Woo-hoo!  Expect the rest of the episode soon!

     Marie sat patiently in her high-backed wooden chair, and had been
doing so for nearly an hour. The featureless white walls seemed to pulsate
slightly in synch with her breathing, even when she slowed and sped her
breathing out of curiosity.
     A movement in her peripheral vision alerted her to a change in her
environment.  She looked to her left, and saw a wooden desk with an empty
leather office chair just beyond.  On the desk sat a micro-cassette
recorder, the same as the one Hiroshi used to record class lectures.  She
could hear the speaker pop as the tape began playing.
     The tape played for an hour, during which Marie sat still, breathing
slowly and smoothly like a sleeping child.  The only sound she could hear
was the hiss of the apparently blank tape.  Then, the click of the
auto-reverse, and five seconds of hissy silence before a voice split the
silence.
     "Name?"  The voice was Hiroshi's.
     "Marie."  Marie thought for a moment before continuing with the
marriage interview.  "Marie Karigari."
     "I'll be the judge of that.  Age?"
     "Eighteen.  Well, actually, I'm only about a year old, but I guess
I'm supposed to be..."
     "A simple yes or no will do."  The voice that interrupted Marie
wasn't Hiroshi's.  Rather, it was Mari's.
     "What?"  Marie shrank back slightly, confusion filling her voice.
     "Are you a robot?"
     "...No."  Marie smiled at her half-truth.
     "Don't lie to me.  I know everything about you."
     "Then why are you..."
     Marie's protest was cut off by Tanaka's voice.  "...This is as much
for your benefit as it is for mine."
     Marie paused.  "Oh.  I'm an android, though."
     "Did I ask if you were an android?"
     "No."  Marie replied sharply.
     "Then don't tell me you're an android.  Now, are you a robot?"
     Marie refused to lose ground in this interview.  "No."
     "That's better."
     "What?"  Marie blinked.
     "Blood type?"
     "I... I don't know."
     "A simple yes or no will do."  The voice was Mari's again.
     "But that's not a yes or..."
     "...Yes or no, Marie."
     "No!"  Marie yelled her answer; her throat painfully close as she
choked on welled tears finally flowing.
     "I thought as much."  Hiroshi's voice seemed colder than she had ever
heard; even at his most angry or logical, Hiroshi always had a small spot
of compassion in his voice.  This voice was his, but it lacked all
compassion.
     "Hiroshi?"  Marie sobbed so slowly, each shudder felt like it would
be the last, but was really only one in a series of final sniffles and
shakes.
     "Personality?"
     "...Yes?"  Marie answered after she regained a little composure.
     "I'd prefer a more verbose answer, please."
     "Umm, I'm..."  Marie wiped her eyes and continued, her determination
more intense than before.  "I'm loyal, and I care about you deeply.  I'm
kind..."
     "What about Hibiki Kennou?"
     Marie furrowed her brow.  "Well... I suppose she's kind too, in her
own way..."
     "No.  What about your fight with Hibiki Kennou?"
     "What about it?"  Marie scoffed.  She had long since given up on
anticipating the direction of the interview, and was wondering if the tape
was going to end soon.  She longed for a little silence.
     "Can you say you're kind after fighting?"
     "Well, I..."  Marie was again interrupted.
     "...Well nothing!"  Hiroshi 's voice filled the now red room.  "YOU
DID NOT ADHERE TO THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS!"
     "But I'm not a..."  Marie could barely hear her voice above the
thunderous hiss of the tape player.
     "...One!  A robot is to be demure, and never show her intense
feelings for a boy!"
     "Stop yelling!"
     "Two!  A robot is to remain obedient and loyal to her brother,
despite any feelings she has!"
     "But I didn't mean to..."
     "Three!  A robot is to keep her brother in the back of her heart as
the only true love she has, returning to his fraternal embrace should her
feelings be hurt!"
     "But that's why I'm here!"  Marie announced desperately.
     "I know."  The room blinked, and returned to its stark whiteness.
Your feelings were hurt deeply by a lustful boy.  I'm glad you've seen fit
to return to the fold."  Hiroshi's voice gushed with pious compassion.
     "Hiroshi?"
     "Yes, Marie?"
     "I... I lo--"  She mouthed the word, but her voice was silenced, as
if she was trying speak in a vacuum.
     "A simple yes or no will do?"
     "But..."
     "YES OR NO, Marie!  Answer quickly!"
     "Yes!"  Marie's tears again welled up.  "Yes!"
     "I knew as much.  Next!"
     Marie stood obediently and turned around.



--Matt

---------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by
twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper."   -- Rod Serling
---------------------------------------------------------------------