Atom story re-told in a different way....

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Tetsuwan Penguin
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Atom story re-told in a different way....

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

I've been working on a short story based on the Tetsuwan Atom Manga, with some ideas from Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series and maybe a pinch of Indiana Jones.

The story outline so far....

A technologist (Albert Tenamann) working at a government sponsered think tank is developing a robot soldier for the military.

Albert was born in Japan to native born US citizens who were in Japan during the US occupation right after the second world war. His father (Adam Tenamann) was a scientist who had overseen the Manhattan project while serving in the Army, and then went to Japan to study the effects of the two atomic bombs. The father finished out his military service as an MP keeping order between occupation forces and civilians in post war Japan. Late one afternoon Adam came to the rescue of a Japanese teen who was being picked on by some drunk marines. The teen was Tezuka Osmau.

Albert's mother (Elizibeth) was a medical techician who enlisted into the Navy shortly after Perl Harbor. She had grown up in a poor family to a single mother. They lived in the "Little Tokyo" section of L.A. Most of her childhood friends were Japanese-Americans, so she had learned Japanese as a second language. She had been devastated by the internment of her neighbors and friends by the government at the start of the war. She served as an interpreter during the interrogation of Japanese POWs. During the US occupation of Japan she worked at a medical clinic aiding the Japanese civilians.

Albert's parents met during their service in Japan. They were married on a US ship anchored at port in Japan. They decided to stay in Japan after the occupation ended. Elizibeth worked at the US embassy in Tokyo and Adam worked for a US inporter of Japanese products as their representative in Japan. Albert was born during their stay in Japan and attented school in the Tokyo school system. He learned English at home and at the embassy and Japanese as if a native. He also became a huge Manga fan, especially of Tezuka's works.

Fast forward a bit. The family comes back home to the US and visits the NY world's fair. They are on line for the G.E. exhibit to see Disney's "carousel of progress". A bit ahead on line a fair employee is having a hard time with some Japanese visitors. It seems that they are the guests of Walt Disney himself and have passes for a VIP entrance, but they insist on waiting in line. The fair employee speeks no Japanese, and the guests little English. Albert runs ahead and asks what the problem is, and is able to communicate in Japanese with the VIP group. The fair employee is so gratful that he invites the family to join the Japanese group for the VIP tour. (Not to mention that he will need more help with the language!). Albert recognizes one of the Japanese men as Tezuak Osmau and asks him for his autograph. Tezuka signs a copy of a Tetsuwan Atom Manga that Albert had brought with him to read during the trip.

The family will return to the US so Albert can attend HS in Boston and later MIT. He is recuited by a "think tank" group spear headed by some upper classmen he met at MIT. Albert will develop advanced computer AI and brain-computer interface systems, and then robotics. This leads to a secret project to develop an android soldier for the military. Then something goes wrong .......

More to come..... but you might see where I'm going with this .....
Last edited by Tetsuwan Penguin on Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:38 am, edited 7 times in total.

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Postby avatargirl » 11 years ago

hi- please keep writing thanks KSCHARF- PRAY YOU ALWAYS THE VERY BEST AND HOPE WE CAN BE FRIENDS!

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Chapter 0: Introduction

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

Chapter 0: Introduction

Buried deep under the streets of uptown Manhattan in what would be the fourth sub-basement of the American Museum of Natural History is the secret head quarters of a think tank organization. The history of this place goes back to the 1920's during the construction of the Eight Avenue line of the Independent subway system. As the subway construction neared the museum a group of wealthy industrialists and inventors which included Hiram Percy Maxim, Thomas Edison, and Irving Green sought to keep the US ahead of the nations in Europe in an arms race that they saw happening. The first two names in this group are well known, but Mr. Green has been forgotten by history. Mr. Green was one of Edison's many workmen whose skills in model making and draftsmanship were behind the great inventor's success. Irving invested his earnings well, (perhaps TOO well, he was in fact guilty of insider trading before it was widely enforced as a crime). The museum site was a perfect spot for the secret organization, and the museum's activities collecting specimens from around the world the perfect cover for espionage.

