Naked Truth

Inspector Tawashi knocked on the door frame of Professor Ochanomizu's office, and let himself in. The Professor looked up from his computer and noticed the long puss on the inspector's face.

"What's the matter, inspector?" he asked.

"Nothing much," Tawashi sighed, "Just that I hate having to eat crow."

"It sounds like you have another favor to ask Astro," Ochanomizu replied.

"Actually, I owe him an apology," he answered, fumbling with his pipe. "I shouldn't have blindly accursed Astro of being involved in those recent robot robberies. It did look suspicious of him being at the scene of almost all of them, but I guess he was just trying to help, as he had claimed. I guess I owe Reno a big thank you as well. The computer evidence that he hacked up led us to the real culprit, and I've now got a warrant out for his arrest."

Reno took that moment to walk into the office, carrying his laptop computer. "So it was Rock Holmes after all, wasn't it inspector?" He blurt out.

Tawashi turned to face the boy who had just entered. "Yes it was. He did a good job of leaving false leads that made it look like it was someone inside of the Ministry of Science that had hacked into the service robots that had committed those robberies."

"Well, Rock did find the honey pot I had set up in our server farm." Reno smiled. "Of course he did figure out that it had been a trap, but he didn't know that I knew that he knew that. That's how I was able to track him and figure out how he'd managed to take control of those service bots."

"I think I lost you there," Tawashi sighed. "But once you had the network trace, the police department geeks were able to figure out exactly what happened, and who we were looking for."

"And you know where he's hiding?" Reno replied.

"Unfortunately, I do." Tawashi sighed. "That SOB is holed up in a place where I can't get at him to slap the cuffs on him."

"How's that," the professor asked.

"It seems that Rock is now residing inside of an ancient religious recluse in a remote mountain area in the middle of the main island," the inspector said. "Many years ago, a previous emperor granted this religious order sanctuary. Even during the second world war, they were isolated from the empire, and somehow escaped being bombed by the allies. I can't just barge in there and arrest our Holmes - San, at least not unless the monks will allow me and my policemen access to their sacred grounds."

"I would think that the government would not allow any religious group to harbor a criminal," Ochanomizu replied. "If you have a proper arrest warrant, they'd have to allow you access to apprehend Rock Holmes."

"In theory, yes," Tawashi replied. "If this was a case of national security, I could get the prime minister to send in a detachment of soldiers to enforce the arrest order, but this is only a series of felony robberies. No, under the law concerning religious sanctuaries, the police can only enter if they adhere to the customs and requests of the holy order. That's why Rock chose that place, he knows I cannot comply with their requirements!"

"Er, exactly which monastery are we talking about?" Reno asked.

"The Purified Buddhist movement," the inspector mumbled, placing his finger on a relief map hanging on the wall, to indicate the location.

After a quick search on his computer, Reno let out a small guffaw. "Yeah, I see the problem," he smirked.

"Can someone fill me in?", the professor asked.

"It's a bit of a delicate situation, Hakase." Reno explained. "The monks believe in the purity of the human body, and they insist that all who tread on their sacred grounds be as pure in essence as they are."

"Huh?", Ochanomizu voiced.

"It's a damn nudist colony!" Tawashi yelled out. "The only way I can get in there to arrest Holmes - San, is butt naked!"

At that the professor lost it, and laughed uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, inspector, but the thought of you in your birthday suit slapping a pair of bracelets on a naked fugitive is just too funny." Ochanomizu took a deep breath, and continued. "Why couldn't you just send in Delta and the robot squad to do the job?"

"Because the damn monks abhor thinking machines." Tawashi replied. "No robot, at least no robot that looks like a robot is going to be allowed to enter their sanctuary."

"Well, maybe they'd accept me?"

Astro stood in the doorway, where he'd been standing for long enough to have overheard the important bits of the conversation.

"I was designed to replace a human boy, so Tenma Sensei built my body to be as close to human form as possible," Astro said. He sat on a chair, pulled off his left moon boot, and wiggled his toes. "See, my foot is almost a dead ringer for a humans."

"I don't think that's the part of you that would cause problems," Tawashi said quietly.

"Oh." Astro giggled. "You know, I don't think too many people have seen this," he said as he removed the green band around his waist and then proceeded to pull down the black metallic briefs. "not even you, Reno."

Tawashi's pipe fell out of his mouth, as his jaw dropped. "What the hell?" he asked.

"Astro's fusion reactor is cooled by heavy water, which is a by product of the power cycle," the professor dead paned. "Periodically, he has to rid himself of the excess coolant, which is slightly radioactive. It's safe for him to dispose of this fluid into the sewage system since the isotope in question has a very short half life, so he uses that flexible drainage tube to access common commodes in bathrooms to rid himself of it."

"You mean he takes a piss?" the inspector asked.

"You could put it that way," Ochanomizu winked.

"But the damn think looks anatomically correct!", the inspector cried, pointing at Astro's 'privates'.

"Why not?" Astro asked, pulling his briefs back up. "Tenma Sensei was a perfectionist."

Astro landed about a klick away from the entrance to the sanctuary. He was high up in the mountainous area, in the middle of a forest. He found a tree stump to sit on, and removed his boots, along with the briefs and his green belt. He placed these items in his back pack, and then proceeded to walk the rest of the way towards the monastery. The most grass felt good under his bare feet, Astro thought, and he also enjoyed the feeling of the cool breeze against his bare behind.

