Astro Boy: The Movie (5 page)

General Heckler sat at a control desk, headphones on his ears. The president’s advisors sat in metal chairs, cowering as their chief ranted and raved.

“How can my approval ratings be this low?” he fumed. “I was very popular in high school. I’ve cut taxes for a lot of very influential friends. What more do people want?”

General Heckler interrupted him. “We’re tracking an unidentified object flying over Metro City, sir.”

President Stone studied the radar screen. A flying dot moved across the city. “The Surface dwellers are firing at
us
? This is what I’ve been waiting for! Declare war on them! This is going to get me reelected!”

A soldier marched up to him. “This didn’t come from the Surface, sir,” he reported.

“It’s my opponent,” Stone guessed. “He’s taken the gloves off. He’s playing hardball.”

The flying dot turned bright blue.

“It’s Blue Core energy, sir!” the soldier cried.

President Stone’s face darkened. “What? Elefun told me the Blue Core was destroyed. Get me a location and mobilize all units. I want that thing now!”

Astro had no idea he had been detected by the radar. He flew back home and landed on the balcony of his father’s study. Orrin and Dr. Elefun were talking to Dr. Tenma. Their voices carried through the open sliding doors.

“Where is he? Where’s Toby?” Dr. Elefun asked.

“I sent him to his room,” Dr. Tenma said. “Please, just deactivate him and take him away. I can’t bear to see his face again.”

Astro gasped. Could they be talking about him?

“Come on, Tenma,” Dr. Elefun pleaded. “You can’t just throw him away like a piece of junk.”

“Dad? What’s going on?” Astro asked.

The two men turned and stared at Astro.

“Why are you talking about me like this?” he asked.

Dr. Elefun paused. “Toby, there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding. You’re not entirely an ordinary boy.”

“I know,” Astro said. He looked at Dr. Tenma. “Dad, I can fly! I can drill my way through solid rock. It’s amazing.”

Dr. Tenma turned his back on Astro. “How could I think this would work?”

“What’s wrong with me? Why don’t you love me anymore?” Astro asked.

Dr. Elefun faced his friend. “He’s programmed with the memories of your own son, Tenma.”

“Programmed?” Astro asked.

“Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” asked Dr. Elefun.

“He’s not my son,” Dr. Tenma said coldly. “He’s a robot who
looks
like my son.”

Astro couldn’t believe it. “Dad,” he pleaded.

“I’m not your dad. You’re not Toby. You’re a copy of Toby,” Dr. Tenma said. “A failed experiment, a robot, not my son. You’re a robot, and I don’t want you anymore!”

“No! No!” Astro wailed.

He turned back to the balcony.

“Toby! Wait!” Dr. Elefun yelled. He grabbed Astro and looked into his eyes. “I can’t see into the future, but I’m sure there’s a place for you. You just have to find it.”

“He was my father. This was my home. It’s all I know,” Astro said sadly.

“Everyone has their destiny, Toby,” Dr. Elefun said.

“Didn’t you hear him? I’m not Toby,” Astro replied.

He rocketed off the balcony, taking one last look at his home. Orrin rolled onto the balcony, gazing sadly at Astro.

Astro flew off into the setting sun. He settled on the highest building he could find and sat there, thinking.

He stared hard at his hands. He looked human. He
felt
human. Could he really be a robot?

Blue light shot from Astro’s eyes, acting like an X-ray. Underneath his skin he could see a network of wires and circuits.

“It’s true,” he murmured.

Suddenly, blinding lights hit Astro’s eyes. He shielded himself from the glare. Two military planes were circling him.

One of the pilots radioed President Stone’s Command Center.

“Sir, we located the signal’s source, but it’s ... a kid. Readings for the Core are off the chart!”

“Is that Tenma’s boy?” General Heckler asked.

“Of course not!” President Stone fumed behind him. “Tenma must have lost his mind. Bring it in.”

The pilot radioed the other plane. “This is Stinger One. Set weapons for capture.”

The two planes approached Astro.

“Oh no,” Astro said. In a shot, he rocketed off into the night.

“Whoa! The subject just took off!” the pilot exclaimed.

“Commander, engage the subject with intent to capture,” President Stone ordered.

The planes took off after Astro. Green tentacles lined with suction cups shot out from the planes, trying to grab him. Astro dodged each one.

“What do you guys want?” he called back.

“Command Center. We have it in our sights!” the pilot reported.

Astro dove down into Metro City to avoid the planes. They couldn’t fly low, but they sent their tentacles after him.

One tentacle grabbed a dog by mistake. Another pulled a tablecloth off a table in a restaurant, leaving the dishes on top intact. The diners gasped in surprise.

Astro flew over the park. A man was kneeling on one knee, about to propose marriage to his girlfriend. She sat on a park bench.

Whoosh!
A tentacle grabbed her, too.

The pilot of the second plane radioed the Command Center. “This is Stinger Two. I’m ah ... gonna take all these things back.”

“Get him!” President Stone shouted.

Astro zipped around a building, disappearing from view. The pilot of Stinger One hovered in the air, confused.

“Where’d he go?”

Astro flew underneath both planes, bending their weapons so they couldn’t fire. Then he flew up and slammed into Stinger One’s windshield.

“Eee-yaaah!” the pilot cried. He pressed every button on his controls, but all it did was turn on his windshield wipers. Astro grinned.

Then he felt a tentacle wrap around his waist. He looked down to see the tentacles from both planes wrapped around him.

“Oh no,” Astro said.

“We’ve got him! We’re coming home!” said the Stinger One pilot.

Astro struggled to get free of the tentacles. Then his eyes lit up. He had remembered something.

