Sorry for the long wait everybody, but real-life can be awfully pesty sometimes and it has this nasty habit of getting in the way when I'd rather be writing. All right, where were we? Ah, that's right, doom and gloom. Well enough of that. Who's ready for a robot resurrection? I know I am. I thought about making you wait for it and starting with Cora's storyline instead. But I'm not THAT evil. Who cares how she's doing anyway?
Astro was having a very strange dream.
It was a system analysis. It looked like his system. Sort of. Only he couldn't analyze himself, not to this extent anyway, he was capable of smaller, more basic procedures. It would have saved him a lot of trouble if he could. Though he wouldn't have it run like this. Whole streams of bright green code seemed to scroll right behind his eyes where he had to look at them. He hated it, it was annoying.
Zone1.9 / temp 40.0 - complete- passed
Zone2 / temp 40.4 - complete- passed
Zone2.1 / temp 40.3 - complete- passed
Zone2.2 / temp 40.2 -complete- passed
What the hell kind of font is that anyway? It hurts to look at it.
The sequences kept rolling past his vision at an incredible speed. He, of course, had no trouble keeping up with them. So far, everything seemed to make sense, except for the whole none-of-it-should-be-happening-at-all business. He was confused however, when some of them started to look decidedly unfamiliar.
Servos 1-13 - complete - status: operational
Servos 14-26 - complete - status: operational
What? What is that? That's not part of my main operating system. That's all hardware. I don't have the ability to monitor all my hardware, do I? I didn't know I could do that. I can't do that. I've never been able to do that before. This is a really weird, stupid, BORING dream.
LLeft servo 1-12 - complete - status: fault
LRight servo 1-12 -complete - status: fault
Servo 4 -unresponsive
Servo 12 -unresponsive
Actuators disabled
Power supply bypassed
status: primary defense system offline
See manual for details.
See manual for details? Is that a joke?
It went on like that for some time.
That's a lot of faults. I don't like this. This isn't any fun at all. I think I'll wake up now.
Tink ~tink~ tink
Well, now that's a little more interesting.
"Hey, uh..." It was Zane's voice, very close to his ear. He sounded so sad. "Are you sure it worked? He's still not moving."
Zane was tapping on him, trying to wake him up. How convenient.
Astro heard his father's voice. "Give it a minute." He sounded preoccupied with something. Maybe even a little concerned himself.
Astro was so happy to hear their voices. He couldn't recall as to why that would be.
Zane gave his shoulder a shake. "Hey Astro, come on, wake up."
Quick as lightning, Astro grabbed his wrist and opened his eyes. Zane let out a shout of surprise. Astro smiled at him.
"Got you." Then he frowned at the sound of his own voice.
Zane was grinning ear to ear, nodding his head. "I see you retained your horrible sense of humor." Cora has rubbed off on you to much, he thought. That's too much like one of her stupid tricks. Never thought I'd be so happy to see one of those.
Astro released him as he sat up. Pulling with him a myriad array of cables and wires. If that wasn't bad enough, what he thought was a dream continued despite the fact that he was awake. Only now he was apparently launching what appeared to be an invasive virus scan. Green lines overlayed his vision as he looked at Zane. He rubbed his eyes, and blinked them many times. The lines disappeared, but he was still aware of them in the back of his mind. It made it very hard to think. There was something important he needed to remember. Something...happened? Something happened to him? Well, that was nothing new, but his memory wasn't usually this incredibly fuzzy. By design, he should have perfect recall. Zane was now looking concerned as Astro put his head in his hands, groaning, as he had to pull data connections off his arms to do so.
"Hey, you alright Astro?" Zane put a hand on his arm and looked off to Astro's left.
Then Astro heard Dr. Elefun speak up. Oh thank goodness he's here, Astro thought.
"Tenma, stop the program. It's too aggressive. At least give him the option of whether or not he has to run it."
Oh yes. Yes, please.
"If I give him a choice he never will, and you know that."
Oh, come on, dad. Really? Astro followed Zane's gaze to see his father and Dr. Elefun at a monitor station studying his vital signs.
"It's dominating his processes. How can he function like that? Where did you get this second-rate program anyway? You've been working too hard. The Tenma I know wouldn't have given this garbage a second glance. It needs to be more subtle. Pull it and let me retool it."
