Dopplegänger
III
Astro and Professor Ochanomizu sat handcuffed in an interrogation room at the police precinct not far from the Museum of Natural History. The room had a small table in the middle, and several hard, un-cushioned chairs, two of which Astro and the professor now occupied. A slightly better chair with more padding was on the other side of the table, where Inspector McClane sat down. The policeman dropped a laptop computer onto the table and turned it own.
"I really must protest this treatment." Ochanomizu told the inspector. "I have no idea how that gem made its way into Astro's pocket, but he certainly did not break into that display case. The two of us were together the whole time."
"How do I know you're not the mastermind behind this caper?" McClane asked. "This could be a copy cat crime based on the crime wave I was investigating that involved that teenage gang. Perfect alibi because those crimes took place before you were even in the country."
"I already gave you my business card." Ochanomizu told the inspector. "Why don't you can contact the Japanese embassy and get my dossier." He told the inspector. "They will give you enough character reference information on me to shed quite a bit of reasonable doubt that I would perpetrate such a crime."
McClane extracted the card from his wallet to show that he still had it. "I'll do that, of course." He then opened a browser on the computer and navigated to the video from the museum security camera. "Take a look at this." he said turning the computer screen around to face Astro and Ochanomizu. The two of them watched as the suspect hastily walked past the exit of the exhibit. It was only a view of the back of the boy's head, but the two cowlicks he sported were almost a dead match for Astro's.
"I don't think I'd find two kids his age sporting the same hair in the museum on the same day." McClane said. "Unless your son has an identical twin."
A queer look crossed Ochanomizu's face as he watched the feed from the security camera. Astro read the look on his guardian's face. "What's the mater Hakase?" He asked.
The police inspector was also able to tell that the professor was keeping something to himself.
"You know something." he said. "Tell me about it."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." The professor said. "Not without revealing some government secrets that I'm not allowed to divulge to you, without your word that they be kept off the record."
"You know I can't do that." McClane told him. "Until my investigation is complete I can make you no promises that would interfere with it."
"Once I prove to you that we are not involved with this crime would you forget what I would tell you?" Ochanomizu asked.
"I can't promise that at this point either." the inspector said. "But yes, if you are not involved and whatever you tell me proves your innocence, I can keep that off the record."
"Very well then." the professor said. "I guess I'll have to trust you. But first, turn off any recording devices. For now, you'll just have to keep this in your head."
"Very well." McClane said. He removed a pocket audio recorder from his jacket and placed it on the table and turned it off. He then shut down his cell phone and his laptop computer.
"OK, then spill the beans," the inspector said.
"Is this room bugged?" Ochanomizu asked.
Astro looked at the professor and shook his head in the negative. McClane stared at the boy for a moment.
"Very well." Ochanomizu fidgeted for a few seconds before he started speaking.
"First of all, Astro isn't my son." the professor said. "He's not even the ten year old boy that he appears to be."
"What is he a midget?" McClane broke in.
"He's not even a human being." Ochanomizu answered. "He's a highly advanced humanoid android in the form of a male child."
The professor nodded to Astro. The boy unbuttoned his shirt and opened a panel in his chest to reveal the inner workings inside him. McClane's jaw dropped, and the cardboard cup of coffee he was holding hit the floor, spilling what was left of the java.
"He's a robot?" McClane gasped. "I'll be a monkey's uncle!"
"So you see, Astro couldn't have committed those crimes, it would be against his programming."
"Like Asimov's three laws of robotics?" McClane said.
"Actually," Astro interrupted, "Asimov added a fourth law in his later novels."
"Astro was designed and built by the former head of the Japanese Institute of Science." Ochanomizu continued. "Dr. Tenma built him in the image of his nine year old son after the boy lay in a coma after a fatal accident. I always thought it strange that Tenma never really grieved for the loss of his son after the first few days, but then again, he was too occupied with the creation of a robotic replacement for the boy. Unfortunately Astro wasn't a perfect duplicate of his son, something I warned Dr. Tenma would be the case. Tenma rejected his creation, set fire to his laboratory, and trashed his house. He locked Astro up in cold storage in the sub basement of the Institute. Tenma was eventually caught by the police and put into a mental hospital, where he is still being treated. I found Astro years later buried in a storage locker and brought him back on line and adopted him."
McClane drummed his fingers on the table. "There is more to this isn't there? ….."
"Yes, indeed." Ochanomizu said. "This is where it gets tricky. I was Tobio Tenma's godfather. Tobio was of course, Tenma's nine year old son who died in that horrible traffic accident, or at least I thought he had died. Dr. Tenma had told me he had donated his son's body to medical science, which explained why there wasn't a funeral for the boy, only a memorial service. And then, there was the matter of the boy's mother."
"I was going to ask you about that." McClane said.
"Hoshie Tenma divorced Umatara about a year before the boy's accident. Dr. Tenma accepted some draconian financial arrangements in exchange for custody of his son. However, it seems there was a provision in his divorce settlement that if anything happened to the boy, her alimony payments would increase ten fold. After Tobio's accident, with the doctor now mentally incompetent, the courts had no choice but to comply with the deal. Hoshie disappeared after the final divorce settlement. A detective friend of mine thought she had died, but there were rumors that she had secretly left Japan and had moved to America, but for all intents and purposes she had simply vanished into thin air."
The inspector absorbed the professor's story and thought. He reached into his pocket and removed a key, and then unlocked the handcuffs on the professor, and then handed him the key. "You can release the boy from his." he said.
"What's going on?" Ochanomizu asked.
"You're free to go." McClane told him. "Just don't leave the city, you're still a person of interest. I'm going to check some parts of your story."
Ochanomizu looked concerned until McClane replied "Don't worry, Astro's secret is safe with me. I'll make my replies discretely though the Japanese government. I'm more interested in getting details on this Dr. Tenma, Hosie, and of course, Tobio."