3.
Ray Stantz found Egon in his workshop, the parts of one of their proton packs scattered around the workbench. "It seems you were right, as usual, Egon," Ray said, "I just got off the phone with someone from a think tank in Tokyo. Seems they have a growing ghost problem over there."
"How bad is it?", Spengler asked.
"I don't know exactly," Ray offered, "but there seem to be a growing number of sightings and at least one level 5 event involving a stolen police car."
"That's exactly what I was afraid of," Egon dead paned. "We need to pack our gear and get right over there."
"I'll have Melnitz get contracts made up and faxed over to the Japan Ministry of Science, and get our travel booked at once," Ray said, "The three of us should start getting our gear together."
"We'll have to get the proton packs, containment vessels, and traps shipped by registered courier," Egan warned, "we can't check them as baggage on any airline."
"True," Ray sighed, "FAA regulations prohibit the shipment of unlicensed nuclear accelerators on passenger aircraft."
"What about Ecto-1?", Peter Venkman asked, standing in the doorway in his jokey shorts.
"I think we'll have to leave it behind," Ray told him. "It would be too expensive to ship that four ton vehicle, and I'm sure we can rent something suitable in Tokyo."
"It's also very likely that the Science Ministry would have a robotic vehicle that would be suitable for our needs," Egan pointed out.
Dr. O'Shay and Inspector Tawashi were waiting at the arrival gate at Tokyo international airport to meet the Ghostbusters when they arrived. Both Astro and Reno were also present, the former to help with any interpreting duties, and the later for technical advice.
"Who are these guys?" Tawashi asked the professor, "and where did you dig them up?"
"They're experts in paranormal phenomena," Reno interjected.
"It was Reno who found their resumes on the web," the professor added, "and they come highly recommended by officials in New York City."
Tawashi just grunted. "Well I suppose we don't seem to have much choice in the matter. My best officers are clueless on how to proceed, and the Ministry isn't much better."
"Looks like their plane has landed, Hakase," Astro said, pointing to the message board.
The 14 hour long non-stop flight from JFK had taken its toll on Venkman, who hadn't managed to get any shuteye on the plane. On the other hand, both Spengler and Stantz were reasonably well rested as both had made good use of the quiet periods of the flight where the crew had darkened the cabin for the benefit of the passengers. The Ghostbusters made their through the gangway, each of them lugging a wheeled carry on bag. It was Ray who spotted the professor first, "Kon'nichiwa, O'Shay Hakase, Watashi wa Stantz Ray desu," he said, introducing himself, somewhat unsure of his Japanese.
"Pleased to meet you, we're glad you're here," the professor answered in rehearsed English, "I'm Dr. O'Shay, and this is police inspector Tawashi. Your gear has already arrived, and my department has greased the right palms to get the stuff though customs as quickly as possible."
"We're glad to hear that," Egan said. "We could use a few hours to get unpacked and settled into our hotel, and I think at least one of us might need some shuteye."
Peter Venkman rubbed his eyes, "I resemble that remark," he voiced.
"I've arranged a police escort for you to your hotel," the inspector said. "Your transportation is waiting just outside the terminal."
"The Ministry has arranged for your hotel stay," O'Shay added, "We have you in a comfortable inn just a few blocks from our HQ."
"What about the equipment needs we asked about," Egan queried.
"I've ordered one of our vehicle garages to be emptied out," the professor explained, "you can set up shop in there. We also have a robotic vehicle at your disposal."
Several hours later, Venkman, Spengler and Stantz walked into the cavernous space of the ministry's number two drone hangar. "This is a garage?" Venkman gasped, "it looks more like NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building!"
"I'm sure it's not quite as large," O'Shay replied, "but it is the largest open space we had available." He pointed to an olive drab three axled vehicle that sat on six huge tires. "This robotic vehicle should be large enough to haul your equipment around, and we have a second one in reserve if you need it."
"Wow!", Stantz gasped, "This is like a Humvee on steroids!"
"I'll take that as a complement," the vehicle purred.
"It speaks?", Ray gasped.