In the days before the second world war it was from this think tank that came the analysis of German weapons development that would inspire start the of the Manhattan Project. It was here that the attack on Perl Harbor was detected months in advance of the actual date. The President's decision to have the navy look the other way on that fateful day is still classified as is his reason for the decision. We can make some good guesses as to his reasons, America needed to enter the war, and this time the Germans didn't provide the spark as they did in the Great War of 1917.

As the cold war ended the mission of the think tank changed. The prediction was that America was at risk of loosing the race for technology. Now the mission was one of technological espionage and skunk works research projects. Networks of computers replaced networks of spies, though field agents still were required when hard evidence had to be procured. The staff now included geeks from all fields: Computer experts, Physicists, Engineers, Medical Doctors and Rocket Scientists.

Simon Green was the grandson of Irving Green. He now headed the organization after serving as a field agent for the museum (a job that he still performed). Some of the dinosaur fossils on display were recovered on field trips that Simon was present on. Green's early career reads a bit like something out of the Indiana Jones adventures. He joined an archaeological dig and was hooked. After working for various museums across the country he finally ended up at the American Museum of Natural History. One day he went down the wrong corridors and found himself in the secret passage that led to the hidden fourth subbasement. He almost ended up being treated as a spy, but was quickly offered a position with the secret think tank by it's then head who was familiar with Simon's background.

Robert Levinson is the head of the computer lab. In fact, most of the computer equipment is of his design. Bob grew up in Brooklyn. He was short, fat, and wore thick glasses. In High School he was despised by all the “jocks” and ignored by all the girls. Bob turned to science and science fiction for his entertainment. He spend most of his money on chemistry sets and Estes model rockets. He stuffed an Enerjet “F” engine into one of his smaller models and launched it a Brooklyn's Marine Park. The launch pad fell over in a gust of wind just as the rocket engine ignited. The rocket flew just feet above the ground at nearly Mach 1 before bouncing off the park bathroom building. Bob also bought no less than three Estes Cineroc motion picture cameras. Two of them ended up in the bay just south of Avenue U.

After model rockets, Bob took up computers. He learned under some of the best hackers during his MIT years. After breaking into the computers at area 51 he soon found himself working there. He met Dr. Tenamann while at the secret air base, and the two of them did some reverse engineering of captured Russian aircraft.

Albert Tenamann is a peg that doesn't really fit into any single hole. He is a hardware genius that can build almost any sort of machine. He is also a Physicist and a leader in nuclear fusion energy. Albert has perfected various jet engine designs during a brief career with the Lockheed “Skunk Works” at area 51. He has a medical degree and has worked on various brain-computer interface ideas. Finally, he started adapting some of the work that he did at Japan-Disney in “Audio-Animatronics “ toward research in the development of humanoid robots. Like Edison, Albert would jump from one idea toward another often in completely different fields, and he would excel in all of them.

Albert was born in Japan to native born US citizens who were in Japan during the US occupation right after the second world war. His father Adam Tenamann was a scientist who had overseen the Manhattan project while serving in the Army, and then went to Japan to study the effects of the two atomic bombs. His father finished out his military service as an MP keeping order between occupation forces and civilians in post war Japan. Late one afternoon Adam came to the rescue of a Japanese teen who was being picked on by some drunk marines. The teen was Tezuka Osmau.

Albert's mother Elizabeth, was a medical technician who enlisted into the Navy shortly after Perl Harbor. She had grown up in a poor family to a single mother. They lived in the "Little Tokyo" section of L.A. Most of her childhood friends were Japanese-Americans, so she had learned Japanese as a second language. She had been devastated by the internment of her neighbors and friends by the government at the start of the war. She served as an interpreter during the interrogation of Japanese POWs. During the US occupation of Japan she worked at a medical clinic aiding the Japanese civilians.

