The Final Countdown

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Here is an Astro crossover story I've been toying with for a while.
I'm not sure how this one is going to turn out, but I'll attempt to write this one online here first before putting it up on Fan Fiction.
I hope I don't disappoint Dan on this one, I sorta promised him I'd try and do this one.

The Final Countdown

Prequel

1980 or 1941 CVN-68 USS Nimitz, near Pearl Harbor

Captain Yelland watched from the bridge of the USS Nimitz as the last of the F-14 Tomcats was blasted down the runway by the catapult. He scanned the skies with the large binoculars to watch as the aircraft disappeared into the horizon. Warren Lansky walked onto the bridge just in time to see the last fighter lift off.

“I don't believe it” The weather radar operator yelled out. Captain Yelland walked toward the radar scope. Sure enough, the same strange pattern they had seen just before the ship had gone thought the strange eerie green storm that had sent them back in time was again being painted on every other sweep of the radar scope.

“Turn out of the path of the storm, flank speed!” Yellow cried out “We'll try to out run it this time!”

The ship made a hard 90 degree turn to port at flank speed.

“It's no good sir!” the radar operator gasped. “The storm is following us, and outrunning us too!”

“Damn it!” Yellow cried out. “Scrub the mission, call those planes back”

“Wait a minute sir, you can't do that!” Mr. Lansky said. “We've got an incredible opportunity here. We know where all the mistakes will be made for the next 40 years, and you've got the power to correct them!”

“What are you doing on the bridge, Mr Lansky?” Captain Yelland asked.

“Just observing.” Lansky replied.

“You know, Mr. Lansky,” Yelland replied, “Somehow I think history is going to be a bit harder than you think to change!”

The chatter among the pilots could be heard over the radio intercom up in the bridge of the Nimitz. “Looks like like the Japs are going to win this one again!” one of them moaned.

Just as the first of the Tomcats hit the deck, the sky again turned turned the same eerie greenish blue, and the strange horizontal tornado rapidly overtook the aircraft carrier. Lightning flashed all about them and a high pitched squeal pounded their ears. Sparks danced over the electronics in the bridge. The ship rocked violently back and forth, throwing the crew about, several of the bridge officers including the captain were knocked to the floor. After several minutes of this torture, the skies cleared and all was quiet, except the roar of jet engines as the squadron of F-14's made their return.

Captain Yelland picked himself up from the corner of the bridge where he had fallen. The ship's radio returned to life, and the radio operator cried out, “Captain, I can raise Pearl now. They're asking where the hell have we been? Seems we've been missing from their radar scans for most of the day!”

“Tell them we're not quite sure yet.” The Captain replied, “Tell them we were caught in a freak storm.” At least that was close to the truth he thought. He really didn't know what he'd tell them when they returned to Pearl. It had been one strange day all right, had they really gone back in time?

“Captain, you need to see this!” a young Ensign cried out as he stuck his head into the doorway of the bridge. Yelland followed the young man onto the deck of the ship where he saw the charred object stuck into the wheel well of a parked Tomcat fighter.

“That looks like a human head!” One of the linemen cried out with a bit of terror in his voice.

Yelland bend down under the aircraft and retrieved up the object. He cradled it next to his body to shield it from view and carried it back into the ship. “I'll take care of this.” He said.

Back in is cabin, Yelland used a wet towel to clean the soot off the object. It was clearly the head of the mysterious stranger that had visited his ship earlier in the day, and had flown off after the Zeros after the attack on the Senator's private yacht. Yelland had no idea how his head had been blown off and ended up where it was discovered, but things had gotten a bit crazy during one of the encounters with the Zeros. He decided that it would be better if this part of the story was buried from history, and he knew just how to hid it. He had a friend over at project Blue Book that had access to a certain warehouse in the southwest desert.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Final Countdown

Chapter 1

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.

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 before most of the other students. 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?” Mustasheo 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 franticly.

“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 “Japan had just been involved with a war in China, and before that with Russia. Now we were eying territory in the Philippines. 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 interferring with our invasion of interrests in the Pacific.”

“Today most countries get along much better and try to share resources, right?” Astro asked.

