The Final Countdown
Chapter 1.
Present Day
Mustacheo sat behind his desk and looked out over the classroom. He had been debating whether or not to even come into school that day or call in sick. Not that he was ill, or running a fever that day, just that he was feeling rather depressed on account of the memories that the day's date conveyed to him. The calender on the wall showed the day's date, November 26. It was on this date, so many years ago that the turn of events had been set into motion that would later cause so much devastation and ruin. Mustacheo's own great grandfather had been lost to the firestorm that was released on this date nearly a century ago.
Mustacheo looked over the as yet empty classroom and his eyes fell on a large map hanging on the wall. The map showed most of the Pacific East coast, and the islands of Japan. It was a relief map, showing the altitudes of the mountains, and the depths of the valleys. Several pins had been inserted into the map showing principal areas of historical importance. Mustacheo used the map in his history lessons to show Japan's influence on the world going back many hundreds of years. He reached into his top desk drawer and retrieved a new pin, and carefully pushed it into the map.
The bell for the first period rang and the students started to shuffle into the classroom. As usual, Astro was one of the first students to enter, taking his seat in the last row, before most of the other students entered the class room. He did have a slight speed advantage over the other students, but mostly, he had quite an enthusiasm advantage over them. Tamao was right behind him, followed by Kenichi. Abercrombie, as usual was the last to enter, just seconds before the late bell sounded.
Mustacheo quickly took the attendance count before starting the day's history class.
"Today is an important day in the history of our country, though not one that we should all be proud of." He began. "I've added a new pin to the map on the wall, perhaps someone here might be able to find it and tell us the significance of it."
Astro's keen memory and eyesight made the task trivial for him, while the other students had to walk up the the map to get a close enough look. After a few minutes when no one had yet come up with any answer, Astro waved his hand from his desk.
"Yes Astro, would you like to show us on the map?" Mustacheo asked.
Astro nodded his head and slowly walked to the wall where the large map was hanging. He pointed to the pin and slowly read the label under it, printed on the map.
"Hitokappu Harbor, island of Iturup." Astro said, adding "But this is part of Russia? What does it have to do with Japan?"
"Very good Astro!" Mustacheo said. "That is exactly the location I had in mind. That island once belonged to Japan, almost a century ago. We lost it during the second world war. It was from that very spot that a very shameful event was started which eventually led to a great self inflected suffering upon the people of this country."
Kenichi raised his hand and waved if frantically.
"Yes, Kenichi?" Mustacheo said.
"You're referring to the attack on Pearl Harbor, right?"
"Yes, it was on that date that the attack force from our country left what was then Northern Japan." Mustacheo explained. "There were six aircraft carriers and 408 aircraft in the attack group. The Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaka and the Zuikaku were in the battle group. The first four of them would latter be sunk during the battle of Midway."
"Why did we attack the America?" Astro asked.
"At the time the world was divided into many smaller nations, each trying to grab control of as much territory and resources for themselves as possible." Mustacheo explained. "Japan had just been involved with a war in China, and before that with Russia. Now we were eying territory in the Philippines and other parts of the Pacific. Japan was seeking a source of oil since America had threatened to cutoff imports, and eventually did. The purpose of the attack on the navel base in Hawaii was to keep the United States from interfering with our invasion of interests in the Pacific."
"Today most countries get along much better and try to share resources, right?" Astro asked.
"The world's economy is on a more cooperative basis today." Mustacheo replied. "It's still not perfect, but we've learned somewhat how to get along with each other."
"BULLSHIT!"
Suddenly a huge wad of wet TP flew through the open window of the classroom and went SPLAT! on the blackboard. Everyone turned around to look at the window where the epithet and the giant spitball had come from. Hovering at the window, with an evil look on his face was Atlas.
"Oh come on! You think you fleshies have figured out how to live in peace with each other? I'm still waiting for Korea, China, or one of the radical Muslim countries to start the next world war!" The red and blue android laughed.
"How dare you interrupt my class!" Mustacheo yelled walking quickly, with one hand behind his back, to face the juvenile delinquent robot.
"You going to do something about it, Old man?" Atlas sneered.
Mustacheo then revealed what he had been hiding in his right hand. He quickly whirled around and pressed the object against Atlas's head, between two of his spikes.
"YYYIIIIIIII STOP THAT!" Atlas cried just before he passed out and fell two stories to the ground.
"He'll never learn!" Mustacheo laughed, shutting down the taser. "Reno modified this police issue stun weapon so it would be effective against Atlas. He told me exactly where his sensitive spots were!"
Atlas lay twitching violently on the ground, looking up through groggy eyes.
"The next time you try that, I won't have that taser on stun!" Mustacheo yelled down at Atlas.
The red and blue robot got up and limped away. He walked about two blocks before the dizziness went away enough to allow him to try flying.
The class returned to their seats. Mustacheo closed the window and then walked back to his deck.
"You know, I've often daydreamed about going back in time and trying to stop that attack." Mustacheo sighed. "I wonder if I could have talked some sense into Nagumo, Yamamoto, or even Hirohito. Failing that, maybe I could somehow warn the Americans at Pearl."
"Would that have made a difference?" Astro asked.
"That's difficult to say." Mustacheo sighed. "Japan wasn't the only power involved in the war. Even if we hadn't attacked America, the Germans would have eventually brought the Americans into the conflict, especially if England had fallen. Still, it would certainly have saved quite a few lives if we hadn't brought the conflict to our shores."
With his teacher's last words bouncing around in his head, Astro daydreamed about travelling back in time and trying to stop his country from starting the war with America in the Pacific. The bell rang and he snapped out of his fantasy to gather his belongings, and left the classroom to join the rest of the students.