Whatever. What's going on?"
"You'll see in a minute."
The elevator slowed to a halt, and Michelle was practically pushed out. It took her a moment to regain her balance and her whereabouts. The corridor was long and dark, nearly featureless, and Smith was already briskly walking down it. "Come on." He called back, "No time to waste!"
"What is going on?" Michelle hissed, for the third time, at Ben. He glanced down at her with a shrug. "Beats me. They don't tell me anything- just that I'm gonna need these." He patted his large gun affectionately. Michelle sighed in frustration, but followed Smith. The corridor was featureless and dull, save for the fact that all doors were shut tight- and a small blinking box sat where the doorknob would be. Smith continued down the corridor at a brisk pace until he reached one door. He bent down toward the small blinking box, and peered into. It blinked for a few minutes, then its light flashed from red to green, and the door opened with a mechanical groan.
Michelle gaped. "How-"
"Retina scans." Smith waved his hand. "Best form of identification we have right now. Come on, times wasting."
He stepped inside. Michelle sighed, and poked her head in. And her jaw dropped.
"What... is..."
Smith turned, a smile appearing briefly on his face. With a wide gesture he introduced the arrays of glass cases, each housing something different. "We call this the artifact room. Quite impressive isn't it. Our robot friends seem a little bit sloppy- we've found parts and bits of blasted off armor..." He motioned to a particularly large case that drew her attention like a magnet. "And this, of course, is our prize."
It was a large piece of... something. Yellow armor shrouded highly complex gears and what appeared to be still-moving bluish fluid. Michelle put her hands against the glass, and pushed her face closer in awe. Ben stared at the object for a moment, then shifted nervously.
"We found that the day we brought you here." Smith continued. "Looking at this gave us a little bit more understanding of them."
"This is incredible." She whispered. "It's mechanical... but it looks alive..."
"That was our conclusion too. But we found something even greater then that. Come along now."
Michelle followed him, her eyes still staring at the object.
"Come on!" Smith urged, quickening his pace. They moved through another two rooms, both filled with computers and equipment- but both were curiously empty.
"I'm not sure I like this." Ben muttered. "Where is everyone?"
"In here." Smith motioned. Michelle followed Ben and Smith into a dark, narrow corridor that lead to another secure door, and beyond that...
Michelle's eyes closed involuntarily against the sudden brightness that contrasted the dim halls. It looked like a hanger bay- an unusually busy one however, with technicians running around and shouting as they scurried in between literally hundreds of computers and over thousands of wires- but all that dropped from Michelles attention in an instant as she saw the centerpiece. With a cry, she dropped to her knees, string up at the thing and trembling.
"Impossible." The words escaped her mouth. "Impossible..."
"I'll be damned." Ben whispered in awe.
It was one of the machines.
It hung from the ceiling by its arms, a cold, expressionless yet frighteningly human face bowed. From its back extended long, bat-like wings, and folded over it's chest was something resembling a beak. It's cracked armor was a faded yellow, and upon one of its arms was what resembled a scaled broad-shield- on the other, a claw-like blade.
"You caught one, eh." Ben said quietly.
"Actually, no." Smith said, his eyes focused on its unmoving face. "We found it, in Alaska, buried deep within rock and ice. You're not gonna believe this, but if the dates of the rocks are to be believed, that thing is 65 million years old."
Ben turned and stared at him. "What?"
"Shortly before the robots made their first appearance, a paleontological expedition there found some strange readings- unusual, but nothing to get very excited about. Most everybody ignored their requests for more digging equipment until well after the robots arrived. And then they sent us one photo- that things hand. Needless to say, we had every piece of government-owned expedition equipment up there within a week. We dug out 6 of them."
"Six!" Michelle cried, managing to break her gaze away from the robot and stare around the room. There were in fact, more, two held up against one wall, and a smaller one opposite them. All three had the same blank expressions, the humanish faces, and saurian-looking armor.
