Author's Note: Hi everyone! This is my second story, but my first Transformer one. I've been wanting to do one for a long time and am currently planning a second. Feel free to check out my Dead Space story as well. Happy reading!
Chapter 1
Eisenberg Observatory, just outside city limits of Phoenix, Arizona; June 12th, 2011; 21:37 mountain standard time
"Eddy, do you have the scope positioned yet?" I yelled across the observatory as I calibrated the computer that would allow the telescope to auto-track and record the event.
"Not yet! Working on it!" our intern shouted back in full panic mode. He had the frazzled, fresh-out-of-college air about him that was almost comical.
"You need to work faster," I insisted gently, "We don't get many chances to view something like this."
"Trying!" was his only response as he wiped sweat off his brow and pushed his thick-rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"Geez kid, speed it up," Amber, our resident physicist jabbed at him, "At this rate you'll never be good enough to work here."
I was momentarily distracted by this and, without turning to face the raven-haired woman, I shouted over the whirr of the computers, "Give the guy a break. He's new."
"With that attitude, you'd think she sure had a big stick up her ass," Jeremy nudged me playfully with his elbow and gave me his best smirk. He spoke low enough that I could hear him, but Amber couldn't.
"Well, there's not much hope of her ever pulling it out. She seems to enjoy being in a bad mood," I commented with a scoff.
"So what you're saying is that she must really enjoy having that stick up her ass," Jeremy snickered.
"I always did suspect she might be into that kind of shit," I elbowed him back and gave him a co-conspirator's grin. We had gone to college together and taken nearly the same classes. He was easy to get along with. He was still the funny, sweet, blonde jock-look-a-like I saw every day in class. I often joked he was too buff and good looking to be an astronomy nerd, but he always argued confidently that someone had to break the stereotype.
His laughter was contagious and I started up as well. Amber gave us both dirty looks as if she couldn't fathom how anyone could dare be in a good mood while she was around. I knew in all honesty that the only reason she was still working here and hadn't been replaced yet by Eddy was that she was more experienced… and she had the supervisor of the observatory by the balls. Her father was a generous donator to our privately owned lab and without his money we'd all be working at the nearest fast-food joint. We all hated her with a burning passion, but we knew better than to outwardly show it. It always did bother me on a disturbing level when one undeserving person had unfair power and leverage over another.
"All done!" Eddy called with relief and joy as he finished aiming the scope at the area of the sky we would be observing. He had also even finished setting up the smaller and more agile scopes as well. I was proud.
"Cool, we're ready to watch a big meteor crash to earth." He seemed triumphant and I congratulated him on setting up the equipment all by himself. It made me happy that he seemed to genuinely appreciate my compliment. Honestly, it was no easy feat. Our equipment was complex and usually constantly changing as newer and better technology was made and utilized.
"Whoop-di-fucking-do, kid," Amber remarked with near complete disinterest and gave Eddy a cold look, "You aimed a scope. You just passed Astronomy Skills 101 for retards."
"Amber." I warned. She only glanced my way, but thankfully stayed silent. Amber knew she had authority over me, but she also knew her father wouldn't like it if she pissed off their most experienced astrobiologist enough to make her quit. She hated me, but then again the observatory needed me.
"I can see it, guys!" Jeremy called from the viewing screen of the scope. Our scope was so large that a normal viewing lens couldn't be made so we had a wireless camera that picked up the image from the scope and sent it to a monitor we could all watch.
Jeremy had been right. It started out as just a bright ball of light in the far top corner of the scope's field of view, but gradually it began to get closer and arch gracefully across the sky. The closer it got the more detail we could see and the faster it appeared to move. This gave our large scope a workout until it could no longer keep up and the smaller scopes took over, nimbly following the darting object as it hurtled through the sky. Normally we didn't get quite this excited over a meteor, but this one was special. Scans told us it was much larger than the usual baseball or football sized meteor and much denser. Calculations from our dear old Jeremy told us the object was the size of a car and incredibly dense, so it would therefore survive the trip through our atmosphere well.
I watched in utter awe and amazement as the meteor got closer and more detail was visible. I also noticed with bewilderment that I saw debris breaking off of it, but it looked shiny and almost smooth. The others had obviously noticed it too, since I happened to look around long enough to see the puzzled looks on their faces. Meteors were normally shaped like potatoes; lumpy, bumpy, and irregular. This one was shaped like a comet; rounded in front with a tail at the back. My gut told me this wasn't a normal meteor.
A few seconds later we lost sight of the object due to the tree-line, but heard the dull thud as it struck the earth.
"Was it just me, or did that thing look weird?" Eddy said timidly after a tense silence. A silent assent to what he had said was made and we all ignored one another for a moment to think.
"I think we should go find it." I suggested, "It looked strange. This could be a whole new kind of meteorite we've never seen before. We could be sitting only a few miles away from a huge discovery for the scientific community."
"You want us to haul ourselves out in the dark to look for some funky rock?" Amber retorted, "It could have been just something weird with the lens or the wireless camera."
