Astro landed on the ship balcony. He noticed the ship was getting disastrously low, only maybe five km from hitting the ground. He raced inside to the main area. All the distressed scientists looked at him. "Oh, Astro! You're here!" Dr. Jet ran up ad hugged him. Her hands were wet and clammy.

"Dr. Jet! Where is dad?" Astro asked urgently.

"In the car storage room below." he nodded and made his way passed several dorms and rooms until he came to a set of stairs. As he walked down them he could hear electric bolts going off and his dad swearing. "Dad!" he called. Tenma looked up from the small car bonnet.

"Astro! Good you're here!" surrounding the car was several engineers and the captain. Astro jumped down to meet them. Tenma stood up and slammed the bonnet shut.

"They're not starting but in think the BlueCore will do the trick." He said.

"BlueCore?" Sheikh asked.

"It's what Astro's powered by. Go ahead, Astro." Astro nodded and lifted his shirt, walking towards the car. His chest hatch opened and the BlueCore shone and turned for all to see. Everyone's eyes filled with interest and they all came around to watch. The blue energy flowed into the car, surrounding it like a glowing blanket. Tenma smiled proudly. Soon all the energy that was needed had disappeared and Astro closed his chest, pulling down his shirt. "Beautiful." One of the engineers, Nark, whispered. Astro smiled.

"There's no time to loose! Astro, Tenma, you get in that car and head for the Surface Mechanics store." Sheikh ordered. Tenma and Astro nodded and hopped into the vehicle. Tenma pushed a button and the car started up with no problems at all. "Yes!" he cheered. The car jolted up, hovering from the ground. The ships departure gates opened with a series of red flashing lights and a warning signal. The captain smiled and nodded to them as the engine whirled in adrenalin. "QUICKLY NOW, BEFORE THE WHOLE SHIPS GONE!" with that final instruction Tenma slammed down on the accelerator and zoomed away from the ship, headed for the unknown Surface dwelling oasis.

"Dad, why would a supply store be all the way out here?" Astro asked as they zoomed past endless piles of trash and junk. The sky was getting dark with a pink sunset in the horizon. Tenma shrugged. "I'm not sure. Who knows, maybe a small thriving town is there."

"Wouldn't they want to go to Metro City?"

"Perhaps not. Remember, Metro City is very small. So there has to be some other towns."

"I guess…" suddenly Astro's stomach lunged. The infection chips were attacking at full blast. He leaned forward in his seat, holding his stomach. "Ohhhhhh…" he moaned. Tenma didn't seem to notice. Astro's fingers tensed, trying to somehow urge away the pain. His head felt horribly dizzy, his legs felt dead, his hands felt sweaty (if possible), his arms were heavy and his stomach felt scrunched up in a feeling Toby had only once in his memories- like he was going to throw up. Astro flung up back to the chair, his chest heaving, his eyes heavy and his mouth open. Tenma looked back to him. "You alright there, son?" his eyes widened and he frowned as he saw him. Somehow Astro's skin had gone pale, his artificial eyes losing colour. "Oh my god, Astro! Astro, are you alright?" he said, his voice in distress and concern. Astro only could blink and weakly groan in an answer. Tenma quickly looked back to the route just missing a junk pile in their path. "Don't worry, son. We'll be at the store in no time, then I can help you. Stay in there…" too bad his dad jinxed it, because the next thing Astro knew is that he rested his head to the side of the door, took one last deep breath in and then….black.

Zoran stepped out of the dressing room dressed in her new cloths. Cora smiled and clapped her hands in approval. Zoran now wore striped tights that went to her ankles with a pink skirt over it, with a striped dark pink singlet and a three quarter pale pink t-shirt under, complete with a pink head band with a small bow. She twirled around in pleasure. Ember sighed. "Oh, com'on! We've re-visited this store like five times now! We're probably the only ones left in the mall!"

This was true, as when the mall closed for the night the girls were in the bathroom so they didn't get kicked out. They of coarse didn't gather this information. "Whadaya think?" Zoran asked, prancing around the store.

"Very nice, Zoran. Now com'on! We have to go! My parents will be waiting."

"Ditto." Remarked Ember.

Suddenly a Mall Drone spotted them. "Alright! Parties over! You're all suppose to be out of here!" it called.

"Oh, so THAT'S why the mall was so empty…" Cora said. Zoran stopped prancing and pouted.

"OHHH! NO FAAAAIIIIRRR!" she whined.

"Have you paid for those cloths, Miss?" the drone asked. Zoran shook her head. "Here. Please scan your credit card over the main area." Zoran leapt forward, taking the card from her pocket. She scanned it over the cash collector board and started making her way to the shop exit. Cora followed, taking a quick glance to how much the out fit was. When she saw the price her eyes bulged. "Umm, Zoran? You do realize that out fit was $15,50, do you?" Zoran twisted around with an innocent look upon her face.

"No, why would I care?" she chimed. Ember and Cora exchanged glances and shrugged. Suddenly Zoran felt sick. Really sick. Her stomach felt like it had been punched fifty times, her limbs felt weak and her vision became blurred. "Not again…" she moaned. She fell to her knees, holding her stomach. Cora and Ember looked at her strangely. "Zoran?" Cora called.

"Oww…." Zoran groaned.

"Zoran!" Ember ran up to her, Cora following behind. They knelt beside her, the Mall Drone hovering up to them.