"THe other two?" Ben said quietly.
"One is simply too big to fit in here." Smith answered with a smile.
Bens jaw dropped. "How big-"
"You probably don't want to know. Big."
"And what of the other one?" Michelles voice came softly.
"It's dead."
"Wait..." Ben spoke up. "You're telling me these ones are alive?"
"Yes. Each of them has a distinct energy signature that we believe is what makes it 'alive.' The last one we dug up didn't have one. I believe that means it's dead."
"If these ones are alive, what exactly do you plan to do with them?" Ben asked.
"We're not sure yet. Some want to wake them up. Others, rip them apart. There's a huge debate raging in the upper eschlon on how to handle this. The simple answer is, we don't know WHAT to do."
Ben grunted noncommittally, staring at the machine.
""Ben!"
Ben glanced at a familiar figure scurrying towards him. "So this is where you've been."
"Yep." Chris answered, looking very proud of himself. "I was one of the first guys they brought on. And boy has this been one hell of a thing."
"I need to talk to the General." Smith said quickly. "If you'll excuse me..."
He turned and left. Ben glanced back at Chris. "So, what's up with this one? Why's he the centerpiece?" He said, motioning up at the large yellow mechanoid.
"That one? Not a whole lot. Robert there's been quite the mystery."
Ben turned to stare at him. "Robert?"
Chris shrugged. "Sure, why not? Does he look like a George to you?"
"Oiy." Ben sighed. "So, what's different 'bout this one?"
"Well, you see, each of em has this weird, localized energy reading in addition to what we assume is its power source. Maybe it's the brain or something, we're not sure, but we think its what keeps them alive. Those three, back on the wall, all had a similar one, located around their chest area. Same with the big one, though it's was a little different. But this one's strange. It's got one of those energy signatures- and then it's got another, stronger one, located in what appears to be a removable artifact in its chest. This isn't a real scientific guess or anything, but we kinda think that makes him the leader."
"I caught almost none of that." Ben replied.
"I don't blame ya." Chris shook his head. "But damn, this is one hell of a thrill."
"I'll bet." Ben muttered. THen he paused, realizing he'd forgotten something. "Hey, where'd Michelle go?"
Chris's face went blank. "They brought her here?"
"Yeah," Ben muttered, whirling, scanning the crows of scientists and technicians for the young woman. "Where'd she run off too?"
---
Michelle had lost the conversation about the time Smith had mentioned waking them up. At that moment, her eyes had locked back on to the robot, and she had become quite entranced with it. She had moved herself forward, looking over at the machine, trying to get a feel for it through the scaffolding and equipment that surrounded it. But her eyes could not move from its frighteningly human face. She tried to imagine what it would look like, alive and moving- and rather then fear, she was fill with curiosity and longing. The knight that had rescued her so long ago, and this thing... what were they really like?
Her feet followed her thoughts in their wandering, and before long she found herself at the feet of the pair of other robots. She looked them over- one in white, the other in black, both with visors covering their eyes, though human-shaped jaws came out below them. She looked at them curiously, staring at their twin faces, noting how the black one looked softer- maybe younger? Maybe something else.
Then she turned her attention to the one on the final wall. It was much smaller then the rest, only a head or so taller then she was. She stared at for a long time, noticing the slim figure and the small face, that seemed etched in sadness and sorrow. To her, it seemed clearly feminine- as if robots would have a need for genders! But still...
The sadness in the unmoving face made her uneasy. What were the last thoughts that had crossed that things mind- if it indeed had a mind at all? It was all confusing for her...
"Michelle!"
She started as the familiar faces of her friends came to her. "Oh..."
"Don't run off like that, kid." Ben said quickly. "You know how we are about security."
"Sorry." Michelle said distractedly, glancing back at the sad face.
"Not even a hello?" Chris asked as he took Michelles arm and began leading her back.
"Sorry." Michelle said again, this time turning her gaze to the large yellow robot.