“The world's eccomony 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 Muslem countries to start the next world war!” The red robot laughed.

“How dare you interrupt my class!” Mustacheo yelled walking quickly 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 behind his back. 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 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 robot got up and limped away. He walked about two blocks before the dizzyness 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.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Final Countdown

Chapter 2.

Dr. O'Shay looked up from his desk as Yuko entered. “You have a visitor from America waiting downstairs in the lobby, Hakase”

“Thank you Yuko,” Dr. O'Shay replied looking at his watch. “Right on time. Would you mind accompanying me downstairs?”

“Sure Hakase. Who is our guest?” Yuko asked.

“An Admiral Yelland from the U.S. Navy.” Dr. O'Shay explained. “Yelland is now retired, he served as Captain on the USS Nimitz back in the early 1980's. He must be pushing 90 by now. He called me a week ago to let me know that he wanted to visit us. He said he has something that belongs to me.”

The Doctor and his assistant took the elevator down to the main lobby of the Ministry's main building. Their guest was seated in a wheelchair in the reception area. The retired American Admiral was dressed in a business casual suit, but wore a decades old naval cap with the CVN-68 insignia of his first command, the USS Nimitz. He had a large cardboard box sitting in his lap.

“Admiral Yelland, I presume?” O'Shay asked.

“Correct.” Yelland replied, “and you would be Dr. O'Shay, head of the Ministry of Science?”

“Yes,” O'Shay replied, extending his hand in greeting.

The two men shook hands. “Would you allow me to wheel you upstairs Admiral?”

“Go right ahead.” Yelland replied.

O'Shay got behind the Admiral and grabbed hold of the chairs handles. The three of them entered the elevator and soon found themselves in the doctor's office.

“Now then what was so urgent that you had to catch the next flight to Japan to see me?” Dr. O'Shay asked as he sat down behind his desk. “And what is it that I've lost which you wanted to return?”

“That is a very long story, Hakase.” Yelland said. “And what's in this box may very well not make any sense to you. I've had this object since 1980 when it was left behind on my ship. It's been in storage in a top secret warehouse in the American southwest desert since then. I only recently realized what I had, and who it belonged to.”
The Admiral held the box up, and gave it to the doctor. Yuko handed the doctor a swiss army knife she kept in her purse and the doctor slowly cut through the cords and sealing tape holding the box closed. He then lifted the lid and looked inside. “What the hell?” he muttered. “How can this be in here!”

“What is it doctor?” Yuko asked.

O'Shay reached into the box and pulled out a robot's head.

“That's Astro's head!” Yuko stammered.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

“What is it doctor?” Yuko asked.

O'Shay reached into the box and pulled out a robot's head.

“That's Astro's head!” Yuko stammered.

“So this did belong to you” Yelland replied. “Exactly what is Astro?”

“He is an advanced robot made in the form of a nine year old boy.” Dr. O'Shay replied. “Astro was built in the first years of the 21st century by the former head of the institute. Dr. Tenma created Astro as a replacement for his own son. After Tenma suffered a mental breakdown, Astro had been in storage for many years before I revived him. What I don't understand is how you could have had his head in your possession for nearly 35 years. Besides, his head was securely attached to his body this morning when he left for school.”

“I know you are going to find my story unbelievable Dr. O'Shay, but I first met Astro in 1980, or rather 1941 depending on how you look at it.” The retired Admiral said.

“You time traveled?” The doctor asked.

“Yes, and apparently so did Astro.” Yelland replied.

“Astro never mentioned that to me, and I don't ever recall him loosing his head and requiring a replacement.” The doctor said scratching his chin.

“Perhaps it hasn't yet.” Yelland suggested. “He never did tell me what year he came from.”

“How did you travel backwards in time?” Dr. O'Shay asked. “And how did you meet up with Astro?”

