FuturAstrorama

VIII.

Back on the Nimbus, Zapp Brannigan reported to D.O.O.P. HQ that he had put down the robot uprising on Lunar City, and that the colony was slowly returning to normal. Kif face palmed and sighed.

"Prepare to return to patrol duty." Brannigan told his second in command. "We are going back to our regular route about this part of the galaxy."

"Yes sir." Kif sighed.

The crew of the Planet Express ship watched from the Lunar City dome as the Nimbus left orbit and entered warp drive, leaving an aurora trail behind as it entered hyperspace.

"Well, at least that big fat blow hard Zapp is out of my hair," Leela said.

With the un-pleasantries over with, the crew proceeded to unload the green
cheese from the ships refrigerated cargo bay. Astro again helped with the unloading. They then volunteered to assist with the general cleanup around the base. It took a week before things were totally back to normal.

"Hey Professor!" Leela radioed back to her boss on Earth, "Now that we've helped get things back to normal around here, and managed to deliver all that smelly cheese, we're going to check out Lunar Disney."

"Enjoy yourselves!" Farnsworth replied. "But make sure you get back here in a week. You know what day it is, don't you.?"

"Oh yeah!" Leela said. "Don't worry, we'll be back in time tho help you board up the place so we will all be safe."

Bender overheard the conversation and pulled a calendar out from inside of his chest cavity to look at it. "Well, I don't have anything to worry about!" he smirked. "I'm a robot!"

Uran kept a close eye on Chi-tan at the theme park. The little bot did manage to wander off once while Uran was on one of the E-ticket rides, but Bender caught him and kept him amused until Uran returned.

New New York City
When the Planet Express ship landed back at the hangar on Earth the pre-panic had already started to set in. Astro and Cobalt recognized there was something wrong in NNYC right away. Astro inquired the professor about this.

"Farnsworth Hakase," he asked "I couldn't help but notice that everyone seems a bit jumpy. Did anything happen here while we were on the moon?"

"No, nothing unusual." the professor answered. "It always gets a bit crazy this time of year."

"Why?" Astro asked.

"It will be Xmas eve in a few days." Farnsworth said, "And Santa will come."

"Santa Claus is just a story told to children." Astro said.

"A thousand years ago, in your time, he was." Farnsworth replied. "In the year 3000, he is very real. Some years ago, around 2801 I think, the Friendly Robot Company designed a Santa robot for one of the department stores. They equipped his AI with software to judge how naughty or nice a person had been for the purpose of present selection. Unfortunately someone hacked into their computer and modified that code so that the robot would think everyone was evil. The robot escaped to Neptune, but he comes back to Earth every Xmas to punish the naughty with extreme prejudice. We've lost count of the number of people that Robot Santa has killed. Funny thing though, Robot Santa always leaves a nice Xmas present for Zoidberg. Anyway, now everyone has to board up their houses on Xmas to keep Santa from breaking in."

"That's horrible!" Uran said.

"Yeah!" Cobalt added. "Astro, we've got to do something about him."

"I don't believe this." Astro sighed. "I've only been re-awakened for two weeks and I'm going to have to fight yet another evil robot!"

"Let me bring up his design spec's on my computer." the professor said. "I've tried to find a weak spot in his armor for years, but so far I haven't been able to design a weapon to destroy him."

Farnsworth activated the holographic monitor display on his computer and hacked his way though the Internet. He soon had Robot Santa's blueprints displayed on the monitor, hanging in the 3D space in mid air.
"You can page trough the document by moving your hands though the image." he told Astro.

"Hey Cobalt, come over here!" Astro said. "I need your help!"

The two robot brothers read through all the pages of Santa's design documentation.

"I sure wish Reno was here." Astro sighed. "This guy is going to be every bit as tough to fight as Pluto was."

"He doesn't have any built in weapons." Farnsworth said. "But he sure does know how to build them. He will have several anti proton guns, and surge cannons in his sled, as well as conventional lasers and bombs."

"I'm not too worried about those." Astro said. "It's his shielding and armor systems that make him a pain in the butt. I'd have to hit him point blank with both of my arm cannons at full charge to have a chance of putting a dent in him."

"Yeah he is a tough cookie." the professor said. "He wasn't designed as a walking tank, but after he escaped to Neptune he enslaved the local population and made them rebuild his defense systems. The Neptunians now have to dress like elves and kiss up to that fake Claus."

"Well that settles it!" Astro said pounding a fist into an open palm. "I'm going to have to destroy him and free the people of Neptune while I'm at it."
Astro noticed Bender trying to sneak out of the room. He grabbed the robot by his neck and yanked him back towards him.
"I'm going to need your help on this, Bender!"

"No way!" Bender yelled. "I'm not going to help you destroy a fellow human hating robot."

"You know what Bender?" Astro said, "You remind me of a robot I once knew who hated humans so much that he was always acting as a terrorist. The police were constantly after him, and I ended up fighting him so often that I needed my own private repairman on a 24/7 retainer."

"I just kid around about that." Bender said, "I never really meant it. I mean, some of my best friends are humans."

"I thought so." Astro said. "So you will help me?"

"Yeah, but don't tell anybody. I don't want to ruin my reputation!" Bender said.