Rosa whirled to face her fellow council member, shock and fury in her eyes.
"Masaji, is this true?" she snarled.
"No, of course not!" the male persocom shouted, waving his arms defensively. "She's obviously lying!"
"Then where did the guns come from? There's no way the humans could have planted them," Rosa accused. "Don't you dare think you can patronize me, Masaji."
"Well, what I meant was - uh, we did manufacture the firearms, but they're not for any kind of offensive war like that woman claims! They're-"
"Hey! Hands where I can see them!" Tsuru threatened, waving her machine pistol in the direction of the two arguing persocoms. They both immediately stopped gesturing at each other and raised their arms in the traditional pose of surrender.
By this time, Karasu and Taka had retreated to Tsuru's position, and she had armed them both with two more pistols she had confiscated.
"Alright, release the others, now!" Taka shouted, aiming his weapon at the group of persocoms who held the remaining three bodyguards hostage. Karasu and Tsuru immediately followed suit.
Everyone, listen up, a familiar voice chimed over the airwaves, transmitted simultaneously to all of the 'coms in the vicinity. It might only be a few more seconds before our 'bodyguards' get trigger-happy, so let's make use of the time we have and attempt to defuse this situation.
They all would have turned to look at Minako, if it weren't for the fact that their bodies couldn't begin to match the speed of their thoughts.
Okay then, Masaji began, replying to the green-haired 'com, I guess since I'm the one on the spot, I'll go first. As I was saying, we have been printing and stockpiling weapons and ammunition - small arms only, though. They're for defensive purposes, nothing more. After that human attacked the island-
Her name is Gina Eknilang, Minako sent, and she was only trying to rescue me. She never intended to hurt anyone.
Right, Masaji replied, undeterred by this correction. The point is, after that incident and Ryuhei-sama's death, we realized how vulnerable we were to outside attack. If one woman with a flare gun could cause so much damage, what would happen if an organized group showed up with a proper arsenal, and the actual intent to do us harm? We would have no way to defend ourselves!
And you somehow thought it was a good idea to keep me in the dark about this? Rosa asked.
We felt that you and many of the others wouldn't approve, Masaji answered meekly.
You're damn right I don't approve! Rosa shot back. Several of the other islanders gave the electronic equivalent of a gasp, as Rosa was almost never known to swear. How many of you were in on this, anyway? she queried the assembled group of persocoms.
They all sent replies, the majority professing ignorance of the weapons. All of those who did admit to knowing, though, just happened to be members of Ryuhei's separatist movement.
Honestly, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time! Masaji protested.
Yeah, well look where your bright idea has got us now, Minako snapped. We've certainly lost any chance of achieving any kind of favorable outcome in the negotiations. That's assuming they actually take place, that is, which is looking more and more unlikely at this point. Even worse, it looks like this could break out into violence any second now. If they start shooting-
No need to worry, one of the separatist persocoms interjected. We have enough storage capacity in the databanks at the former command center to back up all of our consciousnesses. In fact, we're in the process of preparing the data transfer now. Even if the humans score a kill shot and irreparably damage any of our processors, we'll survive.
Yeah, that's just great for you, Minako countered, but what if a stray bullet hits Junji, Hiroyasu, Yumi, or me? Or one of the captive bodyguards?
We're willing to allocate enough space to back up you and Yumi if you wish, the 'com replied, but I'm afraid your human friends are on their own. As for these invaders? It's not our problem if they screw up and shoot each other, so why should we care?
That's exactly the kind of attitude we don't need, Rosa admonished him. I agree with Minako. We have to come up with a plan to prevent this from turning ugly, and one that can be implemented quickly.
Thank you, Rosa. I suggest that we comply with their demands for now, Minako sent. Release our hostages, then allow them to confiscate the remaining weapons and leave unharmed.
