The next day...
"You guys ran into one of Genom's security people?!"
Natsuki Kuga blinked, frowning at both Dustine and Catty as she took in that mortar shot bomb dropped on her head. After a moment, she leaned forward on Dustine's desk. "Which ones?" she snarled.
Dustine responded with a sigh. "Just Kaoru Tanamachi."
People hummed as they considered that. "I've heard of her," Haruka Suzushiro declared with a scowl. "Kate Madigan's right hand. Recently promoted too."
"She is also a 33-S."
The others in Dustine's office blinked with surprise on hearing that declaration from the lavender-haired gynoid in their midst, then Natsuki frowned, gazing on her host. "Crossed over?"
"The day after Largo's attack," the dusky-skinned woman affirmed. "Memory-copy of the original, who was killed and replaced at the orders of Monsieur Annan Sese Kabbah himself." Ignoring the disgusted scowls crossing people's faces on hearing the name of Genom's quite vicious senior investor from the Congo, Dustine added, "When Largo attacked, Chiyo Mihama used her Kawaii-koka power to subdue the new Kaoru; I suspect others like her were in the Tower given how much Kabbah loathes women being in charge of anything in Genom. Right afterward, Chiyo shifted Kaoru's very mind into a third generation 33-S body, then Yoshio allowed her to become a bioroid. No payback service owed to Toratotaka; it was all dealt with by Miŭn Kataki and her people."
"We know Miŭn is a memory-copy of her father Tsuyoshi, woken and programmed with Rinrin Hatoyama's help when Chie Matsuoka's kid brother Shingo asked for it," Haruka stated as people began to nod, the relief they now felt at this particular revelation obvious to the still-curious Catty. "She's as honorable as he was when he was in charge of Market Analysis and Special Services. I can't believe Quincy would actually vault her to the position of vice president like that."
"Unless there's someone we don't know about who could be pulling Quincy's strings in the background," Natsuki warned. "Even if Genom looks weak to others now, they're still keeping sharp eyes out on all potential opponents."
"Miŭn's got a very big backer, one who can sway Quincy himself," Dustine concluded. "Who the hell could that be?"
Genom Tower, that moment...
"AH-CHOO!"
The Dragon's Daughter perked on hearing that, then she looked over. "Are you alright, Hoejang-nim?"
Deidre Mathan moaned. "Someone's probably talking about me, oud wijf," the future chairwoman muttered as she reached over to get some tissue to wipe her nose.
Miŭn Kataki smirked. "Pitfall of being fully organic, I believe."
"Ja..."
Back at the Caldwich-Archangel Tower...
"Even if she is organic, I would not mention Kaoru's or Miŭn's being 33-S's in public given that the specific model before crossing over is seen as illegal to possess virtually anywhere on Earth," Catty noted as she gazed into her cup of tea. "One thing disturbs be, though. When we were enjoying our meal, Kaoru made mention of something called the Crystal Palace. This being, whom she also called 'Onē-sama', specifically told her sisters working for Genom to NOT interfere..."
"HUH?!"
The lavender-haired gynoid looked up to see the others in Dustine's office save their host stare in dumbfounded disbelief at her. Finally, Haruka gazed on Dustine. "This true?"
"Very," the dusky-skinned woman answered.
Catty's head canted over. "What exactly is the Crystal Palace, then?"
The organics in the room exchanged looks, then their host sighed. "As I said after the meal with Kaoru, Catty, that's VERY hush-hush. Just leave it be for now. If the opportunity comes, you'll be told."
A nod responded. "As you desire." Catty then sipped her tea. "Given that this process..." — here, she made the "J" with her left pinky — "...does exist and all 33-S's become sentient on initial activation, why have they not been allowed to endure that process and become bioroids?"
