Sato and his staff stood at the raised platform in front of the assembled warriors, their red tasseled katana tacked to their back. They wore black uniforms and helmets reminiscent of samurai warrior while they held their laser guns in port arms position.
Sato proudly stared at his minion, his dream of reviving the glorious prominence of his samurai ancestor almost at his fingertips.
"Soldiers. Today is the revival of our glorious past which our enemies, the children of the Humanoid have stolen from us. We cannot remain silent and watch our enemies push us to the edge of oblivion. We will go to the battlefields and regain our honor. We will not stop from our struggle until the Humanoid clones are routed out and the honors of our ancestors restored. We will fight and prove to them that we are the masters and they are our slaves."
The warriors raised their guns and shouted in unison.
"Down with the traitors. Down with the ロボット(Robots)."
Sato stirred his minion to frenzy and they would do anything to regain the lost glory of their ancestors. There was no time to ponder on the meaning of honor or glory, for they were trained to fight and die for a cause which their ancestors had fought and died for. It was a long time ago when their ancestors died for a cause which was as misty as the mountain where they were hiding, holed up in a silo. And now, under the leadership of Sato, they would leave the silo and stealthily strike at the heart of the enemy, the imperial palace, but for now Sato must win more supporters, maybe some disgruntled migrant workers and the blue bloodied Japanese who longed for the lost glory of their ancestors.
"Tagasi, send our messengers to our target supporters. Bring this." He showed a replica of a golden katana." Tagasi admired the small blade wrought from Hishikari gold.
"Those who join our cause will be rewarded a hundred times but those who oppose us will taste our blade. Go and spread our cause."
Sato called his other officers to a war conference to map out their offensive against the clones. What about the imperial family? Sato descended from the shogunate clan which was deposed by the Meiji. Preserving them would defeat the purpose of our struggle. They have to go and replaced by my clan. And the clones of the Humanoid must be exterminated, but Sato knew that it was going to be a tall order for his warriors could not match the might of the government. Sato stared at the remaining fighter drones arraigned on the hangar. Twenty drones. Not enough to sway the battle but he had some plans. He entered the war room and his officers were waiting. They all stood when Sato entered and executed a deep bow. Sato took his seat after returning the bow.
"Gentlemen, time is running out. Not our time but their time."
"はい (hai)."
"We are on the crossroad of history. For a long time our ancestors have remained unhonored because the leaders of this country have turned away from our sacred tradition. Can we further allow them to desecrate the memories of our ancestors?"
"決して (kesshite)."
"You are right. Never. And today we will restore the honor of our ancestors . We will rid this country of the Humanoid clones who have now corrupted the imperial family. Long live our great ancestors. Long live our country."
"Long live. . . ," echoed the officers like clones themselves. How did Sato recruit them? They were the remnant descendants of samurai clans, young and longing for a return to a glorious past that shaped Japan as a unique Asian country, the first to adopt western technology but retained its proud tradition, and the shogunate reign culminated in the persecution of the Christians and its closure from the West for more than two hundred years.
It was Japan that promoted robotization and succeeded in endowing machines with human intelligence and feeling, but only Tikaku had replicated the psycho-emotional and reproductive functions of man, and she went further in cloning her children and endowing them with superb intelligence using nanotechnology.
Can Sato reverse history? Can he destroy the Humanoid clones and Tikaku the mother of the reigning empress?
Sato had vague information about Tikaku despite his attempt to retrieve her military records. He had heard about this humanoid, supposedly a military asset invented as a lethal weapon. Other than this Sato had no other clue about Tikaku. He wanted her snared and placed under microscope and dissected piece by piece and discovered her complicated system that made her unique and the jewel of two decade-old nanotechnology. Her blueprint was lost when the military archive that kept it was gutted by fire after a nuclear-powered aircraft accidentally dropped its petrol bombs on the archive which at that time was being renovated.
The more Sato thought of this unique Humanoid the more fascinated and obsessive he became. I must get that humanoid at all cost. But where could I find her, he pondered. Then he thought of a clever idea: her cloned children. Okay. Stealing one of the hen's chicks will drive her to frenzy.
Sato accessed the royal family's records and looked at the background of the current empress. So she had nine siblings. Let's see.
Sato called one of his aides.
"I have a special task for you, what's your name?"
"Daiki, Masuta."
"Daiki? So much the better. You won't forget the guy that you will bring to me." Sato showed him the son of Tikaku. Dr. Daiki Cruz, head of the royal hospital of Tokyo.
"You will be brought to the hospital because of feigned sickness. One of the geisha will accompany you. Then . . ." Sato told him the plan which he believed would force the genie from the bottle.
