Chapter Two: April 4th - A Glitch in Time

Astro woke the next day to his father's voice. "Astro, wake up." He felt himself being shaken, but his body didn't want to respond. "Astro? Wake up!" His father sounded frantic now, shaking him harder.

"Toby!" he half shouted, half whimpered.

Astro managed a groan, since he wasn't capable of anything else. He could catch a weary sigh from Dad, but he still felt frozen. Concentrating hard, Astro managed to twitch a finger before the rest of his body caught on to what he wanted. More slowly than he liked, Astro's body responded and started moving sluggishly, as though it was being forced through molasses.

His father gently took Astro's closest hand into his. The contact sent small tingles up most of the length of his arm; leaving the limb feeling like he had cut off its circulation and now it had pins and needles. It hurt a bit, but the pain was tolerable. After a few moments of strained silence, all that was left was numbness, and he couldn't feel the pain anymore.

"Astro? What's wrong?" Dr. Tenma asked.

The numbness subsided and Astro flexed his fingers. He thought about telling his dad what had happened since the day before, but something, somewhere inside him, held him back. "Nothing," he finally answered. His dad looked doubtful, but he didn't question the spiky-haired boy. He walked out a moment later.

Astro was left alone in the room, now resting in a sitting position, staring down at his flexing fingers blankly. What is wrong with me? he thought sadly. Now that he had his motor functions back, he walked to the closet and grabbed his, no Toby's, favorite shirt; a blue sweater with a white t-shirt underneath.

Just as he was pulling his hands through his shirt he felt a wave of violent intent flood his system and his arms turned into cannons, quickly shredding part of the shirt and getting cloth caught. He stumbled, his hands still halfway in the shirt, and the pants unbuttoned. The fall sent a low-powered ray of blue across the ceiling, leaving a scorch mark in its wake. He overrode his system and quickly turned his forearms back to normal.

Shaking his head while trying not to frown, Astro walked down the stairs and spotted Orrin setting down a plate loaded with over half a dozen pieces of toast.

"Master To- Astro? Astro?" the robot shyly inquired.

Astro glanced at Orrin and gave the servant robot a small, half-hearted smile. He tried to make the smile as real and sincere as he could so that Orrin would not detect the pain and confusion that whirled relentlessly within him.

His weak mask must have worked, for Orrin made no comment on his behaviour or health.

The blue core was a self-sustaining energy source, meaning Astro didn't have to recharge in any way. He also didn't need batteries as the core was the only battery he would ever need. Since Astro had no need for food or drink, he ignored the toast but nodded politely to Orrin to let the other robot know that he appreciated the gesture all the same.

Astro walked out onto the balcony and, after a moment of hesitation, jetted off, silently praying that his flight was smooth and uneventful. He felt a little better once he was in the air. It felt as though the wind was whisking his troubles away as it passed him. His rockets held out wonderfully and he softly touched down in front of the gate of the school. He wasn't feeling violent anymore, and the numbness and pain went away, but now the glitches were starting to resurface.

They weren't as severe as before, but it still bugged him when they appeared. Astro walked into the building and sat down on one of the many benches that lined the hallways. From his spot, he caught a couple of glances from Cora who was sitting a little further down the hallway on the opposite side. Some of her quick glances were determined, some were fearful, and a few were sad. All were focused on him like he had done something.

Hours later and not soon enough, class went out at a high-pitched caterwauling of the bell. Normally, Astro felt happy at school, but today, a little more so than yesterday, he felt off; a little angry, and very confused. Astro walked to the gate and then got ready to fly off, but remembered the day before and started walking. He had pushed his luck flying to school that morning; there was no need to tempt fate a second time. He walked to the edge of the field, stopped at a girly sounding call of, "Astro!" and turned.

He saw Cora, waving her arms and running toward him. "Astro," she panted a few moments later, "I... I need to... talk to you."

"Yes?" he asked quizzically, cocking his head slightly. He looked kind of like a black-and-peach cat.

"I... I want to know something." She straightened up and stared at him with blue-eyed determination. "I need to know what happened yesterday."

Astro stared at her, contemplating whether to tell her or not. Finally, he decided to tell her what was necessary to keep her from asking again. Ever again. It's Cora. She'd take me seriously! he reasoned, She won't judge me, either. She might even help me!

"I'm not sure myself..." Astro looked away, as if he himself was having trouble remembering. "I don't remember much, but I remember my rocket boosters giving out. I'd always get a warning. Or at least I think I would. I don't remember ever having a malfunction. After that I fell to the ground... It sort of felt like my system had reset. I felt strange when I woke up, partly because I saw the face you were making." He laughed, hoping Cora would just laugh back and say, "What are you talking about? Great, we have another Zane."