"There's nothing wrong with our equipment." I protested.
"There has to be."
"Well, then I guess it's the purchaser's fault for buying shoddy equipment." I said coolly, "Your daddy did buy this for us, right?" That pushed the right button, I mused to myself as I watched Amber's face go beat-red with embarrassment and indignation. She stormed up to me, ready to scream me deaf when Jeremy intervened.
"Whoa, whoa!" he said as he placed himself between me and Amber, "Let's calm down, okay? No need to get your undies in a wad. Let's do this. Anyone who wants to look for the meteorite with us can go and anyone who doesn't can stay here. How 'bout that?"
Amber and I stared each other down for a moment or two, gauging one another's reactions. I looked to Jeremy and said, "I think that's a great idea. It makes everybody happy."
"Then I'm staying here." Amber growled as planted herself in a computer chair and squinted her thickly eyeliner-rimmed eyes at me. Jeremy and I referred to her as the "raccoon" quite often.
"I'll come with you guys." Eddy offered with enthusiasm.
"Awesome. Looks like we have our team." Jeremy concluded with a clap and a wide smile, "Let's get some cameras to take shots of the crash site and containers for the debris." I was uplifted by Eddy and Jeremy's passion and love of the job. It was times like these I felt a sharp pain in my heart knowing it could never last long.
A light mid-June breeze blew warm air across the dried up riverbed we three were tramping through to find our lost meteorite. The city lights were miles and miles away so the sky was completely filled to the brim with stars. The moon was full and it lighted our way so well that we had no need for flashlights. We had left the Jeep about a half a mile away where we came to the edge of the riverbed so we carried our equipment on our backs and shoulders, but we didn't mind. There was mostly silence on the way, which was fine with me; I knew we were all pondering to ourselves over what the meteorite could be made out of that would give it that shine.
After several long minutes Eddy piped up excitedly, "I can't wait to find this thing! It has to be even bigger than the one that landed around here in '58."
"Yeah, that one was cool to see." I commented without thinking. I immediately regretted saying anything.
"'That one was cool to see'?" Eddy questioned, "There's no way you saw it yourself. None of us had even been born yet."
"Oh, yeah…" I fumbled for an answer, but recovered quickly, "I just meant I read an article on it and thought it stood out among other stories on meteorites I had read. There was picture of it with the article."
"I didn't think they ever wrote an article or got a picture of that one," Eddy looked mildly puzzled, "What magazine or paper did you see it in?"
"You know, it's been so long I don't even remember," my answer came quickly. I had used that line for years on more than one occasion. Eddy, being the kind and naïve boy he was simply took my statement and never questioned it. I was nothing but thankful.
"I wish my family could see this kind of stuff," Jeremy tried to kick start a different conversation as he read that I was uncomfortable with the current one.
"You should bring your brother out some time," I suggested, "It would be good for him to get out of the big city and into the country for while."
"It would be more like dragging him out here," his tone had a hint of sadness and disappointment to it, "He's so stuck on his work in that company, especially after he got that promotion, he thinks about nothing else. He hasn't called in months and well… I haven't been able to think of a reason to bother him." Jeremy said the last words with a tone of finality that said he was done with the subject. Had I known his relationship with his brother had worsened even more as of late I would have never suggested anything of the sort, but Jeremy had been mute on the whole thing for months. I made a mental note to try to catch him alone later and speak to him. I knew he preferred to talk about his problems with only me. An audience just didn't work.
While Eddy wasn't looking I placed a comforting hand on Jeremy's shoulder. He returned my gesture with a weary, but warm, smile. He gave my light brown hair a playful tug to show me he was fine and that his mood was unaffected. I gave him a little shove back. It quickly erupted into an innocent who-can-shove-who-harder match, but soon he nearly sent me flying into a pile of rocks and I almost knocked him into a cactus. By the end of it we were giggling and laughing hysterically. Eddy watched us with an amused grin. God, am I going to miss these guys when I eventually have to relocate, I thought with sadness and nostalgia. It bothered me that it seemed to be harder and harder to move on every time I had to, but I shook my fear and focused on the present.
Within minutes I smelled smoke. Something was surely burning; we just couldn't see the smoke because of the darkness of the night. We came to the crest of a hill and stopped in our tracks. A huge, round crater the size of a small car was etched into the ground about fifty feet from where we stood. Trees and brush near the impact were ablaze and the ground was singed black. Thankfully, the vegetation was sparse enough here that it wouldn't start a wildfire.
Curiosity overtaking caution, we all walked towards the crater while tip-toeing over scattered rocks and flames. I pulled out my handheld video camera and began recording as we proceeded towards the meteorite. Jeremy narrated as we went and Eddy pulled out his Nikon to take pictures. From where I stood I couldn't see the actual meteorite, but I hoped to glimpse it soon. I was considering the idea that it had simply broken apart during the impact and would find pieces in the crater, until we stood on the rim of the crater and looked down. There was nothing; no meteorite, no pieces, no smaller debris.
We all looked at one another at once. We all knew something wasn't right.
