Astro boy the movie (the novel)

Chapter 14

Astro and the others spent the rest of the day getting Zog in tip-top shape. Hamegg supervised them. They washed off the mold with a power washer-and managed to get each other wet in the process. They scraped off rust and pounded out dents. They repainted him, adding his name in red letters across his chest and spiffy rays of color on his neck and arms. They waxed and polished him until he shone.

Astro could have done the work twice as fast as everyone else, but he made sure to slow down so no one would notice he was different. Fixing Zog took hours, but every minute of it was fun for Astro. The kids laughed and joked the whole time. Astro felt really happy.

Astro and Cora climbed a ladder to add some finishing touches to Zog's face. Cora lost her balance and slipped. Astro quickly zoomed around the ladder to catch her from behind.

Cora was confused.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"I'm faster than I look," Astro lied. She gave him a look of disbelief. "I work out."

If Astro had looked down, he would have noticed that Hamegg had seen the whole thing. The chubby man didn't let on, but inside, the wheels of his brain were churning.

Finally, Zog was finished. Hamegg, Astro, and the kids gathered in front of Zog. Hamegg set up a camera to take their photo.

"Everybody say Limburger!" Cora called out.

"Limburger!" everyone yelled. Astro laughed.

In that moment, he felt like he was part of a real family.

Soon it was time for dinner. When it got dark, Astro went outside to check on Zog. Trashcan followed at his heels.

The huge robot was snoring peacefully.

"Good night, Zog," Astro whispered.

Trashcan ran off for a second and came back, holding a rusty pipe. He dropped the pipe at Astro's feet.

"Hey, Trashcan. You wanna play? Fetch!"

Astro threw the pipe-but he forgot just how strong he was. The pipe disappeared into the darkness.

"Oops!" Astro said. He followed Trashcan as he ran after the pipe.

They emerged into a small clearing filled with junked-out cars and other appliances. From here, Astro could see Metro City shining like a bright cloud in the distance.

He noticed Cora by herself, sitting on the ground next to one of the cars.

"Hello? Hello? Hello?" she was saying.

"Hello?" Astro answered.

Cora jumped and hit her head on the open car door. "Ouch! Hey, didn't your nanny bots tell you it's rude to sneak up on people?"

"How's your head?" Astro answered.

"It's still on," Cora said, tough as ever.

Astro saw she'd been talking to the old cell phone she'd found the day before. She started hitting buttons on it. Nothing happened. She frowned, gazing up at the sky.

"You know, they say that sometimes when it's really clear like tonight, you can still call through to Metro City," she said wistfully. She looked a little sad-not tough at all.

"You want to call Metro City?" Astro asked. Cora hated it there.

Cora shook the sad expression off of her face.

"Yeah," she said. "You never made a prank call? The only thing is-I can't get this stupid phone to work."

She tossed the cell phone in frustration, but Astro reached out and grabbed it.