Astro plunged toward the playground. His visit with Cora and her family had gone well: her father had vacation time coming, so they would be on the surface very soon, and for a couple of weeks at least.
As he prepared for landing, he noticed a couple of figures already there, a robot and a ... clown? Had to be Luna.
"What's with the getup?" he asked as he touched down.
"Aw, you figured it out. Actually, this was the only way Daddy would let me out of the house: in disguise, and with bodyguard. He didn't want it getting around that his android daughter was slumming it." She reached into a bag beside her. "This is for you, Shakespeare."
He unrolled ... a clown costume. "You expect me to wear this?"
She gave him a withering stare. "If you're going to put on a show, then put on a show!" She did a forward roll, then shot six metres into the air.
When she landed, Astro said, "I thought you didn't like flying."
"Who's flying? I jumped. Suzanne was a gymnast, among other things." She sprang into a series of rapid cartwheels.
As he pulled on the costume, he realized that, because he could fly, he had never thought of jumping.
"Make-up!" Luna said when he was ready, and put her hands on his shoulders. "Squat down so I can do it right." She pushed him down till she was satisfied, and he sat there in mid-air while she did his face.
"That you, Astro?" asked Sam from the gate.
"Don't move," she hissed at Astro, then said, "Yeah, this is him. You come for the show?"
"There is a show then?" He ran off, proclaiming the good news throughout the neighbourhood.
Luna plugged on the foam nose and backed away. "What stories are we doing?"
"You'll like the first one: a woman's the main character."
"Yes!"
He downloaded the story to her, then said, "You'll take all the female roles, and I'm the prince and the dragon—no other guys."
"You're so sure the dragon's male?"
"Hey, I've got to do something here!"
"Okay, okay; you can have the stupid dragon."
"Hey, Stonewall!" It was Tom. "Who's your buddy?"
"It's my girlfriend, Luna. She's come to help out."
"Androids have girlfriends?"
"She's android too."
"Ah, okay. That's cool, I guess."
"'Stonewall'?" Luna asked.
Astro grinned. "He's called me that ever since he crashed into me yesterday."
"Can you shoot hoops with me after?" Sam asked Astro as Luna stripped off his makeup.
"Won't your parents want you home? It's getting kind of late."
"I just got a mom, and she's out walking the streets. She don't care."
"... Sure. We can shoot hoops. No problem."
"Me too!" said Ricky.
"You hear about the Red Dragons and the Black Cats?" asked Tom, who was leaning casually against the nearby fence.
"What about them?" Astro asked.
"A buddy of mine who's in the Dragons says they're about ready to make their move."
"Dragons," radioed Luna to Astro. "They're the guys with that Peacekeeper robot you and I met?"
"That's right." Astro turned to Tom, his heart sinking. "So they want to finish the turf war. They must be pretty confident."
"Oh yeah," said Tom. "I hear they picked up a couple of majorly serious fighting 'bots recently. The Cats are history."
Astro glanced at Luna, and she nodded: Peacekeepers. "And people are going to die." He stood up and started to remove his costume. "Any idea when or where they're going to face off?"
A worried look crossed Tom's face, and he glanced around nervously. "Um, sorry. That's secret."
"It is time to go, Mistress Luna," said James.
"I know," said Luna. "Astro, give me a beep if you hear anything about the Dragons, okay?"
"Sure, but you know you can't do anything until I get rid of those robots."
She clenched a fist. "But I'm good to go after that."
Astro tuned into the emergency alert channel and took off for home.
At bedtime, he set his internal alarm to wake him if anything came across the alert channel, so he was awakened three times in the night, once for a fire call, and twice for minor police calls.
When he finally awoke at four, he wandered out onto the balcony, unable to get his mind on anything else. For Tom to talk like he did, it had to be soon, but how soon?
A little after five, there was a bright flash on the other side of downtown, followed by a boom a few seconds later, and Astro shot off into the sky. As he flew toward the blast, there was a second explosion, and he pushed his rockets to the limit.