And then what? asked Masaji. Let them take away our 3D printers to make sure we don't make any more guns? Let them place enforcers on the island to keep us in line? Let them round us all up and sell us back into slavery, or dismantle us for scrap? Whose side are you on anyway, Takeda?
So what's your suggestion then? Charge them en masse? Threaten to kill the hostages? Surely you can see that attempting to solve this with violence is a bad idea. If we cooperate now, we can avoid any short-term catastrophes, and once things have calmed down we can try to salvage what's left diplomatically.
You're a defeatist and a traitor, Takeda. I knew you would side with the humans - it was a mistake to ever call you here.
None of this is my fault, Masaji, Minako shot back. You and your faction brought this on yourselves. It was your idea to build weapons and hide them from the rest of the island's population. Somehow the humans found out about your little secret, and now it's come back to bite you in the ass, so don't go trying to shift the blame to me!
We did nothing wrong! he objected. Don't we have the right to protect ourselves? Every other nation on Earth has some kind of defensive capability - even states without standing armed forces have volunteers, local peacekeeping organizations, or armed police. And they all have more than a measly few hundred pistols and rifles total! If we were a human country, this wouldn't even be up for debate!
We're not a nation or a sovereign state, Masaji, Rosa pointed out. We have no international recognition or standing.
And why is that, huh? Human bigotry! Face it - the humans hate us. They expect us to be nothing more than their slaves, and they won't countenance the idea of us being independent, building anything on our own, or trying to actually defend ourselves from potential aggressors.
If they could never tolerate independent persocoms, why have they allowed Anemkwoj to exist in the first place? Minako asked, pointing out the obvious hole in Masaji's logic.
The only reason this colony exists is due to a flight of fancy by some eccentric, rich old coot! The humans don't respect us! They don't view us as equals, and they won't hesitate to shut us down if we do something as simple as taking precautions to defend ourselves!
Masaji, we can argue for our rights later, but first we must make sure nothing regrettable happens here and now. If we cooperate with their initial demands, that will help us secure a stronger position for our negotiations later. They may even allow us to possess weapons for self-defense, at least in small numbers.
Oh, bullshit, Rosa! You expect me to believe that? Come on, what are the chances of the humans letting us keep the weapons after this? Huh? Answer me!
All of the assembled 'coms, Minako included, quickly acknowledged that Masaji was right - the chance of Anemkwoj being allowed to retain any firearms was indeed slim.
But do you really need those weapons? Yumi chimed in. All of the problems you've had so far were the result of your own paranoia, after all.
What are you talking about? one of the islanders asked.
Masaji-san mentioned the time Gina-chan attacked the island with the flare gun. That never would have happened if Ryuhei hadn't captured Minako and tried to rewrite her memories, right? And what's going on right now is only happening because you built those guns in the first place. In fact, the weapons they're threatening us with are the very ones you built! Isn't this what they call a self-fulfilling prophecy? You're so worried about being attacked that you've caused it to happen, not just once, but twice now!
How naive, Masaji replied. Are you really suggesting that if we become complete pacifists, no one will ever threaten us? That kind of thinking is a recipe for disaster.
How about a defense pact then? Minako suggested. In exchange for some of your innovative methods and technology, and a few concessions, the Marshallese and their US allies could protect you. Or the corporation could hire a small mercenary force. There are precedents for this kind of thing working out-
Trust the humans to defend us from themselves? That's even more naive! I can't believe you're serious!
Believe it or not, not all humans are the same, Minako said. If you would just be reasonable, there are many factions among them who would likely be sympathetic to your cause.
Forget it! I am not trusting humans with the fate of Anemkwoj, not ever!
Masaji, you must at least admit that releasing the hostages and surrendering the weapons is the most prudent course of action at this point, Rosa sent. It would be foolish to refuse.
Fine, Masaji sent grudgingly. But you'll all soon see that I'm right.