Tenma looked at Astro then. On seeing Astro up and running, his gaze softened. Astro did look rather dazed, his eyes squinted in what could only be a uncomfortable confusion. Elefun was right, it was completely inadequate. He was rushing things. He knew better than to try a shortcut, there had just been so much to do to get him operational. Tenma relented.
"Very well."
He initiated the uninstall, and Astro's mind immediately began to clear a bit. Unfortunately, a lot of his recent memory was still eluding him. Dr. Elefun left the monitoring station to briefly put a hand on his shoulder.
"How are you feeling my boy?" He offered his usual caring smile.
Much to Astro's dismay he noticed Elefun was walking with a crutch. His foot and ankle were all wrapped up. He was responsible for that, he knew. He did remember attacking the Ministry.
Cora, and now Elefun too?
Not that he ever wanted to hurt anybody, but why was it the only humans he managed to injure were the ones he cared about the most? He felt worse because he knew Dr. Elefun would never blame him for it. Dr. Elefun saw the realization in Astro's expression.
"Now don't you worry about that, Astro. It's nothing serious, just a sprain," he said in a very upbeat manner. "We're just glad your awake. You had us very worried."
Astro looked from Elefun to Zane and back again. "What happened?" He asked them both. He grimaced as he struggled to find the right description. "I feel very...strange." It was the best he could come up with in his disoriented state.
Zane and Elefun looked somberly at one another. Tenma had now included himself in the group. He began quietly detaching Astro from his assortment of cables. There was a heavy pause between all three.
Zane finally raised a hand and pointed.
"You didn't make it."
Astro didn't want to look. He was beginning to realize what was going on. He gripped his father's hand as he followed Zane's direction to see everything he had ever been laying on a table just across the room.
"Dad?" The fear in his voice was plain.
"There was nothing I could do, son," Tenma said sadly.
Astro pushed his father away from him. Then he stood and stumbled with legs he had assembled himself, but never before used. He had a longer stride now, it would take some getting used to. He was steadied by Zane as he lurched forward. Astro shrugged him off as he pushed his way forward. Any remaining cables came off with a series of audible pops. Elefun wrung his hands as he flashed an alarmed glance at Tenma. Tenma shook his head and put out a restraining hand. This was something he thought Astro needed to see. Elefun thought they were both being a bit cruel. They could have given him a FEW more minutes to adjust first. He didn't like it, but he kept his distance.
How very unsettling it is to look down and see yourself there. And he looked terrible. Astro leaned on the table with one hand and covered his eyes with the other, blocking out the depressing sight. It was every one of his gruesome nightmares to see his whole identity reduced to what was essentially a pile of scrap metal. Now, finally, it had come true at last.
He was dead... Again. I really have to stop making a habit of this.
Events were slowly coming back to him. He remembered the fight at home, then shivered as he remembered the nanobots. Then what? I... crashed?
Zane walked up beside him. "It wasn't the exterior damage. That could have been repaired. You burned up. A lot of your brain was fried. You can't imagine how happy we were when Tenma found that your memory was salvageable." Then he said quietly, "You almost didn't make it."
Astro shook his head as he looked at his new hands, and then at Zane. "But this," he said confused, "I never finished it." He thought of the faults the analysis had picked out. "It STILL isn't finished."
"You would have had this," he indicated all of Astro, "done long ago if you hadn't kept dragging your feet on the project." Zane said rather roughly. Astro gave him a surprised look.
"You knew about this?"
"Well, yeah." Like that was obvious. "Tenma talked about it a lot. He worked on it,..um..you.. non-stop all week. With Elefun's help, of course. He wanted Tenma to wait till you were complete, but, well, he wouldn't, couldn't, wait." Zane whispered to him. "I don't think he slept at all."
A week? I've been dead a whole week?
Astro was overwhelmed. With as weird as he felt, It was a lot to take in. I need to get a hold of myself. I always planned on taking this route eventually... didn't I? But Zane was right. He HAD put it off a lot.
