A day after the violent coup attempt of deputy prime minister Sato and his supporters against the government and the imperial family, Prime Minister Akito called the Diet to a National Assembly to announce that though peace and order had been restored, a state of national emergency remained until the rebels had surrendered or were neutralized. Mopping up operation against some samurai warriors who managed to escape continued. Foreign workers who joined the uprising would be deported to their own country.
The Diet was heavily guarded by both the regular armed forces and the police detailed at the Diet. Humanoid soldiers were posted inside and outside the building while police drones circle above. In front of the people's elected representatives Akito decided to address the issue of robotization which Sato exploited to gain support from disgruntled sectors who lost their jobs because of the employment of Humanoid workers.
"My countrymen. For decades, because of our aging population, our government went on robotization program, extensively utilizing both mechanical robots and humanoids in the different sectors of our economy. Humanoids were cloned and endowed with human qualities, with intelligence and feelings.
I must admit that I am the child of a humanoid mother and a human being father. We were not different from other children. We were trained to live like any normal children, to love our country and respect our culture. Most of all we were trained to respect our government. We were not here to subjugate people but to serve our country. And today the humanoids have offered their lives so that our country would be a land of the free.
As I speak to you I want to inform you that our mother, a humanoid woman developed to be a lethal weapon, had fought hard to bring Sato to justice. Our mother had given Sato the opportunity to choose peace and justice, but Sato, supposedly a samurai descendant, used treachery to vanquish our mother. Sato almost succeeded in killing our mother, burning her face with flamethrower, but though mortally wounded, our mother, Tikaku Cruz, was forced to subdue Sato with her lethal weapon.
She is the best mother I've ever known and the most faithful wife.
Let it be known to all that we live in a country which guaranties freedom for all. Let there be peace between and among man and the Humanoid."
Akito's speech was met with standing ovation.
"The humanoids have been working hard for our country, but they were derided and not accepted as citizens of this land. It's time to erase discrimination in our country. Today I propose a bill that gives citizenship to Humanoid cloned from mixed parents or natural parents and they shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of a natural born citizen."
The bill was submitted to the citizenship committee for further study.
Hiro had waited for a call from Tikaku, or from her shimai, but his phone remained silent. Driven by loneliness their first meeting at the university laboratory came streaming back to his mind.
Her sight fascinated him more than his fiancée back home or the geisha he met at the resto. She was reading a pocketbook at a corner in the laboratory and he thought she was a laboratory assistant, or maybe a scholar like him who was fascinated by robotic technology. Little did he imagine that she was a humanoid, a very intelligent but passionate Humanoid that ultimately snared his heart.
Even now he couldn't understand why he chose her and abandoned all thoughts of going back to his country. To him their island in South Pacific was their true home, but without Tikaku the thought of going back to that island was a self-exile. That island was dear to him because Tikaku was beside him. Paradise became a meaningful place after Eve joined Adam. Without Tikaku that island became meaningless. Hiro heaved a sigh.