Dustine snorted. "Ask Genom!" She then held up a hand on sensing the gynoid stare curiously at her. "Metaphorical answer, Catty. Please, DON'T directly ask them. They'll get fussy...or very curious. Even if 33-S's are illegal to own, the very rich do have them in their possession...and that doesn't count all the girls working in space with SPDC; Anri Senrei was one. If a 33-S 'dies', then appears alive elsewhere — and is fully organic to boot — a lot of very embarrassing questions will be asked, especially by those who really don't deserve to know about this." Here, she made the "J". "Some could see what happened to Anri, Kaoru, Miŭn and others like them as a fast ticket to immortality."
"When Genom realized they actually made a cybernetic-enhanced bioroid with the 33-S, guaranteed to become sentient on awakening, they closed the project down to avoid the civil lawsuits that could result from someone pointing that out," Haruka added. "Bioroids have full civil rights; they've had them since the 1980s when the Avalonians first came to Earth. Genom wanted servants they could control, so they concentrated more on fully cybernetic boomers."
"Puppets that will do Genom's bidding," Catty noted.
Nods responded. "Yep!" Dustine breathed out.
"Still, things would be a lot easier if there were more bioroids running around," Haruka then lamented. "Look at all the good the Cyber-Nurses do."
"Amen to that," Natsuki agreed, nodding.
"Everything alright now, Catty?" Dustine then asked.
"Somewhat," the gynoid affirmed.
"Were there more android types like yours back in your time?" Natsuki asked.
"No. There were some plans to make biological androids as replacement soldiers; such was dismissed when it was discovered that producing cyborg warriors was much cheaper. My particular model of gynoid was specifically designed to act as observers for the Species Unification Program. Several of us were assigned to a fleet. However, the Program ran into many problems, thus most of our missions were canceled."
Haruka winced. "Ouch!"
"That's not to say we didn't have a purpose after that," Catty added. "Many of my sisters helped with central intelligence gathering. Clandestine operations against our leader even um...helped the other side with information gathering. I myself — with the others — helped protect this system from destruction."
Jaws dropped. "Destruction?!" Dustine exclaimed.
"Yes," Catty affirmed. "There was a system destroyer which as primed to cause Sol to go supernova and destroy your entire system if such was deemed as proper."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"What...?" Dustine hissed, clearly baffled at that revelation. "That's...not true...is it...?"
"I'm afraid so," Catty affirmed before she blinked. "You're not curious on how such would work, correct?"
The organics in the room exchanged looks. "No! No! I just...!" Dustine sputtered, clearly lost in thought. "This was..." she then began before pausing for another few seconds. "Nearly one million years ago, right?"
"Affirmative."
"I see..."
Silence fell as the people in the office took a moment to absorb such a massive meteor shower of information, with both Natsuki and Haruka finding themselves inwardly shivering at something that seemed worlds worse than what they experienced at the Fūka Academy years ago and Dustine heading over to the windows to gaze upon the surrounding cityscape.
For the three organic women, it was obvious:
Was THIS why the oldest known sentient being in the UNIVERSE had intervened like she did?!
Tears welled up in Dustine's eyes as the many implications of their alien guest's revelations sank deep into her heart. "Catty?"
"Yes?"
The dusky-skinned woman gazed at her, wanly smiling. "Thank you for telling us that..." Here, she paused before shrugging. "AND for what you all did for Earth all those years ago as well."
A content smile answered her. "You are more than welcome," Catty noted. "Still, you all seem as if you're on the brink of something quite terrible."
Her host's jaw tightened. "Yeah..."
Illusions : Full Metal Tokyo Panic.
Chapter 11
August 10th 2033AD
Dustine yawned and dozed off for a moment as stopped at a red light. They were taking a group over to T and H in the usual heavily armored SUV. Last night Dustine had a LENGTHY chat with her sister about security protocol concerning their guests. Natsuki hmmed and poked her cheek. "Wakey Wakey boss."
"I'm awake! The answer is 42!" Dustine yelped.
"School flashback?" Natsuki chuckled.
"Oh, shut up." Dustine grumbled.
Patty, Miti, Catty, Spea and Amy giggled at their hosts reaction.
