Astro vs the Runaway Robot

[AstroRex]

Astro vs the Runaway Robot

Dr. Elefun was busy working the controls at the large instrument panel in the main control room at the Ministry of Science Building, where dozens of technicians, scientists and engineers were busily looking over and operating their computer workstations inside the vast computer room.

“Okay, transmit startup sequence to Javelin, so that the robot will move towards the construction site!” Dr. Elefun ordered, while speaking through the microphone.

The engineers looked up at their monitors, and they carefully followed the flow of instructions which scrolled down their screens.

“Sir! We’re trying to communicate with Javelin. Please keep in mind that a thunderstorm is approaching the city from the east! Some static has been detected, which may delay the test!” one of the engineers announced.

“We’re already a week behind schedule! We need to complete a startup test and ensure that Javelin can respond to the commands which it receives from the main computer! We’re supposed to put the robot in operation by next week! I can’t put this off any longer! Proceed with the operation!” Dr. Elefun ordered.

The engineers frantically entered a series of instructions using their workstations, and the following text appeared on a large monitor, which was hanging from the wall, in the very front of the room.

NIPPON MINISTRY OF SCIENCE
OPERATION JAVELIN
COMPILE STARTUP PROGRAM
PROGRAM COMPILATION IN PROGRESS…
PROGRAM COMPILED SUCCESFULLY
SYSTEM READY
PROGRAM UPLOAD TO JAVELIN STARTED…

Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder…

The lights flickered for a brief moment…

“Sir! The program didn’t upload to the robot! Something went wrong!” one of the engineers shouted.

“What!?” Dr. Elefun gasped.

He glanced at the screen on the wall before him, and remained silent as the words appeared over the black background.

JAVELIN PROGRAM UPLOAD FAILED

“What’s going on? Switch to the outside cameras!”

The black screen lit up as images from outside appeared on the screen, showing the large, thirty-foot-tall red-and-blue construction robot, slowly walking away from the Ministry of Science Building!

“What’s going on, here? We didn’t tell it to go anywhere!” Dr. Elefun spoke. “The robot is out of control!”

The large robot continued to walk towards a large highway, which was crowded with cars carrying hundreds of people! Cars began to fly off the highway as the large robot approached. Cars stopped and skidded off the side of the road, hitting each other as they tried to avoid the oncoming robot, which was about to step onto the highway with its giant feet, stopping all traffic!

“Oh NO! This is a disaster!” Dr. Elefun shouted, as he quickly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and dialed a number…

Meanwhile, about six miles away from the Ministry of Science Building, two teen robots are playing video games in the living room at a penthouse on the top floor of an apartment building.

“Ha! I beat you again, Zoran!” Astro cheered. “Yayyyy!”

“No fair! I think you’re cheating, Astro!” Zoran grumbled, as she put the game controller on the floor. “I don’t want to play with you anymore!”

“Fine! I’ll call one of my friends from school! So there!” Astro fired back, as he shut off the video game console. “You can’t stand the fact that I’m better than you!”

“You’re just too competitive! You’re no fun!” Zoran stated, as she got up and marched to her room.

Astro sighed, as he stood up and slowly made his way to his own bedroom, when his super hearing picked up a commotion outside.

“Gosh, there must be a lot of traffic outside or something…” Astro wondered out loud, when he heard his cell phone ringing in his bedroom.

Astro quickly leaped in the air and flew to his bedroom, using his rocket boots, hovering just above his bed so he could reach down and grab his cell phone, which was on his dresser.

“Hello? Hi Dr. Elefun, I… Oh… A what? … Where? ... Is that what I heard outside? … Oh no! … Yes, sir! ... Okay! Bye!”

Astro hung up the phone and raced to the window, where he leaped through it, blasting off into the bright, blue sky. Within seconds, he was soaring over the busy part of downtown Metro City, when he saw a large, red-and-blue robot which was walking across a busy four-lane highway!

“Oh NO! This is not good!” Astro gasped, as he spotted the runaway construction robot. “I have to stop it!”

He made a steep dive until he landed right in front of the robot, which was six times his size. He then extended his arms, and started pushing against the front of the mechanical monster, in the hope of pushing the large menace off the highway!

“AAAARGGG! Come’on you big lug! MOVE!” Astro groaned, as he managed to force the robot to budge.

“LOOK! It’s Astro!” one of engineers cheered, as the figure of the young robot became visible on the large monitor.

“Astro!” Dr. Elefun said, as he spoke through the microphone. “ASTRO! Can you hear me?”

Luckily, Astro was able to pick up the familiar voice, thanks to his super-hearing.

“Yes…. Uhhh… Dr. … Elefun…. I hear…. You….” Astro groaned, as he managed to force the robot off the street.

“Astro! You need to get the robot back to the Ministry of Science so that we can reload its programming!”

“Oh, wow! Uhhh… Do you want me to carry the robot over the city?” Astro asked him, as he flew over the robot, which was now walking away from the busy highway.

“Dr. Elefun! That is far too dangerous! He needs to relay the new program to the Javelin robot!” one of the engineers suggested. “Have him come over here!”

