Astro/Atlas Boy: White Out.

[dannavy85]

White Out
An Astro /Atlas boy fan fiction
By Dan

© Astroboy 1954 Osamu Tezuka. All rights respected.

Ministry of Science Research Station Zebra 3
Antarctica
Evening…

Atlas Boy stumbled through the cabin door and threw his snow goggles on the floor as he dropped a plastic sample bottle into a small waste can by the table Astro was sitting at. His bratty actions didn’t phase his partner, who sat tapping away on a laptop while the groaning red colored boy bot plopped into a chair.

“Now explain why I got it in my head to follow you out here?” Atlas said frowning.

Astro looked up at the ceiling. “If you want to hear the Atlas excuse, press one. If you want the truth, press two…”

“I’m itching for some amusement. Not that having to listen to you for a week wouldn’t be filling as it is.” Atlas said as he played with a pen in his hands.

Astro spun around in his chair. “The Atlas excuse…” “I’m coming with you so you don’t infect such an important study with your silly human traits, I wouldn’t trust you too do anything right even if the instructions were taped to your butt!”

Astro then giggled. “The truth?...” “Waaaaaah….I’m board out of my skull!”

Atlas smirked. “No getting past the amazing Atom. Of course the humans had to chose you for this, I mean they couldn’t show the “guts” to come way out here to snow bound inner Egypt to do a weeks worth of boring snow studies. Way to “dangerous” for the flesh bounds so send in mister expendable.”

Astro frowned. “I’m not thought of as “expendable”. Besides, I need a vacation from humans every so often too.”


Atlas leaned forwards in his chair and peered at the lap top screen. “So what are you tracking?”

“The regression/progression rates of the Marathon glacier over the past twenty years. The Science Ministry wants to find out if the Global Emissions Reduction Treaty of 2007 caused any accelerated benefits.” Astro reached a hand into a backpack and pulled out a book of CD-ROMs. “I’m stuck on a bunch of really crazy readings though.”

Atlas pulled a USB cable from his pants pocket, pulled up his shirt, opened his chest panel and attached himself by network to the laptop. “Such as?”

Astro brushed a finger around a map of the glacier. “Right here…the measurements are all screwy. Nothing is adding up to explain why the glacier has been receding over the last year.”

Atlas ran the information through his own brain, watching it flash over his eye lenses. “Average rate of width drawl over the past decade…20 yards….over the past year….a mile?” Atlas disconnected himself and sat back…”Hmm…crystalline refraction?”

Astro smirked. “Oh please….the sun hasn’t produced a single day of abnormal solar radiation that could account for that much melting.”

“Metoric impact?”

“Nope. The astrological research of the past five years has zilch for meteor impact around here.”

Atlas got up from his chair and nudged Astro to one side as he leaned past him. “Well then…process of elimination or can’t you show me some of that “Hunching” you often praise these fleshy bone bags for?”

Astro leaned back. “Overlay a map of ten years ago till now and see what you think?”

Atlas tapped the keyboard and set up two overlay maps on a Corel program. “Hmm…. uniform across the face…nothing here.”

Astro got up from his chair and walked over to a window. “Feel like a little snow boarding tomorrow?”

Atlas hummed. “There’s nothing going on.”

“We didn’t check one thing….atomic radiation.”





Atlas pointed to the laptop. “There’s no abnormal evidence of natural radiation if you missed that factoid. The level of natural Raydon itself is stupidly low. We might as well pull out a game of Connect Four and spend the rest of the week being silly if you ask me.”

Astro smiled. “I’m not asking you.”

Atlas walked over to the couch and spread a pair of thick blankets over it. “Tomorrow morning. I’m not going out there tonight in that mess.” He said as he pointed to the window.

Astro walked over to a stove, pulled a pot of hot water off the burner and poured it into a bowl of Ramen.

“You eat that stuff?” Atlas said turning his nose up. “It stinks.”

“It’ll grow on you.” Astro replied. “I like food, kind of like art…never the same thing twice.”

Atlas snorted as he covered himself up on the couch. “What ever…I don’t need any of it so why bother with it.”

Astro smirked. “You’re missing out on so much fun.”

“Sue me. Finish your stinky soup and sleep, I’m not dragging you half a sleep all over the North Pole.”

“Uh….Atlas? South pole.”

“What ever.”

[dannavy85]

Morning
5 miles south of the Marathon Glacier

Atlas flew off the top of the steep snow drift and landed with a leg jolting thump at the bottom. He slid his snow board out of the way as Astro flew from above, flipped backwards and cut his landing close, his board inches from Atlas’s head!