Noticing where her gaze was directed, Chris decided to oblige her. "That's our big one, 'Robert.' We're working a lot with him. They need me at the computers. You stay with Ben."
"All right." Michelle obediently trudged back to the entrance, then turned to stare again at the yellow machine.
"Her infatuation with these things worries me." Ben said quietly.
"I don't blame her. I was almost like that when I first saw em." Chris answered. "You just stay with her and keep her out of trouble, you here?"
"All right." Ben answered. "Just give us a little warning before you decide to wake that thing up."
"Between you and me," Chris commented, "I think they'd destroy em first."
Several hours later, nothing had changed. People bustled to and fro about the make-shift laboratory performing what appeared to be the same tasks they had all done earlier. Michelle had retreated to the back of the room, and sat in spot, her eyes never leaving the robotic centerpiece. What her thoughts were, no one could tell. But there were more important matters at hand, so everyone ignored her.
Ben hovered a near Chris, watching his movements with somewhat detached interest. Chris was both monitoring the computers, and in his spare time working on some 'special project' he had been cooking up.
Meanwhile, Smith and the General were having an intense debate on the machines future, with General Corbet loudly proclaiming his intent to 'have every damn one of them dismantled', while Smith gently continued to remind him to wait for orders.
Meanwhile up near the robots neck, one young man was frowning. His name was Jack Loya, and for the past two weeks, he'd been in charge of attempting to examine and repair alien robotic technology. There had been several astounding advances made, and a lot learned, but one thing still kept him in the dark. At the base of the robots neck was some strange looking damage, that looked as though it had been caused by a blunt instrument. But while the damage looked to be easily reparable, he couldn't figure out what the parts were for. He'd seen many servos, joints, and what he assumed to be a sort of 'nervous system' via wires, but this one particular bundle of cords puzzled him, because they seemed to go nowhere in particular.
Today was the first day he could devote entirely to this problem, so he took the opportunity to make a closer inspection. On a flimsy metal ladder that reached up to its neck, he peered into the still-open damage at the tangle of wires.
"HEY!" He called back down to one of his aids below, "Bring me a flashlight."
A few minutes later, he was peering deeper into the machines interior. To his surprise, he found the curious wires moved fairly easily, as if they had nothing connecting them at the bottom. "The hell?"
He leaned in a bit deeper, trying to see the ends of the wires. But as he did, someone below careless brushed past his ladder, rocking it. With a yell, he grabbed on to steady himself, and in doing so lost grip of the flashlight, which disappeared into the inner workings of the machine.
Jack swore, yelling obscenities back down to the idiot on the ground, before turning his attention back to his flashlight. He could still see the light from it, down from where it fell. He sighed, and turned back, yelling at his aid for another flashlight. Again he glanced down at the light- but found it had disappeared.
He stared, puzzled. "Where'd it go-" He froze, mid-sentence. The wires were moving. He stared in horror as one drew upwards, revealing a claw-like object at the bottom, clutching the flashlight in its grip- and the hundreds of tiny wires ripping into the battery case. With a yell, Jack pushed himself backwards, nearly falling in his rush to get off the ladder.
"It's moving!" He screamed as he rushed down. "It's moving!"
Smith froze, turning toward the robot. General Corbets jaw dropped. "What?"
Then from the creatures feet, a dozen more wires burst forth, charging forward at lightning speed and wrapping themselves around Chris's computer. Chris gave a yell and pushed himself backwards was the wires enveloped the casing. Ben yelled, bringing his gun down, before a desperate yell of "DON'T SHOOT!" Interrupted him. He turned toward the Smiths voice, and caught the followup order. "Get everything away from it, but don't shoot!"
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" Ben growled, grabbing the monitor and attempting to wrest it away from the cables. Three more scientists and two soldiers ran to his aid, now in a tug-of-war with the wires.