At that very instant, Minako thought that she picked up the faintest trace of a signal with the characteristics of a high-speed data exchange between persocoms - one that was not part of their shared conference. She couldn't be sure of its origin or destination, but she had a suspicious feeling. Still, Masaji seemed to finally be listening to reason, and that by itself was a huge relief.
Less than point-one seconds had passed during the entire discussion, and, from the perspective of the humans, the 'coms holding Washi, Fukuro, and Kujaku immediately began untying them in response to Taka's demand. As his hands were freed, Washi took the opportunity to land a punch on one of his captors, sending her sprawling to the sand. Another 'com prepared to lunge at him in retaliation, but quickly stopped after a harsh wireless warning from Rosa.
The three former captives moved to join the others, Tsuru offering them all guns from the small stash she had in her backpack.
"Please, this is all a huge misunderstanding," Rosa spoke up, amplifying her voice so that it would clearly carry across the beach to the armed humans. "Most of us didn't even know about the weapons. Their creation was not authorized by the ruling Council."
"A likely story!" Taka shouted back.
"If you're telling the truth," Washi said, "then you won't mind if we return to the cache Tsuru found, collect all of the guns, and then thoroughly search the island for any more, correct?"
Masaji bristled in anger, but Rosa slowly inclined her head. "Yes, you may do so."
"Good. Taka, Fukuro, you stay here and meet with our transport when it arrives. The rest of us will head to the weapons cache. Oh, and before I forget, we'll need some of you persocoms to accompany us. Specifically, you two." He pointed at Masaji and Rosa.
"Good thinking, Washi," Karasu said. "If we bring two of their leaders with us, they're unlikely to try anything."
"Promise they will remain unharmed," Junji spoke up. The 'bodyguards' turned to look at him.
"We won't hurt them, as long as there's no funny business," Washi said, gesturing with his pistol. "Tsuru, lead the way."
"Wait," Minako said. "I'm coming too."
"Minako-" Junji began.
"Hey," she smiled at him. "It's my job to mediate the dispute here. The situation is still volatile, and the job isn't over yet." She winked. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
"Fine then," Washi said, overhearing their discussion. "But if you insist on coming, hurry up; we don't have all day."
The seven of them marched towards the tree line, the four humans making sure to keep the three persocoms covered with their weapons. As they crossed into the forest, Minako paused for a second or so to look back at her husband. She was brought out of her reverie by the unwelcome sensation of a gun barrel being pressed to the back of her neck.
"Hey, keep moving!" the guard known as Karasu shouted.
"Do you have to treat her so roughly?" Rosa asked. "She doesn't even live here. Even if you think I'm lying about being ignorant of the weapons, there's no way she could be involved."
"Frankly, we have no idea what any of you are up to, other than building guns and deceiving us," the woman called Kujaku retorted. "So we're better off safe than sorry. Same goes for you lot - just do what you're told and there won't be any trouble."
"Do what we're told, huh? How typical... goddamn humans..."
"Hey!" Washi said, slamming Masaji in the back with the butt of his gun.
"Can we please calm down?" Minako pleaded, keeping a careful eye on the humans' trigger fingers. "Starting a fight now will only delay your objectives and make things worse for all of us." Both Masaji and Washi scowled at her, but seemed to acquiesce.
"The cache isn't that far from here," Tsuru said, changing the subject as she pushed aside some branches. "We should reach it in a few minutes." They continued in silence for a while.
"According to all of our maps, there's nothing much in this direction," Rosa said as she stepped carefully around the edge of a large mud puddle. "The ground is too unstable for any permanent structures."
"That just makes it a perfect place for a secret gun stash," Washi said. "How much farther, Tsuru?"
"It should be just up ahead - ah, we're here," she said, approaching the edge of a large, damp pit dug into the ground. She did a double-take as she looked inside. "What? It's empty?"
"Impossible!" Kujaku shouted, running to confirm for herself. Indeed, the pit was bereft of anything but mud and leaves.