“What are you doing?! We could have been there faster by flying there but oh no, you just have to show off!” Atlas snorted loudly as Astro glided to a stop next to him.

“There’s nothing wrong with some fun, you need to lighten up!” Astro said smirking.

“Fun? We don’t need “fun”. See this is the dumb stuff humans do…it’s dangerous, it’s illogical…..”

A flying snowball kissed Atlas in the cheek. “You need to stop being a rubber stomper!” Astro laughed as he chucked another snowball at Atlas, soon both ro-boys were going at it, till Astro pushed off with his snow board and went flying down another hill.

“GET BACK HERE! THIS ISN’T A GAME WE’RE PLAYING YOU INFECTED HUMAN HUGGING, FLESH HUGGING…..YEEEEAHHHHHHHHH!”

Astro watched Atlas fly by him down the hill and vanish. “Ugh?! Atlas!” Astro kicked off his snowboard and ran to where Atlas had taken his dive…just in time to have the red ro-boy pop up from a void with his rocket boots and give Astro a face to face snort.

“See?...had I been a “fun” chasing human? I’d probably be a frozen Popsicle stick. These snow boards are dangerous.”

Atlas pointed his thumb behind his head. “By the way…there’s something strange down there.”

Astro smirked. “You’re not pulling my leg right?”

Atlas looked at his hands. “I’m not grabbing a leg.”

“ugh….Figure of speech, you’ll get it sooner or later.” Astro said as he leaned over the edge of the crack in the glacier. “I don’t see anything.”

Atlas leaned over as well. “It’s down there, I just caught a glimpse after I flipped over and flew out.” Atlas rummaged through his back pack and pulled out a Geiger counter. “The needle’s going crazy! I think we found the answer to your receedence problem.”

“Last one there’s a rotten egg.” Astro said as he fired his rocket boots and slowly hovered over and started dropping into the crevasse below him.


Atlas pouted. “I’m not an egg.” He grumbled as he too started into the void. “Hey goodie? Have you figured out what to do if this turns out to be some kind of alien space ship?”

Astro looked up. “Hi, welcome to Earth, here’s a box of chocolates?”

“You never take anything seriously do you?” Atlas said as he landed on the bottom of the crevasse.

“You can’t go around with a scowl all your life Atlas.” Astro said as he patted Atlas on the back. “If you do, you’ll look ugly and then even dogs will run from you.”

Atlas snorted. “How many times have I said I hate you?”

Astro stopped in his tracks and looked ahead with his magnifying vision at a half buried object in the ice. “Looks like a spaceship of some kind huh?”

Atlas smirked. “No Goody boots it looks like a beach ball duh! Sheeesh….you are so one tracked at times it makes me angry.” The red boy bot took a few confident steps and stopped. “Uh?...You want to go ahead?”

“I thought you were the fearless example to all us robots?” Astro said smiling.

“Well…” Atlas said as he looked at the strange ship half buried in the ice. “You…got more experience in these things. I insist.”

Astro passed Atlas by. “Chicken. There’s a nice ice bolder back there if you’re that scared.”

Atlas growled. “It would be much safer if you’d use your eye scans to study it. You get too close it might send out some grapple thing and then where will you be? But….don’t listen to me I’m just your rival.”

Astro smirked back, then looked forwards with his scanning vision. “It kinda looks like a big soccer ball.”

Atlas could stand being needled. He stomped next to Astro and peered at the ship, making a rash of scientific comments.

“Uh? You left anything out?” Astro said puzzled.

Atlas cautiously walked closer. “I’ll touch it, since I found it first. Just pull me back if it tries some dumb tricks?” The red boy bot walked up to the spherical craft and at first gave it a quick finger poke, jumping back slightly into a combat stance if anything tripped. Feeling less worried, Atlas slowly rubbed a hand over it…

“It feels like glass. Obviously a collective alloy we don’t know about. I don’t sense any active power sources.”

Astro felt a little eased enough to join Atlas. “No telling how long it’s been here.”

Astro was reaching for his chest plate when Atlas grabbed his hand. “Maybe you should wait till we get back to the cabin? You never know…one touch of the radio and blam.”

Unknown to the two boy bots as they carefully walked away from the outside of the strange ship…someone on the inside was carefully watching a viewing screen while pacing back and forth in nervous fascination. This was not the expected first contact the being had been hoping for.

The Cabin

“A spaceship? That’s what’s causing the glacial melt?” Doctor O’shay said as Astro typed an e-mail report on his laptop.

“Yup. We don’t know how long it’s been sitting around but Atlas thinks there’s some leak in its power system that’s releasing radiation.”