But Chris's very audible swear caught everyones attention. One lone wire followed the computers power-cord straight to a wall socket. It paused for a moment, then it, and all of it's companions, suddenly dove straight at it, smashing into the wall.
There was one moment of silence- then everything in the room went dark.
Every human stood in silence, staring into the darkness as though it would reveal something to them.
"What happened?" General Corbet demanded. "Where are the lights?"
"It's draining our power..." Smith said in awe. "It found and tapped into our power supply... off the energy of a battery?"
Then something like a mechanical groan brought every eye in the room to the robot. And they all watched as two blue orbs on it's face flickered to life, shining out like a blue beacon in the darkness.
"Impossible..." Smith whispered. "Already... so fast..."
Then all the wires began to withdraw, returning to the mechanical beast. And as they did, the lights and computer screens began to flicker back on
For a moment the robot stood there, chained like a beast, as air began to circulate through its system with the sound like a rattling hum.
"It can't move, can it?" General Corbet asked Smith quietly.
Smith was about to answer when the creatures arms came down, easily breaking the chains that held it.
"I rescind the question."
Now freed, it sank to it's knees, as its heavy 'breathing' continued. There was another cranking groan, followed by an earsplitting sound of a different variety. The robot was staring at them moving slowly, its mouth slowly moving in accompaniment with the sounds. They were coming out slowly, but the combination of sounds was distinctive- it was speaking words.
The mechanical creature moved slowly, staring at its (relatively) tiny captors, and again attempted to say something. But to its listeners, its sounds were nothing but gibberish.
To all but one.
The machine noticed her first. It took everyone else in the room a moment to realize the focus of it's attention. It was staring at the approaching figure curiously, it's head cocked with a look of interest on its face.
"Is that who I think it is?" Chris whispered fearfully.
"No. She isn't..." Ben muttered.
"Who is that?" General Corbet hissed.
"Well, looks like she may be some use after-all." Smith said quietly to himself. "Lets see how this plays out..."
---
Michelle hadn't even realized anything was happening until the lights went out. And even then, it took the robots first groan to realize what the source of the problem was. But as soon as its crystal blue eyes flickered to life, she found herself entranced yet again.
The face wore a look of confusion and bewilderment, and for some reason not even clear to herself, Michelle identified with its lost look. It had just awakened from an eon long sleep, and was now in completely unfamiliar territory, surrounded by things it had never seen before. She could only imagine how bewildered the thing must have felt. And she could sympathize with it completely.
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but when it caught sight of her, its eyes seemed to reflect the mutuality of the feelings. She found herself moving toward, oblivious to everything but the robot. A thousand questions filled her mind, questions she had wanted to ask the first one she had seen- and now this one. All thoughts of the white knight were gone, this new, yellow one replacing it entirely.
She approached the creature and stared quietly up at it. It stared back down at her, and spoke in its heavy, garbled language. Almost as if it were a question.
For a brief moment fear entered her mind- the horrific images she had seen, the lab burning around her, her friends disappearing into the hell-fires... But one look at it's face reassured her, It was not like the others.
"Hello." She said firmly.
The machine cocked it's head.
"Hello." She repeated. "Don't be afraid. We're not going to hurt you."
A voice at the back of her mind told her that she was the one who should be afraid, but she ignored it.
The machine 'spoke' again, the clanking groan emanating from it's voice, suddenly followed up with something recognizable. With some effort, one word emitted from the creatures vocals,
"Hel... lo."
From the nearby platform, General Corbet watched in awe. "It's trying to make contact." He said quietly.
"Yes..." Smith said thoughtfully, an idea forming in his head.
Back at it's feet Michelle looked up at its face, a smile on her own. "Hello." She said back, reaching her hand out. The massive robot leaned down, then slowly extended its hand. She made contact, slowly wrapping her hand around one extended finger. The things head cocked, and more of it's electronic 'words' came out.
"It's ok." She said again.
Suddenly, the thing looked up, alert an attentive.
"Hey!" Michelle protested as it began to move away from her.
