By Stan Hopewell
TOKYO – Representatives from the self-proclaimed island Asimovia and from the Japanese government met today in the Kantei, the official Office of the Prime Minister. The meeting was called “productive” by both sides despite the alleged attempted affair between a Japanese official and a “female” robot.
Today’s meeting was contingent on yesterday’s brief meeting in Nagasaki, where robots from Asimovia gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a gift in the form of a chest with documents and pictures. That initial encounter went well enough for Abe to invite the robots to Tokyo for further meetings. The contents of the documents and pictures have not been disclosed to the public.
The robots were housed in an undisclosed location for the night and were treated as special guests of the Prime Minister. While Japan kept close tabs on them throughout the night, they shut down their man-piloted giant fighting robots. The next morning, head official of Asimovia, Victor Priceworth, and a few of his associates met directly with the Prime Minister, and right away, the mood was “tense” according to sources.
During the evening, as the Japanese were entertaining the robots, one Japanese male official got drunk and started to flirt with the “female” robot, A.R.L.E.N.E. In the “family photo” Asimovia sent out several weeks back, A.R.L.E.N.E. can be seen sitting in a chair opposite of Priceworth. She was built in 1932 by the French roboticist, Pierre Gavreau, to resemble his deceased wife, Penelope. Obviously, A.R.L.E.N.E. couldn’t fill the hole in Gavreau’s heart, and he banished her from his home. A.R.L.E.N.E. has wandered the globe since then, and for about 20 years, she was turned off and stored in a millionaire’s vault as a trophy. No one knows how she got free or how she met Priceworth, but it is surely a deep, affecting story that would certainly make a great movie someday.
And a Japanese official “hit on her like she was a sex robot,” said one human source. “Regardless of what you feel about robots and A.I., that was very demeaning to A.R.L.E.N.E. It did not help matters.”
Nothing reportedly happened to A.R.L.E.N.E. as she has the strength of 10 humans and was able to keep the drunk Japanese official at literal arm’s length. The next morning, Priceworth and A.R.L.E.N.E. brought up the incident to the Prime Minister, who apologized for his subordinate’s disrespectful behavior. Abe also promised to have the man punished.
Publically, neither Asimovia nor Japan confirmed the alleged attempted affair. They did say that progress has been made though what that means was not discussed. Sources inside the Kantei indicated that Japan was not interested in fighting the robots over the long-abandoned island, but they weren’t going to give up their land either. Asimovia reportedly offered to do tedious paperwork for Japan and to help repair their man-piloted giant fighting robots free of cost. Nothing was agreed upon, but future meetings have been planned.
