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Prelude



" The Nexus commands you, Exalted One." came the tinny sounding voice from the long tubes of crystal that were used for communication. " It is an order to be complied without hesitation. "

" I understand. " Said Chronos the Timekeeper. " These extreme actions will be needed to halt the inharmonious faults of the transgressors. But are we sure this is the appropriate course of action? How would such beings exist if they rely so heavily on temporal symbiosis? "

" The Nexus regrets the possible outcome. " Said the Nexus. " However, the Nexus seeks only to restore order and discipline to this galaxy, as well as others. The comparative loss is small. Insignificant, on a galactic scale. Surely less than the impact of an un-stewarded plane. The Nexus reminds us of our duty and obligations to the greater good. "

Chronos nodded. Children had no place playing in the timespace web. Navigation without compensation for anomaly by way of transwarp alone had ripped holes in the very fabric of space itself! He shuddered to think of what ill effects mass-shifting had on the delicate web.

" Lest you not forget the ill effects of sideways walking! What the children call "short warping" is doing more damage than most every other offense! No, the Nexus does not call our actions rash. The Nexus concedes the actions as harsh, but certainly necessary. The Nexus commands, Chronos. "

Chronos again nodded. " So be it then. " He summoned a ball of swirling pink plasma to his outstretched hand. He held it for a moment before releasing it in a blinding flash of light. " Mighty Nexus! It is done. I Chronos, have eliminated the timespace matrixes of the Seibertronians! "

" Excellent! " Said the Nexus. " For the Alternity! "

Chronos saluted the crystal tube. " Yes Mighty Nexus! For the Alternity!

Chapter 1: Unearthed

August 1939

These ridiculous quests to the far reaches of the globe were beginning to irritate Richter. He was all for serving his God and Country, but sitting in the deserts of Africa in the heat of summer was too much!

Most of his platoon agreed. His people were not well suited to the rigors of beating sun and intense dryness. His second in command Shultz had once commented that they lacked the dark colors of the natives, being closer to the Master Race, as they supposed they were.

Richter would have agreed but the fair skinned English seemed to be right at home in the sand, mingling with the locals, wearing their garb, and for some God forsaken reason drinking tea in make shift living room like campsites clearly oblivious to the sun and heat.

He couldn't imagine the Master Race settling here of all places. Yet, the directors were quite concerned about a certain archeological dig and certain relics that had popped up on the black market recently.

So here he sat with his men, disguised as a fellow archeological team. There was nothing left to do at this point except wait until his contact arrived. Richter sighed and sat down in the shade afforded by a canvas tarp.

Richter awoke sometime later to Shultz shaking him.

" Richter, get up! He's coming! " Shultz said as he jostled Richter's shoulder.

Richter yawned, stretched and then stood and properly straighten himself. He nodded to Shultz and the two went out to greet their guest.

Richter placed his hand over his brow to shield his eyes from the sun as he gazed out at the horizon. He could see a Jeep kicking up a large trail of dust in the distance.

" Yes. That is our contact. " Richter said. " And he's not even late. "

" A first for an American! " Said Shultz. " I'll be happy when this is over and we get to leave this place. "

" Agreed. I've no taste for the sand nor the American. " Richter said " And if he brings what we want, we'll have no use for him. " He nodded at Shultz.

The Jeep pulled up. The driver stepped out and retrieved a knapsack from the rear of the vehicle. He then proceeded to light a cigar. The man walked toward Richter and waved.

" Hello Prof. Richter! " Said the man between long cigar drags.

Richter waved in response. " Hello Dr Reese! "

" I've returned to your lovely campsite, as promised. " Dr Reese said sarcastically.

" That I can see. " Replied Richter. " Did you bring the item? "

Dr Reese shook hands with "professor" Richter. " Oh I don't think you'll be disappointed" He presented the knapsack to Richter.

Richter was eager to look in the bag, but he took his time and did it slowly. He peered into the bag and then closed it rapidly.

" Is this some kind of a joke? " Richter asked harshly. " What is this? "

Dr Reese looked surprised. " What do you mean? It's the artifact you wanted, the one with the "symbols" you said you were researching. Now do I get my 20,000 Pounds or what? "

Richter reached into the bag and pulled out the artifact. It was a metal cat's head with a series of wires and tubes hanging from it's throat. He held the object up for all to see.

" Do you think we are fools?" Richter said. " This is not an object of Antiquity! "

Dr Reese quickly tried to wrestle the head from Richter. " Whoa! Easy Professor! Just calm down and be careful with it! We dug this thing out of 30 feet of packed clay! Our surveys say it was buried for over 48,000 years! "

Richter calmed a bit and replaced the head in the bag. " 48,000? How do you know it was 48,000 years? "

Dr Reese took the head out and held it so they could see it's red eyes. " Now look at the right eye. "

Richter nodded.

Dr Reese reached into the throat and clicked something. Richter could see some strange glowing red symbols in the eye. He gasped. " What is that? "

" It took us about two weeks to crack the symbol's code, but after we did, we found out it was a clock." Dr Reese said.

" A clock? " Richter replied.

" Yeah a clock. It started counting when this thing got shut down, which according to it's clock, was over 48,000 years ago." Dr Reese said.

Richter was at a loss. How could this thing be that old, yet it surely was! Was this the long lost clue he needed to united the Master Race once and for all?

" So do we have a deal? " Dr Reese asked.

Richter nodded. " Shultz, send this artifact to Mercedes. " He handed the bag to Shultz.

