Who Mourns for Methuselah?

A.N. There have been many fan speculations on what happens to Astro in the future. In Tezuka's canon he remains a child forever, and clearly all the humans that he knows will age and die while he remains. But even a robot will not live forever, his parts will wear out and his energy source will require replacement. Tezuka actually presented two possibilities; one where he eventually gives his life to save humanity, and one where he ends up either in storage or in a museum as an obsolete robot, perhaps to be rediscovered in the future.

I imagined a canon where Astro has the ability to grow and mature into an adult. Tezuka did hint at that idea in another way in two stories with robots that periodically had their AI transferred into newer bodies. However technology now gives us another option, which I've made use of in this story.

This fan fiction takes place some 80 years in the future from the time frame of the Astro Boy canon. Our hero has grown up, taken a wife (!) and had two children. He is now a great-grandfather about to see the birth of his first great-great grandchild. The story opens on a sad occasion as he looks back on his life.

Please note that Astro Boy is the creation of Osmau Tezuka, and all rights to him belong to Tezuka Productions.

Chapter 1

"Do robots live forever?" Astor Boyton looked down at his son and smiled.
"I don't know son. I guess it's easier to make spare parts for a robot than it is a human being so I suppose you could just go on repairing a robot forever. But you know, right now the oldest robot hasn't lived as long as the oldest person."
"So will I live longer than you?" Nine year old Adam Boyton asked his father.
I really don't know. But I hope so son. I hope you live a long and happy life!"

Astor turned his head to glance at Adam. That conversation had occurred many years ago, Adam was now a grandfather himself. How beautiful his daughter in-law looked sitting next to Adam, even with her now silver hair. How the years had melted away! Astor himself had had a long and wonderful life, he was now only months away from seeing his first great-great-grand child.

Now in his 90's, Astor's well known spiked hair had turned gray and his his hairline had receded somewhat, making his distinctive 'widows peak' a thing of the past. He hadn't flown in many years now, and he wondered if he was still able to do so. Astor still had a good deal of his 100,000 horsepower strength, he had recently helped change a tire for a stranded motorist by lifting the vehicle off the ground when a jack was not available.

The rumble of the limousine's tires against the concrete roadway was soothing and Astor found himself drifting into a daydream.

He had been born as Tobio Tenma, the son of the infamous scientist and engineer that single handedly had started the robot revolution. There had been robots before Uma Tenma, but not until he added his touch to the art had robots become more than dumb slaves that had to be constantly watched and supervised.

Astor didn't remember his mother very well. Hoshie Tenma had left one day, never to return. She divorced Uma in absentia, and passed away shortly thereafter. Astor could only guess that his father's workaholic ways were the cause. Tobio might not see his father for days at a time, while he was working late advancing the robot art. The boy was well cared for by his robot nanny, Nora. Nora kept the house spotless, cooked wonderful meals, and took care of the boy's every need. However, she wasn't a mother, and couldn't give Tobio the one thing he really wanted, a parents love. When Dr. Tenma was at home, he tried to more than make up for not being with his son, and Tobio loved his dad. Uma Tenma would buy Tobio all sorts of toys and games. The boy had plenty of material things, but what he really wanted most was more of his father's time.

One day Tobio decided to go out and buy his father a present for father's day. Something that he hoped would get him more of Dr. Tenma's attention. Tobio went out to the shopping mall on his hover-scooter, the same one that he had recently received for his ninth birthday. On the way home, an out of control truck collided with his scooter, crushing it and the boy. Tobio lay in the hospital for several days in a near coma before he died. Dr. Tenma had saved the essence of Tobio's mind and his memories, transferring them into the computer brain of a new kind of robot that he was perfecting. He rebuilt his invention as a copy of his son, and he called the robot Tobio.

Tobio as a robot, tried hard to be the boy that had died. Astor often wondered of what could have been if his father had been more patient. He had been a bit ahead of his time, and his creation wasn't perfect enough for him. As a result, Tenma went mad and set fire to his lab and his house. He left his robot son in the hands of a salesman who tried to market him as the "mighty atomic robot", or just "Mighty Atom". Luckily the new head of the Institute of Science, Dr. Ochanomizu, found him, and adopted him. He ended up being a hero many times over, using his 'super powers' to aid the police, fire-rescue, and even the military. The press nick-named him "Astro Boy" and it stuck. To his friends and family, he was just 'Astro'.

And he did have a family, It seemed Dr. Tenma had created a failed prototype for Astro and it was found buried in the basement of the IOS. Dr. Ochanomizu repaired this robot, that looked quite a bit like Astro, and named him Cobalt. Astro's foster dad also built him a sister, who was named Uran. But Ochanomizu's greatest invention was a microscopic robotic self replicating machine. These 'nanites' could be injected into a robot where they worked like human antibodies, repairing anything that started to wear out. The nanites could also do something else, they could slowly modify a robot's structure in the same way that human cells multiply and reproduce as a child grows into adulthood. This meant that Astro, Cobalt, and Uran would not stay in their child form forever, they would grow up like human children. If Dr. Tenma had figured this out, maybe he would have accepted Astro as his son, instead of going insane.