"I heard from Mai that Erika chewed your ear off last night." Natsuki noted as she continued to drive a bit.
"Yeah." Dustine sighed. Mai blushed contritely at Dustine who just shrugged her shoulders. "But once when I mentioned the Palace to her she calmed a bit down. But not much. I have to admit I've erred a few times but yeh..."
"...and we're still trying to find out if that last attack was a random event or was on purpose." Natsuki nodded.
"...and thats why we have two cars full of security behind us." Dustine nodded.
Catty blushed at the attention. Patty noticed this then poked her head in. "Why would everyone be interested in Catty?"
"She's a gynoid technically." Dustine shrugged then smiled contritely. "They pick her apart then discovers what's powering her and uses that tech to power their bots more or less."
"EH?!"
"Plus, whatever she knows about your enemies and your own tech." Dustine nodded.
"Well, we'll protect her as much as we can!" Spea gestured to herself.
"I'm sure you would just don't take the fight to GENOM, unprovoked, please." Dustine sighed.
"Right." The girls nodded.
"Speaking of...the Security Summit meeting is...a few days away?" Natsuki noted.
"Yep. Flying there on the 13th early in the morning." Dustine noted then smiled contritely back at the group. "I'll be in Kyoto for most of the week listening to speeches and arguing with my counterparts in the conference meetings. Of course, Sis will be there too to reign me in."
"I see." Spea nodded.
"So, what do we do during that time?" Patty asked. "Could we come with as extra support.'
"Nope. You're still a secret. Keep training instead." Dustine nodded.
"Aw." Patty pouted.
"...I really don't want any of you being dissected either." Dustine sighed. Saying that seemed almost redundant to the dusky-skinned woman, she immediately reflected as rode with them towards their destination. She knew there were now effective allies in Genom Tower that would keep her company's guests safe. Even more so, the Crystal Palace who was effective bound to the matriarch of Toratotaka herself would help convince many others to look the other way.
"Dustine?" Catty quietly asked.
"What is it, Catty?"
"There's something that Kaoru mentioned at our breakfast yesterday that interested me," the gynoid noted. "She said your people have had previous contact with other sentient beings before us. Is that true?"
The others blinked as they gazed on their friend, then looked upon their host. Dustine sighed as Natsuki gave her a sympathetic smile. "Could we talk about that in a private booth? Or in another secure area? That's VERY sensitive information."
"Certainly," Catty nodded.
Tampopo's Rāmen and Beefbowl Bar in West Nerima...
"You sure this place is secure?" Lufy questioned as they glanced around.
"Very secure," Dustine assured the ace Attacker pilot with a warm squeeze of the hand. They were currently in the back corner of the popular eatery, such divided from the main part of Tampopo's by a
mixture of opaque rice paper walls and simple wood frames...as such would appear to the normal patron of this place. The people from C-A knew that this place's defenses could easily match that of the
Megatōkyō Spiral in many ways; thanks to what the ageless namesake of this restaurant had done before she moved to set up shop elsewhere, there was simply no chance in hell that ANY potential xenophobe agent from USSD, Genom or some other group could listen in.
The other Solnoids nodded, quickly sensing the reassuring looks from people such as Natsuki Kuga and Mai Tokiha, not to mention two unknown C-A plainclothes officers, who were seated beyond the
"private" area acting as if they had come into the place for a quick snack before going back to work.
"So..." Catty then prompted.
Dustine took a deep breath. "We first made open contact with aliens in 1981," she began. "Members of a race calling themselves the Urusians came by to 'invade' us; it was actually a huge bluff they were playing against a rival race who wanted control of our solar system." Here, she indicated the star known to natives of the fourth world orbiting it as Oniboshi, about forty-seven light years from Sol.
"The Forty-Ninth System," Eluza then declared, making the members of her crew and Lufy's other friends nod in understanding. "Yes, they were quite the interesting race back then if what I recall of various scientific probes sent to that world is true. The Paranoid never cared for the planet, fortunately."