“Ah, that is a story.” Yelland said. “The Nimitz was on a routine training mission just to the west of Pearl Harbor. We turned into the wind to launch our fighters when a strange cloud formation appeared on our radar. I ordered the ship turned away from the path of the storm, but no matter how we tried to out run it, the weather closed in on us. We had no choice but to recall the planes, they started landing just as the storm hit us. It was like a horizontal tornado, a strange funnel that sucked us into it. The sky turned a sickening green color and lightning flashed all around us. Electrical discharges danced about on the electronics in the bridge. Then a loud earsplitting squeal deafened us. When it was all over, we had lost contract with Pearl harbor, and the only radio transmissions we could pick up were old radio programs on the AM broadcast band.”

“The storm carried you backwards in time?” The doctor asked.

“Yes, to December 6, 1941.” Yelland replied. “We were back in 1941 for over 24 hours.”

“What happened?”

“We sent our AWACKS aloft to get a better radar picture of what we were facing.” Yelland explained. “We discovered the Japanese navel task force a few hundred miles to the west of Pearl. One of our fighter patrols ran into a bunch of Zeros, and were engaged with them in a dog fight. Needless to say the Zeros were very much outmatched! Astro must have followed one of our fighters back to the Nimitz, he landed on the bridge tower, that's when I first met him.”

“My God!” O'Shay gasped. “You found yourself on a modern warship in the middle of the attack against Pearl Harbor! What were you thinking?”

“We had this crazy idea that we could change history, to prevent the attack by driving the Japanese off. Imagine what would happen if on that day the task force encountered the kind of resistance that an aircraft carrier full of F14 jet fighters could put up? They'd had been scared shitless and wouldn't have dared to attack the US. The second world war in the pacific might never have happened! Astro had the same idea. He had tried to stop the attack from Japan, and having failed that ended up on the Nimitz.”

“But you didn't change history.” O'Shay said.

“Because it isn't possible.” Yelland replied. “Shortly after we launched our fighters to go up against the Japanese the storm returned. One group of fighters did briefly tangle with a few advanced scouts from a Japanese flight group. It appears that Astro came to the rescue of one of our planes, and somehow his head ended up in the wheel well of the aircraft. The storm sucked us back to 1980 where we came from, but Astro wasn't with us. I had hoped that he made it back home alive. Since for Astro this hasn't happened yet, maybe you'd better warn him.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Yuko entered the office with a serious look on her face. “Sorry to interrupt you Doctor, but you have an urgent video call on your computer.”

“Thank you Yuko,” O'Shay replied as he opened the video contact on the desktop computer. “Please excuse me for a moment would you, Admiral?”

“Certainly, take your time.” Yelland replied, as he wheeled his chair around to the side of the desk to get a glimpse of the monitor screen.

The image of Dr. Cirrus of the Metro City weather bureau appeared on the video conference screen. He had a worried look on his face.
“Good afternoon, Dr. O'Shay,” Cirrus began. “I'm calling you because it looks like the weather bureau may need the institutes help. It appears that we have a very violent weather pattern moving into our area. Lot's of lightning and threat of tornadoes. I've never seen anything like this in quite a few years, if ever. Let me share my computer screen with you and let you see what the radar and satellites are showing.”
Dr. Cirrus's face disappeared from the monitor and was replaced by an image from the weather bureau's computer system. Two separate windows showed color enhanced images of a storm that was rapidly approaching from the north.

“Can you zoom in with a street map overlay in the northern quadrant of the city?” Dr. O'Shay asked.

“Sure, give me a second.” Cirrus replied.

The radar image enlarged and was displayed over a map of the city. Yuko took that moment to walk in and observe the computer monitor screen.
“Dr., it looks like the storm is rapidly approaching the district where the Metro City Middle school is located.” She said.

“Yes, that's Astro's school, and they should be letting out classes for the day any minute now.” O'Shay realized.

“Let me see if I can bring up a ground view from any web-cams in the area.” Cirrus said.
The radar map disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a web-cam view near the Metro City Middle school. The sky was a deep green in color, with lightning flashing periodically. In the distance toward the horizon a horizontal funnel cloud could be seen slowly rotating, it's mouth full of lightning flashes.

Admiral Yelland stared at the computer screen. “My God!” he exclaimed. “That's the same storm that got us 35 years ago!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

This is the last chapter that I had partially blocked out when I last stopped working on this story. Further updates will follow at a slower pace

The Final Countdown

Chapter 3.

