Behold, The Glory

…

Red light filtered through Aria's eyelids as she regained consciousness. Strange, she couldn't recall going to sleep. She opened her eyes, only for them to be assaulted by intense sunlight that made her squeeze them shut again and fling an arm over her face. A sharp pain pounded in her head. What…happened?

After a moment, she sat up, her hands digging into soft sand. Clutching some in her palm, she brought her hand up and let it pour back on the ground though her fingers. Was she at the beach? Looking around, there was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see with no sign of water. This definitely wasn't a beach.

"What the hell?" she mumbled, propping herself up with an elbow. It looked more like a desert, and there were definitely no deserts in Washington.

She squeezed her eyes shut. What was the last thing she did? She got up, did chores, went to work…

Work! She talked to Frank, followed voices, and discovered that the Blackbird was actually a robot! Her memories blurred during the events leading up to the flash of light, the robot had said something about a space bridge. But a space bridge was a portal. And a portal meant…that she was transported?

Aria looked around again. This wasn't real. It couldn't be! Teleportation wasn't possible. This was just a hoax. A very elaborate, cruel hoax.

She closed her eyes, attempting to calm her racing heart. Panicking wasn't helping the situation. All she had to do was get up and find out what was going on. That was step one. Step two would be going home where she would wrap herself in a blanket and read on the couch and pretend nothing ever happened.

She picked up her glasses that were lying in the sand beside her, doing her best to shake the sand off before putting them back on.

In the distance was the sound of an engine. She stood and looked around. Further out was a yellow vehicle shining in the sunlight. It was the Camaro from the museum. It was driving further away from her, followed by the smaller red and green cars. Did the Blackbird teleport the cars too?

She raised her arms up half-heartedly in an attempt to wave them down. It was no use, they were too far. Her body was nothing but a spec in their rear view mirror. She would have to find another way out of this, whatever this was.

The desert was hot and dry, and paired with her growing apprehension, it was suffocating. She rolled up the sleeves of her uniform and unzipped it low enough to air out her neck. Would that old robot be here somewhere? Would the people come back?

In retrospect, following them outside the museum had been a dumb idea. Why didn't she stay with Frank and the others and wait for the ambulance to arrive? No, she just had to find out what was going on, had to follow the talking robot outside. Now look where that got her. Oh that's right, she didn't even know!

She took a breath. "Stay calm," she said. "Everything's fine."

There was a strange noise carrying over the gentle breeze. It was familiar, like talking. She turned towards the source, which was somewhere behind her. Sure enough, sitting up on a pile of flattened, sand covered rocks, sat a certain aircraft missing from a certain museum.

The rock formation was scattered and looked like it wouldn't be too difficult to climb. She walked over to it and began to scale up the rocks. The robot didn't seem like a threat, he had been willing to help the other people so that would mean he'd help her, right?

As she climbed, the noise turned out to be the old robot muttering about something. To who though, was a mystery, seeing as the people had left. Peeking over the edge, her musing was confirmed, the SR-71 Blackbird was talking to nobody but himself. She ducked down again so her back was pressed against the ledge she had been peaking over.

Now that she was here, maybe talking to the Blackbird wasn't a good idea. What was she suppose to say? The giant robot looking thing was obviously not mentally stable, not to mention the fact he could easily squish her without so much as noticing. Talking to the Blackbird seemed more like taking her life in her own hands than having a constructive conversation the more she thought about it. She had to though, the robot was responsible for bringing her here, so it was probably the only way she going to get back home.

Alright, all she had to do was ask the giant robot where she was. If some kids could confront him, then she could too! Putting her hands back on the ledge, she climbed up.

The robot jumped slightly at her sudden entrance. For a moment, she stood there at a loss. Maybe she should start by waving and saying a simple "Hello".

Unfortunately the Blackbird didn't give her the chance, leaning in inches from her face. "Who're you?" he spat.

She leaped backwards at the sudden movement into her personal space, tripping and falling backwards. The old robot responded by leaning even closer.