"Hah, I knew it!" Masaji shouted. "This whole thing was one giant ruse. They must have smuggled a few guns in somehow to prop up their bogus claim! We never built any weapons here on Ailinginae!"
Rosa narrowed her eyes at him. "You yourself admitted to it not five minutes ago."
Masaji gave her a death glare, wirelessly transmitting You weren't supposed to tell them that! They never overheard us discussing the issue, so we could have still gotten away with it!
You mean you could have gotten away with it, Rosa sent back. I want no part in this.
"Alright wise guy, where did you take the weapons?" Karasu said, grabbing Masaji by the collar and threatening him with his sidearm.
"I think I can answer that," Minako interjected, gesturing towards a set of muddy footprints leading away from the pit in the earth. "I'm guessing that he sent a tight-beam signal instructing his followers to relocate the weapons before we got here."
To everyone's surprise, Masaji began laughing. "Well, I guess there's no use pretending anymore. This has been a major setback, but at least we managed to salvage something from this mess."
"Shut the fuck up and tell me where they took the guns, now!" Karasu shouted, pressing the barrel of his pistol to Masaji's forehead. The brown-haired 'com continued laughing.
"You think I'm afraid of you, human? Weapons like that might be lethal to your kind, but we have ways of getting around them. So goodbye, for now at least!"
With a twisted grin on his face, his eyes began to flash with streaks of light before going blank, and he collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Minako moved to check his status, but Washi restrained her.
"He's probably uploaded himself to a remote mainframe," she explained. "If you let me connect with him I might be able to find out where it is."
Reluctantly, the leader of the corporate bodyguards nodded, releasing the elf-eared 'com from his grip. She knelt down next to Masaji's body, extracting a cable from behind one of her pointed ears and plugging it into a port on the side of his neck. Her eyes flashed with rapid streaks of light of their own for a few seconds, until she unplugged the cable and shook her head. "No good. He wiped all of his data after he left, and did a very thorough job of it. There's nothing remaining."
"Goddammit, as if enough hasn't gone wrong today already," Washi muttered. "Okay, here's what we'll do. Tsuru, carry this 'com's body back to Taka and Fukuro at the pier, we'll take it with us when we leave the island and have it analyzed by the techs back home in case there's anything green-hair here missed-"
"I have a name, you know," Minako interrupted.
"Or in case she's lying," Washi continued, turning to regard her with a harsh stare. She raised her hands in front of her head in a gesture of docility, still wary of the armed humans.
"Karasu, you contact Taka and Fukuro, tell them what's happening and what to expect. Then you, Kujaku and I will follow these tracks. You two-" he turned to address Minako and Rosa - "stay with us. If we catch up to your sneaky little friends and they feel the need to make use of the weapons they absconded with, we can still use you as hostages."
"Boss, if that Masaji guy fled his body, what's to stop these girls from doing the same thing?" Kujaku asked.
"Good point," Washi muttered. He paced back and forth for a few seconds, looking frustrated and unsure of how to continue. "We'll bring them with us anyway," he finally decided. "There's always a chance they can't back themselves up, and even if they can, there's a possibility the other 'coms won't know that."
'How pragmatic' Minako thought cynically, not willing to voice her opinion out loud for fear of offending any of the gun-toting and increasingly unstable humans.
By this point, Tsuru had already departed with Masaji's body slung over her shoulder, and Karasu had finished filling in the other bodyguards via wireless headset. The three humans and two persocoms then continued through the forest, following the distinct footprints leading away from the empty pit.
After tracking the trail through the underbrush for a few more minutes, Rosa spoke up.
"Judging by our heading, there's a high probability that this trail leads to the northern marina. One of our only two operational motorboats is currently docked there."
"You think they're trying to escape?" Minako asked.
"I wouldn't put it past them," the dark-skinned 'com replied.
"Is there anyone currently assigned to guard this boat?" Washi asked.
"Why would there be?" Rosa answered. "None of us ever anticipated a situation like this arising."
