Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 2: Just A Machine

Astro flew through the city aimlessly, starting to become very frustrated with himself. He had been soaring all around the modern blue buildings that made up Metro City for the past half an hour, trying in vain to find Cora. When he had taken off originally, all that had been on his mind was finding Cora and apologizing for not telling her about him being a robot. He had been so caught up in going through what he was going to say to her when he found her that he hadn't even thought about how he had absolutely no idea where she was.

Thinking back, Astro tried in vain to remember if Cora had mentioned anything about where she lived. What her parents' first names were, their occupation, anything that might give him a lead on where she was staying. But there was nothing. And not just that Astro couldn't remember, he was positive that Cora had just not told him anything. His memory was fine. Perfect, even. He could remember every single word that she had said to him during their conversation on the hood of that busted up car in front of Hamegg's lair the second night of his stay…and last, he reminded himself bitterly. It was scary how vivid and precise his memory seemed to be. It must be something to do with his data storage or something within his brain. He could remember things better because unlike a human brain his brain simply files everything away. It never throws anything out. So he couldn't forget…well, anything.

Deciding this information might be a good thing to point out to his Dad about how his robotic body worked, Astro kept flying, circling the same block he had already circled three times previously. Twice he almost started to fly towards the Ministry of Science, looming in the distance, to ask his father to help him look up where Cora lived. He was sure his dad would be more than happy to help, especially since he was so set on Astro making friends and being more like a regular kid. But every time this thought ran through his head Astro knew that that wouldn't work. The first thing Tenma would ask him would be what Cora's last name was, so he could look up her address.

Astro had absolutely no clue what Cora's last name was.

Discouraged and tired of flying around in maddening circles, Astro finally gave up, plopping down on the nearest roof he could find. Sadly, he curled up in a fertile position, wrapping his arms around his legs and pulling them up to his chest. Sighing he burrowed his head in his knees. This was hopeless. There was no way he'd be able to find Cora.

Unless…

Suddenly hopeful, Astro willed his hearing to expand. As if on cue, his ears obeyed, and Astro found his hearing alive with a sudden flow of amplified noises coming from every which way. And not just human noises too—robots talking, cars honking, toilets flushing—Astro could suddenly hear it all. And it was extremely overwhelming.

Straining his ears, Astro tried to narrow down the sounds to just humans. It took him a moment, but he was finally able to block out the rest of the noise and simply hear human speech. It still wasn't quiet, but it narrowed the playing field a bit and allowed him to listen to the distinct voices more in depth. Hastily, he sorted through the random conversations going on in the buildings around him. When he had searched through them all, he took off and flew towards another group of skyscrapers and began to sort through the conversations there.

After a good fifteen minutes of flying and listening, Astro was beginning to think that this plan wasn't going to work either. Discouraged, he was about to give up once again when he heard it.

"Widget, give it back! It's mine!"

"No its not! Zane gave it to me!"

"No he didn't, he gave it to me! I'm older!"

"Only by a couple seconds!"

"Give it!"

Astro's eyes lit up as he recognized the voices. Widget and Sludge, the twins he had met on the surface. Ignoring any other sounds that his ears were picking up, Astro pinpointed the sound of the two twins arguing and sped towards it. He couldn't hear Cora, but he was hoping maybe the twins would know where she was.