Just not like this. Not this soon. I wasn't ready. Literally. He took a deep breath and then sadly turned his back on his childhood. I'm still not ready. He took a minute to compose himself as he continued to lean against the table. Then he looked into the concerned faces of those around him. His curiosity was forcing him to press on. Astro crossed his arms and tried to take on a more calm appearance to assuage their fears and cover up his own emotional turmoil.
"So, what have I missed?" He knew a lot must have gone on in his absence.
Not one of them spoke.
"Well?" He put a commanding edge in his voice, and for that moment he sounded a lot like his dad, and he scared himself a bit.
Zane, of course, was the first to speak up.
"Oh, there is good news and bad news. You've missed out on a lot." Then he gave Astro that wicked smile that generally meant that all kinds of shit had hit the fan.
Astro put up a hand to stop him from going any further. "Please.. PLEASE, give me the good news first, Zane."
Always the showman, Zane let the moment drag out so as to build up the proper amount of anticipation. "Welllll, you don't have to worry about anyone shooting you down anymore. Not just because your technically a completely different robot, but because you were pardoned. Exonerated." His eyes gleamed excitedly as Astro's own widened in surprise. "Your dad managed to get a full confession out of Rubeon right there in front of the police and everything. I wish I had been there to see it." Astro gave his father a look of confused disbelief.
"It was a rational conversation between two professionals," was Tenma's calm response.
Elefun scoffed. A smile teasing his lips. "Sure it was."
Zane continued. "Apparently, Rubeon and Striker thought they were going to be seen as heroes for taking you down. Loved by the people, yadda, yadda. BUT, then your dad told Rubeon that we still had copies sequestered away, which we did, but, THEN he went on to say that we had definitive PROOF that HE was the one who wrote it. Which was a absolute LIE!" Impossibly, Zane's smile got bigger as he proudly looked at Tenma, who was trying very hard not to look satisfied with himself. "Rubeon TOTALLY believed him and sang like a bird! He admitted not only to the virus, but to sharing unreleased Ministry prototypes with Striker as well. He said he was doing it all under duress of course. Striker being the big intimidating guy that he's apparently known for being makes him a perfect scapegoat. Might not be the best decision Rubeon ever made though. I certainly wouldn't want Striker for an enemy, but I guess Rubeon's willing to take that chance. I guess he thinks he'll be safe locked up." Zane's excitement deflated suddenly. "I really wish that he would have been publicly associated with A.R.R.O." He sighed. "Though some suspect that he was, he's not going to come out and say it. Oh, well, I'll take what I can get."
Zane then grabbed Astro and shook him gleefully. "I wish you had been alive to see the city's reaction. Oh, boy. First, happy that your gone." Zane gesticulated a slashing motion. "Then, less then an hour later, the word gets out what really happened. The news networks eat their words...and then..."
Zane looked Astro in the eyes as he continued to hang off of him. Astro was enduring it all with an amused smile.
"Then... the city mourns. THEY MOURN! They were having memorials in your honor, Astro. It was a beautiful, yet-very sad thing." Though Zane didn't look sad at all. Neither did Astro. He was still a good guy, not a mindless weapon. They hadn't forgotten who he was after all.
Astro allowed himself a moment of internal celebration. He felt after all he'd been through, he deserved that much. He hugged Zane, then his father (who he found was still taller than him) Then, Astro literally picked up Dr. Elefun before setting him very gently back to the floor. NOW he felt he could endure anything.
Still smiling, Astro finally inquired. "So what's the bad news?"
All three once again said nothing. They looked to one another in a debate as to who would be the one to tell him. Astro's smile immediately dropped into an impatient scowl. He knew he wasn't going to like this, and it was sweet that everyone wanted to spare his feelings, but sometimes he would just like a straight answer for once.
Elefun was the first to look up at him. "I think...we should have given you the bad news first."
The fact that this admission came from Elefun gave him a chill. Astro's mind shot right to the friend that was missing. Someone who should have been here, but was not. Someone who was just as important to him as those assembled before him. He backed up a step.
"Where's Cora?" His voice was full of suspicion and panic.
Zane tried to make himself small. "We don't.. really.. know."
"WHAT?!"