"I'm a robotic vehicle," the truck replied, "You can call me Sarge, I'll do the driving for you, I know this city like the back of my hand, so to speak. Astro has already told me all about you."
"Excellent," Spengler said, "That's one detail that was bugging me, now solved."
Reno directed the three Ghostbusters to the rear corner of the room where several large metal crates had been stacked. "Here is a workshop area. As you can see, your equipment has arrived from the airport safely."
Venkman quickly unlocked the first of the well padded shipping containers and opened it. He extracted the first of the proton packs and set it on a workbench to examine it.
"Looks perfect," he said as he extracted a power cord and plugged the cable into an outlet on the work bench. "We'll need to top off the charge in the batteries. Good thing I thought to adjust the power supplies for the slightly lower line voltage."
As Peter and Egan unpacked the rest of the equipment, Ray was getting antiquated with the robot truck. They were quickly on a first name basis, and were even exchanging dirty jokes.
Reno stood by the workbench and carefully picked up one of the proton packs. "Careful kid, those things aren't toys!" Ray said, grabbing the unit from Reno.
"I was just examining it," the boy roboticist replied. "Just curious how it works. I've read all of the white papers you and Mr. Spengler published on the internet."
"Well in that case," Stantz said, "Let me explain the operation of this little gizmo." He started to point out the various systems inside of the famous anti-ghost device. "This equipment uses a nuclear accelerator to generate a high level plasma like field that interacts with ectoplasmic paranormal beings, allowing us to trap and contain them inside of a portable multi-dimensional containment field."
Reno pointed to the large circular housing on the device, "That's a miniaturized synchrotron, isn't it?", he asked, "and it's powered by a high frequency inverter using a multistage voltage multiplying circuit, and deep discharge lithium trioxide batteries."
Stantz suddenly realized that he was being out-geeked, "You'd better ask Egan about those details," he muttered. "Here, let me give you a quick demonstration."
Ray slipped the straps of the backpack like device over Reno's head and adjusted the straps. He then armed the main power switch, and the pack made a soft 'click' sound as the power relay contacts engaged. "OK, you've got your proton pack fully charged and ready for action. It's in standby mode, and inert until you release the safety switch on the rifle end."
Reno reached behind his back and felt for the handle grip on the neutralizer gun. He pulled the rifle like business end of the pack out of its holster and examined it. Ray pointed to the safety switch. "When you come up against a spectral being you release the catch, and then throw that switch to arm the device," he explained.
Reno pressed down on the heavy spring loaded safety catch, with one hand and pushed the equally heavily spring loaded power switch to the on position. The synchrotron on his back made a deep guttural groan as a massive relay closed, followed by a turbine like oscillation like a supercharged diesel locomotive spooling up.
"Now all you have to do is aim and pull the trigger," Ray explained. "There is a slight recoil, this is like a cross between a particle beam weapon, and a pumped laser. Try shooting at that practice target I've set up over there." Ray was pointing to a large box about the size of a phone booth. It was covered with a plastic mesh like material, and filled with large metallic foam beads. There was a bull's eye painted on the outside mesh over the glyph of a ghost caricature. "Energy absorbing material inside of a Gaussian containment," he explained, "At least that's how Egan explained it to me."
Reno closed one eye and sighted along the barrel of the gun with the other. He squinted hard and pulled the trigger, just as Astro walked into the building a few feet from the target box. The boy wasn't quite prepared for the jolt. The proton gun emitted a blazing white hot jagged beam of energy, with a roar that threatened to deafen him. The rifle barrel vibrated like a jackhammer, making whatever recoil it did have a thousand times more uncontrollable Reno felt his hands jerked sideways by the weapon's report. He tried to release the trigger, but the weapon still fired wildly for at least a second and a half.
Part of the beam caught Astro full in the chest. He was thrown backwards, and landed several yards outside of the hangar's doors.
Reno quickly dropped the rifle, and opened the belt straps, letting the proton backpack fall off to bounce on the floor. He ran towards the fallen boy robot. "Gomen'nasai, Sumimasen!", He yelled.