"Was this Lum Moroboshi's race?" Catty wondered. At the surprised looks from the Terrans, the gynoid added, "When I first came here, I noted the picture of Ataru Moroboshi and his wife." She indicated the picture right behind where Dustine was seated. "I asked one of the waitresses about that and she told me the story."
A chuckle escaped the dusky-skinned woman. "Yes, that's Lum beside Ataru," she affirmed as others leaned over to look at the image of the green-haired teenager with the unicorn-like horn-buds. "After Lum came here, others from allied planets to Uru came to Earth. They concentrated in this part of Nerima; it was then called 'Tomobiki'. Things went crazy due to massive culture clash, but would eventually calm down when other people came into play. You know about the Avalonians now, don't you?"
"The bioroid race whose migration here guaranteed that people like this Kaoru girl you've talked about won't be hassled by the authorities even if she was once a boomer," Patty noted.
"Exactly. Soon to follow were the Avalonians' cousins, the Sagussans. For reasons that will quite surprise you, they targeted Ataru Moroboshi to become their leader." As the Solnoids gaped, Dustine held out her hand. "Hai, it's all true. Lum was convinced to go along with it and they reside on Sagussa — which is outside the galaxy proper — to this day; they moved out there back in 2015."
"So relations were established with more advanced people," Eluza mused. "How did such benefit Earth?"
"The creation of USSD's ancestral organization, the United Nations Earth Defense Force," Natsuki answered instead. "It was seen as necessary as our solar system sits in a sort of 'crossroads' between the neighboring powers. Control the crossroads, you control trade and can easily outflank your rivals."
The alien women nodded in understanding. "They're all humanoid as we?" Rabby wondered.
"That they are," Dustine assured.
"So why did they leave then?" Catty asked. "Why this mass silence about your relations with them?"
"That was thanks to the Infinity Corporation," Dustine breathed out. "They were religious fanatics who wanted to 'save' all of humanity by 'purifying' it of all forms of evil...which they believed ANY form of corporeal existence was." As the Solnoids gaped in shock, she added, "This company nearly succeeded in creating something they called the 'promised place' to draw in all the living souls of all of humanity to free them of physical existence. Of course, if people fled Earth for other planets, they wouldn't be 'saved'. So I-Corp — as that company was often nicknamed — secretly teamed up with xenophobes in the Earth Defense Force to isolate Earth, end all alien contact, then have all of humanity ascend to the Promised Place. This led up to what's called the '2020 Incident' today."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"What about those who didn't want to be 'saved'?" Shildy quietly asked.
"They would have been forced to 'ascend'," Catty responded as she gazed on her old superior. "No one could escape. They nearly succeeded in wiping out an entire city named Erinsville in Canada before a special team nicknamed the 'Death Eaters' — a part of the Canadian special forces — stopped them."
Jaws dropped.
"Goddess...!" Amy hissed.
"Over six thousand were lost that day," Mai quietly added. "Including nearly half of the Death Eaters."
Lufy winced. "Damn!"
"So why didn't the aliens come back then?" Eluza asked.
"Around the same time, a race of parasites called the Lannarkites were invading this part of the galaxy," Dustine added. "Planets like Uru and their allies took big hits and had to concentrate more on self-defense than helping friends. The loss of the EDF fleet in 2018 — which was prompted by I-Corp actually — was masked as a Lannarkite attack; that's how feared they all were. According to our friends in the Nerima complex here who are in the know about things, Uru and other planets are STILL recovering from what the Lannarkites did."
"Our own system-mates on Neptune — they actually lived on Triton, Neptune's largest moon — were driven off the planet thanks to those damned bugs!" Natsuki spat out. "Since then, T'n'T has been helping terraform a new home for those people within Neptune's core itself."
People blinked. "That's right!" Spea declared. "The eighth planet had a habitable atmosphere wrapped around its core; the outer gasses helped serve as a perfect way to mask anything living there."
