Astro Boy: The Movie (9 page)

“You hear that, kids? A genius with modesty,” Hamegg said. “I didn’t think that occurred in nature. Astro, you’re almost too good to be true. Keep this up and I just may have to adopt you.”

Astro beamed happily. Hamegg grabbed a handheld device from his workbench and waved it over Zog. The needle on the device jumped.

“Holy cow!” Hamegg cried. “This thing’s got enough juice to run a city.”

As he talked to the kids, the device was pointing at Astro. The needle jumped even higher, and the machine began to beep frantically.

“What was that?” Astro asked.

Hamegg smacked the device.

“Oh nothing, son,” he said, eyeing Astro curiously. “Just another machine with a mind of its own!”

He turned back to Zog with a gleam in his eye. Astro was feeling too happy to notice that Hamegg was suspicious of him.

I’m sure there’s a place for you. You just have to find it,
Dr. Elefun had told him.

Cora and the kids accepted him. Hamegg might even want to adopt him.

Astro and the others spent the rest of the day getting Zog in tip-top shape. Hamegg supervised them. They washed off the mold with a power washer—and managed to get each other wet in the process. They scraped off rust and pounded out dents. They repainted him, adding his name in red letters across his chest and spiffy rays of color on his neck and arms. They waxed and polished him until he shone.

Astro could have done the work twice as fast as everyone else, but he made sure to slow down so no one would notice he was different. Fixing Zog took hours, but every minute of it was fun for Astro. The kids laughed and joked the whole time. Astro felt really happy.

Astro and Cora climbed a ladder to add some finishing touches to Zog’s face. Cora lost her balance and slipped. Astro quickly zoomed around the ladder to catch her from behind.

Cora was confused.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“I’m faster than I look,” Astro lied. She gave him a look of disbelief. “I work out.”

If Astro had looked down, he would have noticed that Hamegg had seen the whole thing. The chubby man didn’t let on, but inside, the wheels of his brain were churning.

Finally, Zog was finished. Hamegg, Astro, and the kids gathered in front of Zog. Hamegg set up a camera to take their photo.

“Everybody say Limburger!” Cora called out.

“Limburger!” everyone yelled. Astro laughed.

In that moment, he felt like he was part of a real family.

Soon it was time for dinner. When it got dark, Astro went outside to check on Zog. Trashcan followed at his heels.

The huge robot was snoring peacefully.

“Good night, Zog,” Astro whispered.

Trashcan ran off for a second and came back, holding a rusty pipe. He dropped the pipe at Astro’s feet.

“Hey, Trashcan. You wanna play? Fetch!”

Astro threw the pipe—but he forgot just how strong he was. The pipe disappeared into the darkness.

“Oops!” Astro said. He followed Trashcan as he ran after the pipe.

They emerged into a small clearing filled with junked-out cars and other appliances. From here, Astro could see Metro City shining like a bright cloud in the distance.

He noticed Cora by herself, sitting on the ground next to one of the cars.

“Hello? Hello? Hello?” she was saying.

“Hello?” Astro answered.

Cora jumped and hit her head on the open car door. “Ouch! Hey, didn’t your nanny bots tell you it’s rude to sneak up on people?”

“How’s your head?” Astro answered.

“It’s still on,” Cora said, tough as ever.

Astro saw she’d been talking to the old cell phone she’d found the day before. She started hitting buttons on it. Nothing happened. She frowned, gazing up at the sky.

“You know, they say that sometimes when it’s really clear like tonight, you can still call through to Metro City,” she said wistfully. She looked a little sad—not tough at all.

“You want to call Metro City?” Astro asked. Cora hated it there.

Cora shook the sad expression off of her face. “Yeah,” she said. “You never made a prank call? The only thing is—I can’t get this stupid phone to work.”

She tossed the cell phone in frustration, but Astro reached out and grabbed it.

“Let me try,” he said.

Cora shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

Astro pressed some buttons. He put it to his ear. Then, making sure Cora couldn’t see him, he zapped it with a shot of Blue Core energy. The phone lit up.

“Here,” he said, handing it to Cora. “It’s kind of weak, but there’s a signal.”

“Hey, not bad,” Cora said. “The kid’s got hidden talents.”

“You have no idea,” Astro said nervously. He didn’t feel right keeping his secret from Cora. Maybe now was the time.

Cora punched in some numbers on the phone. Astro could hear a beep from the other end.

“Come on, somebody pick up,” Cora said into the phone. “Please pick up. It’s me, Cora.”

She paused. “I miss you guys,” she said softly.

Cora turned off the phone and slumped back against the car.

“Are you okay?” Astro asked.

“Sometimes I wonder if they’ve even noticed I’m gone,” Cora replied.

“Who?” Astro asked.

Cora avoided his eyes. “My parents.”

“Your parents?” Astro thought she didn’t have any.

“That’s right,” Cora said. “Now you know the truth about me. What are you waiting for? Go tell Zane and the others. Cora’s from Metro City and still trying to call home.”

“Don’t forget the part about being raised by nanny bots,” Astro teased.

A hint of a smile broke out on Cora’s face, and then it grew. He sat down beside her.

“Everybody’s got secrets,” he told her. “I wouldn’t tell them. You can trust me.”

