The incident happened on a sunny summer Tuesday afternoon. My last lesson of the day was Welsh, which at the time I was terrible at. One of the few advantages of the incident was that I was able to become very fluent in many languages very quickly. Not that that was any consolation.

I was walking across the playing fields on this particular Tuesday, which ended less than fifty feet from an abandoned quarry. This wouldn't have seemed strange if the quarry had actually appeared deserted. It was the generator, situated between the edge of the quarry and the fence that surrounded the playing fields that gave it away. I distinctly remember that generator. Every Tuesday afternoon, the cluster of poles on the top would crackle and arc with this strange blue electricity. Nobody ever climbed over the fence on Tuesdays. I can't remember anybody climbing over the fence on any other day, but I'm sure that people did.

So as I was walking, I heard a group of people come up behind me. Three of them. I turned around. Sure enough, my tormentors had followed me. Their names, I have forgotten, but I can recall the same position they took every time we met. They would always stand directly in front of me; the girl in the middle and the boys on either side. They took up that stance again, all eyes narrowed.

"I heared that you was spreading rumours about us," the girl said while her henchmen leered.

"It's 'heard'. If you're going to make threats, then at least do it right," I grumbled.

"I don't care. You've damaged my repewtashun," she said, her face twisting into a menacing…grimace?

"Reputation," I grumbled.

"I. Don't. Care," she snapped, clearly getting frustrated that I wasn't becoming aggressive. Then she made a movement with one of her hands and the two boys started to move forwards. Now I became anxious. The girl I could take. Two boys? Both at least six foot tall, twice my weight and champion rugby players? No way.

They started hauling me towards the fence. On any other day I wouldn't have been concerned. But this was a Tuesday. And I was being taken straight towards the generator.

You would think my life changing experience would be burned into my memory. It isn't. It's another vague bit. I remember them lugging me over the fence. I remember them tossing me onto the roof of the generator. I don't remember the poles going off, but they must have done, because the next bit I do remember is excruciating pain, especially in the centre of my chest. It felt like I was burning. Then I lost consciousness.

From then on, everything changed. At first I didn't realise anything was different, but once I knew what I was, nothing would ever be the same.

When I came to, there was a red headed woman in a white lab coat standing on a platform above me. I was lying on a cold, hard floor.

"So you're another one from outer space, aren't you?" she said cheerfully. Her welsh accent was thick.

Then I realised she'd said I was from outer space.

"I'm not from space," I said. My voice sounded strangely mechanical. "I'm human."

She laughed.

"You're not human!" she laughed. I tried to insist that I was, but she wasn't listening. At this point I hadn't had had a chance to look at myself, so I had no idea what the 'electricity' had done to me.

"Now we'll just run some more tests," she said, going over to a bank of computers. Before I could register what was going on, she had keyed in a command and searing bolts of light struck me. It was painful and itchy and it made me twitch violently in the restraints holding me to the floor. Until suddenly, my body spasmed so violently that my left hand broke free.

"NBE is loose!" the woman yelled, hitting an alarm on the wall and running out. I reached over to undo the other hand, but stopped when I saw my arm glinting in the light.

I stared in absolute horror at my hand. Metal. Still looked like a hand, but it was made entirely of metal. Or at least that's what I thought. Later on I learned that the metal was just protective armour and wasn't solid all the way through.

Tentatively I curled my hand into a weak fist. There was no denying it, even though I desperately wanted to believe otherwise. I watched the hand shake for a moment. Then I screamed.

I didn't know what had happened to me. Somehow I'd been turned from an ordinary human into what could only be described as a robot. Naturally I refused to believe it. Not only was it impossible, the concept of being a robot was very disturbing to me. Sometimes it still is.

In my panic, I managed to snap the other three restraints and get to my feet. The ground suddenly seemed a very long way down…

My height increase only became apparent when my head connected with the stone ceiling in a painful crash. For a moment I wondered why I could still feel pain, but then I saw that I was now about twenty feet tall.

That was the last straw. Panic reared its ugly head again. I eventually managed to get out of there, but I did smash up a lot of the room in the process.

I found myself in a pitch black…cavern? Warehouse? Whatever it was, it was big and seemingly empty. And perhaps underground.

Suddenly I heard several loud thunks. They sounded distinctly like licks. I was trapped.

I stared fearfully around the room, peering into the darkness. There was a strange blue light coming from somewhere near my head. I later figured out that the glow was emanating from my eyes.

I stood there for what seemed like hours I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me.

Then a voice came through the inky soup.

"Are you alright? You've been stood there for a while."

I froze. I heard movement from somewhere, but I couldn't pinpoint it. Then a pair of blue lights started moving towards me. I could feel the air moving, suggesting that there was something moving and stirring up the currents, but I couldn't see anything.

Suddenly light exploded from somewhere in front of me. I threw my arm over my face. Then, as my eyes adjusted, I realised that they were headlights. Seemingly mounted on somebody's shoulders…

I stared. It was another giant robot. I hoped it wouldn't try and attack me. I didn't know what to do if it did.

"Can you speak English?" it asked slowly, it's voice low and masculine.

"Of course I can speak English," I mumbled. "I'm-was-human."

"You were human" it queried, almost blinding me with the headlights as it took a step closer.

"I shouldn't be here," I whispered, my voice cracking. Liquid began to seep down my face. At the time, I was too upset to wonder how I was able to cry as a robot.

The other robot put his arms around me and gave me a hug.

"Do you have any idea how you became a…robot?" it asked. The word sounded bitter on whatever it had for a tongue.

"Some people threw me up onto a generator and there was this blue electricity and I got knocked out and then I woke up like this!" I sobbed. Looking back, I wonder what made me trust this stranger. "Now I'm a robot!"

"You're not a robot. Let's get that straight now. I think you are an autonomous robotic organism," it said.

"What?" I snuffled.

"You're like me. You are not a human creation. You are a living organism, made from metal and wires and tubing. If my guess is correct, the Allspark fragment must have somehow altered your DNA. But I'm no expert," it said. "My name's Ratchet. I'm from a planet called Cybertron. Myself and my group came to Earth looking for the Allspark. I was captured by this organisation during an operation to retrieve it."

"So you're an alien?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"Yes," it replied.

"Are you a…male alien? I mean, your voice sounds male…" I said nervously.

"Yes," he replied. "The correct term is mech. You are a femme."

I was struggling to take all of this in. Not only was I a giant robot, the creature in front of me was an alien on a mission to recover something called the Allspark. He was also a horrendous shade of neon yellow.

I took a step away from Ratchet.

"I don't…I can't…" I said feebly. "Calm down, you'll gli-" Ratchet began, but I collapsed before he could finish.