A.S.T.R.O.
7. Chased
For the moment it seemed that they were again in the clear. "Reach into my pocket and grab my cellphone." The doctor told Astro. "Send the Richardson's a text message and let them know to expect you." Astro quickly typed out a message to Tommy. When he was finished he opened the panel in his chest and placed the phone inside.
They hadn't gone more than a few more miles when a New Jersey state trouper going southbound on the N.J.T.P. spotted Dr. O'Shay's car going northbound. He hit his lights and siren and made a bat turn, crossing the grassy medium between the two sides of the roadway, and after nearly overturning his squad car trying to get back on the road took up the chase. He soon caught up with the doctor's car and ordered him to pull over on his bullhorn.
"Now what?" O'Shay wondered glancing in his rear view mirror as Astro glared out the shattered rear window at their pursuer. The boy robot morphed his left arm into a surge cannon and fired it nearly point blank into the front of the Ford police interceptor. A cloud of steam erupted from the 6 inch wide hole that was blasted into the vehicle's radiator. The trooper radioed in his condition as he pulled his mortally wounded automobile out of the travel lanes.
"Good work, son." O'Shay said, "I'm glad you're trying not to hurt anybody, but I'm afraid that there were soon be a lot more police chasing us soon, maybe even a road block. I don't know how we are going to escape. Look what they did to Dr. Tenma."
"Not on my watch!" Astro said sternly.
It didn't take long before the Doctor's prediction came to pass. Up ahead he could see a sea of red and blue strobe lights. The expanse of all four northbound lanes of the interstate ahead of them were blocked by a dozen or so Police interceptors, and a few commandeered trucks.
"I can't go though that!" O'Shay said. "I'm going to have to stop."
"NO!" Astro yelled, "Keep going! I'll take care of this!"
He crawled out of the shattered rear window and pulled himself onto the roof of the car, where he lay spread eagle facing forward holding onto the side edges of the roof along the top of the windows. The bottoms of his red boots opened up and the nozzles of jet engines poked out of the bottom of his legs. Astro took to the sky, flying the automobile over the roadblock.
General Hayes was in one of the state police interceptors. He stepped out of the vehicle and watched as O'Shay's car approached. "We got him now," a burly looking police sergeant told him. The General said nothing as he chewed on the end of a large unlit cigar clamped between his teeth. That cigar dropped out of his mouth which hung wide open as he watched the car lift off the road and zoom over their heads.
"Damn it, they're getting away!" he yelled pulling his service revolver from its holster. The General and several of the police officers fired several dozen rounds at the rapidly receding target, apparently to no avail as it disappeared in the distance.
Dr. O'Shay moaned as he felt the pain of a 38 caliber slug tear though his back. Astro felt several bullets ricochet off of his body, and he heard the doctor's cry of pain. He quickly set the automobile down and pulled open the driver's side door.
"How badly are you hurt, Dr. O'Shay?" he asked.
The doctor was still conscious, but his coat was soaked with his blood. Astro looked inside the doctor's body using his thermal vision, and saw that no vital organs had been hit, but the bullet was still lodged somewhere near the doctor's gut. Astro removed the doctors jacket and shirt, and tore the latter into a wide band that he used as a pressure bandage over the entrance wound to try and stop the bleeding. It was a stop gap measure at best, O'Shay would need a surgeon in short order.
"There is a Japanese doctor friend of mine who lives in a house on the edge of the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River," O'shay said in a weak voice. "His name is Kuro, but he calls himself Blackjack."
"Don't worry, I'll get you to him." Astro said.
The boy robot lifted the automobile from underneath and took off again. He quickly reached 600 mph and flew toward the high cliffs at the edge of the river. As he looked down he could see the single story wooden frame house that served as Dr. Blackjack's home and clinic. Astro set the automobile down in the driveway and ran up the wooden steps to the house's porch and banged on the door.
"Blackjack Sensei !" he yelled, O'Shay Hakase needs your help!"
The door opened a crack as a small girl about half a head shorter than Astro looked out. "Sensei!" she yelled over her shoulder, "Someone needs your help!"
The doctor ran to the door, Astro was already running back to the car. The two of them carried O'Shay into the operating room. While the doctor changed into his scrubs, his young assistant began to undress the patient and sterilize his wounds. Astro watched with concern, tears were building up in his eyes. "Don't worry,", Pinoko told him, "Sensei won't let him die."
The doctor entered the O.R. and started to put a breath mask over O'Shay's mouth and nose to administer anesthesia. With the last of his strength the doctor whispered to Astro, "You'd better get rid of my car. They will be looking for it from the air." Astro nodded and walked out of the room. Dr. Blackjack called out to him, "Wait outside, I'll let you know when I'm finished treating him. Don't worry, he'll be OK."
Astro ran down the stairs toward the automobile. He lifted it into the air and dropped it into the middle of the river and watched it sink to the bottom. As soon as he landed on the front porch of the doctor's house several F18 fighters roared overhead. Astro ducked inside the house, he hoped they hadn't spotted him.
Dr. O'Shay was in surgery for nearly two hours as Kuro removed two bullets from his abdomen, one was from a policeman's 38 caliber police weapon, the other from the general's 45 caliber service revolver. That second slug had caused more damage and the surgeon had to repair a torn artery that had almost caused the doctor to bleed to death. The door to the operating room opened and Dr. Blackjack walked out as he removed his surgical cap and mask.
"Our friend had a bad GSW, but I managed to repair the damage." He told Astro. "He'll be alright, but he should remain here for a few days to recuperate."