Albert's parents met during their service in Japan. They were married on a US ship anchored at port in Japan. They decided to stay in Japan after the occupation ended. Elizabeth worked at the US embassy in Tokyo and Adam worked for a US importer of Japanese products as their representative in Japan. Albert was born during their stay in Japan and attended school in the Tokyo school system. He learned English at home and at the embassy and Japanese as if a native. He also became a huge Manga fan, especially of Tezuka's works.

The Tenamann family returned back home to the States to visit the NY World's fair. They were on line for the G.E. exhibit to see Disney's "carousel of progress". A bit ahead on line a fair employee was having a hard time with some Japanese visitors. It seems that they were the guests of Walt Disney himself and have passes for a VIP entrance, but they insist on waiting in line. The fair employee spoke no Japanese, and the guests little English. Albert ran ahead and asked what the problem was, and was able to communicate in Japanese with the VIP group. The fair employee was so grateful that he invited the family to join the Japanese group for the VIP tour. (Not to mention that he will need more help with the language!). Albert recognized one of the Japanese men as Tezuka Osmau and asked him for his autograph. Tezuka signed a copy of a Tetsuwan Atom Manga that Albert had brought with him to read during the trip. The Tenamanns returned to Boston a few years later so Albert can attend High School in America, and later on MIT. He did graduate work at both MIT and Harvard earning Doctorates in both Physics and Medicine. From there Albert's career went it's various ways before he ended up deep under Central Park West at 81st Street.

After Albert's father died his mother decided to return to Japan to live out her years with the families of her former neighbors who had returned to their home land after WW II. Albert decided to accompany his mother and help her get settled in. He ended up staying longer than he intended, and in the process met his future wife. Miri Yanagisawa was the daughter of a Japanese civilian who had married an American serviceman during the US occupation (she had kept her mother's name). She and Albert met while looking for an apartment for Elizabeth, Miri was an apartment broker in Tokyo. Their courtship was brief but heated, and they were married within a few months. Albert intended all along to return to the U.S. and Miri agreed to emigrate. Within a year after returning to New York the couple had a son who they decided to name after Albert's father Adam. Adam turned out to be a bright boy, just as interested in technology and science as his father. He was also fascinated by the culture of his parents homeland and learned Japanese as a second language. Albert had kept a huge collection of old Manga magazines which Adam soon claimed as his own.

Albert lost his wife and his son lost his mother in late September 2001. Miri was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was on the street in lower Manhattan when the twin towers fell. Adam now was more attached to his father than ever, and soon became a semi-permanent resident of the fourth sub-basement. He would spend the afternoons after school in the research library doing his homework or hang out in the computer lab playing games while waiting for his father to leave for the day.

Shortly after 9/11 Albert started working on a project for the U.S. Military to develop robotic soldiers. A leak in the pentagon alerted terrorist spies to the project and would soon put Albert and his son in danger. It is at this point that we enter the story......
Last edited by Tetsuwan Penguin on Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Teaser Introduction

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

OK here is the "teaser", introduction to my work in progress.
I've used actual events in the life of Osmau Tezuka in this story in a fictional manor with characters of my own invention. The time line is close to correct. Tezuka's Manga stories will become the inspiration for an American scientist to find himself in a science fiction becomes fact chain of events. Some of the character names will be borrowed from my boyhood friends, or be parodies of names from Tezuka's star system. This is a work in progress, I can't promise how quickly it will evolve. The next chapter is being written now. I have most of the story line blocked out in my head, but I'm still trying to find a way to fit it all together.

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Postby avatargirl » 11 years ago

THANKS KSCHARF- LOVE YOUR STORY AND YOUR AVATAR- HOPE WE ALWAYS ARE FRIENDS - PRAY YOU ALWAYS THE VERY BEST- ETERNAL SALVATION AND SAFETY ALWAYS!