Atlas was standing by a window watching the snow fall outside. “Tell him we can try to dig it out tomorrow if he wants but I think it would be better to leave it alone until we get inside.”

Doctor O’Shay rubbed his chin. “Did you find a way to get in?”

“Uh uh.” Astro replied. “Couldn’t find a hatch or a door. It might be on the glacier covered part. But we do know it’s the radiation coming from it that’s causing the recession of the ice sheet.”

“Ok…if you can? Break it loose.”

Atlas started walking for the laptop when O’shay’s camera cut off. “Did he say we should break it loose? I told you we should leave the thing alone, see? Humans never listen.”

“Well we can’t let it sit there.” Astro said as he closed the laptop. “Don’t you agree that if more radiation escapes we could be looking at a serious environmental situation?”

Atlas flopped on a couch. “There you go again Goody! “Here comes Astro to the rescue!” ugh…it’s not going to melt the ice cap in a week yet you want to rush in and fool around.”

Astro smiled. “Why do you always have to complain when you know you’ll end up doing it anyways?”
Atlas answered with a cold scowl then a hard flop as he covered himself with a blanket and went to sleep. Astro softly chuckled…it was perhaps a bit mean but he felt a little enjoyment when he could get under Atlas Boy’s goat skin. Astro was soon settling down himself, laying on a thick tutami enjoying a Harry Potter book while the wind whipped up softly against the side of the cabin.

end of part 2

[gentleman92576]

Great story. Very much like young Atlas from the Japanese episdoes (which I now have).



He's trying to repair himself.

[dannavy85]

I think Tezuka should have kept him as a regullar, Astro's cranky self-confident rival who has a snorting but friendly relationship.

[dannavy85]

2am…

A sudden onrush of cold awoke Atlas sleepishly, his eyes dropping as his body’s systems struggled to warm up. One minute he was groaning and cursing…the next his eyes widened in shock as he saw Astro struggling in the air.

“ATLAS! “COUGH! COUGH!” HELP!! “ARGH!” Astro used his lasers to shoot some of the offending rubber-like tentacles reaching for his arms only to have them wrap around his neck!

Atlas jumped up and cut loose with his arm cannon, severing some of the tentacles and almost getting Astro out! “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON’T KILL IT!” Astro snarled as he started ripping away from the creature holding him.

“WHAT?!” Atlas screamed in shock. “ARE YOU NUTS?!” He ran to Astro and pulled the remaining tentacles off. “IN CASE YOU’RE BLIND HERO BOY, THERE’S A 50 FOOT TALL MOVIE REJECT TRYING TO KIDNAP YOU!”

“Don’t tell me the obvious!” Astro yelled back as he pushed on Atlas forcing him back.

“I don’t need your protection!”

“Fine! Then do something! But don’t kill it!”

“Argh!! That’s like saying the dog’s gonna bite you but don’t hit it with a newspaper!” Atlas snarled as he grabbed Astro and jumped when the strange attacker lashed out again with its tentacles. “I KNOW! I’LL SIT AND THROW SPIT BALLS AT IT!”

“DON’T BE SILLY!” Astro yelled. He flew through the hole in the roof of the cabin, snatched the monster by what he though was an arm and pulled it off its feet! “Time for the tilt-a-whirl twist!”

Atlas climbed out of the hole in time to see Astro fling the monster into the side of an over-hanging drift of snow on a rock plateau above the cabin. “WAIT! YOU’LL START AN AV…OH NUTS!”

Atlas flew skywards just as the avalanche of snow and ice took out the cabin and the monster in one sweep. “THAT’S JUST FANTASTIC!” He snapped at Astro. “Now I guess you’ll expect us to sleep in a snow drift?! What did you do that for?! You could have just lured it away from the cabin!!”

“Then we wouldn’t have the motivation to get inside that space ship.” Astro replied smiling.

“I hate you.” Atlas snorted. “I thought you said you didn’t want to hurt the creature?”

Astro looked down at the slowly fading cloud of snow blown up by the avalanche. “I don’t think it even tickled it.”

It didn’t take long for the answer to come up. A stream of tentacles came flying up from the cloud!

“THIS THING’S PERSISTANT!” Atlas screamed as the two robots dodged and out-distanced the menacing streamers. Astro hovered, sticking out his tongue and taunting the monster as it stomped off into a growing snow squall.

[jeffbert]

So far, so good. I like this story. Your ideas are quite well developed.
I have this image of big Atlas as the older brother who teases and roughly plays with his younger brother, but is at the same time, protective of him.