Cora leaned against him. “I know. You’re a good guy, Astro.”

Astro took a deep breath. It was now or never.

“Can I tell you something?” Astro asked. “My secret?”

“Sure,” Cora replied. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Do you ever feel like you just don’t fit in?” Astro asked. “Like you’re different from everyone else, kind of like an outsider?”

“Of course. Everyone feels like that sometimes,” she answered.

“Well, the last few days have been different for me. I mean, being with all you guys ... and Hamegg ... ”

Astro wasn’t sure how to explain things. “The thing I need to tell you is ... I’m a rrrrrrr ... a rrrrrr ... ”

Cora looked at him quizzically. Astro desperately wanted to tell her the truth. But he was too afraid.

“I’m rrrreally starting to like it here with you. With you guys,” Astro said.

Cora snuggled a little closer to him. “Yeah, well, we like you, too, Astro.”

Trashcan bounded up with the pipe in his mouth. He dropped it at their feet and wagged his tail. Then he rolled over onto his back. Cora and Astro laughed.

“I know it’s not the same thing, but isn’t Hamegg sort of like our dad now?” Astro asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” Cora agreed.

They lingered in the clearing for awhile, gazing at the bright city in the sky.

The next morning, Hamegg rode through the makeshift town on a small hovercraft. He was dressed like a circus ringmaster in a top hat and a red coat with colorful gold swirls. He waved to the crowd like a celebrity. Some people cheered; others booed loudly.

“Buy your tickets, folks!” Hamegg shouted out like a carnival barker. “Don’t miss the battle of the century! Look at this robot! No one can touch him! Those other robots are all cruisin’ for a bruisin‘! There’s going to be oil spilt in the arena this afternoon, gallons of battery acid, electric wires ripped out, heads knocked off, hopes dashed, and strength rewarded.”

Zog marched behind Hamegg. Astro, Cora, Zane, Widget, and Sludge were perched on the huge robot’s shoulders.

The streets of the city were a mess of garbage, robot parts, and other trash. Three cardboard boxes suddenly stood up and walked into an alley. A muffled voice called out from under one of the boxes.

“Robot Revolutionary Front, transform!”

Two metal arms pushed out the side of each box. Then two metal legs. Finally, a head popped out of each one. It was Sparx, Robotsky, and Mike the Fridge—the RRF !

“Nice,” Robotsky said, admiring their transformation.

“This is it, brothers!” Sparx said. “Time to put our new plan into action.”

“Our new plan,” Mike repeated.

“Much better than our old plan,” Robotsky added.

Sparx gestured dramatically. “Bring out the secret weapon!”

Mike the Fridge took an old briefcase out from under his box. He opened the lid and a golden light shone on the three robots’ faces.

“Aaaaaaah,
they all said at once.

Robotsky reached in and took out a flashlight. “I’ve been looking for that!”

Sparx got an evil look on his face—at least, as evil a look as he could muster. Technically, he wasn’t allowed to be evil.

“Viva la Robot-olution! Look out, Hamegg.”

Back on the street, Hamegg motioned to Astro with a dramatic wave of his hand.

“Give him a hand, folks. The kid in the red boots. He’s the one who got this killing machine back in the arena!” Hamegg said.

The crowd cheered.

“Hamegg really likes you,” Cora remarked.

“I like him, too,” Astro said. “What’s he mean, ‘killing machine?’ ”

“The robots fight until one of them is destroyed,” Cora explained.

“What?” Astro was shocked.

“Don’t worry,” Cora told him. “Zog’s going to crush them all.”

Astro felt horrible. He didn’t want to see any robots crushed. “That’s really what happens at the robot games?”

“What did you expect? Rock, paper, scissors?” Cora joked.

From his perch on Zog, Astro could see the Battle-Bot Arena up ahead. The bleachers of the circular stadium were packed with residents of the Surface.

Zog just fit through the open archway leading into the stadium. A bunch of fighting robots warmed up with their trainers in a staging area just outside the battle ring. They passed by one robot that looked like a boxer with spikes on his metal fists. His manager, a gray-haired human, squirted oil into his joints and massaged his steel shoulders.

“Who’s the robot?” his manager asked.

“I’m the robot!” replied the boxer.

“No mercy!” his manager cried.

“No mercy! No mercy! No mercy!” the robot chanted, jumping up and down.

Then the robot got a look at Zog—and his jaw dropped off, clattering to the ground.

Hamegg waved at all of the challengers. “Good luck out there, nice knowin’ ya.”

Astro and the kids climbed down off of Zog. Astro approached Hamegg.

“I thought it was a show, not a slaughter,” he said.

“They’re just robots, son,” Hamegg told him.

Astro was upset. “I thought you liked robots.”

“I do!” Hamegg said cheerfully. “But at the end of the day, they’re just junk waiting to happen. I know. Some of those more advanced ones from Metro City are programmed to smile and laugh just like us.”

“Really?” Cora asked.

“Oh yeah,” Hamegg told her. “Unfortunately, they don’t have real emotions, which is why I have no problem doing this.”

Hamegg reached for his toolkit and removed a laser device from it. He quickly zapped Astro with it.

It all happened so quickly, Astro didn’t have time to react. He felt a charge of electricity surge through him.

Then everything went black.