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Postby AprilSeven » 11 years ago

Wow - this is a fascinating concept!! I love the "underground lab" - you know these kind of places DO exist in NYC (my brother wrote programs for operating heating/cooling systems used in places like the NY Public Library, and he's been down there - like several stories BELOW ground!).

What a perfect place to locate Dr. Tenamann :D

Good luck, this is really fun to read!
Image Sig artwork by Alittleacorn!

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Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

Here is the next part of the story, chapter 1 actually. Two references to parodies of Tezuka characters are shamelessly obvious. Also let's see if anybody can spot something I've hidden in Adam's key code. Enjoy.

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Chapter 1: The Threat

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

Chapter 1: The Threat

Nine year old Adam Tenamann fearlessly road his bicycle down Central Park West. Being a warm spring day Adam was dressed in a white tee shirt and short black pants held up with a bright green belt. He wore a pair of red high top sneakers with long red baseball hose stockings. His hair was cut short with the exception of two tufts of hair held at bay with some gel sticking out under his NY Mets cap.

Adam followed the same route every day when school let out at 3 PM to meet his father at his office in the research complex under the Museum of Natural History. Sometimes he cut through Central Park, but today the traffic in the street was lighter so he weaved in and out between the cars. Finally reaching his destination, he dismounted at the street and carried the bicycle up the stairs past the statue of Teddy Roosevelt on his horse. Adam waved at the museum guards and wheeled the bicycle through the hallways toward a freight elevator. He punched the down button for the doors to open. The elevator arrived and Adam wheeled the bicycle into the elevator. He pressed the button for the third sub-basement and rode the car down.

The elevator stopped and Adam exited. He went down a dimly lit hallway and stopped at a door. There was a keypad next to the entrance and Adam entered his own special key code: 8-3-8-7-8-9-2-6-2-8-6-6. After the last digit was pressed on the telephone like keypad the door opened inward, then closed behind him with a loud snap. Another elevator entrance was at the end of a small hallway and Adam entered that and pressed the down button. He looked up and smiled for the hidden camera he knew wast there. He knew that the button he pressed had read his fingerprint and the security system had verified his identification. The elevator quickly reached the next level and Adam exited still pushing his bicycle. He entered a brightly lit room, at the far end of which was a window, behind the window was a receptionist. “Hi Amy!” Adam smiled. “Hello young man” she answered back and pressed a button to open a door next to the window.. Adam left his bicycle in the front room and walked through the door. Adam knew the way through the complex corridors to reach the computer lab. There was a long twisting hallway with large steel doors and many dead ends from the receptionist area to the heart of the complex. The passageway might remind someone of the entrance to “Control HQ” on the old “Get Smart” TV show.

Robert had set up a terminal for Adam's private use. The terminal had a large color display, and the usual keyboard and mouse, but also a microphone, a 5.1 stereo speaker system, and a web camera. Albert spoke to the terminal “Hello Issac, can you help me with my homework?”.

Issac was a computer generated image of Issac Newton that communicated with the aid of some very high tech A.I. Issac was a wonderfully interactive, human friendly computer interface. You could ask him any question in simple English and Issac would respond with a answer. Of course if you asked a dumb question, or tried to be “funny” Issac would get you right back. That was Bob's personality injected into the program. Albert opened a textbook and looseleaf binder and started to work on his math homework. Issac watched his progress though the web-cam and would provide hints on the screen if Adam took too long on any problem.


On the other end of the complex Simon Green and Albert Tenamann sat in front of a computer monitor. They were involved in a video conference with the Pentagon. The image of General Hayes on the screen did not have a happy look on his face. “I have some bad news to report to you”, the general started, “and I'm going to have to take some of the blame for this”. “OK, you've got our attention”, Simon replied. “It seems we've had a mole in my department, and the cat is out of the bag on some of the research projects I've been in charge of, including Albert's robot research”, Hayes began. “We do know where the info was leaked to, and that part really worries me”, he added. “Would the people involved be known to me?” Simon asked? “I think so, you dug up the existence of these characters shortly after 9/11. First there is the one that goes by the codename 'Polecat'. He's a talented thief who's been selling information that has been tracked back to al-Qaeda. The other character is known as 'Propane Torch' because he hides his crimes with arson. We have good reason to think that Albert may be in some danger”, the general finished. “Time to increase security guys”, he added.