"Looks like something caught it's attention." General Corbet growled, slowly raising his left arm, signalling his people to be ready.
The mechanical being moved toward the row of computers, and at one in particular, where Chris was furiously typing away.
"What are you doing?" Ben hissed.
Chris spat out his words in a rush. "You remember that project I've been working on? Well, it's a robot right? I've been looking at it's programing, and I think have an idea for a suitable translation. Simply binary yes-no mechanisms with a dictionary. With a little luck, it will be able to figure that out and understand us."
"I think it's got the idea already..." Ben whispered, edging back and clutching quickly to his weapon.
Chris looked up, and found himself merely a few inches away from the robots face. He made an audible gulp. The thing looked at him curiously, a questioning look on its face.
Chris made a couple quick, finishing strokes. Then he boldly reached down, pulled his computer open, and yanked out the hard-drive.
"That's government property!" General Corbet protested from his perch. "What's he doing?"
"Being a bloody genius, if I know him." Smith answered. "Wait for it."
Chris offered up the hard-drive to the machine, who took it gently from his hands, and held it up for examination. Slowly, several wires came from it's fingertips, and entered into to the hard-drive, who's faint whirring could be heard across the room. Then suddenly, the machines eyes went dark, and everything ceased to move.
"What did you do?" Smith yelled down at Chris. "If you killed it-"
Then it returned to life, it's eyes shining brighter then before. It glanced at the room, then on it's face, a smile appeared. "Hello." It said.
"You can talk?" Michelle asked, coming forward.
"Yes. Thank you." It responded. It's voice was crisp and clear now, similar to a young mans. The words seemed slightly flat and mechanical, but unlike a computer, traces of emotion could be found in it. "Fortunately, your 2 base system is easy enough to decipher."
"Well, I'll be damned." General Corbet whispered.
"I am, however, confused." It continued. "Where am I? How did I get here? Who... are you?"
"We were hoping you could answer some of those questions for us." Mr. Smith spoke up, now at Michelles side. Michelle turned and stared at him. "As for who we are, we are friends. We found you buried in our planets Northern Hemisphere, and brought you here."
It stared down at him. "Am I... on the third planet?"
"Yes." Smith answered. "We call it Earth. Our home."
"I do not remember things like you here..." It said slowly. "I-"
"It's been a long time." Smith answered. "Our dates show you've been asleep for 65 million years."
The machine paused. "So long... I do... not remember..." It's hand came slowly to its head.
Michelle quickly came forward. "Do not worry about it now." She said softly. "For now, lets be friends." Up at his perch, General Corbet rolled his eyes.
"Friends." It said quietly, its eyes staring down toward the ground. "Friends..."
"Yes." Michelle said, putting her hands on its massive hand. "We're your friends."
The machine looked at her for a minute, then smiled. "Yes. Friends." Then it paused, cocking it's head. "What did you call yourselves?"
"My name is Michelle." She quickly offered.
"And my name is Andrew J Smith." Mr. Smith came forward, giving a slight bow. "The one who aided you with translation is Christopher Johnson."
"You have long names." It commented.
"Well, do you have a name?" Michelle asked.
It paused for a second. "Yes... In your language... I believe it would translate to 'Evac'."
"Then it's a pleasure to meet you, Evac." Smith said with a uncharacteristically friendly smile.
"A pleasure as well, Andrew J. Smith." Evac answered. "I look forward to learning about your culture."
"Is that what you're here to do?" Michelle asked."
Evac paused. "No... we were monitoring the planet, back before..." Then he stopped, and his eyes widened. "My friends!" He cried. He whirled, pushing himself to his feet, turning, his eyes focusing in on the two robots against the wall. He hurried over to them, laying his hands on them. "I know these faces... Meister... Crosswise..." He said softly. "Was I like this when I was found?"
"Yes." Michelle said, coming to his side.
"What could have made us like this..." He said sorrowfully. "I must revive them."