The skies over the school took on a strange, erire green glow as the students filed out for the 3 PM bell. It certainly looked like rain, in the distance flashes of lightning produced reverberations of thunder. The students hurried home, they had all been caught unprepared for the late afternoon change in weather which had not been predicted by the weather service.

As Astro exited the building, the wind was just starting to freshen and the first drops of rain were falling. Sitting on the steps of the school building crying, was one of the younger grade students. The small girl was frightened by the weather, among other things.

“Hey, what's the matter?” Astro asked.

“The bus left without me, and I can't get my mom on the phone” she cried, holding up her cell phone which kept buzzing with a busy signal.

“Where do you live?” Astro asked, “I'll take you home.”

The seven year old whispered her address into Astro's ear.
Astro bent down and told her “Put your arms around my neck and hold on tight!”
He gently took off and flew the short distance to her house. His new friend gave him a kiss on the cheek, and rang the doorbell on her house. Astro waited until the girl's mother opened the door and let her in before taking off again. The rain had picked up now, instead of a light drizzle there were sheets of rain pelting him. Astro gained altitude to try and get above the rain clouds, but the wind only picked up as he climbed. Flying IFR, he found himself in the middle of a lightning cloud with flashes of electricty all about him. The cloud was aglow with a bright green light, and he could feel the pins and needles of Saint Elmo's fire against his skin.

There was a sudden blast of blinding light as a bolt of lighting cut across Astro's path, briefly blinding him. Astro was bounced around in the clouds and suddenly found himself being sucked into the vortex of a horzontal funnel cloud. He fought the winds for a few minutes, but soon realized that they were more powerful than he was, so he stopped struggling and merely tried to keep in control. Suddenly he was spat out of the disturbence into calm air. The skies cleared and he was flying VFR once again. Astro could now see the ground, though he was confused at what he saw.



Atlas flew toward the school thinking he'd catch Astro leaving for home after the 3 PM bell. He figured that his rival had something to do with Mustacheo knowing about the effect of a police taser on him, and he intended on giving Astro a piece of his mind. As the red and blue robot neared the school the sky darkened and he felt the first raindrops in his face. Being more brazen than smart, Atlas decided to hover up near the clouds to hide from view until Astro walked out of the building.

The wind picked up and Atlas was caught in a horizontal gust that sucked him into a whirlpool of wind. Atlas tried to blast himself free, but he only bounced around even more. Bolts of lightning surrounded him inside of the green glow of the clouds. Suddenly, he was thrown free just as a bolt of lightning hit him squarely in the ass. He plummeted toward the ground and landed in the top of a tree.



Astro now found himself flying above a neighborhood that no longer resembled the one he had just been above. The layout of the streets were somewhat familiar, but few of the houses were the same. In the distance he saw what looked like a factory area that he'd once seen in some old photographs in his history class. That district had been totally destroyed during the American bombing raids over Tokyo during the second world war. Today (?) it should have been a housing district, the factories long gone and relocated to another part of the city where they now made electronics rather than munitions.

Astro tried to get a GPS fix on his location, but his internal satellite receivers could find no signal. He wondered if he had been damaged by any EMP from the lightning so he brought up his heads up display to run diagnostics on his internal systems. No errors were reported, and he also saw that his energy levels were nearly at full. He landed somewhere in the downtown area to get his bearings. The busy downtown area was just as crowded as usual this late in the afternoon, but everything there looked different from what it should be. Astro noticed that the people passing by him gave him strange stares. He passed a newsstand where the afternoon newspapers were stacked for sale. It was then when he got the worst shock of his lifetime. The date at the top of the paper read November 1, 1941!



Atlas fell out of the tree and slowly righted himself. He recognized where he was at once from memory, and the six armed palace guards surrounding him. He had no idea how he'd been blown off course to land in the courtyard of the Tokyo Imperial Palace.
“Why don't you guys just tell 悠仁親王 悠仁 (Hisahito) that I'm a friend of Astro and let me go?” Atlas said.

