Mr Aurelius was aware of the ticking sound...
it ticked constantly upon his senses, as giant levers and cogs, moved in a strange concert making curious sounds that danced upon th edge of his ears. He thought he was lying flat on his back, but he felt something tugging him around. It was akin to being on a merry go round maybe- though he didn't feel dizzy.
He finally opened his eyes... "What the..."
He couldn't see much. He was still wearing his suit, but his 'belt' for lack of a better term, was merged into some kind of 'gear'. It glowed brightly around him, like some kind of strange body-ring. It had a curious edge to it, and- Oh hell! he was moving amongst the cogs of this strange room! The gear that seemed to be part of his clothes attached to a gear on the roof, pivoting him like some kind of lopsided ballerina, and unceremoniously dumped him into...
...the crystal room.
There were just two cogs here, one 'up'... one 'down'... (although he was starting to realise, up and down didn't seem to apply. He just had a vague idea of it with gravity on his hair, but not much else. He carefully approached the bottom cog, noting how the light from the crystal pulsed and turned it at each wave of light. It was like looking at a heart beat.
"Where am I?" Was he... was he 'inside' the giant clockwork? That had to be impossible! Sure Jeff was a giant.. but not that huge! Unless... he 'shrunk'? Was that even possible? Suddenly he felt a strange magnetic force the strange gear around him- that looked like a ballerina dress was pulling him closer to the cog! He tried to resist, he even tried to fall onto the ground but his every action just pulled him towards that gear.
The ring he wore attached to the gear, and he was rotating again. Strangely enough, he did not feel dizzy... but he was now in another section of the clockwork. Gears.. so many gears... he pushed off the one that he was attached to, to land standing on a rotating level one. "So... this is the secret of the clockwork?" he asked himself.
Okay.. so... 'minor' setback. He didn't intend to get himself stuck in here. But while he was in here... it made sense to explore, maybe even 'map' this place. The fact that he was wearing some kind of... interface that let him travel here was all the more useful (despite... what it looked like- though it was just a strange ring of a gear, certainly not a ballerina tutu!) Then the scientists could eventually get him out. Jeff would be X-rayed later on, and they would notice him... They could just cut Jeff open to get him out if need be! Then maybe Sider had some gizmo to restore him to normal... so... it was all certainly a hopeful situation.
Mr Aurelius moved carefully, from gear to gear.. place to place. he found hundreds of different springs, but from his perspective it was very hard to understand what any of them did. He was trying to find what made 'it' alive... but why should any of this be alive? It was just mechanics. He used the strange gear on him to inter phase with yet another set, and moved quickly. He was... starting to get the hang of this.
He tapped one of the gears, to see if he could 'stop' it from moving. He wanted to see what would happen if it encountered resistance...
The gear suddenly latched onto him, and he was thrown out of his will into... some... dark room. "What's..going on?"
The gears here.. seemed to be making a sound. Not in words, but the vibration of the gears seemed to rattle his 'gear', and the resulting vibration made his teeth numb. It was almost whispering it.. Foreign... Foreign.. body detected? What did that...
Oh.. hell..
How did a clockwork body deal with foreign contaminants?
Jeff wasn't sure quite what had happened to the warehouse. It was... her own size? But it wasn't.. it didn't join up in the correct way. Things were so strange. Then there was her key. It was lying there, on the platform used by her father.
She picked it up, uncertain as to why it was just.. 'there'. Her father was supposed to be taking care of it for her. Did something happen to him? She hoped not.. her father had been taking care of her here. With the huge warehouse doors open, she exited the building- and felt the strange dyspohoria of experiencing a sudden compacting of spacial reality. Space was... 'bigger' in the warehouse, then 'outside'... and looking back, she could see things were still expanded, through the now smaller door she would have to crawl thorough.
"Daddy?" She called out. She felt alone... very worried. She didn't even know how to get to her mother, as she never saw how she got here. She couldn't remember her house phone number, or anything! Even if.. she could use a telephone given her larger size. She suddenly felt strange vibrations... something. Something large was moving. She looked at the general direction and she could not believe her eyes. "D-daddy?" She said surprised. The face.. she saw the face. It was his. His.. face. Her father! Oh hell.. he.. he had become a monster! Something so similar to herself, but it was not a living looking thing. It was a.. a.. 'thing'. A creature that seemed so artificial it could not be normal...
It turned the head with an audible sharp click- a click that reminded the giant clockwork girl of a bone snapping, moving just that little bit too far with strange robotic gait.
"D-daddy..." She said again. Had he been exposed to the sunlight? "P-please... It's me... J-Jeff.." her voice was as soothing as it could be. She had not yet got used to it, being so strange. She hoped it sounded as pleasing as she thought it did.
The large artificial clockwork just 'stopped'.. bent down... and stared at the clockwork.
Jeff looked with such pity and sadness. Why had the sunlight did this to him? He didn't deserve such a thing! To be made into a.. not even a normal clockwork! It.. it couldn't be. It just couldn't be him! Those eyes were so empty, so devoid of life... "D-Do you recognise me? It's me. Jeff!"
"It's-me. Jeff!" The giant robot replied in a deep rumbling sound. The sound.. it was ghastly. Imperfectly perfect. It was like a spring trying to speak for itself, by scraping the sharp end over a chalkboard.
Jeff looked unsure at her 'father'... how did he end up like this! It took so much of her not to.. not to turn away. This thing was so ugly.. so horrible. Not even like any normal transformation, which generally always had at least 'something' that was.. interesting. This wasn't... she felt nothing but a revolting feeling. But it was her father... the man who was taking care of her since this strange thing happened to her. "I.., am Jeff. Remember me? Please... daddy? You gotta remember!"
"I.. am Jeff," Said the robot. "I.. am Jeff. I am jeff. I am jeff. I am Jeff. I. am. Jeff!" It ticked each sound and reached out to grab the younger giant. Jeff jr squirmed, trying to reach up at the large hand of her father. "D-dad... n-no-"
"I. Am. Jeff Jr. SON. of. Jeff senior. AURELIOUS! You. Are. NOT!
Jeff jr didn't know what to make of what her father was saying. It.. it thought it was her? "No- I- I am your son!" somehow knowing that the word didn't apply to her really, but she had no idea what else to call herself.
"I am... the FAVourd.. SON!"
With that the robot threw the giant girl away. She fell past the street, her key bending a street lamp. What was going on?
She tried to get up but.. of all the times, her winding had run down. She couldn't move...
"It.. can't be.. him. It can't be... It.. it can't be..."