"So why not make USSD stop it with the xenophobia?" Miti wondered.
"Companies such as ours are working on that," Dustine assured the ace pilot, earning her nods. "It hasn't got far. USSD, for all its faults, does help keep world peace since those satellites — which were built on stolen Noukiite planet defense technology, in fact! — can stop any form of missile attack launched from ground-side. That makes most world governments agree to leave them alone. There are those in the group who do remember the good old days of the EDF, but they're not in any of the senior leadership positions; many of I-Corp's old allies are still in charge of things."
The Solnoids nodded in understanding. "At least the other races we detected in this part of the galaxy survived our war with the Paranoid," Miti lamented.
"Maybe influenced by us, Catty?" Rabby asked.
"A possibility," the gynoid mused. "Still, wouldn't Earth's old partners such as Uru benefit from increased trade? Such would increase the wealth of the nations here on Earth that could benefit from that."
"We're trying to get back to that point," Dustine noted. "T'n'T and their allies in Samguk across the East Sea in Korea do a lot of under-the-table transfers with the Urusians; the Sagussans and the Avalonians secretly help there. But anything overt gets stomped on by USSD pretty fast." As the Solnoids gaped at her host, she added, "They like being the 'power behind the throne', it seems."
Lufy and Miti exchanged looks.
"Central Guard?" the latter wondered.
"Central Guard," the former spat out.
As the others nodded in understanding, Spea then wondered, "Why don't you just outlaw them totally? Blow away their satellites? That would make them behave!"
"Easier said than done, Spea," Natsuki advised. "I know Yoshio-kun's bosses in Oshika have a plan to put down USSD if necessary. Samguk's leaders in Sunch'ŏn have similar plans. It's a sucker's bet that our friends in Shinjuku have those type of plans afoot after what happened in April. And some national governments like Canada and Korea have strong legislation curtailing USSD's activities in their territory."
"There's some hope here," Mai noted. "The Heavenly Sovereign herself is pushing USSD to keep better control of their staff in country. Her word carries a LOT of weight, even more so than Quincy or Dame McTavish."
Her old classmate from Fūka snorted. "Too bad USSD doesn't have a head we could just cut off!"
As Spea, Lufy and Miti laughed, Dustine rolled her eyes.
"Sadly, it's an organization, Natsuki. Not a person." She then winked at the Solnoids. "And PLEASE don't threaten assassinations, girls. It IS illegal!"
"Right!" The girls nodded.
August 13th 2033AD
Caldwich-Archangel Tower
Dustine sighed as she collected a few things in her office and sighed as she looked around before grabbing a brief case and a small travel bag. the conference in Kyoto would be starting tomorrow.
Mai peeked into her office. "Almost ready to go boss. The Gulf tilt-rotor is waiting for us on the helipad on the 20th floor landing pad."
"Yep. Just about done." Dustine nodded and grabbed her coat. They walked down the corridor and then entered the elevator. They rode the elevator in silence until they reached the 20th floor. Once they exited the elevator Mai rattled off what the itinerary for the next few days would be.
"Meetings and more meetings. Well, that's expected," Dustine nodded "Lots of talking and possibly arguing with the other security directors. It's going to be fuuuuun."
"...at least you can visit the hot springs there to unwind." Mai noted as they walked into the heliport lounge. Haruka was already out at the tiltrotor while Yukino was accompanying her unofficially. But there standing in the small heliport lounge, by herself, was Catty.
"I'll let you two have a few words before you go." Mai noted as she walked to the door.
Dustine watched her go and looked to Catty who was looking up at her patiently. The copper skinned woman stepped up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look after the others for me, okay, Catty?"
"I will." Catty nodded then said. "Please come back safely."
"I will," Dustine nodded. Dustine was about to say something more when Catty stepped up and hugged her gently. "Eep."
"Thank you for everything so far." Catty said with her head pressed against her body.
"Um. You're welcome?" Dustine blushed.