The guards only moved in closer to him.
“We know of no such person, what are you and why do you threaten 昭和天皇?”
Atlas looked up to catch a glimpse of the palace, and saw the balcony of the emperor's study where he had been several times visiting with Astro. A strange face appeared there, dressed in the official dress uniform of the emperor. He was a middle aged man, not the youthful teen that Astro had introduced him to.

“You will come with us!” The palace guards ordered, now backed up by an equal number of military guards bearing sub-machine guns. Atlas gave in and followed them, and was led to a small prison cell where he was locked in. A calendar hung on the wall above the guards station, and he could see the current date.
“No fraggin way! It's not possible, is it?” he thought to himself. “That must have been one weird storm I went though!” The calendar read November 1, 1941.

Atlas thought to himself, “There's no way these guys would comprehend robots, they must really be freaked out to see me. If I'm going to get out of here, I'm either going to have to bust out and cause myself more issues than I want to deal with, or try and fit in and fool them. So maybe I'd better morph back to my other self, much as I detest the idea.”

Atlas waited for the guard to lose interest in him and turn away to gaze elsewhere. He sat down on the small bed in the cell and opened his access panel to throw a switch. His body started to morph from the armored Atlas form into his former Daichi persona. The next time the guard looked at his cell, the red and blue battle robot was gone, and the teenage boy biker was sitting in there.


Astro was glad that he was wearing his school uniform despite how it looked out of place in the current time frame. He'd have looked even more our of place if he'd been caught in that storm in only his painted on 'birthday suit' and red boots. He also had some yen coins in his pocket, with any luck the store keepers wouldn't notice the date on them. He found a clothing store and quickly selected a set of appropriate attire, paid for them, and then ducked into an alley to change. Astro adjusted the beret cap he'd gotten so it hid his sharp cowlicks properly. The cap, and the light colored sunglasses he'd found made him look human enough to fit in.

Astro didn't know what he was going to do, but he hoped that the same freak electrical storm that had seemed to transport him back in time would eventually reoccur and he'd be able to catch a ride back the other way. Yet The importance of the date hit him squarely in the face. Mustachio had expressed his wish to go back in time and try to prevent Japan's starting the war in the Pacific. Maybe he had been sent back to do that? Perhaps it was his destiny to try. The first thing he decided to do, was to try and talk to the Emperor and change his mind. Astro was familiar with the layout of the Imperial Palace, he'd been the guest of Prince Hisahito Akishino many times The prince had told him all sorts of stories about Emperor Hirohito. Maybe he could leverage his knowledge and pull it off. He decided he'd have to try.

Astro calmly walked up to the palace gates from the street entrance. The palace itself was in the middle of an artificial island in the middle of the city. There was a large area with many trees off to one side of the complex, and garden areas to the other side. Smaller buildings held military barracks for the guards, and a small detention area with a few holding cells.

Now dressed more appropriately for the occasion, Astro was able to approach the guard at the street entrance and try to negotiate his way in.
“I'm a friend of the royal family,” he sweetly told the guard, dropping a few names that Hisahito had given him, including that of Prince Akihito.
The guard asked Astro a few questions that he was able to fake the answers to, then had a second thought.
“I was on duty on the grounds when we stopped some kid a little taller than you in some kind of weird red samurai costume.”

Astro maintained a poker face, but he had a good guess who the guard was talking about. “Damn, that idiot Atlas must have got caught in the tail end of the same storm that got me.”, he thought.

“Don't have a clue who you could be talking about.” Astro replied.

To his surprise, the guard motioned to Astro to enter the grounds. The crown prince was in the garden, accompanied by a few guardians. Astro bowed a greeting to him, and he returned the gesture. The boy was a year younger than Astro's apparent human age, and he was pleased to have a new companion to talk to. The guardians didn't see Astro as a threat and noticed that the prince accepted him as a playmate, so they didn't question it. It appeared that Astro's gambit was working.

“Can you stay for the evening meal?” The prince asked.

“Yes, I'd be honored to.” Astro replied politely.

This was exactly what Astro was hoping for, a chance to get the ear of the emperor. He still hadn't figured out how he was going to approach the matter, but he needed to let the ruler know of the future disaster that would grip the nation, if he tried to spread his conquest into the Pacific and involve American in the war.



