Chapter 10

"Ladies and Gentlemen!", the announcer's voice boomed. "It is now time to determine this season's Battle Bot champion! In the Blue corner, the amazing Astro Boy! Will he be buried by the destructive power of Bora-Bora 3 in the Red corner? Let the battle begin!"

The ground crew had just swept away the remains of the previous event, a rather destructive three way demolition derby that had ended with no winer, and three losers. In the red square, Murphy made the final adjustments on Bora-Bora3. Back in the pit area, he'd already taken a file to the cutting edges of the robot's auger drill, to dull them, and and reduced the launching speed and spin of Bora's saw Frisbee. As he and Elvis has agreed, Bora-Bora would be pulling his punches slightly, while Atom would be doing some convincing acting.

Atom was sitting in the blue corner where Costello went through the motions of getting him ready. "Make it look good, but don't get hurt," he said.

"No problem there," Atom nodded.

Richard and Elvis made their way back to their positions behind the glass walls of the arena, and the lights went though their patterns. The final battle was now underway.

Atom walked slowly into the center of the arena, as Bora-Bora3 rose up on its rear tracks. The transformer 'bot moved slowly towards Atom, who didn't yet take an aggressive posture. Suddenly, Murphy had his robot extend a small chain saw which Bora brandished at his opponent. Atom side stepped each of Bora's anemic attacks. For several more moments the two of them merely played with each other.

Finally Bora-Bora lunged into a real charge, brandishing its auger bit. Atom moved out of the way, but Bora managed to scrape him with the edge of the rotating lance. The dulled edge of the weapon did no damage to the boy robot, but the attack looked convincing to the audience as Atom hit the floor, rolled over, and slowly got up. He balled his fists and charged back at Murphy's 'bot, landing one good punch that knocked Bora-Bora sideways.

Murphy regained control of his charge and used Bora's built in camera to take aim at Atom's mid section. He had Bora fire his Frisbee saw, which flew towards its foe.

Atom saw the spinning projectile heading towards him, and started to step out of its way. His movement's were sluggish however, and he had to try and deflect the spinning disk with his hands. It hit him in the midsection, right across his green belt, and knocked him backwards. Atom went flying into the spinning screws at the back of the arena, and then bounded into the path of the pulverizer hammer. He managed to grasp hold of that and roll out of its way.

Atom slowly got to his feet, but his vision blurred and he felt faint. He collapsed onto the floor of the arena as the world spun about him.

Murphy advanced Bora towards the boy robot, but stopped it just short of where Atom lay. The judges announced a count down, and waited the 15 seconds before declaring the match over.

Elvis scooped Atom up, and cradled him in his arms. He couldn't even feel a flinch of movement from Atom's body, and he was worried. He carried Atom back stage, while Murphy was accepting the 'Giant Nut' trophy, along with congratulations and accolades for his victory.

Several minutes later, Dick returned to where Costello was waiting for him. "Look what you did to him!" Elvis glared, "I thought you were pulling Bora's punches!"

"I did!" Murphy barked back. "The saw disk's teeth were dulled, and it was flung at less than a quarter velocity!"

"I'm OK," Atom whispered, barely able to raise his head. "It's my fault, I forgot to recharge myself and I ran low on energy!"

Elvis looked in the metal case that he used to transport Atom into the arena with. There was a small cylinder lying in the bottom of it. He picked it up and handed it to Atom. He then opened the boy robot's chest panel, and helped him insert the canister into its socket. Several minutes later the color came back to Atom's face and he was able to sit up. "Well that was certainly one way to make the loss look convincing," Elvis laughed.

Murphy opened up the wheeled crate that he'd transported his robot in. He carefully packed Bora-Bora into it, and then removed a small plastic bottle containing a clear fluid. "This is for you, Atom," he said.

Elvis took the bottle and held it in front of Atom. "Heavy water?" Atom asked.

"That's what you said you needed as fuel for your ship, wasn't it?" Murphy nodded.

"Yes, thank you!" Atom smiled.

Elvis and Dick groaned as they lugged the spaceship up the basement stairs. The Spindrift barely fit through the staircase, and they had to turn it sideways to get it through the door. Elvis slide the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard open and they dragged the craft outside and sit it down on the freshly mowed grass.

"Well, I guess this is it," Elvis said. "Time for you to go back home."

"I guess so," Atom said. "Thank's for your help!"

"Thank you for being my battle-bot," Elvis returned. "The second place prize money should be enough to buy enough parts to try and build a real one."

"That would be a waste of money," Murphy said. "You really aren't very good at this."

Costello's face showed a momentary display of anger, and then he burst into a fit of laughter. "You're probably right, Dick," he smiled. "I guess I'll use the money to help pay down my student loan debt, and look for another less expensive hobby."

"I should probably do the same thing," Dick said, slapping Elvis on the shoulder. "By the way, I did get a phone call from some robotics company that wanted to interview me for a job. They must have watched the TV show and were impressed with Bora-Bora."

"Don't worry," Elvis said, "I won't tell them you're a fake."

"You won't have to," Murphy returned, "I turned down the offer."

While the two guys were talking, Atom pumped the heavy water into the Spindrift's tank. He entered the ship and started to pre-flight it. The engines powered up and the system indicators were all in the green area. Setting all of the controls back to the idle levels, he exited the cockpit and stood in the ships hatchway.

"Time for me to say goodbye," Atom yelled.

Murphy and Costello each stooped down to shake Atom's hand.

"I hope you make it home OK," Elvis said, tears in his eyes.

"Good luck, champ!," Richard added.

"You guys better stand back during my liftoff, just in case," Atom warned them.

After a few more hand shakes and hugs, Atom closed the hatch and strapped himself into the pilot's seat. He used the ship's cameras to verify that his friends had moved clear of the ship, and began his countdown. Slowly the Spindrift lifted off the ground and headed skyward. When he was clear of the all of the buildings, Atom pushed the throttle forward and broke through the sound barrier. Gradually the color of the sky darkened, and the stars became visible. Soon the ship was in orbit, and Atom did another system's check. The computer had a lock on where it believed the Earth was located, and the return course was set.

Once again he felt the forces of gravity increase as the ship approached the same black hole that had flung him towards the giant's planet. This time however, his course was under his control, and he grazed the event horizon far enough from the dead star to sling shot him back home.

Professor Ochanomizu looked up as Atom entered his office. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "You've only been back for two days, I told you to relax at home with your siblings for at least a week. That was some ordeal you've been though."

"I'm sorry Hakase," Atom replied. "I just had to get away from Uran and Cobalt. They were going to the robotting arena to watch the finals, and wanted to drag me along. I told them I've had enough of robot sport to last me a lifetime, but they wouldn't listen!"

The professor face-palmed and laughed.

The End