Chapter 3 – passing time
A/N: Hello, when Echo wakes up, that's when it goes from movieverse into TF: A. This chapter is kinda like a 'crossing over' chapter if you know what I mean. There are bits of TF: A and movieverse crisscrossing at this point
Timothy
By JET
Never used your head,
To find out what this whole thing meant.
It's not what it seems, but it is,
Timothy, where have you been?
Timothy, where did you go?
Timothy, the boy can throw.
Timothy, we found your spaceship,
Timothy, did it hurt when you hit the ground?
No-one's POV
The KAB-2 had been travelling for a long time. They had come to another solar system, one they predicted had life on it. There was a small planet, the third from the system's sun, which was, strangely, green and blue, with white forever shifting across its surface.
Weird, but beautiful.
There was an asteroid belt in the system. The crew were flying over it, but then disaster struck – three of six engines gave out. Something had clogged them and forced them to a halt, and the KAB went out of control.
The steered it to the closest planet, as all the others were other side of their orbital rings, the blue, green and white planet. As the ship entered the atmosphere, one clumsy and panicked mech accidentally released Echo's pod, as well as several other empty ones. He was too scared to even notice as he ran from the stasis pod room, nearly deafened by the roar of the incoming ship.
oOo
It was night.
No-one saw the shooting star as it streaked across the sky. There were no humans to know what it was. The animals didn't give a damn.
Only the creatures of the deep took any notice as the huge metal object fell into the water. They scrambled out of the way, but the slower fish got hit and died instantly.
No creature was brave or curious enough to follow the massive object as it sank into the inky depths.
Echo's stolen vessel came to a rest on the ocean floor.
Although, every living creature on Earth gave a damn when an enormous ship fell from the sky, causing a massive explosion and kicking up an unbelievable amount of dirt and dust, wiping out the dinosaurs.
oOo
1958
8,499,950 years later…
A submarine explored the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. On the side of the vessel in big bold writing was 'S7 and below it was written 'Sector Seven'. It was equipped with an extremely bright light so that the camera could actually pick up what was in front of it. It also had sonar which could detect heat as well as different types of materials.
It was so deep that the craft couldn't even carry humans, as the pressure was incredible down there.
Through the camera, the crew at the control centre of S7 gasped at what they saw.
A massive metal coffin-shaped space ship of some kind, it was most definitely of alien origan.
"Investigate," the commander ordered.
The officer controlling the sub nodded.
The sub moved carefully forward. It prodded the outside of the ship and moved around it, searching for a way in. It found a large hole in the side of the huge vessel and cautiously entered.
The S7 people gasped again in amazement at what was lying inside the ship.
They had found a gigantic robot. The being was home to dozens of out of whack deep sea creatures and plant life had grown on it. It was almost humanoid, with two arms, two legs and a head. It appeared to be hibernating, not dead but alive, as the sonar could tell that it was the source of enough heat to be considered living.
What struck them most was that the robot wasn't all metal. Some parts of it were flesh.
"We have to get that ship up," the commander said, "but leave it all as a whole."
oOo
The airspace around the site of the space ship was cleared, the public told to keep away as the military were 'playing war games'.
S7 ordered in four destroyers, one aircraft carrier and used one of their own aircraft carriers.
They dived and attached hundreds of huge balloons, each with a two metre diameter, around the ship. The balloons were tied on with ten metre long ropes.
When enough balloons were attached, the alien vessel slowly floated upwards. When the balloons surfaced, the vessel remained ten metres below the waves, because of the length of the ropes.
Using the aircraft carrier, they towed the craft extremely slowly to the other aircraft carrier, which was property of S7. The space craft was attached to S7's carrier and they then towed it just as slowly to the shore, where they could take it to their base.
Mission accomplished.
oOo
1985
27 years later…
S7 had found out much from the alien robot and the vessel.
They named the robot N.B.E 0.5– Non-Biological Extra Terrestrial 0.5, because he was practically robot, but had organic parts as well.
S7 called the alien vessel A.S.V. 1 – Alien Space Vessel 1.
They had found that the flesh was exactly like human skin, it also had working human organs, but they were all a bit damaged. They would heal over time.
It was a Monday when the disaster struck.
Nothing out of the ordinary was happening. All the machines were normal, not failing or going crazy. The S7 staff members were slightly bored, it was just another Monday to them, just another bunch of procedures to follow until the day ended and they could go back to their lives of pretending not to exist.