Naval General Isoroku Yamamoto finished laying out his battle strategy to the Naval General Staff. The assembled commanders returned a combined stare of disbelief at him.

“I cannot see the wisdom in this!” Admiral Osami Nagano blurted out. “Surly the accepted doctrine of America's own Captain Mahan is the wiser course of action.”

“Whittling down the American fleet as they advance across the Pacific has been proven not to work effectively in our own war games!” Yamamoto replied. “If we are to achieve our intentions of victory against the British and Dutch in the Far East we must keep the Americans from interfering. Only a massive blow against them followed by a decisive offensive battle will bring the United States to the negotiation table willing to end the conflicts on our terms.”

Nagano kept his arms crossed and looked away from Yamamoto. The rest of the staff nodded in agreement.

“In that case,” Yamamoto sighed “I will have to tender my resignation!” He started to remove the Admiral's insignia on his uniform as a sign of his seriousness.

“That will not be necessary!” Nagano replied. “While I still do not agree with your views, I will go along with the attack on the American forces at Pearl. However I must impose one strict condition, our government must issue an official declaration of war with the United States before any such attack.”

“Of course.” Yamamoto agreed.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Final Countdown

Chapter 4.

Prince Akihito brought Astro up to his room to entertain him, and show off his prized possessions.
“You told the guards that you were a friend of the royal family, but I don't think we've ever met.” The prince said. “Still, it's been awhile since I had someone near my age to entertain, so I went along with it.”

“We actually do know each other, or at least we will in the future.” Astro said. “It's a bit hard to explain, are you a student of science?”

“I've been schooled in all of the modern studies of the sciences and mathematics.” Akihito answered.

“Are you familiar with Einstein's theories?” Astro asked.

“Yes, I've read about his theory of relativity.” The prince replied. “I'm not quite sure that I
fully understand it however.”

“Well Einstein established a mathematical relationship between gravity, time, and the speed of light.” Astro explained. “According to his theories travel though time is possible.”

“Yes, I recall reading something like that in one of the textbooks.” Akihito replied, “But why did you mention that.”

“Because I am from the future.” Astro said. “I was blown here in a freak storm, I came from the year 2014. I know what Japan is about to go through because I've read about it in the history books.”

At that moment one of the palace guards entered the room. “I'm very sorry for the interruption your highness,” the uniformed officer said, “But we have a boy locked up downstairs in the detention area. He says his name is Daichi , and he claims he is a friend of yours and that someone named Astro would vouch for him.”

“I go by that name.” Astro said.

“Do you know this person they are talking about?” the prince asked.

“Yes I do. He will also be known to you in the future.” Astro sighed, “It would be safe to release him, he means no harm. I suspect that he was lost, in the same way I was.”

“Ah, I see.” Akihito replied. “You will release this Daichi and bring him up to us.” The prince told the guard.

“Yes your highness, at once.” the guard replied, bowing as he made his exit.

A few minutes later the door reopened and Atlas in his Daichi attire was escorted into the room. Atlas noticed Astro standing next to the prince and calmly said, “Thank you, your highness for inviting me in, could I speak to Astro for a moment.”

“Please excuse us for just a minute.” Astro said, bowing to the prince. He grabbed Atlas by the shoulder and pulled him over to the side of the room.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

“I was going to follow you when you left school thinking that you set me up with Mustacheo and that taser. Actually, I'm now thinking you would have been too stupid to try that, it must have been Reno's doing. As for how I got HERE, well I guess you must have gotten caught in the same freaky storm that I did.” Atlas replied. “Do you realize when we are?”

“Yes I do.” Astro said. “We are about a month away from our countries attack on Pearl Harbor. We need to stop that from happening. I was hoping I could talk some sense into the Emperor, or maybe the Generals.”

“Yeah good luck with that.” Atlas laughed. “You've got the right idea, but your plan to achieve it is too lame. Didn't you learn anything from Mustacheo's lecture this morning? I think I'll head over to Hitokappu Harbor on Iturup Island and take care of things my way.”

