Astro boy the movie (the novel)

CHAPTER 8

Astro wasn't sure exactly what happened after the missiles hit. He just remembered falling ... and falling ... and falling. Then everything went black.

He opened his eyes and found himself face-to-face with a burned-out robot head.

"Aaaaargh!" he yelled.

But the robot head was still alive. "Welcome to your new home, kid," he said cheerfully.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Startled, Astro fell back and landed on a robot with one arm.

"Hello," the robot greeted him.

"Aaaaaaaah!" he screamed again.

He stood up and backed away. Looking down, he realized he was standing on top of a huge mountain of discarded robots.

This is where the old robots from Metro City end up, he realized.

All around him, robots began to rise up like zombies from the grave. They walked toward Astro, excited.

"New batteries! He's got new batteries!" cried one jealous robot.

A tiny robot approached him with his hands out. "Spare a few volts for a fellow Sparky?" he asked.

The first robot sadly shook his head. "New batteries ... "

Most of the robots were not functioning properly. A French waiter robot walked up to a robot on fire.

"Table for one. Smoking or non-smoking?" the waiter asked.

"Smoking! I'm definitely smoking!" the burning robot answered frantically.

The robots began to surround Astro.

"You're one of us now," said the robot head. "Happy to meet you."

"Oh no," Astro protested. "I'm not one of you guys."

"You're a robot, ain't you?" the robot head asked.

"Er ... yes, but ... "

"Well, welcome to the scrap heap!" the head said. "This is where we all end up sooner or later."

Astro shook his head. "No way. I'm not ready yet."

The robots began to chant. "One of us. One of us. One of us."

They circled him, getting closer and closer. Some reached out to grab him with their metal hands.

"Hey, get off of me! What are you doing?" Astro yelled.

The robot head suddenly looked up.

"Incoming!"

Astro gazed up to see another load of discarded robots crashing down from Metro City. The impact sent him tumbling down the mountain. He got to his feet and looked around.

The robots down here had all lost power a long time ago. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was quiet down here, at least.

Still, there was nothing but mounds and mounds of dead robots as far as he could see.

"What do I do?" Astro wondered.

He slumped down on a pile of spare parts and put his head in his hands.

"Dad ..."

Then Astro heard something rustling in the next trash pile. Had those weird robots come after him?

"Who's there?" he called out.

The sound stopped. Astro's eyes began to glow, lighting up the darkness. They settled on a pair of glowing eyes staring right back at him.