" And the American? " Shultz asked in German.

" Thank you for reminding me. " Responded Richter in English.

Richter reached into his holster and produced his pistol.

" Hey, wait a minute! What's that for? We had a deal! " Dr Reese pleaded.

Richter leveled his pistol at the Doctor. " The operative word is had, Doctor." He said before shooting him dead in the forehead.

Richter wiped his pistol's barrel on his trousers before returning it to it's holster. " Get rid of this filth! " He commanded the nearest soldier.

Shultz held the bag and smiled. " Today is a great day for the Party! "

Richter looked at the bag. " Indeed. "

Chapter 2 : Implementation

New Mexico 1960

Private Harmon could tell the Sarge was distressed, and that scared him. He had never seen him upset, the Sarge was the pinnacle of self control and composure. Private Harmon could only imagine what could have set him off like such.

He remembered his buddies telling him that this installation was built out in the desert because the Airforce was storing U.F.O's it had acquired. He had yet to see a flying saucer during his tour. The notion, however, was more than rational to him. Whatever they were guarding was important enough to use state-of-the-art laser locks on the doors of the compound. He reasoned the security must have been in place to prevent whatever it was from escaping.

" Harmon, Peters, move, move! " The Sarge yelled.

Harmon nodded and started to run down the corridors with the rest of his unit. They came to a security door he had never been through before, he stopped running and stood with his unit at the closed door, panting from the run.

The Sarge came running down the hall behind them clutching a small remote switch in his hand. He pushed the solitary button on the remote and the huge armored doors opened via hydraulics. He pointed to the doorway. " Now! Move, move! Arm masers! This is not a simulation, ladies!" Barked the Sarge.

Harmon flipped the safety off and readied his maser rifle. He took a steadying breath as he realized this was the first time he had activated his maser rifle in a real situation. Given to his unit only two months before, the weapon still reminded him of a Flash Gordon ray-gun. As far as he knew, this might have been the first time the Army had ever used masers in actual combat.

The unit proceed into a high level security area Harmon had never been in before. The halls were disheveled and many black scorch marks marred the walls and floors. He barely had time to take in the scene when the Sarge signaled everyone to form up on him.

" Okay listen up, cause I'm only gonna say this crap once! " Yelled the Sarge. " We got a situation. The Project in this section went wrong. Now the brass wants us to clean up the mess. You guys have the honor of using Uncle Sam's newest high-tech gizmos. Remember you only get 45 seconds of discharge before the damn things go dead on you. Try not to blow your whole load before you neutralize the Project. Got it? "

" What is our target Sarge? " Asked Peters.

The Sarge began to answer Peters only to be interrupted by a desk colliding with the wall nearest to him. A fifteen foot tall roughly human shaped robot came towards the unit holding a researcher by his neck. The scientist kicked his legs as they dangled, desperately trying to free himself from the robot's claw. As it grew closer Harmon saw it's head was shaped sort of like a cat's. He gulped and got into firing position with the rest of his squad.

Seeing as his unit was in position, the Sarge gave the signal to fire. Harmon and his unit all fired on the robot monster. Harmon braced himself as the maser recoiled.

The monster was enveloped in blinding blue electricity, momentarily blinding Harmon. When his vision returned he could see the robot had dropped his hostage, apparently because of the maser fire.

The robot shook himself and stood back up, it's cat's face contorted in rage. It growled a guttural sound and then shouted something in German. Harmon didn't understand what it said, but he knew the look on it's face, he broke for cover.

The monster dug it's claws into the walls of the hallway and ripped off big handfuls of cinderblock and mortar. It let out a howl as it threw the debris at Harmon's unit.

Luckily, they all got to cover in time and no one was hit by the flying rubble. Harmon couldn't see the robot because of the dust.

Harmon heard the Sarge's voice and ran toward him. Just when the Sarge came into view, he ordered Harmon not to advance. " Stay back Harmon!" Sarge called. " I've got another little toy for this Project."

Harmon obeyed and stayed put. He didn't know the Sarge's plan, but he sounded confident.

" Here Kitty kitty kitty! " The Sarge yelled at the robot monster. " I got something for ya! "

The robot came out of the dust cloud holding a fire extinguisher in it's right claw/hand. It yelled more German at the Sarge and prepared to pummel him with the extinguisher.

" You're all the same. " Said the Sarge as he fiddled with a small electronic device. " You were all talk in the war, and you're all talk now! I'm right here you over-grown toaster! Come get me "

The robot flung the extinguisher and grabbed the Sarge instead. It brought the Sarge to it's face and roared at the Sarge.

"Whoa! " Said the Sarge. " Somebody needs some Listerine ! "

It amazed Harmon how cool the Sarge was, even with a robot monster holding him by the throat, he still antagonized his opponent.

The robot opened his mouth to roar again and the Sarge threw the small device right in. The robot shut it's mouth and dropped the Sarge. It tried to stick it's right claw/hand in it's mouth to remove the device, but the claw was too large.

" What's wrong, pinball machine?" Chided the Sarge. " Gotta frog in your throat? "

The robot turned his attention to the Sarge once more, narrowing it's eyes menacingly.

The Sarge produced another remote from his breast pocket and pressed it's button. A huge boom echoed through the complex as the device in the monster's throat exploded. After the smoke cleared, Harmon saw the robot standing, decapitated. It slumped to it's knees before falling flat on the floor.

The Sarge let out a satisfied chuckle as he walked up to the robot and kicked it to make sure it wasn't moving. " Tilt! " He said.