There were the two Peacekeepers, facing a building with a heavily-damaged facade and preparing to fire again. If they did shoot, Astro could see that anyone inside the building was toast. He initialized his arm cannons and dove toward the robots. At the last moment, he shut off his rockets to make himself less visible, then blew the robots to scrap—so much easier than the red-core Peacekeeper. He let inertia carry him away from the action, and touched down a hundred metres down the street. Then, running hard, he put another kilometre under him before he felt he was far enough to kick his rockets back on without being connected with the battle.
As he flew off toward home, he listened as the emergency channel lit up. When he landed, he radioed Luna.
"Already?" she said after he related what had happened. "But won't they just get more?"
"Peacekeepers are the most complicated robots Dad ever designed. It'll take a while, and I can just keep taking them out until we find out where they're being manufactured."
"If Daddy's involved, you know that won't be easy."
A low rumble rattled Astro's building. "Come on, baby," he pleaded. "Hold together a little longer."
That afternoon, Luna was required to accompany her mother shopping—she was useful for carrying—so Astro went to the playground with his own new basketball to shoot hoops with whoever showed up.
"Hey," said Johnny a little later. Steve was with him.
Astro broke off from the game and approached them. "Tom not with you?"
Steve shook his head. "He's with his Dragon friend, and all the Red Dragons are in hiding after what happened last night. They're scared stiff the Cats will take revenge for their club house after wiping out their super-robots."
Astro felt a wave of relief. He hadn't been seen. In fact, the Dragons thought the Cats did it—even better. "So what happens now?"
"No clue. But you know they've got to be planning something bad."
Another quake shook the ground, and Sam and Ricky came running over.
"We going to be okay?" Sam asked.
"Yup," said Astro. "If I have to, I can fly you out of here."
"Cool!"
"Now let's get back to basketball."
The following Saturday, Astro and Luna were putting on a full performance for the neighbourhood.
"You must find the golden goblet and bring it to me here," Astro recited to Luna. "If you fail, your beloved will certainly perish."
As Luna responded, he noticed a large van rumble past, and it was heavily loaded, judging by how sluggishly it accelerated after taking the turn.
"I care nothing for your petty problems, my dear," he went on. "What I have spoken, I have spoken. Now, begone!"
Another van crept by as they prepared for the next scene, and Astro radioed to Luna, "I don't like the look of those vans. Can you make anything out about them?"
She stared intently, then shook her head, and the play went on.
"Foolish woman!" Astro yelled as the dragon of the piece. "I will roast you alive and feast on your bones!" He went to make a mighty roar, but instead there was a powerful blast that rattled everything around them. "What the ...?"
There was a second, equally powerful blast, and the ground groaned as if in great pain.
Astro flew up to get a better look, and saw a huge cloud of dense smoke rising from where the Black Cat club house was supposed to be. Then he heard a rippling roar, followed by a shuddering boom, and a crack appeared along the street below, growing rapidly as more booms echoed across the island.
He phoned his father. "Dad!" he shouted when Tenma picked up. "We're breaking up!"
"Yes, we are," Tenma cried. "I can see the readouts here. Get off now! We're out of time!"
Astro disconnected and dove for the playground. What could he do to save people? "Hey everybody!" he shouted at the panicked audience when he landed. "Don't move! I-I ..." Think! Think! "I'm going to get ... a train car so I can fly you all out of here!"
He shot back into the air, but now the crack was a clear break. There was a brilliant flash—that must have been the main power conduit—and the land on the far side started to drop away as its floats went off-line. Buildings on either side of the growing chasm were crumbling into dust. Including Luna's place. People were dying.
Astro gave his head a shake and hunted around for a train, finding one stopped not far from where he was. He yanked one car out of it and dove for the playground once more, dropping the car onto the street just outside the fence. Luna dashed over and started to pull doors open as the people crammed through the one gate in their hurry to escape.
He scanned the faces, but couldn't see Sam. He asked Ricky where he was.
"Sam went to find his mother," Ricky called back.
"Oh no," Astro muttered. He could hear the remaining floats whining as they tried to compensate for the loss of the ones on the broken-off piece. Then he heard the sound he had hoped he wouldn't hear: the tell-tale pop as an overstressed float blew. The remaining part of the city was now officially doomed.
He rose into the air, hoping beyond hope to catch sight of Sam as his head swam at the thought of so many others who were about to die. No! Concentrate! Concentrate!
Then another float blew, and the island started to tilt.