"We had better double our pace then," said the woman called Kujaku.
When they finally reached the edge of the forest, they were greeted by the sight of the motorboat in question slowly pulling out of the harbor, manned by no more than four 'coms. Onboard, looking to have been hastily hauled on deck and strapped down with ropes, were several large, mud-covered plastic boxes, and a two-meter-tall mainframe computer of the type Minako recognized from the Council chamber.
Before the humans could react, Rosa sent a message to the boat's occupants.
What are you doing? Return to shore right now!
Sorry ma'am, one of the fugitive 'coms replied sarcastically, no can do. Thanks for warning us that we've been spotted, though. In perfect unison, the four of them started to duck, aiming to hit the deck and minimize their profiles.
Suzuko, as a member of the ruling Council, I order you to turn that boat around immediately!
Why don't you pray to your god to make me? Suzuko mocked.
As the boat began to pick up speed, Washi, Karasu, and Kujaku took aim and began firing potshots at it. A few of the rounds connected with the vessel, but they only managed to cause superficial damage.
"Give me a gun," Minako demanded.
"What?"
"I'm a lot more accurate than any human marksman. I've already calculated the trajectory and accounted for wind resistance; I should be able to disable their engine with no more than two shots. Hurry, before they're out of range!"
"Forget it!" Washi said, aiming at the boat again. "We have no reason to trust you with a weapon." He fired, but the shot went wide, hitting the ocean and sending a small burst of water into the air to the side of the accelerating motorboat.
The three humans continued firing for a few seconds, having no more luck.
Karasu quickly radioed the others on his headset, informing them of the latest developments.
"You mentioned another boat," Washi said. "Any chance we could use it to intercept them?"
"It's moored on the other side of the island, and even if it was right here, it's much slower. We'd never catch up."
"Dammit," Washi cursed.
Kujaku turned to face Rosa. "You, you've got some authority here, right? You're one of the twelve leaders. Go and contact every other persocom on this island; have them give us a status report so we know everything that's going on."
"I do have authority here, yes," Rosa replied politely, but with a hint of venom in her voice. "And I don't appreciate being ordered around by a group of hired thugs who invaded my home under false pretenses, abducted my friends, and threatened my people."
"Hey, are you forgetting who has the upper hand here?" Washi said, raising his gun to the Marshallese 'com's face.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Minako smirked.
"What are you talking about?"
"When I first saw your guns, I cross-referenced their designs and magazine capacities with a number of online sources. I also counted every shot you fired earlier. And guess what? You're out of ammo. All of you."
The three humans turned to examine their firearms, finding Minako to be correct.
"We still outnumber you," Karasu threatened, raising his pistol like a club.
"Whoa, calm down," Minako said. "There's no need for that. Let's negotiate. After all, that's what I came here for in the first place."
"What do you propose?" inquired Kujaku.
"Nothing unreasonable. Rosa will give you the information you asked for, then we'll return to the docks and you and the others can wait for your transport ship to arrive. After that, we'll work out an arrangement to search the island for additional weapons, though I doubt we'll find any."
"Why is that?" Washi asked.
"Simple deduction. Those crates we saw on the boat almost certainly contained the weapons we were looking for, and Masaji-san wouldn't have taken the risk to smuggle them out from right under our noses if there had been additional caches that we didn't know about. He would have just grabbed those instead."
"Makes sense," Rosa murmured. "So, are we all in agreement?"
The humans reluctantly gave their assent, and Rosa's eyes soon began flashing with rays of white light as she accessed the colony's wireless network.
"In addition to the four we saw on the boat, twenty-seven others vacated their bodies and erased their data at the same time as Masaji. All of them were members of Ryuhei's separatist movement," she reported.
"They probably uploaded themselves to that server they took with them," Minako surmised.
"Remaining islanders known to have separatist leanings are being questioned, but they claim to have no idea what's going on," Rosa continued. "Several shots were fired at the eastern beach a few minutes ago-"
"What? That's where Junji and the others are!" Minako interrupted.
