Prequel

Note: Astro Boy is the property of Tezuka Productions.

Part Four

Dr. Tenma received official notification that the legal injunction he had requested had been signed by the district judge. The paperwork had been mailed by a registered courier, and he expected to have it in hand within a day or two. With the legal standing now on his side, Tenma notified the detective that he would be in the clear to take whatever action he deemed necessary to obtain physical custody of his daughter.

With the order now in place it also meant that Inspector Tawashi was able to post Urania's picture on the city's computer system so that it would generate an alert if any of the government surveillance cameras, or any of the private ones connected to the city's grid, caught her image. Then any available police officer would be able to take custody of the child. However this case only ranked just above auto traffic enforcement in priority, so it might take awhile for the police to actually do anything. The odds were a lot better that the private detective would have better luck.

The demands of the government contract that the Institute of Science had committed itself to were taking their toll on Uma Tenma. He often arrived at his office before the sun had rose, and rarely came home much before midnight. He sometimes put in a few hours over the weekend, and Tobio saw less and less of his father. All too often the good doctor never did make it home, he'd fall asleep in his office or laboratory, too exhausted to make the trip home. However, he had just interviewed several candidates for a few engineering positions, and he hoped that he would soon have some relief.

Every night, Tobio tried to stay up long enough to see his father come home, but it would always be quite late by the time Dr. Tenma quietly entered the house, if he came home at all. The routine was the same every night. There was a large toy chest right in front of the picture window in Tobio's bedroom with a padded lid that served as a seat. Every night Tobio would sit on that cushion and stare out the window, waiting for his father's car to pull into the driveway.

On one wall of the room was the boy's bed, a large poster bed with a queen sized mattress. There were two drawers under the bed and two chests of drawers against the wall on the opposite side of the room from his bed. Between both of these, was a desk with a computer where he did his homework for school. Hanging on the wall, over the desk, were three photographs. One was a family portrait taken just a few months ago, with his father, mother, sister, and himself. There was another picture of just he and Urania, and another of his father and mother together. Tobio turned his head from looking out the window and glanced at the pictures, and started to cry. Nora glided into the room and saw he was in a somber mood, again.

Nora was a good robot, she was sympathetic, actually almost empathetic in her relationship with the boy, but she still fell short of being a replacement for a parent. The Nanny robot had a soft voice that sounded almost human, though there was a small bit of electronic overtone in it.
"Staying up past your bedtime again, Tobio-chan?" she always asked. "Please goto sleep, you have school again tomorrow."

Tobio would sigh and leave his perch at the window. He'd put his pajamas on and brush his teeth. He'd get into bed and Nora would tuck up the covers and sing him a lullaby.
"Good night Nora." Tobio would say. He'd sometimes cry himself to sleep, and Nora would stay quietly in the room by the door until the boy was in slumber.

Shunsuku Ban had come up with the idea of staking out each of the elementary schools in the district to try and catch sight of Hoshie and Urania. He knew that the child was of age to start kindergarten, if Hoshie hadn't left the city she'd have to enroll the kid in school somewhere. He tried searching on line, but he knew that she'd be using a different name. The kind of stake out that he resorted to would take time, but eventually it would yield results. He photographed every student that entered each school, and he repeated the task several times for each one.

It took him several weeks, but he finally found her. Mustachio stood watch at the Tezuka Elementary School for a week, he observed Hoshie and Urania coming and going there each day like clockwork. She had changed her appearance, having cut her hair shorter and dying it blond. She also wore dark glasses and a scarf to obscure her face, but he still recognized her. Urania's hair had also been cut short, the poor child must have pitched a fit having her beautiful bangs cut off. The poor kid almost looked like a boy the way she was now dressed, as well.

The detective now considered how he could best make the snatch and grab to return Urania to her father. The obvious solution came to him rather quickly. Mustachio was a part time teacher in the Metro City school system, as well as a detective. Having a suitable ID card as a teacher gave him the ability to run a stake out inside the Tezuka Elementary School, to lie in wait for the Urania. He had figured that under the disguise as a teacher, which wasn't really a disguise at all, he would be able to intercept the girl and get her back to her father. What he hadn't figured on was the now extreme paranoia of the child's mother.

If Hoshie had had the resources, she would have left the district, maybe even the country, to get away from her husband. Eventually, when she had saved up enough, that's exactly what she decided that she would do. Getting a job and setting up a household by herself had been much more difficult than she had ever imagined. Those were things she should have done before leaving Uma, but she just couldn't stand living with him anymore.

Hoshie was becoming paranoid, and she kept looking over her shoulders. She knew that having to enroll Urania in school made her an easy target for Uma's detective. She thought that she had spotted someone with a camera outside the school several times. Now she was certain of it. She started to imagine what could happen, and she realized that eventually Uma would try and get his daughter back. Hoshie was determined that would never happen. Urania was her child, and she knew she couldn't live without her. Hoshie started carrying a sharp hunting knife in her purse for self defense, or worse. Everywhere she looked she saw a threat to her and her daughter, and she felt that she couldn't trust anybody. Her world was caving in on her.