But then something happened which wasn't part of the boring day to day routines: faint music could be heard, originating from N.B.E. 0.5.
No-one cared at first, since no-one could really hear it at first. But the music grew gradually louder, more intense with each passing second.
The people turned their heads to face the inactive giant. The skin was glowing white as if it was shining from inside.
They began backing away slowly from the being. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
The skin of N.B.E. 0.5 blazed brighter and brighter. Then, with a great crack, a lightning bolt shot out of the skin and struck one of the main machines monitoring the giant, causing it to explode.
The humans dropped everything and ran. They knew when something was getting out of control and when they should go, this was one of those times.
The music continued to get louder until it was thunderous. The lightning kept on striking more frequently until it was impossible to tell one bolt from another, there were so many and so close together.
The bolts then stopped coming from all over N.B.E. 0.5, and only struck from its chest, where its heart would be if it were a human.
After a few deafening moments, it stopped abruptly. The lightning, glowing and music all ceased sharply.
Cautiously, the staff members of S7 who had fled re-entered the huge room. They didn't know what to think at first when they saw a young boy at the feet of N.B.E. 0.5.
He was about 16, with disturbingly white skin, as if he had no blood at all through his veins. He had short snow white hair, sticking up in countless spikes. But this teen wasn't albino, his eyes weren't pink or crimson, they were actually the most intense electric blue anyone had ever seen before. He was very tall, 6.7 feet to be exact. He wore a t-shirt and trousers, both of which looked like liquid silver.
He gazed curiously and silently at the other humans as they approached him.
One of them asked, "What's your name, boy?"
"Argent Amer," the adolescent answered simply.
oOo
2010
25 years later…
It had been 25 years.
25 long years of torture and pain.
Argent Amer hadn't seemed to age at all since the day they discovered him. He had never seen the light of day. He had never breathed fresh air. He had never known freedom. He had never known anything except the dark, clean cell where the only humans he ever knew kept him and the lab where those same ones, all of them scientists, forced him to endure torturous 'experiments'. They claimed to be working towards something 'better', but Argent knew that they were all just madmen.
It was a Friday when it happened, but Argent didn't know as he didn't even know what the days of the week were called. He had never been educated at all.
He was sitting quietly in his cell. Slowly, a tune formed in his head. He tapped his foot in time with the rhythm. He began humming it, the ground began to vibrate slightly.
The scientists who were all he knew were at his barred door, about to take him for more experiments. They stopped dead when they saw him, fear flaring inside them. Old memories awoke when they saw him.
He was glowing pure white, as if he was shining from the inside. As Argent hummed louder and stronger, the light grew more intense. He looked like a mini sun, blazing with white fiery power.
Then strong music began to play, it sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away and was getting closer and closer…
The entire building shook violently, like a missile had hit it. Everyone stumbled and fell to the ground, everyone except for Argent. He seemed to be in a totally different world, it was like his humming could protect him from anything.
Red lights flashed and sirens wailed. All the S7 staff members knew what that meant; it meant they had to evacuate ASAP. The scientists rushed out, forgetting all about Argent. He just sat there, curled up in the corner, humming his song.
The building rocked again and again, as if it were being rained down upon with bombs. But Argent just went on humming and shining, he didn't even notice anything that was going on around him.
The fierce shaking stopped suddenly, and Argent felt warm air being blown against his face. He turned to face the source. Had anyone else been in his shoes, fear would've frozen them, but Argent stared up into the enormous, white creature's burning emerald eyes without fear.
His time of freedom had finally come.
"Let's go," Argent said simply.
The creature bent down low and Argent climbed on. It took off running, springing into the air and beating its wings powerfully. Argent never looked back as Hoover Dam collapsed, water flooding the valley.
oOo
2029
19 years later...
It had taken S7, which was now known as A8, 2 years to find another base. It had taken them 7 more years to gather everything from the flood and set up.
By 2029, they were back in business, and were making progress. Their new base was an island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, in the area where tracking devices stuffed up so no-one could find them. It was mostly underwater, as the island was quite small, and they made sure to not make it at all evident they were there.
They brought in N.B.E. 0.5 and continued working on him, like nothing had changed.
oOo
2058
29 years later...
N.B.E. 0.5's optics were 6 feet wide and 3 feet high. It was a Wednesday when they clicked on, revealing their colour:
A burning red like the fires of hell.
Or the Pit.