It had seemed harmless enough to Ben a few moments ago.

Just a little metal cylinder lying in the middle of a corn field. Nothing dangerous looking, but he thought he was being cautious what with the way these things could go. Giving it a quick prod with his shoe up shouldn't have been a problem. He doubted it would explode, it looked just like a solid lump of metal.

But then they'd activated. The whole cylinder revealed its true colours, breaking down and spreading over his foot.  He barely had a few seconds to realise it, but he knew what the cylinder had been.

'Nanomachines...' He correctly assumed. The metal cylinder had been a colony of billions of microscopic robots, a hive mind with a singular goal.

To convert living things into robots, and further the spread of their network of nanomachines. The colony was damaged, and did not know its origin, but still knew purpose. It would assimilate this lifeform, identified as a human. It would convert all other lifeforms it found.

The metallic sheen of the spreading, goo-like nanomachines already coated his whole show, and his foot felt numb. He was about to cry out when he realised the nanomachines on the outside were slower than the rest. The ones that had burrowed into his skin, and were now coursing through his bloodstream.

They were already stopping his brain from commanding the rest of his body. He could feel himself losing sensation across his whole body, as the nanos on his foot began spreading up.  He could only stare as the goo-like mass of nanos faded, and left behind his altered foot.

It still gleamed, but now his ankle was a servo joint.

"Ben? Are you out here?"

'Gwen! Maybe she can help me!' He thought. His body then began stiffly moving towards the voice.

'What... Why am I... The Nanomachines! They're going to infect her too!'

Unable to cry out no matter how hard he tried, Ben Tennyson was made to move towards his cousin. With stiff limbs, he began waddling towards them. The nanos were now over one of his knees, and he felt that joint suddenly be able to move. It kept spreading up, even as he moved.

Then he heard the nanomachines speaking with each other, short beeps that he could somehow understand. As the host of these tiny robots, he knew now their single aim.

++infect lifeform. assimilate  other lifeforms. attract unidentified lifeform.+++

Now a prisoner in his mind, feeling his body going out of his control and becoming less human every second, the nanomachines were in charge.

"Gwen. I am over here." His body said, but not in his voice.

'No! Don't lure her here!'

But the nanomachines paid no heed to the host's mind. This was their body now. They had converted the legs, making movement faster as they controlled all the main joints. The torso was being converted, rapid progression underway.

"Where?" She asked. She sounded close.

"This way."

The leg servos whirred gently now as he moved towards her. By now, the whole torso was converted and the arms were next.

'Please, Gwen, listen to my voice! Does it sound like me? Just run!'

"Are you all right? You sound kinda weird..." Gwen finally noticed.

'Yes! Get spooked! See what's happened to me and run!'

"No, I am fine. Come towards me."

"I don't... WHOA!"

'What happened?! Gwen, are you okay?!'

"Gwen? Are you unharmed?"

The nanos had the whole body below the neck. His skin and clothes were now just shining metal, and he knew his fingertips were host to more nanomachines now. Just a touch, like Midas, and he'd create another robot like he was becoming...

The Ben-Bot found its prey, as all that was left of Ben Tennyson was forced to watch. Before the still-converting Robot, was his cousin, lying on the ground and rubbing her ankle.

"Ow... Tripped over something..." She said, not seeing the Ben-Bot for what it was at first. Then her eyes widened with fear.

"Ben...?"

She stood up, but her ankle had been twisted slightly. Even uninjured, the Ben-Bot displayed surprising speed, rushing over to her.

'No!' Ben's mind protested. The nanomachine mind that controlled the robot did not reply.

It slammed its hand into her shoulder, as she had been trying to flee.

"Rapid conversion process underway." The Ben-Bot proclaimed.

"What..." Gwen said, as with the last moment of control she managed to ask that question. She stared at her hand in horror as she felt, like Ben before her, the loss of sensation.

Unlike Ben, her conversion was, as indicated, rapid. The Nanomachines shot down her body, almost immediately converting the whole left side. Her conversion began spreading out quickly.

Inside her mind, she too was losing her body, the nanomachines now in control of her too. She could hear the nanomachines of the Ben-Bot communicate with hers. She could not hear Ben

'What's happened... Why are we becoming robots?' She asked.

Her nanomachines did not reply.

Before long, in the corn field, two silver skinned robots stood. One, a green and blue male-style humanoid robot with a prominent LED 10 over its left hand chest. It had white glowing eyes, a harsh searchlight like glare. False metallic hair sat atop the metal head. It had lost colour, now the same silver of the skin.

The other robot was feminine. Its hips appeared to have a design similar to a skirt, while her legs imitated a pair of tights or stockings. Its eyes glowed pink, but no less harshly than the eyes of its fellow robot.

The two then began marching, servos whirring gently. The mind in control of both was the hive mind of the nanomachines. They had a single, simple, goal.

The two minds that had once been in control of what had been Gwen and Ben Tennyson, could only protest in vain as their converted bodies marched forth to convert every other lifeform they met...