“I think the security here is good enough”, Simon responded. “Both Albert and Adam should be safe while here, I'd be worried about Adam being targeted along his route to and from school in order to to get at Albert”, he thought. Albert starred at the general's image deep in thought. “Adam's school year is almost over”, he said. “Once school lets out we can keep watch of him here and I should be able to complete the project before school starts again after the summer” “Maybe”, the general injected, “but we can't take chances. I'm going to have some under cover men from the secret service tail your son, just in case”, he decided. “And you too”, he added. “Maybe we should use some electronic tracking surveillance”, Simon suggested. “Good idea”, the general agreed. “See to it that Albert and the boy are tagged”, he said. Simon closed the connection and sighed. Albert looked at his watch and said, “Adam should be in the computer lab. I'm going to say hello to my son”.
Last edited by Tetsuwan Penguin on Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

I've got a few more chapters blocked out, and I'll upload the next one. Since this story is really a re-telling of Tezuka's original, but in a different setting with different characters some of the plot details can be guessed at. Yet, I do have an idea of how to fork this tale so that Adam doesn't actually have to die. Any thought's on this? PLEASE don't be afraid to comment on this I'd like to know what you are thinking (and I can see that this IS being looked at!). BTW, if there are any Manga artists out there (I can't draw to save my life) maybe someone might be interested in making a graphic novel treatment of this story (If it's actually good enough...let me know!).
Last edited by Tetsuwan Penguin on Thu Jan 03, 2013 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Chapter 2:Robot

Postby Tetsuwan Penguin » 11 years ago

Chapter 2: Robot

After the connection with the Pentagon was closed Simon turned to Albert and told him “Before you leave tonight, see that you tag Adam and yourself with those nano trackers”. “OK, I'll get Robert to take care of it”, Albert moaned.

Adam closed his looseleaf binder and was about to ask Issac to run the Angry Birds game when Albert walked into the lab. “Hi son, how was school today?” he inquired. “Not bad”, Adam answered. “I aced the science test”, he beamed. “No doubt, with Issac's help studying”, Albert injected. “Yeah, Issac did help me with my studies yesterday”, the boy said. Robert Levinson leaned against the computer terminal and smiled. “Hi Adam”, he winked. Albert cast a serious look at Robert. “Bob, I need you to prepare two of your nano tracking tags for Adam and myself”, he said. “It seems that General Hayes found a leak in his department and put us at risk”. “Hmm!”, Bob growled. “I've warned General Disaster that he was running a sloppy system”. “It might not have been a hack job you know”, Albert explained. “This seems to be a simple case of cloak and dagger”.

Robert walked to the back of the lab and opened a storage locker. He removed a small case and walked back with it. Opening up the case he removed an air powered injection gun and loaded it from a container extracted from the case. “Whose going to be first?” Robert asked. “I'll be first to show Adam that it's painless”, Albert said. Adam watched as Robert held the gun to Albert's arm and pressed the trigger. It made a small gasping from the escaping air. “Doesn't hurt a bit”, Albert grinned at his son. “I've just injected a nano sized electronic cyber tracker in your dad's arm”, Bob explained. “If he should be kidnapped, I can find him anywhere. The device will lock itself onto any computer network that it finds nearby. Sort of a self hacking WiFi access point on steroids. It will also report back if you get injured”, he explained .Adam held out his left arm and Bob pressed the gun nozzle against his arm just above the elbow and injected the tracker just below the skin. “Felt cold, then nothing”, Adam smiled. “Told you”, his father slapped him on the back. “Why do we need this”, Adam asked? “I guess I should show you”, his father realized. “You have a right to know, follow me”.