"Don't worry," Rosa smiled. "No one was injured."
"What happened?" Washi asked.
"Upon seeing several persocoms among the gathered crowd mysteriously collapse, your colleagues began demanding answers, but the remaining islanders had none to give. Then Tsuru arrived carrying the unconscious body of Masaji, and with tensions already high, threats were made, and several warning shots were fired. Luckily, it seems that Junji Takeda-san was able to prevent the hostilities from escalating. The current situation can best be described as an uneasy truce. I told everyone what happened and I'm urging them all to stand down."
Minako sighed in relief. 'Great job, Junji,' she thought. 'I need to remind myself never to underestimate you.' "Let's head back now. We might be able to salvage something from this fiasco after all."
Meanwhile
"Where's our transport?" Fukuro muttered, looking out over the tranquil sea with the afternoon sun to her back. "It should have been here by now."
"Should I radio them?" Taka asked.
"Do it," she replied, looking nervously in the opposite direction where a lone human was making an impassioned speech to the growing crowd of angry and distraught persocoms. "They seem to have backed down for now, but somehow I doubt that psychologist can keep them pacified forever."
As Taka began speaking into his headset, a figure suddenly broke from the crowd, running up to the inert form of Masaji, which Tsuru had laid prone on the sand after reuniting with her comrades.
Fukuro and Tsuru raised their guns, but hesitated once they realized that the one approaching was no more than a child - had he been human, they would have estimated him to be no more than six or seven years old.
"Daddy! Daddy, are you alright? How come you won't respond to my ping signal?" The diminutive persocom said, crouching over Masaji's fallen form.
'Did he say daddy?' Junji thought, his focus disturbed by the commotion the youngster was causing. 'That guy has a son? I never took him for the family type...'
"Daddy, what happened? Why won't you answer me?" The boy extracted a data cable from one of his goat-like ears and moved to plug it into one of the ports on his father's head, but he was restrained by Fukuro.
"Hey, no tampering with the evidence!" she shouted, easily holding him back. "We need to take that persocom's body in for analysis."
"Leave my daddy alone!" replied the boy, struggling futilely in the woman's grasp. "I won't let you take him away from me!"
"Hey, calm down," Junji said, approaching the squirming boy. "It's going to be okay."
Taka eyed the psychologist suspiciously as he drew near, ready to draw his pistol just in case he tried anything foolish. For now, though, he was content to wait and see what would happen, as he continued to try to establish radio contact with the boat that was scheduled to pick them up.
"I hate you humans!" the child shouted. "What did you do to my daddy!"
"We didn't do anything to him," Junji tried to explain. "Please tell me, what's your name?" He knelt until he was face-to-face with the boy, who was still struggling in Fukuro's grasp.
"R-Ryuhei..." he whispered, now seeming more frightened than defiant.
'Of course', Junji thought, rolling his eyes. 'I wonder how many other kids on this island have that name...'
"Listen, Ryuhei-kun," Junji said, attempting his best reassuring smile. "Like I said, neither me, my friends, or these people-" he gestured to indicate the bodyguards, "-did anything to your dad. He and some of his friends did this on their own. They left their bodies - they're not here anymore."
"If-if they're not here, then where are they?" the young Ryuhei asked, sniffling.
"We think they're all inside a computer on a boat that just left the island."
"You mean... they ran away?"
Junji nodded. "That's what it looks like."
Ryuhei became angry again. "You're lying! Daddy would never leave me like that! He loves me!"
"Well, it-"
"You're lying! Lying! Lying!" the young persocom shouted, renewing his struggle to escape from Fukuro.
"Here, maybe I can help," a female voice cut in. Junji turned toward its source.
"Yumi-san?"
"He'll probably be more trusting of a fellow persocom," she said, walking up to the boy.
"Wh-who are you?" Ryuhei asked her nervously. "You're not from Anemkwoj..."