There were a few minutes of silence before the moment was interrupted by one of Dustine's employees.
"Haruka says get your but in gear or she's gonna drag you away from Catty." Mai called out.
Both eeped and separated from each other. "Well, I'd better get going. Look after yourself and have Natsuki or Shizuru escort you if you visit that ramen shop again."
"Okay." Catty nodded and watched her go as she trotted off. Dustine, joined by my, trotted over to her group on the helipad. She climbed in after the others and the tilt-rotor roared to life as the cabin
hatch whirred shut.
Catty watched the tilt rotor lift off the ground, ascend and then climb up into the sky. The lavender haired girl sighed and trotted off to go check on her friends. As she did, Nao chuckled and snuck away from behind a pillar. But not before she sent a text message to Dustine.
Dustine blinked as she peered at her phone then scowled. "Damn it, Nao!"
"What lemme see?" Mai blinked. Dustine blushed and showed it to her. It was a picture of a hand caught in two gears with the caption. 'Do Not Fist the Android Girls!'
"PFFFF." Mai snorted then giggled to herself.
"Yeah, yea. Yuck it up." Dustine blushed.
"She's just teasing." Mai noted.
"I guess." Dustine sighed.
"Remember to think of the job at hand and not about Catty when you're at the conference too." Mai reminded her.
"I'll try." Dustine nodded.
Meanwhile back at the Tower.
"There she goes." Lufy noted as she watched and the others the gulf tiltrotor vehicle fly further and further away from the tower on the observation deck. For some reason she felt a bit sad seeing her go. She didn't know why just yet though.
"Yep." Rabby nodded.
"Yeh." Shildy agreed.
"I kinda wanna raise hell now that she's gone." Lufy noted.
"You'd better not." Rabby sighed.
"Lotta people wouldn't like that," Patty nudged her. "So, for now just keep training."
"She would say that yeah." Lufy nodded.
Moments later, Catty exitted the elevator. She spied her friends and trotted over.
"Sorry if I'm a little late." Catty called out.
"Where were ya?" Lufy asked.
"on the 20th floor at the heliport." Catty informed them.
"Did you see her off?" Patty grinned.
"I did." Catty nodded, blushing unconciously.
"Hmmm." Patty grinned and teased her a little. "Catty, are you falling for the Director?"
"I like her, but I wouldn't say that." Catty blushed. "At least I'm not sure. I'm just grateful for all that she's done...so far."
"Still it's nice that you've found a close friend in her." Shildy grinned.
"Indeed." Catty nodded and watched the tilt rotor for a bit. "I...also told her about what we did long long ago. Shildy."
"Eh?" Shildy blinked.
"The Damia mission." Catty reminded her as she gazed into Shildy's eyes.
"..and?" Shildy asked as the others fell silent.
"She thanked me, thanked us," Catty said quietly then looked out at the city. She laid a hand on the glass, gazed out at for a while and asked them. "Everyone. Should we...help her protect this city?"
"I'm for it." Rabby nodded.
"Heck yeh. This could be a fun place to live in." Lufy grinned.
"I still wanna explore too," Patty noted then pouted a little at Catty. "To be honest I was a little jealous of you going out on your own that other day."
"I didn't mean to..." Catty blushed.
"Nah I'm just teasing," Patty giggled. "But yeah, I wanna help her protect this city too."
"Just remember we shouldn't run off and start taking out boomers without an okay by them, alright?" Rabby reminded them.
"Right." The others nodded.
To Be continued.
Notes
Chie Matsuoka and Shingo Matsuoka both come from Sentimental Graffiti, created by NEC Interchannel.
Rinrin Hatoyama comes from Sister Princess, created by Sakurako Kimino and Naoto Tenhiro; her family name is Fred's creation.
Terms used here:
Kawaii-koka - Literally "cuteness effect"
Hoejang-nim - Corporate chairman (with the "nim" suffix honorific that is the Korean version of the Japanese "sama")
Oud wijf - Old woman/crone