Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 23: A Small Window

"Astro!"

Cora's voice was raw, but this time she wasn't the only one having an intense reaction. Her hands clutched the end of the computer desk in a death grip while Toby just stared at the screen with a sickened look of horror, flinching each time the wrench hit Astro's body...his body.

Again and again and again. Hit after hit, and all Astro was doing was writhing.

"Why is he just lying there!?" Cora cried, and there were tears again. And she'd thought she'd run out. "WHY ISN'T HE FIGHTING BACK!?"

"Because...." Toby trailed, and his eyes went wide - real wide. "Cora, I don't think he can!"

Toby's hand shot to his pocket and he pulled out something small. A chip.

Cora gasped and felt her horror grow. The chip. She'd forgotten all about it. Toby had too.

Elefun just stared. "Is that...?"

"Astro's memory chip," Toby confirmed, and he twirled it between his thumb and forefinger for Elefun to see. "The one with my DNA in it."

"DNA?" Cora echoed. "Where did you - "

Toby pointed to Astro's blueprints. "In there," he answered. He looked briefly disturbed, but it was just in passing. He set the chip down gently on the desk.

Elefun was aghast. "You mean to say," he sputtered. "That Astro doesn't have his memories?"

Toby nodded forlornly. "That's why he isn't fighting back," he explained. "He has no humanity, not without this chip and the Core together. It's his...heart and soul, kind of."

Elefun seemed to be having difficulties with words for once in his lifetime, so Toby jumped in, filling him on everything crash-course style since they had last talked. Astro's screaming provided a bit of an urgent background noise.

By the end of it, Elefun was shaking, but if anything, his horror had kicked him into overdrive.

"We have to help him," he breathed.

"Uh, yeah," Toby agreed. His gaze flicked back to the screen, and his fingers began to type furiously. The visual of Astro minimized and he flipped the sound off so that they could no longer hear Astro's screeching. Blue numbers flashed across the screen.

Cora leaned over. "What're you doing?"

"Hacking the Ministry of Science," Toby said. "Or at least, trying to. Elefun, any advice?"

Elefun turned his palms up with a sorrowful look. "I know some of the shortcuts required for hacking," he said. "But my expertise is in the fields of natural science and astronomy. Technology and robotics are your father's realm."

Toby sighed. "Figures," he said darkly.

Cora leaned in further. "Can you get in?" she pressed. She had asked him this so many times before, but she never seemed to feel sure.

But Toby nodded surely. " "Eventually..." he said, but he trailed. "I just hope I'm not too late."

He glanced at the little square that was Astro's minimized feed and grimaced, before quickly turning his full attention back onto his hacking.

It was only minutes, although it felt like hours to Cora before Toby let out a whoop.

"I'm in!" he exclaimed, and a small black window began to grow on his screen. "I've managed a small opening in the Ministry of Science's mainstream server. So much easier hacking a computer in the Ministry and letting it do all the work!"