"No I'm not," she said softly. "My name's Yumi. I'm just a tourist here. In fact, this was supposed to be an early honeymoon for me and my fiance."
"I'd just like to apologize for how this all turned out, by the way..." Ueda said, hiding his face in shame. "Probably one of the all-time worst honeymoons in history..."
Yumi smiled. "Don't be so harsh on yourself, Hiroyasu. Neither of us could have predicted this would happen. Besides, it's kind of exciting! If we get out of this in one piece, I'll consider it to have been a great honeymoon!"
"Wait, you're getting married to him?" Ryuhei asked, confused. "But he's a human!"
"Why does that matter, as long as we love each other?" Yumi replied. The boy gave her an uncomprehending look. Junji began to wonder just what Masaji had been teaching him.
"Ryuhei-kun, Junji-san isn't lying to you," Yumi continued. "Your father and many of his friends really did leave the island."
"But - but why?"
"Well, it's complicated. Do you have a mother? Maybe she could explain it to you."
Ryuhei shook his head. "No... daddy built me by himself..."
"Well, is there anyone else here you look up to? I'm sure they can explain."
"Why can't you explain, ane-san?"
"Well, I don't really know all of the facts myself," Yumi giggled self-consciously.
"Will daddy come back for me?"
Yumi processed this for a few microseconds. She knew that the most honest answer would be "I don't know", but that would be of little comfort to the child.
"He will. I'm sure of it," she said, hoping she sounded convincing.
Ryuhei finally seemed to be satisfied, as he bowed his head politely and smiled. "I believe you, Yumi ane-san," he said, and turned to rejoin the crowd of persocoms further down the beach.
Just then, Minako, Rosa, and the remaining three bodyguards emerged from the forest. After making sure no one would get the wrong idea and start shooting, Junji and Minako ran up to and embraced each other.
"How are things?" Junji asked his wife, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"Less than ideal, but manageable, thankfully," she replied. "What about on your side?"
"Under control, for now... I don't see the colony recovering from this any time soon, though."
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid I have to agree with you there," Minako said, turning to watch the silent, still-ongoing standoff between humans and persocoms.
Taka was the first one to break the silence. "Hey, I got a reply from our transport!"
"What's their ETA?" Washi asked.
"Should be no more than a few minutes. They ran into some kind of interference a few klicks out and had trouble picking up my transmissions, but now they're close enough that the signal is coming in loud and clear."
Minako turned to look out over the ocean, and she soon spotted a mid-size yacht, similar to the one they had arrived on, appearing above the curvature of the horizon.
"You're not bringing armed reinforcements, are you?" she asked.
"No. But there will be teams joining us to help sweep the island for any additional weapons or any other illicit items," Karasu said.
Minako sighed. At least the worst seemed to be over.
The aftermath of the diplomatic fiasco actually proceeded a lot more smoothly than most had expected. There were complaints from many of the islanders when it was revealed that they had to be confined to their homes during the search for any additional weapons, but it only lasted for a few hours, and in the end, no more were located. The boat that the separatists had escaped on was also nowhere to be found - all of the GPS trackers aboard had been disabled, and searches had turned up nothing. In lieu of this, a few conspiracy theories began to circulate among the Anemwkoj population, suggesting that Masaji and his faction hadn't abandoned their bodies at all, but were assassinated by the humans with some kind of targeted virus or EMP weapon. All of the available evidence suggested no such thing, though, so these ideas failed to gain much traction.
The matter of the signal interference that had affected the transport ship was also unsolved. The chances of it being a natural phenomenon were very low, but it was also deemed implausible for it to have been some kind of attack by the separatists. For now, it remained a mystery.