Zane's gaze narrowed at Astro. He doesn't remember everything that happened. Good for him. No one should have to remember that. "Striker ran off with her," he said simply. "We were hoping he would just drop her off at the police station, thinking he'd come out looking like an exemplary citizen, but he kept her long enough to get wind that Rubeon squawked and tried to pin the blame on him. I'm guessing he must have friends in the police department and they tipped him off. He's disappeared completely."
Astro felt his world crashing down again. His new legs began to shake and he felt the need to sit before he fell. That monster has Cora? He's had her for a week? Is she even still alive?
"Now, now, she's probably just being held hostage somewhere," Zane said quickly. "We're all going to get a turn apparently," he joked.
Not funny. Astro shook his head at him. No wonder Cora hits him so much. "But what do we do?" he asked desperately.
Zane shrugged. "I got a plan. Duh."
Of course he does. He wouldn't be so calm otherwise.
"But I need your help to implement it. First you need some street clothes, your not going out into the city half naked like that."
Astro was tugging on the itchy collar of his T-shirt as he and Zane left the Ministry. It was one of the few casual clothes his father owned. Astro had seen him wear it, like, once. His father and Dr. Elefun had stayed behind to work on that awful program that Astro was determined to never have installed again, no matter how useful and improved it may prove to be. That's just the kind of thing he needs, a program that constantly reminds him how inhuman he is.
Astro felt exposed once the Ministry doors slid shut behind him. He was surprised to see it was late afternoon, an absolutely beautiful day. And here he was in the city, strolling down the sidewalk after Zane. The same city that just days before had wanted him dead, and thought he still was. He was a new robot. No one recognized him as such, he looked like just an average guy, walking down the street. An average guy doing average errands on an average day. He wondered how much fun he could have with this normalcy before he'd have to come to the rescue again and everyone found out he was still very much alive.
It was a short walk to Zane's repair shop. Astro was glad to see the new repaired window looked much better than the old one. As they walked in Zane was instantly set upon by his young staff that ran the shop during his frequent and often long absences. They each left as Zane patently answered all their questions until only young adult remained. Curtis Mays, the oldest at eighteen, was the floor manager when Zane was away. He was tall for his age with carefully groomed red hair and a very professional demeanor. He didn't give Astro a second glance as he handed Zane a Vboard with the latest list of schedule and inventory timetables. "There are three documents at the bottom that need your signature," he said crisply as Zane scrolled though them. Zane glanced back at him. "You already read through them?" Curtis nodded. "Very good. And, uh, what about that other thing I asked you about..."
Curtis produced a second board and handed it to him with a wink. "It's been very busy."
"Has it? Very, very good." Zane started to walk past him. "If that will be all, I'll be in my office." Zane indicated for Astro to follow.
Curtis called after him. "Um, yeah, about that boss, there is already a couple of people in there waiting for you."
Zane stopped mid-stride to turn and look at him. "Who?"
Curtis had a guilty look. "I think you know. I couldn't get them to leave, they've been here everyday."
Great. Zane ran a hand over his face. "That I can believe." And they're probably mad as blazes.
"Ugg." That's all Zane said before he turned and walked away.
Widget and Sludge were having a whispered discussion behind his desk as Zane and Astro walked into the office. They used real names now, Bridget and Cody, but within this circle of friends those names were never used. They both looked at Zane with simultaneous looks of unbridled fury.
"AND just WHERE have you been?" said Widget.
"We've been trying to get a hold of you for over a week!" said Sludge.
"You don't answer your phone-"
"You're never here at the shop-"
"WE know that YOU know what's been going on!"
Zane dropped into a chair and slouched into it as he propped his feet up on the front of the desk. He let their outraged questions roll over him as he studied one of the Vboards. Apparently willing to wait for them to stop before responding. Astro was familiar with their argumentative behaviorisms and he leaned against the wall smiling fondly. I've never really appreciated these kinds of moments.
The twins knew how this worked too. After their initial explosion, they both clammed up and glared at Zane. Widget gave Astro a glance. Then she did a double take.
She had a suspicion.
Astro stifled a laugh.
Zane finally looked up at them. "I don't tell you anything because I don't want you two involved. Your too young for this sort of thing. We'll have plenty of trouble for you to get into AFTER you graduate high school. I promise."