"We'll give you what you need to do that." Smith said loudly. "Just tell us."
"Thank you, friend." Evac answered. "I believe I can do it myself."
Evac knelt down in front of them, and his optics darkened, as if he was beginning a ritual. While he was engaged in that, General Corbet came down and violently grabbed Smith, bringing them face to face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" The General hissed. "You aren't going to let him bring more of those things back to life!"
"On the contrary." SMith answered cooly. "That's exactly what I'm going to do, and as commander of this installation, I have the authority to allow this."
"And as a Military General, I may find it appropriate to relieve you of command." Corbet growled.
"Calm down." Smith said calmly. "Think about it. What greater weapon to have against the invaders, then their own kind on our side?"
Corbet shook his head. "This is insane."
Before Smith could respond, Evac suddenly came back to life. His arm raised to the one he identified as 'Meisters' neck, and a series of wires came out, inserting themselves into corresponding spots. There was a steady hum, and then the visor that signified Meisters eyes flashed blue, and he leaned forward with a grown. Then Evac turned and repeated the procedure with the second robot, Crosswise. There was another flash and Crosswises eyes lit up, with a softer gasp.
Evac leaned forward to catch them both as they fell forward. "Are you both well?" He asked quietly.
"Depends." Meister answered. "Can you tell me what hit me?"
"I'm ok." Crosswise said, her voice a little shaky.
"He must of uploaded his translator when he recharged them..." Smith muttered to himself.
"Evac?" Crosswise asked, looking around in confusion. "What happened?"
"I do not know." Evac answered "But things have clearly changed." He said, bringing his hand outward to show off the human behind him.
"Well now, what have we here?" Meister asked, leaning forward to examine Michelle. "You're no Saurian."
"My name is Michelle." She answered, extending her hand.
"Strange name." Crosswise commented.
Suddenly Chris, and a very unwilling Ben were at Michelles side, Chris gleefully offering his introduction, and Ben nervously keeping his distance from the robots, while the other two under his protection.
"Well now!" Meister laughed. "There sure are a lot of you little guys! Come here."
Chris obliged, edging closer. Meister took one good, long, hard look at him, then his humanish face grinned. "So what do you guys call yourselves? Don't just stand there, talk to me! I want to know what you guys are about!"
With those words, the very atmosphere in the room seemed to change to a more relaxed one. For some reason, Meisters casual attitude seemed to bring out the curiosity in those present and destroy their fears. In a matter of moments, the other scientist and soldiers present were also among them. With a gentle laugh and a friendly smile, Miester took to the crowd immediately, Crosswise quietly behind him, attentive but untalkative.
Evac too, mingled among the humans, but pulled away after a few minutes. Michelle followed him as he began to walk quietly toward the other wall, and the one remaining, inactivated robot.
"Is she your friend too?" Michelle asked, a little unsure herself as to why she had identified it as female.
Evac said nothing for a long moment, staring at the sorrowful face and reaching out to touch it gently. "I know this face." He said quietly. "But I have no name to put it to."
"Maybe if you wake her up, she'll remember." Michelle said quietly.
"Yes." Evac answered, reaching forward. With a low hum, the smaller robot awoke, collapsing weakly into Evacs hands.
"Are you all right, child?" Evac said gently.
She looked up into his eyes for a long time before speaking. "I know you..." She whispered. "But I cannot... remember..."
"Evac." He said gently. "And yours?"
"Hightail." She answered. "I cannot remember..." She whispered again, her voice filling slowly with fear.
"It's all right." Evac said softly, helping her too her feet. "All of us are having memory problems. They will come back, I am sure."
"All-right..." Hightail answered, glancing down at Michelle. "What is that?"
"Our friends." Evac said gently, helping her to her feet. "Come, there is a whole world to explore."