Several weeks passed and finally Dr. Tenma's work load decreased somewhat. The IOS had finally hired several new engineers that would relieve Uma from the more mundane tasks so he could concentrate on the actual design work. With some real free time on his hands, he put in a few hours here and there working on the Cobalt robot that he and Tobio had designed. What was more important however, was that he now was able to see his son at bedtime, and again each morning before the boy left for school.

Tobio no longer kept a vigil each night waiting for his dad before being put to bed by Nora. He no longer cried himself to sleep either, and his loving father would tuck him in to bed and read him a bedtime story. Both father and son were in much better moods, and both were getting more sleep every night.

In a few weeks, Tobio would be on his mid semester break at school. Uma hoped to have at least one surprise for him, maybe two if he was lucky. Finally one weekend he had one of those surprises ready for his the boy.

"I have to go into work today for a little bit," Dr. Tenma told his son.

"Aw, Tomorrow's Saturday, I thought we could be together. Do you really have to?" Tobio whined.

"Yes, I'm afraid so son, but I'm going to need your help." Uma laughed.

Tobio looked confused for a second, then his face brightened.

"We're going to work on Cobalt, aren't we?" He squealed.

"We sure are!" his father said, patting his son on the head.

Tobio leaped into his father's arms and gave him a hug. The boy had been hungry for that bit of bonding and his face broke into a wide smile. Nora watched from across the room. Her programing hadn't detected such a level of happiness in the boy for many weeks, and she registered a warm feeling in her circuits.

Tobio's face beamed with excitement as he carefully examined the robot lying on the operating table. Cobalt was a bit taller than he was, though he looked thin and wimpy.
"His body will look more natural when it's powered up." His father explained. "Without power this type of robot goes limp and takes on the look of a doll with the stuffing falling out. If you touch him, you can see that his outer skin is pliable like yours. He doesn't have a stiff outer framework like Nora and other service 'bots."

Tobio felt Cobalt's arms and legs. He then placed his hand on the robot's chest.

"That's the one spot where he is a bit solid. He doesn't have a rib cage like a human, his torso is a solid frame underneath his skin to support all of his inner mechanisms." Dr. Tenma explained.

"How long before we can power him up?" Tobio asked.

"Actually, we can do that right now. I've finished all of the work on his body, what remains now is to power him up and load his AI into his brain."

Tobio watched as his father opened Cobalt's chest panel and connected several heavy cables. He attached additional cables to sockets in the robots head and waist. Dr. Tenma motioned for Tobio to stand back. The two of them retreated to the back of the laboratory where the power control station was located.
"It will take quite a heavy charge of power to activate him for the first time. His nuclear power plant needs to self generate before it can start the initial fusion reaction. After that, he'll need periodic refueling, but his normal power requirements will allow him to go long periods between refueling, unless he has to do something very taxing." Uma explained.

After the switch was thrown on the laboratories control panel a loud hum emanated from Cobalt's body. Dr. Tenma cranked up the juice and the hum became a loud buzz, and then a screaming roar. The robot began to glow with a brilliant light as his body began to absorb the energy. There was a loud crack, and then everything became quiet. Dr. Tenma looked at the readings on the control panel and smiled.
"He's powered up. Now I have to download his AI. That should take about an hour or so, why don't we go get ourselves some lunch?"

After they returned from a quick meal at the IOS cafeteria, the download of Cobalt's AI was nearly complete.
"I'll attempt to bring him to consciousness now." Tenma told his son. "This will require a bit more energy."

Uma went back to the laboratories power control panel and activated the power feed. Cobalt lay still on the operating table for a few minutes and then slowly opened is eyes. The robot raised his head slightly and then tried to sit up. As he did so, the cables attached to his waist and head fell off and hung from the ceiling.

"Cobalt!" Tobio cried out as he approached the operating table. He held his arm out and the robot took it, using Tobio to support his effort to sit up.
"Try to stand up, Cobalt," Tobio said. He held out both hands and grabbed the robots arms. Cobalt swung his legs around and hopped off the table, depending on Tobio to help him balance.
"I'm your brother, Tobio." He told the robot.

"Tobio." Cobalt muttered, pointing at the boy.
"I'm Cobalt." he said pointing a finger at himself.

"Yes!" Tobio smiled.

Cobalt took a few wobbly steps by himself. He gradually became more sure footed. His facial expression, which at first was a complete blank, now appeared to be one of a self aware being.

"Can we take him home?" Tobio asked.

"I'm going to need to connect Cobalt back to the computer and run a systems check on him. If everything appears normal, we'll take him home and let Nora check him out." His father promised.

The boy sat on one of the work benches while his father hooked the robot up to the computer and started to examine him. Uma looked at the happy face on his son. He hoped that the robot would serve as a substitute sibling until his daughter could be returned to them.