Astro was one of the first robots to be enrolled in school along with human children. He was accepted as a friend by his fellow students, and adored by his teachers. In Astor's daydream he remembered his schoolmates Kenichi, Tamao, and especially Reno. Whenever Astro had managed to damage himself in battle protecting others, Reno had often been able to repair him well enough for him to make it back home.

It was in high school that he met the woman that would become his wife. The idea of a human and a robot falling in love would have sounded as an ungodly idea years earlier. However robots had already started using biotechnology, and Astro was fitted with such. He was actually able to father children with a human female, and his body was no longer distinguishable from a human, except under very close examination.

At this point he wanted to make a new beginning for himself, and leave the robot boy image behind him. Using a play on words, he legally changed his name to Astor Boyton, which was a slur on 'Astro Boy'. So Astor Boyton took Cora Smith for his bride and they raised a family. Their first child was a boy who they named Adam, a slur on 'Atom', the name that Astro was first known by as a robot. The Boytons also had a girl, who they named Hoshie after Tobio's mother.

Both of his children had married and had children and grandchildren of their own. Three generations of humans who could trace their ancestry back to a robot carrying the DNA of a human child whom he had been built in the image of. Tobio Tenma lived on in the lives of Astor's descendants.

Astor's thoughts turned to his original father, Dr. Tenma. The expression 'biological' father didn't exactly apply here, and 'creator' sounded too much like something out of gothic novel, so he left it at that. Uma Tenma had been committed to a mental hospital after being apprehended for arson. Astro had refused to testify against him on charges of cruelty to robots, so those criminal charges were never pressed. For many years Astro had visited his original father in the hospital, and Astor had been there when the man died. Officially Tenma's cause of death was listed as a heart failure, but Astor knew he had died from guilt, loneliness, and a broken heart.

The Limousine bounced over a pothole and the jolt shook Astor awake. That had all been so many years ago, a lifetime in fact. He'd lost track of Cobalt and Uran a while ago. His older brother had been in charge of the first moon base and later moved on to the Mars colony. Uran had been traveling the globe working with efforts to preserve many endangered species of animals. Astor had been getting regular emails from both of them, but recently they had suddenly stopped. He tried to contact both his siblings to inform them of his bad news, but had not got any answer.

The Limousine slowed down as it entered the cemetery. Up ahead he could see the hearse had already stopped and Cora's casket was being removed. Astor and his immediate family got out of the vehicle. Hoshie and her husband were in the car behind the limousine. Astor, Adam, and Hoshie's husband Simon, performed as three of the pallbearers to move the coffin from the hearse to the grave site. "It's horrible for a parent to outlive their children", Astor thought to himself, but he realized that within twenty years or so he would be attending several more funerals for his offspring. Astor might be showing his age, but baring an accident, he could be expected to be around for at least another half a century, or longer.

Astor stood next to his two children and their spouses as the grave side ceremony commenced. His eyes teared up as the coffin containing his beloved Cora was lowered into the ground. As was the custom of his wife's religion, each of the relatives of the deceased picked up a shovel and put several loads of dirt into the grave. Astor was the last to pick up the tool, and he slowly emptied the pile of dirt left for the purpose, into the grave.

"Dad, you don't have to finish the job" Adam said, gently taking the shovel out of his hands.
"I guess my old self resurfaced for a bit there er?" Astor said putting his arm over his son's shoulder.
"Please walk me back to the car, son." he asked.

As the Limousine left the cemetery Adam studied his father's face.
"What are you going to do now Dad?" he asked.

"I don't really know. Caring for your mother was the last task that I was fully involved in. Everyone else that I ever knew is gone now. I know I cried my eyes out when Dr. Ochanomizu passed away. I still miss Higeoyaji deeply. I still remember my boyhood friends Reno, Kenichi, and Tamao, though until today, I haven't thought about them for many years. I wish I knew what happened to Cobalt and Uran. I feel like I've lived three lives. I just don't know if I have the will to keep going." Astor sighed.

"Why don't you move in with us?" Adam asked. His wife nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps." Astor said, though he knew that in doing so he would soon be taking care of his son and daughter in law, rather than them taking care of him.

Later that evening Astor got some of his things from his apartment and started to move in with Adam and Emily. They had a small house with a spare bedroom. There was a pond that fronted on their back yard. After dark, Astor folded several sheets of paper into small boats. He placed a stub of candle in each of them and lighting the candles, floated the boats in the pond. He watched as they drifted, the lights were like small stars floating on the surface of the water. Astor looked up into the sky at the stars. Somewhere up there, maybe Uma, Cora, Hoshie, Ochanomizu and Higeoyaji were up in heaven, along with Reno, Kenichi, Tamao, and everyone else he had ever known. His eyes lacrimated, and the moisture rolled down his cheeks.