“NO Atlas!” Astro hissed. “What are you thinking of doing sinking the fleet?”

“It it comes to that.” Atlas said in a low voice, “but call me Daichi in front of his highness.”

Atlas pushed Astro aside and walked over to Akihito. “Excuse me your highness, but I understand that you play a mean game of 将棋. Would you care for a match?”

“Certainly!” the prince replied, taking the Shogi set down from the shelf. He quickly set up the board on the floor, and Atlas sat down next to him.
Astro watched as the prince and Daichi enjoyed their game. He was amazed at how civil Atlas was when he transformed himself into the Daichi form. The omega factor in his programming must have been reserved for the battle bot transfiguration. If only he could keep Atlas in his current mode, but he knew that wouldn't last.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Daichi and prince Akihito were deep in the middle of their Shogi match when there was a knock on the door and one of palace servants stood at the door. “Master Akihito,” he said, “It's time for the evening meal, would you and your guests be so good as to come downstairs for dinner? Your father is waiting.”

Astro's ears perked up, he was hoping that he would be able to get an audience with the emperor, and having dinner with the royal family would certainly give him the opportunity.

“Can you bring our meal up stairs to my room?” Akihito asked “I'm deeply involved in a Shogi match, and I think I have my opponent on the ropes. Explain it to my father I'm sure he will agree to it.”

“Very well master.” The servant replied. Astro wanted to convince the prince that he shouldn't disobey his father and come down to dinner, but thought better of it. About ten minutes later several dinner carts with covered trays appeared in the doorway. Two servants started to serve the dinner. The butler who had appeared earlier spoke. “Your father said he understands, and sends his luck with the game. He also requested that you and your friends join him later for tea later in the evening.”

“Thank you.” Akihito replied. “Tell his royal highness my father that we will join him later.”

Astro felt a little relief, perhaps his plan would work after all. For now, Atlas seemed to be enjoying himself playing Shogi with the prince. He wasn't sure if Daichi was allowing the prince to beat him, or if he really was out matched. Either way, it seemed to be the proper strategy.


By the time the three of them had finished their dinner, and a rather lengthy Shogi battle the hour was rather late. Upon reaching the dining room where the Emperor Showa would have evening tea the boys found the Emperor's wife Nagako waiting for them. “I'm sorry son,” she addressed Akihito, “But your father was called away on official business of state.” She said. “He may not be available tomorrow, either.” She told the prince. “If your guests would like to stay for the night, I will have the servants prepare quarters for them.” She added.

Astro at once realized what was going on. He knew from history that on November 2nd, which was tomorrow, the emperor would meat with Tojo, Sugiyama and Nagano, and the next day Nagano would expain the plans for war. The emperor would approve those plans by the 5th of the month. If he was to influence the Emperor Showa, he had to act fast.

“Yes, your highness.” Astro addressed the Emperor's wife. “Thank you very much, I'd like that.”

Daichi bowed as he replied, “Thank you, that would be an honor for me.”

“Please see to that then Mother.” the prince added.

“At once, son.” his mother replied.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Astro and Daichi were set up in adjacent rooms in the guest wing of the royal house. There was a connecting doorway between their rooms that could be locked from either side. Astro left the door on his side unlocked, although he noticed that the door on Atlas's side was bolted.
Looking around the room he saw that more traditional clothing suitable for appearance before the royal family had been left for him in the closet. There were several sets of Haori and Hakama in plain colors that appeared to be in his size. Also were provided several Kimono on hangers. Also on a shelf were several Haori himo. In addition, several pairs of Tabi socks and Zori sandals had been provided.

Astro undressed and clothes neatly on a chair and got into bed. He knew that he would have a hard time getting any sleep, and he mentally set an internal alarm clock so he would be up early enough to try and catch the Emperor at breakfast before he became involved with the prime minister and the generals.


Daichi bid Akihito goodnight and was escorted to his assigned room by the prince's servant. He looked around his room and noticed the door leading to the adjacent room. After bolting the door he noticed the clothing hanging in the closet. The Haori and Kimono were a subdued red color, with a dark yellow Hakama. “He knows my colors,” Atlas smiled to himself.
Daichi got ready for bed quickly, and was soon lying on his back looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. He admired the prince and suddenly felt a strong loyalty to the royal family.