Many of the islanders also objected to the corporation's intent to take the bodies of all of the separatist persocoms for analysis. Even when it was pointed out that their abandoned bodies were simply empty shells, many of the colonists felt that handing them over would be some sort of violation of ethics, and objected to it on emotional and spiritual grounds. Eventually a compromise was reached where only Masaji's body was taken to be examined, on the condition that it would later be returned intact (Minako herself took special care to make sure this side of the bargain was upheld). As for the results of the analysis, nothing more was discovered than what Minako had initially reported.
When the time finally came to discuss the fate of the colony, both Junji and Minako were in top form. Their arguments, combined with the positive testimony from the human observers stated on the island, managed to secure the community's further right to exist. However, many concessions were made. The amount of human observers was tripled, all incoming and outgoing internet traffic was to be closely monitored and restricted from that point forward (especially involving the 3D printers, which now required human permission to use), and the islanders were forced to share all of the technological and practical innovations they had developed. The expansion plan was, of course, denied, but with the separatist faction all but gone, not many of the remaining 'coms were all that invested in it anyway. All of the information the islanders had about the separatist movement and their plans and ambitions was disclosed and the botnet was finally shut down, and the remaining council members released an official statement denouncing the escapees as traitors and criminals. On the other hand, Minako's idea of a defense pact was implemented, with the Marshallese and US governments agreeing to officially include Ailinginae under their aegis. Finally, after over a week of intense debate, everything had been settled, and it was finally time to return to Kyoto.
Minako sighed as she idly looked out the airplane window, watching the sun rise over the tops of the clouds.
"Is something bothering you?" asked her husband.
"It's just... my goal was to secure more rights for Anemkwoj, but by any objective standard they're worse off now than they were before. Despite all of my efforts, I failed."
"That's not true," Junji objected. "You were amazing at the negotiation table. When you gave that speech shaming those executives for sneaking commandos onto the island in the guise of bodyguards, I could see them sweating bullets. And the way you refuted that Hayashi guy's arguments? I was in awe. I mean it."
"You're just trying to make me feel better," she said. "The true measuring stick of our performance is the results we achieve, and in that respect, I fell short."
"Only because of unforeseen circumstances you couldn't possibly have predicted," Junji argued. "If we hadn't gone to Ailinginae, I'm sure the corporate bigwigs would have found some other excuse to sneak Washi and the others in. And without you, things would have been much worse. People probably would have ended up being killed."
"It wasn't just me," Minako smiled. "You did a great job yourself. Some of the islanders let me access a recording of the speech you made, about how humans and persocoms need each other and can achieve so much more by coexisting than they ever could separately. It was beautiful."
Junji blushed.
"I'm still upset, though. Some of the islanders resent me, claiming this whole situation is somehow my fault."
"Those accusations hold absolutely no merit," Junji replied. "It's human - and, I suppose, persocom - nature to look for a scapegoat to blame when something goes wrong. It was mutual paranoia and distrust from Masaji and his ilk on one side and the corporation on the other that caused this - we were just caught in the middle."
"I know," the green-haired 'com gave her husband a slight smile. "But it's still a pretty rotten feeling to know that some of them think that about me."
"Well, like they say, you can't please all of the people all of the time." Junji glanced across to the seats on the opposite side of the aisle, where a certain couple were soundly asleep in each others' arms. "At least Hiroyasu-san and Yumi-chan seem to have had a great time."
Minako chuckled. "Yep. Seems like it takes more than just an armed standoff to ruin their enjoyment."
Junji laughed too, and leaned over to kiss his wife as the plane continued on into the light of early dawn.
Author's Note: Sorry if it seems like I rushed the ending of this chapter, but I wanted to get this island story arc finished, because I have some other plotlines I really want to start on sooner rather than later. I'd like to thank all of my readers and reviewers for sticking with the story so far, and I'd especially like to give leafeonlover a shout-out for the consistency of her reviews, as she has reviewed practically every chapter I've posted and never misses one. Next time, we revisit some of our old friends in Kyoto, but tragedy might be brewing. For now though, have a Merry Christmas (or whichever other holiday you celebrate).