Astro opened his eyes and looked up at his buddy, then slowly sat up. "What the hell was that?" he voiced.
Egan Spengler and Peter Venkman ran out of the back of the truck as soon as they'd heard the fire from the proton pack. "What the hell is the matter with you, Ray?", Egan yelled. "Why'd you let the kid near that?"
"He seemed to understand the principle of operation," Ray stammered, "he read our white papers."
"Well none of us faired any better the first time we tried using the proton rifles," Peter injected, "and Ray and I both know how to handle a shotgun rifle loaded with deer slugs!"
"Hey, you guys!", Astro cried out, "I'm OK, really!" He got to his feet with a little help from Reno, and blew a few puffs of black smoke out of his nose and ears.
Ray walked back and picked the abandoned proton pack up from the floor. He re-engaged the safety switch and powered down the backpack. "OK, that's enough demonstration for today," he dead panned.
Dr. O'Shay and Inspector Tawashi walked into the hangar. The professor noticed the burn marks on the floor, and on the tarmac just outside the hangar. "You guys have an accident?" he asked.
"It was my bad," Reno spoke up. "Ray was showing me how the proton rifle works, and it sorta got away from me."
"You can say that again," Astro face palmed. "I don't know if a ghost can feel pain, but I'm sure they don't enjoy being zapped by that thing!"
"You guys ready for action?", the inspector asked. "I hope so, because I just got a call from the Metro Hilton hotel. They called the police to investigate a disturbance in the Onsen baths that sounds like a job for these ghost catchers."
"You mean Ghostbusters," Venkman corrected the inspector. "OK guys, let's get our gear loaded into Sarge and go incarcerate some ghosts!" Peter grabbed two of the proton packs and walked around to the back of the robotic truck. He was about to grab for the lift gate handle with his foot when it opened by itself. "Allow me!" Sarge told him.
"Thank's," Peter replied.
Egan grabbed two more of the backpacks, while Ray carried a half dozen of the traps over to the truck.
"Can we come along too?" Reno asked, standing next to Astro.
"Do you think that's wise?" Egan asked. "They might get in the way."
"You realize that we're strangers here," Ray pointed out, "It might be a good idea to have someone with us that knows the local customs and such. Besides, Astro is a robot, and probably immune to ghosts."
"Good point," Peter said motioning to Reno and Astro, "OK you two, each of you go grab yourselves a uniform from the rack over there and suit up."
Astro and Reno each quickly slipped into a pair of Ghostbuster overalls. For some reason, the team had brought extras in various sizes. Venkman saw the question in Reno's face about that and replied, "We got a good deal on our duds from a surplus outlet, but we had to take the entire lot, Ray had this idea we could sell the smaller sizes on line as kids Halloween costumes, so we had them all silk screened with our logo. When we get back from this job, you can get yours outfitted with name tags."
Reno had already grabbed a black wide tipped sharpie and had written his name on his overall bib, and then did Astro's.
"Oh, never mind, I guess." Ray laughed, seeing 'Reno' and 'Atom' written in black letters on the uniforms of his new recruits.
Ray jumped into the drivers seat, with Peter riding shotgun. Egan was already seated behind Ray, and Reno climbed in next to him. Astro sat in the rear, sandwiched inbetween two piles of proton back packs.
"So where are we going?", Ray asked, but before he could even grab at the driver's controls the truck burned rubber and peeled out of the hanger. "I've got it!", Sarge told him, "Just put your tray tables and seat backs in up in their locked positions and keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times!"
"Holy crap, Sarge!", Peter cried out as the acceleration slammed him hard against the seat back, "You drive more crazily than Ray!"
"Don't worry about a thing," the robot truck assured him, "I've never been in an accident, and my reflexes are at least 100 times faster than any humans. Besides the inspector insisted that we get there in a hurry!"
They careened around a sharp turn on three wheels, and roared down a narrow side street, missing parked cars on either side of them by mere millimeters. Then they made and even sharper turn in the opposite direction into the hotel's basement parking garage and parked right in front of the elevator entrance.
"I told you I'd get you here in one piece safe and sound!", Sarge boasted proudly, as he opened the doors and the rear lift gate.