She didn't.

Astro, after a while, had noticed she held no happiness or humor in any way. He panicked. Was he malfunctioning? If he was, would Dad cast him out him again? Where would he live afterward?

"So you can't remember anything... after falling?" Cora seemed disturbed. "Well, okay. See you later!" She waved and walked away.

Astro stood there for half a minute, trying to work out what had just happened. Cora hadn't looked very happy at his answer and he wondered why it was so important to her. Was she merely worried about him or was she worried for another reason? Pushing the matter to the back of his mind, Astro walked across the street.

Later that afternoon he went to the Junkyard. He needed the solitude; the time and space to try and organise his thoughts. The people from Metro City were talking about cleaning up the surface, particularly the rather large wasteland of scraps that bordered the city. It would be a great economic move to get rid of the Junkyard and dispose of everything properly instead of just dumping it all somewhere else. Still, Astro felt that if the Junkyard disappeared then so would his thinking spot. There was really no other place that he visited on his own; no other spot secluded enough that he could escape to when things got a little too hectic. He stared at the stars. They always comforted him; was it because his heart was from one of them?

"That can't be," Astro whispered, shaking his head. "I destroyed both of the cores. The blue core was revived because Zog gave some of its energy back to it, but the red core exploded."

He stared at the stars a while longer then scrambled down to the bottom of the junk pile, just to start walking in a random direction. Astro dropped to his knees in a crossroad of parts. He stared up at a bright blue-tinted star.

Widget watched him from the shadows of a small pile. "Astro?" she whispered. When he didn't answer, she moved closer. "Astro?" she asked again. Widget moved to the left side of him. Astro's lips were slightly parted and his eyes were relaxed but wide, like he was trying to stay alert and away from sleepiness. They also glowed a bright blue with small spots of red. Pieces of purple specked the red spots.

Widget poked Astro's cheek. "Cora! I found out what you were talking about!"

Cora stalked out from across Widget, to the right of Astro."I told you!" Cora said angrily, with a hint of smugness. "We really have to get him to Dr. Tenma! Help me out here!" Cora hooked her arms under Astro's armpits and around his chest. She grunted as she tried to pick Astro up. She quickly learned: Robots are heavy.

"Zane! Sludge! A little help would be nice!" Cora shouted through gritted teeth.

The two boys came out from behind the cover of another pile of junk, sort of surprised that Astro hadn't noticed any of them. Zane remarked that the boy robot looked like a zombie, making Sludge and Widget shiver involuntarily. They had seen plenty of robots in various pieces but even though they knew Astro was a robot, they couldn't quite stop thinking of him as just another kid.

Zane waved a hand back and forth in front of Astro's face. The gesture elicited no reaction and Zane simply shrugged. He hadn't really expected a response though he thought it couldn't hurt to try. He stepped directly in front of Astro to try and help Cora get him into an easy carrying position.

Zane's shadow, such as it was in the wan light of the stars and moon, fell across Astro's unseeing gaze, blocking his view of the star-sprinkled sky. A slight frown crept onto Astro's face and the glow faded from his eyes, along with the blue, red and purple. His eyelids slowly began to close as his eyes regained their rich chocolate brown hue. He suddenly slumped backwards, causing Cora to stumble as his weight came to rest against her shins.

The four ex-wards of Hamegg exchanged worried glances.

"Astro? Astro!" Cora called worriedly down at the unresponsive robot at her feet. She eased him off her legs until he was lying flat upon the ground. Kneeling down beside him she began lightly slapping his cheek in an effort to bring him around, still calling his name.

Astro groaned, feeling as though Zog had stepped on his head, and opened his eyes slowly, seeing Cora's blurry face swim into view. He sincerely hoped this was not going to become a habit. Waking up to Cora's face was nice, but waking up to her worried expression after blanking out was not nice. "Did I space out?" he asked, noticing the others for the first time.

"Um…" Cora mumbled uncertainly.

"Yeah, you were like a total zombie!" Zane exclaimed. "You don't wanna start eating brains, do you?"

Astro stared at Zane incredulously. "What? You watch way too many zombie movies, Zane," he said firmly. Astro picked himself up and quickly patted down his clothes, dislodging patches of dust.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Cora asked, staring hard at her robotic friend.

He couldn't lie straight to Cora's face like this, even if a little voice in the back of his mind said it was alright to do so. "Yeah, I'm fine, just keep spacing out a bit. I'll ask Dad about it, okay?"

