Free Astro Boy: The Movie by Tracey West Page B

stunned.
    “What kind of robot are you?” he asked.
    But Astro wasn’t looking at him. His eyes were on the sky, where a military aircraft was about to descend into the arena.
    President Stone had found him!

CHAPTER 16
    The gunship landed in the middle of the arena. A swarm of heavily-armed soldiers emerged from the craft. They charged toward Astro with their guns raised.
    Cora sprinted onto the field and picked up Hamegg’s laser device. More kids and members of the crowd were hopping over the barricades. They all wanted to help Astro.
    General Heckler and President Stone marched up between the soldiers. “Seize the rogue robot and secure the area!” Stone commanded.
    A mass of soldiers jumped on Astro, piling on top of him like they were football players and Astro held the ball. One of Astro’s red boots stuck out of the pile.
    The crowd roared in protest and started to advance toward the soldiers. The standing soldiers turned their guns on them.
    Back on his feet, Hamegg stared at President Stone in amazement. “Dufus? Dufus Stone? Is that you?” he asked.
    President Stone froze. The crowd hissed as Hamegg walked up to him.
    “It’s me, Hamegg! We were in the third grade together. I used to do your homework for you, remember?” Hamegg asked.
    “I’ve never seen you before in my life,” President Stone said, but it was clear he was lying.
    The crowd was throwing things at Hamegg now.
    “Take me back to Metro City with you,” Hamegg pleaded. “I’m begging you, Dufus. They’re going to tear me limb from limb.”
    Two soldiers grabbed Hamegg.
    “You can’t call the president Dufus,” one of them warned.
    They dragged him away.
    “He’s the president ?” Hamegg cried out in disbelief. “Yeah, pull the other one. I used to forge his report cards for him.”
    President Stone sidled up to General Heckler. “You told me you’d arrested everybody I went to school with,” he said under his breath.
    “We went all the way back to preschool, Mr. President,” Heckler assured him. “I don’t know how this one slipped through the cracks.”
    Two soldiers pulled Astro out from under the pile-up. They gripped his arms tightly. Astro didn’t even look at them. He gazed up at the clouds floating around Metro City. He remembered the first day he learned to fly. He had felt so happy, so free.
    But that life was never meant to be. Dr. Elefun was wrong when he said Astro would find his place. First Metro City had rejected him, and then his friends on the Surface had, too.
    Zog bellowed in rage as the soldiers dragged Astro away. He snatched up two of them like they were dolls and angrily shook them like he was about to smash their faces together.
    “No, Zog! Put them down,” Astro cried. He hung his head sadly. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
    Zog reluctantly placed the two terrified soldiers on the ground. They grabbed Astro and dragged him into the waiting aircraft.
    “Time to come home,” President Stone said smugly.
    Inside the plane, they bound Astro’s hands and feet with metal restraints. Astro gazed out the window. He could see Cora and the kids running across the arena as the plane zoomed away.
    The Metro City news blared from a TV inside the plane’s cabin. A female reporter with a helmet of perfect hair was talking into the camera.
    “President Stone’s approval rating reached a new low today when he failed to show up for a nationally televised debate with Bob Logan, the man many pundits are picking as the next president of Metro City,” she reported.
    The picture switched to an image of a handsome younger man waving at a cheering crowd. President Stone muted the sound on the set.
    “No dirty hippie’s going to sit in my Oval Office eating mung beans and stinking of patchouli oil,” he said. “I’ve got the Blue Core and the Peacekeeper’s going to start a war with the Surface. That’s bound to get me reelected.”
    He offered a can of oil to Astro. The soldiers laughed.
    “Why the