“Astro! Get over to the lab, immediately!” Dr. Elefun replied.

“Roger, Dr. Elefun!”

Astro took off as soon as he realized that the robot was out of harm’s way, for the time being. He soared across the sky and flew to the main computer lab at the Ministry of Science Building, where Dr. Elefun and the scientists were waiting for him to arrive.

“I’m here, doctor!” Astro announced, as soon as he walked through the large, sliding metal doors.

“Great! Edwin, get Astro plugged in to the main computer!” Dr. Elefun ordered one of the engineers.

“Give me your right arm, Astro!” Edwin, one of the engineers, asked him. Astro extended his right arm and turned it with his wrist facing up. The engineer opened a small latch on Astro’s wrist, uncovering a USB plug. Then, he pulled a USB cable from the computer terminal, and plugged it into Astro’s wrist. Finally, he typed a few commands on the computer keyboard, and then he waited for the program to display the results of the operation.

UPLOADING JAVALIN INSTRUCTIONS TO ASTRO SYSTEM
PROGRAM UPLOAD STARTED…
PROGRAM UPLOAD IN PROGRESS…
PROGRAM UPLOAD COMPLETED SUCCESFULLY

“Great! It worked! Now we just need to give him a small transmitter so he can relay it to Javelin!” Edwin cheered.

“Here! Plug this into Astro’s arm! Hurry! Before that robot causes any more harm!” Dr. Elefun shouted.

Edwin inserted a transmitter inside of Astro’s wrist, and connected three wires to the rest of his computer system, before removing the USB cable and closing the latch.

“Okay, Astro! You’re in control of the Javelin robot, now! GO! Hurry!” the engineer said to the young robot.

“Let’s rocket!” Astro shouted, as he blasted off, flying through the wide corridors of the Ministry of Science, until he finally escaped through an opening in the ceiling. As soon as he was outside, he raced towards the runaway robot, which was walking right towards a crowded shopping mall!

“Oh no you don’t!” Astro sneered, as he landed right in front of Javelin, which was walking straight towards the entrance of the mall. It was about to crash through the glass doors and windows, when Astro pressed up against the front of the robot with his hands, stopping it from destroying the front of the building!

“Uhhhnnn…. Time for you…. To download…. Your programming….” Astro groaned, as he strained to contain the giant robot.

Astro then stared up at the giant, which continued to push harder and harder, as Astro started the transmission.

“Come on…. COME ON…. I… can’t… hold on…. Any longer… aarrhhhgg…” Astro cried, as he put his rockets on full blast, as he continued to hold the robot in its place.

Finally… Javelin stopped pushing against Astro!

“It stopped… it STOPPED! HURRAY!” Astro cheered, as he let go.

“He did it!” Dr. Elefun cheered out loud. “Javelin has been re-programmed!”

“Yes! We’re bringing him home!” Edwin noted. “Javelin is responding to our commands!”

JAVELIN SYSTEMS NOMINAL

That was the message which appeared on the big screen.

“Good job, Astro! Thank you!!!!” Dr. Elefun said, breathing a deep sigh of relief.

“You’re welcome, doctor….” Astro replied with a smile, as he blasted off from the parking lot of the shopping mall, and flew back home.

A few minutes later, Astro landed on the balcony of the penthouse where he lived, and Zoran stood there, waiting for her big brother to come home.

“I’m so proud of you, big brother! I saw the whole thing on TV!” she said to him, the moment he landed. “You’re such a hero!”

“Awww, Zoran… It was nothin’…” Astro replied, blushing a little.

“That robot could have caused a lot of damage! But you saved the day! So… Can I ask you a favor, now that you’re a big hero?” she asked her brother.

“Sure! What do you need?”

“Can we do something fun, besides play video games?”

“Uhhh… Like what?” Astro wondered.

“Play a board game? Or play with my dolls?” Zoran pleaded with him. “We’re always playing video games and I just wanted to do something different…”

“Alright…” Astro sighed. “We’ll do something else…”

So Astro and Zoran walked into Zoran’s bedroom and played cards, they played tic-tac-toe, and they played several games of checkers and chess, until Dr. Temna came home…

The end

[AstroRex]

That's my very first Astroboy short story. What do you think? A little constructive feedback and a few comments are welcome! I'll write a longer one if I get some feedback for this one. Thanks!

[Dragonrider1227]

That was really cute. Good job
Of Course, when Zoran suggested playing with her dolls, that gave me a funny image of Astro playing with Zoran and Barbies or something XD

[AstroRex]

That was really cute. Good job
Of Course, when Zoran suggested playing with her dolls, that gave me a funny image of Astro playing with Zoran and Barbies or something XD

Yes! I figured that, as Astro's little sister, Zoran would get bored with playing video games all the time. Not only that, I can imagine that Astro would be pretty hard to beat at nearly any game! He would be the master of the video game console! Sure, Zoran would have her Barbie dolls, but my guess is that Astro would have his own army of action figures to keep him occupied, don't you think?

Anyway, thanks for your feedback! I appreciate that!