His rockets were in the bottoms of his feet. He could fly
up
.

“Haaaahhhhh!” Astro yelled.

He shot straight up in the air, pulling both aircraft below him. The pilots screamed.

Then Astro dove down between two skyscrapers, dragging the planes behind him. They slammed into the buildings. Astro flew forward now, pulling with all his might.

Astro pulled free from the tentacles. The force tore Stinger One in half. The pilot screamed as he fell through the sky.

“Oh no!” Astro cried. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He zoomed to the soldier and caught him in midair.

Back in the Command Center, President Stone was furious.

“Send in the Spirit of Freedom,” he ordered.

His advisors gasped in shock.

“The Spirit of Freedom? That weapon doesn’t officially exist, sir!”

“I’m trying to win an election, not run a sewing circle,” Stone snapped. “Destroy the robot, then collect the core.”

Astro dropped the soldier safely on top of a building.

“You’re safe,” he told him.

But a swarm of Stinger planes hovered in the air above him, their weapons extended.

“Again? What’s with you guys?” Astro asked.

The rescued pilot gave Astro a quick hug. “I love you!” he said.

Astro flew off to face the Stingers. “Come on, then!” he challenged.

Then a dark shadow loomed over them all. A huge gunship floated above them. The Stingers flew away like frightened birds. The pilot jumped off of the building in terror.

“Fire!” President Stone commanded.

Bam! Bam! Bam!
The Spirit of Freedom assaulted the rooftop with a missile blast. The force of the explosion knocked Astro down. He tried to pull himself up, but he was hurt.

President Stone grinned. “Finish it.”

Bam! Bam! Bam!
The missiles headed straight for Astro.

President Stone high-fived General Heckler. Then they chest-butted, and Heckler toppled over. Stone kicked him for luck.

Astro couldn’t dodge all of the missiles. They slammed into him, sending him sailing off of the rooftop.

President Stone glanced at the monitor and frowned. The blue dot was falling to the bottom of the screen. How could that be?

“Hey, where is it going?” President Stone yelled. “Come back! Come back! I am declaring a state of emergency! Leave for all military personnel is canceled until Tenma’s boy is found.”

Astro wasn’t sure exactly what happened after the missiles hit. He just remembered falling ... and falling ... and falling. Then everything went black.

He opened his eyes and found himself face-to-face with a burned-out robot head.

“Aaaaargh!”
he yelled.

But the robot head was still alive. “Welcome to your new home, kid,” he said cheerfully.

Startled, Astro fell back and landed on a robot with one arm.

“Hello,” the robot greeted him.

“Aaaaaaaah!”
he screamed again.

He stood up and backed away. Looking down, he realized he was standing on top of a huge mountain of discarded robots.

This is where the old robots from Metro City end up,
he realized.

All around him, robots began to rise up like zombies from the grave. They walked toward Astro, excited.

“New batteries! He’s got new batteries!” cried one jealous robot.

A tiny robot approached him with his hands out. “Spare a few volts for a fellow Sparky?” he asked.

The first robot sadly shook his head. “New batteries ... ”

Most of the robots were not functioning properly. A French waiter robot walked up to a robot on fire.

“Table for one. Smoking or non-smoking?” the waiter asked.

“Smoking! I’m definitely smoking!” the burning robot answered frantically.

The robots began to surround Astro.

“You’re one of us now,” said the robot head. “Happy to meet you.”

“Oh no,” Astro protested. “I’m not one of you guys.”

“You’re a robot, ain’t you?” the robot head asked.

“Er ... yes, but ... ”

“Well, welcome to the scrap heap!” the head said. “This is where we all end up sooner or later.”

Astro shook his head. “No way. I’m not ready yet.”

The robots began to chant. “One of us. One of us. One of us.”

They circled him, getting closer and closer. Some reached out to grab him with their metal hands.

“Hey, get off of me! What are you doing?” Astro yelled.

The robot head suddenly looked up.

“Incoming!”

Astro gazed up to see another load of discarded robots crashing down from Metro City. The impact sent him tumbling down the mountain. He got to his feet and looked around.

The robots down here had all lost power a long time ago. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was quiet down here, at least.

Still, there was nothing but mounds and mounds of dead robots as far as he could see.

“What do I do?” Astro wondered.

He slumped down on a pile of spare parts and put his head in his hands.

“Dad ...”

Then Astro heard something rustling in the next trash pile. Had those weird robots come after him?

“Who’s there?” he called out.

The sound stopped. Astro’s eyes began to glow, lighting up the darkness. They settled on a pair of glowing eyes staring right back at him.

Astro tensed, expecting some kind of attack. Instead, a robot dog bounded out of the trash pile. The dog looked like it had been made out of a metal garbage can with a dome-shaped lid. Blue eyes glowed in its face along with a round, metal nose.

It ran up to Astro with its tail wagging and then fell back, exposing its belly.

“Woof. Woof.”

“Whoa,” Astro said, scooting back. He wasn’t sure if he could trust any of the robots down here.

The dog crawled into Astro’s lap and began to lick his face with a metal tongue. Astro couldn’t help smiling.

“You like me, huh?” He checked the tag around the dog’s neck. “Trashcan. So are you lost, Trashcan?”Astro sighed. “I know I sure am.”

The dog jumped from Astro’s lap and started pulling on his sleeve.

“What is it, boy?” Astro asked.

Trashcan wagged his tail.

“You want me to come with you?” Astro asked.

He wagged his tail again.

“Someone’s in trouble?”

Trashcan bounded off. Astro raced after him. The dog weaved through the narrow valleys between the scrap heaps. Finally, he skidded to a stop. Astro stepped behind him.