"I-I'm Aria," she managed to reply. "Who are you?" she added quickly.

The Blackbird tilted his head making his long metal beard screech and spark against the rock.

"Aria? That's a boring name for a fleshling!" He blinked his weird red glowing eyes and jabbed her stomach rather painfully with a pointy metallic finger.

She went to reply, but her mouth refused to form words. It didn't matter anyway, the massive robot didn't give her a chance.

"You fleshlings can hardly talk! So quiet and jittery, like little fleshy insects," he emphasized his words by jabbing her yet again. "You're lucky I changed sides to the Autobots, or I would have squished you by now!" he suddenly paused, bringing a hand up to his chin. "Then again your disgusting life fluids might rust my foot, and I'm falling apart as it is, without your help! Are you listening to what I'm saying! I am Jetfire, damn it!"

Well, even if she didn't know what an Autobot was, she was happy that it meant she was wasn't going to be intentionally squashed by the robot. That being said, being stepped on unintentionally was still highly plausible. The massive robot was already pacing again, going on about something else.

"Now as I was saying, the Matrix is the key to the Energon collection machine. But it may also work to bring back the Prime who is the only one that can kill the Fallen. But you must hurry, or it will be too late! And your sun will be no more!"

Aria put her hands up in front of her, trying to get his attention. There was that talk again, none of which made any sense. Matrix's, Energon, Prime's, It was all nonsense being spewed from a mysterious robot that transformed into a plane.

She didn't know where to begin. It was like an entire world she didn't know about had just reviled itself to her, or rather sucked her in against her will.

"Jetfire, I'll be honest, I have no idea what you are talking about. Could you maybe start from the beginning?" she asked.

A rush of air blew past her as Jetfire sat down on its giant robotic behind. "Alright fleshling, you want a story told from the glorious Jetfire himself in all his eternal glory, do you?"

Unsure of what else to do, she also sat down cross-legged on the rough surface, pebbles digging into her legs. She nodded.

Honestly, she didn't have the slightest clue of what this robot was about to tell her. Maybe he was a science experiment gone wrong? A military weapon with artificial intelligence that somehow became sentient? He did turn into a decommissioned reconnaissance aircraft after all.

"We are originally from the planet Cybertron, though it was destroyed centuries ago," he began. "I was once a great Decepticon seeker—"

…From the planet Cybertron? Planet?

The rest of the robot's words turned into hazy mess in the back of her mind. Something clicked inside of her. Like she had been stumbling around in a dark room all her life and someone finally turned on a light.

He was from a different planet.

This thing, this robot, was an alien. Not a squishy creature with long tendrils for limbs, but a metal man capable of making portals through space.

She had always believed in the existence of aliens. Every star in the universe had the possibility of sustaining life. But actually seeing one? Well, the odds were quite frankly astronomical. And her, there at the museum at the exact time and place to witness not one, but two reveal themselves, she couldn't comprehend it. Hell, she had been in the presence of one for five years now.

"—You even listening, fleshling?"

Aria snapped back into reality, her brown eyes meeting with the aliens red ones. She found herself now trying to take in every detail of this being. Was it a coincidence that he resembled a human? Was anything a coincidence at this point?

"I—you're from a different planet?"

"That's what I said! Cybertron was our home before it was destroyed by eons of war. Now we are scattered throughout space, searching for resources to rebuild our home."

These aliens were all over space? Had they met other alien life forms as well, or were humans the only ones so far? Did they specifically choose earth because of its resources? There were two here for sure, but seeing as they can disguise themselves as planes and toy trucks, there could very well be more.

"How many of you are here on Earth?"

Jetfire hummed in contemplation. "It's hard to say. I've been in stasis for so long, I don't know who's come and went."

"Stasis? As in dormant?"

Wait, he had said that he scanned a Blackbird in the Bermuda Triangle. Did that mean that was when he took on its appearance? She was sure he hadn't transformed at least since arriving at the Udvar-Hazy Center, seeing as he had no recollection of where he was and destroyed half the place in less than five minutes.