Albert let them out of the computer lab. They entered a corridor that Adam had never been in and into a large freight elevator. Albert put his face up to the control panel and starred into a lens. “Retina scan ID”, Albert explained. The elevator dropped quickly to a lower level. The group emerged from the lift to find themselves in a large open area with many work spaces. “Welcome to my 'Batcave' “, Albert laughed., “let me give you the grand tour”.

At the first station was a huge electrical panel with large meters and heavy cables. In the middle of it all was a small device connected via two large conductors to the panel. “This small contraption is a fusion power cell”, Albert boasted. “It uses a Helium-3 isotope to directly convert the nuclear forces between the atoms into electrical power. When fully powered up it will generate as much as 75 Megawatts of power”.

They walked to another test station. This was a test stand for small jet engines. Attached to the rig was what looked like a pair of model jet engines due to their small size. “This is an Ion-Plasma electric jet engine”, Albert explained. “ It was designed to be powered by the fusion power cell you just saw. Though tiny it produces enough thrust to push a fully loaded 747 into the sky!” “WOW!”, Adam whistled. “Just how much horsepower is that?” “There is roughly 750 watts per electrical horsepower”, Robert answered. “So the conversion is easy, that power cell could generate 100,000 horsepower.

“Those items are but playthings from my past efforts that have been abandoned at the whims of our government's military”, Albert explained. “We are now coming up to the area of the lab that houses my current research”. Scattered about on tables and shelves were what looked like the dissected remains of various cadavers, but were actually android arms, legs, and torsos. Standing silently against a wall was a complete robot, it's lifeless eyes staring forward at infinity. The six foot tall android was dressed in olive drab GI fatigues. “This is my latest project”, Albert pointed to the android. “It it intended to replace human soldiers sent to the front. It has to be about the same size and weight of a typical GI so it can make use of military vehicles and other equipment. It has several times the strength of a man, enhanced senses, and agility. I'm still working on the A.I. Right now we are a little limited in what we can do for on board computer power for a completely self aware system.” The robot's features looked quite human, and while you might be fooled at a distance, close up it could be seen as an artificial being. “I want to improve its appearance”, Albert added. “A requirement is that human soldiers will feel comfortable working alongside a robot, maybe even taking orders from one. It HAS to look reasonably human, and not like a machine.” He turned on light to better illuminate the subject. “Note that it's covered with a life like 'skin' that looks real. That skin is a special fabric that actually has touch sensors in it that are as sensitive as in real skin”, he bragged.

“As for the A.I., Robert has developed a neural network interpreter program than simulates the wiring of the human brain. I've perfected a way to download a person's brain program, it can be run on that interpreter. I can literally download a copy of your mind into a computer.” “The problem is the size and power required of the computer”, Bob added. “We're close enough with that for what the military wants, but soon we could do better”.

Albert walked over to a computer terminal and activated a control program. He entered some command and the robot came to life. It walked past Adam, Robert and Simon and stopped at workstation a few feet away. The robot's movements were smooth, it moved more like a man than a machine. The robot's facial features looked friendly and showed off the artistry Albert had perfected working at Japan-Disney years ago. “Come back here”, Albert spoke aloud. The android waltzed about on it's heels and returned to where it had started, then went stiff as Albert commanded it to shut down from the computer terminal.

Simon gave Adam a serious look. “Your father is close to perfecting a humanoid robot with enhanced abilities that can almost be mistaken for a real person. If integrated into the armed forces beside human soldiers it would change the face of warfare and give our country an advantage. The forces of terror want this for their own advantage, and we know know they pose a threat to your father's research, and even his life. Adam, they could try to get at your father through you, so we must take extra care to prevent that”. “That's why we have these tracking devices under our skin”, Adam guessed? “Yes, Adam, I'm sorry it has to come to this.”, Simon answered.

“Let's go back to a part of the computer lab you've never seen. I'll show something else just as amazing”, Albert said.


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