Sludge puffed his chest out. Cora and Zane often left them out of things because they were still in school. They didn't like being treated like kids, and they didn't like the gulf that it put between them. All that would change in another year or so when they graduated themselves. It still hurt. With all the horrible recent events, the loss of one friend and the disappearance of the other, and Zane had the gall to try to leave them out of it?
Widget's anger melted away at his words and she became extremely upset. Her lip trembled a bit. "Can you please at least tell us what happened to Cora? We tried to get a hold of her too, but she doesn't answer her phone and her parents haven't seen or heard from her either. She's not in trouble anymore right? Why is she still missing? Please Zane, we're really worried. Don't leave us in the dark."
That worked. He wasn't about to let her start crying. Zane sighed loudly. "I don't know, I really don't. That's what we are going to find out."
"We?" Widget was looking at the dark-haired stranger leaning against the wall. Sludge was now looking at Astro too.
Zane went back to studying the Vboard and pointed a thumb over his shoulder.
"Yes. We. Me and Astro."
"I KNEW IT!" Widget screamed. She ran around the desk to embrace him, Sludge didn't even walk around, he climbed over it, knocking Zane's feet to the floor.
"Hey!" Zane exclaimed, covering his head with the Vboard as a hundred and thirty pounds of happy teenager practically jumped right over him.
They couldn't bowl Astro over, but they gave it their best try. It was a fabulous collision.
"We thought you were dead! It was awful!"
"Well, I was-"
"OH, you look so different!"
"It's still the same design-"
"Wait until Cora sees you."
Astro tried to clear the sudden lump in his throat. That thought made him feel incredibly nervous.
Zane raised his voice. "If you two are done hassling Astro, we would like to get to work finding Cora so she CAN see him. I want you both to go home NOW."
They looked at him angrily. "We want to help," they said in unison, still clinging to Astro.
Zane dropped the board on the desk as he got up. "I thought I made myself clear," he said firmly. Then he surprised them all when he walked over and pulled them all together. When he let them go, his voice was more gentle than any of them had ever heard from him. He nodded at both Widget and Sludge. "Please. Let us handle this. I'm already dead if I let anything happen to Astro." Astro raised a brow at that. "The best help you could provide is going home where I don't have to worry about you too."
The twins looked at one another. They were in agreement. There was no way Zane would be acting this weird unless he himself felt in over his head. There was probably very little they could do but get in the way.
"You will be careful?" asked Sludge.
"Yes."
"AND, you will give us the whole story?" asked Widget.
"Yes, as soon as we find Cora I'll tell you everything you need to know."
"Zane..." Astro warned.
"Fine. No more secrets. I'll tell you all of it. Just go away," he huffed.
They both stuck their tongues out at Zane, then they smiled at Astro. They gave each of his hands a squeeze as they left. And then they were gone.
"You were a little hard on them, don't you think?"
"I have to be, Astro." Zane closed the office door. "I'm starting to get into some really illegal stuff. If I get caught, I can't have them around."
"Oh.. Zane...No... What are you doing?"
"That's just it," he said pensively, quietly, looking at nothing. "I'm afraid I don't know what I'm doing." Astro had never heard Zane say such a thing before. He was always so confidently goofy.
"You seem to have been doing well so far. You sure got me out of a lot of trouble." It was the most encouraging thing he could think to say. I would rather you didn't do anything illegal though.
"I'm not that old, Astro, or wise. I'm not half as confident as I seem to be. I haven't been at this very long, just a couple of years. Most of it was all trial and error. I've been making a lot of it up as I go along." Zane all at once looked very tired. The weight of it all was bearing him down.
Astro dared to question. "Why Zane? Why did you get involved at all? Why take charge of this?"
Zane gave him a sad grin. He took a deep breath. "I've never had the book smarts like you or Cora do. I can get things done, I just can't prove that I can on paper. I didn't grow up in the city. You remember how hard it was for me. Everyone else in my class was so far ahead. I barely graduated. I only did because of you. You and Cora both helped me out. You were always standing up for me. I never had a friend like that. And your always like that Astro. You're always doing for others." He paused. "And... and that inspired me to do something for you."