The idea is that once Atlas discovers his relationship to Atom, he continues his fights with him, but has no intentions of harming him, rather, he is just playing rough, enjoying himself as his little brother earnestly believes he is fighting for his life.

I picture Atom and Uranium as the ringbearer and bridesmaid at Atlas' and Livian's wedding.

Another cute scene has Atlas giving Uranium a ride on his horse.

Then there is Atlas in the background helping Atom without his knowledge somewhat like Racer-X helping Speed Racer, but not openly. Tenma himself does this in the Manga & 60s anime, although he is sometimes acting against Atom, tyring to make him his son again.

[dannavy85]

I kinda see that too, the gruffy older brother who needles the younger to out perform him...a traditional sempai mantra.

[dannavy85]

“I think we should pay a little visit to that ship and give it a welcome basket.” Astro said as he started in the direction of the downed sphere.

“Just don’t push your luck. It might bruise your ego to be saved by your bitter rival.” Atlas replied snickering.

“I’ll get over it.” Astro laughed.

Both Robot boys arrived at the crevasse and used the falling snow to cover their quick run to an ice bolder a few yards from the ship. Atlas looked at Astro’s pursed face and quickly snatched his shoulder. “Oh…no! We’re not gonna suffer from the Astro squishy school of drama this time.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Every time I watch you do something, you start monologing and standing around like a finger pointing boob. You are such a dweeb.”

Astro winced. “Well you just can’t charge the thing and start putting dents in it! Did you ever hear of something called Diplomacy?”

Atlas pushed Astro aside. “Yeah…and usually you end up sounding like the first 3 letters. Leave it to an expert!” The red boy bot stomped out into the open and took a flying jump at the sphere only to get a ration of flying anger in return!

Astro almost busted his gut laughing as Atlas danced about, screamed, jumped, cursed, rolled, got picked up, got slammed into the ice and came running back being chased by laser bolts until he flipped over the ice bolder and landed on his stomach….”OOF!!”

“Bravo!” Astro said clapping. “I’m sure it was impressed!”

“SHUT UP!” Atlas snarled back as he sat up. “Go ahead! You go “talk” to it! I’ll sit back here and….wait to pick up the pieces.”

Astro giggled. “Such confidence! You really should control your temper.” He said as he slowly walked out beyond the bolder with his arms stretched. “HEY! WE DON’T MEAN ANY TROUBLE! IF YOU NEED HELP, I CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!”

Silence followed as Astro stood motionless…all except for Atlas’s cursing….

“That’s so sappy! Why don’t you offer cake and ice cream?!”

“Why don’t you shut up?” Astro replied sternly. He watched the sphere for what seemed an eternity till some mechanical noises started banging and clinking from the front. Slowly a small portion of the sphere clicked open then lowered like a ramp to the ice below.

Astro smiled. “Well?...it didn’t shoot or anything.”

Atlas snorted. “Huff…give it time! First it’ll snatch you with tentacles, then it’ll rip your arms off, gutt out your insides, smack your empty chasse around the ice then take off to liquidate the world!”

Astro drooped an eye and cocked his head. “Where did you get this crazy imagination of yours? A Sugar Smacks box?”

“Blame it on the cartoons!” Atlas yelled. He suddenly pointed with a shaking hand. “Behind you!”

Astro turned to come face to face with a hovering little being…at least it was something resembling a humanoid, he really couldn’t be sure beyond the wild dog-like ears, the large eyes and what looked like….a duck bill?

The being made some noises that made Atlas wince. “Can you figure that out?” He asked as he slowly walked towards Astro and the stranger.

“I’m searching to see if they loaded any language like this. If you ask me it sounds like binary computer talk and dutch.” Astro tried some hand signals and sign language. “Hmm…I think his ship’s power drive is fried.”

Atlas pointed towards the sphere. “Tell him we’ll try to fix it after we get it loose. Does he know anything about that flipped out squid yeti thing?”

The small being waved his arms and made a few signs. Astro cocked his head and pursed his lips. “Uh….I think it says…”My pet?”

Atlas’s eyes googled. “Pet?! That’s a pet? And I bet what it was doing could be considered play time right?!”

[dannavy85]

“Well…you’re on an alien world, you’ve been flying in space for who knows how long? Fido has to go you know.”

Atlas growled. “You go chase it. I’ll stay here and dig the ship out.” Atlas passed by the strange little being, given him a look of puzzlement as he did.

“You have to excuse my friend.” Astro told the alien. “He’s not easy to get along with.”

“Just go find Fido?” Atlas asked calmly.