"Okay," Cora nodded reluctantly. "You'll tell me - us - if there is something wrong, won't you?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't worry too much," he said with a small smile, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "I'll catch you guys later!" Without waiting for any of them to reply, Astro activated his rockets and jetted off, willing to risk the glitches to get away from his friend's stares as quickly as possible.

Dr. Elefun and Dr. Tenma were deep in discussion at the Ministry of Science, sitting opposite each other with a large desk between them. The desk was all but invisible, covered by sheets of paper with notes, equations and blueprints on them. Elefun tapped one of the blueprints with a short chubby finger.

"We're almost done. There are many small details we still have to work on though," he said with a tiny frown. "We won't have much time for testing if we want to meet our deadline."

Tenma leaned on his elbows and brought his hands together, interlocking his fingers. "If all goes smoothly we won't need to run many tests if, indeed, we need to run any at all."

Elefun looked at his friend. "I know you want this to work, but you can't put all of your faith in this. It's a new field and there aren't many references we can fall back on if something doesn't work out quite right."

"I know," Tenma stiffly replied.

Elefun sighed tiredly and began gathering up the sheets of paper. "I can have a fair portion of the remaining details done if I work through the night."

Tenma shook his head slightly. "I don't want you to wear yourself out over this," he said firmly.

"I want this done just as much as you," Elefun commented with a smile. "It should turn out to be great for Astro in the long run. I daresay he needs something like this at the moment, even if he doesn't show it."

"He's seemed a little…distracted lately. I have no idea why and he won't talk to me. I know I've never been the best father in the world but I thought he'd trust me enough to open up about anything that's troubling him," he said a touch despairingly.

"If it's something serious I'm sure he'll come to you. You'll just have to be patient," Elefun said with an encouraging smile.

"Easier said than done," Tenma muttered, catching sight of his robot son as he flew towards the room they were in. Tenma helped Elefun gather up the last of the paper and bundle it into an open suitcase. They managed to latch it shut just as Astro, opening a window and flying through, landed in the room, closing the window behind him.

"Hi Doctor Elefun," Astro greeted cheerily. He turned his smile onto his father. "Ready to go home Dad?" The young robot showed no signs of his earlier experience and he had no intention of mentioning anything to his father, despite Cora's pleas.

"Uh, yes, yes, of course," Tenma answered while Elefun returned the greeting.

"Well, come on then," Astro said impatiently a few seconds later after neither adult moved.

Tenma stood up and Astro began walking out of the room, waving goodbye to Elefun. Tenma threw a glance at the older man that quite clearly meant 'help me'. Elefun gave a small helpless shrug and offered a consoling smile. Astro was, robot or not, a teenager, and all teenagers went through a rebellious phase. Tenma would just have to ride it out as best he could, like all parents.

The car ride home was uneventful. Tenma felt too awkward to even try and start a conversation and Astro seemed content to let the silence reign. Orrin picked up on the mood and refrained from saying anything beyond what his normal programmed politeness dictated.

Once home, Tenma called for Astro to wait before he could disappear upstairs. Astro sat at the kitchen table with his father somewhat reluctantly.

"Astro," his father said slowly, "I know I've never exactly been in the running for Father of the Year, but you do know that you can come and talk to me about problems you might be having, right?"

Astro looked up at the unusually soft tone and found himself staring at his father's concerned face. "What?" he asked neutrally.

"If you're having any sort of problem about anything I want you to tell me about it, okay? I promise to listen and help as best I can," Tenma said, a slight pleading note entering his voice.

"Thanks, Dad, but there's no problem," Astro said, quickly turning his head so that his father wouldn't see his eyes flash as a glitch crossed him.

"You're sure?" Tenma pressed.

Astro nodded. "I'm sure. Goodnight Dad." With that Astro got up and went to his room, quickly got changed, and collapsed onto his bed. He felt bad about lying, but it had told him to tell no one.

Sleep was long in coming. Astro lay there for a few hours trying hard to ignore the headache he had developed after the chat with his dad. He felt conflicted, tugged in two different directions by his feelings. Eventually his sleepiness won and he drifted into a restless sleep plagued with unclear nightmares.

Sleep well... Young one...

FantomoDrako: Hello again! Please don't kill XTAIGAX for the long wait in getting this done! It was my fault. She finished it ages ago and sent it to me so I could do my part, but I had lost all motivation regarding Astro Boy. (Yes, that's why 'Spark of the Soul' hasn't been updated.) I've spent the better part of the week focusing on this to finally finish it. I hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!

XTAIGAX: I can fight off anyone! And, besides, FantomoDrako makes these stories fun to read! She was the one who made 'Memories' fun for most people to read! Speaking of that... Eh heh...? So be nice to her!