"It's like sleep to you fleashlings. We use it to maximize our Energon reserves."

Energon—that was one of the things he mentioned earlier. So it was like fuel?

"What exactly is Energon?" she asked, leaning back on her hands.

"It is our life essence! It is our food, our blood, our bodies! Without it we deteriorate, fall apart and die! Much like my wretched self!" he yelled, and slammed his cane into the rocky surface.

The display made Aria flinch. If this old decrepit robot—alien was still this intimidating and powerful, then what would a fully able one be capable of?

She tried to put the story together as she knew it so far. "So you need this Energon stuff to live, but you've run out…because your planet was destroyed? And now you're on Earth because there is a machine here that can make more?"

"That is what I said. But we cannot let it happen! If the Star Harvester is activated, it will destroy the sun, and this planet will be no more!"

What kind of machine made energy by destroying a star? And where would a machine capable of such a thing be hidden? Most of all, why Earth? As many stars that may have sustained life, there must have been countless more that did not. Why not use those ones?

Wait, Jetfire kept mentioning something or someone called "The Fallen", were they the cause of the civil war great enough to engulf a planet? Did Jetfire bring those people here to stop them?

"And all of this is because of the Fallen one?"

"Yes, The Fallen is one of the ancient Primes that went against their one rule: never destroy a star that supported life. He tried to activate the machine long ago, but failed when the other primes took the Matrix and hid it somewhere in this very desert."

"So The Fallen is back now, and trying to activate the machine? Are those people the ones that are suppose to stop him?"

Honestly, she would like to know how four people could stop an alien from blowing up the sun. Did they have backup she didn't know about?

"The boy's job is simple. He is to reactivate the Prime, the only one who can stop him."

"You mean one of the Primes that tried to lock the Matrix away?"

"Of course not! Those Primes are long dead. This Prime is a descendent, and the only one strong enough to challenge The Fallen for possession of the Matrix."

So there were at least a few other aliens on Earth then. Some good, and some evil, apparently.

"How long has this all been going on?"

Jetfire looked up contemplating. "The machine was built in seventeen thousand BC in this planets time, I believe."

She was awestruck. These aliens have been here for tens of thousands of years. They were so advanced they could travel across space, build weapons capable of destroying planets and create space bridges. Every time she tried to wrap her mind around it, more and more questions surfaced.

"You mean you've been here for that long?"

"Some of us, yes. Many have come and gone throughout the cycles. Hard to tell who's all here, being as we stay hidden and all."

"So the Prime is here on Earth, and the people that left a while ago are going to help it defeat the Fallen?"

"Haven't I already told you this a hundred times, fleshing?"

The old robot went to get up using his cane. However it slipped from under him and fell over. "Bullocks!" he shouted, reaching to pick it up.

Just like that, he lost all sense of focus and began rambling nonsense again.

Aria was finally starting to make sense of what Jetfire was talking about. The evil robot wanted the energy that the machine collected by destroying their sun. And the people wanted the key to the machine, not to start it, but to bring back the Prime to kill the evil robot and save the world. She wouldn't have believed it, if she hadn't been told this by a towering alien robot himself.

The sun was now low in the sky now, and the events of the day were starting to catch up with her. She adjusted her legs to allow better circulation, and leaned her head on her shoulder as she continued to watch the Blackbirds over exaggerated mannerisms.

The fifty foot alien robot was pacing back and forth waving his arms in the air, yammering on about the Matrix of Leadership, earning it not finding it, and so on. Instead of asking him more questions, she now chose to listen to the ramblings seeing if there was anything else she could learn from the eccentric robot.

In a single day she went from the museum to Egypt in a single moment, learned about an alien race hiding on Earth, and a machine that could kill everyone if it was activated. How she of all people got mixed up in it all, she didn't know. But it made her wonder…would her life ever be the same again?

…