"I need to get away from here." Astro said. "I don't know if the Army can track me, and I don't want to put you in any danger." As he spoke the sound of a pair of fighter jet aircraft flying overhead shook the foundation of the house.
"I see what you mean." the doctor said.
Astro looked out of the window as the military aircraft made another pass and then disappeared into the distance. "I think I have an idea." He said, "But it's going to be a little tricky."
"Yeah, I think I know what you have in mind." Kuro said. "Be careful."
"I will be." Astro said. "Tell O'Shay Hakase I said thanks."
Astro stepped out of the house and scanned the sky looking for his pursuers. He spotted the pair of F18 Hornets several miles away. Taking a deep breath, Astro leaped skyward and flew towards the George Washington Bridge. His built in radar tracking sensed the emissions from the aircraft's targeting radar and he knew they had spotted him. He gave chase flying north. The two fighters closed in on him as he zoomed over the Tappan Zee Bridge. Astro increased his speed as he flew higher leaving a sonic boom in his wake as he sped past the sound barrier. The two fighters went to their afterburners and kept on his tail.
Suddenly, Astro turned 180 degrees and flew past the two jets to make a tight circle around them. Now traveling at Mach 4 he created a shock wave that caused the fighters to tumble from the sky and spiral down toward the river below. Astro laughed to himself, thinking "Now I've got their attention!"
He waited to make sure they hadn't lost him as he flew south again. Astro's radar sense detected a weapons lock on him as the Hornets armed their AIM-7 Sparrow A-A missiles. "This is going to be close." Astro thought as he readied his digibeam lasers. His heads up display popped into view as he saw the two rockets heading towards him. He waited till the last second to fire his lasers at the warheads to detonate them at nearly point blank range.
"Got Him!" Cowboy said over the radio. "He's hit and going down!" Maverick added. The two fighter pilots circled around watching as their target fell out of the sky and splashed into the Hudson river, rapidly sinking below the surface. An inky oil film covered the surface where the flying robot had hit the water.
"Return to base." General Hayes ordered over the car radio. "Good job!"
Dr. O'Shay sat in the storage area of the research facility with Dr. Pavilion and Yuko. All three of them were handcuffed and sitting in wooden chairs. General Hayes entered the room accompanied by a pair of MP's. "You did the right thing turning yourself in Dr. O'Shay," The General said. "It was a really stupid idea running off with that prototype robot. I should have you facing all sorts of federal charges, maybe even treason." Hayes turned to face Pavilion and Yuko, "and the two of you are just as guilty, aiding him. If it weren't for the fact that we need this project and this facility and its staff are the best equipped to give it to us, I'd really throw the book at you idiots! You can consider yourselves on probation and house arrest. I'll see that all pending charges are dropped against you as soon as we get that first all up prototype."
"Agreed." Dr. Pavilion replied.
"What ever happened to ASTRO?" Dr. O'Shay asked with a sob in his voice.
"Eliminated." General Hayes said, sticking his chest out. "Shot down over the Hudson by my F18's with a pair of heat seeking AIM-7 Sparrows."
"OH." Dr. O'Shay sighed with tears in his eyes.
Astro felt the shock wave from the two exploding warheads. He quickly shut down his jets and dived in an out out control like spiral towards the river below. At the last second he cleaned up his decent just enough to smoothly enter the river. He fired his jet engines one quick time to disturb the surface of the river and make it look like he'd really hit hard. Then just for good measure he released several quarts of his reserve oil and jet fuel to leave a stain on the surface, a trick he'd seen in some old WWII movie about submarines. He dived deep to the bottom of the river and lit his eye's search lamps as he propelled himself towards the Manhattan side of the river. He spotted a sewer outlet and entered the pipe.
Astro popped up inside of a water treatment tank not far from Hell Gate. He waited until dark to crawl out of the treatment plant and made his way though Spanish Harlem. As he sneaked through the backyards of the tenements he noticed laundry hanging out to dry. Though he felt a little guilty about it, he borrowed a pair of jeans and a tee shirt from one of the clotheslines and then walked over the Willis Avenue bridge into Manhattan.
It was very early in the morning when he again found himself sitting on the front steps of the Richardson's Brownstone. He fell asleep and was again awakened by a rolled up newspaper that hit him between the eyes.
Bob Richardson opened the door to his home to retrieve the morning paper from the front steps as he did every morning. As he looked down towards the street he saw a disheveled looking little boy sitting on the steps rubbing his eyes, a newspaper lying in his lap.
"Tobio?" he asked.
"Mr. Richardson! Yes it's me! I'm back!" Tobio cried out.
"Ellen! Tommy! Come outside!" Bob yelled. His family emerged into the street in their pajamas to find their foster son looking up at them with tears in his eyes. They quickly pulled him inside and greeted him with hugs and sobs of joy.
Dr. O'Shay rubbed his wrists where the handcuffs had been. His back ached from the surgical scars and he was still weak from the blood loss. He also felt a deep sense of loss that he knew he wouldn't get over anytime soon. Dr. Pavilion and Yuko also massaged their wrists where the brackets had been. Their faces showed their grief as well.
Yuko then felt a buzzing in her pocket, she reached into it to pull out her cell phone that was warning her of an incoming text from O'Shay's phone.
"Did you just text me?" she asked O'Shay.
"No, I gave my phone to Astro." The doctor replied.
"Here," she said handing O'Shay her phone. The doctor looked at the phone's OLED screen.
'Don't worry doctor. I'm home now! – Tobio'
'PS when you come to visit you can have your phone back'
Suddenly Dr. O'Shay felt as if the weight of the world had been removed from his shoulders. He shared the message with Dr. Pavilion and the three of them shared a long mutual hug.
The End