"Right!", Egan voiced, "Arigatōgozaimashita, Sarge San."
"OK, everyone," Peter announced, "Let's get our stuff and get busy."
The ghostbusters donned their Proton backpacks, and night vision goggles. Each of them also clipped a portable trap to their utility belts. The group then boarded the elevator to the main floor.
The hotel manager ran for the elevator when he saw the door open, with the five unusually dressed people inside of it. "Thank god you're finally here," he spoke in a low voice, pointing towards a long hallway. "The Onsen is that way, at the end of the corridor and to the left. I don't suppose you could undress before entering, no, I guess you'd probably need your equipment."
"We'll be as careful as possible not to upset anything," Egan tried to promise.
"Maybe, I should enter first," Astro suggested, stripping down to his briefs. "I'll help any patrons still in the baths get to the locker rooms before you guys enter."
"Good idea," Ray said.
The hotel onsen was divided into separate sections for each gender. Astro turned his ears up to 1000x power and he could make out the muffled screams and moans coming from the women's side of the facility. He carefully entered the area where the cries were coming from, in the room where the large pool of heated water was located. Several women were huddled together, too scared to move in a corner of the hot bath. Floating above the steaming hot water on the other side of the pool, an ugly green vaporous apparition seemed to be grinning. One of the women quickly grabbed her towel to cover her breasts when Astro walked in, but another became more secure at the site of the boy robot. "That's Astro Boy the robot," she whispered to her companions, "He's here to save us!"
"Just follow me to the exit," Astro told them, "I'll shield you from that ghost." As he led the four remaining bath patrons to the locker room, Astro held a walkie talkie to his mouth and clicked the push to talk button. "The bath area is clear, you guys can come in now and zap him!"
Ray was the first to enter the bath area, followed by Egan, Peter, and Reno. Hovering just millimeters above the surface of the water, next to to outpouring of a waterfall of the naturally heated flow of near boiling hot water from the ground beneath the hotel, the misshapen glowing figure with a huge toothless grin, stared at them.
"Let's bag this one quickly," Peter suggested, aiming his proton rifle at the ghost.
"Careful, Venkman!", Egan started to say a second before Peter pulled the trigger.
At that instant the ghost dove beneath the surface of the water. The energy beam from the rifle hit the water just above the intended target, and bounced upward striking the ceiling causing an explosion that filled the air with ceramic tile shrapnel and left a huge singe mark in the plaster.
"I was afraid of that!", Egan yelled. "Our proton beams can't penetrate through water. We'll have to lure him out of the pool!"
"I'll take care of that!," Astro replied, "Just don't shoot at me in the pool!" He dived into the sauna like water and illuminated his eye search lamps. He swam towards the ghost, and then shot two digibeam lasers from his index fingers. The poltergeist leaped away from him, towards the ceiling of the room.
"There he is!", Venkman shouted taking aim. Spengler and Stanz followed suit, and the three of them pulled their triggers at the same instant. The spectral being was surround by the convergence of the three proton beams, fighting to break free. The ghostbusters gradually reeled him in, as they adjusted the power of their beams. Reno quickly unclipped a trap from Ray's utility belt and placed it on the ground a few feet away from the edge of the pool. Venkman nodded at what the boy had done, and took a step back, his beam pulling the ghost towards the trap. He waited until their victim was hovering just inches above the silver and yellow box, and then yelled, "OK stomp on it!"
Reno slammed his left right foot on the trigger at the end of the 15 foot cable attached to the trap. The devices doors opened up, and a bright ionized magnetic field filled the air above it, encircling the ghost. At the same instant the ghostbusters released the triggers on their rifles, shutting down the containment beams. Reno then stepped off the trigger switch and the trap snapped shut with a thud. It emitted a few sparks, and their prey was gone.
"Good work, Kid!", Peter cried, "we got him. He's in the trap!"
Astro surfaced from under the steaming water and climbed out of the pool. Reno handed him his jump suit and he quickly dressed.
"Let's get back to our temporary HQ before they can assess the damage here," Ray suggested.