“I've been a fool!” he thought to himself. “The real problem with the way history had gone was that Japan lost the war, not that we fought it. Astro and I both know the history of the war, and we both know why the Americans were the victors. We shouldn't be trying to prevent Japan from entering the war, what we should be doing is to insure our countries victory.”

It didn't take him very long to realize that the attack on Pearl harbor had been a botch job. The attack force had left much of the fleet in repairable condition, and the attack hadn't been followed up by immediate strikes against the US west coast. Japan could have delivered a knock out blow that would have left the US vulnerable. Instead all that had been done was to mobilize the Americans into building the greatest armed forces that had ever been assembled, and to develop the Atom bomb. No, he would get the Emperor's ear and tell him what really needed to be done. But first he'd have to get Astro on his side, or make sure that he couldn't interfere.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Final Countdown

Chapter 5.

The Emperor Showa awoke early, as was his habit. He meditated for a half and hour as he watched the sun rise from the window of his bedroom. He washed and dressed himself in the formal clothing of the Emperor knowing that he would be seeing officials of the government and the military in a few hours. The kitchen staff were well aware of Hirohito's early breakfast hour, and they had his morning meal waiting for him when he arrived in the dining room.


Astro saw the first glint of the sunrise though the eastern window of the guest room he was sleeping in. He quickly donned the clothing that had been left for him, so as to make an early appearance. The prince had told him and Daichi that they could make their way downstairs at anytime for something to eat, that there would be a member of the kitchen staff to assist them. Astro felt a little strange leaving his red boots sitting in the closet and wearing the Tabi and Zori on his feet instead. If he needed to use his leg jets for any reason he'd have to first kick off the footwear, his boots were designed with a foldable flap that automatically got out of the way of his jet nozzles. (He could of course fly by use of his arm jets, but that left him without any free hands.)

Astro found the kitchen area by scent. The aroma of boiling rice, brewing tea, and frying ham were drifting towards him as he entered that wing of the building. The kitchen was next to what must have been the formal dining area where the Emperor and members of the royal family would occupy, but a servant with an apron and a chief's hat beckoned him towards a small table in an alcove just to the other side of the kitchen.

“Ohayo” The servant called to him, “Tea?”

“Hai”, Astro replied.

The servant poured him a small cup of hot green tea which Astro sipped slowly. The man wearing the chief's hat and apron loaded a wheeled cart with several covered trays and pushed it towards the dining room on the other side of the kitchen. Astro followed him from a distant, he stepped lightly and was glad to find that the Zori's didn't make the dim squeaking sound that his red boots did when he tried to tip toe quietly.

Astro ducked behind a large potted plant near the entrance to the dining room as the servant exited with the empty cart. He found the door to the dining room ajar and he slowly entered trying to look as innocent as possible. The Emperor was seated at the end of a long table where the various covered trays had been set before him. He was drinking tea from a large cup while studying a stack of papers. Hirohito was too busy looking at his paperwork to notice Astro, but he turned quickly to the sound of the door opening behind him when Akihito walked in.

“Ohayo O oya”, Akihito called out to his father.

The Emperor acknowledged his son's greeting and then spotted Astro standing at the other end of the table. “Who are you?” he asked.

“That is one of my two guests,” The prince replied. “You invited us to have tea with you yesterday, but we got involved with a Shogi match and had dinner up in my room.”

“Yes, I remember that now.” His father smiled.

“You can call me Astro,” Astro said bowing to the Emperor. “I'm sorry to walk in on you unannounced.”

“I'm usually glad to meet my son's acquaintances,” the Emperor replied. “Why don't the two of you sit here and enjoy some breakfast. I am expecting visitors this morning and will soon be busy with affairs of the government. I expect to be occupied with such business for some time, so it is a good thing that you both found your way here so I could meet you.”

Astro nervously cleared his throat. “Your royal highness, there is something that I need to talk with you about, something of great importance.”