Astro took off while Atlas Boy stomped over to the space ship and started whirling his arms around in windmills, chopping up the ice and sending a cloud of chips into the air behind him. “The only reason I’m being nice?” He screamed back to the alien. “Is technically you’re not a fleshy human slug!”

The alien cocked its head sideways then tapped Atlas’s back. “Uh?” The boy bot questioned as the being took him by the hand and into the sphere. “Hey? Maybe you should wait till I dig this out before I start messing with stuff?”

The little being opened a floor hatch and pointed down to a mess of burnt equipment.

“Let me guess? The engine?” Atlas asked scratching his hair. “Wow…that’s a mess. I hope you’re not going to put any faith in some human fixing this? I bet they’d fix it and cut a couple of wires just to suck a few credits from your pocket book.”

Atlas flopped onto his stomach and dipped into the small opening to look about the tight compartment. “Got any tools?” He asked as he stretched a hand back behind himself.

It took the little alien a moment to understand….he dumped a whole box of tools on Atlas’s head. “YIKES!!!”

Thunder’s Plateau
South Ice Sheet

“Crunch, crunch…..?” Astro looked down at the half eaten biscuit, swung his head and placed the treat back into its box. “Well…I was saving these dog treats for the space pet.”

[dannavy85]

“Crunch, crunch…..?” Astro looked down at the half eaten biscuit, swung his head and placed the treat back into its box. “Well…I was saving these dog treats for the space pet. He sure covers a ton of ground in a short minute though…If I were a big scary looking furry thing, what would I do?”

Pulling out a map, Astro traced a finger from the former research cabin, “I wonder if I’m going to have to pay my allowance for that?”, around the mapped surface of the arctic wastes and onto the site of the international research camp. “Why did I even think it wouldn’t go there?”

The boy bot flew low over the ice, his speed kicking up a tail of blown snow as he covered the distance in minutes. As he feared, the monster’s obvious visit was confirmed by the smashed buildings and debris thrown about the camp.

“Looks like I just missed the train!” Astro said to himself as he landed near a woman scientist picking up spilled equipment. “I don’t suppose you saw a big furry, multi-armed, toy tossing, wild looking, Rabbit hopping space Yetti thing come through here?”

The woman snorted. “Isn’t it obvious? Yes it did!”

“Which way did it go?” Astro asked as he scratched his head.

“To the North West. If I were you I’d hurry up and catch it. It took a few things with it…like one shape charged warhead we use for drilling deep research core materials.”

Astro didn’t wait another second. He exploded into the air and was on the trail of the space pet, following the debris and footprints he left behind. “Maybe Atlas was right about the rolled up newspaper after all. Bad doggy for taking explosives!”

Back at the alien ship

Atlas Boy pulled himself out of the engine compartment covered in oil, grease and a sticky ooze he dared not ask about. The small alien wiped his face with a wet cloth and took a strange fascination with his looks, running fingers through Atlas’s golden blonde locks and patting his skin.

“I must be strange to you.” Atlas said as he smiled and looked about the ship around him. “Do you have robots where your from? I guess not since there’s none here. Sheesh! Why do I try talking when you can’t understand me any way?”

“Because you can’t seem to ask the proper questions?” Came a voice in Japanese.

“Did you just say something?” Atlas asked the little being.

“No…I did.” The voice exclaimed as an eye looking ball on the end of a tether line dropped from the top of the control room. “I am Falvius, interspecies translator and control computer for this ship.”

“Finally somebody to get some answers from!” Atlas exclaimed. “It’s not like “he” wasn’t fun to talk to.”

“Excuse me…he’s a she.”

Atlas looked back with pursed lips. “Uh…..Ohhh Kay….mind telling me about “her”?”

“She’s stubborn.” Said the computer. “She ran away from home. Something about hating Luarthinian Gorka.”

Atlas smirked. “Come again? What’s….?”

“You’d call it squash. Her mother mashed it and out the door she went with her Nankachomp.”

“Ok…big huge multi-tentacle yeti freak, uh huh.” Atlas turned to the little female. “Bad girl! Never run away from home! This could cause a Gallactic war! Wait a minute…I feel so stupid. Uh…tell her running away is bad?”

Admiral Bird’s Glacier

Astro stood in one of the foot prints made by the Nankachamp. “Hey Atlas? Anything new? This creature’s fast, I think he’s playing a game or something.”

“Good for you! Keep you out of my way. I found out the alien’s a she and she ditched home over nasty dinner. The ship has a translatory computer system. Oh yeah…don’t shake your fist at the Nankachomp, it tends to get pissy.”

Astro pursed his lips. “Yeah….sure. I’ll be very careful since it’s carrying a warhead ok?”