"I don't…feel…" Zoran collapsed onto her stomach. The two girls gasped. Cora quickly took her phone out.

"Dr. Tenma! We need to call him, he'll know what to do!"

"Um, Cora? Remember? He's half way across the Surface." Cora dialed in a number. "Who are you calling?" Ember asked.

"SHH," Cora hushed.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Tenma looked to the ringing phone in Astro's pocket. He clicked the car into auto pilot and pulled it out, holding it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Oh! Dr. Tenma! You're just who we need to see!" Cora exclaimed.

"I'm very sorry, Cora, but this isn't the best time." Tenma warned.

"Am I interrupting a dinner, or something? …Wait, why do you have Astro's phone? He had it last night…"

"Cora, the ship's going down as we speak."

Cora's eyes widened.

"What? What's going on?" Ember asked. Cora put the phone on speaker.

"Go on, Tenma." She said.

"We called Astro over to get one of the small transportation cars going so we can get to an old supply store on the Surface. But Astro's just suddenly become unconscious." Cora thought for a while. Feel the same thing… she banged her head on her palm.

"Of course! Dr. Tenma, Astro texted me last night to say that Zoran and him felt the same thing. Zoran is out cold over here, too." She explained.

"But how could that be if no one knows...who could have…how can that…?" Tenma was flabbergasted.

"He was stuck on that question, too."

"Tenma, we can get Zoran over to you and Astro so we can figure this out." Ember offered.

"How would you reach me?" he asked.

"Um, a car sounds good." Ember answered.

"Aren't you to young to drive?"

"Meet you there! Bye!" Cora clicked off the phone and turned to the Mall Drone.

"Activate map." She ordered. The drone made some beeping noises and a map appeared, a glowing blue touch screen in front of them. Cora plugged her phone into the drone. "Connect with Astro Tenma's phone." Suddenly a shining red dot appeared on the map, showing Astro and Tenma's location. "Download location." The info flowed into her phone. She snatched it up and dialed in another number.

Zane ducked his head as a flying watermelon came at his head. "WHOA!" he watched it smash on the ground into four luscious red pieces. "A WATERMELON? ARE YOU CRAZY?" he yelled to some of the younger kids, Lizzabell and Damien. They giggled and ran up to the second story.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Huh? Oh!" Zane took his phone out of his pocket. "Hello?"

"Zane! We need the car RIGHT AWAY. And you can bring Widget and Sluch too, we're at the Metro Mall."

"Wait, wait, wait…WAIT. Why do you need the car?"

"Zane, this is URGENT. Car now, explanations later."

"Okay, but this better not be a prank."

"HURRY!" Zane shoved the phone in his pocket and ran into the dining area where Widget ate a piece of left over pizza. He leapt up and snatched it away. Widget looked at him with watery eyes. "Y-you took my pizza…" she whimpered.

"Sorry, princess, but we gotta go!" Zane tugged her out of her seat.

"Hey! What? Where?" Widget asked. Zane pulled her into the back room.

"SLUCH! Sluch, where are you?" he called.

"Huh?" Sluch's face appeared from the balcony.

"We need you down here!" Sluch gave them a strange look, but raced down to what was the matter.

"What's up?" he asked, only to be dragged along with Widget out of the room and to he side door.

"Zane, what's going on?"

"Hey! Stop tugging!" Zane looked back to them.

"Cora's in urgent trouble. Or, at least, that's what I've heard, but she says we have to- oomph!" Zane accidentally bumped into Hamegg, standing in the door way. Zane looked up at him. Hamegg frowned.

"Kids? Zane? Where are you going?" he asked. Zane cleared his throat.

"Um, well, we were, just, yeah…" he nervously scratched the back of his neck. Hamegg would never let us go out at this time of night, let alone use his car. "I think Trashcan ran out there somewhere." He lied. Hamegg slowly nodded and stepped aside. "Thanks!" Zane zoomed past, still hanging on to Widget and Sluch. They ran out to the car. Sluch and Widget just stood at the front as Zane quickly hopped into the drivers' seat. He fussily strapped on his seat belt. He looked up to the two confused kids. "Well? Hop in! Quick!" they jumped in the back seat and pulled on their belts. Zane started the car and headed off to the Mall.

Cora stroked Zoran on the forehead. "Why won't you wake up?..." she whispered. The Mall Drone had shutdown for the night, and was calmly humming next to the kneeling teens. "What could have been the prob?" Ember asked, twirling a lollypop Zoran had brought her.

"Maybe something happened to Astro…" Cora said. "God, hope he's okay…"

BEPP! BEPP!

They turned their heads towards the car with Zane, Sluch and Widget. Cora and Ember carefully lifted Zoran and walked over to the parked car. Sluch opened the door and Cora and Ember placed Zoran in the seat next to him. They all jumped in and Zane took off to the sky. "So that's why you wanted us. Well, what happened to her? Do you know?" Zane asked.

"No, the same thing's happened to Astro along the Surface." Cora explained.

"Wait, well, why is he on the Surface?"

"Tenma's ship's going down." Ember said casually, looking at Zoran. Widget and Sluch gasped. Zane swerved the car.

"WHAT?"

"Astro was needed to get one of the cars going, so he and Tenma headed for a supply store and then Astro blacked out. Zoran did the same shortly after."

"Is it that connected to that thing you said about them feeling the same thing?" Widget asked. She nodded and looked out the window, sighing.

"I just hope they'll be okay…"