Astro was speechless. He just stood there slack-jawed. Zane didn't give him a moment to recover. In true Zane fashion, he was off of one emotion and on to the next.
"Now. Back to business. As I was saying, what I'm TRYING to do is unify all of my four hundred members at once. Now keep in mind that I've never had to do this before. Something I HOPED I'd never have to do. Before now, I would just set up a couple of contacts here and there, a small group of people I could trust. Word of mouth sort of stuff, so we stay quiet and on the down low. After your death and Rubeon's wonderful confession, I gave the call for all of our members to contact me directly if any information on Striker's whereabouts could be found. Well, the robot community turned out to be more enthusiastic than I ever imagined. Robots connected to secure government systems started sending me information. They are hacking into everything. Just about every transaction on every person in the city. Really sensitive stuff. Most of it is absolute rubbish I can't use, but they mean well. And I can't tell them to stop because they might actually FIND something. Just look at this." Zane picked the Vboard off the desk and handed it to Astro. There were thousands of messages. "They come in like this everyday. I spend all night going through them and I've hardly made a scratch. They just keep piling up. Your the only robot I trust to do this Astro."
Finally, something to do. It wasn't the action he was looking for, but he'd take it. First he rooted the Vboard, then he wrote a small program to help narrow his search, he implemented it, and logged a few key words to narrow them even further. He quickly read any that popped up then sent inquiries back to the robots that had sent them. Their replies were immediate, and soon Astro was granted unrestricted access to poke about those networks without having to skirt around the security programs. Yes, it was illegal. Yes, Astro felt bad about it. But Cora was on the line. Zane was watching Astro closely as his fingers flew across the board so fast they seemed to blur.
"You always were way better at that hacker crap than me."
"I DO have a bit of an advantage," he said distractedly. He sighed. "Well, now every robot in the city knows I'm up and running." He was quite sad about it. He would have liked to keep that to himself a little longer. Robot talk travels fast.
"... Ok, I think I found him."
"Wait. What? Already?" Zane didn't believe it. He'd been at this for days, and Astro had only had the board a few minutes. Well, that's what I brought him for.
"I've got several bank loan statements and construction permits for two different facilities. One is the advertised factory address here in the city... and the other was sold off two years ago. Hm. There was however an interesting delivery order for twenty cargo trucks. Purchased by an alias Striker used once before on a police report. Apparently he was a bad boy from the start. The address is far outside the city limits."
Zane looked at the board as he leaned over Astro's elbow. The address was really just a set of geographic coordinates. "Well I wouldn't expect him to be hiding in the city anyway. He must have had it built by the locals."
Astro dropped the board in the chair, and Zane had to back up as Astro suddenly turned to go. "Come on."
Zane had stumbled with Astro's sudden course of action, and he grabbed Astro's arm to prevent him from leaving. "What? Now? Right now? Shouldn't we have a plan or something?" He knew he really wasn't one to talk after admitting how much of his plans were made on-the-fly. "We could call in the police?" he suggested desperately.
"That's not how I'm doing this. If she's a hostage, I'm getting her out first. THEN we can call them."
"Hey, I really just had you on loan, Astro. I promised Tenma we wouldn't do anything crazy!" Astro was now dragging him out of his office. Zane couldn't even stop a small Astro, he didn't know why he thought he could stop a larger one. "Last time you tangled with this guy you DIED, remember? OK, maybe you don't, but I do! It was gruesome. I don't want to see that happen again!"
Astro stopped and looked at him fiercely. "Fine. Then you can stay here. I'll go alone."
"No! I don't want you doing that either! That's even worse!"
Astro leaned his weight on one leg and slooowly lifted the arm that Zane clung to. Astro admired his tenacity, because Zane refused to let go, even after Astro had lifted him off the floor. Astro smiled.
"So does that mean your going with me?"
Zane closed his eyes tight in obvious frustration. Tenma is going to kill me! "Yes! I'll go with you!" he snarled. "Just don't go flying off! We'll take my car!"
Whoa! Adult Astro?! Can I do that? Isn't that some kind of Astro Boy heresy? Didn't really give a good description of him either did I? That's for Cora's point-of-view to describe. Really hope to get the next chapter out on time so Astro isn't 'dead for a week' again.