Several hours later, the activity died down. Meister and Chris were still quizzing each other extensively on the nature of each species being, and a lot of valuable info was being gained. Quite the storyteller, Meister had told much of the robots home-world, a place they insisted was called 'Seibertron,' a great golden world of endless beauty. Crosswise too had become helpful, speaking greatly of their scientific mission on Earth, and of the observation and experiments they had carried out from orbit, as dinosaurs roamed the Earth below. And from Chris and other scientists, both of them had learned a wealth of information about Earths current inhabitants and their culture. Meister in particular was becoming very excited to learn about the 'culture of music' as he called it, and had quickly appropriated someone's I-Pod for further examination.
Hightail remained quiet at all times, her eyes never focused on anything but a wall, as if trying to be invisible.
Evac had become engaged with Michelle, talking eagerly with her about her planet and people, but surprisingly, remained more focused on her. And she responded in kind.
"Your world." Evac said softly. "I remember it being quite beautiful. Nothing like home, very different, but still beautiful."
"It still is." Michelle answered gently.
"That I could see it again." He said softly. "The sky is still blue?"
Michelle laughed. "Yes, of course. You know..." Michelle glanced at the large hanger doors then back at where the General and Smith stood, a mischievous thought forming in her head. "We can go outside if you really want too..."
Evac cocked his head.
Smith and the General had watched the proceedings from the background, As everything was beginning to quiet down, Corbet turned to Smith, a frown etched on his face. "This is all well and good Smith, but these are no warriors. You cannot expect them to fight for us."
"Look at them." Smith responded. "They all have weapons. They must have them for some reason."
"Not one I want to think about." Corbet answered. "It's obvious we can't tell them about our current problems."
Smith sighed. "Here, I have to agree. Lets keep them blissfully unaware." As he watched Evac lean close to Michelle and whisper something, he shook his head. "They will be far more useful to us if they don't know."
A few seconds later, there was a shout. Smith and Corbet snapped to attention as Evac rose, suddenly transforming into a great mechanical likeness of a pterosaur, and flew straight through the closed hanger doors with a resounding crash.
"What the hell is he doing!" Corbet yelled. "They're running away!"
"Calm down!" Meister said with a laugh, stepping forward and kneeling down to the Generals level. "He just wants to see outside, that's all."
"He could've warned us." Smith muttered. "Come on."
"Need a ride?" Meister asked, transforming into a Triceratops.
"No thanks, I'll walk." The General growled.
The two of them followed Meister and Crosswise out into the glaring sun, where Evac was standing, staring up at the sky, Michelle seated on his shoulder.
"Glad to see you did not change the place up too much." Meister commented, transforming, and gazing along with them.
"It is as beautiful as ever." Crosswise said softly.
Hightail followed them out shyly, but said nothing, looking around her unfamiliar surroundings with bewilderment.
Evacs focus was at the endless sky, white clouds against the crystal blue, and the surrounding red canyons that stretched for miles below them.
"I want to see this world." Evac said softly. "I want to know it. Help it. Protect it."
"And I want to help you." Michelle said quietly.
Evac smiled.
"Well, we can not go out looking like this." Meister commented, walking up behind them. "Chris tells me Dinosaurs have been gone for 65 million years."
"Is that so?" Evac smiled. "There must be plenty of new creatures for us to take the forms of."
"How about our vehicles?" Michelle asked gently.
"Good idea!" Meister whooped.
At Meisters side, Chris chuckled. "You know, you wouldn't look bad as a sports-car..."
"You think so?"
"Hey." Crosswise said, pointing over to one of the hanger bays. "Evac, you might look good as one of those."
Evac squinted at the yellow rescue copter, sitting unattended on the field. "Yes, I believe I might..."
Smith glanced at the General. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think you're all insane." Corbet growled, watching Crosswise and Meister head toward the nearby parking lot.
"Regardless of how it goes," Smith smiled, "I think we're all in for a couple of surprises."
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Above the Earth, one alien ship made it's final landing on the moon, and it's engines died, permanently. And on it's bridge, its captain swore revenge...
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