The entrance to the sanctuary wasn't marked by an obvious gate, but Astro was aware that he'd passed though the first checkpoint when his hypersensitive hearing detected the sounds of bare feet moving though the underbrush yards to either side of him. His eagle eyes also detected the lookouts observing him from their perches in the tree tops. He soon reached a clearing where he was met by a dozen guards holding katanas. One of them was clearly the leader, for he was adorned by a jeweled amulet attached to a gold chain around his neck. As the guards circled around Astro, their commander approached him, and smiled.

"Your nudity shows me that you obviously respect our beliefs, so you are welcome, but we still must be careful. Just why are you here?" he asked.

"I have an arrest warrant for someone who has taken refuge in your midsts," Astro explained, reaching into a pocket of his backpack. He unfolded a document, and held it in front of him, showing the picture that was printed on it. "This person has committed crimes of theft back in Metro City, and I've come to take him back with me."

The guard leader took the paper, and examined it. After a few moments, he handed the warrant back to Astro. "You will follow me. Our holy Lama will decide this matter." He motioned to the guard trope, and they sheathed their katanas.

The trail slowly widened, and the canopy of the forest thinned. They were now entering a large open area. In the distance were rows of simple huts with grass roofs, probably the dwellings of the disciples, Astro thought. Ahead of him was a larger version of the dwelling huts. While it was adorned with golden placards engraved with ancient Kanji symbols designating it as the dwelling of their leader, it was still a simple building, with a single large room.

"You will find the Holy Lama inside. He is waiting to hear your plea," the guard leader voiced, pointing towards the entrance of the building.

Astro slowly mounted the steps leading up to the raised floor of the large hut. The inside of the room was dark, a small single fat lamp hanging from the middle of the ceiling provided a dim illumination. Sitting on a folded futon against a wall sat a short rotund naked figure. In the dim light, Astro's sensitive camera eyes could make out the bronzed color of his skin, bald head, and kind smile.

"Come closer," the elder leader beckoned, "and state your desires."

"Holy Lama," Astro replied, bowing with respect. "I am here as a representative of the Tokyo Metro City Police. We are aware that a criminal has taken refuge within your holy city, and I have a warrant for his arrest."

Astro removed the official document from his backpack, and approached the Lama. He lit his eye searchlights dimly to provide sufficient light for the holy man to read by.

"My eyes are not quite that weak," the Lama laughed, taking the page from Astro and scanning it. He stared briefly at the photograph, and sighed. "Yes, I am aware of this individuals presence within our group. He claimed that he wanted to purify his soul, to remove his past sins."

"The crimes that he has committed were very recent, the last only a few days ago," Astro replied.

"Then he has clearly taken advantage of us," the Lama answered. "You will probably find him in the prayer sanctuary, he seems to spend most of his time there."

Exiting the Lama's recluse, Astro now found himself in the middle of the sanctuary's main compound. A group of well tanned boys were merrily playing with a ball, kicking the spheroid around with their bare feet. One of the lads noticed Astro, and kicked the ball in his direction. Astro jumped into the air to catch the ball which had sailed over his head.

"No fair!" one of the kids yelled at him, "You can't use your hands in this game!"

Astro dropped the ball and let it bounce once before returning it by kneeing it towards the boys.

"That's better!" one of them replied. Astro walked away from the group, and continued towards a group of buildings where he expected to find Rock.

As the holy man had predicted, it was in the dark chamber of the monastery's prayer meditation sanctuary, where Astro found Rock Holmes. There were several other individuals occupying the dimly lit room, but only Rock's concentration was visually disrupted by Astro's presence. Rock looked up from the computer tablet he'd secreted into the sanctuary, and suddenly darted towards the back of the room. Astro quickly followed him, his keen eyes didn't need any time to become dark adapted, nor did they become blinded by the bright light once he exited into the bright sun. Rock on the other hand, hesitated due to his temporary sun blindness after being in the dim light for so long.

Astro reached to grab the fugitive, but Rock managed to side step him, so the boy robot had to tackle him to the ground. "You're coming with me, Rock," he said, as he manacled his wrists together.

Rock blinked several times as his eyes finally adjusted to the bright sun light. He took a good look at his captor, and started to laugh.

"What's so funny, Rock?" Astro asked.

"You!", Rock replied. "I almost think it's worth being arrested to see you naked!"

"It makes no difference to me," Astro told him, as he wrapped his right arm around Rock's waist. Astro took a good look around and seeing that none of the monks were looking their way at the moment, lifted off the ground to fly back toward Metro City with the criminal.

Professor Ochanomizu looked up to see Astro's face as the boy robot entered his office. "Inspector Tawashi left a message for you," he said. "He was very grateful that you took Rock Holmes into custody."

"Just another day's work," Astro replied. "No different than any other favor I've done for the police department."

"You didn't find the problem even the least bit awkward?"

"Of course not, Hakase," Astro replied. "I'm not able to be ashamed or embarrassed by my appearance."

The professor then noticed that Astro wasn't wearing his moon boots, he had walked into the office with bare feet. "Did you lose your boots?" he asked.

"No," Astro laughed. "I never realized that Tenma Sensei had built me with as many tactile sensors in my toes as I have in my fingers. The sensation of walking barefoot is very pleasurable. Earlier I flew to the sea shore and walked along the breaking waves, squishing the wet sand though my toes like the younger human children were doing."

"You know, that's something I remember from my own childhood," the professor lamented. "I'm glad you discovered that."

"You know what?" Astro blurted out. "I think I'm going to drag Uran out to the beach and get her to walk barefoot though the sand. I think she'd like that."

"I think she would," Ochanomizu laughed.